The Race Game...

In the video that we watched, A Girl Like Me, I was really shocked when they did an experiment with young black girls and how they are socially constructed about race. Race has changed dramatically throughout the years accepting other cultures and traditions and just accepting people for who they really are. In the experiment when they placed 2 dolls of different races, one black and one white on the table in front of the girl and asked which doll do you play with, almost everyone chose the white doll. When asked who is thud nice one and who is the mean one almost everyone chose the white doll as nice and the black one as mean. The world and people have socially constructed race all different types of ways making us believe different things and not just think what we want to believe. What even threw mw for another loop was when one of the interviewees stated that her aunt and started her daughter into lying in a bath full of bleach to change their race. The way that we think about race is going to keep changing wether we like it or not.

Pushing the Limit....

While reading and watching the video about social classes, there are some people who just take it too far. While the poor are working multiple jobs at minimum wage, there is the rich upper class who is spending their money on ridiculous things. The part that made me shocked was how the upper class want to carry on their traits to thier children through making sure their children and anyone else for that matter know that they have money and are part of the upper class. The upper class were pushing the limit the most when I read that they spend over $15,000+ on their child's preschool. That is insane! The upper class are putting their children through such high class schools just so they keep on the family money and show it. What's the point when they are going to need that money for college. Plus, your child might not even get into that preschool without an exceptional interview. We are socially constructed into thinking that we need to show what we have wether it's through our cars or clothes so people treat us the 'right' way.

The Game Of Social Class...

While we played Monopoly in class the other day, I never realized how it is based on social class. You have the game pieces of the Money Bag/Horse, representing the wealthy upper class, then the Car, for the middle class, and the Wheelbarrow, for the working class. Monopoly is basically the game of life. Once we started playing it got me thinking. Which class am I in? Do I let others know what class I’m in? Do I hang out with people in different social classes? It all started coming to me. I never really thought about whom I associate myself with until now. I think that because of our school being one of the most diverse schools, you really are not in one particular social class. There are cliques and groups, but for me I hang out with who I am friends with. I have multiple friends from different social groups and I’m glad I do. Being with the same group of friends that are in the same clique again and again would just get boring to me. You talk about the same people and do the same things. You aren’t expanding your horizons and aren’t exploring the other people who you have been within the same school for almost 4 years now. There isn’t anything wrong with being friendly or friends with people outside of your social circle. People pick on people. People judge other people. But for what reason? If say the ‘popular’ kids who never associate themselves with the ‘geeks’ are never going to learn about who they really are. They are judging them by the outside not the inside. So if they have not so nice looking clothes, one assumes they don’t have money. While if one dresses in Polo and designer jeans, then they are automatically popular and on the higher end of the class stick.  Assuming gets you nowhere in life. Expand your horizons and live life better with no Social Class.

Service Experience #2

Special Olympics- Bocce Ball

Barrington

April 14, 3:30- 4:00 (Training) and April 17, 7:30 - 3:30

Before going to the Special Olympics I felt super excited. I have always wanted to volunteer for it before so I was glad to have the opportunity with the class. My expectations for the Special Olympics were different then what actually happened. I didn’t think that you had 9 games to play; I thought you only had like 3. I was a little nervous if something were to go wrong like fighting between players or maybe I forgot a rule that I would have gotten in trouble for. I had never been to that Carriage Park before so I was very excited. The open field that we were on was amazing. The worst part was the weather and how muddy the grass was. Hey, it could have been worse. The people who played at our station were the nicest people. They were having fun and were enjoying the game. The beginning of the day was rocky. The only problem we came into an encounter with was when some bad sportsmanship happened, when a team lost they wouldn’t shake the other team’s hand which surprised me. Otherwise the rest of the day was a breeze. My job was to keep time, take measurements at some times and hold the flags if they couldn’t hear me say who was up to throw, all in all I found so much fun. I really enjoyed talking to the players when we had a little downtime. I found out that it was one of the boys we had, Jacob, was his first time at the Olympics. It was the coolest thing. He had his family come and support him and they were cheering him on through the whole game. He lost his first game, but won in a landslide his second and his family was going crazy. It was like he won the whole entire tournament, it was honestly the best part of my day, just to see the smile on their faces both the players and the families. Also another interesting part of my day was when we had 2 blind competitors and instead of holding up the yellow flag for the palina I got to clap where the ball was so they could try to throw it better than before. After our games ended, we got help to put the court away. While on the way home I kept thinking how good it felt to help out. The appreciation of the players and the helpers should make anyone feel proud, I know I did. I can’t wait for the next one!

