He had five fingers, but only used three..

This week in class we watched a very good movie called "Bronx Tale". One thing that kept reoccurring to me during the movie was that it was a true story and was hard to believe at times. The racism throughout the movie was harsh to look at sometimes. The way Calogero (one of the main characters of the movie) or "C" and his friends treated the African American characters in the movie. Although C never minded them because they never bothered him his friends could not stand the sight of them even though messing with them gets them killed in the end.

I believe Calogero belongs to many groups: family, friends, Sonny's crew, school, people in the bar. Calogero's master status in the movie is being able to keep his friends in tact and being able to keep the peace between his family (mainly his dad) and Sonny. I do think that Calogero's master status has changed throughout the movie starting off as a child who only had to be a kid and have fun with his friends and now that he has grown up he has an even bigger role. Now Calogero can understand certain things Sonny does and can differentiate between what is right and wrong. The time this movie was set in everyone knew each other. Everyone knew each others name. The good parts of the neighborhood and the bad. Everyone knew who not to mess with, especially with Sonny. Everyone in the neighborhood is allowed to think and act the way they want. There weren't really any rules. People would get shot right in the middle of the street and people would just stop, stare, then go about their day. Calogero had many troubles in the movie especially when it came to Sonny. C's dad never wanted him to hang out with Sonny or hang out in the bar. But C of course went behind his father's back and still hung out with Sonny and his crew in the bar. This all connects because Calogero, depending on his trouble, would either get advice from Sonny or his father. I think Calogero having two different father figures in his life, and coming from two different ends of the spectrum,  has helped him realized that he should always follow his heart in the end. I think in the end a major achievement for Calogero was getting the African American girl and seeing his father pay his respects at Sonny's funeral. Calogero getting the girl in the end shows how Sonny was right in telling him to go for her even though C's own father said no. When Calogero's father pays his respects for Sonny shows how the two never truly disliked each other, Calogero's father just didn't like the fact that Sonny made him grow up so fast and how C spent so much time with Sonny in the end.

"Sonny and my father always said that when I got older, I would understand. Well, I finally did. I learned something from these two men; I learned to give love and get love unconditionally; you just have to accept people for what they are. And I learned the greatest gift of all; the saddest thing in life is wasted talent, and the choices that you make will shape your life forever."

In-group vs. Out-group

In the past week of Sociology we talked about what it meant to be a part of an "In" group and what it meant to be a part of an "Out" group. When we walked into class we (the students) were separated into two groups. One wearing blue jeans and the other group was for non-blue jeans. I was part of the group not wearing blue jeans and my group had to make reasons as to why we are not wearing blue jeans. All the reasons we came up with were all jokes and not meant to be taken seriously but the point of the activity was to see how easy it is to judge people who are not part of your "group".

The fact that this was going on in the past until today is shocking. It doesn't just have to do with jeans it could be the color our skin or certain people we hang out with that we get identified with. If you look throughout your whole day you can see that you interact with many different groups. The people on the outside the "Out-group" may judge us based on the different groups we go through daily. I know everyone says I don't like to judge people but we all do it because that is the society we live in. The issue we need to focus on is realizing how we can break away from this and differentiate ourselves and try not to categorize or stereotype people.

Social Construction of Reality

This week in class we learned about the social construction of reality. We did a demo in class by having someone put their saliva on a spoon. Most if not all of us thought it was gross because we have that reality that once saliva leaves our body it is nasty but if you we're in another setting like a baseball game spitting there is not frowned upon. We also watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks and looking at different groups and their functions. In the episode if you look at one person and follow them throughout the episode you can see how they go from group to group. For example, Lindsay, one of the main characters, goes from hanging out with the burnouts or the freaks, then goes with the geeks, then her family, and in large the school. In the pilot episode we see Lindsay really trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. We get a glimpse that she is a really smart person because they make references to her being a math lets and getting A's in her classes. We see with all these different examples of how our own experiences are shaping certain decision we do and the way we look at things. We have been taught that if you dress a certain way you belong to this group and that everyone in that group acts a certain way or are all the same. But we need to look throughout our whole day with all the different people we interact with and see how they shape us.

This week..

This week in Sociology we talked about the difference with sociological mindfulness and sociological imagination. The difference between the two is that sociological mindfulness is to be open minded and to see and appreciate the unique qualities in certain things and sociological imagination is being able to take our own situations and seeing the relationship it has with society. We watched many videos in class that showed us how one voice can make such a huge difference. One video we watched was how a woman got president Obama "Fired Up and Ready to Go" by saying it over and over again until he finally said it. I believe this relates to what we learned in class because President Obama had to see things from those other 20 people's perspective. At first when he walked into the room he wasn't expecting to see only 20 people and then later he couldn't quite figure out why they all kept chanting, "fired up, ready to go." Obama had to be mindful of those other people and see how he had an affect on them (the society) and by using it in his campaign it made the people stronger and started appreciating the unique qualities of how one voice started this wave. 

It takes unique person to be mindful of others. Growing up in this society we were already taught to think certain things by seeing a person's color or what ethnicity they were. I definitely keep an open mind and like to see things from other people's perspective. I have judged people before then got to know them and was completely wrong about what I thought about them. Another way of how I think I exercise sociological mindfulness and sociological imagination in my life is being born in another country. I was born in a third world country (Philippines) and it is completely different than here in the States. Growing up with a very large family who were always together and didn't care much for have the highest of things has made me look at things differently. My parents have made me not take things for granted and to look at things from other people's perspective. I have learned that you should not judge people until you know their background story because it can explain why people act a certain way. I have a friend who went through a very traumatic experience at his old school and because of it he had to transfer to a new school and he has never been the same ever since. Now he has learned from this experience and knows not to hold on to that one moment.