Through the Looking Glass

As with many things that I encounter on a daily basis this post is about the topic of a conversation. This time it was with my mother. On one of the tangent thoughts that we both tend to have our topic drifted away briefly from the then hour long discussion on nutrition, exercise, education, and other things we landed upon introspection and in turn the 'looking glass self' concept that we discussed earlier this quarter. As we were talking about the ever growing problem of obesity, it came up that there is a bad stigma attached to being severely over weight. I am not trying to argue whether that is well placed or not, I am simply stating that such a stigma does in fact exist. Both me and my mother realized that we had similar findings of our own personal thoughts about the appearances of this people. I then asked the question, "Do they even know what people think about them?" They must know. They must. I find it highly improbable that a sentient being can go day after day and not catch a glimpse of what most of society is thinking about them. Or can they really not see themselves through the looking glass. Can they not see that people treat them differently and relate that to the way that they appear?

Which led me to another thought on a similar line. Suppose that obese people can see what people think of them. Suppose they don't like what people think of them. The question then is, "why aren't they changing?" What is our society doing or not doing to promote change versus an inactive lifestyle that is clearly far from healthy. Are there no sanctions tat are effective? Or is our society just too scared to be offensive to impose sanctions that are effective? All of these question I have no answer for. I am just wondering what will it take? How much will society take? How long can this go on? I just hope that for their health and safety not too much longer.

Friends of Friends

Here is a little story about a friend of a best friend.

Today when starting a casual conversation over Facebook with a guy, who we will name X for his anonymity, I was told some devastating news. His girlfriend of the last several years had cheated on him with one of his really good friends. To make matters worse, X and this girl, Y, were in a very popular band around the area of my hometown and who were just starting to make some noise on the regional level of the industry, which was really exciting to them. Needless to say the band is now on a break.

My first reaction was simple surprise to this news. X is a really nice caring, guy who you wouldn't think of any one who knows him doing anything bad towards him. And then in an instant two people very close to him cut him down from behind. I felt so terrible for him. But my second reaction was, "why is he telling me this?"

Here is my history with X, he is a really good friend of one of my best friends. I know him through only a few times hanging out in groups of 10 or larger. Wh really don't know each other that well. He is just a really nice guy who I know through a friend. He was always nice to me and all but it wasn't like we hung out a lot together.

So wouldn't you know it the first thing that pops into my head only minutes after ending this sad conversation with X was the strength of weak ties. I started talking to X today trying to figure out how to get a ticket to his next show, and the next thing I know he is telling me how his life has been shattered into pieces the last few weeks. Now personally I don't mind people telling me their baggage especially if I like that person and care for their well being. But I found it odd that he was just so out in the open with me.

But this turns into a lesson in the strength of weak ties that people have in their lives. To me and him our relationship is a weak tie, a friend of a friend. But through that he was able to vent and share his troubles with me. Which in turn may cause a stronger tie to be created. On the other end of the spectrum girl Y and guy Z broke their strong ties to X when they decided to lie to him and the destroy the relationships. They chose whether conscious or not to leave a group and the shattered their ties. No matter how strong those ties may have been Y and Z's will power overcame it and X has to deal with the pain that comes when strong ties are broken.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Living in the dorms isn't always fun and exciting. I did not have a peaceful night of sleep, at all. Rain was falling on my air conditioner and the sound was so loud I couldn't even hear my TV. After finally getting to sleep I was woken up by my RA banging on my door at 7:30am and the tornado sirens going off. I wasn't worried about getting swept away but my RA made EVERYONE wake up and go downstairs into the basement. This is the 2nd time in 2 quarters that the sirens went off and we had to all go downstairs to the basement. 

RAs really suck sometimes. Plain & simple. But they are like the "state" of your residence hall. The RAs, along with the RD, direct and regulate all aspects of living in the residence hall. When the boys upstairs are blaring "What is Love" or playing basketball in the hallways at midnight during the school week, the RAs create order and return the hall back to peace and quiet. Each floor also has their own "Constitution" that the floor-mates created together during the first week of school. You also created a roommate agreement which is like a "rule of law" between your roommate and yourself. I always get "sanctioned" for having my music up too loud. I just like to beat dat beat up, my RA does not appreciate it. Haha.

Most of the time I can't stand my RA. But this morning, when she was BANGING on my door, I understand she's just trying to make sure we are as safe as can be. The "state" of your residence hall aren't supposed to be your best friends, they're supposed to keep you in line and make sure you are safe. The large scale "state" of the US, the government aren't supposed to be our best friends either.

In class we talked about the state as more of a large scale organization, like our government authority. But just like almost all of the terms we have discussed in lecture, you can think about the term and relate it back to your personal life. The "state" in my life is more small scale than the US government, but the RAs and RD still make up the "state" in my own life.

Sociology Final Project

Hey guys--

Our project is due next Friday of Week 10, March 11. So get blogging!
Each person needs to make five posts. So make sure you don't wait until next Thursday.

I'll be making a post on the blog later today. Everyone should know what we're doing by now.... So postpostpost!

We can post pictures, videos, etc. It doesn't just have to be like a journal entry, but make sure you bring in Sociology and the terms associated with it.