Who Am I #2

My American year is almost over. It is so weird to talk about it right now. Feels like i have been living this way forever, and now, saying goodbye to this all... It feels like taking an essential part of me away. But my experience is going to stay with me forever. Yes, I have definitely changed during this past year, and I realize that I am going home, to Ukraine, as a totally different person, with different views, attitude, and character itself.

This year gave me great understanding of where i belong to and what my goals are. I know that my Motherland - is Ukraine - and it is the dearest country for me. It is the place where my parents and family are from, it is the place where my first home is, it is the place where the people are the ones who understand you best of all. Just because you share the same problems, the same language, same culture and way of living - you understand each other really well. Ukrainian flag - is my flag, it shines like the beautiful landscape of the wheat field with the deep-blue sky above. I love my country, and I am proud to call myself Ukrainian, I am proud of my culture and my roots. Ukraine is something that cannot be replaced for me, I am with Ukraine in my heart.

America made me a stronger person. This whole year I have been learning how to find a compromise in any situation, how to cooperate with any person, and how to solve the problems on my own. Yes, I did face some hardships on my way to this, last day in the United States. I faced them and I went over them. All the hardships only made me better and gave me an opportunity to improve. I have become a more independent person, more prepared for life in the real world. And I know that everything I've got during this year, I will carry it throughout my whole road of life.

What I can say is that being an exchange student is some kind of experience you can only get this way, going away from your usual life, getting out of your comfort zone and facing the real life. Your exchange is more like a life in just a year, than a year in your life. Once you leave your home to reach out and see the world, trust me, you will never be the same. Our life experiences is something that directly shapes our personalities. I know that now, and it makes me a more confident person. I know now for sure that our tomorrow, our future is in our own hands. Remember that, and it will lead you to happiness and success. Success I am looking for, and I hope, I am on the right route.

A loser or a winner?

Dear Reader,

we all are looking for big achievements but we cannot always win. Our life is full of ups and downs, and to survive in this world we need to learn how to cooperate with it. People are really stereotypical about winning. We all have some model of success which is widely thought to be right and accepted in the society. I do not know, why a lot of people connect the term "success" with money and materialistic issues. If you are rich, you are successful. If you have fame - you are successful. If you have a great career - you are successful. No, maybe you are not, but you are SUPPOSED to be like that.

The whole culture of the XXI century is built on looking for a special way to success and recognition. However, let us face the truth. We do not need that many winners in the world. Our living and the economy of the world is based on the people, who are often called "the losers". The blue-collar workers, people who do the dirtiest work, people who do not get that much money - we all depend on them. You see, once the winners of ]life disappear, we may know about it, we may be sad, but we may not suffer. However, once the people we call losers disappear, we may feel it. The economy may die in a short time, as far as who may grow and pick up the basic, food, for all of us. Who may work on the plantations? Who may keep us going?

Yes, the truth is that we may not survive. We won't be able to succeed without the people who may be under us, who may become those losers. Everything is based on the comparing. This way, there would be no success in the existence, if there was no losing. We cannot always win, too. This is life and  we all depend on the people who surround us, we depend on the conditions which anyways influence us. Success is not only money. It consists of different parts. Money is only a part of it. And money does not necessarily means happiness.

There always were and always will be winners and losers, and the percentage of the last ones in the nature may be way bigger, comparing to the first ones. This is how it has been forever. Everyone will become the winners in some field and, at the same time, the biggest losers in another field of living. You should just remember, dear reader, that every single losing is only a reason to become a better person. So, whenever you lose, you become a stronger person. We all will one day face the loss, and our main goal is to face it with readiness and belief in the better tomorrow.

Sincerely Yours,

I.D.

Boys N the Hood



1 in 21 black male may be killed during his teen age. The hood life. What is it like? Full of danger and fear. Shootings every single night wake you up and you cannot get back to bed. You are afraid, what if the next person to be shot may be you?


We have just finished watching the movie Boys N the Hood which is a great example of the hood movies, a special genre in the cinema culture which appeared in the United States. The movie has a number of sociological issues within it and, personally, I enjoyed it. It is a great dramatic story, based on the real life of the hoods in Los Angeles and, this way, in any hood either. The film brings up the questions of violence, relationships, drugs, education, family life and responsibility.


