crash-racism-mother of all blogs!

1. The cop in the beginning was a racist pig. He pulled over the black couple b/c they were doing inappropriate things in the car. He then proceeded to make the situation a bigger deal then it was supposed to be by molesting the lady. The husband couldn't do anything or else he was going to be in big trouble. The cop treated the lady badly and she hated him for that. When she was driving home she was in a huge car crash. He was the cop that she had to trust to save her. At first she didnt trust him or want anything to do with him. He gained her trust and saved her with only seconds to spare. His co partner hated the cop because he was so racist so he asked to not be with him anymore after the incident with the black couple. When the husband got his car almost stolen by the other black characters the other partner helped him out and saved him from getting into trouble.

2. The mexican man was stereotyped in two different ways by two different people. The shopowner didnt trust him and when the mexican man said he fixed the lock but the door was the thing that needed fixing the shopowner didnt believe him and said he was trying to con him. The key fixer was right and people broke into the shop and trashed it. The shopowner found out where the key man lived and was about to shoot at the key man when his daughter ran in front of the bullet which shot at her. Thankfully the bullet wasnt a one that shoots at people and she was safe.
The white lady also didnt trust the key man so once her doors had new keys she told her husband that she didnt trust him and that they have to change the locks the next day. She thought that he would give the keys to his "gang" friends and then they would rob their house. The key man moved to that area to get away from that kind of stuff. She was being racist towards him.

3. When i saw this movie it was so discusting. 90% of the characters were ignorant racist pigs. If there was a situation where they could be racist they were. Like the white women clung to her husband when she saw the black men. But that caused the black people to be racist and steal there car. No one was right in that situation and they were both racist. I believe most americans are racist. They identify people by skin color and they make there judgements based on that alone sometimes. I hope this will change and the day when people look past skin color and different cultures and just the reality that all humans are different then that will be the day that america wont be racist. I believe that that day will never happen. Its sad. It makes me so upset. I mean its just a color! thats it! nothing more simple. and its sad that america cant look past that.

4. Stereotypes come from the beginning of time when people had differnces. When people saw that there are different people that arent the same as them is when people started to judge and stereotype. For example in the beginning of the movie there was a car crash with an asian lady and the white lady. There is a stereotype that says that asians are bad drivers and the white lady was rude to the lady and it wasnt even the asians ladys fault. I have no idea where theese sterotypes come from but they are here and we have to deal with them. One day i hope there will be a change.

5. Humans have brains and they identify and classify and remember things. It is normal to regonize skin color diffrerences. The brain studys patterns and that is common reasons for stereotypes. It is natural in our genes to see differnces and act upon them.

6.The media and your family has a lot to do about how race is learned. In school we learn about diffrenet races and cultures and we see all of the diffrences positive but in the media there sometimes is racist things and comments that teach america bad behaviors and brainwash them to think the way they want us to think.

7. I wish it was possible to end racisim. I dont think it is. Racisim is just a state of mind. The way to end it is to change peoples thinking process. America is a land of free thinkers so we cannot change the way they think. They have to be inspired and do it on there own. Maybe the media can help that. And by having a change in color in the presidency can help break some barriors. But helping stop Racisim is a long almost impossible process that maybe one day in the future we can help stop. And then america will be a more respectful, kind, caring kind of country!

Marriage in Black and White

In the United States there is a difference between the marriage statistics in black couples and white couples. The sats show that it is more likely for a white couple to get married and there are a higher percentage of whites already married than blacks. I dont think that there are any factors that cause this difference. Black and White are just colors. They are all people and the statistics just show the difference in skin color. Black people arent different from white people. It just so happens that they arent as likely to get married as white people.

Yesterday in class we were given 5 pennies. We gambled them in groups of two. My stragety was to just bet one penny each time and go on my gut (when choosing heads and tails.) Sometimes I would go against my gut feeing and then I would loose. I have always tried to go on those feelings in any situation because if you 2nd gess yourself then it will bite you in the butt. For example on a test. Once I lost we talked about peoples stragety. Some picked heads on time and tails the next-switching off. Some just picked heads, and some like me kinda choose randomly. This activity showed us that the wealth was unevenly spread because only 3 people ended up with 18 or more and almost half of us ended up withe 0!

Classy or Class-less

"What a man is depends on his character; but what he does, and what
we think of what he does, depends on his circumstances. The characteristics that
ruin a man in one class made him eminent in another."

