Jail Time

Jail was intriguing, i thought it was nice of the few jailmates that said hi or si mply waved to us. Listening to the Sargent speak before we went on the tour i couldn't help but feel shocked. He said that they were peple too, i thought that it was obvious, and that the men i the cells, although they were convicted of crimes they committed, they were people. All of the people that have gone through there with sneers on their fces or scared looks make me upset in the sense that all of us have comitted some crime at one point or another. What separates a crime from an act of deviance? What if you just thoght that you were doing something small but the repercussions from it caused a crime later on down the line? I believe it shoudln't have to be said that the men i those cells are people.

Deviance

Everyone sees deviance all the time, you may not know its sociology though because it happens so often. At Target the other day there was a woman who was walking around with her chiold on a leash. This is deviance because it's not everyday, nor every mother, that has a child on a leash. i think it's dehumanizing, it's almost like ttreating your child like a pet. Mothers for centuries before us had been able to raise their children without them, and i know that there is so much more for the children to go lok at now a days but it's not neccessary. The mother was nearly dragging her son who was crying, of course, wouldn't you cry if you were wearing Sparky's leash? yeah, that's the biggest deviance I saw this week.

Clash!

I forgot to do my culture clash/culture shock blog. Sorry it's late!
The culture clash that stands out the most in ym life is when I went on a missions trip to LA and we went to Skid Row. If you don't know what Skid Row is, it's a street (actually a few of them) that are lined with honmeless people living in tents, doorways, and in whatever else they can get. It was disconcerting to see so many people living like that when I knew all I had to do was get on a plane and I could be at my own home in a few hours. These people had to beg or wait for people to bring them food where as I could eat whenever I felt like it.
The realization that there really are people in this world that live the total opposit of the way I do was culture clash. All of us on the trip were good christian kids who didn't have to steal or beg for anything, yet these people we were feeding had nothing. Our families loved us, and we knew they would be there when we came home, but some of these people were alone or didn't know if their kids would be picked up while they were out.
 Culture clash is a great thing. it really helps you see your own culture in a new light, and can help you apreciate what contributes to your culture.

Painting Nails

I was thinking sociology at youth group the other night. I looked at all the kids that go to my church and thought it was intriguing that people from so many different cultures could come together as one group, and get along so well. Although people's cultures are so differnt we still find things in common, there are Korean refugees that have started coming and my friend and I started painting the nails of the little girls. I was talking to one of them and she was telling me about how she didn't always have a dinner or a different outfit everyday. I on the other hand didn't realize how privilaged I was to have a full kitchen, and different outfits for weeks. I then wondered how one thing could bring us together, when our cbackgrounds were so different. People interest me.

Changing Tiiires

 I started thinking sociology the other day when I picked my little sister up from basketball.When I looked across the street at the gas station I saw a guy changing a woman's tire, I was thinking how nice it was when I realized it was my brother. He had been walking by the gas station when a woman pulled in with a flat and didn't have her phone on her, so he had offered to change her tire for her.
 As he was changing the tire the woman kept asking him if she could pay him, and saying how nice it was that there were still good people out there, because not everyone wouls stop to help a stranger. My brother was breaking the folkway that people don't stop to help starngers in need. It's funny to think that that would be a folway, wouldn't you think everyone would want to stop and help people? Because if they were in the situation where they needed help they would want someone to stop and help them.

USA

Mcdonald's represents America because it is a symbol of fast food. It says that you can grab dinner on the way home from work without having to go into the restaurant or cook at home. It symbolizes tasty food for those who don't want to spend a lot, like a teenager or middle to low class America.

The NFL symbolizes America because most of America loves football. When you see the NFL symbol many times it symbolizes watching a game on Sunday with snacks and beer in hand and cheering for your team as loud as possible. Its a symbol of loyalty to your teams as well as quality man-time with your friends if you're a male.

Money makes the world go round! Money is a symbol of America because everyone wants it. People come to America to find jobs to support themselves and family, and people in America are constantly looking for new ways to get it. Money's a symbol of having a job, being able to afford nice things, being smart with investing, or just getting lucky sometimes. It can also symbolize divorce from too many hours at work, theft, shady deals, ect. So it's not always a good symbol for us.

TV is a huge part of America today. It used to be that only the wealthy or a few people had Tevison but now you can find them in every home, sometimes in every room of a home. It symbolizes the media and how they can be in the back of our minds everywhere we go. There's televisions at work, school, even at gas stations now; media has gotten into many places we didn't expect it. It's a symbol of the powere actors and actresses have, that they're seen everyday and of the things America as a whole does to get attention with the media.

Sex is one of the main symbols of young America. As teens and young adults we're constantly being shown that sex is okay to do whenever and with whoever. Sex poses as a symbol of how much America has changed from the time when sex was a secret, nearly sacred act saved for marriage. Now sex symbolizes how we dress (scantily clad ladies, low swaggin pants for boys) and how we act (hungry for attention from the opposit sex, sexy)

I love My Groups!

I'm in a lot of groups and lately I've been more aware of what types of groups I'm in. In each group I have a different role, and usually that role is important to the group. Like at church I'm a volunteer for our food pantry, it's an interest group because all the volunteers there have the same interest and heart for helping people. My kinship Group is my family, My mom, four brothers (Justus, John, Ty, and Levi) and my sister Hannah, the roles I have in this group are usually driving my siblings, taking my siblings shopping (my mom hates shopping), doing my chores and . I do track and Ialong with being an interest group, we're a reference group because we're always going to meets to compete. My role is to run my best even if I feel sick or not up to it, and to cheer my teammates on.