race take 2

This week we have been watching a movie CRASH about different people in the world, but not only also different races. During you can see how different races stereotype each other and other races. A part that I really got related to was when the cops called the persian family muslims and that remained me that in my childhood me and my friends used to call any arabic we have seen in Israel muslim/ terrorist because that was the culture we born in to and all the Muslims country that around us that affect our way of judging the arab people.

Race

This week in sociology we talked about "race". We tried to prove that race exists in different activities such as the balls activity, to put 20 different people in 5 categories, and even by finger prints, but nothing worked. The only thing we could of take from this experiments it that skin color comes from the place you live. Our class as group during one of the activities classify people by their skin color. As a human been we think that if a person is dark is black, or if person is light so he is white. We judge people by their color and not who they really are. To be from a different race it's not always bad because in the end of the day that is what makes us different from each other.

Bocce Ball Community ervice

I spent part of my weekend volunteering at special Olympics helping special kids to play the game.  This was considered community service but it did not feel that way too me.  I was more than happy to spend my time with them helping the kids that are less fortunate to play a game they care about.  I was really honored to go their and help them out

It started on a beautiful Sunday morning with a slight breeze and I was happy to wake up so early for community service.  I was almost late for the bus, but was glad i made it.  Then on the bus i played cheerful and soothing music to lighten the mood and get ready to help out the special kids with the game.  I could not wait to get their and help out.  I was so excited and glad to help out the kids and could not wait to get off.  When i got off it was a great relief and ready to help out and could not wait to meet all the new friends that i would have and never forget about.  I could no wait to meet amazing and wonderful kids that would change my life forever

I was really ecstatic to cheer them up and their attitude towards life was amazing even though they had different circumstances than us and they had a better attitude than most people i know.  It change my perspective on things and made me have a better attitude towards life overall everything.  The way he handled obstacles and challenges were really inspiring.  It made me feel good and realize that no challenge is too hard and cant be overcome.  Anything is possible and they really helped me understand the meaning of that.  I'm glad I went to the special Olympics and helped out.  It changed my life forever and really glad I helped out.

Game for Life

In the last week we have studied about class system in the US. To understand it the best we played monopoly with a similar rules like in real life. Each and one of us in groups of fives got a class in the US system. After playing the game for like 45 min we have tried to conclude the results of this game. The most common thing that we came with was that no matter how hard you try the chances that you will succeed and go up by a class is much lower, than you are actually can go down by your class. I'm not saying it's impossible, but is it really hard. I see it related to my life in which my parents decided to move everything behind and move to a different country that success is a little bite more likely to happen if you invest the same amount of time and energy(hard work).

social class

An activity we have done in class was the coins game. Each students started with three coins and a chance of 50% to win a bet. This game reflect how things happens in life that some people starts from the same point, but with a little bite of luck can have a lot more, or in the other hand the results that have been shown were that most of the class after couple of minutes stayed with nothing and two other students share between them the sum of the whole class. this reflect that some people have a higher point to succeed because they don't sacre to put big amounts of money in risk to compare to others that don't have this amount to put and have only one shot.

Deviance

Deviance is the repeated or serious violation of society's expectations. Deviance also can be positively or negatively it's all depend by the person or the place you are doing the activity. Example from my life was that last Monday I helped one lady to carry her lagged upstairs in the train station and she thanks me, but in other place a lady that I might would like to for the same thing would think is disrespectful that I want to touch her private thing, and she can do it alone. 

men=women?

In the past week we have studied about how men or women should behave in our century. Men need to be tough, not sensitive, strong, and never scared from anyone or any thing. In the other hand we have women that need to be organize, clean all the time, and sensitive.  I found two videos that show that if you give a chance to women they can be exactly like men. As you all know all ready my biggest passion in life is basketball. In a week ago I have watched one game that Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks scored 50 points a game. After searching in the internet for a long time looking for a something that can improve that if you give a little chance to women they can be good as men and that what I found:  

http://youtu.be/FGhMvT5VBC8.

One example from my life is that in Israel men and women drafted equally to the army and the capable to serve in some units as men

Gender

Gender: culturally and socially constructed difference between men and women in sex or sexuality. In every young age our parents influence us to become the "normal" boy that play in the sand even if you can get dirty, and in the other hand we have the girls that need to be clean and play with princes and having the free hand to go and "discover the world". In every young age my parents dress me up with a boys cloth with a characters like turtle ninja and etc.... I have never in my fourteen years of age wear a pink or purple shirt because "it's not right". It's not what a man wears that is what girls wear, but as time went by I understood that even guys can wear pink or purple.

