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.

GlobalPost

Street life. The kids who hang out in the yards in the big cities without business, skip school, do not care much about their education just because do not think that it is necessary. How do such kind of the stories usually end up? Drug dealership, gang participation, getting into some trouble and going to the jail. Some of the readers may say that this is the stereotyping, however, the statistics can prove it, which is unfortunately. But is not there an alternative to such a way of living?


Today there is another way to fix your life up even staying out off the school, spending time in the streets. There is a way to get over your negative emotions and aggression and this way is called the sport. An example for such a variant of the way to stay out of the trouble can be the story of the "Barcelona Fight Club." They started as the usual place for the street fighting kind of for fun. However, there turned out to be a lot of the teenagers who were eager to take part in this. So, the organizators decided to start a boxing club for all those who wanted to participate in it. Sport - it became something that could take away the kids' negativity, they became calmer, started to control their emotions better and got to know how to protect themselves in the troubles in the streets. Sport became a rescuer for those who came out of mostly poor families and had had all chances to spend half of their lives in prison at last. May this experience stay with them forever, even when they are 30 years old and cannot fight any more? I think so, because the skills to control yourself and never lose the temper in the dangerous or problematic situations may stay with them forever. This is something that becomes a part of your character and stays there. It is a part of the sportsman's discipline.


All in all, I think that the sport does give you some very important skills and traits of character. Being confident, cool-minded, persistent, responsible and able to analyze the situation - these are those benefits a person gets from being involved in the sport. Even such a kind of sport like boxing. Those benefits stay with you forever, and I believe that the kids from the streets who are the characters of our story may fix their lives forever.

People like us

We are all divided into different classes within a society. Our lifestyle, clothes, the way we behave, our possessions and what not influences our belonging to this or that social class. And even though I think that the existing of the different classes in a society is not so actual in the modern life, still they do have place in American social structure. So, how do the social classes influence one's life and status?


Tammy, Appalachia and poverty
Poverty. The story of Tammy is the great example to talk about when it comes to the question of social classes. She, had been growing up in the family with 21 other siblings, came into the adults' world. At the documentary she is shown as the mother of 2 kids, working at the fast-food restaurant which is placed 10,5 miles away from her home. And she has to get to her working place on foot as far as she doesn't have a driving license or even a car to drive! Her life is full of despair, and she doesn't see any chance to change something. However, her older son tries to fit in into the social class which is higher then his own. How? By wearing better clothes, through the behavior and the network of communication. He also tries to come to his goals by achieving some kind of success at studying and sports. Will he get upper on the steps of the social structure? To my mind, he can. I have a perspective that any person does have a chance to change his or her social statues. And, I think, that the way through education is one of the best ones. And there are a lot of proofs to it in the history, people who came from the lower classes did went to the higher ones. I think, everything depends only on your own desire and hard work.


High School and Social Class
Your social class usually plays a rather great role at high-schools. Depending on what class you belong to, the students hang out together, get split into the groups of interest. High school prepares you greatly to living in certain social class. You exchange your experiences and through the process of communication, you get involved and interested in something particular. The groups you belong to,  form and shape your future class belonging in a lot of cases. Moving up or down the class may be a tough change, and I am pretty sure that going higher may be a very tough way. Because going higher - means becoming better. And changing your class may create, first of all, the change in your circle of communication, which means, your friends, people you hang out with, even family - may be replaced, and not everyone can handle this. A person sometimes becomes much more isolated on their way to success. And, as far as one's belonging to the upper class is nowadays considered to be a part of success, this may require some isolation, too. Personally, I would call myself a part of the in-group at school, at least in the most of the cases.


Social class and your possessions
Everything you posses shapes your social class. According to the judgment of a society, the house you live in, your clothes, all the things you have - creates the picture of your status and class. Your prestige is something that is influenced by the stuff you have. Moreover, it depends on the quality of the products you buy and consume. For example, as the movie showed, even the bread we eat means something. The more white sliced bread you eat, the lower is your social class to be thought of. However, I do not really agree with this because this is the question of the personal tastes and preferences. However, for example, your car can tell way more about "who you are in a society". The more expensive it is, the higher your class "is supposed to be". My family back to Ukraine has a rather good car,  and even the fact that we do have one means that we belong to the middle class at least. So, comparing to American society and culture it differs. Here a family can have 3-4 cars, a car per every member, and they still may belong to the middle class. So, the social classes and judgment about them may differ from country to country, depending on the average level of life within it. And this way, something that may only make you a person of the lower-middle class in one society, may make you the person of the highest positions in some other society.


All things considered, social classes do exist in American society. They often influence the others' attitude to you and create certain image. To me personally, social classes do not really matter and do not change my communication with the people. You should know that it is actually possible to go higher or lower in the class. However, do not concentrate on your position in society. Just chase your dreams, and it will bring you higher in life anyways.

"A man makes his own luck"

Anyone can create their own lives the way they want to. We all have the power to change the way we are going throughout the whole being in this world. And everything pretty much depends on our decisions. We are the creators of our own future.




As the scientists claim, there are some main theories of the society network. Among them there are the conflict and the functionalism theories. I agree with both of them in some ways. But, all in all, I agree more with the functionalist theory. To my mind, any society is imaginary divided into different groups and each group has its own function within it. So, as a result, the groups are all interconnected and interdepending on each other. I think, that this is how a society built and created, and actually, how it works out as it is.


