Final Blog

I am still Hilary Kritz and a senior in high school, yet now I know that I am much more than that. I am who I am because of who I choose to be friends with and what I choose to do each day. I have the power to decide if I am going to live a life which is constructive or a life that I will look back on and regret. Although friends, family, and school are still the most important aspects in my life, I realize that how I treat each of those things is the part that makes up who I truly am. From the identity molecule I realized that I am defined by such a large number of different groups, all which have equally contributed to my life. Although I spend much more time with some groups of my identity molecule, that does not mean that another group has not impacted who I am and how I choose to live my life. From the socialization unit I realized that some of what makes me who I am is uncontrollable. I have realized that the media has such an effect on the way almost every high school girl lives their life. Also, I found the saints and roughneck article, although very long, extremely applicable to who I am. Although I am not on either end of the spectrum I know that my friends and I all have a bit of "saint" characteristics in us.

Not only has sociology helped me think about who I am differently, I have also thought about the people around me. Doing community service made me realize that other people are not as fortunate and it was a an interesting experience to see how different someones life can be that lives only a short drive away. It definitely made me rethink what my goals are in life and what would make me content.

face to the race

After doing the activity pairing the face to the race, I realized pretty much all assumptions about physical traits of races are all stereotypes that often are not even correct. We grow up learning information about race that is not true. Why else would our class only get 4 of the 20 pictures correct? We see people and automatically label them as a certain race because thats how our culture works. If someone looks different, there must be a reason why. Instead of thinking about why they look different, we waste our time stereotyping them as a meaningless race and ignore the biological part of it. Its embarrassing that this is how the world works. It is odd how race can change depending on a plane ride, yet in Americans' minds we still assume race is biological. Yet, that is impossible if race changes with a plane ride. All over the world people classify people by race. I traveled with my cousin who is a quarter Filipino and a quarter Japanese to Thailand. The Thai people would pay extra attention to my cousin and some would even ask her if she lived in Thailand. Although she did not look Thai, it seemed odd to them that a non Caucasian was with a group of whites so they assumed sh must be one of the Thai counselors. This shows the entire world is obsessed with race.

The Lunch Tables

The day of give-a-thon my friends and I were not able to find a table in our normal spot for lunch because the collection of gifts and food took up alot of the wood commons. After searching for a table, were were unsucesful and finally decided to just sit at a random table where two girls had left their backpacks. We were in the old builiding in the random spot with a few lunch tables and all the vending machines (the tyson and coffee one). We were planning on just asking the girls if they minded sharing a table with us when they returned. Wehn they did return, they seemed very confused and left immediately, I guess to get more food. A few minutes later thy returned and took their bags and food and said that they were going to sit somewhere else. They could it be. They left and my friends all felt kind of bad because we technically stole their table, seemed very nice and they assured us we weren't the reason they were moving, but what else even though we were happy to spend a lunch at the same table as them. This reminded me of the video we watched in class of the high school girls. It is kind of pathetic that even at Stevenson we can not mix different groups. However, at SHS I don't think we have cliques as extreme as the school in Texas. Yes I have a group of friends I normally hang out with but that does not mean I won't spend time with my other friends if I see them. I think the reason we have these groups is for secuirty. It is always good to have people to go to football games with, go to dinner with, and just have their when you need them. So at lunch when the girls left it probably wasn't because they were afraid it was just simply because we weren't in their group and out of their comfort zone.

