People like us...Media Magic: Making class invisible

Eyeopening. In the article Media Magic i didn't know we had enough wealth to eliminate poverty. Here is the problem."If we CHOOSE to redistribute existing wealth or income." With the system that we have that separates "them from us",and the ruling class not caring about the poor thinking they do it to themselves, and the rich just furthering there own. Even if a bill like this was put on the table the people in high government who are mostly millionaires would get ride of that bill quick. People with money want to keep their money, and that usually means hurting the lesser then with exploiting cheaper labor in other countries, massive lay-offs, pension plan loss and bad and expensive health care. There is no room for social helpfulness.

I watched a documentary about Dr Bronners magic soap an organic healthy products company that i use, and i think they have the right idea, that other big business's should follow. They are centered in activism and Construction Capitalism-Where you share profit with the workers and earth and people.
Total compensation of executives is capped at 5 times that of the lowest worker.
The health plan is a no deductible ppo health insurance plan for them and family
15% paid into a retirement/profit sharing fund
They get bonuses
All profits not needed for business development or debt retirement go to supporting progressive causes and charities like fresh water wells in Ghana and orphanages in poor countries.
They have been doing this since 2003 and their business is still going strong!
Company's and people need to loss there individualism way of thinking!
In the People like us tear they say people are all members to a tribe. Big business would definitely not wan to be apart of this tribe and consider it not with the norm and probably say it was deviant, because they try to help people lesser then, help themselves and are social conscience. They have great health care, and as we see from the reading most people don't- and die early because of it. They don't exploit people from other countries but want fair trade and fair deals to help uplift them.

In Joe Queenan's tour and the Belles and Wasps they tell us that certain words and knowing what they mean or lack there of. Will separate you and show that you do or don't belong. The girl from NY had just moved there and didnt know what the belles where. She was immediately excluded and she felt horrible. Joe said people feel like i belong because i know what this is and what its properly used for. CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION says I'm a part of the cool crowd, i belong. We both can talk about our objects which are fancy, or something we don't know the meaning of but illicit "classiness"? This is brought home with the wasps were the woman says you cant say certain words. When heard she knows your lower class and the mere thought of the word makes her cringe. For 20 years she will never get it out of her head or forgives it. Which is ridicules people make mistakes(well i guess not rich people) Which is maybe why they want to get away from "their people" and their judgments when they slum it in Friends in low places. I felt they were looking at the blue collar people like animals at a zoo they visit but dont stay....or like a dog giving paw( when he kept giving high 5's) OMG its like me, they are like me im so amazed. With INDIVIDUAL MOBILITY in Trouble in paradise Scott is put in a higher class cause he is marrying Laura. In How to marry the rich, she is showing you how to marry higher then your standing, like she did and how to manuver in the circles and get a husband who will live longer because of his high standing-so says Cause of death: Inequality and you will both live a long privledged life and when you give to charity (a meager sum) to seem like you care but your only doing it cause others are, you will give not to a needy cause but to something that entertains or helps you like a mueseum or elite universite for your children, that you will send off to if they get in on ther own, or you buy them in.

Extra Credit TED Talks Education.... Hosted by John Legend

I really loved and enjoyed the Ted Talk, i intend to start really watching these more and telling everybody i know about them. From what i got from the video, Americans are at a drastic low when it comes to educating our youth. 1 in every 5 kids drop out, and that figure is more in other parts of the country. Even though we have facts and science that education is bad, like children losing what they lost over the summer, and from 56 years ago, we are still using the same method that doesn't work. We need more teacher review and feed back. They need to know specific things and how to convey them if students don't get it one way. They need to be sensitive to kids feelings of inadequacy. Standardized testing should be used, but not be the (be all end all.)

Now with all that i heard it could all be changed, and we could have an education system that rivals china if we could only be more effective teachers, induce their creativity, change the system we have been using and, connect with our students and really show we care about them and their future. 

Teachers making connections and showing they care is Melissa Perez math teacher. She pushed her and believed in her, made her feel special and now she is the first person in her family to graduate HS.

Or ms Rita Pierson, who said "no significant learning can happen without connection" the child needs to feel your invested and encouraging. I liked her idea of at least you got some of it right and we will get higher on the next one.