Throughout the sociology course, I got to take a look at the theory of Karl Marx. He is known in the history as one of the creators of the communism and its basic idea. Just a little bit before I came to the USA, I read some parts of the book which had once become the main work of his whole life. The book is called "The Capital" and it explains the main basics of the communism. Marx believed that there had always existed two social classes: oppressors and oppressed. The first are those who lead, own and have power; while the second are those who depend on the upper class. According to Marx theory, the fight between the classes constantly leads to revolution, and the dissatisfaction with their lives, the lower class - proletariat - comes to the conflict with the bourgeoisie who are the higher class. And I kind of agree on this. As an example, I could mention the same creation of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the last century, or even my own country right at these times, today. The people have been waiting for some changes for a long time, but nothing got moved from the place, maybe, even only got worse. The richest only became richer, and the life of common people - only got worse. The larger is the difference in the levels of life and the hole between the classes - the less is the understanding between them. And I do agree with this point.


I am pretty sure that anyone is able to create their own luck. I do agree with this point and this is, actually, as scientists say, one of the Americans' values - personal achievement. So, if You are still not sure about what You want to do to find Your own luck, go - and find it. Create You own future, because only You are the creator of it. And everything depends on Your own choice.

Requiem For a Dream

Yesterday we watched a movie in the class. It was Requiem For a Dream and it told a dramatic life-story of the guy who suffered from the drug addiction and who had to fight for his surviving. The movie showed how the drugs can change one's life.

 

The dream. This is, probably, what all of us are living for. We make some goals, priorities, and then we try to get closer to what we want day by day. The main characters of the movie also had the dreams. Harry wanted to become successful in life and feel independent. His Mom, Sarah Goldfarb, lived by a wish to get on the television one day, to get to be in the same goggle box she has always been in front of, and her goal was to get fit in her old dress back from her son's graduation, when she used to be happy and glad. Harry's girlfriend had a want to become a famous designer. And, all in all, everyone was eager to get to their points of desires.

 

However, all of us make decisions every day. The characters of the film tried to choose some easier ways. Drugs to forget everything, dope dealing on the streets, pills to lose weight easily and without problems. Some even had to forget about all the pride and feelings they had inside. Pain, depression, despair and all the worst inside. And the sad finish. Tragedy came with time. Harry got some kind of blood infection because of the instant shooting in the vein; Sarah lost control over her desire to lose more and more weight and ended in the mental house; Harry's girlfriend - with money but with the emptiness inside; his friend - in the jail, dope sick.


Throughout the whole story, we can see, how the life can go from the very top of hope, expectations and foresees for the tomorrow day to the very miserable conditions. Drugs destroy you, and you cannot even control it, if you are addicted to them. Being a drug-consumer, you become a slave of your own physics. And yes, you cannot be the owner of the situation - your addiction becomes it, and all of your coming actions, whether rational or not, are not controlled by your mind, but only by your physical need of getting more to satisfy the pain inside.

 

That is all. Finale. And all the dreams are dead. The last thing to do is to play a requiem for them.

Heroin or How to meet Your death faster

Drugs. Drugs addiction is nowadays a problem all over the world. And it is a screaming problem. People get caught "on the needle" at any age, being the representatives of the most various social classes, from different families and with different life ways. Some come to the addiction in the very early childhood because of the stress, family problems and what not; others - come to the needle later on, but still for the same reason: problems at work, no perspective in life, no future.

Actually, addiction - is only your personal choice. If you have enough inner strength and courage to say: "Stop!", - to yourself, at the very beginning, you may not get addicted. However, we all have the weak points and the drug dealers, brokers, and even barons use them to keep calm and stay in their business. So, how does it work the way that the killing dealership of the drugs market still exists?

Well, talking about heroin, for example, we can see the strict scheme and network within the black market. The way of this "killer" from the field to someone's vein starts all the way down in Afghanistan. This murdering business is only growing day by day. And it is only spreading. Why? The answer is that there are billions of dollars standing behind someone's tragedies. Sometimes even police gets involved in the dirty drug business, giving the coverage to the criminals who widespread the epidemic of addiction throughout the cities to its very darkest corners. And this all - because money rules the world.

Can we stop the problem of the drug addiction? Let's face the truth: probably, no. However, we can reduce it by providing different kinds of social programs which would explain "what is good, and what is bad". If we get united against the problem, we can get over it.

Crime and Deviance

Crime is a very big issue in the American society today, and everyone knows it. The statistics can only prove this fact, unfortunately, and they are shocking. According to the latest researchers from all over the world, about one-fourth of all the imprisoned from all the corners of the Earth are the US imprisoned! Sounds scary, doesn't it?


First of all, as a Ukrainian, I would say that a lot of people from the places I am originally from say that the laws and regulations in the United States are kind of too much strict in the attitude to the jail sentences. For example, In Ukraine the maximum time to be spent in jail could be simply: for the rest of life. However, in America you add the years and make up the whole term in prison, even though it may sound unrealistic, like 250 years of jail. And, for instance, your punishments are stricter and even for some of the stuff which would be called a misdemeanor in UA is considered to be quite serious in the US. And, as the consequence, the jail sentence in the prison can be much longer here for the same action, comparing to the same action in my Motherland, Ukraine. This seems to make no sense to me, however, this is a very subjective position and You, my dear reader, can think differently.


Another point is that, I guess, the problem of crime and especially the organized one, starts from the childhood. Scientists claim that the more educated people are in the group of lower risk to get involved into some kind of criminal organizations or gangs, comparing to those who do not get enough experiences at school and what not. So, I think that to solve the problem of the people in prisons in the US, You need to change, probably, even something in the basic educational system. Probably, there should be more encouraging programs for the students which would help them to find the right place in a society, to find their way to go and occupation to choose for the future.


Finally, I think that those people who are in prisons should be working. This is so because their number increases with the every new year. This means: new prison buildings, new areas, more spending on keeping those who must be isolated. To my mind, they should be kept not just for the money from the tax, but from their own work, too.


All in all, I am sure that the issue with the prisons and its inhibitors can be  solved. It is only the question of time, laws and government decisions.