Affluenza

Americans are diagnosed with affluenza at the beginning of there lives. We are always taught to try our best to succeed and always strive to accomplish our goals. We are seen as failures who are lazy if we don't go to college and get a job. However, these days people spend way to much time at their jobs, and though they are making good money, they rarely have time to spend it. My sister has a very busy job that almost consumes her whole life. She usually has one or two days off per week and sometimes has to even go into work on the days she was scheduled off. It is also normal for her to work 15 hour days. It is draining, but with the economy the way it is, she is thankful that she even has a job. Though it is good to have money in the bank and be safe financially, it is hard for her to balance family time, friend time, and time for herself when she is constantly in work mode. There are consequences to being successful whether people see it or not. When people do find that time off, they usually like to shop. We buy things for several reasons but usually it comes down to status.. for most people. Especially going to Stevenson, I see knew trends and styles all the time and a lot of them are based off of expensive clothes and accessories. A lot of times people buy and do not think of the future, which can be very harmful. At the moment, their only concern is about what others will think of them if they purchase a certain item, if it seems satisfying then the deal is done. This also relates to impulse buying. This occurs a lot in grocery stores and even at the mall, when people will spend a whole day inside buying things.. just to buy things. The problem is that people are more worried about the short-term effects, than the long-term.

Collogero's Groups

In the movie, A Bronx Tale, the main character, Collogero, belongs to several different groups throughout his life. One of the groups he belongs to is his family... his real family. His mom and dad watch out for him while his dad teaches him valuable lessons; "The saddest thing in life is wasted talent." But they also try to protect him from another group he is in, which is Sunny and the mobsters. Sunny is like a father to him, however, sometimes C forgets about his biological father's advice and puts Sunny before him. C's father tells him people don't respect Sunny, they fear him. He later finds this out after Sunny accuses him of doing something to his car, C is shocked that Sunny didn't trust him after all these years. However, Sunny looks out for C and tells him not to be apart of the group of friends he hangs around with. This group has different values and intentions than C, which often gets him into trouble. While they are racist and ignorant, he seems wiser and more open to different things. Somehow with all of these groups, everything goes back to Sunny. I believe that the group he is in with Sunny is his master status. He is C's mentor in his life and after C realized Sunny saved his life he developed the utmost respect for him. C also realizes that Sunny was wrong about fear lasting longer than love. After he died, nobody feared him, instead, C, his dad, and the other man who's life was saved by Sunny, still loved him and cared for him, even though he was gone. I think that Sunny's influence on C's childhood shaped him as a person and made him who he grew up to be.

Poppin Soda Caps

Sudhir Venkatesh, the author of Gang Leader for A Day revealed that being a sociologist, you can't always get your information and research from asking general questions, such as 'how does it feel to be black and poor?' He knew this quantitative approach would not be useful in understanding why these people in poverty live the way they do. These generic questions would never get them to open up the way he wanted. So in order to get a real feel of how they live, he knew he had to live amongst them and put himself in their shoes. I don't really think that Venkatesh owes J.T. any money or anything because he wasn't glorifying or putting down the way J.T. and the other gang members live their lives. He was simply researching and trying to figure out why there are gangs and what they contribute to towns in poverty. Also, the fact that J.T. was accepting of Venkatesh hanging around them shows that he wasn't expecting anything in return and he knew that he strictely there for a sense of learning and experience. Even though Venkatesh eventually wrote a book about the experience, he wasn't intending on it when he was doing this experiment. So I think that overall he had good intentions and was just being a sociologist. I can see how quantitative information can be important in relation to wanting to choose a good school for your children. If you want to know the school's average ACT score or average GPA, stats are very neccessary to see if students are getting a good education or not. If students scores and grades are low then you probably wouldn't want your child going to a school that doesn't provide good education. On the other hand, if the stats are good, then it shows that your child has the potential to be successful in the school. However, for example, when someone is interested in going to college because of whatever reason, they usually want to visit the school first, to see if it is the right type of encironment for them. This shows that after you get the facts, you still need qualitative studies to get a better understanding.

We're all Freaks and Geeks.

Freaks and Geeks was all about the typical divided groups that are formed when we get to highschool. I deffinetely think that these groups still exist today, but are sometimes a little more subtle. There is the group of kids who don't care about school and never show up to class, let alone do their homework. Then, there are the jocks which always create their own category no matter what school you're in. They think they are superior because of their athletic ability and keep good grades to stay on the team. But in our school some of those groups mix together, but somehow we are all still trying to fit in. I believe that not many of us realize it when we're picking out clothes at the mall, or getting ready in the morning, we just think it makes us happy and secure. I personally love fashion and I am aware that wearing what is in style reflects that I want to fit in. But for me, I use it as a way of expression and creativity. We often don't take the time to think about why what we are wearing makes us feel a certain way, because we're just used to it. Then there are the people that say "I don't care what people think".. but they do. We like when we can relate ourselves to others because thats what helps us make friends and be social. Even people drinking and smoking is symbolic because if nobody did those things then why would anyone want to? They wouldn't be able to relate to anyone, so instead, they would go along with what others are(or aren't) doing. A lot of us base our decisions off of what others do or how they would react. We can't help it if we like being praised for good grades, fashionable clothes, or getting into the college of our dreams. I learn more and more each day to do what makes me happy; unfortunetely, sometimes it's just hard to differenciate between what makes me truely happy or something that gives me satisfaction because others accept it.