Bill gates says teachers need feed back to see if they are teaching as effectively as they could. I had this one teacher Professor Haber and i thought he was great teacher. He used metaphors and similes and current world knowledge even some pop culture to convey meanings to students. He made things simple then medium then large scale and used info from his on life. He felt open to where as you, wouldn't feel stupid for asking a question, and you could ask many and not feel rushed or feel you were exasperating him. He also wasn't to wordy and honed you on to the point. I think alot of teachers could learn from him and since he could translate knowledge to us he could definitely do it to his peers at a weekly study group, or by watching how others teach.

Sir Ken Robinson and Dr Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children Zone (who had a 100% HS graduation and 100% got into college. Another year 100% graduation from HS 93% going to college.)

I'm amazed I didn't think things like that happened. Anyway they think we need to change or education system, at least that parts that aren't working. People need to see what is working and duplicate it, like the charter schools or alternative education programs. We need a different way of thinking, we need to say this isn't working lets try something else, just like businesses. If 1/3rd of it worked lets us the 1 part and put it to something else. Keep trying and if people say its not working, show them that it wasn't before as well, but at least we arnt stagnant anymore. 

Pearl Arredondo said her staff put in work past what they got paid for and her system worked. I know some teachers don't want to do that though. They don't want to work pass what their paid. To some its not there passion, its just a job. For those that care I do feel they should get paid more. These people are making our leaders. Since we need a reboot for the system they should also reboot the pay. Understand you are now required to be better, and here are all your tools. If we want to revamp the kids so should you revamp yourself.

Dr Ramsey Masallam says creativity and questions are what kids need. We need more out of class experiences and Field trips, learning excursions. Being interactive, find something on the Internet you like we are going to replicate it, test theory's.Talk. Ask what do you want to learn be vast in your options. 

Tell them there are no limits, because you see none in them.

I guess the best way to say it is 

what Dr Duckworth said

we need to be grittier about our kids.

Deviance

A pretty big STIGMA is to be on the sex offender list. I LOOKED AT ANYBODY ON IT AS DISGUSTING, but i was just watching an MTV documentary show called True Life Im a sex offender. Now i don't think everybody should be on it and i have a little pity for them. I think of my life and how all my boyfriends were always 2 to 3 years older then me. My first love was 19 or 20 to my 15 or 16, he would joke and say i cant make you angry at me cause ill go to jail. I feel like in the teen-age's its OK. Not like 13 or a 19 year old together, but like in that age group together of H.S. Like a freshman to a senor. Also with the issue of public nudity, maybe streaking threw a public area. This is typical kid badness. They were being stupid. I don't think they should live their life with this STIGMA. Unless this is done more then once. I feel kids before 20 or 21 should be made to go to sex crime meetings for a while, be required to see the documentary and meet others who have done this, and who are on the list, listen to their stories and hopefully scare them straight.

OK so i make my friend do DEVIANT things. I tell him lets go out, After ALOT of grumbling and maybe a drive around the block and me saying, come on man your the law!! We park. We also go into after hour/or restricted areas just to look at the view when the sun comes up. I know my friend likes it because he is so straight laced and by the books. He gets a kick out of being "bad" and engaging in my many shades of grey outlook on life.Ha!

I guess I'm part of the DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY I see things everywhere like don't eat or drink here, but since in my life people didn't adhere to it or weren't badly reprimanded. I do it. I don't care if I want to eat or drink anywhere I will, the subway, the bus a museum, school. If I am caught I simply say I didn't know and put it away till they leave then start again, but I'm more aware.

This leads me to AGENTS OF SOCIAL CONTROL like the BMCC library security guards. I was with a study group me and another girl had our water bottles on the table. A security guard came up to us and said take them off and pointed to the "no eat or drink sign".  We put them in our bags, after i had one more drink. I was hungry tho, so i took a couple bites out my apple. My group looked at me and said wow your going all out huh?! They looked so surprised! I blamed it on being Deviant for class.

