We Are The 99 Percent

Looking through all these stories made me realize that most of these people that are going through these problems are college educated, and it is simply not their fault for not having a roof over their head or food to feed their family.

One of them had a man who spent 3 years working full time as he was still in high school, and graduated at the top of his class with a 3.98 GPA. He went on to college and wasted 60,000 dollars on his education just to be out of work 3 years later due to "non- productivity" because he got ill. His medications cost around 800/a month and there is no point for him to do unskilled work because he would make less then his unemployment checks. He now lives at home in his parents basement.

Ill be honest, i have always thought that those who were unemployed were unemployed for a reason. I figured they either had a drug, alcohol, or gambling problem. Better yet- they just didnt have it in them to go to college and this is the life they've CHOSEN. But reading all these stories and realizing that only 1% are born rich and stay rich i realize that everyone out there has as high of a chance as the other 99% to get a college education and still be out of work or even worse get hurt and be out of the job they worked so hard to get.

30 days on minimum wage

This week in class we watched the video 30 days on minimum wage. I found it very interesting how at the beginning of the movie the couple was very happy and as the days went by of them living on little money they began to argue more about little things that would have never mattered before, i found out money plays a huge role in relationships. It was also interesting to find out that those who have more money are more likely to stay together then poor couples, probably because they do not have the stress of making it through life day by day. It was weird  to see how the girl flipped out over 1.20 on bread because she felt as if it was unnecessary because she was walking to work in the cold every day just to save a little over 2 dollars. They had all these problems to get by and were working hard physical labor but at the end of the month still ended up in debt and it probably would have only gotten worse from there if these 30 days turned into a year, or even their whole life. It made me realize that those with kids working on minimum age would have it even worse, because child care is so expensive there would be no point for one of the parents to go out and make money that would go straight to a daycare, or a care giver.I could never image trying to feed myself off of a few free pickels a day at a store or eating rice like they did everyday because it was cheap and i could not afford anything else. This movie also made it realize how lucky some of us are and take it for granted day by day to be able to have a roof over our heads and food to eat.

Act of deviance

This week, for my act of deviance i opened the door and held it open for everyone in my economics class. You would think that people would say thank you, or at least smile, right? but that wasnt everyones reaction.. as a matter of fact that was NOBODYS reaction besides one person. People walked in and did their best to not make eye contact.. whether its because it was awkward for them or not, it was just plain rude. Many even gave me a weird look, one asked why i was doing this. When i responded by saying "i just wanted to do something nice for someone today" (not wanting to explain how this was an assigment, blah blah) he gave me an even weirder look and said "whatever" as he proceeded walking. It was interesting for me to find out that such a nice act did not even get one thank you out of at least 20 people that walked through that door, and i sure wasnt going to do it again. I kind of realize why people really don't do anything nice for anyone anymore. Because of the way society is, people do not expect for someone else to do something nice for them anymore, and if they do it's because they need something in return or there must always be a reason for their act of kindness- there is no more "just because :)" If more people engaged in a positive act of deviance everyday, holding the door open would not create so many shocked faces and weird reactions.. someone did something nice for you, say thank you and smile.

#6

Last week on Friday we took a personality test based on about 60 questions that in the end told us a little about ourselves, the careers we might want to look into, as well as strengths and weaknesses. I thought it was really interesting because the results that came up for me were pretty accurate, and im so used to the stupid facebook evaluations that i really didn't expect it. It was also interesting to see up on the board the people my personality matched with, and to find out that a lot of the kids in class are actually alike.. because some boxes were filled with names, and some were empty. It's interesting to see that the people who ended up in the same boxes, were either sitting next to eachother on a daily basis or on the opposite sides of the room

Sociological Imaginaiton #3

People always seem to act hardcore behind a computer screen or through a text message, but once confronted in person many have nothing to say. This leads to not only bullying, but much worse suicide, eating disorders, depression, etc. All because of what? someone that has something rude to say about you but the only communication you really have with them is behind a screen where they have time to analyze  and come up with come backs that they could be sitting there and thinking about for hours? I have seen too many people go by day by day like this and eventually it starts to affect an aspect in my own life because everyone is becoming socially awkward and the people you talk to in person seem like nobody you actually know as soon as you communicate with them through a social networking site or even a text message.. forget a phone call, those basically do not exist anymore. I remember talking on the phone for hours with friends and family just a few years ago. Text messages were still around, they were still popular, but people still took the time to call others and have at least a voice to voice conversation. Who has ever called someone and heard "just text me its easier"? i'll be the first one to admit i do that quite often. why? i don't even really know and never thought about it until now. It just really is easier i guess.. you get time to think of how you can react to certain situations and there is never an awkward pause on the other end because well.. it's just a text message. But it has gotten much worse then that,  you see people getting fired from work via emails, break ups through texts, what's next ? All because people do not want to see the others reaction, it kills whatever guilt you would actually feel which in the end results with you not really thinking about the words you say as much as you would if you actually put yourself in the others shoes.

First day of class

On the first day of class i didn't really think much of the silence, that's how it usually is on the first day of each new class. You walk in and look around for a familiar face, if you don't find one you usually sit in the back or the corner and basically treat your desk like a comfort blanket. I wasn't really aware of exactly what sociology was although i did have a clue, it seems like i will enjoy this class because not only do you learn about other people but yourself as well.