Service

The community service project really stuck with me. I never really was interested in partaking in community service but im really glad we had this project. Going to winchester house really showed me a different type of person. I have never really been around elderly people..other than my family members. Seeing how they acted around eachother was very intersting. One lady wasyelling at a man because he kept hitting the ball before it got to her in table ball..and seeing the competitiveness of bingo was interesting. I will definatly continue doing community service!

Poverty

The movie with we watched this week really has had me thinking. I've been thinking about how good we all acutally have it here. We dont live paycheck to paycheck and we get buy food whenever we are hungry. Morgan Spurlock (i think thats his last name..) and his girlfriend's experience has really opened my eyes. The past couple days I've been concentrating less on the matieral things I have. Ive really thought about how lucky I am to have 5 computers in my house, when many dont even have one.

Also, our discussion about drugs was very interesting. I do agree with Sal on his frustration on not understanding why weathly middle class teenagers feel the need to do drugs. We have everything. I myself have never even thought about ever doing/trying a drug or even smoking. I think its all very stupid and pointless. I think the students at Stevenson who use drugs are just wasting their parents money that they have worked for and using it because they are selfish and want the high.

Location

I am blogging about my experience at the badminton state tournmant from this weekend. When I was there, I was looking at the various teams school names. I realized that every single team was from northern Illinois. For this competition to be the "State" tournament, you would think there would be teams from all over the state. A strange example is my teammates played their semi-final game against buffalo grove. So we had to travel 4 hours to play a team that is 10 minutes away from Stevenson. I guess this means that badminton is acutally only located in northern Illinois. There has to be some sort of sociological explaination to this why badminton is only played around here. Why arent there teams in southern Illinois? It just doenst make much sense to me.

money

I think what we learned about with the social class was very internesting. I always knew that buffalo grove was weathly, but I never would have guessed it is in the upper 90% of the nations money. That really makes me think about how poorly people live. I dont think of my family as rich at all, but we do live comfortably. We never think about the price of our dinner check. But around the country, people have to. I guess we really are lucky for where we live and what are parents do to allow us to live without any fears of not having money tomorrow.

drugs

The experiment we did today I think had a lot to do with sociology. We catagorized things through their characteristics and basically all of my groups were wrong. I think this relates to sociology beacuse it shows how people catagorize other people with only knowing a few things. Lets say i meet someone. I instantly put them into a group (in relation to todays activity...group "c".) but, once i find out who they really are, they should be in group A. It shows how we guess things and realize later that we were completly wrong.

Men

I think men do have a straight sterotype they must achieve, and if they dont they are abnormal. These boys who dont fit the mold then get picked on. I think a great example of this is when I was in third grade I befriended a boy, Eric, with a mental disability. Children would constantly make fun of me saying we were "married" and things like that. They would make fun of him because he was different. He didnt fit the mold on the normal average boy. Even in third grade the traits are expected. So then in highschool, it becomes even more necessary to be in the norm. That is why there is so much bullying in todays society because NOT everyone is the same. I think that is crazy how some people can be so closed minded that they cant accept differences in people.

fear

FearMoore mentions fear in a few different scenes. What agents of socialization promote fear in America? How do they do it? Do you think there is something to fear?


In my public speaking class my target audience for my speech about online predators was Barry Glassner who was in Bowling for Columbine. Basically he thinks that we americans are afraid of everything. We are afraid of our neighbor robbing us. We are afraid of dying. We overreact to everything. I think the news has a big impact on our fear. With them constantly reporting on the latest murder and killing and robbery, how can we NOT be afraid? Even though nothing has really happened where I live in Vernon Hills, things are happening in Chicago which isnt too far away. I must admit, any time I am home alone I am afraid. Why I am i dont know. All the doors are locked by I still think about the possible kidnapper who could take me away. I think we are all afraid of what COULD happen instead of what is realistically possible. What are the chances that in this area someone will be shot. Very small. I think that if the news wouldnt report on all the horrers of the world, we would be a much calmer society.

Human Nature

What I want to be when I grow up has really been affected by what my parents do. My dad is a CPA and works at Kraft Foods. My mom was the manager of a store for 25 years. Their financial background has made me want to do what they do. I dream of having my own office in a similar company to Kraft Foods. This isnt true for my sisters though. My oldest sister is graduating college this year as a nurse and my other sister is a sophomore in college studying to be a elementary teacher. I guess this shows that not everyone's lives are based on their parents. For me, growing up visiting my dad and hearing his stories from work and helping my mom at her store has made me want to be an accountant more than anything.

Nature and Nurture.

We have been discussing nature and nurture in class this week. I do believe both have a large impact on our lives. For me specifically, I have blonde hair because of my mom, i am about their height, am athletic like my dad, and have the same humor as my dad. However, there are some things that I have created on my own and I believe outside sources have impacted them. For example, I am a little more intelligent than the rest of my family, and i strongly believe it is because of my eduacation. Stevenson and Daniel Wright have really set a foundation for learning for me and I have carried it through my life. Although my dad went to Shs and Dw, the education is very different from when It was for him. My personality is made up by my surroundings.

