"Reality Check"

The episode "Reality Check" in This American Life we are shown that human existence is based on what you have and some people do not really understand what problems other people have. Some people never want to give up anything that is close to them in life. Sometimes they even clone the object in order to make it live forever.

Kids and Money

We watched a documentary called "Kids and Money." In the documentary we heard from different aged kids of different classes. Some of the kids were really wealthy and stuck up, while others had to strive to get anything in life. We saw how materialistic people can be and how people really do think there are cliques. All of the kids, even the poor ones, realized that even though they were really poor they would buy whatever clothing that they needed in order to make themselves fit in at school and not be an out cast because they did not have matching, expensive clothing. This show made me want to hit some of the girls because the way that they think is completely wrong and they are spoiled and do not respect anything. Those are the girls that create the cliques at school and make people feel bad, to make themselves look better. The only thing i liked about this video was that it was really honest, and i like the way it jumped around the stories.

Vendela Vida "Bikinis &Tiaras: Quinceaneras"

Vida Vendela wrote a story called "Bikinis & Tiaras" which is about Quinceaneras. This story was found in the book Girls on the Verge: Debutante Dips, Drive-Bys, and Other Initiations. The story talks about how people are not respecting tradition and now are just having traditional parties in order to have a big party where they can dress up and impress their friends. Many traditions are changing in the Hispanic Culture. This story really made me think about the traditional celebration I had that I turned into a party. I took my religion for granted and I did not fully understand what I was about to do. The only thing that i was worried about was trying to dress nice and impress my friends with cool prizes and a fun night. This article made me want to think about my experiences and I enjoyed reading it.

Norms: Individual Vs. Society- Ritual Freedom

Oh man was I scared. Was I going to pass my permit test or not? Well the first time I took it I failed and I was so sad, but I passed it the second time. Yay! I was finally going to be driving on the road like I wanted to. My mom would let me drive everywhere, but with her or an adult in the car. I was a natural driver, and I was so excited. I knew that in 6 months I could get my license and finally be able to drive myself wherever I wanted to go. Finally the day had come I had scheduled my appointment and I was ready to go. However, the only that thing I had hoped wouldn’t happen did, the lady that was going to take me for my test seemed like the wicked witch of the west. She was the meanest lady I had ever met. But I was still good to go. I did a good job and got my license that day. I was so excited the day I got home my mom told me the rule; I had to call her when I got anywhere. That first day she let me drive to my friend’s house, because it was in a reasonable distance so my mom was okay with it. Now a day she makes me drive further distances just to take my little brother to practice. So in a way me getting my license was a rite of passage of freedom to both of my parents. I drive back and forth and thankfully they pay for my gas. I can mostly go wherever I want, so I gained some freedom, which was exactly what I want.

Alexander Amador "My Brown Eyes"

Alexander Amador rights a compelling story about life in the Hispanic neighborhood of the Eight Street Locos 13 gang. She has grown up with this gang her whole life and from watching them she knows that they are like a family. She see's that they have each others back and will do anything for each other. This gang is like her family, even though she doesn't partake in the gang, they still protect her. This is an interesting view on the life of gangs. For most of us we aren't aware with the way gang's work but we believe that all they do is fight and sell drugs. I can see this too because I know people who are in gangs and they are my good friends and when I was in need of help they were there to back me up.

Norms: Individual Vs. Society- Versus "One Place, Different Face"

Word Count: 266

When I look around I see so many different people so many different faces. Some I can recognize others I do not. I categorize them, I know it’s bad but it’s what I do. I look at them and I see how they look, I listen to the stereotypes I’ve heard before. “He’s a nerd, she’s probably s hoe.” All of these thoughts put people in their different societies. I know with my friends I feel like I fit in. We’re weird and have our own sense of humor, but all of us understand. I know these are the people that have my back; we have created our own society. See from the inside we understand but we know people from the outside probably don’t. Maybe that’s how the people are that I stereotype. They might not fit in with the people that I think they do. Even though someone might look like a nerd and not dress the best they could hang out with the partying crew or the athletic teams. I need to stop thinking that people fit into specific groups because they might not. I think that’s the problem with our world, we all stereotype even if we think we don’t, and we make it harder than ever for someone to change. I hate the fact that in order to fit in with people you think are cool, people have to wear less and take more risks. We all live together in one city, one town, one school, but if you looked around the school you would never know because everyone looks different.

Alison Smith "Curve"

In Red: The Next Generation of American Writers--TEENAGE GIRLS-On What Fires Up Their Lives Today, Alison Smith writes a story called "Curve." This story is about a young girl who is troubled in her high school days. The problem is that she's skinny, which doesn't sound bad at all to most of us. However she is too skinny and she wants to be curvier. In high school you will see that most girls complain about their wait and always wish that they were skinny. When all of Alison's friends are complaining that they are too fat Alison complains that she hates her weight too. All of the girls hate her for that because they wish they were skinny like her. The only thing is that they don't know exactly what they're asking for. People are never happy with how they look. Someone always wants to change something, whether its our hair, our skin tones, or our weight; we are never satisfied. This story made me think about my life and what i want to change about myself, which inspires me to write about that.

