Last week in class we watched a movie called Crash, that depicts racism and how it affects people with all kinds of backgrounds and pretty much everyone all over america. The part of the movie that really hit me hard was with the mother who was so worried about the guy changing her locks. she was so scared that he was gonna sell their key to his "amigos", just becasue of how he looked. Little did she know he was a protective father and a sweet husband, with a tiny little girl at home. So in this case she was wrong about the man, and shouldnt have let racism get the best of her. But on the other hand, she was upset because of the two African Americans that mugged her and her husband,a nd she had known by instinct to be scared of them, but didnt say anything or turn around because she didnt want to be racist.. and then they proved her right. Its sad when people of all races decide to live up to their stereotypes automatically instead of forgetting them and being who they really are. So in this case , her racism technically coudl have helped her out. The movie shows these two sides to racism, as well as many more with the other characters in the movie, but her character definitly shows two distinct sides to whether racism is right or wrong. However, racism is most definitly not a black and white clear cut split. Therer are many complications with it because there are always exceptions, which makes it a difficult elemetnt to eliminate from our culture.

Racism

In class we did a couple of websites that are pretty much designed to prove that almost everybody has racism set in their minds, whether they want to or not. One game was interesting that had you assosiate good and bad words with African American and European American, and based on the amount of time you took to answer somehow it is able to tell you if you have a preference to one side or not. Ill admit, if i took that game i would probably end up having some instinctual preference, which I wihs i didnt. but im sure its built into me. All i can do now is try to break from that, and if more people took that test or payed attention to racism maybe they could try to eliminate it. Another game we played was categorizing the people into these boxes of races. Its really funny that out of like 30 people we got liek 4 right. It shows that you cant tell a person just by looking at them, and its sad when people judge other people by their race

Social Classes

America is known as a land of opportunity.. right? Well the 30 Days episode where Morgan and his wife live off of minimum wage for a month shows the true story behind American lifestyle. Sure, some lucky .00000001 percent of America may make it big, like the Angelina Jolies and Ray Krocs of the world, but in reality, most of America isnt succeeding to this extent and are barely making it by! Our country has been completely taken over and become a land of Franchises and Monopolies and large coorporations. Yes, America used to be the land of dreams, with examples of people.. such as Ray Kroc who dropped out of school in like 8th grade, became the owner of McDonalds, and made it by with a little luck and suddenly is a trillionaire. He dropped out of school and broke the American mold and bakc then had a chance of beomcing a huge wealthy success! These days however, such dreams are no longer even a possibilty. Life is a mold, and the only chance of being succesfful is to make it all the way to college and hope to get the best job you can. If you break away from the mold, either you try to start your own business or find a way to put yourself out there, or you wind up working at Burger King or McDonalds or any other large coorporation for minimum wage. And even if you do try to start a small little restaurant or clothing store, you get taken out by the chains of McDonalds and run out of business! Then you end up working for them anyways, so theres pretty much a rare chance of breaking away unless you get a degree of some sort. Its horrible that this becomes the fate for most americans, because as they showed in the episode living on minimum wage is not easy at all-- and unlike in the show, people living on minimum wage dont get to go back to their nice homes and all their comforts after 30 days..

Tammy's Son

After watching the video about Tammy and her son and their way of life, I think it was truly amazing that her son has such high aspirations and wants to do something successful with his life. Usually parents are a key role model, and whether you like it or not, a lot of people wind up having a similar lifestyle as their parents. This video shows one of the rare times when the child wants break away from the life that was given to him and the social class that he was born into, and hopefully he can succeed. Although he knows his mother works hard and has to walk a long way to Burger King just to get by on minimum wage, and seems to apreciate her efforts, he strives for more. She was a role model in a small wayby showing him what its like to put your all into whatever you do and keep pushing your limits. Its inspirational to see all of his efforts as he tries to work really hard in school, wears nicer clothes, and wants to go to college--- All of which his brothers give him a hard time for. Instead of making fun of his dreams and his clothes, maybe they should learn a little from their brother and try to be optimistic. Maybe then they would have better futures.