Are You a Saint or Roughneck?...

The reading this week was really interesting and fun to read. In the beginning I had a feeling that the Roughnecks were the 'good guys' compared to the Saints. The article helped me understand the differences of how people perceive others, by ways of being deviant. I found it interesting how social class can make you or break you. It wouldn't matter if you had good grades or you were very polite, just on how much money you have it a deal breaker for making that person a 'delinquent' or 'criminal'. Having a cop stopping a Saint on a Friday night when the Saints just vandalized somewhere or where recklessly driving either drunk or not, it didn't matter. As long as you were dressed nice, had an expensive car, and were polite, you could talk your way out of the night in jail. But the Saints wouldn't know of any of that because the cops thought what they did was just a 'mistake', not a crime, just because of the way they look and what they have. While if a cop were to pull over a Roughneck who were on the streets, because they weren't able to afford a car, were dressed less classy, had a bad mouth and seemed lower class than the Saints, the cop was more likely to question the kid and most likely send him to jail for the night.

A lot of people say they don't judge a person, yet in reality everyone does at some point in his or her life. Assuming that the teenager doesn't have money must mean that he does drugs, drinks and gets into trouble all the time, compared to a better looking teenager who has the car, money, and good grades and is respected in the town, one can see that making assumptions gets us nowhere. I think that it's sad that we judge people on appearances, class level and money, when in reality we should get to know the person before making judgments.

I think that at our school we do have the Saints and Roughnecks. Not all are Saints that's for sure. Money sure does help cover up the deviance and it is a key factor. You have the teens that use their money to get out of situations. Say someone gets into trouble with the law, which would never happen to the Saints in the article but here they do, they would have lawyers who could get them out of that situation in a flash. When on the other side of the tracks you have the Roughnecks, don't have as much money, not as many fancy cars or clothes, but are careful about the law. They are more likely to commit a crime like stealing because they don't have as much. You can expect that from Roughnecks, but perceiving them as downright criminals is plain wrong.

Pushing The Limit...

Everyone knows that young chlidren always look up and want to be like the older more mature people. Either adults or teenagers, you are setting an example for them. Soceity does make it hard for teenagers and young children (or tweens) to be who they want to be. Teens know that from an early age that they need to go to high school, college, and get married. While it is hard to keep up with the standards, everyone needs to be themself. But how can you be yourself when you expect to be mature and 'old' for your age. The younger you are the  'more mature' you are. Look at all the options you have to become 'older.' The newest way that you can become 'older' is by the new scandal that just breached. Abercrombie & Fitch is no stranger to scandal when it comes to their advertisements and clothing, but abercrombie kids is now under fire for their line of push-up bikini tops aimed at girls as ages 7-14.

Can you believe that instead of aiming at teenagers for ads, they are now heading towards second graders?! Just the thought of selling anything with the word 'push-up' in a store with the word “kids” at the end of it seems more than a little odd. Having the option of this bikini style not only seems to say that girls need to boost their busts at a young age, it also makes young girls a target for often unwanted attention. While the average age of puberty is 12, advertisers are now hitting it hard that young kids can reach that 'independence and older look' by wearing this. People need to realize that society really shapes us and it is really hard for teens and even kids. 

Do You Trust The Media?...

Everyone has heard that the Media basically takes over our lives. The biggest impact that the Media has is on women. Almost all of it is negative and sending a bad message from tweens to teens to women in general, damaging their confidence and body image. With commercials, magazine ads, billboards, and even ads on computers are degrading women and telling them that they have to look a certain way to have the 'perfect life.' Either by picking up guys, having wealth by being beautiful or by just having a social life. Being happy doesn't mean to have that 'perfect body' or 'life', but being happy with the way you are and being confident and comfortable in your own skin. Take Kim Kardashian for example.

  

 Kim said that she liked the body she had before they Photoshopped her. People are to believe this? Not everything is as pretty as it appears. These ads are supposed to make us want their product, but what's the point of having it if it basically isn't even real. The media is telling/showing women to become just like the models either on the runway or in the magazines, when we all know that's not possible with all the retouching they do. The 1st Season of American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, also too stated, "just to let you know everyone in the magazines is Photoshopped! Beyoncé is one of the most beautiful girls in the world but she gets Photoshopped too. We're all human!" Women, even young girls, are seeing more and more fake ads everyday and keep saying "I want to look like that" when in reality the models don't even look like that. You think you're not perfect and aren't like those models, but really you are the same. If the models were so pretty and perfect they wouldn't need to be digitally altered to be made perfect. Women need to step back and realize that being comfortable in their own skin is being 'perfect'.