TV and Children

       In class for the past few days we watched a movie about how much advertisement affects children. It video also mentioned how children used to play outside until it got dark and wouldn't want to come in for dinner. For some reason that really struck me. It makes me really sad that kids don't want to go outside and just be kids, they are more entertained with virtual activities. But I also think that although there are a lot of kids who would rather stay inside and watch TV or play video games, I am certain that there are still a lot of kids who enjoy spending their time outside. My little brother has liked video games for as long as I can remember and I'm pretty sure he has every system possible. But he also goes outside all the time to play basketball and he has also been involved in sports his whole life. He has found a balance between being active and enjoying video games. What also struck me about the video was how kids are so targeted by advertisers. If you look at the situation from the side of the company, they are just doing what they need to do to make money. Unfortunately for parents, it makes the kids feel like they need all these things they really don't need. This video has made me want to think seriously about how one day my kids will be exposed to television and how I will make sure they don't get too enveloped in it.

The Growing Man

I definitely think the metaphor of the growing man is true. In class, we learned that when we are born we have the aptitude to do things, but its not until we are grown that we have been influenced by others in ways that help of develop who we are. Some of the stories from the Human Nature article were so hard to read because of the way those children were treated. They never developed into fully functioning humans because no one was ever around to influence them, guide them, and love them in order to become that way. I think there are also differences in what the final stage of the growing man is, based on your culture. In developing countries, there are not as many resources or media messages to influence how children grow up. Also we hear all the time about children in third world countries stricken into poverty and being orphans when their parents die of sicknesses that they don't have medicine for. Although we do have issues such as poverty and orphanage in America, it is not as much of an epidemic as it is in these other countries. But we also have a lot more media exposure that kids are exposed to growing up. Kids see messages on TV telling them its okay to do all these things that were once considered bad and telling them they have to look a certain way. These things can inhibit people from developing into the fully grown man.

Feed My Starving Children

        On Monday some of my friends and I went to Feed My Starving Children in Shaumburg. I have volunteered with this organization a few times before with my church and it has always been a lot of fun. What Feed My Starving Children does is they set up tables in a big room and on these tables there are four big bins, each filled with either chicken flavor powder, dehydrated vegetables, soy, or rice. Everyone at the table works together to scoop certain amounts of each ingredient into plastic bags. The bags are then sealed and packed into boxes. The food is then shipped to countries where there are starving children in need. One of my favorite parts about volunteering here was seeing how people who didn't really know each other until they got there, all work together for the same purpose, with compassion for children they have never met.

Work

       In Tuesdays With Morrie, we see that Mitch is consumed with his work. In the beggining of the story Mitch has taken on a lot of sports journalist jobs and it has caused him to loose touch with his girlfriend and old friends. Its only when he finds out his old professor is dying that he realized the big picture of his life and mellows out after going to visit him a few times. I feel like sometimes as students, we are the same way as Mitch. We are constantly working hard to reach the next level. You have to do well in Elementary School to get placed in advanced classes in Middle School. You need to work hard in Middle School in order to get placed in advanced classes in High School. Then in High School, you feel the need to keep up with everyone else taking accelerated and AP classes so you look good on college applications. I hear kids at school talk about pulling all-nighters just to study for one test. What!? You are 17 years old, you shouldn't be depriving your body of sleep, which it vital to your health in order to study for a test on something you won't even remember a year from now. All of a sudden, there are these kids entering college as sophmores because they did so much work leading up to that point. These students work so hard to get a good education and a good job, but what ever happened to being a kid and learning just to learn and better yourself, not to compete with others? For Mitch, he realized pretty early in his life that working hard is not the most important thing, you need to appreciate your life. I worry that some of these students who start stressing so early about how to get to the top won't realize until its too late that some things are actually more important.

The Beauty of Iowa

       In class on Wednesday, we talked about all the different subcultures we are from. I noticed a lot of people mentioned how the geographic subcultures they were apart of. I never really thought about how where I come from could be a subculture that makes up who I am, but it truly does. My family lived in Iowa from when I was one until I was about five. Because I was so young I honestly don't remember much of it except for some faint memories about the houses we lived in when we were there. But because almost all of my family extended family on both my parents sides live in Iowa, there is an attachment. We all are really close and my immediate family drives to visit our relatives in Iowa quite a few times during the year. There are a lot of norms in Iowa that would seem odd to others not from the state. It's not uncommon to walk into a gas station and see a few people covered in dirt that have that have an overwhelming odor of manure coming from them. Everything is also way less fast passed. When you're checking out at a store, the cashier will have no problem telling your their life's story. Some people even have a slight country accent if you get to very rural areas in Iowa. And a lot of Iowa is rural almost everything is corn, hay, grass, and trees for miles and miles, it is the most peaceful scenery. As you pass someone coming from the opposite direction in their pick-up truck they will always wave a you and give you a nod. I'm super excited to move back to Iowa when I go to Iowa State next year. After thinking about all the things I love about Iowa, I now understand how the other students seemed so attached to where they came from and how that makes them who they are. I feel like that was part of the lesson from the subculture activity, to really think about the subcultures you are apart of and how those connect you to other people and how they make you different from others.

Language Barriers

       In the Bible, Genesis 11: 1-9 says that at one time everyone spoke the same language.  But the people came together and tried to create an city that would make them dominate over all of God's creation and build a tower to reach Heaven. Because they were so rebellious, God then confused them by creating all the different languages and scattered the people across the Earth, so that they would not be able to do this again. Now today we as humans have discovered a way to learn all of these languages. But we use this knowledge of communication for good. Businessmen are able to go to other countries and share the products they have to help better the world as a whole. People are traveling to other countries to help clean up after natural disasters  and using their language skills to further help the people affected. Immigrants who come to other countries have to opportunity to learn the language so that they could become a cohesive part of a different culture. In sociology, we learned that sometimes we are closed minded when it comes to other cultures because it is too difficult to adjust yourself to something so different and the language barrier multiplies the problem. But I think an important thing everyone needs is patience. People don't normally travel to different cultures unless they want to better their lives somehow. In America, we should be honored when people want to live here and be a member of our society. I think it's so wonderful that people have the ability to learn English when they come here. In the present I don't think we have defied language barriers as another form of rebellion, but we have overcome these barriers in order to come together has humans to better everyone's lives.

A Bronx Tale

       For a few days in class, we watched A Bronx Tale. This movie is the story of Chazz Palminteri's life, growing up in New York, but was seen through the eyes of a boy named Calogero. This movie contained many subjects we have discussed in class. For instance, the groups he belonged to were he and Sonny, he and his friends, he and his family, he and Jane, and being Italian. The microsociologial aspects of his racism were what his friends and family said and a macrosociological aspect was the overpass that divided the two neighborhoods. Relating to the social construction of reality, some unwritten rules of the Italian neighborhood was that you didn't rat on on people and you stuck by your friends and family. All of these subjects are part of what shaped Calogero. He became who he was because of the choices he made, the location he was brought up in, and the people he surrounded himself with.  Perhaps Calogero would have had a completely different life it he told the police he saw Sonny shoot that man. I  bet we all think about this at some point, how making one decision would make a difference in all the other aspects of our life. This idea makes me think more seriously about the implications of the decisions I make. Because you never really know for sure what is going to happen in the future, I think it is important to contemplate how what you do may affect yourself and others.