Man school is for fools! Maybe not?

Errrrr! O how I wish I could just come to class with a pillow and just learn, (I did it before, it was very relaxing)and do nothing else, no homework or test. Why do I hate school with a passion? Why can't I appreciate the fact that I have access to an education when many do not? Why does school intimidate, and scare me so much, after all its just a grade. No ones going to punch me in the face if i get an F, well maybe my momma would. But i guess I'll have to continue through with it, after all I do need to keep my medical insurance cuz u all know they'll drop u if your not in school! And I cant go to a hospital like Drew. So to keep my spirits high I'll just chant medical insurance, medical insurance, medical insurance!

When is it okay?

When and why is it ever okay to use the N word? When is it okay to use any term that disrespects another person? Maybe it's just a form of expression but I really don't get it.

The Controversial "N" Word

Interesting how verbal language has tremendous power to shape attitudes and influence our behavior.... So SAD how the consequences that derive from the meanings given to words can create such turmoil and in cases even lead to violence. It is even more surprising to me that these ascribed meanings are given by insignificant people who in our current lives no longer exist nor have a clue of who we are and of our existence.... It saddens me that people are still attached to words that were created in the past to classify and degrade people. Yet, people have given a new meaning to this particular word that instead of spreading the new, upgraded meaning, to destroy that wall separating cultures, they hang on to it because of the history that according to them is only understanded by them.
To point this specific word out... let me bring up monday's class, the heated argument about who can and can not use the "N" word was debated. As i sat quietly listening and observing to my classmates argue about their point of view and explaining the meaning of the "N" word; i began noticing people's reactions to this subject. I observed how everyone whether speaking out or just listening began to become noticibly uncomfortable with the subject being argued. I began noticing how a few of my classmates who were speaking out about their point of view became heated and eager to get their point across and how they each wanted for everyone to see it the way they saw "their world".
At that moment i began to think to myself that there had to be a middle path in which this debated word would be lost in the past and where it would not have such a negative feeling whether it was said by those who can say it or those who can not! I began to notice how some people live in the past and how most of their present actions are well expressed by their beliefs and how they only see black and white. As my mind wondered off... i also thought that if some people only see black and white something can be done to get them to see GREY .... Do you understand me? Well if you dont, just think that when you mix a bit of black and a bit of white it creates GREY.... and i honestly believe that in order to get rid of any stereotypes and prejudice created by words such as the "N" word we must come to a common understanding of meanings to such words. “Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.” -Seneca-

Wait there goes a black person!

So I read some where that vh1 believes that viewers are more interested in seeing black people in a ghetto role. And that's why the promote shows like "I Love New York" or the viewers favorite Flava of love. I'm not gonna lie that 1st season of I Love New York was like an ice cream sandwich...it was oo so good! Well anyways I know I shouldn't have watched flava of love because of its demeaning portrayal of not only women of color but also women period, but it was so darn entertaining and for some reason I am always attracted to shows that have black people on them. I don't need to see African Americans playing a ghetto role I just like to see black people on T.V. So If i clickin that channel changer lookin for a show and I instantly stop, Its becuz my mine quickly goes "wait theres a black person" becuz I like to see people who resemble me. The only time I watch the Family Feud is when there is a black family, and I only watch Law n Order when Ice T is on, and I don't really like him. I even once watched a Novela just because there was a black character and I don't speak Spanish. But what else is there catering to African Americans, the all black cast, Girlfriends and Just the Two of Us, is of the air. Two shows in which portrayed people of color positively. Anyways how come the show Friends could when so many awards and shows like Girlfriends can't even get a nomination! It's a CONSPIRACY!

heated discussion "n" word

Just something to think about...

I was at work and I read something out loud from a magazine article with the n word. My coworkers are mostly black/ African-American and I am Mexican.

Also at work, a Mexican-Chinese coworker constantly tells her boyfriend to "go eat some beans"

2ness, Social Structure, Personal Responsibility

Let Senator Obama speak in his own words about this distinction. He did a good job combining the two points of view. This is related to "2-ness", from a speech to the NAACP this Monday: CLICK TO Yahoo story As many pointed out in papers, 2ness can "set in" in many contexts, not just black and white.

