Your not following our rules...

In class this week, we played a card game within our table. Before we started we had a specific set of rules regarding the game. After we read the rules we began playing and continued for 15 minutes. After a couple more minutes we began to play rounds of complete silenece. Couple more minutes went by and we started to rotate the winners of each table in a clockwise circle and one person that had the least amount of wins to rotate counter clockwise. The round consisting of new members made things interesting because after a few rounds we started to notice how upset each individual was getting including myself. We realized our rules were different because the first table you started with had a set of rules that only those members followed. So when our table members had two new others telling us what to do we started to bump heads. This is called culture shock, when we heard the different rules of the game we were surprised of how other members played. A similar situation had happened to me when my cousin from Ohio came and stayed with me for a month. She was 7 years older which already made a difference between us. She woke up early on a Saturday morning and began yard work outside. When I woke up, I rushed out to tell her she didn't need to do anything and that she was a guest so she should relax. She quickly told me that in Ohio her and many friends woke up early on weekends and always met up to do yard work! This made me realize how different our lives were just being 8 hours apart. It was a huge culture shock to know that my cousin and her friends did such a thing like yard work with enjoyment!

'Don't you trust anybody?'

In class this week, we watched a movie called A Bronx Tale. Based on a true story, this movie was exciting to watch and it kept me on my feet. The main character Calogero belonged to an Italian family that lived in a Italian neighborhood. Their neighborhood was socially constructed and each citizen who lived there had followed a set of unwritten rules. Although, many were 90% racist toward all African Americans,  they all followed each other whether it was name calling, harassing, and even physically abusing them. If one Italian was involved, the rest of the neighborhood would also get involved. It was their way of living, they seemed to believe that their neighbors and friends were considered family. Which lead to protecting your own kind and sticking up for your 'family.' Another unwritten rule was, being respectful towards Sonny and his crew. Nobody dared to mess with Sonny because of his reputation, they knew what Sonny was capable of. Some of the socially constructed ideas I believe in would be respecting your peers, being loyal to my family, and being trustworthy with my friends. There the basic ideas of my life and it's very common for others as well. Each individual has their own set of socially constructed ideas separate from others and that's why everyone is unique.

The 'In' Crowd

This week during class, our room was divided into people wearing black clothing and people wearing clothes with color. Then, one person from each group had to write down why we thought the opposite group was wearing color or wearing black. At the end, we got to see what each group had assumed about one another. This activity proved how judgemental both groups were towards each other. They say your group of friends are usually the people who have the biggest influence on you. When my friends and I used to be freshmen and we saw other people at school, we made judgements based off what they were wearing, who they hung out with, and even the things they said. But of course, things have changed much over time. Being the oldest at school has allowed me to meet new people that are from all different types of groups. I'm now friends with people that I used to form opinions about way before I met them. And even though it's hard to change an opinion, getting to know someone is a whole lot different than judging them. As you get older, you realize your allowed to have friends even outside your friend group and it's even more helpful to have other friends because then, you become more mindful to those who aren't anything like you. You get to learn new things by becoming friends with people that have opposite interests. Don't judge a book by its cover because you never know what that book is like until you give it a chance.

A new type of appetite

In the story of The Survivors of the F-227, there was a tragic plane crash that had only 27 people survive. They thought they'd get rescued quickly and spend a night or two. Few days later, only sixteen remained. The only sources of food that lasted them a couple of days were chocolate and wine but that didn't help much at all. The survivors however, realized that they had to find food soon or they'd have no chance of living. The small talk became an open discussion between all the survivors and they came to a conclusion that they had no choice but to eat the dead bodies. It's a disturbing fact to think your choices of food are limited to dead human bodies. But as a group, they socially constructed rules of eating. No one had to eat, no women were allowed to be eaten, and no one had to eat a friend or relative. However, when they were saved four days before Christmas, they were uncomfortable talking about what they'd done. As soon as the public found out about their story, the survivors became celebrities who were considered special people. As a outsider reading and viewing this whole story in my perspective, I wouldn't be able to eat another human being. Even if it was the last thing that could save me from dying, I wouldn't have the courage to consider another human being as food. It's not what they did that was so brave, it was that they pushed through the idea of eating other strangers in order to get back to their own families, reality back at home.