Deviance.

This week in class we watched Freaks and Geeks and looked for deviance whether it be negative or positive. Most people people associate deviance with negative things because of the connotation that it has grown to have while on the other hand positive barely is recognized. I like this video above because its a funny yet pretty good way to describe deviance. My favorite part is when they guy walks into the coffee shop asking for a burrito. Think about it. Have you ever walked into a coffee shop and seen a burrito on the menu? yea. i didn't think so. Even though most people wouldn't see this as an act of deviance this is exactly what deviance is. The definition of deviance is The fact or state of departing from usual or accepted standards, esp. in social behavior. For our experiment that was due on Monday I put some positive deviance into action with my sister. Her and I have never been that close so when she called me and asked me to babysit for her I of course said yes. All she asked me to do was to make sure that my nephew who is 2 got all of his medicine before he went to sleep and was put on his nebulizer while he was asleep so he didn't take off his mask. I told my sister to go out and have some fun which she rarely ever gets to do since she is a single mother. When she got home her son was fast asleep, and her entire house was clean. All of my nephews toys were cleaned up, the beds were made and the kitchen was spotless. When my sister was laying on the couch and i started washing all my nephews bottles that he had just used she kept telling me "You don't have to do that." and every time she would say that i would reply "i know." It obviously made my sister happy that i was willing to do so much for her without her even asking. I love that i got to share this project with my sister because now we are closer and it makes you feel good when you do something nice for other people.

Tuesdays with morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie is an amazing story about this sociology teacher who is diagnosed with a fatal disease, and he doesn't have much time left. Before he dies he wants to give one last lesson. one of his former students hears that he is sick so he comes to see Morrie. He ends up coming to see Morrie every Tuesday and he gives Mitch a lesson about lives large questions like "How do we die?" or "When do we know we are in love?" ect. Mitch is your typical American; focused mainly on work, always on the run, and not taking enough time out of his life to enjoy life. Throughout the movie Mitch is a victim to conforming to the norms of society. By the end of the movie Mitch has a completely different outlook on life and ends up valuing relationships with people more than his relationship with work, as it should be. Morrie was an exceptional person because even though he was dying he still had a positive outlook and even though he has his times to cry and be upset about it in the end he was happy. the knowledge that Morrie had was amazingly vast and I think everyone could benefit from watching this movie or reading the book.

Bemused in America

It never occurred to me how other countries are very different than us. I mean I know there has to be something that makes them different to America but i never tried to figure out what it was exactly. Bemused in America helped me to understand what it was that separated America from Germany. I don't know every single detail about what makes us different but it helped me realize the small things and everyday rules have such a large impact on culture. American values and German values are one thing that makes us different. For example, the rule about the times that super markets are open in Germany as compared to America. How often do you think of how late or how early your local super market is allowed to be open? You probably don't very often because in our fishbowl metaphor American values aid in the make up of culture which is the water. Values in America are so strange to the author of Bemused in America because this is not his culture. In his culture having a super market open 24 hours or on Sundays is illegal. So what does this whole 24 hour thing say about Americans? To me it says that we LOVE convenience. Having a 24 hour market makes us able to work around our hectic schedules (which most Americans have) and allow us to work as much as possible. Not having the Markets open on Sundays in Germany shows that they value family time and that the value social lives.

God grew tired of us.

In class we watched a video about these kids from southern sudan. The young men were forced to flee from their homeland and seek refugee in neighboring countries because of the civil war. These boys became known as "The Lost Boys". A few of the lost boys were taken to America to start a new life. Here is where the lesson from class comes in. One of the boys asked "How do i bathe?" while another said "I have never used electricity." something so simple  like these are so common that we don't even think about it. These small things that we think are so "normal" are extremely different to others, and they make up our culture. When others come and have to adjust quickly they go through something clled culture shock. Culture is very important in peoples lives. I believe at one point one of the lost boys said "A man without culture is like a human without land." This qoute is one of my favorites from the documentary because in the video they also briefly show a few of the younger lost boys who lost their ties with their culture. On the other hand the other lost boys were holding on to their culture in as many ways as they could. I remember at one point they were crushing Ritz carckers so that theycould make food similar to what they ate in Africa. This was a great way to teach about different cultures.

Media

Watching the video in class was very enlightening. I already knew that women were mainly showed for what they looked like , and young women developed image problems because of this but i didn't know how bad it truly was. I also didn't know that it started so long ago. This is a major problem in todays society and we need to make a change. For example, i was in the car with my little cousin Chloe and she is African American. I saw her looking at me and she looked sad so i asked her what was wrong, and she told me "I wish my skin was light like yours." i told her right away that she was beautiful the way she was. I was so upset when this happened. I also have my African American cousins comment about how they wish their hair was straight like mine. This is what media is doing to women. They feel lower in beauty compared to me because their hair texture and skin color.  Media shows light skinned women with long straight hair mainly so when this is the worlds image of beauty think of how this would make people who don't look like that feel.