I Saw Sociology When…

I’m also taking psychology COD along with sociology. There are not a lot of us in that class, so it’s easy to notice each other. The other day, I noticed a boy who I suppose people could describe as a skater, stoner, whatever, wearing black nail polish. My first thought was, “that’s weird,” but then I was like, “why do I think that?” I’m assuming I think boys wearing nail polish is weird because by gender roles, it’s defined that only girls wear nail polish. It reminds me of when I was younger and putting clear nail polish on with a lot of my boy cousins around. They all wanted to try it and see what it felt like (cause it’s CRAZY different from not wearing nail polish), but only decided to do it when it was clear that all of them would do it, so none of them would be singled out. Worked out for me cause I got to practice giving manicures.

I Hate Gender Roles

More specifically, I hate women’s gender roles because it makes us the stereotypically weaker, gentler, slower, less ambitious, more stupid sex. Those stereotypes were proven by that trait list we did in class. The sad thing is that that list was made in the 50-60’s, but many of those stereotypes still exist today, when statically, they shouldn’t exist at all.

According to the New York Times, the “Department of Education statistics show that men, whatever their race or socioeconomic group, are less likely than women to get bachelor's degrees — and among those who do, fewer complete their degrees in four or five years. Men also get worse grades than women. Men now make up only 42 percent of the nation's college students.” The New York Times also says, “From the time they are young, boys are far more likely than girls to be suspended or expelled, or have a learning disability or emotional problem diagnosed. As teenagers, they are more likely to drop out of high school, commit suicide or be incarcerated.” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html?pagewanted=5

With facts like these, it just pissed me off that the stereotypes for women are that they’re the lesser of the 2 sexes, when really they should be equal or dare I say it, better.

Chinese Mother

I actually agree with Amy Chua on her extreme type of parenting. In the end, her daughter Lulu was able to play the piece she was trying to learn and enjoyed playing it once she got it. I played almost every sport possible and quit every one when I was a kid. I wished my parents had forced me to stay in swimming. My uncle was visiting from California when he and my mom took me to my first official swim lesson. He says that the swim coach came up to my mom after the lesson and said, “I normally don’t do this, but can we put her in a meet this weekend?” My mom agreed and my uncle proudly says I won the race they put me in. I did swimming for about a year before I quit. I just got bored with it, every day doing the same strokes in the same lanes, so I threw an tantrum and got my way. But I wish my mom had been a “Chinese mother” and forced me to stay in it.    

I think she could be doing the right thing. I’m friends with a lot of oriental people who also have a “Chinese father” as well as a “Chinese mother.” Not to be stereotypical, but every single one of them fall into the smart Asian category. They are all academically smart and are good behaving kids. I don’t know yet if they’re screwed up for the rest of their lives, but maybe I’ll see at our high school reunion. I don’t think they would be because I think what they took from their upbringing was to be hard working people.

I know Freud believed in the stages of development, but I don’t see how a “Chinese mother” is interfering in those phases. If there is any interference, it may be trying to push their kid to fast, like having them learn to read too early.

Culture Shock

One of the biggest culture shocks of my life was I went downtown with an organization called Chicago’s Beloved to hand out sandwiches to the homeless and to pray with them.

I know homeless people are in everyone’s culture, but I feel like they’re almost another culture to themselves because we Americans sure as hell make sure they don’t mingle with us. I don’t know how they live, I don’t know their social rules. I don’t know them just like I don’t know people in Taiwan.

On Jackson boulevard right before you cross the bridge, there is a homeless man named Larry. If you take this way often, you know him by his district voice when he calls out for change. He was one of the first ever homeless people I met.

