Crash

This week in sociology, we watched a movie called "Crash." This movie was about many individuals that dealt with racial issues. We learned two new concepts, and they are implicit racism and explicit racism. Implicit racism is when a person is racist but they don't know that they are. It deals with a more subconscious part of the person. Explicit racism is when a person is just full out racist and they are aware of it. During this movie, there were many examples of people who were implicitly and explicitly racist. Form example, Sandra bullock's character was explicitly racist. She told her husband that she wanted another person to come in and fix their lock because she feared that the Mexican man fixing it would break into her house. The only reason she feared him was because he was Mexican and he had tattoos. Furthermore, an example of a character in the movie, "crash," who was implicitly racist was Tom, who was the blonde police officer. Tom was implicitly racist because he wasn't aware that he was because he claimed that he didn't have anything against black people. In fact, he even seemed in many scenes that he wasn't racist. However, at the end of the movie, he ended up shooting Peter, who was black, and it was a result of a racial stereotype that society had shaped us into believing. Since Peter was black, people automatically assume that when he was reaching into his pocket, in Tom's car, he was reaching for a gun. However, after Tom shot Peter, we realized that Peter was only reaching for a little statue that was identical to Tom's statue in his car.

Race is a Social Construction

Last week in Sociology, we learned about race. However, although race was something I had been aware of, while growing up, I never realized that race was a social construction. I had always thought that race was an actual thing. I learned that race was something that society had molded us into thinking was an actual real concept. Race isn't something that can biologically be defined. However, we look at people and we say that they are white, black, asian, or hispanic. For example, Rihanna is from Barbados, but since she has dark skin and dark hair, I thought she was black. It's funny that if my classmates hadn't told me that she was from Barbados, I would've thought she was black until I was told by someone else! Also, even though Barack Obama's mom is white and his dad is from Kenya, he is referred to as black. What makes him more black than white? If he really is equal parts black and white, then why do people say that he's black? It's because people generalize others and put them into individual categories depending on what they've been taught to believe growing up.

Bernie's book bank

On Saturday, I volunteered at Bernie's book bank for two hours. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by a man, and he was directed me to an area towards the back. He was very helpful, and my job was to pack the books into bags. It was a great experience because I got to see the amount of people that were volunteering at this facility. There were many mothers who had brought their young children to help out. It was amazing that they were teaching their children to give back at such a young age. Everybody was so friendly, and it was amazing how much it felt like I was part of a community. I never knew how many people were willing to donate their books to people and schools that weren't as fortunate. I felt very nostalgic because of all of the old books I was seeing. While I was bagging the books, there was one book that caught my eye. It was called, "Goodnight iPad!" This book was a parody for the old book, from my childhood, called "Goodnight moon!" It was amazing to see how much society had been changed to revolved around electronics and technology that they would replace a children's book about a moon and center it around something as superficial as an iPad.

Time: 9:00-11:00 am
Organization: Bernie's book bank

30 days- social class

This week, in sociology class, we watched an episode of 30 days. In this episode, Morgan tried living a lifestyle from paycheck to paycheck with his fiancée. They left their rich lifestyle behind, and they tried to make it by for 30 days. During the 30 days, Morgan and his fiancée had to get by with the worst living conditions and pay. They were injured several times. Morgan had hurt his wrist, and he had to attend the doctors office, and his fiancée had gotten an urinary tract infection. Since she couldn't afford to pay for the doctors appointment, she had to get by on medication at the local pharmacy. The house they had to live in was in a dangerous neighborhood, and it was infested with ants. They had horrible jobs, so they were getting even less than minimum wage. However, even though Morgan and his fiancée were white with a good education, they couldn't get by even under their good circumstances. I started wondering how hard it would be for someone without an education that was a minority to get by living from paycheck to paycheck. We also watched "people like us," which is a documentary about social class. One of the families, in the documentary, was living in a trailer. The mother had around four children, and one of her sons wanted people to think he was educated. He seemed like he was very embarrassed to be living in such horrible conditions. There was one clip that showed his mom, and she was saying how her son thought he was better than their family. She wasn't supportive of her son, so the son was probably going to end up in poverty as well. However, they showed a clip of another girl, with divorced parents, who grew up in poverty. She had grown up on a farm, in poverty, but she grew up to be very successful. When she was being interviewed with her mom, her mom seemed to be very supportive, and they were proud of her for not having to live in poverty. It was amazing to see the difference the parents had on these two children, who grew up in poverty. Everybody thinks that just because you grow up in poverty, you will stay in poverty; however, the girl with the supportive parents proves that wrong. She showed that all you needed was hard work, and supportive parents. After watching that documentary, I realized the importance of having a strong support system. Looking back, I realize that I never could've been who I am today if my family hadn't been there every step of the way.

