Who am I? This is a question that can't really be fully answered yet. Each year through high school I think that i have grown as a person and i think that will only continue as i move on to college. My parents and my brother have definitely been a huge influence on the person I am becoming. I have learned from their mistakes and seen it's important to make mistakes to grow as a person in life. My dad has been a huge influence on me. He is the hardest worker i know and will do anything in order to support his family. He is one of the reasons that i have been so motivated to do well in school. After graduation, I plan on attending a 4 year university and majoring in psychology. When i'm older i want to be able to help people and make a difference in someone's life. Thats why i think becoming a psychologist would be ideal for me because both are very people-person jobs. Who am I? after the whole semster in soc i have definitely changed as a person. I have opened my eyes to so many things. Before this semster i will admit i had many stereotypes in my mind about people of different cultures and races. After this class, many of those stereotypes have been erased. The service project helped me to change the way i viewed people of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds. The color of your skin and the amount of money in your bank account does not make you who you are. Even though it many sound very cliche, it is what's on the inside that truly matters. The service project also taught me that giving back to the community makes you feel good about yourself. I hope to continue to do volunteer work throughout my life. Sociology has shown me that even in the midst of such a diverse culture, we are all so similar. Everyone wants to live a happy and successful life. I feel very fortunate that my parents have provided a life for me to help make that possible. Next year i will be going on to college. This experience is sure to be a new and exciting one. i know that being away from home, my family and my friends will only help me to expand my sociological mindfulness. I am really thankful i had the opportunity to take this class. Many high schools do not have the resources to offer a course like this and i am lucky that my school can. I enjoyed every moment of this class and all the lessons i learned will stay with me throughout my life.

Crash

This week in class we watched the movie Crash. Although I have seen the movie many times before, this time I got a different experience when I watched it. When I watched it this time, i used a sociological imagination. Every scene had a different act of racism in it. It was shocking to see how many things I had not seen in the previous times I've viewed the movie. This time i saw all the little racist remarks and caught all the intertwining relationships that are in the movie. We talked about how some people are critics of the movie. I can understand how people many think the movie makes everyone in American seem like a racist, but that isn't the meaning behind it. I think that it is important to realize what the movie's underlying meaning is. No, not everyone in America is racist but racism is all around us. Without even knowing it we could be involved in a situation where race comes into play. We are unaware because sometimes race is implicit, and not directly on the surface of each situation.

Rach Schmace

If i were to ask you what race you belonged to, how would you answer? White? Black? What race would you classify someone from Australia that was very darked skin? The thing about race is that it truly does not exist. It is just a social construction that our society has formed. There is no biological facts to support race. Will there ever be a day when people will not judge you solely based on the color of your skin? Personally i cannot say. I do believe that our society is evolving and moving away from skin color. But since race is something we learn from birth, it is hard to say if it will ever truly be erased from our minds.