Crash

This week we watched the movie Crash in class. I think it was really eye opening and something everyone could relate to. I'm sure there's no one that hasn't judged somebody before or made up their mind about who they are before they met them. That's basically what the whole movie is about. Race isn't just a black and white issue. I think the movie did a good job of showing that there are so many races, and so many stereotypes about them. Also, like the Persian family, people may stereotype you for a race you aren't (muslim in their case). I really liked how the movie played along and how everyone was interrconnected in the end. I think metaphorically, it was to show that everyone is actually one and race is just a social thing that different cultures make up. The scene where Sandra Bullok and her husband get their car stolen is very difficult because she says people will call her racist if she says anything but she has a gut feeling, and I know this actually happens to me when I drive through a "sketchy"area. I once got stuck in Mayfair on foot and although I don't think of myself as prejudice, I wanted to get out of there quickly. I guess it's something that's hard to change, but we should all be more mindful of others.

Race

This week we talked about how race isn't biological like most people think; it's actually just a social creation. It was interesting to see how other countries like Brazil have a completely different view on race. Someone in the same family can be different races. I think that's pretty mindblowing considering how we as Americans as raised to view race. There are only a couple categories which people can fit into, which in my opinion is ridiculous because not that many are so similar. There's so much else that we have to take into context. Also, people put others into stereotypes because of this. I know one time I was going with my cousin, her boyfriend, and his little nieces downtown and we took a wrong turn and ended up in the southside of Chicago. He was telling them to lock their doors and they just sort of looked confused and asked why? It was pretty awkward and hard to explain because they were still being taught to treat everyone the same. It was only because we were in a "black" neighborhood, and it's kind of sad to see that that's how we've been programmed.

Monopoly

The actual game of Monopoly doesn't really apply to real life at all. Not everyone starts off in the same class, and not everyone has a fair chance to succeed. In class, we play a version where the higher class you start in, the more money you start with, and the more money you make each time you make it around the board. No one in my group moved up a class. The richest person made more money, and the poorest person actually had a negative amount of money.
When my mom was growing up, she was probably somewhere in the upper class because she lived in Russia and her dad was a prominent politician, but then my parents moved here so I'm not in the upper class that she was in. However, I think that by having a college education here, I'll be able to maybe move up a class from my parents, and basically go full circle.

Social Class and Poverty

In class we watched a movie about how a woman, Tammy, is very poor, but her son wants to do something more with his life and move. However, it's very hard for him and he can only resort to dressing more like a "preppy kid." I think that because of society's standards, it will be very hard for him to move up a class. He definitely needs to finish high school and probably have at least some college if not all 4 years. That will probably prove to be incredibly difficult for him since he doesn't have to money. Social class is how we view the people that have certain amounts of money. I think that even if he goes to a better school, people will still know where he came from. At our school there are people that don't have a lot of money but you can't really tell because of how they act and how they dress. It's pretty uncommon to be viewed as something other than a rich kid here, no matter where you come from. I think that's kind of different than most other schools/places.

Drugs in Jail

This week we talked about how the majority of prisoners are in jail because of drugs. Also, one fourth of the prisoners in the world and in the US. I think that's crazy but also could be because out justice system isn't worked out that well. As a a society, we believe that everyone who does something illegal needs to be locked up, and even though that may be true, we also need to figure out how we figure out what's considered worse than something else. Personally, I can't say I know someone who's in jail at this moment, but I have known a couple of people who have gone to juvie. They were for drug charges ,which is basically what everyone goes for. I think that beating your wife or murdering someone should definitely be a longer sentence than drugs but that's not always how it works. People get away with major things that affect everyone, while drugs basically only affect the individual and they get into so much more trouble for it. Also, I agree with the movie we watched that prisons should have rehab centers because if people are going to be kept in jail, they might as well turn their life around and be productive.