Masculinity

A few weeks ago, in sociology, we learned about masculinity. We read an article about school shootings, and we discovered that most of the people who were the shooters were predominantly white males. In the American culture, men are always thought of with a strength and tough connotation. The article explained many examples of these white males who were attacking these schools, and basically all of these shooters were bullied because others were questioning their masculinity. They all were looking for revenge, and they thought that holding a gun and shooting the schools would make others see them with fear. Ever since childhood, boys are taught to not seem vulnerable or scared. Whenever they cry, they're made fun of and told to stop because "big boys don't cry." Unlike females, they don't show as much affection, and they keep their feelings bottled up because it's not manly to talk about their feelings.

Social class

This week in sociology, we learned about social classes. Americans like to believe that everyone has equal opportunities and is just equal in general. However, the reality is that depending on the families we are born into, and where we were raised shapes just how equal we are. For example, a person who grew up in the Stevenson area would have enough money to be able to afford tutors, prep books, and college. Also, since Stevenson is a school that values going to college and a good education, most Stevenson students end up going to college. However, for a kid who grows up in the ghetto/ south side of Chicago, they're schools might not have as much funding as Stevenson does, so they might not have the correct resources to go about these opportunities. Although the same opportunities are present for every student at both schools, it would be a lot easier for Stevenson students to attain these opportunities.

Soup Kitchen: A Just Harvest

Last Friday, I volunteered at a Soup Kitchen called "A Just Harvest." This volunteer opportunity definitely led me to step outside of my comfort zone. It was unlike any volunteer work I had done before. It involved a lot of interaction with the people we were serving, and we also had to stay attentive and alert. As soon as we arrived at the Soup Kitchen, we were told to put on aprons, hair nets, and gloves, and we had to go and talk to the guests. At first I was scared because my perception of them was very different from how they actually were. Before I went, I thought that they would have a very negative outlook on life, due to their situation. However, everyone I had talked to was very friendly and some of the most positive and happy people I had ever met! One woman even said that "God always finds a way." I was amazed because most of the people I know, back home, are very negative all of the time. They always have something to complain about even when they've been blessed with the best families, talents and opportunities. The other thing that amazed me was the amount of homeless people there were in the Chicago area. They explained how they got hundreds of people coming in each night. Also, the people that were working there were very nice and willing to help. It made me so grateful that there were people like them in the world. All they do in their free time is devote their time and energy to people who are less fortunate than them, and that is truly amazing! My job throughout the night was to pour milk for anyone who wanted it. However, because of the shortage of milk, I was only allowed to pour one glass for each person. Also, each person I poured it for was very particular about how much I poured into their glass. They made sure that I was pouring it to the very top, and if I fell even a little short, they made me come back and fill it back up to the top. I never realized how valuable an extra sip of milk could be until this night. Back home, if I want another glass of milk, I can go to the fridge and pour some; however, they were so desperate to get as much as they could. Also, one time a little girl asked me for more milk, but because we could only fill the cup once, I had to deny her more. It was really hard to tell this adorable little girl that she couldn't have any more. This little girl and I are no different, but just due to the fact that I was born into a family that was better off than hers, I could have as much as I wanted while she couldn't even have something as simple as milk.

Deviance

This week in Sociology, we learned about deviance. Deviance is when people repeatedly or excessively violate the norms of society. It's relative to the time and the place, and even though the connotation doesn't show it, it can be positive. A few days ago, a few kids from our school came in to talk about their stories dealing with others reactions to them being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning. It was amazing to hear about everything they had been through up to this point. I'm sure that if I was in their shoes, I couldn't have dealt with it. It's amazing how brave and strong of a person they had to be in order to shake everything off. What's even greater about their stories is that they all said that Stevenson was a school that was very accepting and a place where it was easy to be who they wanted to be. It made me realize that I was very fortunate to attend a school where it was okay to myself.

