Habitat For Humanity - Gift Wrapping

Last night, I went with Katie to Barnes and Noble in Deer Park to wrap gifts to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. Katie and I went into this thinking it would be pretty simple, but when we got there and saw our table (that was in the middle of the Starbucks) we realized it would be a bit more difficult than we expected. Katie went around trying to get people to come to our table, while I was making more signs to attract attention to our odd location of gift wrapping. Many people both awkwardly and politely said no to our good cause, but we got about five or so "customers" all with holiday gifts who loved this idea! We wrapped and wrapped some more and made about $41 in the two hours we were there.
While we were waiting for people to bring us their gifts to wrap, I was thinking about how rude it was that people knew we were raising money, but then continued to say no and walk away or just completely try to ignore us altogether. But then I realized that I've seen people wrapping at Barnes and Noble and I have politely said no thank you to them as well... Yes, I have done the same thing they were doing to us. I now know that I will never pass up throwing in even just $1 when I see people trying to raise money for a good cause. Just because I don't need a gift wrapped doesn't mean that I can't just help out the organization!

Race

Today in class, we saw how the "Racial Test" works. It surprises me that everyone, including darker-skinned people, associate good with lighter skin and bad with darker skin. It is sad to me to think that we are brought up thinking this way. We are taught from such a young age that all light-skinned, blonde-haired, blue-eyed people are beautiful, when in reality, that is not necessarily true. Kids need to be raised with an open mind. They need to be allowed to form their own opinions of others, not be taught society's mostly-false stereotypes.
It really shocked me that even though I am not a racist person, I continued to associate the "bad" words with darker-skinned people and the "good" words with lighter skinned people. That shows me that no matter how much I don't want to be racist and don't agree with racial people and stereotypes, I subconsciously think that way.
When looking on the websites of different hate groups around the country, not only was is absurd to me that people are so insecure that they have to join and participate in hate groups, but it reminded me of a time I witnessed something that I did not believe truly still existed. The Neo-Nazi's. During sophomore year, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Skokie Holocaust Museum opening. While we were on the bus back to our car, there was a group of Neo-Nazi's waving, shouting, protesting, and hating that there were so many Jewish people around. Some survivors that were on the bus started crying, remembering some of the most painful times of their lives.
It's sad that people have to create these awful feelings towards each other, when there is scientific proof that there is a tiny percentage of DNA that creates color of skin, eyes, hair, etc. that we perceive as race. No one seems to want to believe that we are all basically one race, HUMAN!

Minimum Wage

Living on minimum wage, in my opinion, is unethical.
It is immoral to allow people to work their butts off at a job that is not going to give them enough pay to support themselves, let alone their families. Why would the government make a minimum wage if it doesn't even live up to the price of living? It just does not make sense.
While watching 30 Days - Living on Minimum Wage, it was clear that it is extremely hard to even survive living on minimum wage with TWO people working every day full-time. This should not be legal. I believe that people who are working that hard to survive should be able to live a healthy life, be able to get medical attention when needed, and provide for themselves and their families.
The facts about poverty in this country is mind boggling. It is not right and not fair. I believe that going to the school I go to definitely puts me and my classmates in "a bubble". No one thinks twice about throwing out half their lunches, not bothering to fill up their water bottles for free, but they just mindlessly buy a new water for $1, etc. Students should be required to become aware of these circumstances and learn what is really going on around them, around the country, and around the world.

