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. 

Week 5

These pasts few weeks have shaped me to become sociologically mindful. Every little thing a family member of mine does makes me wonder if I do that action also. Because we talked about nature and nurture, this thought process makes sense.

Our class learned that nurture shapes a person and the way they turn out to become as adults. An example of this is when children are left to live with wild animals. It is not uncommon for them to take on the characteristics of the animals they grow up with. Additionally, we saw evidence of nurture (actually the loss of it) when we talked about children abandoned and abused by their parents. While they were given proper nourishment, they were unable to communicate like the should have been for their age. These children often times had to learn how to walk and talk. We watched a clip from Oprah where a young girl was discovered abandoned emotionally by her parents. She was mentally younger then she should have been, thus proving the point of nature v. nurture. Eventually, this young girl was adopted and her adoptive parents are working with her on her speech and walking.

This topic resonates with me on a deeper level. My family and I are very close and I am aware that I take after them in my actions. Since learning about nurture, I have realized that I am more similar to my family then I originally thought. For example, 11 years ago my grandfather passed away from Parkinson's Disease. While I only knew him for 5 years, some of my actions are shaped by him. I enjoy eating all the same foods he ate and even have some of the same favorite restaurants (Superdawg!). One night, I went to get a scoop of ice cream (the favorite dessert in my house) instead of putting my ice cream in a bowl, I decided to put it in a cup. As soon as I put my ice cream in the cup my dad mentioned that I take after my grandfather. Little did I know, my grandfather only ate his ice cream in a cup. I don't remember ever seeing him eat ice cream from a cup or conciously deciding to become like my grandfather, but this shift occured by nature. While my grandfather was only able to shape me for 5 years of my life, it was enough to change an action that I do nearly every day (told you it was a favorite in my house!).

The idea of nature is that we are born knowing these actions and it our genes that tell us what to do. While this is an interesting idea, I honestly believe that little me watched my grandfather scoop ice cream and was shaped for the future. I say this because no one else in my family eats their ice cream in a cup. If nature shaped us, my sister should eat her ice cream in a cup, since my sister and I share the same gene pool. My father would be the one to be influenced the most from my grandfather so I find it interesting that he does not use a cup for his ice cream. While my dad is normal in his ice cream eating habits, I see parts of my grandfather in him. Since my grandfather passed in 2003, he has still shaped my father and who he is today.