Community Service

I've been going nearly every Wednesday from about 4:15 to 6:30 pm since last year to Bernie's Book Bank with a group from my church. Since I didn't start going because of the class I'll talk about my experiences from before I started going. My brother had been a leader for the groups at my church going to PADS and book bank for most of his senior year and around February my parents told me that I had to start going with him. At first, I was pretty angry and confused as to why they were sentencing me to community service with my brother but after going a few times, I got to know some people that I went with a lot better, and also had a chance to meet Brian (the guy who started the whole thing), and Greg, who has been around a lot more this year than last. In understanding what the actual goal of this place was, it helped me to see what my part was exactly in the whole scheme of things. It was pretty eye opening to me to see that some kids even in our area don't have the money to afford books to read. When I was a little kid, reading was pretty much all I did because of how shy I was, and I can't even imagine how different my life would be if I didn't have that opportunity.
At Bernie's, I did a number of tasks, most of them mundane and involving books. I never really expected the work to be fun, but it's so simple that talking with people around you is extremely easy to do and still continue with the work. I learned that the more that I did something, the less I thought about it until I could pretty much do it without thinking. When it got to that point, it made me realize that serving there took little to no effort from me in order to help countless kids. It's cool to know all the people who work there and to know what I'm doing so I can invite people with. I pretty much had to fill my brother's spot when he went to college, so I drive a group of kids there and back to the church every week, and it's even given me a chance to reach out to younger students who I didn't even know went to Stevenson.
In completing the service hours requirement, I feel like it doesn't even really matter how many hours I spent there. It was a lot more than ten, but to be honest, I don't think that that was the point of the assignment. I learned through this experience that there are so many simple ways that we can serve our community that we just overlook every day. We have so much that we take for granted, when there are kids around us who don't even have books to read in school. Community service doesn't have to be a punishment or a homework assignment, and it shouldn't be. It is what you make it, and personally, I like knowing that I can do something to help other people. (Sal - if you want specific dates, have me email you them because I'd be happy to figure it out, I thought you would rather hear about my experience than get a list of dates!)

Social Class

This week in Sociology we talked more about deviance and social class, but focused more on the aspect of prestige and class as opposed to deviance. We looked at the way that people end up based on their surroundings and how it just makes sense that rich people are rich and poor people are poor. While for some people it definitely has something to do with the choices they make in their life, much of the point of Sociology is to find out what drove them to act the way they do. It's not unreasonable to suggest that someone's surroundings exposed them differently to things that could adversely affect their development in society, such as drugs or alcohol. Some people believe that it is possible for anyone to move anywhere in America's social class system, but as we saw in the coin activity, lower class citizens are set to fail. The game was made in a way that would start everyone out as equals, but even that was unlike real life. Even though there was that massive advantage, three or four people ended up with all of the money in the whole class. Capitalism is a really great thing, but the end result truly is one person with a monopoly on every industry holding all of the money and setting all of the prices. I hope that I do not have to see the day that happens. It doesn't have to be that way, but as soon as greed sets in and as soon as people start climbing all over each other to get to the top, people have no choice but to step out because all of their coins are gone.

It wasn't our fault, we just weren't lucky like the others were. This is an excuse that would be really looked down upon in American culture, but most of the time, the one percent of people who end up with one third of the country's wealth are only there because of opportunities given to them because of the fact that they were born somewhere at some time that made it advantageous for them to be in a certain field, and they excelled at it. That's all. It really comes down to the luck of the draw, and we have to live with the life we have been given, whether that means being stuck rich or poor.

Deviance

Last week in sociology we studied deviance and how that relates to our culture, both in our gender norms as well as in our social class. We read an article called "Saints and Roughnecks" about two groups of kids going to a certain school, and how they were both deviant, but it was seen differently by the public due to a few key issues. Specifically, the "Saints" were a gang of well off, book smart kids who would use their intelligence to find ways to get out of school unnoticed to go hang out for the day. They were seen as being the good kids because of how involved with their school's activities they were, while the "Roughnecks," the lower class kids were seen as trouble from the start. The Saints chose to drive far away from people they knew before causing trouble, but the Roughnecks weren't able to get away, so they were right in the view of those they lived with, which brought much more attention to their actions. The rest of the culture viewed the Saints as being just that: Saints. It really wasn't fair that the Saints were, in many situations, doing much worse than the Roughnecks were! I think that something extremely close to this exists at Stevenson. We go to a school that values success and money far above people's worth as human beings, and as a result, there is a huge difference in the groups of people that everyone is friends with as far as income goes. Most rich kids are friends with rich kids, while most only sort of rich kids are friends with only sort of rich kids (let's be honest, our area is extremely fortunate). This cycle repeats itself over and over, and I saw it in my older brother's grade as well. The expectations and opportunities that we are given are so closely related to social class that it would be ridiculous to think that there was no proof that social class and through that, wealth have a strong influence on the kind of life we are born into.

