America's Social Class

America's Social Class is very messed up. It is thought of to be very good and everyone is equal but that is far from the truth. The wealthy continue to get wealthier while the poor get poorer. The richest person in the United States has so much more compared to the average person. Racism still takes place. Minorties continue to live in poverty all over the United States. The United States is not what its made out to be there are a lot of problems

Deviance=Saints and Roughnecks at Stevenson

In the study of saints and roughnecks deviance must be perceived to be in order to be considered deviant.  We have many groups of saints and roughnecks at our school.  They're are that group of wealthy, dressed well kids who drink do drugs steal and the list goes on.  Yet they have so much money and are well dressed they look like good kids you would never think were committing illegal acts.  So many kids at this school also buy there way out of trouble.  When they do get busted they buy a lawyer and get the smallest punishment imaginable.  There are also roughnecks in this school.  The roughnecks might not be poor but they dress in more baggy clothes and tend to slack off in classes.  These kids are always called down to the deans office and harassed by police and school officals.  I have witnessed it myself.  Its because, the saints are so careful and as soon as they do get in trouble the plead and beg for mercy, and people think they are actually sorry for there actions when they are not.  The roughnecks do things that are not even as bad as what the saints do but get the maximum punishment you can imagine.  I think this is really messed up and one of the reasons I don't like this school.  

Growing up??

In America when we are teenager were are told to be responsible but yet were not allowed to in many ways. They're are so many age restrictions. We are allowed to serve our country at 18 and die but not have a drink with our buddies until 21? Something does not make sense there. We are told we have to grow up get a job etc. But there's a limit to how much we can work. We are told to be responsible but not given responsibilites. There are so many laws restricting us trying to not let us be adults. We have curfew laws, drinking laws, driving laws, and working laws. It is not fair. I think something needs to be changed in our society.

The Average Girl

Definitly in American Society Girl's are made to think that they have to be "perfect". And perfection is achieved by a girl's physical attraction. The media and our society attack girls at a young age on to be dependent and submissive and non violent through the kinds of toys they're supposed to play with. Then as they get older they're sent messages that they have to have a tiny waist. They need to be small, have long beautiful hair, and fair skin. When in persuing this girls think they aren't worth what they reall are. They think they're ugly because, they might not be super skinny, or that they're to tall and the list goes on. I think in this way society is messed up and something needs to be changed because, millions of young girls go through eating disorders, and depression during there teenage years when they should be having the most fun.

Nurture

I find it very interesting how or environment shapes us into what we think and become. We grow up wanting to be like our parents. We want to do what they do and be like them for most of our childhood. Even into adolecence we want to pursue careers that they do. I think we want to pursue there careers because, it is considered acceptable by our parents. Not only are we influenced by our family but more so by our friends. We hang out with friends who are simlar to us, and we do things that they influence us to do.

Tuesdays with Morrie

In the movie Tuesday With Morrie a major concept is death. Its more about the fear of death. This is directly related to American Culutre. In the United States death is a horrible thing. When someone dies it is thought of the most awful and devestating thing. It is a taboo topic. People do not wish to discuss death or the death of there loved ones. We do not want to let go of someone and celebrate them moving into a different world, instead I think of it as a sort of selfeshness in a way because, we do not allow people the peace of mind to pass away. It is related to materialism because, being materialistic makes you selfish in a way.

Masculinity

I think that the American Culutre has put pressure on men to be tough.  Men are supposed to be angry, violent, good fighters, not cry and a number of other things.  I think that this is a very wrong vision of what a  real man is.  It is harder to be mentally tough than physically.  A man should be smart.  They should be able to take care of themselves and there family.  A man should be independent and a role model, not a loose cannon.

A Bronx Tale

I think Collogero belongs to many groups. Collogero's major status changes throughout the movie. When he was a kid it was his family. It was his family because, he always did what his father asked him to do. Him and his father were very close, and did a lot of things together. But he always wanted to be a part of Sonny's group and started to be after he witnessed the murder. Then he started hanging with Sonny and his master status started switching back and forth. He wanted to please his father but he also wanted to please Sonny because, he looked up to him.
When he was a teenager it bounced back and forth between Sonny's circle and his friends. Collogero would enjoy acting stupid with his friends and ditch school, but as Sonny put it "your friends are jerk-offs". He would always ditch his friends though for whenever Sonny needed him.

Categories

I believe that categories exist in our society for better or worse.  Categories help us organize information and people may see it as stereotyping but it helps us regardless.  I think though it is easy to turn those categories into stereotypes. An example is that if your African American your more likely to live in poverty than a white man. That is a category but it turns into a stereotype when you see an African American and you assume the must live in poverty.  So when looking at categories we have to be careful not to change them to stereotypes.  We can do this by keeping an open mind when viewing categories and not judging them.

Saliva

It is interesting to me the difference between spit and saliva.  Saliva is in your mouth and is valuable to life.  But as soon as it leaves your mouth it becomes spit and is thought of as vile and nasty.  In reality the only difference is that spit is out of your mouth.  Society has shaped us into thinking that spitting is nasty and wrong.  This is an example on how society has shaped our mind

The Survivors of the F-227

In the survivors of the F-227 the survivors of the crash at the dead bodies of others.  when they came back to there country people were repulsed by this.  When you think about this though it made perfect sense to eat the bodies to survive.  If it had been animals there wouldn't of been anything wrong with it but since its from a human it is wrong.  I think if i were in the same position I would have done the same thing.

About me

My name is David. I'm 17 years old. My grandfather is my biggest influence.  He has stressed many of his values onto me such as honesty, and you have to work hard.  I am a die hard wrestler.  I have been wrestling since I was a little kid.  I practice and train almost every day for wrestling.  Some short term goals are to win state in wrestling this year and to wrestle in college.  Some long term goals are to place in the NCAA tournament and graduate from college and become a history teacher.