"Who am I" Take Two!

At the beginning of the year I wrote about my social life as well as my interests. After taking a semester of sociology, I've been able to honestly say that I have changed. Before, I wouldn't have been able to say that was stereotypical and judgmental. Now, that is all that I ever was. I was ignorant, selfish, and rude. I lacked social imagination. I wasn't able to understand that there is a bigger reason why things are the way they are. For example, I blamed poverty on those who were in it. I couldn't grasp the idea that they might have been forced into it. After volunteering for Habitat for Humanity as well as for Ezra's Uptown Cafe, I now understand that there are so many other factors that go into poverty and who's in it. That topic hit home for me. I was in this bubble of  "I live in Lincolnshire and I go to Stevenson" so I was never thinking about the other side of the economic spectrum. Currently, my mom is struggling with her job for a lot of people are being layed off. Because of my sociological mindfulness, I know that if she does lose her job it's because of something else. That there isn't a smaller factor that is the cause of her being unemployed. With that being said, I still have a lot to be thankful for. With my either decision on my mom's job, I will still be okay. I know that there are so many others who are struggling with far less than I have. What I have learned this semester gives me so much perspective.

Now when I meet someone, I try to rid myself of all my stereotypes. I aim to not categorize them and to understand their circumstances to the best of my ability.

I feel that I've become a better person, not perfect, but better.

"Crash"

There is so much implicit and explicit racism in the world. It is so common that people don't even know that it's there unless it directly effects them. In the movie "Crash" when Sandra Bullock's character reaches for her husband's arm as she passes by two black men, she commits an implicit racial action. She doesn't outwardly express her racism but she demonstrates it through her actions. The same character shows explicit racism as she yells at her husband to have the locks of her house changed again in the morning. She verbally expressed her dislike for the Hispanic locksmith changing her locks.

I feel like this topic hits home for me. Being a minority, I feel that I have experienced this type of racism on many occasions. I've been subjected to so many explicit and implicit racist comments that I've become somewhat tolerant of them. For example, when 9/11 occurred, many people told me to my face that Muslims were terrorists and that all Middle Easter people were hiding bombs in their houses. I remember hearing this when I was in fifth grade. That had to be one of the more unbearable types of explicit racism. Some implicit types would be when I traveled for a pilgrimidge with my family. We were on our way to Saudi Arabia and my dad was stopped for "a random security check". Thankfully we arrived really early for our flight for my dad was questioned for quite a while.

I feel that it's ignorance that allows for this type of behavior. There are so many different people who are forced to deal with this type of behavior everyday. It's really sad.

"Good Hair"

In class, we talked about race and how our society effects our preferences. We tend to lean more towards European traits than African. I remember watching the Tyra show and she had Chris Rock come on. The topic of that episode was about "Good Hair" which Chris Rock did documentary on. Good hair is supposed to be flowing, shiny, smooth,  and soft. The race that tends to have this type of hair  are Asians, Latinos, and Caucasians. African Americans seem to have more course hair which is a rougher texture. Tyra talked about how society molds today's black women into thinking that their hair isn't beautiful. There was a panel of black children on the show whose parents had talked to them about "good" hair. The kids were asked to choose between an afro type hairstyle and a straight smooth hairstyle, and most of the kids chose the smooth style. This is similar to the kids choosing the white baby doll over the black one. Some of these kids had mothers who relaxed (chemically straightened) their hair. There was a girl as young as three who had her hair relaxed on a regular basis. It's because of these kids' social construction that caused them to choose as they did. Our society has always complimented white features. If a person of ethnic background demonstrated such features, then they were considered beautiful. The root definition of "good hair" comes from the time of slavery. When slaves resembled white traits, they were considered better than the slaves who didn't. This caused many blacks to desire white features, which obviously carried on to our society today. Today, we have black women purchasing weaves, which is fake hair, that appears to be as a white woman's hair texture. This causes a form of insecurity in African Americans in our society.


