Stay Mindful; The Aftermath

After my class had finished the movie Crash, we watched an episode of Oprah which had the cast of Crash. Among other things they spoke about the use of the N word and how it affects those of African American decent. They all had different views of the word. To ludacris, there is a differentiation between the word "nigger" & "nigga". He sees "nigga" as a friendly remark to a friend.   Oprah sees them both as hateful words, describing a terrible history. In the movie Sandra Bullock's character is frightened when she sees two black man on the street. They ask the question of in real life is that racist. From the perspective of a sociologist on racism, it is. Any form of fear or judgment towards a person of a particular race, is considered a form of racism.

make-up post

Today in class we started the movie "Crash" which so far has put me on the edge of my seat. The movie gives you a slap in the face to our societies view on race which is all so relevant in many of our lives today. Every single incident distinguishing race is something that I can relate to in terms of knowing/seeing the stereotype being used. In just the first scene of the movie, a female hit by an asian female proceeds to insult the woman for being a "typical" "bad asian driver" which is not at all true because there is no statistics stating in any way that asian drivers let alone asian female drivers are more likely to cause an accident then a white male/female. Stereotypes like these are things that make our society sickening at times.

This week in sociology we looked deep into the concept of race. Race very prevalent  talk in society, people are looked at based off the color of their skin to the frizzyness of their hair. In the United States their is a serious problem with racism, as well as many other countries. In countries other countries their are several ways to describe someone based off their race. For the most part, many people are treated differently depending on the racial background they come from.

Pass the soup

This week I went for a second time to a soup kitchen. This time I knew some of the people that came in the time before and made some friends. I got to hear a ton of great stories about many people's lifestyles. The struggles that many of thee people go through everyday. One man I met, came into he soup kitchen with a dilemma. He stated that every time he goes into a food place or store he is kicked out for having a fowl stench. From sitting next to him I can confirm that he does not have a smell to him at all but instead the employees use this excuse to kick him out because he happens to look different then others.

Thirty days

This week in class we watched a video on a the man from "Supersize Me" who embarks on a mission to survive for 30 days with no money, in which him & his wife have to get a job, an apartment, & a daily supply of food. This gave me a greater understanding of the struggle for low income families to survive. It also makes one realize what just 1 dollar can mean to someone. The fact that many low I come people have to live off $1.40 worth of food a day, when I'm spending $6 just on my lunch.

Money Talks

Society today is defined by the money in your pocket, the brands you wear, and the food you eat. Only 1% of the public today owns all majority of the wealth. The part about it that is sick, is from the perspective of the wealthy, the poor and lower class are looked down upon, as if they were to be a different race. Though for the most part we have tackled racial issues like slavery in our society I find social class to be the new racism. In many instances children of the wealthy are not aloud to associate let alone date those of lower income. People who make the money make the decisions in our society. The old saying, "money talks". In society today, money doesn't just talk, it defines. But looking past all the green, we are all the same. From my experience at a soup kitchen with those who are less fortunate, in comparison to money makers like Oprah, the John D. Rockefeller, Donald Trump, there is no difference. Oprah being a great example, someone who came from nothing. How can she be considered a specific type of person, when she used to fit into such a low class. 

 

Sad But True

This week in sociology, I had the privilege to go to a soup kitchen downtown. What an experience it was. Much more than I could have possibly imagined. Every single person I had met at the soup kitchen had impacted me heavily. First off, the people that work for the soup kitchen are insperatoinal. Doing the best they possibly can to feed those in need. Now in terms of the people in need of food, that is a whole other ball game. Some of these people have jobs..but just not enough money to by themselves a good meal. Others don't have jobs or homes, or anyone they can call family or a companion. One person that I met who really touched me was a woman by the name of Jamie. She comes to the soup kitchen almost everyday to eat. She seemed to have a great head on her shoulders, outgoing, and to me did not seem like someone who needed financial help based off the things she said she had done. Well it turns out that she is dying of cancer and has only a few months to live at most. She comes to the soup kitchen everyday because she lives alone and has no one else. Truly heartbreaking.

perception or perfection?

This week in sociology we discussed perception of gender based off of society.
perception of men & woman are skewed by modern society to give men the role of badass carefree jocks, who don't cry at the sight of fear, to woman who are always sweet, sensitive, sexy & conforming. A man is whatever a man wants himself to be, a woman is whatever a woman wants herself to be. There should not be in any way a social norm for the "perfect girl", or guy, and how they should act, look, speak, walk, breathe, smell. Being a feminine man, to being a manly women; none of this is at all wrong, or out of the ordinary, abnormal, unexusible. Everyone, no matter the color of their hair, the tint of their skin a man just as much as mike tison; and every women is just as much a woman as Megan Fox.
Some examples of a "perfect man"



Societies "perfect woman"

Skin & Bones

Media,
the source of your son/daughters potty mouth,
 the reason your 13 year old is wearing pushup bra's,
the source of your friends anorexia,
the reason your at Mcdonald's reading this off your smart phone.

Media is apart of most familles daily lives. Everytime you turn on the television, any time you open up your internet browser, you are exposing yourself to media. Media has a massive impact on woman none the less men.
 . 
Do you see what is wrong in both of these pictures.. These are models, and in this industry this is considered "normal" & or "expected". With this understood, apply this to an average every day female with this type of media apart of her life. Tragic.
In an attempt to digest this, this is only one issue that is relevant in media.

