Portfolio Assignment
Chapter 6, Exercise 2
Honestly, I can't remember a time when I wasn't feeling pressures or criticisms on my body. Whether people were actually criticizing me, or whether I was just feeling societies pressures, I'm not sure, I'm not sure the differences are too great. I'm the youngest of 3 siblings, 2 brothers and 1 sister, and we constantly harassed each other at any given opportunity. No one in my family would be considered overweight, but growing up I was definitely the chubby one. My family would never say anything to make me feel bad, but I got little jokes and side remarks quite frequently.
I think that this is because my family is part of a society that values a certain set of looks. Unfortunately, we value a set of looks that is very hard to accomplish while still maintaining good health. My family valued good health higher than achieving these good looks, but still used this perspective of beauty as their orientation to looking healthy. I was ushered into soccer as a way to stay healthy and keep active, which I played all the way through high school. In high school, I learned how to appreciate my healthiness versus my body definition. However, I began working out and lifting weights in order to start shaping my body to fit our cultural norms. I think that men have it easier, and my pressures in high school were never anything that would effect my mood or happiness. I knew girls that were greatly effected by these norms, and I think men are a lot quicker to disregard a woman that is not considered "pretty".
Beauty is purely cultural, you can look at different standards of beauty within our own country as evidence. Our culture has been increasing the importance of being thin, and sometimes unhealthily thin. Delaney talks about Marilyn Monroe being a size 12, while most admired women now-a-days are around sizes 2 or 3. The media is a huge contributor to this, mostly because they primarily choose women who hold these unreasonable standards of beauty as representations of all women. I think that a lot of people can surpass our cultural importance of beauty and realize the importance of who the man or woman really is. There is a group of people in our own culture that refuse to abide by our standards of beauty, these people are confident in who they are and know where true beauty lies.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
List of Technologies I used Today
1. Cell phone
2. Electric Shaver
3. Ipod
4. Nintendo Wii
5. Flat Screen TV
6. Laptop (internet)
7. Stereo
8. Mini-Fridge
9. Printer
10. Car
11. Credit Card
12. Tivo
13. Lunch Card
14. Calculator
2. Electric Shaver
3. Ipod
4. Nintendo Wii
5. Flat Screen TV
6. Laptop (internet)
7. Stereo
8. Mini-Fridge
9. Printer
10. Car
11. Credit Card
12. Tivo
13. Lunch Card
14. Calculator
My thoughts on technology
Portfolio #5
Technology Use
It's hard to gauge how exactly how critical technology is in my life. Right now I'm thinking it probably effects 90% of my life, at least. I think back to my early childhood, and laugh at the outdated electronics I grew up using. I remember using those really big floppy disks, to play computer games on my fathers old computer, or the very first GameBoy that was roughly the size of a brick. I keep thinking back and I never had a time in my life where I wasn't using continuously developing electronics, or other technologies. My generation is a slave to technology, and from an early age we learn to master all the technologies we incorporate into our daily routines.
I found Danah Boyd's article on the class divisions between Facebook and Myspace to be extremely interesting, and disturbing. I first joined Facebook my Sophomore year in high school. I did not want to join at first, and thought that because all my friends were doing it, then it must be something that everybody is doing, and I didn't want to be a part of any clique. However, I ended up joining Facebook and would use it daily from there until this summer. I think about how people spoke of the differences between Facebook and Myspace at my high school, and they were mostly based around trends. Myspace was known as an alternative thing, it was mostly for musicians, artists and alternative style kids (emos, goths, punks, etc.). Facebook was seen as something new and good because it could make you ultra-social, all of a sudden you could know everyones business at any point in time. I think that there are class struggles behind these divisions I saw in high school as well, and the Boyd article helped reveal that to me.
I recently deleted my Facebook, due to the following reasons. First I did not like the idea that by having a Facebook I was pretty much creating an online, photo-journal of my life, for everyone to see. I think it's creepy and dangerous to have information about you saved onto an internet database for the rest of your life. Second, I think that life is a lot more interesting when you allow your relationships to be tested by time and distance. Facebook allows you to be with your friends whenever and wherever you are, which can be beneficial, no doubt. However, It takes away the mystery and magic that existed within the relationships you had with certain people.
Technology is exponentially growing in our country, and every new generation that comes will be expected to have a greater and greater reliance on technology. American culture is all about faster and more efficient, and technology is the only that both of those increase. This greatly effects our sense of time, technology has caused us to be able to find the most minimal ways to measure time. As long as these extremely small units of time exist, we will be measured up against them, constantly trying to shave off a nano second at every corner.
