Last Blog

When I was asked who I was in the beginning of the year, I thought it was an odd question that we aren't asked too much in life, but it's a question that is really important to think about. I said in the beginning of the year that only one person had a big influence on me. Obviously I was wrong from what I learned this semester. I learned about so many things that influence me daily that I never realized before. I realized that the media influences me more than almost anything in very negative ways. I can now see the things that outside sources influence me on thanks to this class. Sociology helps me view the world with out some of the stereotypes. It helped me realize what stereotypes there are out there and it helps me to correct myself whenever I realize that I am being judgemental. Sociology really helped me become a better person in many different ways for the better.

Crash

I really loved the movie Crash. It gave extreme examples of racism, but these examples are in our daily lives. The movie helped us realize our biasts towards certain races. The movie really helped me think about what I would do in certain situations. It also really helped me think about what type of implicit racism I have, because I try not to be racist, but sometimes it just comes out. For example, the policeman was trying really hard not to be racist, and even left his partner because he was too racist, but in the end his racism came out when he assumed the man he picked up had a gun in his hand. We can try really hard to not be racist, but sometimes it still comes out. It is really hard to not be racist at all, but we have to try in order to accept everyone the way they are.

Race

Learning about how race is a social construct this week wasn't the first time I had heard it. We also had a couple days in my US history class learning about this, although it was a bit different. In sociology we just sort of took the information and accepted it. But in my USH class, a lot of people argued over it and had trouble believing it wasn't actually real. The way we learned about race in sociology really helped clear it out for me because before this week I was confused about it. The races we put people in don't have a constant list of do's and dont's, but as Americans we have a need to categorize. Talking about hate groups today really made me realize that racism is no where near gone in America. When I heard Obama gets 30 death threats a day my mouth almost dropped. I thought that America was close to shutting out racism. We have come a long way, but we still have quite some time to go.

Monopoly

When we played monopoly in class the other day, we played it using different social classes. It was very unfair because the richest person started the game already owning multiple spots on the game board. This put them at a very large advantage, and almost guaranteed a win for them. Another advantage that they had was every time they passed go they got a lot of money. Me, being the poorest, only got around 70 bucks each time I passed go. It was very frustrating not being able to buy anything because I didn't want to go into debt, but if I didn't buy anything I wouldn't make any investments. I know it was just a game, but it really did mirror real social classes. People who are "old" rich start off with so much, that they don't have to work as hard, but will still succeed in life. The people who are the poorest, like I was in the game, have to be very careful with what they spend their money on. I really like this lesson

The Panel

I really enjoyed Nick and Cj coming in to our class this week. For me, I knew a lot of that stuff because I am friends with Nick and other people that have different sexual preferences than being straight. But for people that don't know much a lot about it, which is actually a large majority of our school, it was a great learning experience. Probably more than fifty percent of our school throws around the word faggot more than once a day. I hear it all the time just walking through the halls. I thought it was semi-widely known why people call gay people faggots, how Nick explained during the panel, but I guess it was a great realization to some people. My friend from another sociology class actually came up to me after and told me that the panel really changed his view on people with sexual preferences and that he had no idea where the word faggot came from before Nick explained. I think that example right there is what Nick and Cj, and the rest of the panel, wanted to get out of it. They wanted us to know that just because your gay doesn't mean you aren't a person with feelings. Also, that all people in the LGBT, and the other letters I forget, should not be stereotyped because everyone is different.

30 days in jail

Before watching this video I didn't really know much about jail. I didn't know the top reasons most people go to jail for or how many return, or much at all. Watching this video, I found out some statistics that really scare me. I think it said that a fourth of our population is in jail, and that 60 percent or something return. To me, that just says something is wrong with the jail system. The video also said that more people that have mental issues are in prisons than in mental state institutions. That fact really bothers me. I believe that those people that have mental issues should be cared about enough to recieve help. Sitting in a jail cell is not going to fix anything. Also I think it said 50 percent of people in jail are in for drug related reasons. To me, selling or doing drugs really isn't a threat to bystanders like a rapist or murderer is. People that are selling drugs and doing drugs do not need to be in jail, they need to go to rehab and get help, because once again sitting in jail isn't helping them at all. Finding out all of these things really scared me and made me feel very hopeless for the people in jail that need real help. It is awesome that some jails do have therapy sessions for people, but in the jail Morgan went to, there was nothing like that. If they are going to place mental and addicted people into jails, they atleast need to provide them with help.

