Explicit and Implicit Racism

One may think that we, as a nation, have gone beyond racial issues; race is no longer a factor, right? We're all equal... Not so much.

Thankfully, I haven't witnessed much explicit racism growing up in Buffalo Grove. This is a relatively civilized and diverse region. I have friends of all races and religions here in BG. My Jewish friend who went off to college in Carolina said that she was the first Jewish person that many of her classmates had met. Most were accepting of her, but she did get some ridiculous and unintentionally offensive questions.

Is it racism if the person who says something offensive about another's race does so with no bad intentions? For example, my friend was told, "Your nose is much smaller than I would have imagined." The speaker did not intend for this to be offensive, but it was.

Implicit racism, on the other hand, is still very common; it's more a product of the subconscious than outright, explicit racism. Implicit racism is more like looking through a racial lens, as opposed to outright disliking a certain race. It is important to be mindful and ask oneself why one acts the way that they do. There's a chance that one might be acting, or speaking, with implicit racism.

Social Classes Documentary

The documentary that we watched in class observed the differences between the lives of people from different social classes. One lady made it her career to teach people how to integrate into different social classes. That shows how intricate and difficult for an outsider to pick up on some of the details of social classes are.

Tammy worked hard to keep her family afloat, but they were still going nowhere. It made me wonder why her sons weren't doing anything. They could be working and helping their mom. How can you watch your mother work like that and just sit like a bum all day? I don't know how Tammy got to be so poor, but her children were obviously born into it; she probably was too, to a degree. The children's upbringing obviously doesn't help them, but their laziness doesn't either. Except for the one who got all of those awards. But he's very self-centered and is even openly ashamed of his family.

The very rich spectrum pointed out not only the differences between the social classes, but the differences between old and new money. Two people could have the same amount of wealth, but they would be in completely different social classes. The old money people were ridiculously pretentious, despite the fact that most of them had the money handed to them. New money people tend to flaunt more, but that's because they put in the work to get their own money and they know what it takes.

Social Classes Documentary

We're watching a movie on the differences between people of different social classes and the differences between the lives that they lead. The gap between very rich and very poor is massive. While some people get by in shabby conditions paycheck to paycheck and without a dollar in the bank, others have anything that they want and will still leave millions to their children.

I feel that the old money rich people are very artificial and pretentious. If any one of them doesn't follow a certain norm that they're "supposed" to follow, they will be looked down upon and talked about behind their backs. Subtle details, such as shoulder level when speaking to someone, and what kind of fork you use, mean a lot to these people. They're really insignificant details. This just shows that they have so much time on their hands, all they can do is obsess over things like this. Had these people not been born into wealth, most of them would have been incapable of acquiring it on their own. I respect those who earn their money. It's unfair that some can do nothing and live lavishly while others work night and day and barely get by. But that's how life is and it's not changing soon. All that one can do is try their hardest to make it on their own.

Drugs Activity/"Justice" System

The government justifies making certain substances illegal by claiming that they are helping the public by eliminating something that can hurt them. The activity that we did in class showed that
some drugs that are illegal are much less harmful than some that are completely legal. If you take a look back to the history of illegal drugs, and at legal onces, such as nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine, you'll see that the legality of drugs is based on the government's economic and political interests.

A politician running for office and promising to "crack down on drugs" is going to automatically get votes from ignorant soccer moms. Politicians just say what the public wants to hear
; they are basically afraid to govern or campaign based off of personal opinion because of intense political competition and constant reelections.

Anyways, I think that all drugs should be legal. It's a person's own business what they put into their bodies. Public intoxication and ingestion of drugs should be illegal, though. I don't want to breathe anybody else's cigarette smoke and I wouldn't want my kids to see people doing lines a table over at restaurants. Not even so much to see them, but I wouldn't want intoxicated people
, off of anything, in the same place as my children.

But anyways, if the government's logic is that harmful things should be illegal, then alcohol and tobacco should be illegal as well. And why stop at drugs? When a little emo boy gets caught cutting his wrists, he should be tried as an adult and sent to prison. Am I right? He's harming himself and is therefor unfit for society. No, he gets counseling. Then why shouldn't a drug addict get counseling? Why should they be imprisoned and forced into potentially-dangerous withdrawal? But what if the drug user is content being a drug user? That's cool, too. Leave him alone, I say. If somebody isn't harming anyone, then it's nobody's business what they're doing.