This quote describes that a man does things based on there situation and not always on his character. This week in class we have been talking about class especially middle class. We have talked about what makes something middle class or high class. Class is based on how much money someone has or how much there house is. I think it shouldnt be labled as that. There are a lot of high class people that have no class and a lot of low class people that are very classy. High Class people will remain high class because they are more educated and they have the tools to go through school and graduate school whereas a lower income family wont be able to send there children to college even if they are smart kids. In some cases those lower class kids work their butts off to succeed and ritcher kids get by. But sometimes its the oppisite. I believe that in Buffalo Grove and the areas around SHS are between Middle and Upper Class. In Illinois there is many other towns that are even fancyer then our ares. I think that no matter what class you are in you should appreciate everything you have and work hard to acchieve your dreams! =)

Deviance of Soceity

Deviance is doing something against the norm of society. For example an act of deviance is giving someone a card just for the sake of being nice. For my act I gave a piece of candy to some random freshmen in my studyhall. He seemed weirded out by that and then left the candy on the desk. Oh well. Then I just realized now that I just did an act of deviance. My best friend has been having some icky stuff happen to her that sucks. So today I declaired it Best Friend Day and I made her a mini cake and made her a card and gave her a stuffed animal. she loved it and she looked really happy and thankful! I also did this one time last year for her! I think its tradition now! In the artical the saints were more bad then the roughnecks in many things but society saw them as good kids whereas the roughnecks did bad things and were seen as bad kids. After watching some of 30 days in class it shows me that the jail systems need to be changed and they arent doing anything positive for the crimminals. They just lock them up and dont teach them any better and then they end up right where they started from. They shouldnt treat prision like a business and start caring about the people in it. Happy Thanksgiving!! =]

Final Blog <3

Today i am home sick so I am wearing sweatpants and a T-Shirt. Usually when I go to school I express myself through what I am wearing. My future plan is to be a professional dancer. A lot of it is determined and will happen because of my nature, but the nurture from my family and friends helps me hope to make my dreams a reality. It mu life they balance eachother out nicely.

Social status and power is very important to teens today because that is all we have in society. We can try to stand out by who we hang out with, what we wear, or the music we listen to. We do so many things to fit in with the crowd. Status is something that even if kids try really hard to get they can sometimes not fit in with the crowd that they want to fit into. Usually by highschool status and "popular" isnt as important. In Middle School there was always the group of "popular kids" usually the cliche preppy bitches. Sometimes they were nice to the "normal" kids but when the groups were together they werent always amazing people. As we all go to Highschool in my opinion there isnt any popular kids because one our school is so big, 2 no one gives a damn about popularity. Every group has there own idea of status.


Kids today are raised very differently then previous generations. They are raised with way more technology such as computers, Tv, iPods, cell phones, xbox, etc. The concerns that are raised are that kids arent interacting with eachother as much as they could be. I think it is very valid. Kids today sit around playing video games, on the computer and texting when they could be going out getting fresh air or socializing with other children


Girls and guys are very different. Girls are very open and emotional and on the other hand boys are more agressive and they keep there feelings in. Girls seem to be more self conciness then boys. They are always concerned about what there wearing or what there hair is like, boys seem to be more chill about that- at least thats what it seems. Boys and girls are baiscally oppisite in socialization and in life =]

Kids? Teens? Adults?

There is a lot of conflict and confusion by being defined as an adolescent. The article we read about adolescence showed the idea that society puts us in a crazy state of being because were not children, but were not yet adults. But we are adults biologically in many ways. There are some things that we are given the opportunity to have adult status and not others. Some examples of the things we are given the opportunity to do is driving and getting jobs. But even with that we are still treated like kids. When we drive we have to get hours and once we get our licenses we have rules like having one person in the car for a year. When you get your license when you are 18 you dont have to follow any of those rules. When your 18 you can get a job. But when your under 16 you need a workers permit. There are other things adults do that we cant. aka drinking and smoking. at 17 you have many adult responsibilitys and then at 18 you can smoke. But even when society sees you as an adult you still cant even drink until your 21. So when do we actually become adults? At 18 is when society sees you as an adult and legally you are an adult. But there still isnt things you can do. So really what is the timline between being a kid, a teen, an adolescence and finally being an adult?