Hunny Chew Your Food

Nature vs. Nurture

In sociology this week, our class partook in a lesson of how everything you do is a learned trait. Something as simple as chewing your food. It is a trait that has to be learned over time. Michael Jordan wasn't born a star basketball player. He created that persona from a lot of practice, over a long period of time. What really took me over the edge this week was the news stories on several young children who were neglected by their families to which by age 8, most weren't at the age level of a six month old baby. Simple traits like walking, were some of the most difficult demands for some of these children to do. In one of the cases, due to confinement to a small room for such a long period of time, the child not able to see objects far away from them. The neglect of the parent, overal led to the child being near sided, from a medical standpoint. 

Though this man seems to be having a hard time chewing, I assure you this is a trait he did not know how to do when he was born.

Tuesday's with Morrie

The movie Tuesday's with Morrie, is about a man who is so into his work that he ignores his girlfriend to a point. Throughout the movie he goes over to his old Sociology professors house every Tuesday for advice on life. I must say from my own personal perspective the movie taught me a lot. In some ways I felt like Morrie himself was giving me the advice personally. Last week my friend had passed.  This as well as the movie really hit me hard with the people in my life and how they can be so close but so far away.  Today as I was sitting at her funeral, Morrie words among other things was in my head. Truly it has been quite an eventful last two weeks of my life, and the experiences I have had respectively made it clear to me what Morrie meant.

Meet Me at the Point?

To those who don't attend or work at SHS, this may look to you like just a building with rather weird architecture. This is a picture of a place that we call, "The point." Everyday my mom picks me up at the point. when I ask her to pick me up I say, "mom can you pick me up at the point. This all ties into the idea of subculture, which is a group of people within a culture. Other examples pertaining to SHS are, the patriot (never walk on the patriot). The ILC, the PAC..etc... To anyone who doesn't know what these acronyms are, you are not dumb, just not apart of the subculture commonly known as SHS.
Here are some more examples of subculture

God Grew Tired of Us

Progressively through the last few weeks in sociology, my class has been learning about Culture Shock. As I had already defined in my last post, culture shock describes how you do things in one particular country could be looked at as surreal in another country. This week we had watched the documentary God Grew Tired of Us, which is about a several Sudanese adolescents & children who were forced to leave there country due to war. through funding, many of the Sudanese get the opportunity to move to the united states. The documentary displays what it is like for these newcomers & how much culture shock affects them. One of the Lost Boys as they are formally named, even stated that he can not wait to see what electricity is like. It is truly a remarkable film. The documentary gives you an in depth understanding of culture shock and how it effects people who have never experience America.

Culture shock

At first glance do you know what this is? if you guessed a dog toilet, like I had originally, you are mistaken. That happens to be a toilet that is used in Japan. This is simply known as culture shock. Anyone who has not been to Japan would look at this like and be confused.
The reaction that you seize from my previous paragragh is what is commonly known as "Culture shock". This is where something so normal in ones particular culture, like for example in the United States all toilets look similar to this model:
This is only one aspect of culture shock. Things like, the use of the middle finger in the U.S. which in China is the pinky finger and in Italy is making a circle with your index finger and your thumb.

SHOCKING!~Culturally 

gangsterology

This week in class we watched an exquisite movie A Bronx Tale. This movie took on the sociology standpoint of racism, racial profiling, race among groups etc. During the later points of the movie the main character, C, falls for a young African American girl. This is looked down upon in his rather Italian neighborhood. One thing that really was quite interesting about this movie as, as the neighborhoods change, the music changes with it. I found that to be a great way to show the change in society/race.
 
look at this, imagine walking through these areas of Chicago, as the music changes.

Macro & Micro Sociology

Over the course of this week, In class we discussed Macro and micro sociology. Macro sociology, is the study of sociology from a larger scale. For example if one were to study how many times every single person in the United States brushes their teeth daily. in terms of micro sociology it is just the opposite, it is the study of sociology from a smaller perspective. For example, how many times people brushed their teeth a day in Lincolnshire.


Macro Sociology ( a large group of people)

Micro Sociology (a small group of people)

The Social Construction of Reality

You like that? In some cultures, for example the Chinese, spitting is considered an everyday thing. But in the United States spitting is quite nasty. This week in class, we did an exercise where we spit on a spoon. Looking at the nasty spit on the spoon, & how just a few seconds ago it was saliva in your mouth. This all ties back to the Social Construction of Reality. How our society influenced how we experience the world.

Sociological Imagination

This past week in sociology, we discussed life from another perspective. Sociological imagination.

Every morning as I wake up from my alarm, I proceed to go into my shower. As I shower I fantasize over the hot water, as I scrub myself clean. After I shower I then get dressed & head to school. This is what I do everyday Monday through Friday. As I bathe in hot water not thinking anything of it, it has impacted me more than I realize. For one, in many poor countries, children don't have alarms, let alone a shower to bathe in. As I type, reflecting on my experiences, I am using a computer. In some areas, computers are unheard of. These simple everyday things are just little pieces to the puzzle that molds me. 

Sociological Imagination is who I am, how I grew up, where I live currently. who you are based off how your society molded you. If I were born & raised into the same family but in another country, I would be different then how I am.

We don't 

remember 

days,

we remember

moments

Who am I? a question I ask myself everyday. There is no simple definition for who I am, because I am in the pinnacle of understanding it. As I progress through my life, I further understand the attributes of myself that come to the light. Something that I love is history, I find it to be compelling, it gives you reasons why you shouldn't do things, with the understanding of how they for came in the past. As I see it, why make the mistake, if its already been made. furthermore, one of my favorite things to do with my free time is play guitar. It is something that I partake in everyday. Something that when all else fails, manages to keep me calm & content. In regards to my future, I will be attending the Mizzou next year. Who am I now? who am I then.. Who knows. 


In life, 
the struggle 
unfolds with 
what you 
say & how 
you say it; 
a dire
ambition to 
reach what is 
known as 
serenity.