Positive Deviance

This week I did an act of positive deviance, and I have to say it felt pretty good. On Saturday I was working at my job at the mall, and during my break I went to get some frozen yogurt. I saw a guy standing in line behind me and thought that would be a perfect opportunity to do something nice. He looked like he was buying about the same amount as me so I figured it would be around the same price. I gave the cashier $7, so it would cover both me and him, and possibly even give her some leftover. I told her to keep the change and use it to pay for his yogurt. She looked at me like I was insane at first and asked if I was sure. The guy also looked at me weirdly but then he said "thank you so much" and I told him no problem and left. It felt kind of strange to just pay for a random person and then leave, but I felt really good about myself. Even though society may view this as deviant and weird, I think it was a really good experience, and in reality I think/hope I made the guy's day just by doing something so simple.

Teens vs Adults

As a teen, it's hard to know what's expected of us. We discussed how there are certian milestones in each of our lives, and it's only until our mid-20s that we're actually expected to be completely independent. I do agree that our society makes this hard for us to do. We are not allowed to be "adults" for basically our whole lives, but then we hit a certian age where we are expected to be completely responsible and fully independent from our parents. I think as time has gone on, teens are associated more and more with bad things and messing up but that's not neccessarly true. Adults are prone to drug use, alcohol use, and suicide even more than teens are. Personally, it's hard to go from following the rules everywhere we go, to having to be the leader in order to succeed. I also agree with the idea that jobs aren't really helping us a whole lot. My job doesn't let me get promoted to something I want to do later in life. I work retail and the rest of the people, even my managers, aren't any older than their 20s. I think our society has to learn to run a little more smoothly during everyone's transitions in life.

Masculinity

This week we discussed the pressure men have to be tough and "masculine". I never really realized how much of an impact the media has on guys. I always sort of thought it was only girls and their body image. It was also sad to see that guys get bullied because they aren't tough/strong enough, and then sometimes they decide to bring guns to school. I think we should just learn to accept others the way they are and realize not all men can be perfectly built and tough as nails, just like the majority of girls aren't stick thin and perfect. Personally, I'll try to see past how guys are on the exterior and the attitude they put on to the outside, to actually try and make them feel good about who they truly are. And besides, girls like at least some sensitivety anyways.

Body Image

Today we discussed body image problems in class. We talked about how the media influences women to the point of eating disorders and even sometimes death to look beautiful. I think people need to know that what they see on TV and in the magazines isn't real, and it's not something to strive for. It's sad to see that this is what our society has gotten to, and that so many young girls are having so many self esteem hardships because of this. Some people said that if you don't care, the ads shouldn't affect you, but that's not true. Young girls are bombarded with these and even if they don't really pay attention, it subconsciously tells them that this what they have to look like, and they have to ooze sex appeal or else no one will like them.

Human Nurture

This week we talked about feral children and children who were abused. It was really sad to me that someone could purposely mistreat their child to the point where they couldn't walk, talk, or act "human." I thought about how lucky I am that my family is here to support me, and they nurtured me enough that I'm pretty successful today. Also, when we watched the Oprah segment, it was really heartwarming to see that those children do have a potential to live a semi-normal life with their adoptive parents. I think it's super important that a baby has someone that cares for them and loves them, so they can develop normally,

Nothing

The other day I went to Target and stood there while doing nothing. It was pretty hard to do for me. I couldn't completely disconnect myself from the while. The whole time I was thinking about something: what homework I had, what I would eat for dinner, what college essays to work on. I only ended up doing about 5 minutes of this instead of the full 10. During this time though, I saw a lot of people giving me weird looks while I stood there doing absolutely nothing. The people working seemed like they wanted to ask if I needed help on more than one occasion, but they all just passed by probably thinking I was insane. I think it's bad that we never have time for ourselves and always have to be moving and doing something. I feel like this helped me open my eyes to sometimes just take a second to breathe and see the things around us. There's so much we take for granted, and as Americans, this happens even more than we may think.

Heritage

I was born in Russia, but I pretty much think of myself as an American. Granted I only lived two and a half years of my life there, I sometimes feel like I should be "more Russian" than I really am. I feel that because I was raised in America, I hold true the values that Americans hold close. For example, as Robin Williams states on his list that achievement and success and major personal goals, I can fully relate to that. My parents moved to the United States to live a more satisfying life and let me have a more fullfilling future, so money was definetly a factor for them. I agree with the list and think that America does have it's own culture to some extent.

