Final Post

Hi, I'm Hannah! I'm 16 years old and live in the suburbs of Chicago. My family is fairly small, with it only being my sister, my mom, my dad, and myself. Of course, one can't forget the 2 dogs that roam around my house delivering kisses and snuggles on the daily. I haven't played any sports since I injured my shoulder about a year ago playing tennis. I'm involved in my school's Law Club and Animal Welfare Club. My friends constantly bring food over to my house and don't give me any of it, which is so very sweet of them. Even though they don't feed me, my friends are even better than I could have imagined. My friends are a huge group in my life. Because of my time in sociology, I know that my group of friends are what I consider to be my "ingroup". These are the people I am with constantly and identify with the most. I will always view myself as a member of this group and identify myself as a friend to the people I consider to be closer to family than friends. I consider my parents to be my friends first and parental units second, which is pretty rare for a teenager to say. Due to my time in sociology, I know that this is because they treat me as a friend but also teach me the way a friend would. They support me with everything I do and constantly provide me with advice on anything I ask. My sister is the only person I can go to for everything and is still my best friend, even though she is 401 miles away from home attending the University of Missouri. Sociology has taught me that my relationship with my sister is another ingroup. Whenever someone asks me who I am, I will always say a sister first. The lessons my sister has taught me make her so much wiser than her 18 years and make her a role model to me. Although I am not planning on attending Mizzou, I am still planning on following in her footsteps and attending college after I graduate in 2016. My dream school is Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Because that's a reach academic wise, I am also looking into Auburn University, Clemson University, Ole Miss, Emory University, and University of Miami in Oxford. After getting my undergrad in Biomedical Studies I hope to attend Law School with an emphasis on Patent Law.  As a career, I hope to practice in a law firm in Charleston or any other medium-sized city in the south. I now know that society has taught me that I will be successful in life due to the salary a lawyer usually earns. Consciously, I chose this career because it combines science and law, my two passions in life. Unknowingly until now, I subconsciously chose this career because I knew that I could provide for myself and my future family. I knew this because society places a value on money and a lawyer is often times thought of as well-off in salary. While my plan to become a lawyer has not changed, I am hoping to be sociological mindful as I am spending my money, similar to the subject in the documentary I Am, to make sure I am spending my money wisely. All that being said, I consider myself a practical person so I know that plans change. I'm okay with not ending up doing all of that, as long as I'm happy where I end out. I'm happy where I am now and I'm hoping to be able to say that throughout my life.

Thanks for reading!
Hannah

Week 8

I cannot pretend to know what it is like to be a minority living in our society. The prejudice they receive, the racism that they know is hidden in some people, etc. I can't imagine the kinds of things they hear while simply trying to go about their day. Being a white female, I am unadjusted to what they experience. What I can relate to, however, is the assumptions I had about being a minority, and the privilege I never knew whites have. These things extend beyond Stevenson and the small town I live in, they go beyond Illinois even, these significant occurrences stretch throughout the United States.

I had many assumptions about race when I started this class. The most significant one was that it was biological. I always thought that if my mother was black and my dad was black, then I would be too. Through this class, I have learned that race depends on who's perspective it is from. I may think I am black, but if I am in another country they may see me as being light. This translates into the world of college applications. Affirmative action makes it so minorities have a better chance of receiving admission simply because of their race. Because I may think I am black, I can check that off while applying. I can be as white as snow, but as long as I view myself as black, that's all that matters. We learned about this through "Racial Formation" by Omi and Winant.

The privileges whites receive are something I never thought of. As soon as I started thinking about colleges I thought it was a disservice to be in the majority because affirmative action would not apply to me. As it turns out, whites have so many privileges, we can take a disservice this one time. Examples of privileges include: not being followed around in stores in fear of shoplifting, not being seen as low class or homeless based on what one is wearing, and being seen as superior in basically any setting. To be a minority and experience this must not only be humiliating, but also anger inducing. To know that people are judging you on the basis of your skin must be the worst feeling in the world. Although it may not be explicit racism that people are intending on acting upon, many people still act on implicit racism today.

Overall, to be a minority in our society would be frustrating and would induce a feeling of hopelessness. While some say that racism is at its lowest point, I believe that it is at its high because it is not on people's radar anymore.

Week 7

I always knew that social class had something to do with how we see people, but I never knew it had as big of an impact until we learned about deviance. Through this class, I learned that we view people as deviant based on their social standing, and how this may not always be fair.

In class, we watched the video, "The Line". Watching this video was eye opening for me because I did not realize how impoverished our country was until we watched it. Living in Lincolnshire, I always knew that I was in an Upper-Middle class home but I was not always acquainted with how everyone else lived. Hearing the statistics that only very few owned a home and a car in our country was shocking compared to the 3 cars my family owns. I always saw what my family had as normal, not even realizing how some people were living. This lesson, also learned through "Saints and Roughnecks" shaped my understanding of deviance and how it relates to social standing. Through this reading, I learned that if one is lower in society, they are more likely to be seen as doing something deviant than if they were higher in society. While I am lucky enough to live in a Upper-Middle class home, I have still experienced this judgement. This spring break, I went on a cruise to the U.S. Virgin Islands. While there, I met many kids around my age. The looks of judgement I received when they heard that I was from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago were resounding. Everyone just assumed that because I was from here that I drove a BMW and my family had 3 houses. In addition to this, people assumed that because I am in higher social class that I do nothing wrong and am a perfect angel. While I do not break any laws, that doesn't mean I am a perfect person. The realist in me knows that someday I will speed while driving or fail to use my blinker, but my sociological brain tells me that because of my social standing, I will most likely be not branded as deviant, only as making a small mistake.

