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.