Monday, October 26, 2009

1. Give a new and unique example of “Water” in your life. In other words, water is our culture and the way it affects your behaviors. Please identify a way we have not already discussed or read about that your culture is influencing you.

The water in my life, i guess would be school. If i really had to think about it, school is where i spend my most time in life where i see and interact with my friends. Its a routine that is very normal and is not avoidable. School is my social water because its where all my friends are, its an almost everyday part of life. Another example of the water around us is just how we interact with our friends. The normal environment that we live in is a major part of our lives that is just normal. You act according to your surroundings. If your always surrounded by your friends, you tend to act like your friends influencing you and your water might be different from someone else.

2. How do you navigate the water all around you? How do you behaviorally adjust to the cultural forces going on around you? An example with description.

I navigate around the water that surrounds me by social interaction. You move from place to place with a goal. The goal might be big or small but u go everywhere with a purpose. You communicate to maneuver your life. The water around you is shaped by social interactions that you make and your water is also shaped by what you believe in. You behaviorally adjust according to things going on around you. Like for example, you change according to your surroundings so when something happens in your life to change it, like a death in the family or your going through a rough patch in school, your immediate life changes due to what you make of your life. It'll change weather u want it to or not. Your water changes and u have to adjust to it because if you dont, you wont know what to do and your water becomes different from what you saw it to be before.

3. Values – what American values do you embrace and what values do/might you creatively adjust to find your own happiness? (2 examples each) Describe how you “creatively” adjust values (or think you might in the future) of society to find your own happiness in life now or in the future.

As americans, we are getting lazier and lazier. Although we keep producing the majority of technology in the world, many americans arent doing anything but sit around and do nothing but hang around with friends and party. It might show a decreasing interest in knowladge in the world, but its a value that i embrace and is accepted that i manipulate to my own happiness and enjoiment. Another value that i embrace is the value of having friends. I dont think people would consider having friends a value but it is if you think about it. To have friends means that you have people that will stand by your side no matter what. When you have friends, they accept you for who you are and you feel good about yourself, when people dont have friends, their world view is changed and has a greatly affected happiness. You cant be happy without friends. People are content without friends but are never truly happy. People can adjust their calues in the future to make themsleves fit in with where ever they are. They find happiness in the strangest places but if they can make their own choices and survive in the world constantly adjusting their values to be happy, then they probably didnt have very good values to start.
How are you like your family?
I think i follow in my brothers footsteps rather than my parents. Even though i did not grow up with my brothers i have done more to be like them without really knowing. I am not like my parents at all.
Long time friends?
I greatly resemble the ideas of my long time friends. We all seem to think alike and have a similar sense of humor and ideas about life.
When did your parents first realize you had a unique personality and what were the "signs" they saw? (Go ahead ask them!)
My parents first realized that i had a unique personality in middle school. Some of the signs were that i was strong in math, i understood mature and advanced concepts and i was starting to show potential in my life to come.
What are some habits/attitudes/etc that you do not want to be like your P's?
My parents like to raise their voices a lot which doesnt feel good emotionally. I would treat my kid a little differently cause they have the right idea on how to be good parents just not the technique.
Do you think it will be possible to work against both nature and nurture and to be different???
If you can work really hard against them, i suppose that you can do anything that you really want to.
After the in-class reading on Thursday about AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION please identify what have been the most significant people or groups (besides family) that have affected your self-concept, attitudes, behaviors, or other orientations toward life. Once you identify one or more groups, besides Family, explain how/what influences they have had.
I would say that my friends have had the greatest influences on me in my life. I am always interacting with them and our ideas have changed over the years. Because we all tend to think alike, our ideas have changed as a group. We all have some things that we dont agree on, but it helps in our friendship to balance it out. Too many people with the exact same ideas in the same place may be a little dangerous haha.