Last post!

Hey I'm Megan. Just after this summer I will be a student at University of Iowa! I am so excited to make new friends, start a new chapter of my life, and get involved in activities to help other people. I like to think I am a giver because through giving, you get so many intangible rewards. My family is everything to me they are going to be there for me forever. I hop am to have such a wonderful woman raise me. I know that I truly am lucky to have grown up in the community I have. I still love hanging with my friends all the time and can't wait to spend this summer with them. It is going to be hard leaving my life of seeing them everyday, but exciting to start fresh at the same time. The biggest influence in my life is my mom because she is so kind and happy which is exactly what I want the rest of my life to be like.I feel like everyone I meet influences me because I can see what qualities I like about them or dislike and know who I want to be. My goal in life is just to be happy and make enough money to enable me to travel. I've come to realize that happiness is more important than any career, so that is what I want to be when I grow up. I still agree with everything in my first post except living in the south because I don't think I can stay away from my family for that long. I guess I'll just have to wait to see where I wind up. All I know is I'm excited for the journey I get to take in finding out who I am. I feel before it frustrated me not knowing what was going to happen next in my life but sociology has taught me that there is no such thing as failure so I'm not scared about the future anymore.

Saints and Roughnecks

Saints and Roughnecks is primarily a story about labeling and the affects of labeling. This story shows how people focus more on how to label a person (whether it be financially, ethnically, or socially), rather than the people themselves. With labeling being so crucial in society people act in ways just to fit a label rather than just being who they are. A lot of what we do, as well as the saints and roughnecks, is based on the paths already laid out for us to take. For example, what kids at wealthy high schools do after high school is different from people in lower class high schools. This is not only because of money, but also because of what society teaches this kids what they should be doing with their lives. I do see this a lot of labeling in my own high school. Not only between students, but also teachers judgments on students. There are a few students who achieve very high grades in school and are involved in different things in school that make them appear to be role models. However, they a lot of the times are doing worse things than a lot of other students I know. Since they dress nice to school and put on a alternate personality in school they don't get accused of cheating on tests or doing other troublesome things. However, people who dress not as nice or don't use proper grammar are immediately written off and are a lot more likely to get in trouble. It is frustrating at times to see this happen, so we have to just keep trying to break these social assumptions.

Stereotypes

One stereotype that failed to hold true was that Asians are good law abiding citizens. However, the "China Man" was the character who was found to be smuggling Thai people into the United States to sell. Another example of a character who did not hold a stereotype was Daniel, a Mexican locksmith. When he was fixing Jeans locks after she had gotten mugged, she makes comments about him being a gang-banger and that he is going to sell the keys to his "homies". However, Daniel is actually a shy man whose main priority is his little girl. The Persian shopkeeper had the same opinion on Daniel. The shopkeeper felt that since Daniel was Mexican he was trying to rip him off. Daniel tried to tell him that the door was the problem, but because of the shopkeeper's racist attitude, he refused to listen and consequently his shop was broken into. Another type of racism going on was the mix up of what people where calling each other. For example, the Asian woman in the beginning who got in an accident with Ria, a Hispanic detective, and the Asian woman calls Ria Mexican when she is not. Also, when the Persian shopkeeper goes to buy a gun, the clerk makes a lot of racist comments about him being a terrorist and associating him with Arabs which once again is grouping someone based on looks into a sterotype. John Ryan, the white police officer, has some stereotypes on himself too. While we focus little on how John is stereotyped because of how much he stereotypes, he himself is also stereotyped by other characters and the audience. We assume that such racist people come from racist back grounds, but we find out that John's father is not racist. We find out that why he is racist is because affirmative action caused his father not to get the amount of money and health care John believes he deserves. This consequently causes John to have to deal with his father's medical problems and not be able to help him because he doesn't have the money, so he blames all black people for affirmative action. I have found myself stereotyping people who dress scrub-like with baggy pants and giant t-shirts, not so much by skin color but by clothing. I know that a lot of times I'm wrong about people who wear clothes like this, but I know that I was socially constructed this way. At the same time I've been judged right back by the same people. I went to a friend's house in wheeling once and when I walked in a girl walks past and says for me to hear, "who is this white girl". The thing that suprised me the most is that I thought she was white too. From that I realized that if situations were flipped I probably would have wondered what a wheeling girl was doing with Stevenson people. What I've come to realize through sociology is that we all need to stop judging each other. Yes, sometimes we may be right, but most of the time we can miss out on getting to know really great people because of false judgements.