Technology Use
It's hard to gauge how exactly how critical technology is in my life. Right now I'm thinking it probably effects 90% of my life, at least. I think back to my early childhood, and laugh at the outdated electronics I grew up using. I remember using those really big floppy disks, to play computer games on my fathers old computer, or the very first GameBoy that was roughly the size of a brick. I keep thinking back and I never had a time in my life where I wasn't using continuously developing electronics, or other technologies. My generation is a slave to technology, and from an early age we learn to master all the technologies we incorporate into our daily routines.
I found Danah Boyd's article on the class divisions between Facebook and Myspace to be extremely interesting, and disturbing. I first joined Facebook my Sophomore year in high school. I did not want to join at first, and thought that because all my friends were doing it, then it must be something that everybody is doing, and I didn't want to be a part of any clique. However, I ended up joining Facebook and would use it daily from there until this summer. I think about how people spoke of the differences between Facebook and Myspace at my high school, and they were mostly based around trends. Myspace was known as an alternative thing, it was mostly for musicians, artists and alternative style kids (emos, goths, punks, etc.). Facebook was seen as something new and good because it could make you ultra-social, all of a sudden you could know everyones business at any point in time. I think that there are class struggles behind these divisions I saw in high school as well, and the Boyd article helped reveal that to me.
I recently deleted my Facebook, due to the following reasons. First I did not like the idea that by having a Facebook I was pretty much creating an online, photo-journal of my life, for everyone to see. I think it's creepy and dangerous to have information about you saved onto an internet database for the rest of your life. Second, I think that life is a lot more interesting when you allow your relationships to be tested by time and distance. Facebook allows you to be with your friends whenever and wherever you are, which can be beneficial, no doubt. However, It takes away the mystery and magic that existed within the relationships you had with certain people.
Technology is exponentially growing in our country, and every new generation that comes will be expected to have a greater and greater reliance on technology. American culture is all about faster and more efficient, and technology is the only that both of those increase. This greatly effects our sense of time, technology has caused us to be able to find the most minimal ways to measure time. As long as these extremely small units of time exist, we will be measured up against them, constantly trying to shave off a nano second at every corner.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Money Relations
My Relationship With Money
My relationship with money is pretty sad. Currently my primary source of income comes from mooching off of my mother, quite impressive, I know. Right now, I feel that's okay though. My food is already payed for, I don't have a car, and I have no medication I need to buy, my need for money is at an all time low. The most expensive aspect of my life would be personal entertainment. If I could find a way to keep my self entertained for free, I would barely have a need for money at all.
In the past, however, I have had quite a different relationship with money. I was the first and only child to have a legal job during high school amongst my siblings. I began working at 15 for a summer camp over the summer, the next summer I worked as a landscaper in Aspen, Colorado, my junior year in high school I began working at a local pizza shop, where I worked until I left for college, finally last year I worked as a research assistant for Jennifer Tilton. These are all times in my life where I felt that I needed a source of income in order to make myself happy.
When critically looking at the reasons I first decided to join the workforce, a large theme continuously reappears. My father left my family when I was 13, and the vacuum of structure that resulted from this greatly warped my mind. I began to demand much more independence from my mother almost instantly after my father left, this coupled with the changes my body were going through led me to believe that freedom could only be reached economically. I felt that I could talk and think about being independent all I wanted, but to go out and be independent means to get a job, make money, and buy the things you want with it.
Living 2000 miles away from the place I grew up in has greatly changed my views on independence now, which in turn has changed my relationship with money. I feel that being alone and living in an environment where I am the master of my domain declares my independence, not whether or not I make money. Sure there are plenty of things I could spend money on, but I am just as comfortable, not working and not acquiring them.
My relationship with money is pretty sad. Currently my primary source of income comes from mooching off of my mother, quite impressive, I know. Right now, I feel that's okay though. My food is already payed for, I don't have a car, and I have no medication I need to buy, my need for money is at an all time low. The most expensive aspect of my life would be personal entertainment. If I could find a way to keep my self entertained for free, I would barely have a need for money at all.
In the past, however, I have had quite a different relationship with money. I was the first and only child to have a legal job during high school amongst my siblings. I began working at 15 for a summer camp over the summer, the next summer I worked as a landscaper in Aspen, Colorado, my junior year in high school I began working at a local pizza shop, where I worked until I left for college, finally last year I worked as a research assistant for Jennifer Tilton. These are all times in my life where I felt that I needed a source of income in order to make myself happy.