I saw a LONER DEVIANT, even though i didn't want to. He was one of those gross guys who do public masturbation. I was waiting for the train at chambers st.(i cant believe it was there BTW cause its so busy and we usually have alot of cops) i was at the front of the 3 downtown, across the way at the back of the uptown where no one could see unless across, was a guy jerking off. I was so taken aback, he proceeded to stare at me and jerk off harder. I was going to find someone but my train came at that moment so i just left.

An example of NORMALIZATION is the increasing support for queer rites and the wins for queer people that straights take for granted. More and more states and country's are allowing gay marriage and the benefits that come with marriage. Also being allowed to serve openly in the military, and more rights protecting us in general, especially at work. Being gay was one of the worst things you could be and we had to hide our selves and our venues. Now threw perseverance, understanding and maybe a sociological perspective we are becoming equals to straight people. Still along way to go thought.

The undeserving poor...

I thought the Positive Functions For The Undeserving Poor was interesting i think alot of us don't have sympathy for poor people. We think well if I'm not in that situation why are they? We think i work hard and go to school and pay my rent. Why not them?  People don't realize that some people don't have help. I cant tell you the amount of times iv been pulled out of a situation by my family or friends. Or by the govt when we had our economic crisis(which is still happening) and for the first time in my life i needed there services, food stamps, rent, medicaid. I felt bad about it cause iv been working since HS and I'm self sufficient. My friends made me feel a little better though, when they told me to relax its not going to be this way forever and its not like when i was working i wasn't paying for these services. I'm sure some rich people would have thought of me as undeserving, especially if i was on it for awhile.

I get the undeserving having a number of positive functions for the better off because when i had nothing i would have done anything for work(no sex) even the jobs i stubbed my nose at before. I thought it was intresting about the 3 economic functions especially job creation. These people help and are paid by helping the poor and i wonder if all of the poor people suddenly got a job or crazy people were just better. Would they now become our poor people? Will there never be a way to make it so that we all have firm footing and not worry? Also i hate how people think immagrants are taking our jobs they do what we dont want to, and we hold them back so much it would be hard for them to take whatever we thing we have.

Picture of boys and girls socialization

                                                                     

Comparing the readings

I really enjoyed both the readings. I consider myself really into woman's rights and woman gaining more power, rights and going higher and higher. That said i think that if a woman doesn't mind not working and if its financially feasible and she wont regret it later in life then I'm all about it. In the socialization of children reading, it said that the more hands on and involved and supportive you are of your kids the better of a human being they will be, and a more productive member of our society. Of course i would love it more if working class, and poor woman could do this, but unfortunately they don't have the support or resources like middle class or rich woman who don't need to work. A poorer mom may not have husband support, or he may not make enough for the family so they both must work which may take away from one on one time. So they are so tired from a week of work, that on weekends when they should be doing family outings they are home sleeping. When i think of all these things i think of my friend Ili. I think she is the best parent ever. She is an authoritative parent. She takes her kids on educational and fun outings, and the kids do very creative things, art groups, The Girls Club they go to visit the library and read aloud with each other. Her youngest is in the gifted and talented program. She can do all these things because she doesn't work. Flip side, she is a poor single mother who gets govt help. She is 30 and lives with her mom and dad in their 2 bedroom apartment where her and her kids share a room and everything is packed in disorder but she knows where everything is. She is smart and started school but then fell in love blah blah blah. She is paying off her loan to start school up again and get a good job maybe teaching? So she can give herself and her children better. I don't know if i want her to do this thought, because she is alone and school and ultimately work will take up a huge chunk of time. She will be more tired and she wont be able to do the things she does now. She also will not be paid as much as a man.  So the question is, not work and have awesome kids who will excel her or work and throw the dice in the air and see where it falls?

Relating

I think that with the videos and chapter 6 Melanie Wood, who has a PH.D in math and has won a silver metal for the U.S international Mathematical Olympiad team, was probably always pressured by media and society to do other things. Commercials don't say, go be a mathematician they say go to this website(spend daddy's money) and buy shoes that have heels in them that wont show. Instead of her girlfriends pushing for a math study group, I'm sure they were tying to go to the mall and do a rites of passage activity and get the new Victoria secret bra that gives a little "extra push" so boys notice you. When we see commercials with jobs like engineering, debate, govt, business, math we see men with there female secretary's, assistants, their wives. There are a plethora of housewives shows where they aren't even wives they are divorced single woman. Who's rich husbands left them for a younger woman pushing the truth that Americans are obsessed with youth, and when you get enough wealth you trade in old with new. This is our cultures values and beliefs. I think this media shows people that vows aren't that sacred and its ok cause everybody is doing it. Its ok to get a divorce cause woman loss value with age and if your rich enough it doesn't matter if she gets half, but this also makes men a target for hot gold diggers.