Race and personal identity

One question continues to circulate in my head. Why do we need to chose a race to be "not as good" as us. As we have been learning, in the United States, many different nationalities were not accepted into society such as the Irish, Italians, Greeks, and so on. Now we consider them white. While I understand that some people are socially constructed have racist thoughts, I don't know how they are ignorant enough to believe it. I watch the Tyra Bank Show from time to time and there was one episode dealing with race, specifically biracial people. It was crazy how some of the guests though biracial would claim to be only one of the races because they were embarrassed about the other half they possessed. For example, one half-black and half-white woman said she was only black because whites are snobs and one man who also had this back ground claimed to be all white because he hate how blacks are so "ghetto". So I ask, how do we let racism become so big that people hate their own identities? Racism is a very important issue to me while I haven't had to deal with much. However, I'm not sure what can I do about it.

Social Mobility

The myth that people chose poverty is something that a year ago I would have believed that some people do. However, through my community service with the homeless and our recent studies on poverty, I think that statement is absolutely ridiculous. With parents who work at minimum wage and say that you need to get a job too in order to get food on the table. With not only school, but also work, it is very challenging to do both everyday and be successful in school. In addition, many people living in poverty have many children, so it is challenging to make money when they need to buy daycare. Also, it is hard to get a job and keep one with no car. If you have every tried getting a job, you will know that you need to apply a lot of different places in order to get one. In addition, the job you do get might be a whiles away which is a long walk if you don't have a car. In one article we read, we learned how many people living on minimum wage are forced to live in hotels because they can't afford the down payment of an apartment or house. In the end it costs even more because the rent is way more expensive. Many people living in poverty are stuck in almost a cycle because once you are in poverty it is very hard to get out. Poverty is not a choice it is a problem that should be paid more attention to.

Drug Use is a Medical Problem, Not Criminal

I can't believe a workers in the courthouse jail in Courtroom 302 are allowed to treat those convicted of a crime. I understand that the people in this jail may have done some pretty bad things, but they are human and who knows what caused them to become bad. When I read that a man died in this jail because of neglect when he needed medical help and the workers got off without any punishments I was appalled. He had a history of medical problems which probably a main reason of his drug use and instead of helping him, they tell him to shut up. What kind of country is this? In addition, as Sal stated, drug use is a medical problem, but is treated as a criminal problem. Just as alcoholics need help, so do drug users. In an in class experiment where the uses, effects...and so on were stated without the name of the drug, cigarettes and alcohol were seen as more harmful than marijuana which can land people in jail. So instead of locking up drug users with muderers we should give them the medical help they need.

Age of Maturity

One thing that stood out in the article What is the Age of Responsibility? was that many states allow women to marry before men. While I know the fact that women go through puberty and mature sooner than boys physically, who is to say that men are not ready to marry at the same age women are. In many societies I have learned about in past social studies classes men were actually the ones to gain more responsibility first. I think that separating maturity by sex is even more silly than separating maturity by age can be at times. In addition, the article said in the past, "As soon as someone’s feet could reach the pedals, he or she was free to drive." I think that the age 16 makes since for the fact that at 16 you can get a job and parents don't always have time to drive because they have jobs of their own. However, at the same time I know many of my friends weren't mature enough to drive at age 16. For example, one of my friends got her license at 16 simply because everyone else was. When she got her lisence she had never driven on a highway with her parents before to help her with advise and apparently had never driven in a construction zone. The first time she had entered a construction zone she was alone she freaked out and hit a cone and knocked off her mirror. I think that many 16 year olds just get their lisence at 16 just because everyone else is while they know they aren't ready and I think that is a very dangerous thing. Another problem with driving laws is the age at which cell phone use is okay. When I was in seventh grade my brother got hit by a car while in a crosswalk because the man driving was paying more attention to his cell phone then on driving. The worst part of it all was that since my brother didn't press the cross walk button even though it said it was okay to walk, it was "his fault". So the man driving who hit my brother go absolutly no consequences for hitting a person! Studies have shown time and time again that cell phone use majorly decreases peoples' ability to drive. In fact it is more likely to get in an accident while texting than while drunk. Because people under 18 can't vote, legislation is put against them easily. As soon as "adults" hear their rights are trying to be taken away they immediately shut it down. I think the problem with the laws does not have to do so much with the government as the voting people. Voters only want to agree with laws for more regulations on other people, not on themselves, even if it is better for the country as a whole.