Step 2 service (number 3)

This Wednesday I went to Bernie's Book Bank with my church after school until about 6 pm to sort some books. Greg was in charge and I had a lot of fun hanging out with the people who were there. It wasn't much different than the other times that I was there, except I tried to talk to more people I didn't know to see what they were there for and who they were there with. I enjoyed it and will probably end up doing the rest of my hours here, and I will definitely try to continue going over the summer because Brian and Greg are both pretty cool guys to work with and I really appreciate what they are doing for these kids.

Social Construction of Masculinity

This week in sociology we talked about how masculinity is viewed in our culture, and what we have constructed for masculinity to look like. In our culture, men must be strong, to the point of invulnerability and unreasonable rash behavior. Violence is idolized, and sexualized, yet at the same time when violence occurs we blame the individuals rather than the social construction that made them think the way they did. While I do not think that people who commit terrible crimes against people should be written off as healthy or normal, I think that it is not entirely their fault. The society we live in as Americans both loves and hates violence. We love violent horror films, and the more violence is shown in a movie the more appealing it is. If they can figure a way to fit sex into it too, then we're sold. It isn't a matter of people consciously perpetuating this more in society, but the way that males are shown is completely the opposite of how they should really act in a way that is respectful both to their fellow men and to women.
It is considered so strange for men to open up and talk about anything that has happened to them, and you never hear men talking about going to therapy or counseling for problems that they have in their life. It's ridiculous to think that humans, in their struggle to gain power over nature would reject complex emotion, one of the things that makes us truly human and actually sets us apart from the rest of nature. Challenging the ideals of the culture only get you to a place where you are attacked for "not being a real man" or "being a girl," which truly makes no sense.
To me, all of the most manly people that I know are men who I know aren't afraid to challenge the cultural norms. They live their lives in ways that take much more strength. To sit and take the abuse that they get for challenging the culture takes much more strength than passively attacking someone because you don't want to think what it would actually feel like if someone said that to you (because of course you aren't allowed to feel to begin with). I think that this is a norm that needs to be challenged, and a profound change needs to occur in our culture. The way men treat each other, and especially women is a disgrace to who we should be as people. We should be better than this.

More service!

Yesterday, instead of going back to Bernie's Book Bank with my church, I decided to go help out at a PADS homeless shelter. We played with kids for a couple hours and helped others with their homework. It was extremely far outside of my comfort zone because I don't normally spend a whole lot of time playing with little kids, and I don't really know when the last time I did something like it was. It was definitely eye opening to me to see that these kids love being played with and don't care if they don't know you very well, they're just happy to see people there. It was also fun because I was able to go with some of my friends.

Agents of Socialization

This week in sociology we talked about how different aspects of our lives can influence who we are as people, specifically the media and schools and their influence on our perception of gender. In schools, from a young age, kids separate themselves on the playground based on gender, guys go and play sports, while girls stay and play their games. Being a guy, I honestly have no idea what they would do because of the fact that it was so separated. Girls are shown by ads that they have to be perfect, and they compare themselves to something that could never anatomically exist, so they always feel like they will never be good enough. It is pretty disgusting that we as people will invent an ideal that doesn't even exist just for our own personal gain. Guys are no where near as often discriminated against, but are shown from an early age that if they are not strong, not athletic, not able to protect themselves, then they are seen as not masculine, weak, pathetic human beings. It is really sad to see the way that kids are shut out and pushed away because they don't live up to the norms that are shown to kids from such an early age.

What are you so afraid of?

Today we finished watching Tuesdays with Morrie in sociology. The movie is about a man dying of a disease that is killing him from the bottom up. He knows he has been given a unique opportunity to teach his final lesson, and as a sociology teacher, he feels as if he must.
Throughout the movie, Mitch is asked why he's so afraid of death. I think in America our first instinct is exactly the same as his; to say "What? I'm not afraid of death!" When really we struggle to get the word out. We lie to ourselves because we don't want to admit our weakness to others, or even ourselves, as if that is going to make a difference.
I met a man named Matt Kehn one time on a retreat with my church. Matt is a missionary in Africa working incessantly to provide those less fortunate than he is with a better life. Looking at him, Americans would say he is happy and finds value in his work, and he is, though one thing he said to me I will never forget.
"I'm not afraid of dying. If I got hit by a bus walking across the street today it would be the best day of my life."
I know what you're thinking, what is wrong with this guy?! But Matt went on to explain it further. He explained that because of his faith, he knows where he's going. He knows that one day he's going to die, but he has accepted that it's outside of his control. In many of our lives we look at death as being terrifying and dying early as being a bad thing. It really took Matt being that blunt about death to show me that at that point in my life I was afraid of death. It took me a long time to see what the point of what he was saying really was, but now I understand: being afraid of death isn't going to stop it. It isn't within our control, even as the all powerful Americans that we see ourselves as.
It's just like what Morrie said, it isn't about dying, it's about living, and living your life the best way you can. Not for yourself or your own pleasure, but for other people and their well being.