Special Olympics (Community Service)

I volunteered at the Special Olympics for Bocce Ball on April 22nd from 8:30am-3:00pm. Before going to this event I was excited because I have worked with people with special needs quite a bit and I am very good at it. My expectations were that it was going to be a long day, that might get a tad boring, but in reality it was a long day, but not boring. I had a lot of fun interacting with the different people that came to play Bocce Ball at my court. There was a elderly woman named Laura at my court that needed a lot of attention, but I really liked her. She wasn't very talkative, but just something about her I enjoyed. I also liked her friend Jane, that was also at my court. She was so happy. What I did while I was there was keep score and talk with the players. I really enjoyed talking with everyone that was there. When I am around people with special needs I appreciate everything that I have. It also reminds me that I should be happy because of everything I have. Jane really helped me realize this because she was so happy all the time, and she has so many daily struggles. I really enjoyed going to this event and look forward to doing more things like it in the future.

Saints and Roughnecks

We read an article called Saints and Roughnecks that really showed how much one judges on appearance. These two groups of high school boys commited similar crimes, but one group was punished a lot more often. The group that got away with it was better dressed, involved in school and recieved good grades. The group that didn't get away with it just didn't "look as good." In my middle school we all basically put in the same amount of work, of course there were exceptions. Teachers looked down on kids a lot more who wore their jeans to their knees and had slicked back hair, but the kids that dressed nice were treated a lot better. Appearance doesn't say everything about someone, but in todays society, people make it that way.

Masculinity

Learning about masculinity and how the media advertises it so much really opened my eyes to see it everywhere. When we watched how many Disney movies portrayed that men are supposed to be big and muscular, or they are weird and not as important, it really surprised me. Disney movies have always seemed so uplifting to me, but when you look it at in from that perspective they put people down. I was recently watching Mulan and I noticed all of the things Mulan had to become to be a "true man." She had to become strong and she couldn't ever mess up. It's hard for me as a girl to really know if guys think that they need to be strong all the time, but I'm sure they do because the media makes women feel like they need to be certain things too.

Killing Us Softly

I really loved watching Killing Us Softly. I knew that I was getting the idea that I needed to be this person it's impossible to be, but I didn't know it was literally impossible to be the model type girl we see in magazines. These girls we look up to are edited, and if they aren't they are dying from looking that "good". What was terrible is while I was watching that film, I was thinking wow those girls are so skinny, they look so good! And I never knew where I got the idea that being stick skinny was gorgeous, but now I know the media puts it in my head. There is a website called Tumblr that I've noticed really impacts me. It has the perfect girls, perfect couples, perfect everything. It's really changed my view of myself and makes me want to be more like those types of people. Everything around us really impacts us, so we have to be careful what we surround ourselves with.

Gender

Today in class learning about the stereotypical things boys and girls might hear, I realized I never really directly heard any of them as a child. No one ever came up and told me, girls are supposed to be cookers and boys are supposed to be manly men. Even though no one told me that directly, I still grew up knowing it. People around me, my society, taught me these things. Moms always cooked dinner, dads always came home just as it was ready. Even if we don't grow up hearing those stereotypical things in our home, we are shaped by the way different sexes act around us in every day life.

Feral Children

Hearing about this made me really upset. Sometimes I don't understand why or how any parent could ever feel like this is acceptable to do to their children. It makes me wonder how they were raised, because obviously something went wrong. They must have been raised to believe neglect is okay. It amazed me how one girl we learned about, her eye sight actually adapted to ten feet because that's how far she was away from the door. A lot of things that we think are just set and stone are things that we can actually adapt, like eye sight and feeling temperature. Also, one girl was scared to talk or make noise because she had been abused if she made noise in the past. It just shows how crucial our child hood is to the rest of our lives.

Tuesdays with Morrie

I absolutely loved this movie! Just like Mitch was afraid to love people I think that a lot of people in our world are a fraid to love others because they might leave them. It really is scary to throw yourself fully into something when it could so easily slip away from you. I think we are afraid because of death because even if the person loves you back, death can overtake that. You could have a beautiful relationship with someone, but the next day they be gone. I personally think love is the most important thing to get out of life, but it's also the scariest. It is a risky thing. In the movie Morrie says that death may take away the person but it doesn't take away the relationship and the things you have learned from it. Sometimes, it sounds awful, but I think the death of a loved one can be a good lesson to one.