When critically looking at the reasons I first decided to join the workforce, a large theme continuously reappears. My father left my family when I was 13, and the vacuum of structure that resulted from this greatly warped my mind. I began to demand much more independence from my mother almost instantly after my father left, this coupled with the changes my body were going through led me to believe that freedom could only be reached economically. I felt that I could talk and think about being independent all I wanted, but to go out and be independent means to get a job, make money, and buy the things you want with it.
Living 2000 miles away from the place I grew up in has greatly changed my views on independence now, which in turn has changed my relationship with money. I feel that being alone and living in an environment where I am the master of my domain declares my independence, not whether or not I make money. Sure there are plenty of things I could spend money on, but I am just as comfortable, not working and not acquiring them.
Chapter 2 exercise
Portfolio Assignment
Delaney, Chapter 2, pg. 74
1. The spatial divisions that I noticed at the University of Redlands are all pretty unique to the college experience. It's not too often that you find a large open space within an urban environment that is purely designed for the entertainment of students. Open, recreational, space is something that the designer of our school must have appreciated, we have the main quad, freshman quad, fire pit and orange groves.
Apart from that, we have very defined spaces dealing with work and leisure as well, however, in some instances the two of these overlap. First of all there are certain buildings designated for "work" or studying. We have buildings like the Hall of Letters, Duke Hall, Larsen Hall, Gregory and others that are purely designed for an academic function, they are places we go to learn. We also have places like the pool, or the basement of my dorm, where we play billiards, that are designed for entertainment and leisure. There are also places where these two worlds collide, such as the lobby of Hunsaker. In the lobby on any given day you can find an arrangement of students studying, conversing or playing pool. Hunsaker would be considered a liminal space, not quite work, not quite leisure.
The final differences in spatial division that I noticed were between dorms. I live in Fairmont Hall, which is a hall designed around social justice and promoting equality. There are several other themed living environments as well, Merriam focuses on environmental science, North is a substance-free hall, Williams only accepts freshman, Grossmont is an all-girls dorm, and Johnston is living in it's own little world. These spatial divisions separate students by beliefs, or interests. Almost acting as nation states, each hall has it's own agenda.
2. There are a couple ways in which different categories of people relate to different spaces. The most obvious one to a young man like myself would be what we call "Frat Row". On campus we have a block of houses that belong to the greek life on campus. They have their own section of campus and congruently focus most of their time on the people and events that go on in that side. Fraternities and Sororities frequently throw parties, where a majority of the people that attend are also part of the same or other greek houses.
Another example of how space relates to certain groups deals with the janitorial staff at our school. They move within the back kitchens, store rooms, bathrooms and other unseen locations, they are the people behind the scenes of Redlands. They have their own groups of coworkers, work amongst themselves and from what I've been noticing the past week eat and socialize amongst themselves as well. Other staff such as professors or secretaries tend to separate themselves from these workers, both spatially and socially. However, the maintenance staff are never considered intrusive, they have the capability to enter any building on campus and not be considered out-of-place.
One last way that certain groups are spatially separated is by mobility. Our campus is designed around walking, every building on campus is within a 5 to 10 minute walk from any given location. However, our school isn't quite handicap friendly. Buildings like Hall of Letters and Duke are handicap accessible, but are on top of a huge hill that would provide turbulence for someone who has a hard time walking or is in a wheelchair. My dorm and several others that I have noticed have no handicap entrance, and would be quite impossible for someone who is in a wheelchair to navigate between floor levels. This separates those who can manipulate stairs and those who can not.
3. I think the University of Redlands specifically defines activities by space intentionally. I think that they do this in order to provide organization for the constant flow of students in and out of Redlands. By defining certain spaces with certain activities you can guarantee that every time you need to do a certain activity you can get it done at this certain place, which is great for students that constantly have an agenda they need to take care of daily. We have a fitness center that is specifically designed for exercise, I have never seen anyone studying in there, and I probably never will. We have the Chapel that is designed for prayer and worship, but also for public speakers and choir rehearsals. We have a football stadium for sporting events, and a commons for eating. All of these places have certain functions, and when looking at the architecture, one often finds these places are structurally designed for these certain activities.
Delaney, Chapter 2, pg. 74
1. The spatial divisions that I noticed at the University of Redlands are all pretty unique to the college experience. It's not too often that you find a large open space within an urban environment that is purely designed for the entertainment of students. Open, recreational, space is something that the designer of our school must have appreciated, we have the main quad, freshman quad, fire pit and orange groves.
Apart from that, we have very defined spaces dealing with work and leisure as well, however, in some instances the two of these overlap. First of all there are certain buildings designated for "work" or studying. We have buildings like the Hall of Letters, Duke Hall, Larsen Hall, Gregory and others that are purely designed for an academic function, they are places we go to learn. We also have places like the pool, or the basement of my dorm, where we play billiards, that are designed for entertainment and leisure. There are also places where these two worlds collide, such as the lobby of Hunsaker. In the lobby on any given day you can find an arrangement of students studying, conversing or playing pool. Hunsaker would be considered a liminal space, not quite work, not quite leisure.