"The Perfect Body"

My whole first semester pretty much I got to study print media and a lot was discussed about how media portrays women. Advertisers say that they aren't affecting body images just selling products, but who says products need to be sold by women in no clothes with their bones popping out of their skin. It is hard to find advertisements with healthy women even athletic ads have people who don't look like they have ever touched a piece of bread. As girls are surrounded by these images of what is "beautiful" they have nothing else to believe. What I found so true that I had never thought about is if you ask people who their role model is chances are they aren't going to be a super model, they will be a healthy person. It is important that girls to work harder on making sure their insides are beautiful and not worrying about the outside. However, the way media has brainwashed us it is too hard to think about giving up how we care about our looks. I know I have fallen under this trap that if I were just a little more pretty or a little more that, everything would work out. The truth is that society has become so superficial and shallow that it is hard to make friends or get a boyfriend/girlfriend without focusing on looks. Not to say everyone is that way but until more normal looking people with less editing and makeup get into magazines society on a whole will continue judging each other on looks. I feel kind of hopeless on the issue because I don't see media changing for a long time. I am happy that there are more self-esteem speakers going to schools. I think that that should continue and hopefully advirtisements will soon become heathier influences on children, teens, and adults.

The Ultimate Brainwashing....TV

Have you ever been watching TV and not known you had an entire conversation while watching? Maybe you haven't experienced this extreme form of a trance the the television pust us in every time we watch it. I know from personal experience I have had entire conversations with my mom and friends during a show and afterward don't even recall talking. Maybe you have been eating one time while watching television and realized you finished an entire bag of chips. These are two examples of the trance television puts us in that are easily seen. However, the television can brainwash us without us even noticing. It tells us norms we should follow and teaches us values. One example would be the effect of looks of characters on TV on viewers. Many viewers start developing an unhealthy body image at a very young age. As we see ever channel full of beautiful, flawless, unhealthy skinny people, children and teens are conditioned to think this is the way they are supposed to look. With unrealistic views on what they should look like much unhappiness springs into the minds of young people thinking that they aren't good enough. In addition, try and become good enough t.v. manipulates us to think that the way to be good enough is to buy stuff to make us look better or become more popular. As we continue to buy and cease to find any results we continue the never ending cycle of buying then not feeling good enough and buying....

Lucky Pencil

The other day before class my friend borrowed my pencil. Later that night I had realized I had not gotten it back. So jokingly I texted him saying that was my "lucky" pencil and I could not live without it and then I said I was just kidding. He responded by saying "hey there's nothing wrong with having a lucky pencil." Immediately my mind shot to sociology. He was right that there is nothing wrong with having a lucky pencil, but what has made it okay for humans to have such strong emotional attachments to objects. As materialism grows in society, so has the attachment to objects versus people. Biologically we were made to be attached and to need other humans to nurture us. However, I have been wondering at what point has this attachment spread to objects? Socialization of needing to independent seems to be an answer. Society has taught us the it is super important to be independent as soon as possible, but that is not what we actually need. We need to be nurtured and as we lose being nurtured from people we look to objects to give us what we need. Instead of getting help from others before a test we depend on a lucky pencil to help us get a grade. From this I wonder just how many objects do we have to replace the spots that other humans are ment to fill.