With chapter 6 they say alot of children's socialization is learned in the home, which is true. I feel that its really apparent when you look at a guy, who hits his babys mother, speaks badly to her and disrespects her. He probably puts his child in bad situations like maybe, hanging with him and his friends late on a street corner. Cat calling woman,  him and his friends talking about "hoes they bang" learning the child bad ways of being. Constant objectification of woman, hanging with peers groups with similar backgrounds. A mother who may be there but works alot will not be able to combat all the outside influence. So of course this child will be one of the guys that adhere to the man box and the foundation table of men.

A Call to Men.

A call to men to me was about men not being truly free, because they have to adhere to the constraints of what a "real man" is supposed to be and that the old rules need to be torn down challenged and be replaced with new ones. The little boy said, to live outside the man box i would be truly free. Tony said that men need to see woman more as equals, because then we could try to stop the violence that has only intensified against us.This piece reminds me of when i was younger and my mom had a long term boyfriend who i actually liked, (unlike her other ones) and lived with us. Me and him were talking one day and he said to me id never go hungry. I said why?, well because i was sitting on a goldmine, my vagina. Another time i had sex with a friend(so i thought)and he said could you have sex with my other friend, he is a good guy and really kinda needs it right now. He was trying to guilt me in to it! Both of these times -but definitely not only- i felt sexually objectified. These guys thought my vagina was up for grabs and public property, and i shouldn't object because vagina's get penetrated and since i am an extension of my vagina, for them to mentally and emotionally penetrate me was fine. How about you will never be hungry cause your smart and will get a good job, or thanks Blu for sharing yourself with me. I know you don't just do it with anyone.

Killing us Softly

They might be killing us softly but watching that video made me feel punched in the gut hard. Which i think is what every woman feels when we see an unattainable image in the media, followed by your soul sinking to your feet. I often feel like the young woman from "The Craft" movie were she looks at herself in the mirror but her image looks away. I cant even look at myself sometimes because my face is to real-haha- to real because it is a failure and a reminder that I'm not the ideal for society and most important myself. Not like we are bombarded with beautiful brown natural haired sisters with a little thickness for me to attain to. And not like i think this all the time, just some.........

........The movie is telling me what i know.That woman are objectified and seen as just parts not a whole, and are torn down and made to feel lesser then because if you let somebody stay whole like a real person you might have to respect them and bring them to the table. Like racisim when black people had to force white people to see them as humans and make them bring us to the table. Kinda like in the movie "A Time to Kill" the all white jury was set to kill Samuel L Jackson because he had killed the men that had raped his daughter not until the lawyer said, "imagine if this was your daughter" did the jury finally get it. Maybe if every man was garanteed a daughter and told she will be treated how you treat woman for the rest of your life would things change.

Photo Voice Project

The largest Hasidic Jewish groups are located in Israel and the U.S. I live in crown heights one of three of the largest Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods in NY. I consider them a part of my culture because they are my friends and neighbors. Iv been taught some words, and was always told by my friend Nahami to check up on her on Fridays in case she needed some electrical thing turned on. After sunset on Fridays they cant touch anything electrical. This is the Brooklyn Jewish children's museum, just a couple of blocks away from me. It houses their material culture and their non material culture.

This is a picture for the norms of Hasidic Jewish woman, very long modest clothing. The ssymbol's I use to know if they are married, is that the mothers head is fully covered her collarbone is covered and her shirt and skirt are long. I know her daughter is single because, her hair is out her skirt is shorter but still must be below her knees and her sleeves are short.