I hung back when my group of three others went to greet him because I had no idea what to expect. He shook everyone’s hands and gave Josh, one of the founders of CB, a hug. I moved forward and also shook his hands. We talked to him about the weather, his health and other things. Josh asked if he wanted us to pray for him and he said yes, so we all joined hands and bowed our heads. Larry started the prayer, and prayed for us. He was praying for us. Young kids (to him) that had warm clothes on their backs, money in our pockets, warm homes to go back to, and basically anything we need available to us. I was so… shocked. And so humbled. Here was a man standing before me, who literally is the definition of fallen on hard times, and he was praying for me, a kid who has more than I’ll ever need. And he was praying for my life.

I had never felt so lucky in my life. I have also never been so disappointed in myself. As a kid going downtown to see the museums or a show, your parents instinctively pull you away from anyone homeless. You’re either taught to just ignore the homeless, or are just too shy and too unsure of what to do when you pass them. I had passed countless homeless people all my life, and I have never had a complete conversation with one. I had passed up the chance countless times to maybe brighten someone’s days by just acknowledging that they exist and treating them like a human being and not a fixture on the concrete sidewalk.

Culture shock? More like a culture wake up.

Culture Clash

Culture Clash

One of the most significant culture clashes I have ever witnessed was when I went on my mission trip last year.

I went on a mission trip through Wheaton Bible to West Chicago (yeah, it’s kind of awkward to tell people that when they live in West Chicago, and also a bit awkward when you’re on a trip with a bunch of very nice kids, but they all go to Wheaton and Warrenville schools, and you go to West Chicago). We stayed in a church literally blocks from the high school and would travel every day to the Westwood Apartments by Aldi to partner with our sister church Puente del Pueblo to run a day camp for children.

The day camp was almost all Catholic Hispanic children. All us where non-denominational Christians (except for me) and we were all white, except for about 3 of us. Before we went on the trip, a man from Puente del Pueblo came in and had to explain how wary Catholics are of other religions. I found it really amusing because I was raised Catholic, and technically still am because I attend both masses at St. John, and services at Wheaton Bible. Many of my peers were really confused and kept on asking, “why?” While the man answered the questions, I thought of my parents. They very much dislike Wheaton Bible, even to this day, and I have been attending that church for 2 years. The main reason is that they don’t follow Catholic traditions, and because my parents totally believe Wheaton stereotypes. Before I went on the trip, my dad told me to look for signs of them being superior and looking down on “new Christians” When I came home from the trip, my mom, my dad, and my brother all asked how the trip was. When I said, “amazing,” they all looked really surprised and said, “really?”

But I digress. At the camp, I worked the sign up station (which was actually a bad move because I know about 3 sentences in Spanish and all the parents signing up the kids usually only spoke fluent Spanish) so I was almost always observing the kids interacting with our volunteers. The kids generally seemed quiet and shy around the volunteers. I thought it was because of the language barrier, but my Honduran friend Adam, who spoke Spanish flawlessly, still said that the kids seemed quiet and shy around him. I think they were mostly shy because they couldn’t relate to these non-Catholic white teenagers. We just came from different cultures. Some of it was small things, like many of the kids seemed confused when our volunteers would say a prayer and say amen, but wouldn’t make the sign of the cross. It was just culturally hard to relate to them.

By the end of the trip, some of the kids had opened up, but not as many as my volunteer peers would have liked.

Folkways

Folkways are commonly broken and kept in the locker room.

Today, I came out of the girl’s bathroom in the locker room to wash my hands only to discover there was no soap left in either dispenser. As a slight germaphobe, this greatly alarmed me, but I also realized that to not wash your hands is breaking a folkway. After standing there for a couple of seconds with just wet hands and puzzling over what to do, I walked back to my backpack to use my travel sized hand sanitizer (which no good germaphobe would be without) and wondered if any society thought that actually washing your hands was not to be done. I found that one third of Australian men don’t wash their hands, but I don’t know if that’s a cultural thing, or just a gross thing.

Another folkway in the locker room is to NEVER look at another person while that person is changing. Even when I’m changing by friends, we make an effort to not look at each other while switching into our gym clothes. It just kind of a common curtsey thing for privacy because no one actually really wants to change in front of a bunch of people, whether you know them or not.

