Race... what is it really?

It is so interesting how we have "made up" race. I never realized that race has nothing to do with biology... to me it is very interesting how people, including myself, try to categorize people by their skin color, looks, and so on. I should know very well that you can not do that.

When I tell people that I'm cuban, they NEVER believe me. Everyone is always like "well you don't look black!" or "you don't have dark skin!! how can you be cuban?!" I have to explain to them that just because I am cuban does not mean I'm not white. It is true with many other "races" too. Like Italians, many people think of them as dark hair, dark eyes, & "non-white" For me, I understand that that is not always the case because I have Italian cousins and they have brown hair and have light skin. So, although I am VERY guilty of trying to put people into races based on what they look like, I am trying not to do that because I know how much it bothers me when people do that to me.

In class today, we talked about how when you are with certain groups they look at you differently then when you are with other groups. This always happens to my mom. She works at a high school where there are many different types of people. When she is with the "white" people they call her "the cuban... a person of color" but when she is with the hispanic group (mexicans, puerto ricans, etc.) they are rude to her because they look at her as "the white girl" because she doesn't have dark skin. There is a difference in "roles" so-to-speak when we are with different people.

In the clip we watched today from the Chappelle show, the hispanics pick the cuban boy to be "drafted" as a hispanic instead of a "white person." We as a culture have to understand that just because a person may be Cuban, Italian, Irish... whatever it may be they can still be white. The same can be said with Cubans who are black. Yes, they are cuban but they are also black. Skin color has nothing to do with where you came from or what your background may be. It is a very complicated system that we have for classifying people!!

final comments.

Since our class has been having huge debates in class about the issue of poverty, I decided to say a final statement about it. I agree that I am very blessed, but sometimes it makes me really upset when people are trying to make others "feel sorry" for people who don't have as much as I do. I know that not everyone is trying to do that when this issue comes up and I don't want that to come off as snobby or anything like that (because I know it sounds that way) it's just that my family came to this country with absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs. They came from communist Cuba, where all of the things they worked their butts off for were taken away, so this topic is a little sensitive for me for that reason. It feels as though, many people want others to feel guilty about the things they have worked so hard for. I know that some people actually do have it really hard and those people I do feel bad for. It is sad because not everyone has been blessed with the great family, friends, schools, and even material things that I have. Again, I understand that I am very blessed, a lot more than many other people out there and that's why I think it is a good idea to do community service. It really is a huge wake up call. Sadly, there is no solution for this problem yet, but maybe some day we will be able to find a way that we can help everyone out without taking from the people who have worked their whole lives. I do not want to come off as a rude, or snobby kid (as I said before) because that is far from the truth. I just get a little annoyed with this topic sometimes because I know all the things my family went through. They pretty much were poor when they came here. My uncle had to redo college so he would be able to be a doctor in this country. It was like starting all over again with nothing, so when I see people who have like 10 kids and they are spending all their money on drugs instead of trying to send their kids to school so they could have a better life then they do, it really makes me mad. I find it irresponsible to be having so many children when they know that they can not take care of them. It sucks for the kids because now they will suffer because of choices made by their parents. Yes, this is not the case for everyone, I do understand that but for the people who do do this I find it very irresponsible and just plain rude.

I would like to say that I am by all means not trying to offend anyone. I am just saying some final words so that this "great debate" will be over with in class. :]

tough guy?

So, I missed a post a couple weeks ago & this is it.

Are the more "manly" men more deviant? Or, are all men deviant? Or none at all? It seems as though men who aren't the typical muscular, strong guy are looked at as more deviant. The men who are "stay at home dads" opposed to the everyday "stay at home mom" To people are culture stay at home dads are deviant. Men are supposed to be the "bread winners" of the house hold & when most people hear about stay at home dads they are like "oh...." I think this is because of the look when have always sort of been assigned by the media. They are given the look of the hot, sexy, buff, violent, guy. Women are supposed to find that attractive, & when a man doesn't look like that it may seem deviant.

It is interesting how men are stereotyped. Many would say that only women are stereotyped, but in this day & age that is completely false. Sadly, everyone is given some stereotype & until the day stereotypes are gone, the less "manly" a man is the more they will be judged. Society is an unfair game.

Status

This week in class we have been talking about social classes. When we looked at the chart about ACT scores & money, I was not shocked by what I saw at all. Going to the upper class high school I go to, most kids do get scores in the upper 20's & in the 30's. The kids I go to school with do have a lot of money & even I have it pretty good. Most kids will get tutoring, but even if they don't they still do good. I know we all do good on the ACT because we go to a great educational school. We have "the best of the best" every resource is at the tip of our fingers, so it is not shocking to people when they see our scores. It would be shocking if we did not get in the upper 20's.

