That Means WHAT To You?!

This past week, as we played a game of cards in class (or should i say 5 games of cards), I realized TRULEY for the first time how different cultures can get extremley confused with eachother when in a new situation in different places. How, you ask? Well, after we each played our games, we rotated between groups - mixing different "cultures." After a game with mixed players, we all started to argue (silently, of course) about the different ways we were playing. After watching this happen for a little, Sal noticed we were as confused as could be and told us the secret of how all of us had different directions, and were therefore playing what we thought was the same game, all different ways. It made me realize for the first time just how different cultures really are. And, when things are different in different cultures, the citizens of these cultures tend to argue and ONLY want to do things their way - the way they know how to do it. This can make for arguments, fighting, and even war in the long run. For example, some cultures think of things much differently than others, and it can easily cause problems. In America, we stick our pinky finger up to "pinky promise", but in China, that could be a really offensive act. This game really opened my eyes to thinking about other cultures and I realize that I must be careful when interacting because you never know what other people might make of your gestures.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Like the title of my blog post says, why cant we all just get along? In A Bronx Tale, one of the hardest things for me to watch was how the whites treated the blacks. Something I've gone by my whole life is that no matter what color your skin is, you're all human and everyone is equal, and seeing how the past really was is so terrible to watch. Growing up I had a black woman who helped my mom around the house because both of my parents worked. She was like our day babysitter and we thought of her as a second mom. Because she was black and I was around her every day, I grew up never ever thinking twice about blacks being different than us whites. But when I saw the movie scenes in A Bronx Tale, I realized not everyone thinks like that, or has thought like that in the past. Even if people back then when this movie took place didn't think of blacks as lower than whites, they still went along with the thought because of the sociological mindset and how they were raised. One really good example of this was when C's friends were all hardcore beating up the black boys riding their bikes. The 4 white Italians, C's friends, were SO into beating up the black boys when they weren't do anything at all to bother them. C even said before the fight started that they weren't doing anything bad so why should the whites bother them? C's friends didnt seem to care about this and beat up the black boys anyways, even trying to kill them. C, at first, watched in disgrace, and then, when his close friend called him over to handle one of the black guys, C pretended to, but really told the guy (who happend to be Jane's brother) to stay down so that the other whites wouldn't bother him anymore. C obvoiusly didn't WANT to hurt anyone, but because of his friends and what they thought, he had to pretend like he wanted to fight as well. This brings us back to the sociological part of it. C was brought up to think that blacks were bad and inferior to whites, but he didn't believe it. His friends did, so he had to pretend like he did, but in all honesty he liked them and had no problem with the black people of the Bronx! I thought this was really cool and if I were living in that time, I would want to be like C because I believe that I would still think equally of our 2 different colored skins.. I HOPE I would have atleast!

Who I Am - PART II

Today in class as we discussed our lives and the groups that we are a part of that make it up, I immediatly knew that the one that influenced me the most was my cheerleading team. Throughout the activity I related everything Sal or anyone in class said, to cheer. I am with the girls on my team every single day for 4 hours or more, and I love it. If you know me, you know i'm a positive, optimistic, fun person, but that personality is tripled when im at practice with my best friends. I am never as happy as I am at practice, which is wierd because a good amount of athletes dread practices. Anyways, as much as my those girls are my teammates, my best friends, and my sisters, they are more than that. They are who I am. And I realized when doing this activity, that I honestly wouldnt be who I am today without those girls. So many things make up a person, and cheerleading is my #1. Today, for example, we had practice for the first time all week because our competitive season just ended. I was ecstatic about practicing, and usually I'm never THAT excited. Its such a good feeling to know you're going somewhere where everyone is going to be excited to see you and you'll have the best time with the best people. I know that no matter what, after school I have a place to be and people to be there with. I just hope that after high school, when cheer is over, I find a new place to replace it that is just as amazing or even better, because I love who its made me. :)

SPIT In Our Everyday Lives

The word spit has an extremly gross connotation, especially when you think about it for a while. Your spit is in your mouth, mixed with mucus, food, and who knows what else. But why is it so much more disgusting than saliva, which is literally the exact same thing? In class this week, we did an experiment with Lindsey's spit. When she "hacked a lugee" into a spoon and showed the class, everyone was extremly grossed out - naturally. But we were even more grossed out when we were asked to TRY some, aka drink the spit. Any 'normal' human would probably think this was a wierd thing to ask and say no right away.. but why? As people, we've grown up learning how to do certian things: how to act, what to say, what to think, and what to do (or not do). In this case, we've learned that spit is disgusting, especially in a spoon, and you would never want to take a sip of someone else's spit. Its just not RIGHT. But, then we get to the fact that people kiss all the time and that is an exchange of saliva. Granted, we dont think of it that way, but its true. So, isnt it a little wierd that we will gladly exchange saliva when it IS saliva (inside your mouth) with someone we are attracted to, but we would NEVER exchange SPIT (outside your mouth) when asked to. Another wierd part of it is, spit is used everyday for random things you would never imagine it. The other day, as i was putting on my makeup in the morning, I got a little on my face. I simply licked my finger and rubbed it off using my spit. This is not a wierd gesture, but still, I'm using my spit to clean my face. Also, if you watch a basketball player or other athletes who use hard floors and gym shoes, they sometimes lick their hands and then rub it on the bottem of their shoes to create fricken so they don't slip. Once again, not a wierd thing to do, but still using something we are totally against. So why is spit so negatively looked upon? I wonder if the way we see things like this will ever change.