clix

Surprisingly this concept of being part of a group is no surprise. The idea that we discriminate or have allegiances to a group is a surprise. I may have been aware of certain groups I was apart of, but never really second guessed it. When we watched the experiment of the teacher and the kids, it actually became obvious of how we segregate and discriminate people. When I'm in school there are certain people I hang out with and certain people I don't. It's just that simple, you can't be friends with everyone. With the groups you hang out with you tend to be nicer, more comfortable, and more loyal. With your "in-group" you feel a sense of belonging and trust. Now in the other groups you don't have this sense of belonging or trust. Because of this lack of trust you tend to give them the "cold shoulder" or simply ignore or make fun of them. In school these groups people are a part of are "clicks." basically I am much more comfortable with my own click and when I am forced to interact with another person from another click for a little while a very likely outcome could be mocking them or just not being nice to them. It's not that we have anything against that person, it's just we don't have any allegiance to them and we really don't know the person, so we decide that it is o.k. to discriminate against that person because they are not part of your own group. Also the reason we become loyal to our group is because usually there are similarity's that make us closer. For example one group may like Kid Cudi, while another group enjoy Lil Wayne. These are the types of similarity's that can bind people together. You are able to form an allegiance with people who share your same intentions and interests, and if someone who does not believe in the same things you do, can be judged and disliked.

double snowday

I'm not sure if I've ever had two days in a row off of school. No joke I was extremely surprised, most likely along with everyone else. They predicted a bunch of snow, and guess what they were right. One thing they neglected to mention, at least to my knowledge, was the drifting of the snow. Anyway what I'm trying to say is that this was one monster of a snow storm. This storm was able to do something that has not been done it a while. After the snowing part of the storm was over everything stopped. Many places were closed down and it seemed as if the city just stopped for the entire day. The snow was just so massive that it seemed to be able to pull people together. I woke up went outside to somehow shovel my driveway, when a few of my neighbors came over to help me out. I'm not sure about most neighbors but when it usually snows we tend to do our own property and then go inside to where it is warm. This storm was able to unite neighbors together, because it seemed that we were all in the same situation. For that one day we all were united together and came together to help each other out when we needed it. Once my neighbors helped me finish my driveway, I went to my neighbors driveway and helped them complete their driveway. So it seems that when things get tough the people around us are able to come together and put aside what they want to do and help others.

outliers

This week in sociology we discussed the excerpt "outliers" basically the idea of outliers was about how our social groups such as who we are close to or where we live have an affect on us as people. It is hard not to agree with this because we are around those people or things for so long that some ideas must rub off on us and shape who we are. For example in "outliers" there was a lower level of people with heart disease. A man named Wolf was curious about that situation. The explanation was that the environment those people lived in somehow made them healthier. Not because they lived healthier lives because they lived just as unhealthy as everyone else. Something they did have was a connection with everyone in the town. That connection those people had made them have less risk of having heart problems. This idea is about people being affected by their social groups. In this example the town all those people lived in acted as their social group and because of there happiness and peace they had less of a risk. There was nothing medically that Wolf could find with the village, so he shifted his idea towards the idea that the people were healthier because of the the values and ideals of the isolated village. For me one example of being affected by my social groups is when I hang out with my friends. When we all hang out there are certain things we do and certain things we don't do. After a while those ideas of we do and what we don't do rub off and even when I'm not with my friends sometimes I won't do certain things because I those ideas have been instilled in me. Now I'm no trying to say everything we do has an affect, but to just understand that because I hang out with a certain group I am affected because of what we do.

A Loud Silence

The first day of sociology instead of Sal being in front of the class he sat in the back and didn't say word. For me it was a weird experience but not because no one was talking, it was because everyone in the class was doing the same thing. Everyone in the class basically just looked around and didn't know what to do. It was almost as if the other kids were talking all at once but nothing was being said. If you could hear what they were all thinking it would have been extremely loud and would drown out the silence. Usually when you start a class the teacher stands in front and instructs the class on what to do. We have been almost manipulated to that type of "normal" idea of how the class should work. The only reason that the weird experienced happened when everyone was looking around not sure what to do was because for us that was outside of what we are used to doing. For me this same idea was incorporated a few years ago. I was on a bowling team and instead of my coaching giving us advice on how well we should play or what we should do, he just sat there and said "take it all in, and have fun with it." At first we were all confused because it was not what we were used to hearing from our coach especially when a big match was about to begin. That same idea is what Sal did in class, but if you think about it, what he did was only weird to all of us because we really haven't experienced it before.

Who am I?

Who am I? That's a very good question. I have yet to figure out an answer for that. I have many characteristics, but does that really define who I am or just how I act. Some people say actions define who you are but who is really sure? I feel that I am a loyal friend, overall a good person, and love sports. Well instead of just stating what most people would say about themselves I could go a bit deeper. I'm usually filled with tons of self doubt, always thinking, always processing, and in many ways am far beyond many other people  in the idea that i can use common sense and regular thinking to succeed in any situation. I would like to say that I am able to "read" people, and by that I mean I am able to figure out what people are thinking or how they really feel about something. Its very frustrating to be one of few who understand those difficult ideas, or maybe that's just an outlook of it and I'm wrong, but who really knows.

I would have to say the biggest influences on my life are my parents because I've been around them for 18 years, so it be very tough not to take things they have taught me. Also another big influence on me was one of my friends who is two years older than I am, and he was the type of person to lead others and if he wanted to do something he did it. He was able to make decisions and then go through with them which is something that he taught me.

Goals and purposes are like most people, go to college, get a good job, family...etc. But there is something more that I want.  Maybe it's the way I think about life and what it's really about but I want more then just the regular life, to achieve that I don't know how, but it is a goal.