Volunteer Oppurtunity #3

On December 6th, I once again went to my church for a volunteer opportunity. While there, I helped hang up decorations for the upcoming holidays. I helped carry boxes from the attic, hang up greens and lights, hung up wreaths, and helped put the lights on our Christmas Tree. I'd done this in the past, but this time I was not in charge of ironing the bows. I arrived at my church at 1:30 and hung up the greens until 4. After that, I helped cook the dinner that was being served that night. I helped make the Mac-and-cheese and set up the containers to keep the food warm. Overall, this experience was a lot of fun for me to have and share with my family and friends from church.

Volunteer Oppurtunity #2

It's no secret that I am active in my church, so it should come at no surprise that my next volunteer oppurtunity came through my church. I completed this activity on the 16th of November. I arrived at my church at 9:30 and finished at 10:30. This activity is an annual Thanksgiving basket making event that our teen group does. I attended last year, but this time I had no friends come and there was a completely different group of kids, a majority of them I did not know. We started my lining up boxes. After that, we all grabbed an item that was to be put in the box and worked by just taking the bag of our objects and putting one in each box. I was in charge of putting the condensed milk and canned pumpkin in each box. We ended by closing up the boxes and numbering them. At first, I was nervous because I didn't really have anyone to talk to while putting together the boxes, but by the end of the event everyone had loosened up and we were all talking. It was very hectic, as we were in a small room for the size of the event, but we made it work anyway. It was an overall really fun experience and I'm very glad that I decided to attend! It feels good knowing that we fed so many people for Thanksgiving. The fact that such a small group of teens could feed so many people really inspired me to try and volunteer more because I knew that even I could make a difference.

Week 6

Sociology had opened my eyes, there's no doubt about that. Because of this class, I have become sociological mindful of what is happening in the world around me. One way I have been impacted but did not expect it, is in the issue of gender. I have now realized the way our society forces our young members to be either one gender or the other. When applying for college, we get the choice of either being male or female. No if, ands, or buts, we have to be either one.

Through the video we watched in class, "Tough Guise 2" I relaized the impact that society has on boys. I always knew girls were changed because of it, but I didn't know everything that boys were put through. While surfing the Internet, I found 2 pictures that perfectly summarized how boys were shaped to be (please excuse the language in the second one, it was too good to not post!)

The first picture depicts the struggles that young boys put together of what they experience on a daily basis. The second depicts the struggle of a young boy trying to show some femininity but it not being accepted by his family members. This behavior is not only shown by teenagers, but a young boys' own family members. These boys are told to be tough and brave and are "suppost to like violence". The fact that a young boy can describe this while many people are blind to it shows that they are not trying to see what is wrong with our society.

The pressure experienced by young women is just as great as that experienced by young men. As shown by a Dove commercial we watched in class, women in our society rarely think highly of themselves, though others may think very highly of them. Around Halloween-time, we looked at the Halloween costumes worn by young girls and boys. The girls were always depicted as fun or girly and something as minimal as a fairy or cheerleader while the boys were members of the military or firefighters. Simply put, the girls were supposed to cheer on the boys while they saved the world. As they grew up, they could be the same thing, only with less clothes. One picture I found again perfectly depicts the struggles a young girl experiences through society. 

Pictured here is a young girl and boy posing together. This billboard is from The Body Shop and I don't think I've ever been more proud of a company for depicting something wrong with our society than I am with them for having this. Because the girls name is Alex and it names all of the things she aspires to be when she grows up (and none of them are a housewife) the reader automatically assumes that it is talking about her brother. It is not until we read the lower right hand corner that we find out that her brothers name is Chris, and it was talking about her. While this hit the nail on the head, I still want more. I want companies to depict the exposure of young girls to ads of women naked with a product placed strategically to still be printed. These ads have gotten worse and worse, and it is because of this class that I really saw what magazines were printing. All in all, I find it sickening the amount of pressure experienced by our young members of society. Boys are told they have to be strong and cannot be at all feminine, and girls are told they cannot have a job that does anything and they have to wear next to nothing to be noticed by anyone. 

Volunteer Oppurtunity #1

On Saturday the 8th of November I volunteered at my church's (The Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit) annual holiday boutique. While there, I signed people in, allowing them to receive the newsletter telling them the date for the next years boutique. While I have volunteered at my church for 7 years in a row, this was my first time doing sign in. I experienced many type of people while working at the table. Some were nice and more than willing to simply put their name and email on the sheet of paper. Others were rude or sassy to me, when I was simple working to help them in the future. It was frustrating to experience ungrateful people, but the little old ladies that reminded me of my grandmothers made the experience more than worth it. I worked at the sign in table from 8:30 to 11:30.

After working at the sign in table I quickly moved to our church's kitchen where I was in charge of handing out soup to our vendors. I prepared their plates which contained an assortment of cheeses and crackers. My mom and I then went around handing out the soup to the vendors. Many of them were grateful that they were being fed while still working and for the hot meal on a cold day. Some, however, were rude to my mother and I, which was frustrating as we did not even have to offer them a full meal. I delivered meals from 11:30 to 1:30. Overall, the experience was fun and definately worth dealing with the public.