For example, at the very beginning of the movie, the main character Tre, being a boy back in 1984, appears to live with his single mother, far from his dad, and to be a bully at the school. Then his Mom sends him to his Dad, saying to his father that only a man can bring up a real man, and that is why Tre should live and grow up with him. So, now Tre gets into the real life of the hood, Crenshaw . He meets his old fellow friends here,  Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, hated by his own mother for some reasons, and his "spoiled" brother Ricky, who is treated well. As a result, 7 years later we can see how the lives of the heroes have changed. Darrin is tough and street-smart and just got out of jail for some deal again, while Ricky, being a successful football player in HS, has a family already and a child, and is going to enter a college and win a scholarship. He needs to get the SAT score of 700, so they take the test with Tre.


Tre has become a responsible man. He is mature, and knows what the life in a hood means: looking in the eyes of the death. No one is secure here: the war between the 2 major gang always goes on, Crips and Bloods never stop it. So, once Ricky gets into a conflict with the guys from the other gang and starts shooting in the air. The enemy runs away, being kind of ashamed and embarrassed, and preparing for the revenge. All in all, one day he finds Ricky, on the day he gets his test results. Ricky goes to a store with Tre and gets shot by his old enemy. He dies right on the arms of Tre, Darrin doesn't get enough time to come and save his brother, so they decide to take a blood revenge. Tre is angry, he goes together with his bros, though even his dad doesn't let him. However, on the way to the place of destination, Tre asks Darrin to let him out. I guess, he is thinking of his life, his love, plans for the future, and his dad. About the responsibility. So, he quits, but Darrin with his friends goes and kills the murderers of his own brother. By the way, Ricky got enough SAT scores to pass, 710... The next day, Darrin talks to Tre and Tre tells Darrin that he lost his brother, but  he has another one, and here he is, Tre. 14 days later, Darrin gets shot.


All in all, this story is based on the real life. The hoods still exist, and they are the same hazardous. People in there have to live in fear and are still brought up in the rules and "laws" of the hood. So, this seems to be an endless circle. But, who knows...

 

The Catfish

So, we finished watching a movie "Catfish". What kind of a life lesson did it give to us? Trust and the Internet are far from each other. People receive the "friend requests" on the social networks online daily. Sometimes we know who they are, sometimes - we don't. A lot of people just add the strangers to their online "friend lists" and start communicating right on. Is it right? Well, sometimes it turns out to be awkward and even dangerous at the moments. However, the main point is to control the situation and not let texting become your main source of getting knowledge about a person. Don't let a catfish manipulate or influence you and your attitude.


Is there a catfish in my life? Well, probably, not in the sense it is usually used. I guess, there is the catfish in the lives of every of us. People who are trying to be someone they are really not. Showing off, pretending, making different stories up. Such catfish is everywhere, it is around us. Very often we just do not realize it. However, this catfish makes our living, probably, some ways more interesting. It makes us feel alive somehow, letting us show our emotions, feelings.


Catfish. We meet such people pretty often. First time we see a person and he or she tries to make an impression on you. They pretend to be "cooler", higher in the status, not showing their real personality. For me, personally, this is something that can even possibly keep me away from such a person. I appreciate when people show their real faces, without hiding them behind some masks. Sincerity is something that attracts people, I think. Any friendship cannot be built on the lies. Any relationship, built on lies, may not last for a long time. The truth may be found one day, and the earlier it happens - the less pain it brings.


So, be yourself. Catfish may not bring happiness to you. When you are who you are you may get something real. Friend, respect, love.

Stereotyping

We live in the world where quite often people judge others just by having some wrong images of them. For example, a lot of Ukrainian people have the wrong images about USA. How cool it is to live here, how easy it is to study at an American high-school, and how many parties the teenagers throw every week. The same is about Americans who talk about Ukraine. The comments about my home country when I first came to the United States: your state is a part of Russia, right; it is really cold there, isn't it; you have a lot of bears and drink much vodka. Well, now with time and because of some particular events people can say to me something like that only on purpose to joke around. But anyways, stereotyping is still there, and people often say something about the things they are not even sure about, but which are created like the legends within a society.


My personal story of coming to the USA started with stereotypes, actually. How, you may ask? Well, I came to America to break any kinds of stereotypes, and even mutually: telling the truth about my country and culture, and exploring Your, real American life, with all the exact aspects. And I am really glad I got such a kind of opportunity. To my mind, people should not think of the whole nation as of one which has to be some kind of even. We should remember that every person is unique, and it is the same everywhere. Moreover, something that makes the difference - is something that makes this world the way it is. For instance, let us look at the world of basketball. People have a not really right idea about the best players of this game are black people. The opposite can be proven by the historic facts: the old school basketball was led by the Jewish players, and nowadays there are a lot of great and outstanding white people in basketball. But even with all of this, the stereotypes are still there.