The girl who laughs at a funeral

I have always been the girl who laughs at a funeral because I'm too afraid to feel anything else. It is weird how much American culture has shaped me into being afraid of feeling. I can't remember the last time I've cried and when ever my mom cries I will do ANYTHING to make her stop because it is so weird and hard for me to watch. And death well that is even harder for me to process. I never sleep the night before a funeral because I'm so horrified of going to see a person in a casket. The thought that I will die someday is something I like to keep as far away from my thoughts as possible. It is interesting to me that other countries find death as a positive thing or at least accept it without fear. I feel a lot that when people die your connection with them dies and you wont be able to affect each others lives anymore. However, I think the problem is I and many other Americans don't let people in enough to allow that ever lasting bond. We are so afraid of the physical loss that we don't want to risk it. I think the story behind "Tuesdays with Morrie" is a very strong one that we aren't even really living unless we give love to others. It has made me reevaluate my life and my relationships with my family and friends. I realize that it's so important to give all the love you can. While I still am horribly afraid of tears and death, I did learn one lesson and I'm going to keep trying to get over those fears.

Understanding of Gang Subculture

Two main aspects of American culture cause the offspring of violence in poorer communities. The values in materialism and having a sense of belonging don't come easy for many of these unfortunate children and teens. Lack of leadership in households, so their leadership and credibility comes from the streets. With weak sense of belonging within families in poorer neighborhoods kids and teens resort to gangs to feel a sense of belonging. Elite "thugism" comes from killing someone, people don't want them to get credit through being arrested for murder. They would rather kill the murderer themselves to show they are the true leader. In order to decrease these mass amounts of violence they need good role models out visiting the streets to show they actually do care about the poor black men versus just making speeches on T.V. They need people to show they truely do care and respect these men and allow them to connect with them. I think one part of this gang subculture is the need to belong. Many of us upper middle class citizens take advantage of the sense of belonging we get from family, friends, and teachers. In addition, American society is revolved around materialism. For the people are born into less fortunate situations, it is difficult to live up to these values of spending when they have little money to do so. They see gang violence and selling drugs as their was to become rich like American society tells them too be.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is wayyy overblown and really to me is more of a commercial holiday than anything else. I think the idea is good that people who have been married for a long time can celebrate their ever lasting love for each other. However, when I hear about people buying front row bulls tickets after dating for 2 weeks, I think this holiday has gone a little far. People's expectations are so high on what they will get materially for valentines day when really they should be focusing on how lucky they are to have a person to share so much with. Also, because of the size that valentine's day has blown up to here in American makes those who are single feel majorly "alone". Valentine's day is a perfect example of how materialistic America has become. I know i have fallen tap to the "If he doesn't buy me flowers it is over." However, I realize that's a really silly way of thinking. In addition, maybe the guy didn't grow up thinking flowers were so important to show emotions. I think if we focus so much on the material things we give and receive on Valentine's day we will forget the most important part which is to celebrate how lucky we are so have people we love in our life. Taking a few steps back, I've realized how material goods are such a big part of showing feeling in America and I'm not so sure if I like that.

Changing Roles

Family is one of my most prevalent social circles I'm in. However, because of how outer circles to this group have influenced me, my role within this group has changed. Before me or my friends could drive, my life was basically all about my family because I didn't have the opportunities to go anywhere my mom didn't take me. My family is a fairly strict family with strong faith and being surrounded with this I was a "ideal" child with a high faith in God and quite a bit of the typical "nerd". I also imitated my older sister almost exactly that I convinced myself that's who I was, but this was all just an act. As years passed my grandmother died so I started to question my faith which was not something I was allowed to talk about. Holding that in made me feel very distant from everyone in my family. I started hanging out with some kids that I knew my mom wouldn't approve of to rebel. They shaped a good part of my life because I started learning life outside of my strict Christian life I had been so narrowly guided in. This was good and bad because I learned somethings about how to be accepting of more people, but I also did things like pierce my ear and dye my hair that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. These new friendships made me very distant from my parents. I realized I didn't like this life either, the people were nice, but I wasn't like them. So I withdrew myself from society once again and tried to figure things out. My sports teams were a giant help in finding who I am today. I was always the super competitive shy girl. However, as some of the girls on each team started befriending me I became more comfortable in being who I wanted to be. This gave me confidence and has made me an outgoing person who tries really hard to help other shy people be confident. This eventually lead me to being captain of the team which taught me the influence I can have over others and that genuine people will care about what I say. I no longer follow the "perfect" daughter role, but I do try to be a good daughter while still being who I want to be.

