Be a Man

This week in class we went over male and female expectations. On the female side we talked on how media has manipulated the way girls grow up and whats expected of them. They grow up with this idea that they have to dress a certain way, need to be a certain height, need to be so thin or so tall. They set these imposibly high standards that no one ever acualy looks like. This was really shown in the Dove videos we watched. A women went through a full photo shoot, but by the end result, its not really her on the bilboard. Its some photo shoped imposter.

Then there is the guy side of things. We wathced a video about how guys have to put on a guise. They need to show that they are a tuff guy and won't stand for any crap. They need to be muscular, accel in sports, not show any signs of weakness. This is shown countless times in mass media. The movie frequently made references to movies such as "Rambo" or "Terminator". The actors in those movies are muscular and are have some heavy artilery to really that they are in charge. As a result there are gun crimes, murders, and rapes all done by males for the most part. Media needs to make drastic changes to show that its okay for men to show signs of weakness. Its not something men should be ashamed of to help break this social norms for men.

Friday is always a good day for sabbath.

This week in class we watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks. We were told to look for things that could influence how a person acts. One good example would be that Sam felt the need to stay quiet because Lindsy told him to. You could also see how Lindsy was influenced by her freinds because they wanted to have a party with a keg and she gave in. She let what her friends decide what she was going to do.

I see things like this all the time at my school. There are kids that do things that arent thought out or things just to fit in with their friends better. Its natural to do these things. Especially if it a majority in your group. Its also natural to give into things from your family because you are brought up to follow your family's life style. Its just something that happens we all are influenced by our friends, family, co workers, etc. every day wether we realize it or not.

Office hours are tuesday

This week and part of last week we watched Tuesdays With Morrie. The movie is about a sociology profesor that gets ALS. His old student find out about it and he visits him every Tuesday for the first time in 16 years.Throughout the story Morrie says he is teaching his last lessson to his old student, Mitch. 

Morrie's philosphy is that "once you know how to die, you know how to live." I believe there could be some truth to this. I think he is essentialy saying you have to live life to the fullest, don't miss any chances ever given to you. He also syas you need to know how to say goodbye. I think this is important just because you never know when your going to see anyone again. The last point Morrie made was that people need to know how to love. You need to be able to admit you can love someone and just open up to the world. He made it seem that if you can't love then there is no point in living. The movie touches on so many good points and its really a heart warming story. Morrie has some valulabe lessons and this movie should deffiently be a must see on your list. 

The world country differences

We recently read an article in class. The article was about a German immigrant who compared what he saw in Chicago to what his life was really like in Germany. There were quite a few differences. For instance he was suppirsed to see super markets. In Germany they have places for each food product. In America we don't have this at all. We have super markets that have all the food we could ever need in one stop shopping. The other suprising thing to him was joggers. He was amazed to see that we jog so much. We do it for pleasure. We do other tsks while jogging also. In germany it would be a rare thing to see.

This article just really makes you think about how things we consider everyday norms in our culture, could be a complete shock to another. I had never really though about things like supermarkets and jogging being something specific to the American culture until I had read this article. It amazing especially with how well the world is connected these days.