I’m not sure if this would be considered a folkway or a more, but I trust the other people around me to not be taking pictures of me when they have their cell phones out. No one is supposed to have cell phones out in the locker rooms because of pictures and privacy (or so our gym teachers tell us), but everyone always does because there’s no teachers to be walking around and checking if we have them out. One day I was changing and noticed a girl standing like 8 feet away from me with her phone out, probably texting, and I realized with a jolt she could be taking a picture of me, but I disregard it a second later because it’s a social rule and I also trust members of society to not do that.  

American Symbols

America is represented by an eagle for many reasons, instead of the turkey like Benjamin Franklin wanted to be the national bird. Eagles are cunning, bright, fierce, strong, and mostly independent, just like America. The Eagle is also as free as any creature could be because they have the freedom to fly, just like America is one of the freest nations in the world.

America is definitely more a salad then a mixing pot or soup. Everything is together, but it contains its only person identify, just like everyone in America is together, but their keep their own culture. If America was a mixing pot, wouldn’t every different nationality conform and we’d all speak the same, wear the same clothes, have the same traditions and religion? The salad keeps its leafiness and the tomato keeps its seeds, but they still live together.

America is like football. It’s unique and not a lot of other countries play or follow it. America is a very unique country because not a lot of other nations have the same liberties or freedoms we have. And of course football is unique to America because we’re the only ones that call it football when the rest of the world calls it… I don’t even know what they call (rugby? Handball?), but their football is soccer to us.

Okay, I don’t know the first thing about cars, so this is the first car that came up in Google when I typed in “fastest and newest car.” The car is like America because it’s apparently very fast, just like the culture of America. We are always moving. I went with my friend Maddy to her Spain trip meeting and Mrs. Bellis said the seven times she has been to Spain, she has only ever seen one fast food drive-in place. Dinner in Spain is about connecting, while dinner in America is about getting fuel to still move as fast as we can, like how cars need fuel. We can’t run on empty. This car is apparently the newest car too, which is like America because we always want the newest thing. We are never content with what we have. 

This Obama campaign poster represents America in so many ways. The poster itself says progress, and America is all about progress. America is always trying to advance anyone possible and push the envelope of achievement.  The obvious part is as president, Obama represents America. He represents America’s choice in voting and its democracy. Another obvious part is the colors represent the America flag, which also represents America.

America = Material Culture

When I was doing the next chapter work, I found the definition to a material culture. I feel like America is more a material culture than a nonmaterial college. I think America values money and items more than ideas, knowledge, and beliefs. Even the America dream is mostly about materials. The typical America dream is to get a house with a white picket fence (maybe with a pool) a nice car, maybe a vacation house, and a nice job. All of those are not ideas, and the emphasize money and success over beliefs and knowledge. Compared to Europe’s and Asia’s education system, America is sorely lacking. I remember watching a program on tv about our high schools compared to European high schools and on the Europe students said a sentence in about 5 different languages and then said in English, “take that America.” I can’t even blame him for boasting and being a jerk about how intelligent he is, because I have never met an America high schooler that can speak 5 languages. I know people say that, “oh, well, they have to learn more languages because all their countries are close together so they’re in close contact with a lot of people that speak different languages.” This is America, the salad/soup/mixing pot of the world. I go to a school in which I can think of at least 6 different languages spoken (and not like language classes, these people that actually speak that language at home), and yet I don’t know any of them. I just wish that America was more focused on ideas, knowledge, and beliefs, instead of the next thing Apple is going to produce.