St. Thomas Soup Kitchen

On my way to the soup kitchen with about 15 other students, I felt excited. I have been to one soup kitchen that I remember when I was in freshman year. I really enjoy serving people so I was not dreading it one bit. I was a little nervous though because you never know the way the clients could be. I expected it to be almost exactly how it was. A big room with a bunch of tables and chairs. People in dirty clothes, some with smiles on their faces, some not making eye contact whatsoever. What I didn't expect was one man I saw looked like he just got out of work; he was in really nice clothes. I handed out the salt, pepper, cream and sugar. People wanted  A LOT of that stuff.
 I would say 95% of the people there were so grateful for us. The other people would not look me into the eyes when I came by. It was so awesome to see people with so little being so thankful for our service. There were only like three kids that I saw. They had the greatest joy in the world, with the biggest smiles on their faces. They didn't notice they didn't have a cellphone or an ipod, they were just happy. Also, there was a woman that had an I love Jesus hat on, and it nearly melted my heart. She was so little and cute. It just continued to amaze me, I could feel her love for God even though she had nothing.
As I went home, I was scared for them. They didn't want to go back out to the cold. They wanted to stay forever, with warmth and food. I was so thankful for everything I had. As I went home on the bus I pulled out my cellphone and my Ipod, and just thought wow, I am not too impressed with these electronics I have, but they are SO happy to get one filling meal. I just thanked God for all that He's blessed me. It was a great experience. February 28, 3pm-7pm. St. Thomas Soup Kitchen

God Grew Tired of Us

I really liked the movie God Grew Tired of Us. I found it sad, amusing and eye opening. It helped me understand that other cultures don't have everything that we have here in the US, like electricity. And because we are in the culture with the electricity and other things, we think it's a little crazy that they don't have that stuff. But other cultures looking in on the United States think things we do are strange too. Like in the movie the men felt so alone because everything they did was alone; they had no time for family, and that was a big problem for them. In America we are used to seeing our family for only half of the day, and it is enough for us. Other cultures are a lot more family oriented than we are though. Contrary to these guys, sometimes I get a little hectic if I don't have my personal time. Every morning on the bus I like to listen to music and not talk to anyone, and if I don't get that my day is a little different. People in America need more time to themselves, while other countries want to be in a community for the most part of their day.

Culture Shock

Growing up where we do really shapes what we think and how we act. The things we naturally need to do can be done in so many different ways, like eating, bathing and going to the potty! Sometimes it's hard to think that other cultures could be different than ours and when we find they are, we feel we our culture is correct. That's why we need to be mindful of other cultures and realize it's just another way of living life. I haven't really been anywhere too different from my culture, but my sister went to france a couple years ago and told me they wouldn't let her shower. She had to bathe and she thought that was really different that they never showered.

A Bronx Tale

What really stuck out to me in this movie was the in and out-groups. There are a bunch of groups in this movie. Sonny and his gang, C's family, C's friends and Jane's neighborhood. Looking in at another group that a character was not involved in led to judging. C's friends judged Jane's family and neighborhood; they beat up her brother just simply because he was black. C's dad always judged Sonny and saying he was not trust worthy. It's really easy to judge a group of people, or even one person, when your looking in from the outside. When you don't really know someone you make assumptions which lead to judgements. In Stevenson there are a lot of different groups and it would be impossible to get to know every single person. So how does one go about not judging? You just have to realize that your assumptions might not be true and you don't know what's going on in that persons life. It's really difficult to stop at just assuming and not push it to a judgement.

Gang Leader for a Day

When I first started reading Gang Leader for a Day, they talked about different types of sociological research. They mentioned the scientific type and I thought, well obviously that is the best way to study, using constant data from multiple sources. As the story went on and Sudhir tried to use this method, I saw that it really wasn't working. Using data does help see constants, like with the abandon ship results Salituro has from over the years, but having just that data gets you no where. You need to go deeper and figure out why people do things or feel the way they do. Just like we discussed in class why we chose who to get off the ship to understand why, Sudhir tries to get to know the gang members personally to understand more. I really liked that chapter of Gang Leader for a Day.

Social Construction of Reality

Social construction of reality is how the society we are in makes us see things in certain ways . It's weird to think about how society molds you to think things. I actually had an experience of social construction today. I was drinking tea on the way to class, but I had to go to the bathroom. I thought to myself, is it weird to bring my tea into the bathroom? Society molds us to think that certain things are good or bad, or clean or dirty. Social construction in our high school has made it weird if someone doesn't have internet on their phone or have an ipod. The cool thing about social construction is that it's different everywhere you go because society differs in location.

Sociological Mindfulness

This is the face of a thankful child.

This week we learned about sociological mindfulness, and that is how I personally, or any other individual, is impacting the world. I think that a lot of people understand how someone else could impact them, but don't really see as much how they could impact another. Every decision you make in a day can affect some one else. Understanding that our actions could affect another's chance of having a good life is really important. I went on a mission trip last summer, I didn't know it was called being sociologically mindul, but I started to realize that I was making a difference in those kids life. All of the bible studies and fixing up schools, I was making a change. I was influencing them and making their lives a little better. We said in class that sociological mindfulness can be kind of selfish because you want to leave a legacy sort of in the world, but in some ways it's the complete opposite. That mission trip did make me proud of myself, but I know that I helped improve that city.