I would say, that stereotyping is something that may always be around. Judgment by race, gender or social class - this has always taken place in our world. And our main task is to be open-minded and be able to open the eyes to see the reality once You face it, just the same as when I faced American culture - no pre-judgment which leads to success in understanding and accepting.

Animal Farm Quiz

Well, so I finished reading the book Animal Farm, and I would like to write the reaction to it. How is this book connected to sociology as the science and what parts of it can be found in the plot of the creation?


So, the book actually shows the life in the Soviet Union and under the communism. First, the animals on the Manor Farm overthrow the people's authority, and make their own "state" there. With their own rules, regulations and ideas. The ideology starts with the brilliant speech of the Old Major, after whose death the overthrow takes place. The pigs, been considered the smartest animals on the farm, take the power and create the main principles by which the new, Animal Farm, may live. They also continue singing the hymn of the revolution - "Beasts of England" - and work for their future. The 3 leaders, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squeale create and spread the 7 commandments of the new life on the farm. Among them the main claims that all the animals are equal in their rights. By the end of the story, though, the pigs looked just the same as the people and the main commandment was changed to: "All the animals are equal, but some are more equal." So, the main rules were broken, the equality was only an illusion, and all the animals on the farm who lived under the pigs power lived under the total lies of their government.


So, how is the story of the Animal Farm connected with sociology? Conflict theory - the conflict in the society between the upper and the lower class. First - between the animals of the farm and the people. The conflict critical point led to the overthrow of authority of the humans and revolution took place. Later on, the same conflict repeated in the new animals' society: the conflict between the proletariat - who were all the common animals of the farm, - and the bourgeoisie - who the pigs as "the smartest" became. So, there are two stages of the conflict within the society. And it shows that there cannot be the unlimited power which belongs to someone because it might be occasionally overthrown or, even been hidden under the right ideas - as it became under the authority of the pigs - may be found out by the people. So, the book shows the ideas and realities of communism, the system which can show in the best way the conflict theory.


At the same time, the book has the ties to the functionalist theory. It can be seen by the existence of the different roles in the society. Napoleon and, at the beginning, - Snowball - the two pigs who became the rulers and took the authority. The dogs of Napoleon - the ones who became the executors of those who were against the system - played their own role, helping the ideology to keep going. Another helper of Napoleon - Squearal - having the great abilities to the brilliant oratory, became the image of the USSR minister of propaganda, Molotov. Among the other animals I would mention Boxer - a hard-working horse who became the motion power for the communistic ideology, having the strong beliefs in it, inspired the common animals to work on the system, however, once he became unnecessary for Napoleon (who is the image of Stalin), the pig sold him to the glue factory to get profit for the alcohol. This, in fact, is what really happened in history of the Soviets. And this is what the story of the Animal Farm tells about. How once seems like a good ideology became a killing machine, and how the different roles of the different subjects in the society supported it or, on the contrary, fought against it.


Did the animals reach the healthy balance by the end of the story? No, the things even got worse with the new system. The lying of the Farm's government was found out. The goal to get to the full equality in the society became impossible, some of the animals turned out to get more privileges than the others, which proves that the perfectly equal social division cannot take place in the real life. Power is evil, and uncontrollable power is uncontrollable evil. Society can be built on the liable ideology, but it will never prove its ideas. The truth becomes visible one day anyways. And the conflict, I guess, cannot be prevented. The book "Animal Farm" is a very good creation in the world of sociology, and it makes you understand a lot of things better. So, go for it and read it!

Alien Commuters

Hard work every day. No rest and crossing the state border back and forward just to get to the place of labor and get back home. Thousands of Mexican people do this procedure daily just to survive, spending hours in the fields in USA just to earn some coins, to make at least some money for existence.


Why? What makes the people come to the United States and still live in Mexico, getting the annual income which is lower than the poverty line, measuring by the US standards? A lot of workers say that this is the only way for their families to survive - getting some kind of money in the USA, all in all, doing some dirty work, and at the same time living in Mexico which is cheaper and gives some benefits to them. This life does not sound like fun, but people have to exist that way to keep living. With no good education, no certain level of any occupation - these are those factors which make the life turn out to be like that. Filthy tunnels on the way from one country to another, low level of life, and sometimes - no respect. Unfortunately, this does take place in the world, and there are still a lot of people who decide to live in one country, and sell their labor un the other for nothing. This is the real world.


So, the immigrants come to work to the US in the great amounts daily. And nothing can effectively stop this process. USA has the image of the country of opportunities for the foreigners. The country of American Dream. And as long as the United States keep this status, it should be ready to meet new and new "guests" from abroad who are up to work and may stay in the shade of the economic system with no taxing or anything.