Who am I?

I am a sociologically mindful person now. I am a teenage girl trying to fit in with all of the social norms, who's life is controlled by stereotypes. My eyes have been opened to many parts of sociology that I otherwise would have just looked past, such as gender roles, race not actually existing, and the importance of money on people's views of your deviance. I am fortunate enough to be in a majority; others see me as an middle-upper class white heterosexual, so I have it about as good as it gets, to an outsider taking a brief look at my life.

Service Experience Hours

For a long time now, volunteering has been a big part of my life. The first place I really felt a personal connection to was Equestrian Conneciton, when I started volunteering in 2007. Equestrian Connection is a therapeutic stable where kids and adults can ride horses, with the help of therapists, leaders, and side walkers. Throughout this semester, I have gone there to volunteer for 2-3 hours each week leading horses, putting saddles and bridals on the horses, walking next to the riders, and helping with mounts and dismounts.
My mom is the directer of a PADS homeless shelter and I have volunteered there for the dinner shift (6:30-8:30) twice this semester. I thought it was a good experience to get to volunteer and talk to the guests and realize they are people like you and me, with their own stories, personalities, and food preferences.
For a few seasons now, I have volunteered as a buddy for Keshet's Buddy Baseball. It is from 1-2:30 on Sundays in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. At Buddy Baseball, each player is paired with one or two buddies, and they get to play a game of baseball. There are no outs, everyone gets a chance to hit each round and make it around the bases. I think this is a very special opportunity for the players to get to play on a team and hit the ball and make it around for a home run, with buddies helping them every step of the way.
In the begininning of the semester, I raised money and participated in the Polar Plunge to raise money for Special Olympics. I felt this was meaningful for me because I am a Gymnastics Coach for the Special Olympics, so I got to see who was being benifited from all the money that each of the teams raised. Although the water was FREEZING, I had a good time that day with my friends, especially because it was for such a good cause.

Me at Buddy Baseball

 

Polar Plunge!

What is Race

How do we define race? What component of our blood decides our race? Looking at our hair in a microscope, what is different between each race? What does my fingerprint show about my race? What about my skin color?
Race is not biological. You cannot tell what race a person is by looking at any of the above questions. Race is socially constructed. Your race may change depending on what country you are in and who you are with. Someone could be considered "white" in America, while they would be called "Amorenada" in Brazil (meaning tannish). In Brazil, there are well over a hundred different ways to classify someone by skin color. Race is constructed differently by each country and each culture.
When trying to classify people by race, you may use some of the questions previously asked, like skin color. This is not something that you can say this person is dark and that person is light; skin color is a spectrum. When three people are in a line, you can say who is the most dark or the most light, but once you add 10 people to that group, the person who was once considered "dark" may now be in the middle. Race is like a spectrum.

Crash

This week in class, we watched the movie Crash; it showed the racial tensions between people. The movie showed how people of different races are stereotyped in many situations. Some of this was very shocking for me as because I come from a mainly white upper class area where I don't see much of these racial issues first hand.
Some of the ways people in Crash were stereotyped is by the color of their skin, accents that they had, and where they appeared to have come from.
Something I found very interesting and surprising is that a young police officer was very against racial stereotyping and discrimination, so much that he put his job on the line so that he wouldn't have to ride in a patrol car with a racist partner. He was outwardly accepting of people, especially black people, but he ended up feeling threatened by a black man, he was giving a ride to, who was reaching in his pocket to pull something out, and the officer ended up shooting the man. It turns out the black man was pulling out St. Christopher to show he had the same one as the officer had in his car.
Officer Ryan, the young officer's partner in the beginning of the movie, was very racist. He pulled over a car, for no real reason, with a black couple in it. He molested the woman. Near the end of the movie, him and his new officer were the first on site of a crash, where the driver of the car flipped over was that woman he had previously molested. The car ended up catching on fire and after his partner pulled him out of the burning car, he risked his life to go back in and save the woman.
This movie is full of irony of people who's views on racism dramatically change throughout the movie. I really enjoyed watching the movie so I could see how much people's lives are filled with racism.

Why We Are Where We Are

Many people blame poor people for being poor. In class, we did a simulation of social class using the game, Monopoly, with a little twist. Each person was randomly (by rolling dice) assigned to a social class, which is what social class they are born into. The lower classes get less money to start with and get only a little money when passing GO, while the upper classes start with a lot of money, multiple properties, and receive a lot of money when passing GO. As the rounds went on, the upper class people got more and more money, while the lower class people kept paying money and didn't end up with very much. Nobody was able to change their social status because of the benifits the upper classes had and the limitations the lower classes had.
This simulation shows that people don't have a choice in the social class they are born into, and it is very difficult to move up even one social class throughout a lifetime.

The Inequalities of Social Class

In class recently we have been talking about the inequalities of social class. In America, everyone is supposed to have the same opportunities to be successful, but it is not the case. If you are born into a family with very little money, then you probably don't go to a very good school, and you won't have the money to go to a good (or even any) college, and you won't be able to get a very good job, and you won't be able to make a lot of money. On the other hand, if you are born into a wealthy family, you probably will attend a good high school, be expected to attend a good college to get a degree, so then you can get a good job, and make a lot of money. Although there are some exceptions to these two examples, this is how majority of Americans lives go.