A cultural object that I use now is sage. Sage is dried out sage plants wrapped together with string as you can see above. The man is holding a shell so that the pieces that fall off, don't go on the ground and you can use a feather which is common, or your hand to push the smoke were you want it to go. My Taino friend taught me, sagings roots are also with Native Americans. The belief is that you make sure to go around house with the smoke, hitting every corner and it will rid your house of bad spirits and bad energy. It cleanses your home. You would also put smoke around yourself and it will cleanse you. I feel whenever I do it my house feels brighter and lighter and my energy is restored. The smell can be a bit strong at first but after a while you don't even notice it.

All Puerto Ricans have Taino Indian in the, its there native people from there land. Some Puerto Ricans are really into the Taino culture, so iv learned some dialect from them. Taino Ti means blessings, go with god or be safe always. Its a sign of respect. Puerto Ricans who aren't really into it just say Bendicion, both mean the same thing. A folkway I like to participate in is called sweat lodging. Basically its a hut mad from different things like clay,branches,cornmeal or rocks. You go there to sweat all the bad energy, and vibes out its very spiritual. Its like a sauna with hot rocks in the middle, there is a specific person who gets the rocks and pours water on them and keeps the steam going.

I experienced culture shock in Costa Rica when i realized they have roaming dogs EVERYWHERE! The barrios, la playa and it was accepted. I didn't see one dog on a leash. A person and a dog would pass each other on the sidewalk like nothing. I always crossed the street tho.In the end i realized they were all pretty nice, never aggressive and would let you pet them especially if you had some food.

In Costa Rica i gained knowledge from the people that you only take red cabs, especially from the airport. Anything else and you could be kidnapped or charged outrageous fees or worse.

Teenage Wasteland...

                          Iknow/knew these kids. Erin my friend never really pushed to doanything in her life. She's from Jersey she got money from deadrelatives and graduated from some fashion college, which she had nointerest in and never used the degree. Then decided I want to helppeople so I want to be a sheriff or a cop but no place that's urbansomeplace safe in New Jersey, I want to protect those people. Marinawho would visit me from upstate, and be depressed all the time. Woulduse her sexuality to get us into the clubs that we shouldn't be in,and being with men in bad situations.Or the kids that I would meetwhen I went to camps and on vacations. They were all kind of whitetrashy kids, with one or two being way to old for the group makingthem the "parents" and they had cars and they smokecigarettes and we would go driving to a 7/11! (there were never anyin NYC)just sit some place look at stars and I'd watch them get high.I love these times with them because I felt free and I had no curfew.I could be with them as long as I wanted, because my mother knew Iwas vaguely in the area. I was astounded when these kids said theywould do it every day in their everyday life, and that their parentsnever knew what they were doing.

                            Iwas amazed and jealous that they never checked in! To me this wastheir culture and there culture norms.I suppose subculture now but Istill look at my cultural artifacts with fondness like my friendshipbracelet made from Thread or my first rock/metal cd given to me by a"rocker".One of my coworkers who just moved here fromWisconsin a month ago just experienced a crazy culture shock. She gotstiffed on a hundred and $40 bill which she had to pay back.Everybody always told her to get a credit card first but I guess it'snot normal in Wisconsin. She was literally shaking all night becauseof the loudness, and because we had to move at high-speed and, peoplewere getting impatient with her she just wasn't used to it and wentto the bathroom and cried. 

                            The boss was good about it, and said ofcourse you would be like this you're in Brooklyn now. He said don'tworry I'm sure this won't happen again. I wonder how much thiscountry mouse can take before the big city scares her away.Iasked her was it hard to be in a place so multicultural, what was theethnicity’s that she had back home, and did everybody she know cowtip and do drugs, cause thats all there was to do there. Haha. Shesaid yes the lack of white faces was something to get use to. Theyhad mexicans and some sort of asian people, neither of which she hungout with. It offended me that she didn’t know the kind of asian.With the cow tipping and drugs yes once your out of the city thatswhat they do, which is why she came to the big city to make somethingof herself and not be a townie?