Saints&Roughnecks

While reading Saints and Roughnecks, I was surprised and upset. I couldn't comprehend why people would be excused of crime simply based on their financial and social status. The Saints would commit worse and more dangerous crimes, like leaving potholes open for cyclists to get hurt and drinking and driving, then the Roughnecks who would do things like steal to make a profit. The Roughnecks would always get caught and get in a lot more trouble. The Saints would get out of almost everything, including the majority of speeding tickets. Both the Saints and the Roughnecks would ditch classes, but the Roughnecks would get worse grades and get "caught" more often. The Saints would come up with excuses as to why they needed to leave class.
Although it is not that realistic, I think society needs to learn how to punish people who are committing crimes, no matter who they are or what their financial status is. It is not fair for the more poor person to get arrested for a crime when the more wealthy kid gets away with it because his/her parents are more wealthy and powerful in the community.
This story has opened my eyes to the fact that police even go by these standards at work. In the story, it said that "police who arrest poor kids for stealing bicycles or selling drugs are doing a good job and are promoted to Sergeant. Police who arrest upper-middle class kids for being truant and hanging out in pool halls create strains that no police chief wants." I think that that is ridiculous and needs to be looked at and thought over more carefully.

Social Class

When Sal first told us we were learning about social class in the US I was a bit confused. I knew that there were levels of poverty, and that incomes played a role, but as we were watching the movie on social class, I felt as if Americans treated the income-class as if we were in India or another country that discriminates based on class or income. There were two parts in the movie that were most shocking to me. The first was the guy who was brought up and is part of the WASP society/social class. He was talking about people that he saw dancing and how he could not understand how they were let in when they were so fat and ugly. I seriously could not believe that he actually thought that way. I not only do not agree with what he was saying, but he was laughing and seriously could not understand why they were allowed to be dancing and so happy when they were that fat and ugly. I think it's pathetic that there are people in the "free" America that think that way and judge that way based simply on what someone looks like. The second part that was so shocking to me was the story of Tammy and her children. It was so upsetting to me to see Tammy fight so hard for her children, her life, and their well-being. Seeing her walk to work (Burger King) in the rain, alone, and soaking wet, made me want to cry. The living conditions of that family was also very sad. But that's reality. That's America and that's how the majority of Americans are living, or at least somewhat close to that. It made me think about how truly fortunate I am, and how I shouldn't take things for granted as much as I do now. I now realize the majority of things that I complain about are pointless and irrelevant in the long run. I think everyone should have to see what Tammy and her family's living conditions are like. People should have the determination to succeed that Tammy has. It's immoral to think the way the one WASP-society guy thinks like. It is not fair to anyone to be judged based on their income, their appearance, or anything else of that nature. People should see these examples of people from the extremes of American society and learn from it.

JAIL

While reading the article for this week, I was in complete shock. I could not understand the harsh jokes, horrible language, and brutality that came from the police to the inmates. The craziest part, was that the "inmates" were not even convicted yet. It was very hard for me to see how people are treated before even being convicted. It makes me pretty convinced that it's a lot worse when they are actually convicted. I really think that the system is messed up. People can buy their way out of jail, when committing the same or worse crimes as someone else who is poor. The big joke there is that the poor people have to stay in jail and stay in the worst conditions throughout the whole process of waiting for their court date and then still being sentenced to prison. I think people really need to think about how the system works and realize the way it is all run by money. Whoever has the most money and is willing to use it to get out of jail wins in this situation, which is really not fair. Why should someone who murders someone be able to get a good lawyer, pay bond and have a minimal sentence, and someone who was caught with drugs be in prison while waiting for trial, then get a very harsh punishment and go back to prison for a very long time? It doesn't make any sense and it just sucks that everything is based upon money; I really don't think it's fair.

The REAL Columbine

In class, we read a pretty lengthy excerpt from a book by Kimmel. It was about Masculinity and violence. I started off reading this article with a closed mind, because I thought I knew pretty much everything about these school shooting, like Columbine. What I realized was that I really didn't know anything about Columbine, I only knew what the media portrayed about Columbine. I thought that Columbine was just another "children killing children" event, and did not even think about why Harris and Klebold did what they did to their teachers, classmates, and school. I now know part of their thinking behind this massacre. Harris and Klebold were two friends that were not at all considered "cool". They were the "rejects", the "weirdos", the "faggots", the "homos", and were constantly name-called and made fun of. Harris and Klebold didn't just wake up one morning wanting to take revenge, they plotted and planned for quite some time; they wanted to make it very clear that words can be so hurtful and the words that were said to them and many others on a daily basis are not okay.
I am so happy that we had to read this excerpt from Kimmel's book. I think it is very important for people to go out of their way to be aware and try to stop bullying and hurtful name-calling. Everyone needs to learn to be more aware of what they are saying and how their words could be interpreted.  People don't always realize how hurtful their words can be, but hopefully the REAL Columbine story can help people learn.

