Food Pantry

The local food pantry is always looking for food donations. They are normally very low on PEANUT BUTTER and JELLY. If you call before, they will tell you what they are low on, and they have a list of the products that they accept. One day, my sister and I went to Wal-Mart and bought a cart full of food and toiletries for the pantry. If you want a quick and easy way to give back to the community, this would be a very nice thing to do!

From Sociology to SociALLIEgy

Sociology was such a cool course to take because everybody has their own personal connections to apply to the lessons. In August, I was enrolled in Sociology, but today, I am enrolled in SociALLIEgy!

Sociology class taught me to branch out and be socially deviant. At the beginning of the semester, I had little exposure to the variety of service opportunities. Had I not taken this course, I would not have taken advantage of these different opportunities. I restricted myself to nursing homes, and it never crossed my mind to tutor kids in the city or volunteer in a homeless shelter.Today, I would define myself as more of an open-minded person than I was back in August. I do not set expectations on opportunities before I actually go and volunteer because I now know it is wrong to draw conclusions before I know all of the facts.

By exposing myself to positive deviance, I have been changed forever because I am more comfortable breaking away from social norms and using more integrity. By serving, adults will have more respect for teenagers because they will see how willing the high school students are to give back to their communities.

Crash

"Crash" depicts racism in America by figuratively crashing people with multiple racial backgrounds. The movie shows the harsh realities of racism and the effect that it has on people. I noticed racism in my life when I was going through U.S. Customs after my vacation, my dad noticed that the security guard was very strict because he held two families who happened to be Asian and a different ethnicity that I couldn't identify. When my family was next, we were barely questioned. It was really bizarre. That was a real "crash" moment.

The Sport of Racism

The other day in class, we were asked to classify different balls by their characteristics. I grouped the balls together based on their color. This activity was used as a metaphor do teach the class racism. The class came up with several different ways to classify the balls. There was no wrong way to group them just like there is no wrong way to classify humans. Tall, small, black, white... The list goes on! However, when balls with different patterns needed to be grouped, the classifications became more difficult. In society, there are so many different types of people that it is really unfair to divide people up into groups. Isn't America supposed to be a "melting pot?"

Monopoly

When we played Monopoly, I was the "top hat."

My social status was pretty high; how cool is that?

Although my social status was high,

I couldn't change my social status, no matter how hard I tried!

My dad is a doctor and works at Marquette.

He provides the money for everything I get.

My parents are in the same social class as their childhood days.

They work hard to provide for the kids that they raise.

Upper-middle class will hopefully be my status, too.

I'll work as hard as I can to earn the same money that my parents do!

Big Mistake.

Americans are divided in to distinct classes. It is very difficult to move between classes because once you're in a class, people have a tough time accepting outsiders. People are most comfortable with people who are most like them. For example, in the movie "Pretty Woman," Vivian (a hooker) was given money by the man she is living with to buy a fancy dress. Since she didn't own "nicer" clothes prior to the shopping trip, she wore a trashy dress to shop on Rodeo Drive. The ladies mentally counted Vivian's money before she could even find out which size the dress was. Vivian was asked to leave the store because the saleswomen didn't want to waste their time with someone who may not end up buying an outfit. People are intimidated by people who are not like them, so they avoid them when possible.

Onward House

Last night, I went to the Onward House to tutor children who live in the city. It was a rewarding experience because I was able to help a kid with his homework. Although the trip to the city was long, I was still happy to be able to help out at the facility. I expected the place to look like it did. I feel fortunate to go to school in a facility like Stevenson. It was a great experience tutoring the kids, and I would do the event again.