"30" days in jail.. try 25

During class this week we watched a show called 30 Days. The episode we watched was about life in jail. Morgan had to spend 30 days in jail! (actually umm 25.. because he claims in real life you only serve like 85% of your sentence or something idkk) Still, I thought it was a really good and interesting video to watch, because primarily, it completely changed my views on what a jail even looks like in general! As dumb as that sounds, I always pictured exactly what you would see in movies, cells lined up on a wall with barred doors, the mean inmates sitting on a bench inside, and a nasty toilet in the corner. Real jails are a lot more innovative these days than what i had previously imagined. Besides just the look of the jail being different, one thing that I thought was also really interesting was the fact that the drug jail was nicer and more friendly than regular jail! The jail for people with drug problems was not at all what I expected, being so much nicer and more comftorable than the other jail. Those inmates seemed like they would feel way more relaxed and free (even being able to go outside) compared to the regular inmates, who seemed like animals in a cage. Another thing I found interesting from the video was the three days Morgan spent in solitary confinement. I wouldn't exactly say this was true solitary confinemnt, because first of all, the entire amount of footage was meant to appear as if it had been filmed from the camera in the corner on the cieling. But, I noticed in the episode some parts of solitary confinement where it looked like it wasnt from the cieling camera, more like a camera man. So I think whether this was true solitary confinement is definitly debatable. But overall, the episode was great! It really shows how Americas jail system operates and how screwed up it is. Its espeically sad for the people who really seemd like they were gonna change, and wound up right back in jail. That one guy who was like 50 years old couldn't really change, and its probably hard when your that age because you are so set in your ways. I think jail is to blame for that.

Beavis and Barbie

Barbie is supposed to represent a typical teenage girl: a girl who is attractive, organized, and tries their best. Beavis is supposed to represent a typical teenage boy: a boy who is sloppy, unorganized, and constantly goofs around. Beavis does just as well as Barbie by doing naturally well on tests, while Barbie does poorly on tests but studies and does all her work. The Idea that many teachers have, that every student is either a Beavis and a Barbie,I woudl say is not even close to true. Not to mention that personally in all of my classes there is usually only a couple studdents that actually completely live out the Barbie and Beavis stereotype. There are many types of students that are different combinations of all these traits that Barbie and Beavis are characterized with. These students are somewhere in the middle of these two distinct stereotypes, or even a type of student that is completely unique. Basically, I would not say these categories of Barbie and Beavis for students are even remotely true, unless there are 100 other "dolls/characters" to represent the other students that make up the remaining 95% of the class.

Tuesdays with morrie!

In the movie that we watched in class, tuesdays with morrie, which was, by the way, a fantastic movie,  but sooo sad!, morrie talked about how people are so independent and strive to succeed on their own, when it is really within human nature to depend on others! People don't realize that without other people, they would be nothing! People take care of you, love you, make you happy, teach you, connect you to other people and opportunities... the list is endless! but most just dont seem to want to say they rely on others. people are afraid of this dependence because they think that independence is equivilant to being powerful, which is not necessarily the case! In fact, you are more powerful when you depend on others because the more you depend on others the more likely you are to succeed. Yes, independence is good for self confidence and overall having some ability to take care of yourself, for instance when you move out of your parent's house, but what's so bad about relying on your parents until you are ready? That is dependence right there, getting the help you need to succeed, prosper and be happy. Or how, for another example, an alchoholic who won't go to rehab because they insist they dont need help... what is wrong with needing help to solve your problems and move forward? Yeah, some things you can do on your own, which is great, but for the most part at one point or another you have to depend on someone else. Therefore, it does bother me when people think they can do every single thing in life on their own, because whether they like it or not, they can't succeed alone. 