• What happens when a leader speaks of personal responsibility instead of structural matters?
• What happens when a leader speaks of personal responsibility for just one race or one sex?

The repercussions of slavery: whites systematically broke down slave families; it was an achievement of a black man NOT to work so hard; slavery was followed by decades of violence and prejudice; it has only been a bit over 1 generation since the Civil Rights Act, which was the next attempt to stop the structure of slavery. History indeed left the AfAmer community with fewer fathers & proportionately more children and more strong women alone - and left all politicians and sociologists in a quandry about how to approach the issue. And now immigration surrounds it with more complexities as racism comes in varieties and sometimes creates what we in soc414 could call ... 3-ness~!.

Reread DuBois beautiful writing PP. 154-156 in text about how a father who faced discrimination is to teach a child. Though progress has been made in the 3 generations since Dubois wrote, the question remains: if life is "unfair" how does a father teach fairness? How do we find a path thru structure + motivation and thru all colors?

Take the problem of rape and femicide: Is it less complex? It seems more obvious and "ok" to target either men or women, but that personal responsibility route sometimes goes like this for the girls, cover up and don't be 'provocative;' for strong-arm boys, don't use brute strength to overcome: muscles give you not a cultural right. What if we taught our children - boys and girls - to honor and respect the sacred temple of the body? When we focus on a sex or a race - how do we avoid singling it out for even more "isolation?" you get the drift .... comments?

Bomb it

Did you ever wonder why people tag ? I never knew how global graffiti was until I saw this great documentary BOMB.IT is a documentary that tells the story of graffiti. Bomb it has footage in Los Angeles, New York, Philadephia, San Francisco, Tijuajna, London, Pairs, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin, Cape Town, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo...its great. I hate to admit the taggers here are my least favorite...Im not into gang related tagging..there is no creativity... let me know what you think..

The Real World

Does anyone watch The Real World? On the season finale the roommates get into a huge fight with other club goers. The funny thing is that in the house there is always conflict. How funny that the roommates come together in an emergency and put aside their differences. Doesn't this sound familiar?

Update on Bella's I and Me

"We" my husband and I talked about what to do about our dog's name. "We" decided to keep her name Bella. We also took sky's advice and have been looking for a gift for "the person" Bella since she just graduated from college. I am usually a me. I usually comform to what others expect me to do. With this I just felt that it is unfair to let someone who is not a significant part of my life dicate what goes on in my home. Also as someone in class stated what else would she try to influence in my life had I given her control over this. Lastly it is unfair to the dog to change her name. She had already began to respond very well to her name at the time the aunt made this request. Bella is here to stay.

Hip Hop

I am not sure how many people in this class listen to Hip Hop but I have a couple questions to through out there. When I say Hip Hop I do not mean lame Lil' Wayne or any other rapper that is out there for a quick buck. I am referring to the ones that have something to say, the ones that test the limits, and that try to teach us something. Personally, the "mainstream" rappers I am a fan of are Common, Nas, Mos Def and Talib Kweli. What do you think Du Bois would say about Hip Hop? How do you feel about Nas wanting to name his new album the N word or Reggin? And how do you feel about the record company (def jam) making him change it?

Furthermore, how do you feel when you see people of other races listening to rap music? Ever since I first started to listen to Hip Hop, which is over 15 years ago, I was told that it was "black" music. That was the time of Tupac and Biggie. I never cared because I felt like I could relate to it. I was a young kid from the hood that was poor, that was always tempted to join a gand and was discriminated by the administrators at my high school. So, why are people of other races influenced by Hip Hop even though most artist of Black?

I and Me

My dog's name is Bella. I got her about a month ago. No one went with me to pick her out. I decided to name her Bella. When I got home my husband informed me that he has a cousin named Bella. I have never meet the cousin and I have only had a brief meeting with his aunt. Today he tells me that his aunt is offended that I named my dog after her daughter and wants me to change my dog's name. The I in me is like Hell No, get over it. The me in me is like I am new to their family and don't want to upset them. I think the I is going to win. I would love feedback from anyone on this.