Promise and Pitfalls of field work...2

              I really enjoyed the Promise and Pitfalls of going into the field. I mean how

can you find the realness of anything if you are not in it. It's like the person

who has all the great stories, they just go from encounter to encounter and they

just take it all in.They don't judge they have fun with it and they are fluid,

people want to be around them because they're fun because they feel they can

relate. A good ethnographic has a rounded view of everything and takes in all

information. He or she must get rid of all her preconceived notions and all of

her beliefs, and just delve totally into the situation or the people that there

with.

               Field research I feel is the best, I mean the commitment for it is two, three

years at the minimum. This is only good of course if they don't have a biased

observation interpretation, like maybe a company will give them money if they

favor on the company side. Reliance on selective observation, like you're

interviewing skateboarders and you were just concentrating on white or Asian

skateboarders. Ignoring the thoughts feelings and lives of the other groups

Black, Hispanic, Native American etc. Their stories could be just as powerful or

more.

                I like the idea of provisional knowledge because society is always

changing mutating and becoming something else, people are growing some people

are stunted. Then of course it can also be wrong like with the food pyramid

which is now a plate. All the foods that we thought we needed like milk and

cheese we need less of that because it hurts us. We need more vegetables now more

lean meat, and all this time Our parents are feeding us food that wasn't good for

us. In a couple years it's going to look differently again, and I feel this is mostly

pushed by the fact that we aren't healthy and the government doesn't want to

take care of us.

                Maybe there was a researcher in the 80's and 90's that was trying

to push to have better food plates and portions. Big business was making so much money throwing corn syrup, and soda and bad food down our throats they didn't want to listen to them. Now everybody's dying of diabetes or hypertension, or must staying in the hospital for long periods of time from the food that the government is feeding us and its lack of nutrition. What did they expect with people being able to eat burger king or taco bell with there food stamp card. Now govt realizes we have to take care of them, through

Medicaid and Medicare and so now they gonna start making moves to change the system.

Test

Testing

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First Post

                 Hi! I'm BluC. Some of the biggest influences in my life are my mother and my girlfriend. Everything i do is to be better for them i want to take care of them and be a provider. Myself as well, but everybody wants to be better for themselves right? Iv kinda been like a butterfly, flittering threw life kinda just living for the next new experience and living in excess. If one is good ten is better. I was going to teach in another country, but right before that my mother got sick so i stayed and started to take a good hard look at what i was doing with my life.
               I decided i couldn't be everywhere and random anymore(im still random). I needed to stay put go to school and get a "big people job" so that my ailing mother could retire sooner then later. I thought about what i liked to do in life. Bartending, talking to people and being social. This of course doesn't pay and has horrible health care...and at the end all we have is our health. So, i thought about it again. Iv always been into nutrition, exercise training and natural ways to heal your body. People need pushing to work out, and I'm a cheerleader and always tell people they can do the best in whatever they want to do and I'm in there corner and ill help. So i decided I'm going to go into nutrition, personal training. Iv worked at gyms and it is awesome to see people reach there goals and have less aches and pains from their lifestyle change. 
             My friends dad doesn't have diabetes anymore because he juiced, he use to take alot of medicine not anymore though. Some sociological imagination events that have shaped my life are when i left my friend Julie high and dry for new years.
It was new years and it was about six of us including Julie and she wanted to go 
to a straight place and party but we wanted to go to a gay place. I said to my

friends let's go to the gay party and We will meet her at her party.  We went and 
then it started to be late 11...11:30...12 Julie's calling us and texting us and 
I'm pretty much spearheading things, and saying don't pick up and we are all not 
picking up her phone calls. 

              Finally one friend does pick up and she is crying, she leaves me a message and she's crying and bawling and how could we do this to her she is all alone. I feel horrible and I say okay let's head to     this club, of course we get there so late she's gone and she doesn't speak to us for a 
while. I text her these excuses but that's all they are excuses. Stepping back I 
see i was insensitive, dismissive, inconsiderate and cruel. I didn't think if someone 
did this to me id be upset. I became a better friend/person from then on because I 
never again did that and I never again would make my friend/or anybody feel 
horrible for something that I did.    

               Now if I say I'm going to do something I do it and if I can't, I tell them up front and I don't      string them along or lie to them. All you have is your name and if you do something to Tarnish it all     you have is a bad name, but if you uphold your word and yourself then you'll have a great name and   way of being that people will standby.