Volunteering

Today I volunteered at Onward House, a place for young students, to tutor them. I expected a terrible neighborhood and kids who would refuse to do any work. When we got there, it was an average neighborhood for the most part, and all the kids were so nice. It was so much fun to help them with their homework and help them learn to read better. We also got to play games with them. My childhood was relived through that. I really enjoyed the experience and thought I bonded with some of the children. I'm hoping to go back every other week and keep doing this even past sociology class.

Bronx Tale

I really enjoyed the movie we watched in class. I'm a sucker for most mobster movies, and the social construction in this one was really relevant. The neighborhood that C. lives in consists of all Italians. Some people, like C.'s dad, try to stay out of the mafia part, but others, like Sonny, embraced it and were in charge. Most of them know that it's an unwritten rule that they don't like black people. They're not welcome in their town, and the Italians aren't welcome on their side either. When C. goes out with the girl, he's breaking a sort of code that he knows his friends will shun him for. However, to his suprise, Sonny tells him to go for it and that she might be "one of the great ones."
In school, you'll sometimes see a couple and think "how are they together", but you thinking that just means that they have overcome this social obstacle that C. had to overcome too. I think it's really cool that people get to know others outside of their comfort zone, even if it doesn't sit well with others.

Boat Experiment

In class we were supposed to pretend we were stranded on a boat but it could only hold a certain amount of us, so the rest had to be kicked off. It was interesting to see how people decided who to keep and who to basically kill. At first people thought about who would be the most important for society as a whole but then they started focusing more on how to keep themselves alive. The man without hands was the first to go because he wouldn't be of help on the boat, and eventually the pregnant cheerleader was kicked off. I understand the reasoning that she wouldn't really be much of a help, but I also think that since she was going to bring a baby into the world, that was pretty important to save.

I think this, in a way, relates to how all of us live our lives every day. We decide who to "keep" in our groups, and who to keep in touch with in our families. I feel like if everyone took a step back and saw that people had a lot more to offer than some may think, we may all learn something new.

Freaks and Geeks

I've seen the episode of Freaks and Geeks that we watched in class the other day, but this time when I watched it with a sociological mindset it seemed a little different to me. The different groups in the episode seemed to be the freaks, the geeks, and the bullies. Along with that there were other groups that overlapped: like Lindsay's family. She was the freak, her brother was the geek, and her mom and dad were there to lead both of the in the right direction no matter what they were part of.

I think that there are definetly some negative influences from the groups. The freaks cause Lindsay to start smoking and do worse in school. The geeks cause her little brother to be social outcasts and get picked on, and the bullies are hated by some people.

But also along with that, I think that it's very function in the way that they all have something they belong to and somewhere to go.

My school also has "cliques" but I don't think they are as apparent. There are so many people that it's hard to belong to just one group, so I think a lot of people end up overlapping. I also think that students here are so stressed about college because it's the norm, and we haven't really lived life any other way.

Silence

The first day of school, sociology class started with the teacher taking a seat in the back and sitting silently. It let to an awkward silence because no one knew what to do or say. All our lives we've been taught to follow the teacher and expect them to tell us how to start class. With this change of pace, a lot of students were taken aback and not sure how to deal with it, but why did that silence have to be awkward? Not all silences are. For example, every other year I've started school the teacher would tell us to be quiet and that wouldn't be awkward, but when not given instructions people become confused and nervous and the mood becomes awkward. I think we have to get out of the sociological rut that we're in, and start to see how others live their life and how we can change ours.

Who am I?

Hi there! My name's Yelena and I'm a senior in high school. I was born in Russia and moved to Chicago when I was around 3 years old. I moved to the suburbs in second grade after that. A pretty boring place if i do say so myself, but I plan to get out of here when college rolls around. Speaking of college, I want to major in psychology, but I'm not so sure what I want to do with that yet. Maybe I'll minor in sociology. (Which would make this blog useful for something other than the obvious schoolwork.)

I would say my friends are probably the biggest influences in my life; they've been there for me through thick and thin. They've learned to deal with my uniqueness, for lack of better words.

I guess I'll write about my view on life or something eventually, but for now this is all I got.