Saints and Roughnecks

Having enough money can help teens cover up their deviance. I think the money plays a role for almost all students at my high school because we live in a wealthier area.
In the story we read, Saints and Roughnecks, money played a very big role in who got caught. The Saints had money for alcohol, and had cars, so they could get away to further parts of town, where they had less of a chance of getting caught by their parents or school officials. The roughnecks, though, had less money, so they were unable to escape being caught by people in their community.
Although both groups of kids were deviant, the Saints were able to hide it much easier, mainly because they were able to escape by car, because they had more money.
Moral of the story--if you're going to be deviant, it will be more successful if you have more money. :)

Masculinity

In class this week, we watched videos and talked about masculinity. Because masculinity is such a huge part of people's lives, it is also causing problems. Almost every school shooting since 1982 was by a straight male student who was bullied for being seen as weak or gay. These students were bullied about this to the point where they saw their only way to prove their masculinity is by bringing a gun to school and shooting people to feel stronger and superior to the other students. By having a weapon, the other students who were the bullies now feared these students, which is what they want, using the gun to show their masculinity and strength.
Masculinity is really getting to be a problem. Starting from when kids are little, it is shown in their toys, with boys toys being more "masculine" than girl toys and it is almost frowned upon for a boy to play with what is seen as a girl's toy.
This issue is also seen in abusive relationships. Almost all of the abusers in a relationship are males because they feel they must show their masculinity while the female has to step back and let the male be in control.

Social Construction of Gender

Think of a toy that a girl would want for her birthday. Now think of a toy a boy would want for his birthday. Are they the same? Probably not. A girl toy you thought of probably is related to dolls or a kitchen, while a boy toy has something to do with transportation or fighting. There is nothing stopping a boy from playing with a doll or a girl from playing with trucks, besides the social construction of gender that has come about the past several decades. Because of this social construction starting at such a young age, before the kids can realize they are being taught "how to be a girl or boy", they become used to the toys they are expected to play with.

Watching TV

 

Last week, I watched TV. I watched it, though, in different ways than most would watch TV. I watched it looking for specific camera angle changes, which distracted me from paying attention to what was going on in that show. When I normally watch TV, I am distracted by what is going on in the show, and I do not realize all of the camera view changes. I also watched TV without turning it on, which was extremely boring, but that is what it means to litterally "watch TV". If there is a show on, we are automatically attached to the screen and very interested, but if there is no show on, it is one of the most boring activities and a huge waste of time.

$ = :)?

Having a lot of money means you're going to be very happy, right? Wrong; having a lot of money proves to less happiness after a while. A study has shown that after some time, someone who wins the lottery is expected to report similar levels of happiness in their life than would a paraplegic. This is because of the relativeness of happiness. Right after winning the lottery, it is expected for someone to be much happier than before, but the happiness level drops as people realize the hardships that come along with winning the lottery. The same, but opposite, goes for people who are parapalegic; these people learn to appreciate the smaller things in life more and not take as much for granted.
I have coached cheerleading for years and have noticed relative happiness at awards sessions with our youngest team. The first time the team won first or second place, the girls were extatic, but after winning many competitions in a row their excitement went down, even to a point where they would upset if they got anything other than first place.

Our SHS Subculture

I am a part of a subculture because of the school I go to, which is very different than any other high school. Our material culture looks like the baby mobile in the point, the revolving PAC, and the six-fingered Patriot. Some mores at my school are that students travel between classes and walk on the right side of the hallway. A folkway at my school is that you should not walk on the Patriot. Some unique language at my high school is the PAC, point, link, and ILC.
By thinking about all these values that are only at my school, I realize they do really separate us from other schools and they greatly shape who we are as students who attend my high school.
One big subculture that I am a part of is gymnastics. Most gymnasts go to practice everyday, wear a ponytail or bun, start practice with their leotard half way on and have a t-shirt over it, know how to do a backflip, have frequent mental blocks, and are respectful to their coaches. If I talked to almost any gymnast, even if I had not known them before, we could talk about the many similarities in our lives because we are both gymnasts.

The revolving PAC at my school

G-d Grew Tired of Us

In class this week, we watched a movie called "G-d Grew Tired of Us", which is about a group of young men, called "The Lost Boys", who are Sudanese refugees who were chosen to go to America to start new lifes here. They were given an apartment and got jobs and learned about how we live here in America. This movie helped me realize many culture differences, as the young men were learning as well. By living in America, I am like a fish who cannot see the water I am swimming in; it is all I know. Many things we do here are very different from what The Lost Boys are used to, but I do not see what we do here, like all our processed foods, our lonely way of living, etc, as weird or different because that is what I've grown up with my whole life.