The Secrets of Media

This week in class, we have been studying the media and how that has triggered certain stereotypes. We also watched a video about how the media gets into our heads at such an early age. That video was one of the most disturbing things I have seen about our media-culture. I could not believe that there were media researchers who gave MRIs to kids to see what parts of the brain lit up during certain activities and who designed commercials to be so mesmerizing that kids would barely blink during them. To me, that is so sickening. I think that a beginner's mind is so important and it is being taken away from kids so quickly now. While watching that movie, I realized that the commercials they used as examples had even me barely blinking! That was so shocking to me! But in reality, their studies really are working and mesmerizing younger kids and even kids my age! I think parents should be aware of what the media is truly doing to their kids. I think it is very important for kids to come up with as many of their own ideas, opinions, and interests on their own is possible and with what the media is doing, that identity is being stolen.

Shriner's!

This past week I did another community service opportunity... volunteering at Shriner's through G.I.V.E.! It was a very different experience for me, in a way. Seeing children and some adults in this hospital was sort of hard for me. For example, we were playing cards with a boy who was 17 years old, who could not even leave his hospital room because he had a new type of therapy in his bed that he had to stay in. When we were playing cards with him, we were talking, and he was asking us where we wanted to go to school and what we wanted to do when we were older, etc. It made me sort of sad for a while after, thinking about how much I take my health and my life for granted. This boy seemed very smart and it was obvious he was hungry for learning and experiencing and growing, and because of one disability, he was not able to follow through with that as much as he would like. I think that it is very important for people to go out of their way to volunteer and spend time with peers who are not as fortunate as they are. This boy was all smiles while we played cards with him, which also inspired me, because when I think that my life may be hard at times, I can just think of what he has to go through on a daily basis.
Shriner's was a great experience and I hope to go more often through G.I.V.E.!

"Death? I Don't Want To Talk About It"

In class, we watched "Tuesdays with Morrie" for a few days. It was one of the best life lesson kind of movies I think I have ever seen! But it wasn't a boring one! Yes, I sat there and was teary-eyed for probably half of the movie :(

But it was definitely worth it! Hearing Morrie talk to Mitch about life was so interesting. It reminds me of when I talk to my Grandma about life and, or course, high school girl drama. I feel like she is the one in my life who has the most life experiences. Our worlds are so different, but she gives me the best advice all the time!

One point that was brought up in the movie and in class was how uncomfortable people feel when talking about death. Even for me, I feel very uncomfortable talking about it, and it is by far one of my biggest fears in life. I think in America, people just go and go and feel like they can never stop and take a break. I think that because of this, and our values, people are afraid to think of the time that everything will stop. At least for me, I can't even think about death without getting an "upset" feeling. Even just writing this blog, it's hard to think about death and what comes with it. 

I think Morrie brings up good points in the movie, when trying to get Mitch more comfortable with this unwanted topic. He say:

"You know, dying is just one thing to be sad about. Living unhappily, that's another matter."

"Fear of aging - you know what that reflects? Lives that haven't found meaning."

"Don't look so sad because I'm gonna die, Mitch. Everybody's gonna die. Even you. ... If we accept the fact that we can die at any time, we'd lead our lives differently. ..."

I think those quotes that Morrie says throughout the movie are very important and are key to getting over this fear of death, and this uncomfortable feeling most people get when the word death is said or brought into conversation. If we try to take Morrie's advice and learn from it, I think, eventually, death won't be such a hard concept to think about.