Amy Hunt "Sleeves"

Amy Hunt writes her short story "Sleeves," in the Book Red: The Next Generation of American Writers-Teenage Girls-On What Fires Up Their Lives Today. Amy talks about her looks and how she is overweight. In today's society fitting in and feeling good about yourself has a lot to do with the way that you look and the way you present yourself. Sometimes Amy wants to fit in but she realizes she is not as skinny and confident as the other girls, so she's conflicted because she wants to be invisible. A lot of teens either want to get attention or be invisible. I feel like sometimes this is true but other times it is not. I think that at the school i go to and the groups that hang out together, we don't really see that people are judged on the way that they look, but mostly on the way that they carry themselves.

Cindy Morand "The Border"

People in society have to deal with racism, money struggles, and being accepted. Cindy Morand goes through all of these and talks about them in her short story "The Border" in the book Red: The Next Generation of American Writers-Teenage Girls-On What Fires Up Their Lives Today. Cindy finds trouble when she hits rock bottom, and has to deal with the change of culture and life style. She talks about the problems she had to overcome and how doing all of this helped her to get her life back together. Cindy realized that she had to accept the way that she lives in order to be happy. We see a lot of people in today's world doing this, they start from the bottom and work there way up and accept every challenge that comes there way.

Amy Goldwasser "Introduction"

In the book Red: The Next Generation of American Writers-Teenage Girls-On What Fires Up Their Lives Today, Amy Goldwasser compiled stories that many teen girls have written. In the "Introduction" Goldwasser talks about some teen girls and how technology has affected them. Goldwasser believes that technology is beneficial to teens now a days, contrary to popular belief. Many parents started getting mad at their children when they learned of there myspace's and facebooks, but she believes that by using these sites we are improving our knowledge. By figuring out technology, we can learn to move faster and teens can express themselves better. Blogs and social networks allow teens to show themselves to others and can express emotions they might not be able to show in person.

Susan Orlean "The American Man, Age Ten"

Susan Orlean writes a story about a young boy named Collin Duffy. She talks about the way that young kids think compared to the way that we believe they do. She realizes that kids are happy with the way that they live and they do not need to know more then they already do. All kids want is for nothing in there life to change. When I read this I realized it was completely true because when I think about my life, sometimes I wish I could be a kid forever. Being young is easy and there is no stress involved. Young kids can just be happy and smile because that is really all that they know how to do.

Social Networking

Samantha Cupingood wants to go to the moon (11:40 a.m.)

What is the attraction of so many teens to Facebook or Myspace sites? Many kids think that if they involve themselves in the social networks they can gain friends and share who they are. People post their pictures; update their status, and communicate with their friends. This way of living is one that I don’t agree with. Many teens that use these sites, in my mind, are taking the easy way out of communicating with people in the real world. If people start using technology in everyday survival they are going to forget how to survive in reality. In today’s technology, people learn about each other because of pictures on their sites and comments that they read, or things that they post about themselves. I feel as though people don’t even try to get to know people by simply sitting down and having a conversation anymore. The internet is diminishing society as we use to know it. I know that when I would use Myspace, people I didn’t know, only heard of, would add me and start a conversation. I hated meeting people on the internet I believe that it makes a person sound pathetic. If you want to meet people then go out to events and be outgoing and talk to people that you don’t know. I think that everyone should go back to meeting people the old fashion way because otherwise I think that people are becoming fake because they don’t allow people to find out who they are, they tell people who they are.

Peggy Orenstein "The Way We Live Now: Growing Up on Facebook"

In the New York Times, Piggy Orenstein, talks about the group of older people who have created a new society from their world of yesterday. Adults have created facebook so that they can add old friends from the past and bring up the good memories. She talks about how this gives adults the ability to create a new idea about how their past really was and could resolve many problems they might be having. Facebook is now affecting many adults because they all want the ability to bring up friends they haven't talked to in many years.

Hal Niedzviecki "Facebook in a Crowd"

Hal Niedzviekci writes his story about how he lost all of his friends and had hoped to gain a lot of new friends by creating a party on Facebook. By doing this he is trying to create a new society and instead of doing it the old fashion way he is using technology. He believes that he did good because he has a lot of friends on facebook, however when he invited all of them to the party no one showed up except for his new friend, Paula. I think that it is sad that people have to go online to make new friends instead of being able to go out to parties or places and having to communicate with people.

Zoe Sandvig "Staring Down Facebook"

In the Washington Times an article was written by Zoe Sandvig about college students and their experiences with Facebook. One student that was discussed was Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross use to have a facebook and then he realized he might have better study skills if he deleted his social networking and focused more on old fashion note taking. A bunch of college students decided to get together and create a facebook "fast." The students needed to realize the affect that technology is having on their lives and how technology has created a new society.

Virginia Heffernan "The Medium: Being There"

Virgina Heffernan, from the New York Times, wrote an article about her experiences with facebook and people's experiences she knew. The society that she talks about is that of facebook and the way that they have created a new way of life. She writes a lot about how now checking peoples facebook status updates has become a thing of everyday life. The norm's about this article consist of people constantly updating their status but not always about what they are doing but what they felt. People also add random people that they don't know but only know some of their friends.

Karen Goldberg Goff "Social Networking Benefits Validated"

Karen Goldberg Goff wrote about kids on Myspace and their parents who are trying to protect them. The article talks about the fact that Goff believes teens need to have myspace and facebook because it will keep them up to date with the rest of society. Students use social networking to connect with other students, but this has its positive and negative points. She believes that students still need rules on the internet because they are not sure of what not to post, but instead of parents restricting them from online networking they should show them what not to post.