Project dance

Last Saturday, I participated in Project dance! Even though it was a lot of fun, "fun" wasn't the reason that everyone was there. Project dance is a fundraiser done by Stevenson in order to help raise money for the Riverside foundation. Towards the end, they showed a video about how the money we raised was going to a great cause for great people who deserved the absolute best. It made me sociologically mindful because I never realized the hard times that people, who weren't as fortunate as I was, had to go through. While my friends and I were dancing, we saw some of the people, that this organization helps, dancing towards the stage. My friends and I went up to them, and we danced with them. Although they had every right to be angry and upset with life, they were dancing without a care in the world. They seemed so happy with what they were given, and it was a huge eye-opener. It helped me to realize to be happy with every blessing I was given. Even if life gets hard, I know I can pull through because there are others who get through in even harder situations.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Last week in Sociology, we continued to discuss values and how Americans had a different set than other countries. During class, we watched the movie, "Tuesdays with Morrie," and it was about a sociology teacher that was dying from a disease, and how he wanted to teach people how to live and love. He had a former student, Mitch, who began visiting him after finding out about his coming death. This movie really changed my view on death. I realized that Americans had a different way of mourning over the someone's death than other cultures. Americans see death as a much more tragic event than others because we see everyone as an individual. Therefore, when somebody dies, it is seen as they are gone forever, and things will never be the same. On the other hand, other cultures see everyone as part of a community, so if there's death, they see it as everyone else is still alive, and our community isn't broken. Morrie told Mitch that people didn't want to love because they were afraid. Americans don't want to depend on others because they see everybody as being so individualistic.

Nature vs. nurture

This week in sociology, we learned about how humans aren't born with actions we see as natural. For example, something as simple as chewing is something we've all learned as babies watching our parents while they ate. All children are born with the potential of being able to interact, walk, and talk; however depending on our environment, it's not always guaranteed. During class, we watched an episode of Oprah about kids who were neglected and abused by their parents for even making noise. They were confined in these tiny rooms where they were given just enough food to survive, and they were living in the worst conditions. While I was watching the clip, I thought about how these kids were so helpless and how it wasn't fair how they had no choice but to be born to these horrible parents. It made me realize how fortunate I was that I had parents that valued me and nurtured me to be who I was today. It made me socially mindful that no matter how bad anything got, it wouldn't be anything compared to what these kids had been through.

American values

This week in sociology, we learned about the top 13 American values. We read an article called, "The Values Americans Live By," and it explained how Americans didn't have a set list of basic values that  would apply to every American since Americans believed everyone to be unique. Although, as Americans, we believe our norms and values to be natural, other cultures would think that general American values were strange and undesirable. Ideal culture is when Americans make values they like to think they live by, and real culture is when Americans have values they actually live by. For example, on Thanksgiving, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by feasting with their families and being grateful for what they have. When Americans think about thanksgiving, they see themselves as fortunate and grateful; however, at midnight, thousands of Americans are found fighting over the "best deals" at shopping centers. After spending a day of being grateful for what they already had, they went out to buy more of what they didn't need. Although Americans like to think they are grateful for what they have, in reality, they are only thinking about what they can get next.

God Grew Tired of Us

This week, in Sociology, we watched the documentary, "God Grew Tired of Us." This film was about the Lost Boys who had to leave Sudan because of the civil war that took place. They had to walk around 1000 miles to Kenya, which took them around five years. Since they were basically on their own, they lost touch with their families, and they found place at a camp. However, a few of the men were chosen to be refugees and live in America.

When the Lost Boys had first arrived in America, they had culture shock. Since everything about their daily life was so different from American culture, they felt lonely, and they didn't even know how to turn on the light switch! When they first arrived to the hotel, they were amazed by the bathrooms because they had grown up bathing in the nearby river.

