Racism

My parents have taught me not to be racist, and I try not to be. But there are certain references that societies believe that makes us all a bit racist. For example, whites are good and blacks are bad. That statement isn't true. What makes a black person different from a white person? All it is, is their skin tone. It shouldn't matter what skin color a person has. Also We are the way we are by our nature and our nurture. Where you grew up and how you were raised is what is going to determine the kind of person you are. You are shaped by your community, not by the color of your skin.

Monopoly

Yesterday we played monopoly. The way we played monopoly had a few different rules to it. Everyone in the group would belong to a social class. The way we knew what social class we where in was by rolling the dice. Depending on how high you rolled depended on what class you were put into. I rolled the lowest number so I was in the lower social class. As the game went on I became broke. I started with about $300 and ended up with just $6. I wasn't a smart consumer. I spent most of my money when I had the chance. It wasn't a wise decision. Playing monopoly is a good teaching skill when it comes to money. You shouldn't spend your money right away. You should budget and watch were your money goes. Especially if you don't have a lot, like me. I've been raised in an upper-middle class, so we have enough money to survive. My family saves and budgets a lot. I've learned when to spend and when to save. There are to many people that will have a good amount of money will just go out and spend it and will be left with practically nothing.

Classes

Everyone in this country at least is related to some sort of class. The class i live in is upper-middle class. We watched a movie the other day about how classes can be picked out by what food you eat. For example white bread, its common a lot of people eat. You will probably see a poor person eating it, but would a rich person eat it? Also would a poor person eat some rich type of bread, even if it was free? Probably not, well for sure they didn't in the movie. The food we eat, the way we dress, and the way we talk can sometimes symbolize what class we are from. We cannot train a poor person act and look like a rich person even if they where given a lot of money that day. A class is a thing that your born into.

Prison

More and more people are locked up in prison everyday. Here in America we have the most people locked up. People are locked up for dealing drugs, stealing cars when the get out of an institution, taking illegal drugs. Some of these people in my mind should be going to prison they should be going somewhere for help. Prison isn't going to help many people. In class we watched 30 days where Morgan went to live in a prison for 30 days and was treated the same as any other prisoner. We got to see how lonely and boring it was. The prisoners didn't even get to go outside, except once a week. All they do is eat, sleep, and play card games or read. There is no structure there is nothing that they are doing to prevent them from doing what they did to get in prison, its just eat and sleep. I wouldn't want to live that life, and it seems like they do because once they get out they commit the same crime.

Masculinity

This whole week we've been talking about masculinity. Men try their best to be attractive, as much as women try their best to look attractive. The difference is men try to be strong and muscular and women try to look pretty. We are all victims of this. Many men believe that being violent is the best way to show their masculinity, but it isn't. Yesterday in class we learned about Aikido. Aikido is similar to martial arts. The difference is you don't severely injure your opponent. In my opinion its a better way to defend yourself. I think more people should learn about it, I know I would love to learn more. It seems like it could benefit a lot of people, especially men who think their tough.

Advertisement influence

The society we live in today believes that we should be like the men and women that we see in advertisements and in movies/shows. We should be perfect. The perfect woman is tall, gorgeous, thin and curvy. The perfect man is tall, handsome, and muscular. There are woman who try to become the perfect women by getting surgery done. For example I have a cousin she doesn't like her nose so she decided to get a nose job. Why couldn't she have just left her nose alone? What is the perfect nose? Also I have a friend who didn't think she was skinny enough. She found herself to be overweight, she became anorexic. I wanted to help her, but I didn't know how. I tried my best to tell her everytime I talked to her that she is fine, and that she doesn't need to lose weight. That was a few years ago. She did get help for her problems. Now she got over the anorexia and is more confident in herself.

Family

In class we talked about how family is the agent that has such an impact on one person. I would definitely agree with this, I've noticed it a lot. I remember I was going with my friend to the train station and her mom was driving us. This was the first time I was meeting her mom. When I heard my friend's mom I noticed that they talk and act the same way. I told my friend that she is a lot like her mom, but she just kept disagreeing with me. I've also been told that I'm like my mom and I have disagreed with that too, but its true. I am a lot like my mom. When I was a baby up until about freshman year my mom worked at home only and was always able to take care of me. She nurtured me and I learned a lot from her and have been resembling her a lot. I'm proud to be like my mom.

Money

The other day in class we talked about a man who decided to give away all his money and lives in a canyon in Utah now. He gave up his money to find happiness. He believed that money doesn't bring you happiness, money brings you success. In my opinion money is stressful. You have to save money, you have to pay the bills with your money. Its true, money brings you success, but does it bring you happiness? Most Americans probably wouldn't survive a few days without money. The American culture is materialistic, so how are suppose to survive without money? We need money to be happy, but can we say that we're happy? Probably not, we could say that we're successful though. As long as we get what we want, we're fine.

Money and Americans is like my generation and facebook. In a way we Americans are addicted to money. Well my generation I believe has a different addiction. We are addicted to facebook. A lot of my friends would probably have a hard time if they didn't check their facebook for one day. I'm on it a lot as well. I remember the last day at camp two summers ago, my friend said to me "Oh I can't wait to get onto facebook and see all the new notifications and friend requests I got while I was gone." I enjoyed being away from the computer for the whole summer. I was active and always doing stuff other than being on the computer. My friend couldn't wait to get on the computer though.