Sadly, there are some really smart kids out there who have the potential to do really well on the ACT, but they just do not have the resources to learn everything they need and then they can't go to that good school. Many schools out there are not like the school I go to. It is shocking to some kids in my school that many schools do not have computers, or even enough textbooks for all the students. That is very sad because you never know who could find the cure for cancer or be the first person to discover something great.

Deviance

This week in class we talked about deviance, and how it can be good or bad. The study we read was very interesting, because it is very true. This guy does a study on the "saints" of the school, this would be the good kids who do not get in trouble & the "roughnecks" the kids that got in trouble a lot & were barely passing their class, if so at all. It was interesting to see that the Saints could be taking part in the same bad things as the Roughnecks, but since they were looked at like the good kids of the school because they came from wealthy families & had manners, they did not get in nearly as much trouble as the Roughnecks.

To me this study is very interesting to look at because the same thing goes on at school. There is that large group of kids who have a lot of money & are very polite, but they still do the same bad things as those kids who have less money & are looked at as the "druggies." One's status in society will be a label they carry on with them forever, whether it is good or bad. Kids tend to accept what others think of them & even more the kids who are given bad names. They tend to say to themselves "if others think I am bad then I must be." These kids then will keep that in their heads forever because that is what they have been told their whole lives, & will continue to act in bad ways.

Manly Man

Okay, so this week we have been focusing mostly on men & how they are shaped in our society. Let me get right to the point...

1. Disney movies... Alright, yes Disney always has the super hero who is extremely strong & all that, but come on.. are people really going to try to look like Hercules? Sure men want to be strong and able to stand up for themselves and the "girl worth fighting for" (this is a line in Disney's Mulan) but still. I have a feeling they aren't going to the gym trying to look like a buffed up Disney hero.

That being said, I do think that Disney can push the look of buffed men & very manly men to children at a young age. What kids need to understand is that not everyone will be the same. Not all of them will be the big tough, muscular man & that is okay. Guys as well as girls need to work on accepting who they are & being happy with themselves.

2. Men in the media. Yes, this is my same argument from when we were talking about girls in the media. Sex sells. That's the bottom line. It may not seem right to some, but it is what it is. I know that if someone who was not tight muscled like David Beckham was modeling men's briefs, no one would buy them.

Who is to blame for the mens look? The media... or the people who for so long have bought into the ideas of strong, violent, sexy men? Look at it this way... the shopping industry looks for ways to sell their products... if sexy men weren't doing the job why would they continue to use this tactic when selling their products? Don't blame movies, media, and the shopping industry for the "manly look" because we as consumers have bought into it & have made that look grow.

Average Jane ?

Do women's bodies get shaped by the media?

Should we find some ads of women offensive?

In class this week we were discussing how women try so hard to be someone other than the person they really are. We see beautiful women in magazine ads that are tall & so skinny its like skin & bone. The perfect person seems to always be the person we want to be, when in reality that person does not even exist.

From when we were little we were shown the "perfect person." We all played with Barbies, and they were all blonde, tall, skinny, & all around perfect. She even had the hot boyfriend! Then as we get older, we pay more attention to shows like The Hills (one of my favorite shows) where all the people are these perfect people, who have fun lives, & live in the heart of California. I know that I try to copy outfits and hairstyles from the show. We love to be like the famous people we see on TV. We figure that if they can look good, so can we.

Getting back to the idea of offensive ads, for me, when I see these ads that are "offensive" I don't get offended. It really does not bother me, seeing skinny women & the perfect doll or stars getting photo shopped for their photo shoots. Yes, women are used a lot to look sexy & whatever, but if those ads weren't like that would you find yourself buying that product? I don't know.. maybe it's because I am pretty slender & I don't have a problem with my appearance and that's why I don't get offended. I understand why some people

would be upset though and for those people I would tell them that if they find serious offensives by

those ads they should try finding products they can support, like Dove which supports self esteem.

School teaches us more then they say...

People are always influenced by others. When we are young we watch the outside world & the people around us. Our parents have a huge influence on who we are. The way they act is pretty much the way their children will act.

School is also a great influence on kids. It may seem like we are only learning the generic math, science, english, history, & a language... but really school teaches us how to interact with others. We learn how to socialize & understand different things about the world. When you look at kids who have been home schooled they often times are not very outgoing and social when compared to kids who have gone to school their whole lives.