Besides family, my friends are one the most significant groups in my life. They affect a lot of the things. They influence things in my life. A lot of my friends are very outgoing and have positive attitudes which makes my personality a lot like them. Most of my close group of friends at Stevenson make good choices regarding certain things and that makes it easy to be in our group. however, i do have some close friends here and at other schools that don't make amazing decisions regarding certain things. I am not influenced by all that crap. i make my own decisions. The way I look at life is like my friends in the way that they live life to the fullest. I like adventure and not all of my close friends like that so my other friends are up for adventures. Sometimes I'm not always up to what they have in mind, but they influence me and encourage me to be adventurous. Woo :-)

Just Keep Swimming!

There are many examples of water in my life and the lives of Americans today. Material Culture and technology sometimes is overbearing as compared to simpler times before us, but in today's culture, technology is our water. For example, for me if I don't have my cell phone with me at all times I feel like a fish out of water. Parents and people who didn't have cell phones back in the day dont get why we are so dependant on our technology. It sounds awful but to function most modern day teens need to have their phones and technology to function through the day. It sounds really stuck up sometimes because there are so many teens who aren't fortunate enough to have the things that we sometimes take for granted. Sometimes we need to sit back and really be thankful for the extra things in life and try not to get immersed in material culture.

The way I navigate the water around me is trying not to get immersed. I will admit I do give in to the material/technology things in life but how I adjust is by not taking it for granted. I am thankful for the things that I am fortunate enough to have and im not a brat if I dont get everything I want. Some kids expect things that they dont necessarily need. For example I had a friend who is now in college and he got a 40,000$ car for his 16th birthday. A 16 year old doesn't need a 40,000$ car. Lucky for him hes didnt expect it and he was thankful for it. I watched my Super Sweet 16 on MTV. Let me tell you. Its a nasty show. These brats are some of the most ungrateful, spoiled people ive ever seen. If they dont get every thing they want they flip out. If there daddy gets them a mercedes instead of a bmw there mad. If they dont have 5 different outfits they get angry. Its sick. :-( Sometimes you respond on how you were raised. If you were raised to value things and work hard for things you get then you probably will respond differently then a kid who was handed everything to them in life.

The American values I embrace is to be happy and always follow and achieve my dreams. With those two values it keeps me happy and working hard. The value to be happy helps me in my everyday life. If things go wrong sometimes i get super upset, but when people try to cheer me up it helps. And having a positive outlook on life really makes things easier for you. When your happy sometimes you can make another person happy in the meantime. The value of always following my dreams keeps me motivated when things get hard. I want to be a professional dancer when I grow up. To be a dancer it is waaaayyyy harder then people perceive it to be. You have to train your whole life and work your ass off everyday. You have to sleep, eat, and act like a dancer. Sometimes its rough and you get discouraged but the goal at hand really motivates you to follow and accieve your dreams.

"see the water and learn how to swim happily ever after"

Stevenson Subculture vs American Values

At Stevenson we are a subculture of America. Our values have some similarities and differences of America. For example at Stevenson we are all for freedom of expression through dress...to a point. There are many limitations to that rule as opposed to America you can wear whatever you want to wear...the only limitation is you cant run naked through the streets. In my opinion that is legit. In Stevenson we have our own subcultures like we addressed in our group projects. There are different "groups" such as the Jocks/sporty kids, Punks, Emos, Goth, Preppy, Skaters, etc. But those are just the way we percieve them. They act a certian way and in a way we classify and sterotype them and put a lable on them. Thats not always correct. I am a perfect example of that. My friends say there is no word or sterotype for who I am. which I guess is true. People classify me as a "punk" but thats not who I am and I believe that there is just groups of friends not sterotypes of posses. I hang out with people who dress darker and who dress "preppy" or "gangsta" etc. Yay For Life!

Kids

When we walked into class mr smith was treating us like babies. When he asked a girl if she was sick he gave her candy to make her feel better. He talked to us in a voice that was very child like/ like a little kid teacher. In my gov class my teacher thinks we all are stupid. When we get answers wrong on homework or if we dont give him a super amazing answer he tells us the answer in a really slow child like teacher voice. Its kind of rude. When he was teaching like that I turned to cam and was like were not 5. Sometimes when people treat adults like children it brings them back to when they were young. I believe that people should be treated with respect and treat them how old they actually are. But also if you wanted to be treated with respect you must give respect. Yay!