The final differences in spatial division that I noticed were between dorms. I live in Fairmont Hall, which is a hall designed around social justice and promoting equality. There are several other themed living environments as well, Merriam focuses on environmental science, North is a substance-free hall, Williams only accepts freshman, Grossmont is an all-girls dorm, and Johnston is living in it's own little world. These spatial divisions separate students by beliefs, or interests. Almost acting as nation states, each hall has it's own agenda.
2. There are a couple ways in which different categories of people relate to different spaces. The most obvious one to a young man like myself would be what we call "Frat Row". On campus we have a block of houses that belong to the greek life on campus. They have their own section of campus and congruently focus most of their time on the people and events that go on in that side. Fraternities and Sororities frequently throw parties, where a majority of the people that attend are also part of the same or other greek houses.
Another example of how space relates to certain groups deals with the janitorial staff at our school. They move within the back kitchens, store rooms, bathrooms and other unseen locations, they are the people behind the scenes of Redlands. They have their own groups of coworkers, work amongst themselves and from what I've been noticing the past week eat and socialize amongst themselves as well. Other staff such as professors or secretaries tend to separate themselves from these workers, both spatially and socially. However, the maintenance staff are never considered intrusive, they have the capability to enter any building on campus and not be considered out-of-place.
One last way that certain groups are spatially separated is by mobility. Our campus is designed around walking, every building on campus is within a 5 to 10 minute walk from any given location. However, our school isn't quite handicap friendly. Buildings like Hall of Letters and Duke are handicap accessible, but are on top of a huge hill that would provide turbulence for someone who has a hard time walking or is in a wheelchair. My dorm and several others that I have noticed have no handicap entrance, and would be quite impossible for someone who is in a wheelchair to navigate between floor levels. This separates those who can manipulate stairs and those who can not.
3. I think the University of Redlands specifically defines activities by space intentionally. I think that they do this in order to provide organization for the constant flow of students in and out of Redlands. By defining certain spaces with certain activities you can guarantee that every time you need to do a certain activity you can get it done at this certain place, which is great for students that constantly have an agenda they need to take care of daily. We have a fitness center that is specifically designed for exercise, I have never seen anyone studying in there, and I probably never will. We have the Chapel that is designed for prayer and worship, but also for public speakers and choir rehearsals. We have a football stadium for sporting events, and a commons for eating. All of these places have certain functions, and when looking at the architecture, one often finds these places are structurally designed for these certain activities.
Response to Malinowski reading
Portfolio Assignment #2
When I think of Myths, my first instinct is Greek mythology. I have an aunt that lives in Greece, and for every gift-giving holiday, I received some sort of book on Greek mythology. I think of mythology as folklore, or storytelling. I think that the reason why the myths were created we to teach the people in that society important life lessons. It's function is to prove by example that acting a certain way will lead you to a certain place. I always considered these myths some what universal, I thought the morals and ethics they used could be applied to everyone, and that each persons perspective could use the myth for their own purpose.
However, Malinowski begs to differ. He states that above all Myths and Magic are "cultural forces". He says that these two things can be used to analyze how people lived, their relationship with nature and the unknown, and the economic concerns of man. Malinowski says, "...We have realized that myth serves principally to establish a sociological charter, or a retrospective moral pattern of behavior." By studying myth, we can backtrack to figure out these things from civilizations that have long been assimilated into industrialized culture. Malinowski explains that myths are constantly regenerated, rewritten from generation to generation in order to keep cultural relevance.
When I think of Myths, my first instinct is Greek mythology. I have an aunt that lives in Greece, and for every gift-giving holiday, I received some sort of book on Greek mythology. I think of mythology as folklore, or storytelling. I think that the reason why the myths were created we to teach the people in that society important life lessons. It's function is to prove by example that acting a certain way will lead you to a certain place. I always considered these myths some what universal, I thought the morals and ethics they used could be applied to everyone, and that each persons perspective could use the myth for their own purpose.