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A Bronx Tale

While watching the movie, A Bronx Tale, not only is it such a good movie, but it is also helping me to understand Sociology a lot more. It is unbelievable to me the huge affect social construction and "groups" have on people. Throughout the movie, there is a huge emphasis on the different, cultured neighborhoods. Of course, the movie mostly takes place in the Italian neighborhood, but in the part we watched in class today, it showed a couple of interactions that really stuck with me. The first was the interaction between Sonny and the biker gang. The groups in that society were so "cliquey" that they were willing to do anything to prove their "rank" in their group. In this scene, Sonny created a huge fight in his bar after the bikers were disrespectful. Even though there were only a couple main guys that were disrespectful, the entire group was severely beat up by Sonny and his friends. What's interesting though, is that if there was someone else in there from another group, Sonny and his friends would most likely not have gone near them. Another scene that really stuck with me, was the scene where C's friends beat up the group of African American boys that were riding bikes, causing absolutely no harm, through their Italian neighborhood. C recently met Jane, who is African American, and had no bad feelings toward these boys or anyone else from their neighborhood. When C sees his friends going after the boys, he repeatedly yelled at them to stop, but of course no one listened. C felt like he had to go out there and look like he was doing something because his friends were doing it, even though he was totally against beating up these African American boys. The social construction really shows in this movie. All of these kids just hear that they should do something or think a certain way, like hate the other neighborhoods. If they had the chance to make their own opinions of them, like C, maybe they would see that there really was no difference between them besides skin color. I really hope that people can watch this movie and see that if they just give people a chance and make their own opinions for themselves, like C did with Jane, and not "judge a book by its cover", like C's friends did, they might think differently about people and many other things in life. I think it's important for people to find themselves on their own and learn for themselves, rather than just live off of what other people tell them.

Habitat for Humanity!!

This past Saturday I went and completed the first 8 hours of community service for the final, but it was much more than that. This experience was something that I had never experienced before. It was day 1 of the project in Elgin, IL which meant "Tear it all down, break everything" day! At first it was weird taking sledge hammers and pry-bars and hitting them as hard as possible into the ceilings and walls, but after a few swings, it became a little bit more normal. By the end of the 7-hour day, there were no more ceilings and barely any walls. All the cabinets from the kitchen were taken down and taken apart and the ceilings were just support beams and the roof. It was one of the most rewarding experiences, especially because we were working all day with the new owner of the house and her niece. Getting to know the new homeowner and seeing her excitement about it was so cool! She was so excited and told us she had to put in 250 hours to "pay" for the work Habitat for Humanity is doing for her. I think that this organization is amazing! To have all of these volunteers come out and work so hard to give something back to someone in the community is amazing! There is a long list of people just waiting to be able to come out and help them, so when we asked if we would be able to come back, the volunteer organizer said that we basically had to wait in line and go on the "short notice" list!
I've always done community service, but nothing like this before! This was totally out of my community and I went there knowing one person, but ended up becoming a part of a team for 7 hours to help out someone in the community!
The woman who was going to soon live in the 95-year-old house was so appreciative of everything we were doing for her. It was obvious that she was impressed that we went there just to help. She kept asking if we had to complete community service specifically at Habitat for Humanity and we told her that we could have gone anywhere or done anything, but we really liked this organization and she was so appreciative.
Something that surprised me was the amount of adults and kids there. There were around 15 people there and only 4 kids, one of them being the new homeowner's niece. It was amazing to me that all of these adults stopped and took a day out of their lives to just help out in their community. I thought that that was so cool!
Hopefully people read this and decide that going out of their comfort zone with this project is such a cool, exciting experience! Everyone should try to do something outside of our community if possible!!

The House!













                                                                          
                                Jamie and me hanging from the "new" ceiling!

Spit or Saliva?

