Social Phenomena

I tried this excercise today and figured i'd share it with you.
Think about different social phenomena that you generally perceive as natural in your everyday life. Pick one and discuss alternative ways your daily life might proceed if this element had been different through out history.

-Greeting friends and close relatives with a kiss in the cheek
- Better education, better job
- Eating spagetti with a fork
- Cereal with milk
- Crying due to death or when something really hurts emotionally or physically.
- Wearing black at a funeral
- Wearing a white dress for your wedding
- Writing with your right hand
- Wearing gloves, hat, scarf during the winter season.
- Rural neighborhood safer/ Urban neighborhood dangerous.

The act of crying is natural to me, whether it's crying at a funeral, your mother punishing you as a child, falling and breaking a bone or simply because love hurts. Crying due to all these reasons are normal and natural to my everyday life. If the act of tears didn't exist a lot of things would change. For example, at a funeral wearing white or bright colors, laughing rather than crying. If instead of laughing at a joke during a comedy skit everyone cried. Just the thought of it doesn't seem right to me. I guess it's because society is use to connecting tears primarily with sadness and laughter with joy. However, some people may say, "I'm crying because I am happy, 'tears of joy." For example, the birth of a child, or crying at a wedding or your wedding because you're marrying the person of your dreams.

Nonetheless, the majority of the time when someone cries it is usually because of something bad and when someone laugh it's because of something good that happened to them. As for me, I am a very emotional person so I cry even for the little things in life. Not being able to under any circumstance would be bazaar.

Higher Education

I Reviewed the statistics on educational levels in the United States that appear on the National Center for Education Statistics Web site, and then took a look at the historical summary of U.S. job categories available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ftp site.


First of we know that earlier in the years not that many people had a college degree. They were able to work with no credentials. Now a day attaining a college degree means getting a better job. The reason for this is that jobs became more demanding throughout the years requiring every prospective candidate to have credentials. However, not every employer’s demands are the same. Depending on the job position some only require a high school diploma other required a bachelor’s degree or higher. Usually those who have a master’s degree or PhD tend to have more advantage over those who don’t.

The truth of the matter is that sometimes race plays a big role in getting hired for a position. It’s about being better than the other applicant, a competition. A simple example would be between a white man and a black man; both went to top colleges and have great credentials. Most of the time the white man ends up getting the position just because he’s white. I may be wrong but it still happens in some cases.

Moreover, due to the rise of higher education people are less likely going to apply to manufacturing jobs. One would think that they would since it doesn’t require a college degree but the idea of having a college degree makes them feel powerful, capable of attaining a better position (CEO of a company for example).
Speaking from my own personal experience, I’m the first in my family to graduate college and attain a bachelor’s degree. To my mother that is the ultimate, she pushed my sister and I to go to college and get a good job. I will never forget her words, “I don’t want my girls to end up like me, a housekeeper”. So now you can imagine the pressure that my sister and I feel to better ourselves. The truth is I don’t know what I will be doing after college. I feel so overwhelmed just thinking of how many other students are graduating this year and looking for a job. It scares me. My ideal career is working for a broadcast news channel but I’m not certain that it will happen at least not yet. I’m currently working for the ALDO shoes company and remember telling one of my co-workers that I did not want to continue working at ALDO after graduation. From the looks of it, I might just be.
The book also came across another interesting topic whether education was important, “do schools matter?” I know someone who didn’t get a college degree and works for PBS. That makes me feel lousy. Is that fair? I guess sometimes it’s also who you know, “networking” and previous work experience.

Overall, education and job demands are going to keep rising. With everyone attaining credentials, employers will then increase the job requirements in order to distinguish applicants.

T'ai Chi

When people think about T’ai Chi, they automatically see it as a method for relaxation and meditation rather than martial arts. From my personal experience I first learned about t’ai chi during my Intro to World Religions class lecture. There I learned that the practical exercises of Tai Chi are also situated in a wider philosophical context of Taoism. During this exercise people are trying to aim for the ‘chi’ and its circulation within the body, if achieved it is believed that the health and vitality of the person are enhanced. This could be the reason why it is compared to nature, life force energy; it flows through the veins of the earth giving birth to trees, mountains, etc the same way it enhances the health and vitality of a person. Together T’ai chi means the heavenly heavens, you can’t measure chi or Tao (Dao) but you can feel it and sense it.

At the time that I was just learning about T’ai Chi, I didn’t know exactly what it looked like and how to practice the sets of movements. Further on, I was able to see a video where I saw this particular exercise. I remember seeing a large group of people in a park moving slowly in unison through a series of “dance like” movements, at least that’s what it seemed to me. I remember thinking to myself how it looked “easy” but then they explained that it could take up to 30 years or more to actually perfect the movements and gain the ‘chi’. Regardless, of how long it took I wanted to give it a try. Now that I’m actually learning T’ai chi, it’s not as easy as it looks.

It takes time, practice and dedication to actually remember all the sets’ of movements. The slow and fluid movements of tai chi require concentration, co-ordination and balance. Nevertheless, I must say that it benefits in terms of correcting movement patterns, poor postural and alignment which can contribute to tension or injury. In my case, one specific primary area of physical tension/injury is my right ankle. I sprained my ankle to a third degree meaning I was very close to fracturing my ankle. Due to this, sometimes it’s difficult to maintain balance on my right ankle. It almost feels like something is pinning it down to the floor. In order to alleviate the tension I move slowly side to side to release some weight from the injured ankle. I realize the more I do this, the less it hurts the next time I try the same movement. Also, I try to cultivate a sense of tranquility and calmness, executing any tension in my body. I feel that the more I practice the movements, the less I think about “what comes next? Or how my feet should be aligned?”