There seems to be a lot more to this subject than I can talk about. To understand it a little more, you can watch the Tyra Show episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeXUm8OOUA8  part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DgVijM7Z8&feature=related part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBoBR20n8S4&feature=related part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g13u0w2oP4&feature=related part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxQGXmEVw-4&feature=related part 5

Have No Fear, the Doctor is Here!... but only if you can afford it

I struggled a little bit on a topic for last week. Because I had bronchitis and I'd miss a lot of school, I didn't really know how to apply my life to what I was learning in class. I ended up missing three days of class and went to the doctor. The first check-up was because of headaches, the second was because of my bronchitis, and then the third was because of the pressure my bronchitis caused in my ear and then in my nose. Each visit to the doctor required a co-payment of $25 and then the anti-biotic for my bronchitis was a little over $30. In order for me to go to the doctor, my mom had to leave work, which caused her to lose that day's pay, since she used up all her sick-leave. In total, me being ill had cost over $100.

When I came back to class, I tried to remember the last thing I learned so I could try to get back on track. I remembered the video "Being Middle Class for 30 Days" and then I immediately remembered the scene where the fiance had a bladder infection and had to go to the emergency room. It was such a struggle to go the doctor and buy medication while paying for the bill, for they had no health insurance. For me, my mom only had to pay a small walk-in fee. Also, the couple had to worry about making up for the money that they lost for not going to work. My mom comfortably left work to take me to the doctor. I realized that I am very fortunate for all that I have. I can go to the doctor for something as small as cough and not worry about whether or not I'd have money for dinner. Many other middle class families struggle to make it through life. They cannot afford certain medications let alone get checked by a doctor.

This makes me appreciate everything that I have.

Cash Money Heroes

In class we learned about social class and how many families are mislabeled. Growing in a moderately wealthy neighborhood, I've to some point understood that my family was a bit wealthier than other families across America. I knew we weren't "rich" but I was also fully aware that we weren't "poor". We're middle class. When I went to work on Wednesday I had to sub in at a neighboring theater, Rivertree, in Vernon Hills. Everyone who has been to that theater is aware that it is gross and smelly. This was a major turn off for me when I went in for work hesitantly and in an uninterested manner. Once I got there, there was a regular staff member working concessions. He looked at me and asked me if I was in high school. When I told him I go to Stevenson he immediately asked me if I "was rich". At first, I was taken aback from the question. I was thinking to myself "who asks someone that kind of a question". Then I thought of the movie that we watched in class If I said yes I'm rich, he would think I was some upper-class snob, which I'm not, and if I said I was poor then he would think I'm lower class and poor, which I'm also not. I ended up saying I don't know what I am, which was kind of awkward. He then asked me what kind of cars I drive. It was very strange. I felt like he had this inferiority complex because he is from Mundelein and I'm from Linconlshire.  It was really strange. Then when I made a comment about how gross the theater was, he looked at me and said, oh it's because you're too good for this right? It was so AWKWARD. He didn't know me and he was passing this judgement on me.

So awkward.

All Locked Up

I have seen shows such as "Law and Order" that depict situations where criminals are locked up. There aren't situations where on the show there is help provided to the inmate. It's as if once they're locked up, they're left to rot away. Many Americans are locked up for reasons that aren't murder and other extreme felonies but for reasons that reflect on laps of judgement. There is little help provided to those criminals. In a way, it is as if our society has put up a social standard upon the men who go to jail, denying them any opportunity to better themselves and their name. It's sad.

Drugs

It seems as though drugs have become a major factor within societies, urban and suburban. When drugs are discussed, they are assumed to be linked to more deviant societies. These deviant societies create a new name for drugs. For example, nicotine, one of the most dangerous drugs out there, is seen as less deviant as marijuana, a non-addictive drug. Nicotine is sold to 18 year-olds all over the US. Although it is such a bad drug, our society  makes it out to be less than what it is. When something else is used (some other type of drug) our society seems to be deviant. As a society, we classify which drugs are okay and which aren't. Sometimes, we don't even take into account the severity of the drug that we are classifying.