Tuesdays With Morrie

In class we watched the movie Tuesdays with Morrie. Its about a young man, Mitch, who visits his old professor, Morrie, who is dying of ALS. Mitch is a sports writer and so he is always on the run, but he made time every Tuesday to go to Boston to be with with his Professor from college. Morrie taught Mitch a lot each Tuesday that they were together. One thing Morrie said to Mitch was "Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." I think that can be interpreted as if your not accepting to the fact that one day your going to die, then how are you going to live. You should live every day to its fullest.

American Culture

In class we had a discussion about the American culture. Most of us agreed that America is a materialistic. I also agree with that idea. But also America is known to be a melting pot. We are very diverse. We shouldn't be so pessimistic about our country. We should think about what's great about. So I think the best thing about our country is that we're a melting pot. Being a melting pot means that we are diverse and that there are different cultures throughout America that combine and make us, us.

Hand Gestures

In class the other day we discussed hand gestures, and how they can be interpreted differently depending on the gesture and where you are. For example, I learned that the gesture Okay with the pointer finger and the thumb making a circle while the three other fingers are up mean a** hole in Italy.

So when I was at camp as a counselor in training there were Israeli counselors. I went to go talk to one and as we were talking a camper came up to her and said her name. The Israeli didn't want to end our conversation yet so she gave the camper a hand gesture that was Rak Rega in hebrew, but translates to wait a moment. The guy in the photo is doing the hand gesture that I'm talking about. The camper didn't understand that gesture, the camper (I believe) thought that the Israeli was swearing at her. So I told the Israeli counselor that the camper didn't understand that putting your thumb against your fingers mean Rak Rega. The counselor was upset for a bit, I found it kind of funny. Hand gestures are a way of communicating, but not all are universal.

A Bronx Tale

In class we watched the movie A Bronx Tale. It was a boy growing up in the Bronx and he story of his life from when he was a young boy to being a teenager. This young boy saw a 2 men fighting over a parking space and one of them gets killed by a guy by the name of Sonny. This boy was asked by the cops about the man who killed the guy that wanted the space. The boy knew it was Sonny, but didn't admit it. He told the cops that none the men lined up killed the guy who wanted the space. And that's where the story begins.

After C lied to the cops Sonny began to appreciate him and take him under his wing and teach him things that his C's father wouldn't. One of the things Sonny taught him was how to know if a girl is right for him. C learned a lot from him, but he did learned a lot from his father too. One thing he learned from his father was never let talent go to waste. Those two men were important influences in C's life. They were authority that C would go to talk to, for advice or anything. Just like C I like to go to my dad for advice.

In class a few days ago we talked about groups that everyone is in. I never really thought much about the different groups I'm in till we talked about it in class. I forgot to put religion though. Religion is a big part of my life. It's always been a big part of my life.

Saliva

On Tuesday in class we talked about spit/saliva. The whole class agreed that it is disgusting to let out saliva on a spoon and then put it back in the mouth, but is it really as disgusting as we make it out to be? I don't think so. Depending on where it is, for example Sports players spit on the ground, so they would not put it back in their mouth. If I spat on the spoon, then put it in my mouth wouldn't be to disgusting, but it still is disgusting a bit. Nobody wants to put something they spit out of their mouth back in their mouth. Like I have had times when I'm eating something really disgusting, so I have spit it out I don't put it back in my mouth. Nobody would. 1) because it tasted disgusting 2) I already spit it out, why would I put it back in my mouth. We also talked about how the Japanese bath differently. I think the way they clean themselves makes sense. They shower and get the dirt off first and then they relax in the bath tub. That's smarter then bathing in your own dirt.

There other day in class we talked about how we as people listen to authority and obey them, even if we don't want to do what we are told, because it will effect us or someone else. I will hear all the time "Why do you always follow what your friends do? What if they jumped off a building? Would you follow them and do that too?" I say no. I trust my friends, but if they are making a bad decision I would try my best to convince them not too. Also Parents are a higher authority, you should almost always listen to them. Unless they're joking which happened to me. I was in the car and my Dad was driving. I saw a guy trying to be all cool with his convertible and I said that aloud to my Dad. So my Dad told me to flick him off, and I said, are you sure? And he said yeah. So I did, my Dad notice and asked me what I was doing? I told him I flicked the guy off. And then my Dad told me he was joking.

myself

School has just started last week. This year should be an easier, but I'm not sure. What I am sure about is I want this year to be over. I want to graduate. Once I graduate I will be in Israel for a whole school. Which I've been looking forward too since 1999- the year my older brother was in israel- I'm so close now. I already know who I want to visit in Israel. I have a few friends there. I know them because of Camp. I go to a Jewish camp and a few Israelis have been campers there, and there are a lot of Israeli counselors. I miss them so much and I can't wait to see them when I'm there. =) I think next year will be the best year of my life. Israel is my life. My youth group that I'm apart is all about Zionism.