The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager

This article left me amazed and amused by how far people will go to keep up the appearance that everything is okay. This girl nursed a child inside of herself for nine months only to give birth at her senior prom and dump the baby into a trash bag. Didn't she feel any type of maternal connection with the child after enduring the hardships of pregnancy for nine months? Or perhaps she was indirectly angry with the child due to the misfortunes that her pregnancy has brought upon her.

I find it very difficult to believe that this story is completely true. I just can't imagine the parents that watch their daughter go from zero to nine months of pregnancy without noticing anything. And if not them, at least her friends or teachers would have noticed something. And how about when she walks into the bathroom and walks out completely different? There are just too many variables to even consider this...

Next is the fact that she risked her own life and gave up the life of her child just to keep anybody from finding out that she was pregnant. If she had just told her parents, yes it would have been uncomfortable for a while, but at least she would not have had to kill her own child. I can't think of much worse than that...

The article also explained how the "teenage brain" and the "adult brain" do not exist, but rather, the brain is constantly developing and changing. There are just many common variables, mental and physical, that generally occur around certain time periods for people. I thought that this was common sense and needed no explanation. The body and mind have no idea how many calender years they are. They develop at their own, hormonally and environmentally-dictated pace. But laws are formed around ages because it would be practically impossible to measure maturity for every single individual.

I think that it's important to do what you feel comfortable doing at your age, because only you truly know what you're ready for. But be careful not to try and act "all grown up" when you're not. The consequences of failure could be permanent.

Aikido: The Way of Harmony of Energy

I thought that what Sal told us about Aikido very interesting. It really clicked when he showed an example using Jimmy as a mock attacker. I think that the basic principles of this martial art can be applied to everyday life. In Aikido, you use the negative energy of your attacker against them. While your own power may be limited, and not sufficient in overpowering your opponent, your opponent's own power is surely enough to overpower him, and drain him of his negative energy.

When you encounter a negative or difficult situation in life, you could, and sometimes should, try to face it head on; but you'll often be overpowered. But if you learn to manipulate situations in your favor, life becomes much easier. Basically, this is taking an advanced look on a "glass half full" mentality. This goes to show how some martial arts go far beyond the physical aspects and impact your entire life and how you live it.

Dove Commercials - Self Image

I like what the Dove commercials are doing with promoting healthy self-image for females. When the models in the ads aren't even real people, you know that something is wrong. The face and body models in some commercials are so heavily altered that you literally could not find the same person in the world as in that ad.

Firstly, this sets unrealistic standards for gullible girls and women to try and reach. They then assume that they can reach those standards by purchasing the products being advertised. And obviously, the models most likely don't even use the products themselves. Just like when a celebrity is on T.V. talking about his "favorite" cereal. Meanwhile, the marketers are laughing all the way to the bank because they don't care who they hurt as long as they get paid.

And I don't blame them; it's their job. The take home point is that people need to educate themselves and realize that the law puts very few restrictions on what can and can not be said and shown in advertisements. People also need to realize that some people, including many celebrities, will do nearly anything if enough money is offered to them. Just like Michael Jordan says that he wears Hanes just because they pay him for it, models most often are promoting products for money and not because the products worked for them. And half of those models aren't even real people. They now have animated runway models. How crazy is that?

Also, models were never intentionally intended to represent the ideal physique. Fashion designers needed a canvas on which to present their creations and basically chose people who resemble clothing hangers. People need to realize this and stop looking up to people just because they are on T.V. or an magazine ad.

Agents of Socialization

Throughout my life, many agents of socialization have influenced who I am today. Firstly, my family effected who I am the most. This incorporates my Ukrainian background, which gave me a different outlook on life. Living in Ukraine really contrasted cultural differences between life here and there.

I have lived in many places throughout my life, but every one has left an imprint on me. The people that I met and the experiences that I went through in every neighborhood shaped me. For example, when I lived in Skokie, I had to spend a lot of time alone, so I hung out with older kids around the neighborhood. This taught me to be more independent, watch my back, and not trust anybody. While those lessons may make it seem like my experiences in that neighborhood were negative, I actually had a great time; and those lessons were some of the most valuable that I've learned in my life.

I've gone to five different schools in my life and one thing that this taught me is that people everywhere are basically the same in how they think and how they react to situations. People in every school had different values, cliques, and taboos, but overall, people react very similarly to situations, no matter where they're from. This taught me to communicate well with people, be understood, and understand how people feel and what they're trying to say.