Awkey Gestures

In class yesterday we learned about other cultures and there gestures. I believe that it is important to know about other cultures so that we are not ignorant. We learned about the fake pump nose flinch. That was really funny and strange. I think that in America we do things that people in other cultures would think is weird. For example we do the "sup" thing with our heads when we say hey/sup. We have made the middle finger universal for Beep you. lol. Im not sure if other cultures do it but we do the peace sign with our fingers. I thought that it was kind of odd that one culture they hold hands in business meetings as a sign of friendship. That would be really awkey if that happened to me and i didnt know any of their coustoms. Im still trying to figure out things that we do...hmmm....Like when we talk we use slang and jokes that other cultures would find super offensive such as your mom. if we said tu madre to someone from mexico that would be offensive and that would suck. Its really important to be aware of the world around you and not just live in a little bubble. There are other cultures out there that are awesome! Yay! =]

Epic Movie of the Bronx-Social Construction of Reality

In the movie the Bronx Tale the neighborhood has many unwritten rules that govern how you can and cant act. Sonny and his crew have to be respected because if you piss them off you could get shot or be in trouble. The kid in the story really respects him and so do many younger kids. Unfortunately Sonny teaches the kid some street skills that his father doesn't want him to know about. The kids see the adults be racist and then they do it like when they saw the black kid in the bus they ran at him shouting profanity. That is not cool people. That is not what America is about people. So basically what i'm trying to say this neighborhood is constructed as so...Sonny and his gang...and the rest of the neighborhood. They are all scared of them so they dont mess with him. =] yay! Thats about all folks!

More Blogs :-D

I think stereotyping is awful. We talked about it a little bit in class and when we talked about the boat activity. When Jeff (the fatty millionaire) was kicked off the boat because his weight we were stereotyping. When we looked at jeff all we saw was a fatty and we didnt look to see who he really was. He was a millionaire who supplied jobs for thousands and by killing him off the boat that ruins the lives of many. As teens today we look at weight and appearance when we judge people. I dont think that is right, but thats how things work in our society today.

Were on a Boat

Today in class we did an activity that was very interesting. We had 16 people on a boat and we had to kill off 9 people. It was very hard to decide who we were gonna throw off. Why was the pre med student more important than the fatty? Because society says it is. It was a lot of survival of the fittest. After we decited who was going to get thrown off the boat we were saved and had to come off the boat and deal with society. We made up a lie to tell the cops but in reality we only had to throw off one person and the others did it volentarly. If I had to do this in real life it would be even harder than it was today. Have a fab 3 day weekend people =]

2nd Blog of Life

Hi Im Steph! Whats your name? jk its my blog silly. ;-).... I dont care about what people think. Not in like a rude way, but in a way that I like to be unique. For example...The way I dress is not the "norm" I wear whatever I feel like. One day I could wear highlighter green pants and another day I wear a pair of checkered pants. Since as far back as I remember I never wear the same color/pattern socks and I always wear a Pink Converse and a Green Converse. I like it, but at least once a day I get the question..."do you have to buy two pairs of shoes or do they come like that?" Im a very patient kid, but honestly people. What do you think? Of course I have to buy two pairs =D. The biggest infuluences in my life is Dance. I work my ass off to acchieve my ultimate goal...to be a professional dancer. I take 2 classes at school a day, and about ten at my dance studio which totals to a hefty 20 classes a week! Its hard, but I love it. Another thing I love in life is music. Its fabulous! I listen to all types of music like rock, ska, metal, screamo, hippie stuff, punk etc. My absoulte favorite bands are System of a Down, Rise Against, and Blink 182! Yay Music!! Im a super happy kid and I love life =]

Blog Numero Uno

On the first day of class I really didn't know what to expect. Once I found the hidden classroom I was greeted by Mr Smith, a pretty cool dude who shook all of our hands. I was never greeted that way by any teacher in the years that I have been at Stevenson. Even though shaking hands symbolizes a greeting, it seemed odd to the class. Once class started Mr Smith grew quiet and didn't talk to us. It was super duper awkward and everyone laughed at the silence and made jokes. I knew it had something to do with the class and sociology, but I really didn't know what he was trying to prove. As we filled out the info sheet I came across the last question that stated that if someone told you to electrocute a stranger would you. I answered on what circumstances? Would my life be threatened? Would it hurt the stranger? I wasn't sure. Everyone wants to say no, but in that situation what would I really do? In American Studies last year, my teacher told us that most of us would electrocute the stranger if put in that situation. I settled with the answer of no. I would never want to hurt another human. That's rude. =P. I'm uber excited for this class because it seems like it will be interesting! :-)