I thought the article we read was very interesting. The story about Genie is horrific but also inspiring. A girl who has sat in a chair for 12 years can learn to speak, walk and learn. Also, the survey of the mentally disabled children shows that nurture really has a large impact on their lives. Without the social interaction in early years, a child really misses out on alot in their life.

American Culture

First off, this post is late. It really stinks being sick! I have been sick since thursday morning and I am even debating going to school tomorrow.

I think there is a such thing as American Culture. It is true that there are many subcultures which add to this big, American Culture. We all seem to have similar morals and values. Society tries to put the same thought into our minds. Drugs are bad. Underage drinking is bad. Don't cheat. Don't steal. Help others. It seems that generally, we all have the same mindset. Success. All Americans have the mindset to succeed, yet some dont actually achieve it. We go through elementary school to prepare us for highschool. We go to highschool to prepare us for college. We go to college to prepare us for our career. We have our career to get money and have a life. Everyone wants the perfect life which consists of family, money, and happiness. If we dont have these three things, because of divorce, poverty, then we feel like failures.

So even though we have different nationalities which have their own customs and traditons, the culture of America is all leading up to success.

C's Groups

Groups What are all the groups that Collogero belongs to? (Think in terms of the circles exercise we did in class.) Would you put him in Sonny’s crew, or would you put him and Sonny in their own crew? What is Collogero’s Master Status? Why do you think so? Do you think his master status changes throughout the movie?
I think Collogero's groups are
-Family (Son)
-Friend
-Sonny's Crew member.

I would put him in Sonny's crew because he is a part of them all. Yes, the group is mainly Sonny and C, but there are many other people involved in that group. I would say his master status would be Sonny's crew..because he seemed to put that over family or friend. He would put all his free time into serving Sonny. I don't think his master status changes because once he went into Sonny's crew he didnt leave. He has been in the group for 8 years now and I dont think he is going to leave them anytime soon.

American Idol

I am obsessed with American Idol. Ever since the first season I have been addicted..even watching some episodes multiple times. This season is def my favorite. I have so many people that I can't wait to see get far into the competition. My all time favorite is David Archuleta. He is a 16 year old boy who is an AMAZING singer and is adorable. There was a boy, his name was Josiah..and he lived in his car. He left his house an a year ago and surprisingly he made it into the top 50. I think this relates to sociology because its seems sociologically wrong for people to leave home before they graduate from college. The pattern is live at home until your 18, go to college for 4 years, move back home, get a job and money, then move out and get marred. This boy obviously skipped a couple of steps. I thought it was interesting that he left home at the age of 17 I think..and he seems okay with it. He said he was lonely but, I mean, he acts like hes fine. He didnt make it into the top 24. I was talking to my friend today and she even said..I wonder what Josiah is doing right now..I said driving around.

There was one more boy..a nerdy boy who wears a tie and has big, curly hair and thick glasses. I can't help but wonder if he wasnt nerdy if he would have made it. He did have a good voice and I wonder if appearence has a big impact on his sucess in life. I personally do think that if he was a good looking boy he would have been instantly put into the top 12 boys.

I LOVE AMERICAN IDOL :)

People eating people

I thought the story about the rugby (i think it was?) team was very intersting. I would say right now I could never eat a human being. However, if i was in the situation those people were in, I would probably join the pack and chow down. If there is NO food and we are all starving to death, I wouuld consume whatever I can to survive. I dont think i could ever eat a friend though. That sounds morally wrong to me. Friends and family would be off limit. However, if it was a stranger, I would be grossed out but still eat it.

The awkwardness of silence

Whenever it is completely silent I do feel awkward. It feels like someone should talk but either no one knows what to say, or they just don't feel like talking. That is defiantly awkward because someone needs to step up and talk, but we don't know who is going to step up. I think the people that talk too much like to hear themselves speak. Most of the time what they say is pointless. I think people should learn to listen more. My dad taught me that the best quality in a person is the ability to listen. I actually feel that listening is more important than talking. I do think that society yearns for peace and quiet because, especially where we live, it is always noisy. Someone always has to be talking, or there's always noises outside (cars, trains etc.) It's never actually silent. Sometimes when I am in the car with either my family or driving someone to school, there is an awkward silence. I think for something that's worth saying, but sometimes I cant think of anything. It does make me anxious because i don't know what to do. When I don't have anything in common with people, or I don't know them, I don't speak. In many new classes I don't speak if i don't have any friends in the class.

Silence comes out of shyness. If two people don't know eachother there might be silence because neither wants to be bold and speak. That definietly causes awkwardness.

Me on Blogging

I think blogging is pretty cool. I had a blog site on "xanga" in like 7th grade so I've used it before. I never really used it though. I just kinda had it because everyone else had it. I'm excited to use this for this class because it's a way to say our thoughts even if we don't want to talk in class. I know definietly for this class I dont have any close friends in it, so i wont be as outgoing as other classes. This will give me an opportuity to say my opinions.

That's all