Real Life Revelation

Quick trip: So today in class Jperson asked me for help with their homework. Brue told me that I had to teach him how to do it not just do it for him. Not really paying attention or thinking I said, "He knows how to do this. Hes not a retard." I was mortified. I realized how I say little things like this all the time and dont realize it. My mission: By the end of Brue's class I will change the way I talk.

Class time: card game= frustrating. Trying to play a game without speaking, and not understand the rules is impossible! I think it was a great connection to the way people expect others to understand their language. I realized that I didnt assert myself in the situation,I just sat back and followed what the other kids told me.Which is not like me at all.I guess I now know that in situations where Im not sure whats going on and what the rules are I wait for others to go first or lead. This may not always be a bad thing because I have less chance of messing up, but its not very leaderlike.

Absolutely loving the Amore activity. Funny to think up all of the cultural folkways. America has so many! Guess were picky people. :)

FCS Analysis

Horseback Riding: This is something that is a major factor in my life. Im practicing every weekday after school and usually spend all morning and afternoon working, teaching, and riding on weekends. Needless to say it takes up huge amounts of time. It has always been something Ive had to work around since I started ridng when I was 5. I will miss many days in the school year for competitions, I will not get an A on a paper because I was at the barn instead of studying, and I will not have as much time to hang out with my friends becasue im with my horses. To me this is a sacrfice I am willing to make but it is something that completely rules my life...

Functionalist Point of View: In this point of view riding is seen as something that I participate in as well as school, social events, and daily life. All these things combine together to make up me. :)

Conflict Theory Point of View: In this point of view riding is something thtat dominates my life and everything I do. I will strive to become the best at my sport so that I can make money, buy the things I want, and basically trump everyone else.

Symbolic Interactionism Point of View: In this point of view riding places me in the more quiet, withheld, loner social group. Because of this I am effected by not hanging out with friends as much. Not having as many friends. Or avoid social gatherings in general.

A Second Chance

This assignment was to write about anything we have learned or experienced in class. To share with others what we have learned from class and what opinoins we have. I sit here trying to decide what to write and it has become impossible for me to choose. The neon sign that keeps popping up in my head says, " You cant pinpoint one thing. You've already learned so much in only a few weeks. This class is changing your life." Scary to think about but its actually true. Sociology is making me think of things i havent bothered to ponder before. So i decided to start at the beginning and share with you what my mind went through as we completed our various assignments and class activities. Lets start with what i call The in Class Judgement Acitivity. We were to choose 2 descriptions out of 10 that best described ourselves, without telling anyone what they were. Then our teacher picked 3 students for us to judge and then determine what their characteristics were. The conclusion of this activity was that we all failed at guessing who those people we had never talked to, or seen before, were like. We judged them based on their clothes, the spin they did, or something they said 5 minutes earlier. I walked away from this activity thinking jeez i really judge everyone i know, and incorrectly too. Maybe i should give that person another chance and see what their really like. Ive already started talking to people i normally wouldnt and learned that woah they are actually nice! Shocking! This activity gave a whole new meaning to Dont Judge a Book By its Cover. Next was a homework assignment called I believe. We were to write a paper about anything we believed and why. I wrote my first I belive in about 30 minutes. Really thinking wow i nailed this. Arriving to class i learned that my paper meant nothing. It wasnt even ME. I lied and created this person i wished i was. When our teacher gave us a second chance to write something else i grabbed at it. I ended up writing a paper that made me cry. Depressing yes. But it truely felt like me. I had a great chance to really asses myself as a person and think about what my true inner feelings were. Besides this i also got the chance to hear some of my fellow students papers. Again going off my previous snottiness i judged people thinking this persons paper is going to suck! zone out time. However i was floored when beautiful words flowed from said persons mouth. It really taught me that i shouldnt judge and that there are hidden moments within everyone. The final activity i want to talk about is the Boat Activity. We had to eliminate 7 people from a boat that was overflowing. I was a part of this activity and unfortunately one of the people that was kicked off the boat. While in the activity i was only focused on staying alive and keeping my spot. But later listening to my teacher talk about the things we said during that activity i was disappointed. We all judged people because of their age, their marital status and other ridiculous things. It is such a terrible activity because in my mind everyones life is precious and just how do you judge the value of someones life. It really left me thinking about how everyones life is precious, even the poets! Everything in this class so far has taught me so much and i think by the end of this semester i will be a totally different person. :)