the new me...

Looking at myself now with a sociological mindful awareness I see that the way people dress is portrayed by media. When i was shopping over break i found myself looking for things that i liked and also the type of shirt or boots that i loved that characters from my favorite tv show wore. I also learned how hard it is to be both a boy or girl and be seen as perfect and how society thinks we should look and that none of it is even real. They change models pictures and famous peoples pictures so that they look thinner and better. I have noticed that it is not even possible because it's not real. Taking this class has shown me that not everything is as it seems and that you need to be who you want to be and that you shouldn't try to be an individual because you need the other people around you in order to get through life. Social skills, learning and getting farther has everything to do with the other people around you. I have also been looking at the world through a different perspective some things i haven't really changed but others i have seen the whole other side.

Crash..

This week we watched Crash. I personally love this movie and the stories that lie in it. I liked how all of the people linked together because it just shows how every race needs each other in order to function. Some people may be racist but in the end they need those that they may be prejudice against to either help do their jobs or to get around and understand those around them. I personally try to have an open mind about different races and i don't see myself becoming afraid when i have black people around me and worry about being mugged. If someone looks shady then they must be shady, if someone is looking around and acting weird then they must be about to do something, in a way maybe that's prejudice? i dont know. but if you have an uncomfortable feeling about someone than maybe youre right about it? i dont use the n word and i actually call people out that say it, i personally think that it is wrong and it pushes people down and disrespects them, but at the same time is a black person wants to call another black person that then i dont care it's what they choose to say and if they dont react and care then clearly they are okay with it.

racist ?...

This week we learned about racism and how people are categorized. We took a test today in class on european and africans and split them by pictures. The day before we categorized people and out of all of them we got two right. The fact that life is like that sucks, we shouldnt be categorizing people and discriminating against them in any way. I didnt know that we could choose our own race either and then to be categorized wrong by others around you would be disappointing. Trying to think of what group people are you cant just base them off of what they look like, we  need to take a step back and see their background and then that is how u know what race they truly are. No matter where you are in the world there is going to be a different stereotype that people will identify you as. We need to be against discrimination and change the way we perceive others.

Monopoly ...

This week in class one day we played monopoly. Whoever rolled the highest number was in the highest class and whoever rolled the lowest was in the lowest class. Luckily i rolled highest and got to make bank. The game was very easy for me, since i owned all four railroads i got paid every time someone landed on them. The lower classes didn't own anything so they never really had any opportunities to be able to make the money that they needed in order to survive. I thought that this really helped me put the classes into perspective. It is very true that people at the bottom have a hard time coming up because they mainly know others that are stuck at the bottom as well and don't have enough money in order to pay for a higher education. Those with money had it easy. They could have money passed down to them by their rich family and had the way to pay for a good education and find jobs that would want them. I noticed that i made a lot more money and the lowest class just went way into debt. Like Sal said, "it costs more to be poor", i completely agree with that. They need to pay for for down payments on a house or apartment or pay earlier and more for electric of other expenses because the companies think that they either wont pay up or will just leave when they get the chance. It sucks to be stuck at this point when there is nothing that you can do about it. Society needs to give everyone an equal chance for a good education, they always say that they want children to have a better education and get farther but where are they doing that? Were stuck in or around the social class that we are born into and there really isnt much we can do about it.

I can't believe I'm stuck in this social class...

This week we watched a movie in class with a part in it about a woman named Tammy who had a family and was stuck in lower class. She has been in a low class all her life and she can't seem to get out. Her oldest son is embarrassed of her and his family and living conditions and thinks he should be part of the middle class and plans on going to college and making something of his life. It is so sad because the mom went off of welfare and got a job so that her son would think more highly of her. They don't have a car that works so she has to walk 10 and a half miles to work at burger king as a janitor. She barely makes any money and they live in a shitty trailer. It's so sad to see that people are stuck like that and have no way out whether you like it or not. When asked what I was thankful for this weekend this story came to mind and I am so glad that I have the life that I have and don't live like that and that my family isn't ashamed of me. I feel awful that life can be like that and sometimes you can't get out of that hole.

30 days...

Watching 30 days was cool. The way that he chooses to relate to other people and to show the rest of the world what they think they know is very interesting. Morgan's roommate George seemed like such a nice person that really knew what he wanted when he got out of prison. It's just so sad to see that within 2 weeks he was right back in and didn't make the choices that he thought he was going to carry out. Travis who was only 25 had been down the wrong path since he was 15 and also seemed so much better and i actually thought he would get a job and stop because he saw what it did to his family and himself, but within 2 months he was back in prison as well. In a way it doesn't really surprise me to see that these two men went back to prison because that is what we are used to hearing about or seeing. There can be some instances where people actually do turn their lives around and learn to be a new and improved citizen. In some ways prison didn't seem that bad, obviously it is, but if your homeless and don't have any family that cares for you and you just do drugs then maybe that's the best way out? You get three meals a day, a bed (even though you might have to sleep on the ground because its over crowded, but it also beats the pavement if you are homeless), warmth and possibly gaining a couple of friends. Of course there are cons to being in prison but in order to keep sane you need to look at both ends and know what is the good things and what is bad.

Do you think that's deviant ?...

This week we learned about deviance and that it isn't always a bad thing. At first we learned about bad deviance examples and then Sal read us a story about a person that was deviant in a good way. Someone pulled a knife out on him and tried to rob him and as the boy was running away the man asked him if he wanted his jacket as well. This completely caught the boy off guard and in the end he took the boy to dinner. This is very rare, no one would ever think to take their thief out to dinner after he tries to steal from you. This story was also very surprising to me because personally I would never do that. More people should be like this because normally when someone steals from us we find a way to get them back and normally this leads to violence or we just don't know how to react because we never thought that something like that would happen to you. We were also supposed to do an act of deviance and what I did was pay for someone behind me, I didn't know the person and I don't know their reaction either but it made me feel great. It doesn't seem like something very big but when you do it it's different. Im always grateful for when my mom buys me things and I don't ask or really expect her to get me something. So maybe for them it was a feeling like that?