Yes, I Spat in a Spoon

Today in sociology I spat in a spoon and was interested in the reactions I got. Two girls were asked before me, but both said it was too gross. Then I heard someone say "Ask a guy to do it." This made me wonder why is it socially acceptable for a guy to spit in a spoon, but not a girl. So I volunteered because I've always been the type of person who wants to break these stereotypes. I think one of the reasons I'm so against those that a job "for a boy" comments is because of how my dad raised me. When I would come home from school as young as kindergarten and tell my dad about how all the boys told me I wasn't as good as them at sports because I was a girl. My dad told me not to listen and prove them all wrong. Later that day a girl came up to me and told me what I did was disgusting. At first I was a bit offended she was judging me. Then I laughed and said someone had to do it. The more thought I put into it I realized that she was trained to think this way from her parents and society as we learned in class. I believe these judgments apply to so much more than our sex or our actions. It also applys to race, religion, sexual orientation and much more. I know that I for one was raised in a strictly anti-gay family and I believed that it was unacceptable for anyone to be that way. However, after having a teacher who was gay I realized that being gay didn't define who he was as a person. I think its a big problem in out society when we are so quick to judge. It's so important to step back and realize that a lot has to do with the society and family people were raised in.

Community Service

I am very excited to "have" to do community service. Since I was so into sports I had little time to do community service and it's been really frustrating. I love community service because while some less fortunate people are crabby a lot of the people I have met have amazing outlooks on life. For example, many impoverished people I have met are so greatful for what they do have and they focus on the importance of family. I just joined a club called Teen-Aiders which focuses on helping homeless children. I can't wait to play with the kids and let them escape from there tough life style. Another thing I want to do for community service is be company for some people at an elderly care center. However, I don't just want to play bingo once with them, I hope to for relationships with some elders and give them someone to talk to. Recently my great uncle died and my great aunt is blind, so she had to move into an elderly care facility, since she lives to far away I am unable to visit her. She had a bad breakdown because of her loneliness. While I may not be able to help her frequently, I want to help others the way I wish I could be there for her. So I've set myself a goal for this semester I want to do at least 20 hours of community service. :)

Response: The Outlier -excerpt

I have always thought that stress is a major factor in peoples' lifespans and reading the excerpt from Outliers reinforced this idea. By surrounding yourself with positive people who make you happy and ignoring those who don't greatly reduce stress levels. Not only that but it also helps lead a more upbeat and longer life. There has been experiments showing people with less stress have fewer or later in life heart attacks. I also believe it is important to do what you enjoy because it makes life a whole lot more fun...ya it seems like a basic comment everyone knows. However, it seems the more industrialized the world is becoming the more miserable people are. This is because people are more focused on material goods rather than personal relationships. While material goods may bring joy for a little, it doesn't last forever. It is important to focus on the simple things, not working 15 hours a day to buy new things.

Sociologists do base their findings off data because with out scientific proof theories are unreliable. By studying all possible causes to a finding, makes it valid. For example in the excerpt, the sociologist, John Bruhn, researched the genetics, the affect of location of living, diet and exercise of civilians in Roseto and near by places to see why people in Roseto were suffering from so many fewer heart attacks. Having researched all these possibilities and finding none were causing the fewer heart attacked he came up with the theory that it had to do with the life style in Roseto. Having done so much research and collecting data, when questioned on his theory he was able to back it up with scientific evidence.

Understanding sociology is helpful in teaching us how to live our best life possible. As in this article we can learn to live less stressful lives. However, it also can help us understand why people do the things they do and insted of judging we can be accepting. By accepting others we can learn and experience many things we may not have with a closed mind. Sociology is important to teach us how to have better relationships with ourselves and with others.

About Me

Hey I'm Megan. I'm going to University of Iowa next year! I'm going in undecided, but maybe will major in statistics. I played field hockey all four years and was captain and all-state which is probably my biggest accomplishment. I love hanging with my friends. My favorite season is the beginning of fall before school starts because it is perfect weather and the trees look pretty. I love going to the beach so I'm hoping to live in the south when I grow up. While I hate the cold I love skiing, which I started when i was 2 years old. I'm Italian and i absolutely love Italian food. I can't wait for this school year to end so I can go to college. :)