Collective Crowd Groups

These are some of the collective groups I’ve experienced or will experience:

Casual: I’ve never really seen a car accident or a fire, but I have seen a fight. The first and only fight I’ve seen in high school was last year. I was leaving study hall with my friend Dillon Krotz and we were headed for the staircase in the math hallway. We got half way there when two girls started circling each other. We were right in front of them. In approximately 30 seconds, a group had already formed and started yelling, “fight, fight, fight!” To me, the cheering was almost the worst thing because why should anyone be encouraging violence? Why do humans always crave action, battle, and blood? The group kept chatting and eventually one of the girls pushed each other. It happened so fast, but then they were on the ground, literally rolling. I looked over at Dillon and he had the same expression I felt on my face, almost utter revulsion. I almost felt sick just because at that moment, I was so disappointed in humanity. If this is what high school is like with violence, how bad is the whole world? I wanted to try and stop it, but I knew with our school’s policy that if I got involved, I would also get in trouble too. By the time the deans got there, one of the girl’s nose ring had come out and there was blood on both of their faces. After that, the group broke apart and we went to our next classes. It must have lasted 2 minutes, top. We were together briefly, and not for a main purpose.

Conventional: Tonight I’m going to dinner with my friends at Chipotle’s (best fake Mexican food ever!). Every time I’m there, it’s usually busy and there normally isn’t a lot of seatting, so sometimes you’re sitting next to strangers. We all come together for the purpose to eat, and when we’re done, we leave.

Expressive: Last Friday, I went to the first and last basketball game I have ever attended at Wego. I don’t like basketball; I generally think any sport but football is boring, and I’d rather be playing that then watching it. That, combined with the fact that I was with my best friends, I didn’t even realize when the game ended. However, I did occasionally glance at the parents that sat next to the squad. They genuinely seem interested in the game. I’m sure to the parents with children playing, any sport is more emotional because that’s your baby playing out there and you want to see them do well and not get injured.  

Acting: The most recent and closest to home acting crowd that I can think of is the democrats in Wisconsin leaving so there won’t be a quorum for the anti-union bill. I even found this picture with the protesters sleeping in the capital. I do agree with you Mrs. Haas, that the teachers should not be leaving school to protest, but I understand why their upset about the attempt to have their unions eliminated, especially in this current economy.  

My Social Groups

My territorial group would be Winfield. The house I live in is easily connected to 4 others because none of our yards have fences, and all our backyards face each other. It’s nice because I like all of our neighbors. The Walsh’s are some of the nicest neighbors, and I love talking to them because they came to America when they were 18 from Ireland and still have their awesome accents that I love. I also like that they still hang towels and sheets on a line outside because no one really does that anymore and it saves energy. I also love the Adams across the street because they are also amazingly kind, especially Mr. Adams. I had to interview him one time when I was on the school paper, and he is just an amazing man. He’s one of those people that I envy in life because he just seems so content and easy going. He’s also one of the most optimistic people I’ve ever met. In all, I love my neighborhood.

My primary group would be my best friends since fourth grade. I moved to Winfield in fourth grade, and was lucky even to fall into one of the best groups of people who conveniently live 2 blocks away. It’s always been us six girls (plus our one male friend, who, in all truth, really is one of the girls cause we treat him just the same) and we’ve been through so much. We went through our extremely dramatic/conflict phase pretty early on, so we’ve had very little problems in high school, which is a God send. I just think of them now, and I have been so blessed. There were so many times when I decided I was going to make a bad decision, and they sat me down and were like, “no, Beth, let’s talk about this and rethink it through.” My life would have been completely different if I hadn’t had them.

One of my many interest groups is badminton. I’ve been on JV for two years now, and I love it. More importantly, I love the team. There is not one girl on there that if badminton was like survivor, I’d kick off.  I like everyone too much. Which is sometimes a problem because although I love to play, I’m not really focused on the game, which is something I really need to work on this year.

