RACIAL DRAFT/COMMUNITY SERVICE

When we were talking about race in class it helped to get a deeper understanding while having it be a joke when we watched Dave Chappelle's skit of the racial draft. It totally shows the social construction and he is such a funny person.

Doing my community service in the South Side is very interesting, I saw first hand the racial differences. When I went in there I really didnt feel comfortable totally becuase they kept giving me looks. I felt like an outcast being the only white teenager there. Working in the kitchen was hard becuase It was very difficult to understand what a cook was saying. Overall It was an experience out of my norm and I would do it in the future.

monopoly

Play the game monopoly and being the lowest class I thought it was very rare and difficult to make a living and move up in class. The rich only get richer and the poor only had more worries and could barely survive. In the game the rich started out with the most valuable properties and if you landed on them you where in trouble. And when you landed on the space that told you to go to jail the poorer you where the more difficult for it to get out. Like what Sal said that you will have interaction with other classes at a sporting even but you wont talk to them at other places.

Tammy

After looking at Tammy and her lifestyle and the way her sons see her is puzzling. Coming from a poor family from the beginning it is very difficult to make it from the lower class and move up to the middle class. With her son aspiring to be a high paying job will be very unlikely for many reasons. He came off as a very lazy person who just talks the talk, an example would be not cleaning up or just throwing the garbage in the back yard. Another reason why is because to get such a high paying job you need very good college and post college education which could run up a huge bill. I think working at Burger King and walking 10 miles to your job won't even come close to paying for it. Winning awards and doing well in class may help but it is very hard to move up the system to a higher class. My opinion is that he won't live the american dream.

people

From what we have been talking about in class regarding how your test scores tell you how much you will be making in the future is not right. One reason why is because there are people out there who are not very good test takers but are determination. Success isnt determined from a test you take when your a junior but whether you are driven enough in something you love to do. With what we talked about in class about the wealthy, the average, and the poor is not suprising. The term the term "the rich just keep on getting richer" is a good statement for that. But, the rich do pay bigger taxes and do give money to charities. The average people do have more to worry about with less job security. The poor dont have much to worry about becuase they are used to not having much and don't expect much.

Drugs and Criminals

When talking about drugs and criminals they mix very well. In our society we have the persona that if you do any drug you are a criminal. But in many states like California and Colorado they are decriminalizing certain drugs. Is this right, people say that Barack Obama is going to try to make every state like California. I think decriminalizing basic drugs would be a better choice. Drugs like Marijuana are not that bad. Being compared to drugs like Alcohol which have been studied to be very harmful. There are much worse drugs out there that have been known to be very addictive that law enforcement need to worry about. Drugs like Heroin, and Cocaine for highly addictive. The commercials against Marijuana should be changed to target people about the effects of other drugs. Though Marijuana does have its down side its not as bad as any of the drugs out there. Therefore having it decriminalized would decrease the amount of people being put into Prison.

Education

There has been many debates whether education is a right or a privilege. Education should be a right for every American citizen up until a persons senior year. after that they should have the choice whether they want to start working or persue higher education such as college or a masters. I also agree with what Sal said about how people are reliant on there parents for money even after college. Having a brother who finished college and a sister who is almost done with college they constantly call my dad up for cash because they don't have a job. For my sister she needs money for rent on her apartment and my parents are forced to pay it.

Holloween

Halloween is for many people different things. For kids its about getting as much candy as possible and for pulling pranks on people. For teenagers it's getting drunk and causing mischief like smashing pumkins or knocking mailboxes down. for adults its to stay home and pass out candy to the kids who ring your doorbell. I think this destructive teenage attitude is due to the persona that they have to do this to look cool. Adults usually go out and watch there kids trick-or-treat. Holloween is a time when people also try to believe in ghosts and dress up. People when there younger they dress up as there favorite TV show characters such as a Power Ranger. When you get older you grow through the stage of being something scary. Then once puberty hits you try to wear for men, alcohol or drug related outfits while girls try to wear as little as possible. Then you don't dress up but dress up your kids.

PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA

Being a republican and rooting for John McCain I didn't really agree with Obama. But after the election and the Republican party lost and Barack Obama became the first African American president I thought that it was a good thing. Thinking about how much African Americans endured through out history and being able to vote and being old enough to witness the first black president of our time is pretty cool and like Barack mentioned opening up a new chapter in American history. I really hope he will follow through with his word and unite this country and create change for the better of the country. Reading the post about the lady who was not able to vote in her past becuase of the tests the whites established was very interesting becuase in her lifetime was able to see a black president and unlike many people of her age where already deceiced. Even though I am skeptical of Barack I really hope he will help out the American people command this country with pride.

I have no idea

I think a real man should be able to know whats right and wrong and is able to make the right decision. Put his family before himself. Be able to protect his family at all costs even if it could be fatal. Someone who is always there to comfort. Someone who does not easily judge. Also someone who wont hold a grudge for to long. Someone who is mean to people for no reason and will hurt people to look cool is no man. Just someone who is insecure about them self.

TOYS

In the activity where we brought our toys into class I thought was really fun and interesting. Viewing the boys side from the girls side there was a dramatic difference. The boys had action figures, toy cars, Buzz Lightyear, while the girls had dolls and very feminine things. With the magazine Sal brought in was pretty interesting and had things that represented boys and girls that I would never of thought when I was younger. The girls where categorized with pink, purple, and had dolls and doll accessories while the boys had blue, greens, having them be action figures with a backround in space.

Morry

In the movie I thought that the character Morry was a lot tougher then a lot of people. He was able to look at death and accept that it was his time to pass on. something I liked about Morry is that he was always a positive person no matter how much pain he was in. Overall Tuesdays with Morry was a really good movie that taught me a lot about hardships people go through and how they try to make the best out of thing

Groups

I feel as much as people say there are "clicks" I feel like for the most part people interact no matter what group your apart of. For me, I talk to many different people from different supposed groups. You interact with the jocks, nerds, druggies, asians, emos, etc, etc. I feel a group is just a bunch of kids who have the same style and some things in common. But that doesnt define who you are or what people you should be hanging with. People just have to realize life isn't like the TV shows where they show people on the different parts of the stairs in front of the school. But people still do imagine thats what highschool lfe is like.

Bronx tale

The movie we watched in class was very interesting to me. I thought it was clever because one of the main actors actually was C. Having someone who is actually making a movie of a real event was very cool and interesting. This was interesting also how they displayed the segregation they went through. Having the Italians in one neighborhood and the blacks in another. They seemed like they always where in a fight like now and days between rival gangs such as the GD's and the Latin Kings. The perspective of this hasn't changed to todays times.

THE CITY

I thought it would be interesting to blog about what I did for my community service for Sociology. While driving through the city I noticed a lot of segregation in the parts I was going through. I rarely saw any white kids and the homeless people tried to take advantage of me because I had a nervous and confused look on my face. Many of the people asked me for change and a lot of people loved to smoke cigarettes. I think they were not comfortable with me because some would give me some weird looks.

HELLO THERE

I thought it was interesting on friday with the activity we did. What I valued most was my Family. Overall family is the most important thing in my life. My parents and I may disagree on many things but I will always show them unconditional love through thick and thin. What is interesting is that once you have a family and children your values and things that where once important to you

new post!

I find it very interesting that there are over 500 homeless people in just Lake County alone. personally, the only time Ive ever seen a homeless person was in California. But seeing someone in lake county who is poor is pretty surprising to me. I wonder what happens when winter rolls around and its almost unbearable outside.

second blog

Well, I'm still trying to figure everything out but I finally managed to make a play list of music. I'm really not to sure what I'm supposed to say but I guess I can talk about that special on TV, Growing Up online. I actually got to see this special when it was aired on TV. I think as everyday goes by, we are becoming a generation that needs electronics and technology. I think doing homework online would be so much fun and i encourage it. Its so easy to do it because I'm usually on the computer all the time. So this year I think it will be interesting having to blog.

My First Blog.

My name is Mike I am a Senior at Stevenson. I enjoy listening to music, playing sports, chilling with my friends. I am currently an employee a retirement Community as a waiter. When  I graduate high school I plan on attending college. The first college of my choice is Western Illinois. After college my goal is to move to California and plan on becoming a law enforcement officer hopefully in Oakland.