 

AGENT OF SOCIALIZATION

Agent of socialization are groups that we part of that shape us significantly throughout our life.This things are also names as our NURTURE they are: our family, our friends/peer group, our school, our religion, our work place, our neighborhood, and our media. Each of this things shape who we are from a very young age as we  showed to the world at the first time. Another thing that shape who we are is NATURE. That is usually represented by our biology genes, emotions, instincts, and training. The way socialization me is from every young age me and my parents used to have every Friday night a meeting were we shared all of the things that on our mind/ feeling or even thing that we want to have from each other and that help me to improve my individualism and my opinion/thought as I got older.    

Thrive

In the last week have been assigned to read a last chapter of a book that his name is Thrive. The definition of Thrive is long term of happiness. In this reading I have been intrudes to things that I have never knew that can influence so much about an individual happiness. There are 6 life domains that we can shape our chances for happiness for the long term. The author call them Thrive Centers and they are: 1. Community, 2. Workplace, 3. Social Life, 4. Financial Life, 5. Home, and 6. Self. For community the thing that influence us the most are the nation, state, country, city, or suburb in which you live. For workplace the things that influence us are your job site, or wherever you spend most of your working hours. For social life the circle of friends, acquaintances, and others with whom you come in contact regularly are the things that influence us. For financial life the thing that influence us are the savings and spending strategies you adopt. For home the thing that influence us are the house we live, apartment, or condo and the yard or grounds around it. For self the thing that influence us are our education, sense of purpose, and health strategies. Another important concept that I took from this reading that influence our happiness is: MEMORIES! (that is under a research that had made on brain's hardwiring). We tend has human being to relates our life on high/ low points that happened to us during the year, and not actually remember the happy things that we have been throw. For example we tend to remember how the waitress spilled all the soup over our cloth, but we don't remember how all the family had met for a dinner after a long time for not seen each other and all the fun they had sharing all  the stories from the last time they saw each other.       

Culture

This week we went over culture, and in this unit we got an assignment to read. This reading was about "The Value Americans Live By". In this reading I found interesting the first value that is: Personal Control Over the Environment/Responsibility in which says that Americans no longer believe in the power of fate, and they have come to look at people who do as being backward, primitive, or hopelessly naive. The thing that they do believe is that every individual should have control over whatever in the environment might potentially affect him or her.

From my prospective as a person that came from a different country that suffer from bombing of different countries I take it in a different point of view because of it. I see it as that sometimes shits happen, and humans can't change it in some situations all we can do is to hope for better.

God Grew Tierd of Us

This last week we have watched a movie about the refugees from Sudan, and their journey to find a promise land. I would like to talk about the funny parts in the movie for us the people that regular for all the new gadgets that in our world, and how this kids from Sudan the simplest things they could haven’t figure out how to use such as shower, to turn the light on/off, how to walk up/down the moving stairs in the airport without falling down, or just how to buy food in a grocery store. After all this kids have been throw a lot in their lives that anyone of us wouldn’t wish to get throw, or his/her  family will be throw. I also can relate this movie to my own life by a thing that they spoke about that the American’s people are very individual. The example that one of the kids said about the lady that cried I have seen it, and deal with it in a different ways here when I moved here. I had a really hard time to open up to people because of the big change I didn’t even know how to do so. So the first semester here I had a really bad time until I took step by step to get to know people.   

cultural shock

This post is in a little bite of late but is about the last week stuff that we studied in class. Last week we have studied about things that we see weird in different places because we as individuals are not use to from the place we come from and that is a culture shock. A good example that helped me to understand it was the idea of aquarium of two different fishes that have lived all their lives in the same environment, but if you will put them in a different aquarium they will be in shock to live the life of the other fish. I relates it to my life in which in Israel the place I came from you can't drive on red even though it's on the right lane so when I have seen it for the first time I didn't really know how to take it in. 

Bronx Tale - Mindfulness

This week we watched a movie Bronx Tale I found it interesting because I could notice about sociological things that we studied at class. One of the things that I relates the most was the Sociological Mindfulness. The sociological mindful in the movie is Calogero because he is been affected by Sonny environment, and he also effect the groups around him such his friends and family. He mindful others in which he change the idea of blacks and white not getting along when he falls in love in a black girl. I think it absolutely makes difference in his life because after falling in love he sees life differently from different prospective on different cultures. I think Sociological Mindfulness affect my life by always accept the different even though you don't like him or you can't get along everyone born equal and everyone are experience and learn new things along the way.