Culture Shock

I experienced culture shock when I lived in Israel last year. One major difference from Chicago suburbs to Israel is the amount of soldiers walking around in uniforms carrying guns. The soldiers were everywhere, on the streets, in restaurants, on public transportation, etc. There it is normal to see that many people around carrying guns over their back, while if I saw one person here with a gun out, I would run the other way. It creates more of a feeling of safety there seeing the guns, unlike in America, where it would cause panic. Also, because Israel is Jewish state, on Shabbat, the roads clear out; public transportation does not run from Friday afternoon until Saturday night and the amount of cars on the road is much more limited. It is very interesting to see a whole city basically shut down for more than a full day, then come back to life on Saturday nights.

Social Construction of Reality

In class last week, we watched A Bronx Tale. The Bronx in the 60's was socially constructed much differently than neighborhoods than I am used to, living in the suburbs of Chicago. Each gang had their own territory and should they cross into another gang's area, trouble would rise, as did in the crime scene on the street, which Calogero witnessed when he was 9 years old.
One unwritten rule that govern how you can or can't act would be that black people and white people are meant to hate eachother and should stay in their own neighborhoods without socializing with the other. This may have come about when the black population in New York grew, which was a change for the white people and they were unhappy with the change so they decided to hate the blacks because of it. These racist attitudes came about all over the US around this time.
Another unwritten rule is stay out of Sonny's way. If you do something that bothers him, you will be on his bad side, and he might just kill you, so it is smarter to be friendly with him and make sure to stay out of trouble with Sonny.
One sociallly constructed idea that I beleive is that you should always respect your elders. It is not written anywhere that you must do so, it is out of respect to them, as they are usually much wiser and have been through more life situations than you have.

"Sonny had five fingers, but he only used 'tree' " 

Gang Leader for a Day

Last week, we read an interesting piece from the book Gang Leader for a Day, where an Indian sociologist tried to study poor African American neighborhoods and learned a lot in ways he hadn't imagines he would. Instead of learning through surveying many different people, he got close with one specific group of people and learned their story. At first, he was intimidated by them, but by the end he felt comfortable and voluntarily went to hang out with these men. This type of research is important because one must live in a way that the people live whom they are learning about so they can see life how these people live it everyday. A survey of many people also is important so that one also see the group as a whole and study trends within the group. If you wanted to choose which school to send your kid to, I would suggest both types of studies. I would talk to, and get to know, kids from various groups, such as jocks if your student is an athlete, but I would also look at statistics of the school as a whole.

Spit vs. Saliva

In class earlier this week, Sal had a student salivate onto a sterile spoon. He then proceeded to talk about how important saliva is for our body. After that, he offered the student to take back her saliva and she refused to take it back. When Sal asked her why she didn't want it back, she said "because it's gross", yet couldn't give a good reason for why it is any different than the saliva in her mouth other than the fact that it turned from "saliva" to "spit" when it left her mouth, which has a much more negative connotation in our society. Social construction is the true reason why the student wouldn't take the saliva back, which is that society has created experiences, which make it socially acceptable to do something such as swallow a spoonful of your own spit.
I was a competitive cheerleader for much of my life and our uniforms were basically sports bras and booty shorts, along with almost every other team there is in the world of competitive cheerleading. Because of how society is, this attire is completely appropriate for a cheer competition, yet it is not okay to walk down the streets or around the school in a sports bra and spandex.

My cheer team from 2011.

 

Being Sociologically Mindful

I have done a lot of community service throughout the past several years; one of my favorite opportunities to volunteer at is Equestrian Connection, which is a therapeutic horse stable for children and adults with disabilities. I started volunteering there in seventh grade when I needed a Mitzvah (Service) Project for my Bat Mitzvah, and I love it so much that I have continued doing it for years. This place is very eye opening to a group of people who I would not have known much about without actually going to Equestrian Connection and being there with them. Someone who cannot walk stably, or is missing a limb, or even in a wheelchair, can get up on a horse and have complete control of where they want to direct the horse. I really enjoy being able to help these people get onto horses, work on their balance, play games with them on the horse, and talking to them; I feel I have become sociologically mindful of a new population of people while getting to know these children and adults as individuals with their own unique story to tell. Volunteering at this amazing place has taught me to look at someone as a person, and the second thought should be if they have a disability, and what I can do to help them do any tasks because nobody should be held back from anything. Everyone who volunteers and works at Equestrian Connection is sociologically mindful and very aware of the people and the environment they are in.

Who Am I?

I am a gymnast. Gymnastics is my life. During season, my schedule is school, gymnastics, homework, sleep, and repeat. Three hours of practice each day. Six days a week. A minimum of eighteen hours of the thing I love each and every week. Bars. Beam. Vault. Floor. It has taken over my life. Between seasons, I go to the gym multiple times each week to keep up with my skills. I am addicted to improving myself as a gymnast; there is always something I can do better. When school stresses me out, I practice extra hard and it shows at competitions. Flipping, dancing, injuries, running, twisting, landing, leaping, falling. It is all part of the sport which is a huge part of my life.

My bars routine last year.