However, Malinowski begs to differ. He states that above all Myths and Magic are "cultural forces". He says that these two things can be used to analyze how people lived, their relationship with nature and the unknown, and the economic concerns of man. Malinowski says, "...We have realized that myth serves principally to establish a sociological charter, or a retrospective moral pattern of behavior." By studying myth, we can backtrack to figure out these things from civilizations that have long been assimilated into industrialized culture. Malinowski explains that myths are constantly regenerated, rewritten from generation to generation in order to keep cultural relevance.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Assignment #1 Questions
Portfolio #1
Answers to Questions:
1. I think that participation in my fieldwork was crucial for gaining the depth I found in my experience in San Bernardino Juvenile Hall. Especially in this unique environment, my participation directly effects how the class will unfold and what information will be shared. I found that the inmates give you only as much as you give them, if you are reserved and afraid to give them 100% of your devotion they pick up on it and return the same energy back to you. I think that participating helps assimilate yourself into the environment your studying, instead of being an outside observer you become one of them, actively participating in the same events they are.
By participating I was able to compare their stories versus mine, and provide that comparison for them as well. This class is for both our and their learning, by participating I allow them to learn from my experiences as well. It allows for them to gain a perspective they might not be so familiar with.
2. Having a key informant added perspective to my understanding. Jennifer Tilton has been working in Juvenile Halls for years, and having her break it down really helped in my understanding of what exactly I was observing. She helped me go from seeing this as a personal experience to analyzing the power schemes and social institutions directing our incarcerated youth. Having a key informant allowed for a critique of my behavior as well. Jen and I talked about my role as a mentor/participant/volunteer. This is important because it gets me to analyze why I act a certain way during our sessions and what are the results of that.
3. First of all, I think that a questionnaire would be met with horrible results in the population that I was working within. Most of these young women have only seen questionnaires like this in school, and most of them had horrible experiences with school. When an impersonal, formatted, question-answer questionnaire is seen by these girls, most of them would pretty much blow it off. As I stated in my notes, most of these young ladies used personal stories to illustrate their points, this isn't very possible with a questionnaire, it doesn't provide an open environment where they feel they can tell these personal experiences. By involving myself in the activities, I gained perspective on my position within the social institutions I'm studying, this also is not possible with a questionnaire.
4. A questionnaire would be great for gathering statistics within these groups. By gathering written data, you could be able to see how many people have the same feelings on certain subjects. This could be formatted into statistics about how incarcerated youth think about whatever the questionnaire is asking. It's also a more efficient way of gathering information. In a participant-observation, there are a lot of tangents and often times we stray from the topic at hand, a questionnaire makes sure you're answering questions they think are important. Honestly, I think those are the only upsides to a questionnaire, all-in-all I find them very misleading and don't capture the true beliefs of the individuals represented.
Answers to Questions:
1. I think that participation in my fieldwork was crucial for gaining the depth I found in my experience in San Bernardino Juvenile Hall. Especially in this unique environment, my participation directly effects how the class will unfold and what information will be shared. I found that the inmates give you only as much as you give them, if you are reserved and afraid to give them 100% of your devotion they pick up on it and return the same energy back to you. I think that participating helps assimilate yourself into the environment your studying, instead of being an outside observer you become one of them, actively participating in the same events they are.
By participating I was able to compare their stories versus mine, and provide that comparison for them as well. This class is for both our and their learning, by participating I allow them to learn from my experiences as well. It allows for them to gain a perspective they might not be so familiar with.
2. Having a key informant added perspective to my understanding. Jennifer Tilton has been working in Juvenile Halls for years, and having her break it down really helped in my understanding of what exactly I was observing. She helped me go from seeing this as a personal experience to analyzing the power schemes and social institutions directing our incarcerated youth. Having a key informant allowed for a critique of my behavior as well. Jen and I talked about my role as a mentor/participant/volunteer. This is important because it gets me to analyze why I act a certain way during our sessions and what are the results of that.
3. First of all, I think that a questionnaire would be met with horrible results in the population that I was working within. Most of these young women have only seen questionnaires like this in school, and most of them had horrible experiences with school. When an impersonal, formatted, question-answer questionnaire is seen by these girls, most of them would pretty much blow it off. As I stated in my notes, most of these young ladies used personal stories to illustrate their points, this isn't very possible with a questionnaire, it doesn't provide an open environment where they feel they can tell these personal experiences. By involving myself in the activities, I gained perspective on my position within the social institutions I'm studying, this also is not possible with a questionnaire.
4. A questionnaire would be great for gathering statistics within these groups. By gathering written data, you could be able to see how many people have the same feelings on certain subjects. This could be formatted into statistics about how incarcerated youth think about whatever the questionnaire is asking. It's also a more efficient way of gathering information. In a participant-observation, there are a lot of tangents and often times we stray from the topic at hand, a questionnaire makes sure you're answering questions they think are important. Honestly, I think those are the only upsides to a questionnaire, all-in-all I find them very misleading and don't capture the true beliefs of the individuals represented.
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