Social Construction takes over society's minds.
Society truly creates how people feel about things, about almost everything.

In class, even I, someone who tries to be very open-minded, felt uncomfortable and disgusted when asked if I wanted to drink a classmate's "spit".

When Sal gave us the insight to make the realization about spit versus saliva, it really put a lot into perspective for me. I always thought that all morals came from my parents, then morals led me to my opinions, and that's how my feelings towards things are formed. This little "sociological experiment" proved some of that wrong. I never realized that "spit" is the same exact thing as "saliva".

The concept of Social Construction makes me think about the whole Proposition 8 dispute in California, and really nation-wide. If there was no background or society-pushing-beliefs, I truly believe there would be a lot less disagreement towards Gay Marriage. I really do think that if kids were allowed, from the beginning, to come up with their own opinions, there would be a lot more people that thought it was okay for any two people, if in love, can get married. I know that this is such a hot topic, but it can be brought down to a high school level...
I, as a little Freshman, was nervous about homecoming and turn about, and whether or not I would get asked or have the guts to ask someone. This led me to think that it would be a lot more fun if me and some of my close girlfriends just went in a big group to the dance together. When I brought this idea up to my friends, some of them loved the idea; they felt it took a lot of pressure off of them and they knew they would still have fun and experience the dance. Others, however, felt too embarrassed and "weird" going through with the idea. They thought other people would think a variety of negative things about them. For example, some thought that others would think they were secretly Lesbian, or couldn't get a guy, or just a loser for not getting asked.
All of these automatic thoughts were based off of Social Construction.
The majority of my friends thought it was a really good idea, but it never happened because many of them were nervous or too embarrassed because of what they thought other people would think.

Hopefully, people will take Social Construction into consideration and create their own opinions about things! ... At least that's what I want to try to do!

Giving Back

I believe giving back to the community we live in is so important. Community service should be something people want to do, not a forced assignment. Participating and understanding the service project is key! In order to do this, one must be sociologically mindful. Sociological Mindfulness helps one understand themselves and others better and helps one live more meaningfully. Understanding others and where they come from and why they are the way they are is one thing, but helping them overcome, grow, and live better by spending some hours with them is why the service project is so important. I have always been involved with community service. I participate in an organization called The Friendship Circle, where once a week I go spend a couple of hours with an 8th grade boy who has Cerebral Palsy. Every Sunday when I go to his house, his face lights up and he has the best time! Knowing that he doesn't have the ability to go out and hang out with friends breaks my heart, but knowing that I can help him live better and smile for 2 hours a week is amazing! I understand that he is living such a hard life and knowing I can make a difference in his life is awesome!

Who Am I?

Who am I? I just turned 17 years old last week and I am a senior in high school. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and lived there until I was 5, then I moved to Illinois! I don't have a favorite color... but I love purple and blue! I have an older sister and a younger brother and a golden retriever puppy! When I'm not at school, I love volunteering and giving back to the community. I regularly volunteer at a nursing home and I also spend time with a child who has CP once a week with a group called the Friendship Circle! I am a person who is always thinking of other people.I also love hanging out with my friends! I started playing tennis and singing when I was little, and still consider those 2 of my top hobbies! I also try to stay optimistic at all times :)

The biggest influences in my life are definitely my family, specifically my parents and my grandma! Those 3 people have taught me to always live in the moment and learn from everything in life. They have taught me to never regret, but learn from my mistakes, which has helped me a lot throughout my life. 

I have many goals in life. I really love traveling and seeing other cultures. I would love to somehow incorporate that into my life, along with volunteering! I also plan on going to college and so far LOVE the University of Minnesota, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! I want to do a lot with my life! I'm not sure what exactly I want to do as a career but I think it's between the healthcare field and education... Not sure yet! I also really want to go to Israel, so hopefully I will be able to do that soon!!

Other than that, my big goal or purpose is to live my life to the fullest, as cliché as that may sound..