American Values

This week in sociology we talked about how the values of your culture shape you as a person. Americans tend to think of themselves as being so individualistic and so unique and separate from things around them, when really the culture around them is what helps make them that way. A way that I have seen this happening for me is in music. Bands always want people to see them as being different than other bands in some way, but when they try to be individuals, many times they look to what popular artists have been doing recently.

Step 2 (Service Project)

Today I decided to start with posting about the service that I've been doing at Bernie's Book Bank. My church goes to Bernie's and the PADS homeless shelters every Wednesday after school for anyone who wants to come. I've been going almost every week since last year and it's a lot of fun. I remember originally going and wondering how it could possibly be fun to just sit and put stickers on books, or sort them, or put them in bags and then boxes, or any of the other things that Greg or Brian will ask us to do. My expectation going into it was that it would be boring and I would just do it because it was the right thing to do, but then I realized that with some of my friends there, it was really just another excuse to hang out during the school week. We talk about all kinds of things because the work there doesn't normally require a whole lot of thinking being devoted to it, and I think that it's cool to see all of the different people who go there to volunteer. I was there today from about 4:30-5:30, and I put stickers on books and packaged them for distribution to the kids and schools that they would be sent to. I didn't get the address or the email or phone number just because I've been going there for so long that I know where it is! I'll add that next week when I can find out, and I'm happy to be doing something that I know helps a lot of kids out.

A Bronx Tale

Last week in sociology we watched a movie called "A Bronx Tale." It tells the story of a kid nicknamed C who grows up in the Bronx in the 1960's, in an apartment building next to a bar. Although the movie is great, we watched it in order to study the different social construction of reality that existed in urban life in the 60's. The film shows the difference in how people were viewed by each other back then through the way that music is used. As different neighborhoods and people are introduced, specifically outlining the difference between the African American neighborhood and the Italian neighborhood, the music changes in the movie to exemplify both their feelings towards each other and also the physical separation that occurs between them. Sonny keeps saying throughout the movie that parts of an honest life aren't for him, such as trusting in anyone around him. He finally trusts C, and in being happy to see him he gets shot in the head. While this is extremely unrealistic in my life to happen to one of my friends, I think that what Sonny said can apply to my life and my friends. There are a lot of people who I know through school that I wouldn't trust as much as my closest friends, and by trusting some people it is very easy to be hurt in some way. It really shows the difference in the sociological imagination between myself and C in the movie, because if Sonny had said what he said to me, it would mean that I could have my reputation hurt or I could lose a friend or something far less significant that my life. To C, that was exactly what it would have meant.

Week #3

I've been a little... lazy the past few weeks so I thought I'd get a head start on this week's blog post. Today in class we talked about Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day and how his view of conducting a sociological experiment was so different from others in his field. I think that the best part about what he was doing was the fact that doing a simple study just wasn't enough for him to get the kind of perspective he was looking for, so he tried his own way. He tried something different, and it worked.

I think that for so many people, having a one and only way of doing something works, but for me, that isn't always the case. I've always found it funny when in math class the teacher will finish going over how to do a practice problem and there's always at least one kid in the class who raises his hand and says the classic line, "I did it a different way." There's always the sideways glances and the here we go again kind of looks, and I always wonder why. The social construction of reality in our classrooms is that there is one way of doing things, the right way. I think that at least 80% of the time that is completely ridiculous. We look at the people who do things differently as being strange, as being abnormal, but if it works for them, why shouldn't they be able to use their way? Who are we to decide that the way that someone else solved a problem is wrong? Venkatesh wanted to see how the reality in the poor neighborhoods around him was constructed by the people who lived there, and how their sociological imagination was affected. In a way, by doing something radical he was able to come to a conclusion that he probably would not have come to through the course of what would be considered "normal." His abnormal approach to the people living in those areas was considered strange, but for him it worked.

Maybe we should give that kid in math class a break.

Who am I?

I'm Matt. I think something that defines me is music. I've been playing music since i was in kindergarten and have loved every minute of it. I can play piano, guitar, drums, bass, violin, flute, baritone, and trombone, and I've been singing for about 3 or 4 years in bands. I have a band called Long Story Short and I write most and record all of the music for it (we have some free stuff on Facebook if you're interested). I have 2 brothers and a sister. One brother is a freshman in college in Nashville going to Belmont University for audio engineering (recording bands and stuff) and my other brother is in 7th grade. My sister is a sophomore at SHS, and tends to get on my nerves. I don't think that being rich is the goal of life, I just want me and everyone else to be happy, and I try to do what I can to be a good person to people and ask for forgiveness if I do something wrong.