The media influences everybody, whether they admit it or not; there's practically no escaping it. Advertising is everywhere and while it may seem like a negative thing, the important thing is to think logically and not let advertising strategies dominate your mind. Make clear distinctions between what you really need and what you want. Because a common goal of advertising is to make you feel that you NEED something, when really, it would be just mildly convenient, or even completely useless.

On a side note, it was crazy to see how many different companies Disney and other conglomerates owned. I thought that Disney was just a kids' company, but they own companies that have nothing to do with children. This will make me think twice before picking up a Time magazine.

Human Nurture - Feral Children

Learning about feral children, and especially seeing the video of the feral girl from Ukraine who was raised by dogs and adopted their traits, made me realize just how much of our human behavior is learned. The girl walked around on all fours and even panted. Dogs pant because they can't sweat; that girl had sweat glands, but just chose to pant. You'd think that something like that is natural, but apparently even panting is learned behavior.

It's also interesting that once brought back into society, they began re-adapting quickly. But the feral children were still most comfortable acting like they were raised. This shows us that after the first five or so years of one's life, their brain stops absorbing information at the rate that it had done so earlier.

Tuesdays With Morrie - Love

On one hand, I think that American culture often frowns upon expressions of affections as it shows weakness and goes against what a "man" should be. Refer to Red Forman for an example of what the proper American "man" should be like.

On the other hand, I believe that many people overuse the word "love." People will express their love to somebody that they've been dating for two weeks all the time. People yell about how much they love a singer or an actor. Infatuation is often mistaken for love.

"Romantic love" can be defined while true love can not. Speech is a man-made creation and words describe things that all mean the same thing to people; cold is cold and warm is warm to everybody. Ask anybody on the street to define love and every person's definition will be different, that is, if they are even able to come up with one. I think that we are "afraid" of love largely because it is different for everybody and thus, so difficult to discuss. It is almost taboo to openly discuss the intricities of love.

Human Nature

I'd like to discuss Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs to further explain what I was saying in class about human nature.

The first basic human need is physiological: breathing, food, water, sleep, homeostasis

If you do not achieve all of these, you are not concerned with anything else; that is your primary concern and only when all of those needs are fulfilled can you worry about your safety needs. Human safety needs include security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, and property. It may seem that these are of equal importance, but if one is starving, they will only worry of their next meal. When they are fed, they will finally try to devise a way to tap a steady supply of food.

Once all of one's basic needs are taken care of, we seek a sense of love and belonging: friendship, family, and sexual intimacy.

Esteem comes next: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, and respect by others. This is the level on which most U.S. citizens are operating. Our basic survival needs are taken care of. Subconsciously or consciously, we crave respect and achievement, usually in the form of progress; this is partially why video games have the potential to be "addictive."
This is where unnecessary material goods come into play. You want that new Escalade on a conscious level because it looks nice. You may even attempt to justify the purchase to yourself by looking at features that it has that may be useful to you that aren't related to looks. But let's be honest, you bought that ridiculous, overpriced atrocity with an engine block made of volcanic rock and amusing safety ratings to impress people. You are fulfilling the fourth level of Maslow's
hierarchy of needs.

At the tip of the pyramid is self-actualization; most people never even attempt to satisfy this level because they are never truly satisfied with their esteem. This final level includes morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts. One may trick themselves into thinking that they are fulfilling this level, but all of these things need to occur on a subconscious level for them to truly be fulfilled.

That beggar on the street doesn't have different values from you; they aren't enlightened. Or maybe they are. Who knows? The point is that they are simply trying to fulfill the very first level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs; he just wants to feed himself and his family. Or maybe he needs crack money. A physical addiction can easily come on the same level as, or even replace, necessities such as food.

When he gets fed and gets his fix, maybe he'll look into getting a job to fulfill the second level of security. After that, he'll be working on his love and belonging level. And guess what's next. The Escalade. The Escalade is what is next for our crack-loving friend.

Norms

Growing up in Ukraine and then moving to the U.S. was a shocking experience not only because I had to learn a new language, but also because of the cultural differences and different norms. On my very first day of school, I showed up dressed formally, with a tie, and with flowers in hand. When I met my teacher, I gave her the flowers, to her great surprise. In Ukraine, the first day of school was always very important, and festive at the same time. Teachers were, and still are, very respected and it was customary to bring your new teacher flowers on your first day. Also, every school started on the same day throughout the entire nation, grades 1-12, and ended on the same day, too.