It is interesting how situations and environments mold a child's mind & personality.

Human Nature

Is it true that you are a product of your parents? Well of course from the scientific stand point... but what about socially? Do their parenting skills & the situations they put you in really effect the kind of person you will be? Do they really make an influence on your life?

Personally, I think that the way you are brought up molds who you are. I watched a video about a girl who was locked in a bedroom for over 10 years of her life & when she was finally let out she had no social skills. She acted like some kind of wild animal. It is odd because I don't know anyone like that & I'm sure most people don't, but was she like that because all she knew from the beginning of her life was being by herself?

When I look at my friends & even my family members, I can see their parents in them. They all act very similarly to them & that is because those people were the foundation of who they are. For example, I have a cousin who is in college now & he is so much like my uncle.. it's crazy. My uncle is a police officer & all my cousin's life that's what he has wanted to be. He is now majoring in criminal justice. The same can be said for another cousin of mine. Her mom, my aunt, & my mom all started off as spanish teachers & now my cousin is in her last year at U of I studying to become a spanish teacher.

People are the same as their parents. I believe it is because they have watched their parents & sort of used them as a model as they grew up. It is interesting how much an effect people & certain situations can have on people.

Why is death so scary?

This week in class we have been watching the movie Tuesdays With Morrie. This movie has a lot of meaning behind it. It has opened my eyes to the meaning of life & the end of it. I think that it has shown me that Americans are truly afraid of death.

Our lives are so busy. We are moving every second & we don't really have time to think about dying. It is something no one likes or feels comfortable talking about. Morrie tries to explain that if you enjoy your life then you will not be afraid of death. i believe that is true.. it your life well, sucked then obviously you'll be scared to die. It is a feeling of not accomplishing anything, but if you lived life as best you could & did everything you could to enjoy it it will be easier to let everything go.

American culture is very materialistic. We like our cars, flat screens, ipods, & everything else we have. It is a scary thought for most of us (I know this is true for me) to go through the day without my cellphone. I think that many people think about death as just laying there with nothing. You don't know what to expect & of course you won't have that $200 cellphone or $2000 computer. It is hard to imagine a day without those things, but thinking about a whole

eternity without them makes the thought of death that much harder.

Welcome to America !

Many people think, including Americans, think that our culture is a culture full of lazyness, materialistic things, and many other negative things... this really bothers me because I do not think it is true. Just because we have money does not mean it should be looked at in a negative way. It is interesting how people look at our culture and what they think about it.

We, as Americans, like things. We like to have stuff because we are able to buy them. It should not be looked at in a bad way though. Money should not be looked at as a bad thing. There are many people who complain that we are a selfish, but I really do not think that's the case. When you ask someone about our culture they say that we are "fake" & "love money", but if you asked an american if they would like to live in the middle of nowhere with dirty clothes, no showers, & basically nothing that they have now they would freak out & say "no way!" but that is how most countries are. It is weird how people can talk bad about America, but if you were to take all these things away from them they would freak out...

My Norms... or Yours?

This week in class we talked about what is normal to Americans and what is normal to other people. A conversation that really got me thinking was when we were talking about when people call someone "asian" because that's what they look like.. when really there is a better name, such as chinese, japanese, korean...

This happens to me a lot. People call me mexican because they think that Cuban is the same thing... I try to tell them, "no, I'm cuban & there is a difference." Also, I get you speak cuban & I have to tell them that in Cuba they do speak spanish. These type of things seem so simple to me, but when I think about it it's like well they don't understand because they have never been around people who are cuban or from a different place.

Because we are a culture that likes to assume things we group people without really knowing the facts. We have never been shown a different culture so to us it is weird. Like in India they do not touch their food with their left hands because the left hand is "dirty".. to us this seems outrageous, but that is because we weren't taught that. To them it seems normal because well, it is.

What is really normal? Is there such a thing?

Collogero's World

In class this week, we watched a movie, A Bronx Tale. It was about a boy growing up in a very Italian neighborhood. Sadly, I missed a couple days of school & did not get to see the end of the movie :[, but from what I did see... you could really see how the main character, Collogero, was apart of several groups in the neighborhood. He was apart of his family, his group of friends, Sonny & him were his own group, & he was of course apart of Sonny's crew.

At the beginning of the movie I would say his master status was with his family or even his group of friends... he was always with his friends & obviously he was the son of his parents, but was the movie went on & he got closer to Sonny & his friends it all changed. By the end of the movie (or the last part I saw) Collogero's master status changed. He was more apart of Sonny's group. He was always with him & its interesting to see how spending time with certain people can really change the kind of person you are. Collogero was behaving more & more like Sonny. This really shows that a person's friends can really influence who they are. The more you hang out with someone the more you start to act like them.