Overall, T’ai chi has helped me reduce tension, stress and the ability to deal with difficult situations. Whenever I feel overwhelmed I do a set of movements taking me to a clearer and relaxed mind. It has also helped me improve my breathing not only during class but with outside activities as well. Not to mention at the end of every class I feel a sense of strength in my arms but mainly in my leg muscles. I would recommend any one to try it out, there’s nothing to lose.

Culture

Think about the multiple uses of the concept culture.

I kept a journal for three days and documented in which the concept of culture comes up in my day-to-day life.

Day 1: This assignment made me realize some things I ate during lunch time that people normally wouldn’t eat. I saw it as “normal” until my friend pointed it out. After my meal I usually grab a plate of cucumbers and shower them with hot sauce, lemon juice and salt. My group of friends all come from a different background and some do not understand why I eat my cucumbers that way. One of my friends is half Ecuadorian and Mexican, her and I have a field day with the cucumbers. Eating cucumbers like that is part of our culture. I remember growing up eating a bowl of spicy, juicy and salty cucumbers instead of potato chips. Some of my non Hispanic friends have tried it but cannot deal with the spiciness.

Day 2: Today I went home and realized that I am more connected to my culture when I am there. Home made food is a great example. There is nothing better than going home to eat some home made, Latin dish. We all eat together as a family and pray before we eat. Most of the time when I'm home I only speak Spanish and watch “tele-novelas”, soap-opera with my mother. When I go to bed I have to give my mother a kiss goodnight and receive her blessing and vice versa. In other words, with her index and thumb finger she caresses my forehead with the sign of the cross (father, son and Holy Spirit) and ending with a kiss on her hand and mouth. Oh yes, did I forget to mention my mother and I do not kiss on the cheek. Growing up my sister and I were taught to kiss our mother on the lips. Without this good night blessing I can not go to sleep. I remember when I first moved on campus the first few weeks were difficult because my mother wasn’t around to kiss good night. I now call her to wish her a good night.

Day 3: I honestly can not think of anything else that I do in which the concept of culture comes up. When I am back at school my routine is always the same but overall I feel that I, myself represent culture. The way I speak, how I interact with people, what I wear, what I eat, how I think, my values and the music I listen to are all a part of culture. Culture is both implicit and explicit. Explicit being the rules and norms of this society and implicit are the things that our parents never had to teach us but what we learn through observation. Example for me it would be dancing salsa, how to cook, do laundry and wash the dishes.

Celebrating my 15 birthday is a part of my culture also known as “quinceañera.” Here in the United States they celebrate “sweet 16.” Instead of the usual cake and family get together, the parents organize this big event in celebration of the transition from a child to a young lady. Not only to we celebrate at a reception but we also have a mass ceremony. Here we receive the reverends blessings.
I just realized that even my name is a concept of culture, the history behind it and why my mother named me Tatiana. She combined her name, Ana with her best friend’s name, Taña and made Tatiana. Little did she know that Tatiana is a Russian name. :o)

*The girl's name Tatiana \t(a)-tia-na\ is pronounced tah-sh'-AHN-ah. It is of Russian and Latin origin. Feminine form of Tatius, a Roman family clan name.

Family

Demonstrating the diversity of family forms.

In my opinion, I feel that many people nowadays have their own definition of what a family consist of. However, advertisements, television shows, movies and books give us a different sense of what a family should be. It is portrayed as the nuclear family, consisting of a father, mother and their biological children. Out of curiosity I looked up the dictionary meaning to the word family and this is what I got;
a. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.
b. Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.

As for me, my definition of family means relatives and the people who I hold closest to my heart. But if someone were to ask me in terms of parents and siblings, I would say my family is my mother and my sister. Our family consists of three people. My mother married my father in El Salvador where I was born. They separated months after, then my mother and I moved to New York when I was 8 months old. Technically my mother is still married to my father but have no relationship. She is currently in a relationship with her boyfriend and living under the same roof in other words cohabitation. Nonetheless, she introduces him as her husband even though they are not married because they can’t legally.

When asking my friends about what family meant to them, the majority of them said the people who live under the same roof whom they have shared their entire life with. From the ten friends that I asked, three of them were raised and still live with both parents (Mom and Dad). Four of them have parents who are separated and have extended family on each side. Yet one of them does not consider her fathers children family because she doesn’t associate with them. She goes on by saying, “I don’t see or talk to my step sister or brother, maybe on holidays. I know little about them and don’t share the same relationship like the one I share with my sister who I grew up with therefore I can’t really say they are family.”

The other three are living with their foster family. One of them lives only with her foster mother and has no recollection of a male father figure present in her life. Two of them are not only my friends but also my God brothers. They were raised by their foster parents and no nothing other than them as their family. Their parents who are also my God parents helped my mother raise my sister and I, for this reason I consider them family. Believe it or not, I consider them more family than my biological father because they raised me as though I were their own blood.
I honestly was not surprised at the results I got from my friends. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to me. Nowadays there are more single parents working and raising children on their own. However, you can still come across some households who portray the ‘traditional’ family. Therefore, it’s nice to know that there are couples who can maintain a relationship and family with their spouse but its great when a single mother or father doesn’t give up on their children and raise them on their own, my opinion of course. I speak only from experience.