Online Gaming Society 2

A couple of days ago I got in an argument with a friend. The argument was about my hobby. I have many hobbies but one in particular I have, which upset my friend and went as far as calling me a child for having this hobby, the hobby is gaming. Yes, by gaming I mean video games. For my point of view gaming has evolved. In just this past decade gaming has gone mainstream meaning that individuals ranging for any age, race, and socioeconomic plays video games in any media via pc, console, or the biggest Internet. As we can see that the gaming has evolved from just targeting children to targeting older individuals. Individuals who are older use the Internet at work or at home when they are bored or leisure time to find websites like Shock Wave, Pop Cap, and many other web site that focus on casual gaming. The best way to express how gaming has evolved is by showing how this industry is target their consumer

Internet websites are first to beginning with Shock Wave and Pop Cap which are website who target individual’s form 10 through 35 years old with casual games. These games are puzzles, number games, word games, board games, and arcade games. These games are aim for the causal gamers. Now lets focus on console and personal computer (PC) games these are for true gamers. These formats have much more to offer like Real Time Strategy games (RTS), Role Playing games (RPG’s), and Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMO’s). All these types of games offer more in visuals, graphics, sound, and much more and are amid for the more serious gamers. As PC games target individuals ranging from 12 through 35 years of age with these types of games. On the other hand console game is where the major industry is. In just the past four years or so there has been term thrown out there by major business gurus as the “console wars”. The console wars are between Nintendo’s Wii, which targets everyone young to old, Sony’s Playstation 3, which has specifically targeted age groups between 12 through 25 years old, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which targets 18 through 35 years olds. PC, Internet, and consoles have made gaming mainstream and evolve.

The biggest evolution of gaming is the online multiplayer mode that is offered to gamers. Online gaming has created small societies in these games. For example Microsoft’s Xbox 360 offers Xbox live where you are able to make friends, communicate friends, and still play games while you play a game or play the same game with a friend or a random stranger. Yet Sony’s Playstation 3 is offering there version of Xbox live called Playstation Network (PSN). Nintendo is also offering the same type of network to there gamers. These forums create small societies that are rule based. For example Durkheim expressed that rules are the glue that holds societies. Just like societies these networks (Xbox Live, PSN, and Nintendo network) have rules to help individual integrate into this society. Further one can say that when an individual breaks a norm society sanction that individual, so that individual can be integrated back into society. Just like society these network have codes of conduct when you brake a gaming norm the gaming society sanctions you and tries to help you integrate you back into the gaming society.

One can sociologically brake down the gaming society even more. Durkheim gives us division of labor from where he names two types of societies mechanical and organic. With these two types of societies one can explore and define online societies. For example massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy and many more where large number of players interact with one another in a virtual world can be considered a mechanical societies. In these games the development of the player's character is a primary goal. One cannot achieve this goal without other individuals that participate in these virtue communities, which are self-sufficient and knit together so one can develop their character and improve their virtual society. So these games are similar to Durkheim’s mechanical societies. On other hand Real Time Strategy games like Gears Of War, Halo, Bad Company, Grand Theft Auto, Mass Affect, and many more are what Durkheim would call organic society. These games focus are not in development of characters where they help virtual society grow but one chooses characters with specialized duties. These specialized duties would create what Durkheim calls organic solidarity. Having specialized duties where player would rely on each other to finish this game. Games like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War and many more have online modes where individuals come in groups where they choose specialized characters for example on Call of Duty on need choose a sniper because one might not be able to win without that specific character or in Mass Effect where choosing the character a specific character is vital for the true growth of the virtual world.

As told my friend that gaming has evolve from just one playing by themselves to playing with a whole community, which would make a virtual society and yes the rules that holds this virtual and the same rules that holds a real society. Because individuals bring their own values and norms into this virtue world making it a society and who best to describe this virtual society best to my fiend but Durkheim

So far I'm not only understanding the contemporary theorists but I am able to see examples constantly in daily life. Really cool.

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