This documentary helped me to become sociologically mindful of the different cultures around us. At first, I didn't understand why it would be so strange to bathe in a bathtub or even turn on a light switch. I didn't understand why the lost boys would say that American culture would make someone feel lonely. However, as they started to explain how Americans all did everything separately and how they weren't friendly to strangers, I started to understand. American culture is very lonely, but we don't notice it because it's been our whole lifestyle. We've done everything separately, and our society has taught us that it was strange if someone we didn't know were to enter our house.

Culture Shock

This week in Sociology, we learned about culture shock, cultural relativity, and ethnocentrism. Culture shock is when we are exposed to different rules and ways of living life than we are used to. Ethnocentrism is when we experience that culture shock, but we choose to think of our way of living as superior to another way of living. Cultural Relativity is the way that sociologists try to think. They make an effort to accept other new ideas and ways of living that are different from their own. One way this applies to my life is that I live in a traditional Korean household while attending a school centered around an American mindset. At times, it can be hard for me to adjust from my life at home to my life at school. That's because, in the Korean culture, respect for elders is the most important aspect. For dinner, we all have to eat together, and I'm not allowed to start eating until the oldest person at the table has had their first bite. When I get home, I have to bow from the waist up, and greet my elders. I'm not allowed to talk back or call anyone older than me by their first name. Once, when I was young, I went to my friends house, for dinner, and I greeted her mom with a little bow. Her mom looked at me strangely, and I was really confused. Then, she greeted me, and when I called her Mrs. Smith, she told me to call her Ashley. At that moment, I had experienced culture shock. I didn't know how to call her by her first name because I was never allowed to call my elders by their name. Since I felt uncomfortable, I continued to call her Mrs. Smith, and when we sat down for dinner, I waited for my friend's parents to start eating. When they saw I wasn't eating, they asked me why, and I explained my culture. At first, they didn't understand, but as I continued to explain, they began to have cultural relativity.

The Bronx Tale

This week in Sociology, we watched a movie called "The Bronx Tale." This movie was about a boy named Calogero, who lived in the Bronx, and grew up under the direction of a mobster, Sonny. Throughout the movie, Calogero showed to belong to many groups. He was a part of his family, his childhood friends, the Italian mobsters, Italians in general, and his girlfriend. However, although he belonged to many different groups, his master status was with the Italian mobsters. That's because, as soon as he covered Sonny's crime, he was given lots of respect, even at his young age. People seemed to see him, and have immediate fear just because he was associated with Sonny. However, although that was his master status, it wasn't the group that he was actually a part of. For example, when Sonny and his group beat up the cyclists in the bar, Sonny was hiding in fear. Although violence is associated with the Italian mobsters, Sonny shows no act of violence throughout the film because the group he's actually a part of are the Italians. Calogero is associated with the mobsters, but it doesn't mean that he is also a violent person. Also, this movie showed examples of the Social Construction of Reality because of the racial mindset throughout the movie. For example, when Calogero was young, he was with his group of friends when a bus passed by with an African American boy. Although the boy didn't do anything to harm or offend Calogero and his friends, they used violence and language against the boy. Since Calogero and his friends were young, it was clear that they hadn't been exposed to many African Americans enough to develop their own hatred towards them. Therefore, it was obvious that their society had made hatred towards African Americans an acceptable thing to do. Also, they had learned to swear at a very young age, and their parents didn't seem to mind. That shows that in their society, swearing is a way of expressing anger that has become normal to them. One way this applies to my life is that one day while I was babysitting, this little boy thought it would be okay to swear at me when I told him that he couldn't touch a glass vase on the counter. Although I thought that it was absurd that he was swearing at such a young age, it didn't surprise me all that much. However, it's amazing how much I was scolded for swearing in my household, in my teens, but how this little boy wasn't scolded at all by his parents.   Although we were both doing the same thing, our society has rationalized everything that little kids do because they say "they're too young to know what they're doing/saying."

Categories and stereotypes

This week in Sociology, we learned the difference between categories and stereotypes. Categories are  when objects or people are put into specific groups depending on specific characteristics. In my life, the categories/ groups I'm a part of are my church, Stevenson, my family, and my friends. On the other hand, stereotypes are loose assumption or generalizations that people associate with different groups depending on little or no evidence. For example, since my brother is a very tall male, whenever meeting someone, everybody asks if he plays basketball. Although he does, it's interesting to see how people can just assume that tall people must play basketball.

