Social Construction of Reality

The reality of C's neighborhood centers around a social construction of respect and loyalty. C is taught from a young age to view the mobsters with fearful respect. Once C becomes Sonny's protege, his respect grows to reverence. The reality of the neighborhood centers around respecting those with the power but not necessarily those a person is related to. C is also taught the unwritten loyalty between members of the neighborhood. He felt proud that he kept silent in front of the police officer rather than rat out Sonny. C grows to have more loyalty to Sonny than to his own fathers. The unwritten laws of the neighborhood are those set down by the mob.
On a darker note, C is taught to be racist from a young age. He is afraid of this friends seeing him with Jane, because she is black. His father disapproves of interracial relationships. Although C tries to be open minded, the racism of his society seeps into his subconscious. He calls Jane's brother the N word even though the day before he protected the brother from getting beat up.

Volunteering

I have done volunteer work before but not much. I am in NHS and am required to do community service, but most of the work I do contributes to the school as opposed to the community at large. Fore example, I got most of my hours last semester by being a member of the teen staff for Operation Snowball. Snowball allows me to reach out to people in school I would normally never get to know or help. One person that I helped this year at Snowball was another visually impaired student. She had just recently developed this impairment and had a very negative attitude about it. I was able to show her how to be positive and make the best of the situation. I am famous among my friends for making jokes about my blindness. I introduced this girl to myu blind humor. I told her that having a sense of humor about the blindness shows people that I am accepting an comfortable with who I am and so they can accept me in turn. By the end of the weekend this girl was very open about her impairment and was willing to talk to anyone about it. Listening to her tell her peers about her blindness with a hint of humor but without embarrassment filled me with pride.

Stranded in the Mountains

The reading about the people stuck in the mountains reminded me of "Life of Pi". In that novel, the main character, Pi, is stranded on the ocean for 7 months with only a tiger as a companion. Pi was a strict vegatarian but he was forced to eat fish in order to survive. He eventually became barbaric and just ripped at the fish with his teeth like an animal. In the reading, the people were foreced to resoret to animalistic instincts to survive. They were forced to eat other humans. The moment this struck me most was when one person found a cold dead hand somebody had stashed away for a snack. Pi was very religious, like the people in the sotry, he believed God would forgive him for eating the animals. The people in the reading knew they had to stay alive even though they may have had to eat their family members.
It is so sureal to me the think that the story in the reading really happened. I can't even envision being so desperate for my life that I would resort to canabilism. I lives such a sheltered, pampered life that tragic stories and adverse misfortune, such as poverty, seem ficional.
If I had been in their situation, I would have eaten the humans. Howerver, I don't kow if I could overcome the revoltion and sheer tragedy of eating my own family members.

The awkwardness of silence

In our society, people are generally uncomfortable with silence. It is a bad sign if you run out of things to talk about with a person. In order to have a successful conversation there should be no "awkward silences". People don't know what to do if there is a silence. Where should they look; at the other person, at the floor, at the ceiling? My level of comfort with silence depoends on who I am with. I can spend an hour in the car with my mother and not say a word. However, I would feel uncomforatble with an hour of silence with somebody I was friendly with.
A lot of times if there is an awkward silence, people with start rambling, just to fill the silence. Some people draw out stories just to fill time with talking. There are people who do just like to hear themselves talk, but I think it has to do with self-absorption rather than a need to avoid silence.
Some people do need to listen more. If one person is talking another person might feel it is necesary to constantly interrupt and ask questions just to keep up a conversation. That persoanlly annoys me. When I am telling a story I like to keep the flow of it.
In our society, people are always saying I need to get away and have some peace and quiet. But people rarely sit in literal peace and quiet to reflect. The need for peace and quiet is more a yearning to get away from a certain place or person.
I experienced an awkward silence on the first day of class when Sal just stood in front of the class and said nothing. I get anxious if I am hanging out with somebody new and there is silences.
I can sit in silence with my immediate family or my three best friends. The reason it would be awkward with anyone else is because if there is silence, I get worried that the other person will lose interest in me. It doesn't matter if my family finds me interesting;the are my family and biologically have to care about me. With my friends, I know they find me interesting and want to be with me, because they are my best friends. I would rather sit in silence with them than have a forced conversation with anyone else.
Silence can be a good thing, because it gives people time to think and reflect. However, silence can be used in a negative way: for example, the silent treatment. Our society puts silence in a bad light, because our society likes to be in constant communication. However, I think people should try to accept more, because you can enjoy somebody's company without talking to them.

Me on Blogging

I personally have never blogged before but think it is a great way to open another avenue of communication. However, so far I am not enjoying it because I am not technologically savvy. I hope to get better as the semester goes on.