Race!!

This past week we talked about race. I thought it was interesting how there is explicit and implicit racism. The explicit one is something we notice and don't always think of ourselves as racists, but the matter of fact is we are all judgmental and prejudice. It is the way we grew up and psychologically and sociologically think because of where we grew up and with who.In class we also watched the movie crash. This movie showed so much prejudice in our society; the sad part is it is realistic and there is so much hatred and racism. I always see myself as accepting to all. My goal is to constantly be thinking about those around me and the racism people face. I am going to try to pay attention to my implicit racism. I want to make sure I am not rude unconsciously.

Community Service!! Feed My starving Children!!

On May 5th 7-10pm  I got to go to Feed My Starving Children Organization in Schamburg.

It was such a great experience. This organization helps feed millions of children in several countries.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ6SuCzSt7w&feature=player_embedded#at=23 

This video along with others is very touching. On this page there are more videos http://www.fmsc.org/page.aspx?pid=535 

After watching this video it reminded me of when we were talking about social class. We are born into a certain social class and it is very hard and almost unrealistic to move up in social class. It is said knowing this especially after watching how these children have been affected by the social class they were born into. I was so touched by the video and the impact I could make on these children. When You first arrive they show a video and we were able to see a little boy named Toussaint who was near death when he started receiving these meals. He was 14 months old, but he looked like a little infant that was born early.  It was amazing to see this difference; after one month of eating these meals he was thriving and looked like a healthy little boy.  This was my sixth or seventh time doing feed my starving children. It is so much fun and always makes me feel better knowing that by spending three hours of my day I was able to save so many lives. My favorite part is in the end when they count up all the boxes that you did and tell you how many children you saved. This time when I was there we were able to package 44 boxes. Creating 9,504 meals which feed 26 kids for an entire year! That is amazing to me knowing that I could help 26 kids by giving up just a few hours of my time. Community service is such a great way for us to help our community. I love being able to go there and help out. I would much rather spend my time at an amazing organization like this than sitting at home on the computer or watching TV. I love how even though we aren't able to actually interact with those we are affecting it was nice to be able to see the pictures and the changes we made. I can't wait to go back again and hear how many kids I can help by doing so little.

The Social Class Ladder!!

In class we talked about the social class and how the rich are getting richer; yet the poor are getting poorer. The gap between the high and the low classes have increased phenomenally. In class we each were given six pennies and we were coin tossing to see how many pennies everyone in the class would end up with. In the beginning the class all guessed that the amount of pennies  people would be half and half(half would have way more and half would have very little). The game rules are that there is a 50, 50 chance, yet in the end it always turns out the same way. At the end there were very few on top, a couple in the middle, and a ton on the bottom.We are put into our classes based on how much money we make. When in a social class it is hard to change it because that is what we grew up knowing. Yes we say that the people in lower classes could change it if they really wanted to have a better life, but the fact is it is hard to change it once you are there because yes they are given opportunities to get an education. If they are in poverty or lower class then it is harder because they aren't able to pay for as good of schooling. Also if they are starting of in working class they are probably helping support the family so they don't have time to go get more schooling. I don't come from a super wealthy family, but I would say that I am middle class. I have seen the differences in classes throughout High school. One of my friends gets whatever she wants using daddy's credit card, while one of my other friends have to work consistently because they don't have as much and are trying to get money so they are able to get the chance to go to college and get a good education. Social class gap is increasing by a large amount from top to bottom.

Jail Time!

After reading courtroom 302 I was astonished and very surprised. Prisoners were treated very badly and as if they weren't human. The police yelled and didn't treat those in jail properly. In this jail they were treated as if they were guilty even though they hadn't even been convicted yet.They were guilty until proven innocent instead of innocent until proven guilty. Yes discipline is important, but being declined help is cruel especially those with medical problems. Those officers were out of bounds and could have been strict and give discipline without being so rude. The justice system isn't so just.

Community Service!!

     Service is such a great opportunity. I have done so many service projects in the past, but this is one of the few ones that I  have done where I actually get to interact and see the people that I am affecting. I thought it was really cool being able to talk to them. I had so much fun and I love being able to give back to the community. It was nice seeing all the other volunteers there as well. The thing about giving is you get back in someway. I think the best thing about community service is being able to give and affect others lives. 

  I got to work at the special Olympics. It was amazing. The people there were so nice and really fun to talk to. I had a blast. I love knowing that I can help and make a difference in people's lives. What may seem so little to us can make a a huge difference in others life. I loved being able to talk to the people there and hearing all their stories. Those short five hours of helping them seemed nothing to me, but it meant a lot to them.

   I also had the opportunity to spend 3 hours reading to children. This was a lot of fun. It was a wonderful chance. Reading to them is something that doesn't seem like a big deal to me, but after talking to some of the kids I realized that the little and simple things can make a big difference. I had so much fun listening to the kids and reading the stories to them.

   

The deviance of drugs!

In class today we were given a variety of unknown drugs and had to rate them based on the description of the drug.We rated it on a scale of 1 to 4. 1 being over the counter drugs, two being prescribed drugs, three being illegal misdemeanor, and four being illegal felony. The results from our class were really interesting. The drugs: alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine got mainly rated 3s or 4s.These are drugs daily used in our society. The drugs that are considered felonies are the ones that got ratings of 1 or 2. This was a shock to me because it was opposite from what everyone would have thought it to be if we were actually given the names of the drugs. I think it is interesting and it makes me curious personally on how they decide the severity or punishment of certain drugs or how it should be controlled.

Deviance!

        Norms are the behavioral standards created by society, ways in which people are supposed to act. Deviance can be described as a violation of these norms. Deviance is a failure to conform with culturally reinforced norms. This definition can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the situation or person. Social norms are different in every culture. Some acts of deviance may be criminal acts, but it can also be positive.

 http://www.positive-deviant.com/positive-deviant-characteristics.html

I found this website that I thought was cool. It described possible characteristics of a person who is positively deviant.  http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/2010/03/deviance-101.html I was also able to find this blog deviance 101. It has some interesting stories about deviance. I enjoyed reading many different deviant stories, it helped to widen my view. Many people including me would always mainly see being deviant as a negative thing.   

          I have made a bucket list and I have gotten comments like why do you have a bucket list you are still really young. Many see it as odd that i already have one. If I decided to call it a wish list I think it would be more of a norm for someone at my age. On my bucket list I have two things I can think of off the top of my head that can go along with Deviance. I have already crossed them both out. Leaving a 100% tip and paying for a strangers meal. At the time when I was doing this my friends were shocked and were asking why I was doing it. I love hearing how the positive act of defiance can affect someone greatly.Deviant is a departure from normal. It exists outside the prevalent social standard. Deviance defies tradition and challenges conventional wisdom. It is unacceptable.