This week in class we talked a lot about differences between cultures. For instance, how something that is normal in our society can be completely rude and disrespectful in another culture. Its kinda cool if you really sit and just htink about how distant countries are from eachother can really effect how different their cultures are. Even just within the state of illinois, not many miles apart, are the suberbs of chicago. Even these tiny distances between each of the suberbs create pretty large differences with the people in each suberb. For instance, there are stereotypes for many of the schools in our area. Buffalo Grove high school is said to be less wealthy while the Stevenson kids are spoiled brats who have "Mcdonalds" in their school. Its insane how these two schools are literally in the SAME area! and yet they have completely different images and reputations, when in reality, the people at BGHS are just normal people like us...

Who do other people think I am? ...

In class we had to list groups that we, as individuals, are a part of, and for me that was easy. I easily had 10 groups on my paper. I'm a student, a daughter, sister, cousin, grandaughter, camp agawak counselor, blue team captain, friend, one tree hill fan, matt wertz fan, student ambassador ---- the list goes on and on. But what i couldnt figure out, was which one do people see me as? Which one do they define me by? Clearly if someone asks "Who is Carly Wolf?" then a person wouldnt list all of those groups! The only person that would really list them ever would be me. Also, another thought was that maybe some people see me one way, as a friend for example, and then other people see me in a completely different view, as their blue team captain, for instance. It's a really complex and frustrating idea, and I have been trying to figure out all of these answers to who people think I am. And if people think certain things about me, what if I thought they were wrong and wanted to break away and become a person that I am proud to be? ahhh its all so complicated..

Little Things Make a Big Difference..

During a class discussion about the article on sociological mindfulness, we talked about how little things a person does can make a huge difference. It even came up that when you throw a rock into the ocean the ripple it makes in the water can turn into huge waves that wind up on the shores of Panama (or some other random place.) A lot of people in class thought that idea was ridiculous and way too extreme. But I really do believe that people too often think they can never make an impact, when they really can and should. People should realize that every little thing they do can change someones day, week, or even entire life. Freshman year my biology teacher had all of his students plant a tree in their backyards (pictured above). He said that one tree could make a huge difference in the world, and I completely agree. I believe people can make an impact, even by doing the smallest thing.

doing what you are told...

In class when I was asked if i was told to electrocute a stranger, would i? immediatly i circled "no". i thought ohh its not in my place to cause anybody else pain of course i would say no. but what i didnt think of is all of the times i have obeyed when i didnt want to. A simple example would be my parents making me come home by curfew when I really want to stay out! But there have been times when I have made huge mistakes because I have let other people's opinions and input take over my own. A lot of the time I let my friends influence my decisions. a lot of those times i regret my choice and wish i could have gone back and done what was right for me. i dont think listening to my friends opinions makes me a "follower" necessarily, i just think that there comes a point where it is just natural for me to listen to my friends, just like the person in the experiment follows the instructions of the authority figure. maybe i could aspire to set a goal to start following my instincts and seeing if im better off.. but i know a lot of the time my friends just want the best for me, and my decisions might not be the right ones.

My life in a blog post

Being able to describe who I am in one blog post is like me trying to run a mile in three minutes, not gonna happen. As for the basics, my name is Carly, im a junior at stevenson high school... but id like to think im a little more interesting than I may seem. although i have lived in the same one house my entire life, my family, the friends i have made over the years, and many other experiences have molded me into the person i am today. i assume that i will change even more as i go to college, mature and go through many more life changing experiences that i cant wait for! up until now though, the most life changing experience i have had is going to the overnight camp I have gone to for 9 years. its actually impossible for me to describe the bonds i have made with some of the people there. at camp i can be who i really want to be. my friends there dont care if i just rolled out of bed and look like a mess, they dont care if i go crazy, they love to just goof around and make life long memories. my friends there come from all over the place, some from california, georgia, arizona, and even florida. its cool that we all are so alike, but so different at the same time since we come from different places. we learn a lot from eachothers experiences, and they have truly shaped me into the person i want to be. the problem is, when i come home, im a completelty different person. sometimes i get more catty and judgy, and concentrate a lot on my social life and things like that. at the same time at home i am a good student, i like to have fun with my friends, and i am happy, but at camp i am confident and care free and crazy! hopefully as i get older i will be able to figure out how to combine the two and be exactly the person i want to be!