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.