The Fancy Fridge- Wealth

I think that all the extra stuff in life is a very accurate predicator of social class. Everyone needs a house with the basics such as a bed, a refidgerator, a shower, etc. Yet a bed can range in price from $50 to $50000. The things we buy, regardless if we need them or not, show our social class. Everyone needs a roof over their heads, yet why is it that the wealthier people spend over $1 million on a house when in Waverly, Ohio, you can get the same house for only $2oo,ooo. Things like this convince me that class is related to the things we own and how willing we are to spend money on the basics (such as a bed). When my parents decided to redo my kitchen, my mom picked out a fridge that is paneled in wood with a touch screen water dispenser. Because the fridge is covered in wood, I literally have to plant my feet and yank the door with both hands to open the door to the fridge or else it won't open because its so heavy. Also, I couldn't hang any of my A+ tests on the fridge when I was younger b.c magnets don't stick to wood. Although the water thing is cool, that too is a pain. Because it is touch screen, there is a button called control lock that I sometimes accidentaly press. When that is pressed then I can't get water or ice because the buttons lock themselves. It takes like 10 minutes for the stupid control lock to turn off and I have to deal with sink water. It does not make sense that my parents would pay extra money to make a kitchen that is more difficult to handle. My only explanation is that my parents wanted an "up to date" kitchen to show off when they entertain.

The Saints and the Statesman

In class we have talked a ton about deviance, or breaking the norms of society. However, there is not one strict definition to deviance because deviance is very relative to money, time, class and much more. In the Saints and Roughneck article, the author highlights the relevance between deivance and money. Although Stevenson might not be as severe on the level that Chambliss study was, our high school has both saints and roughnecks roaming the halls. The recent statesman article that was never published about NHS students and FMP students highlight the saints at SHS. Altough National Honors Society students should be the role models of the school participating in community service with outstanding grades, many of NHS members are far from the "saints" that they are percieved to be. In the article, two NHS students admitted to drinking. Like the police did in Chambliss study regarding the saints, the board at SHS did the same. They ignored the fact that NHS students were drinking by banning the publication of that article. If it was published, then SHS would look very bad because it shows that even the ideal students are not truly saints. I would say, regardless of NHS and FMP, the majority of students are saints. Although we all appear to be perfect at school, no one is the perfect angel that the Stevenson society wishes to percieve them.

Adulthood at 21

In class this week we have emphasized that nothing occurs in your brain overnight. Your mind isn't capable of driving the day before your 16, and your mind does not finally decide it can handle alcohol the day before your 21. Yet, our society is ruled by numbers, specifically age. This obsession with age is detrimental to our development. I know that with more years comes maturity, yet I believe after a certain point, age is JUST a number. When I think of someone I know that is 21, not much about them has changed since they were 18. Once someone hits 18, they are allowed to do almost anything in the legal boundaries. Go to war, drive, live alone, get married and many more things. Yet our society places a bigger emphasis on the age of 21, just because thats the age when one can drink. Our society views a 21 year old as a mature adult, yet a 19 or 20 year old is still a "young adult" that has yet to mature. Why is it that use alcohol to measure maturity?I'm not trying for the point of my blog to support making the legal drinking age earlier, but I am just amused with how our society holds a 21 year old in higher regards than an 18 year old, regardless of any factors pertaining to each person.

Fear and the Media

Today in class we touched on how media affects fear. I am obsessed with all the crime shows: CSI, Law and Order, Criminal Intent and many more. I can totally relate to how these shows creat false fear, and because they do, it is very difficult to differentiate between your 6th sense which is real fear or just being paranoid from too many horror scenes. When I was a little bit younger, the crime shows would scare me when I watched. I would turn my head away at points and after, I would be extremely paranoid. They scared me so much that I would refuse to watch one of the show s when I was home alone. Now that I am older, I realize how fakes these shows are, and even tohugh I still find them entertaining, they do not scare me at all. This relates to sociology because media enstills fear in the public. People fear the most ridiculous things because they see the most normal situations turn into horror scenes on TV shows. This is not a great aspect of television because if you fear everything you see as a potential danger, you are not living life to its fullest. Furthermore, after hearing the story about your wife, it made me realize that you should never second guess your sixth sense. However, your wife thought she was just being crazy so she made the mistake of getting out of the car. Possibly she was negatively impacted by media because she thought she was just being paranoid, when in reality it was a real threat.