Macro and Micro Sociology

This past week we discussed about two types of  sociological groups that we as individuals are part of. The first one is Macro Sociology and that is the large groups that we as individuals are part of. For example some groups that we brought in class were: Teens, suburban, High school students,Americans, and etc... .  For my own life I think I could include Israel because this place shaped a lot of who I'm as a person in a different country such as America. The second type is Micro Sociology and that is when we as individuals face small groups usually it comes in small conversation with people face to face. Some of the example that help us to understand it better was the activity we had during class that we had to choose 9 people that need to get off the ship, and this process had to be made with conversation who to need to stay on board and who is got to jump off board. Example from my life probably will be with people that I discusses about my future or for advices if I need to like: parents, teachers, friends, and etc....

The three theories

So this week in sociology we have been study on three theories that been discovered in the past couple years. The first one is Functional Analysis that stated by Emile Durkheim that says every person is being effected by groups around him. For example each and one of us is been effected by his family, friends, teachers, and other many other groups that around him, but each and one of us choose what to do with this influence. The second theory is Conflict Theory by Karl Marx. This theory explain that our life is somehow being effected or relates to money. For example if you will  study hard in school you will have a good job in the future, and if you have a good job you will have a higher salary, and higher salary means a lot of money. The third theory is Symbolic Interaction by Max Weber (or Veber). This theory explain that each individual have his on beliefs in life how to live them. For example the protestant believed that if they will live their life in a wealthy way that's how they are going to live their lives in the other world. How this theories relates to my life? I think the first theory is in her basics relates to everyone at the same way because everyone are influence by their parents, friends, teachers, and etc..., but also each and one of us have his group that influence him the most that makes him who he is. I think the thing that make me who I'm is that I care about the people in those groups that around me, so I can't really tell in what group I'm, but I can tell that from each group that around me I have some of its influence. The second is different and similar too because everyone want to be successful, but each one does it in his own way. The way I do it like a lot other is that I'm going to school everyday to work hard that in the future I will have better lives to live in a good job with a good paycheck every month. For the third theory I don't think I have something that relates to my own life. We also study this week about Social Construction of Reality or in other words is society/people created of experience. One of the things that helped us to understand this subject was an academic article that we were assigned to read called "Putting Teen-Parent Conflicts into Perspective" this article explain about how the old generation like our parents, grandparents, and etc... had a different life for being adult, they could support themselves in anything that relates to money, and how today teens have really hard time to mature up and accomplish who they want to be because of the old generation that consider you as a little kid even though you turn 18 years old. They don't let you the opportunity to grow up. Example from my lives is when I miss an assignment for one of the classes or if I don't do my homework the teacher calls or send a letter to my parents instead of talking to me first or letting me to deal with the consequences.              

sociological mindfulness

IDF-Israel Defense Forces

In the last few days we discussed at class about different types of sociology. Sociological Imagination and Sociological Mindfulness. The one I chose to talk about is Sociological Mindfulness that is when you as a one can influence the world. With this way of thinking people try to find an answer how to make the world a better place for the one they love for example: it can be for their families, friends, and etc.... To make this life for a better place for the one they love I would like to use a quote that we heard in one of the videos that we watched at class: "one voice can change a room. And if it can change a room, it can change a city; and if it change a city it can change a state and if it can change a state, it can change a nation and if it can change a nation, it can change the world." The thing I'm trying to say if you didn't understand the meaning of the quote is to change the life of a person can start with a really tiny thing that you do for him or for the community to make the world a better place. The way that people can make it realistic comes in many ways and shapes of contribution some of the examples are show at school like bake sale, or Ugive club. Also it can be by serve the low class like homeless people that need a shelter, food, cloth, etc... all of this examples are ways that people help for a better world. My impact on society started just last semester when I gave 10 hours of my life for an organization that calls Making Strides. This organization change my life and thought me how important is to give for other that don't live life like you do. Now I want to go back for the term Mindfulness because my experience is a little bit different. As I said in my first post I moved from Israel for a better life both of my parents decided to make this change for their 3 children for better education, better life style, more option to succeed in life because in Israel it is really hard to accomplish your dreams and that is their legacy, but now I need to start my legacy and as you know each person choose to give from himself in a different way, so I'm now considering to go back to Israel to give 3 years of my life that maybe will help to change the world for a better life for my children that I will have in the future, and I hope they will accomplish who they want to be in their own legacy.            

Who am I ... when I read this question in the beginning, I had hard time explaining who I am . I would describe myself as a very optimistic person and energetic. I like to help others, and make sure everyone around me is doing well; however, it does not stop me from showing my personality even though sometime people will find it uncomfortable.Another thing you should know about me is that I moved from Israel two years ago with my family.It was really hard at start to leave everything behind for a new start, but after a while of meeting the right people I would considered it as a very special experience.I also like to watch N.B.A games, play basketball, and to play video games. My biggest influences are my parents because I really admire them for the guts to leave the country for their children's for a better future for them. My gaol for now is to finish high school and than from there i will see where my life will take me.

Thank you for reading.