Raising your hand to speak in class was odd to me. In Ukraine, one would get called up to the board by the teacher to do work in front of the class or speak. You would also always stand to speak to an adult; it was much more formal.

In the U.S., I disliked most people that I met at first because they all seemed fake. In Ukraine, it's not customary to say hello to strangers as you walk by. You don't ask random people how they're doing. It all just comes down to how you were raised and what you feel comfortable with doing. While behaving one way might be normal in one country, it could be disrespectful in another.

Micro-Macro Dynamics and Racism

The movie was set in a very racist time in American history. While African Americans had equal rights, they were not yet completely socially integrated and accepted. On a smaller scale, C lived in a very segregated neighborhood. In fact, I would have a hard time coming up with a set of neighborhoods more segregated than the 1960's Bronx.

The Italians live in the Italian neighborhood. The Latin Americans live in the Latin American neighborhood. The Irish live in the Irish neighborhood. And the African Americans live in the African American neighborhood. Of course, these rules are not written; people simply just know.

Naturally, we humans have a "pack mentality." This means that we are drawn close to the people we consider "our own" and naturally assume that anybody else is an intruder and an enemy. Because of this, the Italians in the Italian neighborhood are prejudiced against the African American boys when they come hrough their neighborhood. The "pack mentality" in addition to the high level of racism in the U.S. in the 1960's creates a violent and unnecessary situation.

When C tells his father about the possibility of him dating a black girl, his father is not blatantly racist about it, but states that it would be proper of C to "keep it in the family." C comes from a family of pure-bred Italians and his father is a very traditional man. I don't believe that C's father's disapproval comes from racism, but rather from a desire to keep his Italian genes purely Italian.

I'm glad that society is moving away from such a close-minded way of thinking. It would be bad if my family disapproved of any girl that wasn't Ukrainian that I dated. But, we do live in a very open-minded region.

Roles

As we go through our lives, we are all influenced by our surroundings: the people we meet, the places we go, and the things we do. We have a role in all of these aspects and understanding roles in groups can help us to understand why people are how they are. Your role in the classroom may be a student, but your role at your community center may as a mentor or a teacher. Every role shapes us very differently.

Community Service

In Mrs. Hoffman's Writing for College, she told us about a community service opportunity with a man named Aaron Lawlor; he is running for the United States Senate. I wrote him an e-mail asking about the volunteer opportunity and am awaiting his reply.

I think that this would be a very interesting and beneficial opportunity seeing as having political connections can never be a bad thing. Also, politics and government interests me, so this could be a valuable learning experience for me.

Sociological Mindfulness and YOU

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku explains the progression of Human society. Civilizations are classified into Type 0, 1, 2, and 3. We are currently a Type 0 civilization. If you're interested, google it. He has YouTube videos for those who can't be bothered with a book. But anyways,

Sociological mindfulness is vital in the progress of Human society. Progress as a civilization is defendant on more than progress in science and medicine. Humans themselves must progress, both as individuals and as a group. We have survived due to individual ingenuity, but on the evolutionary scale, humans have existed for only a moment. Imagine the life of the Earth as a fingernail. The material that comes off from running a file against the nail but once represents the life of Humans on Earth.

If we hope to survive on a galactic level, we must learn to think as a society as opposed to concerning ourselves with individual interests. Seriously, think long-term.

Who Am I?

I'm somebody who likes to live in the now. While the future concerns me and I make accommodations for it, I try to enjoy life in the present as much as possible. At the same time, I'm a meticulous planner. It sounds contradictory, but I pull it off. I was born in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to the U.S. with my mother and older sister when I was four. In the future, I have no idea what I'll be doing and I don't think that's a problem at this stage. I do want to go to U of I.

I work at Cosi as a barista. I'm also a baker. I make bread. It's awesome! My co-workers are borderline retarded and I'm expected to always smile at customers and ask them how they're doing. I don't do that out of principle because I refuse to ask someone how they are when I genuinely couldn't care less. It's just illogical and we're brainwashed into believing that it's polite. And people get weirded out when you don't constantly smile, especially when you're the cashier. I'm at work and it's early. Why would I be standing there grinning? To me, it would look odd for somebody to be happy to be at their minimum wage job on a Saturday morning, in that stupid hat that makes my hair poke my eyeballs and the stupid tucked in shirt.

Well, we've got some space to kill, so...
About me...
I'm seventeen in a week. I like to snowboard. I like music. I like chilling and enjoying life, living it to the fullest and all that jazz.
The bell just rang so I'm out,
Peace,