What groups are you apart of?

This week in class we focused a lot on the different groups everyone is apart of. We did an activity in class that really go me thinking... "what groups am I apart of?"

As we started brain storming... A bunch of groups started popping in my head.. "cuban, cubs fan, peer helpers, family, friends, etc." I could not decide which group was more important to me though.. was I more known as a cubs fan? or as the "peace maker" with my friends? or what about a daughter? that seemed pretty big too. I was a kind of frustrated that I was not able to fully place my finger on which group was more me.

This made me think... everyday I put people in different groups. When I'm talking to my friends what do people say about my group? What group do people think I'm apart of? It is interesting that from even a young age we, as a society, have always put people in different groups. That not only can be misleading, but we always lose the individuality of each person. If they are put in a group then how can we study someone as their own being?

I suppose sociologists will continue to study groups & clicks, but what about studying an individual? Learning the differences of people. Even people in a group are not all the same...

Survival of the fittest?

In class this week we did an activity based on a true event. A bunch of students went in the front of the room & stood in a "boat" that was tapped on the floor. When our teacher told them they needed to kick out 7 people it was a hard choice, because who are you to tell someone they were not able to stay on the boat & would most likely die if they were sent over board? The majority of the people that got kicked out were people who were old, had no training in medicine or sailing, or suffered from a health condition.

But I found this a little weird... maybe it is because of my background or maybe I just think differently. Why would you kick off the people who were the weakest? Maybe they had the mindset of "only the strong will survive" or maybe they were only thinking of themselves, but I thought for sure that the weak should stay on the boat & the strong would be kicked off. They do have a way stronger chance of survival then an old couple, or an army vet. who had only one leg.

Maybe your culture looks at survival differently. Some would find it better to save the old because they would not be able to fend for themselves, maybe the young because they are the future, maybe the women because well they are women, maybe the smarter people because education is important, or maybe the strong because they earned it

If you were in this situation... what would you do?

Awkward Silences

S!LENCE

This week in class we talked about silence... & yes sometimes it can be very awkward. The class thought it was weird when our teacher on the first day of class walked in the room and sat in one of the desks without saying a word. To us this was weird because we are so used to a set routine. Everyday we do the same thing when we come to class. The teacher talks and we listen.

Awkward silences are really well... awkward. It is hard to just sit in a room with people and not say anything. It is even worse when you sit in a room with a bunch of people you don't know and everyone is just staring at each other. It is weird because our culture is so used to talking ALL THE TIME. We always have something on that makes noise. Whether it is the TV, the radio, or another person you are engaged in conversation with. The only time I can think of in my day when I don't hear anything is when I am sleeping... and that's the only time silence isn't awkward. I feel like because we are so used to some kind of sound it is awkward when no one is talking. Sometimes I find myself just talking to make sure there isn't an awkward silence, like in the bathroom when two people are in there using the dryer to dry their hand. It is weird to just be standing there not saying anything to each other, so usually someone will say hi or something to fill the air.

Maybe one day being in a silent room won't be so awkward... but for now it is and that's my excuse to keep talking when the teacher tells me to stop :]

my first blog.

Hi, my name is Christina and this is my first blog ever for my sociology class. Since this is my very first post I'm going to tell you a little about myself. I go to a large high school in the Chicago suburbs. At my school I played basketball my freshman and sophomore year and now I am apart of the Peer Helpers program. In my free time I like to hang out with my family and friends. We usually go shopping, drive to the beach, or just hang out. Everyone loves to come over and see my maltese, Cubby. He was named after the Chicago Cubs because my family and I are huge Cubs fans.

You could say that my family and I are all pretty close. My biggest influence in my life is my mom. She is hard working and very good at what she does. She has taught me to work as hard as I can, never give up, and always do things for yourself. Her family is from Cuba and came to the United Sates just a couple years before she was born. Both her sisters and almost all her cousins were born in Cuba though. They had to work as hard as they could to make a living when they first got here. My uncle had to go through med. school all over again! but being a doctor is his passion and it was all worth it, but now he has his own practice by his home. It is cool to be Cuban because I don't really know a lot of other Cubans outside of my family and my family has a lot of pride.

My ultimate goal in life is to become a psychologist. It is something I have always wanted to do and I feel that I would be good at it. I plan to graduate from high school and go to a good university.

I hope that you have enjoyed my post and I will be posting again soon!! Thanks for spending some of your time reading my blog.