Social Construction of Reality

This week in Sociology, we learned that the Social Construction of Reality involved how our society influenced how we experienced the world. That means that our actions are based on what is socially acceptable at the given time. For example, this week during class, Mr. Salituro decided to come to class in a Pitbull outfit. As I saw students entering the room, everybody seemed really confused as to why he was dressed as Pitbull. However, when he showed us the picture of him dressed as Gru, from Despicable Me, with his family on Halloween  the whole class seemed alright with the idea, and he even received a lot of compliments. This is showing Social Construction of Reality because Halloween is recognized as the day when people can dress up as other characters; however, when Mr. Salituro showed up to class as Pitbull, on a random Thursday morning, the class seemed confused. That's because it isn't normal in our society for the teacher to randomly dress up on a typical school day.

Sociological Imagination & Sociological Mindfulness

This week, in class, we learned about Sociological Imagination and Sociological Mindfulness. Sociological Imagination involves individuals and how they're influenced by when and where they live. For example, my dad was born in the sixties in the countryside of South Korea. Therefore, while growing up, instead of going to the movies or amusement parks, with his friends, he went fishing in the lake and hiking in the mountains. As a result, as my brother and I were growing up, instead of taking family trips to places with fun attractions and shows, we visited places with a nice scenery. Even if we were in the middle of Wisconsin Dells, my parents would take us on the boat tours rather than the amusement parks. One time, we were driving through California, and my mom and dad started freaking out because they had seen a sign for a nearby farmers market! As crazy as that sounds, throughout the years, my brother and I gathered a love for mother nature. Through my mom and dad's obsession with nature, we learned to appreciate the world around us; however, that isn't the case for most people our age. Most of the people, in my grade, don't appreciate nature, as much as my brother and I, because we live in a society where weekends are spent indoors due to the new Call of Duty game that just got released for X-Box. This week, we learned that Sociological Mindfulness involved realizing that people had unique qualities and appreciating them. Since the American culture is so different from Korean culture, I often find myself in arguments with my parents. Since respect is such a key aspect, in the Korean culture, I can't even call my own brother by his name. Instead I've been raised to call him "oppa," which is older brother in Korean. I have become sociologically mindful because I learned to understand that my parents were as strict, as they were, about respect, due to when and where they were born. I realized that I might have thought that they were being unreasonable with me; however, I now realize that due to the differences in cultures, I had as much of an influence on them.

My life

My name's Grace, and I was born on January 26, 1995 in Chicago, Illinois. Although I'm South Korean, my family is freakishly tall. My dad is 5'11, my mom is 5'9, and my brother is 6'4. My parents love art, so I have a very deep love for music. Ever since I was little, I loved listening to music, and I've been in choir for ever since I can remember. My idols are Taylor Swift and Neil Patrick Harris, so, naturally, I am in love with the tv show How I Met Your Mother!

 Since my grandparents live with my family, I've been raised to help others, so as I grew older, helping others became one of my passions. Therefore, when searching for a career, I looked for a major that would help lead me to a career in the health profession. I want to be the person that relieves someone from their pain or the person who helps give birth to a new life in this world. My biggest influence in my life is definitely my dad. Ever since my brother and I were little, the nickname we called our dad was "The Dictator." Since my grandpa was never there for my dad, since we were little, my dad made sure that he was always there for us. You might be thinking, wow, he must've been a great dad though! While he is a great dad, he was there for us a little too much. He can be very strict, and whenever he goes out of town, it's probably the most relaxing month of my family's life! 

My biggest goal in life is definitely generic. I want to grow up to be successful, and I want to get married and have a family. I absolutely love kids, so I really want to have children that think I'm the coolest mom ever! Wait, no, I want my kid's friends to say that my kids have the coolest mom ever! Since my mom was born in South Korea, the culture is totally different than it is in America, so she's totally awkward when she enters a room. You know the parents that don't put their phone on silent, in public, and it goes off with the most embarrassing ringtone? Yea, that's usually my mom...