My kinship group, is of course, my extended family, but mainly my cousins. I have a lot of cousins of my dad’s side because he has 3 siblings and each has their own family. I love my cousins a lot, but sometimes it’s hard for to connect with them because they’re almost all males. I only have 3 girl cousins in total, and they’re all older than me and starting their own families now, so it’s kind of hard to relate to their lives now. I feel like I’m the black sheep in my family because I have gone through things some of my cousins/other family members will never go through or understand, and I just want different things from life. Many of my family members are really into money, trips, and material goods, but to me, that’s not what life should be about. With that money, all of my cousins went to private high schools , while my brother and I went to good old Wego, so that’s hard to relate to too. It’s also hard because on both sides of my family, drinking and smoking are very common ( like, out of all my 10 cousins that of age to drink, only one of them doesn’t), and I don’t want anything to do with those activities, especially because they contributed to both my grandfathers’ early deaths. I also don’t see drinking and my Irish-German heritage going well together. So it’s kind of hard for me to really get into a conversation with my cousins when all I can do is stare at the beer in my 18 year old (who is only about 5 months older than me) cousin’s hand with his dad next to him saying it’s okay for him to drink because he’s old enough and hey, at least he’s drinking at home.

Wow, sorry, kind of went on a vent with these. Hope you enjoyed it?

Functionalism

Today in World Wars, I learned that in 1914 during World War I, when Germany invaded Belgium, Belgium citizens also joined the cause. Many of the citizens became snipers and would pick off German soldiers (look at the pictures. It would have been easy to shoot a solider because of easy hiding spots in the surrounding buildings). Even when the Germans killed 10 citizens for every one German soldier killed, the Belgium people still muscled on. Their king even joined the battle and personally led armies, while his 14 year old son was a private in the army and his wife a nurse.

It was impressive to me that almost all Belgium society (even the upper class, which usual just start wars, but don’t actually fight them) united to fight for their nation.  It reminds me of that new term we learned, functionalism, because every part of society was contributing in either small or large ways to get rid of the Germans so they can return to stability after the upheaval the war has caused.  

Jane Addams

Since Monday, we have been learning about sociologists. On Monday, I was reading in our book and a name caught my eye. The name was Jane Addams.

I am familiar with Jane Addams because I want to be a social worker, and UIC has one of the best social working schools and it's named after her.

I read her whole little information thing about it in the book, and was most surprised to find out that the title social worker was almost forced on her because shedidn't have the term sociologist because she didn't work at a university. Or something like that.

But her Full House work reminded me of my neighbor, Bob Adams, because he runs a homeless veterans shelter in Wheaton. I've always though that both of their work with the homeless was very noble and influential.

I think Jane Addams would be impressed with the work done today with the homeless, but also disappointed about how little the government helps out.

About Me:

Who am I? I’m not really sure because I’m still creating myself (I hate it when people say they’re finding themselves. Where are they hiding that they need to find themselves? Like, is their self under a rock?). But I know most of the basics.

To follow Mrs. Haas’s example a little, I am: a daughter, baby sister, the crazy cousin, best friend, cousin, an Irish lass, a liberal, bad photographer, nature lover, Christ follower, book lover, writer, therapist, mom (long story), and Harry Potter nerd.

The most important things that define me are my friends, my family, my beliefs, my anxiety and my depression because all of them affect each other. They are what make me, me. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without their influence.        

Because of my friends and family’s influence, I am a better person. I make better decisions in my life because of their help. My friends keep me sane while my family makes me insane (most of the time). Although my parents can go a little crazy sometimes, they do influence me. I love everything Irish because of the influence of my mom who grow up in the South side of Chicago (whose maiden name is Kathleen Mary Fallon. Can’t get much more Irish). I love humus because most of my friends are health nuts and vegetarians and force healthy food on me. My faith became A LOT stronger when my friends dragged me into their mission trip last summer, which I ended up totally loving.

My main goal in life is to help people. All the careers I considered were aimed at helping people; environmental lawyer (helps the world at large), psychologist, public defender, writer (influences to be better? It’s a stretch, I know), and last but not least, social worker. I intend to major in social working. I’ll most likely get my undergraduate at St. Ambrose (private university in Davenport, Iowa. Just visited yesterday!), and then transfer to UIC to get my major because their Jane Addams (who we just learned about!) school of Social Work is supposed to be one of the best.

I hate writing about myself, so I’m just gonna end now…