The Gift of Giving

So in class we talked about the gift giving. It's that time for santa, christmas, and gifts. I love the holiday season, but always freaking out about gift giving. It's always a shitty situation. One thing we didn't talk about in class is the awkward "Oh, you got me something? shit now i have to get you something". that has happened to me so many times amongst me and my friends. I only really get close friends gifts, but sometimes other friends who i am not so close with get me gifts as well. I never anticipate for it and therefore I have to rush to get them something... usually on sale and last minute. It's never something that I like to do. I like to put thought into my gifts, not get it because someone else got me something.

Another thing that stresses me out about gift giving is the idea of if the person likes it or not. Between me and my family, we are always honest and say "ook i like this" or "ok, no i don't like this". It makes things so much easier, and there is no front that a person has to put on. The person doesn't have to hide their true feelings and wonder "what the hell am i gonna do with this?"

For this christmas my mom is trying a new approach to the idea of gifts. My niece and nephew are both under the age of 10, and this year my mom really wants to show them what it means to give, especially during the holidays. My mom is going to donate money on behalf of my niece and nephew for charity. I feel like that is genuinely the idea of gift giving. Isn't that what the holiday season is for? It's about others. I feel like just giving a gift is not thoughtful mostly. you just feel obligated to get the person something. But for my mom's idea, you are really taking thought into someone's life and giving them an opportunity to share in the holiday spirit. my mom is trying to instill in my family that's it's not always about the materialistic things. The holiday spirits are about compassion and selflessness in such a joyous season. I like this idea. I think this is the true meaning of the holiday season.

Speaker comes to talk about King Corn

The producers of King Corn came to talk to class today. When we were talking and discussing the movie, it was really interesting and made a huge impact on the way I viewed food. It’s so easy to just pick things off the shelves, and never look at what is going into your food. After talking about this, I went grocery shopping and made a conscious effort to try and buy things organic or without high fructose corn syrup or any processed soy beans. What I have found is that it is easy to find these things, but it is also hard at the same time. Soy beans are now taking the place of corn. I found it in almost 10 things I was about to buy. It’s a little harder to find and more expensive to buy organic things, but I feel the change will be healthier. This may be the reason that a lot of people are obese. People are not conscious of the foods we eat, and do not know what is going into our foods. This is kinda scary and I think we need to know and make a change in order to be healthy.

King Corn

King Corn is an independent film talking about the effects of corn, and the American consumption of corn. Corn is one of the highest consumed commodities in America. This is because of the process of corn into ethanol, high fructose corn syrup, etc. 90 million acres of corn is produced in America today. This was an interesting film showing the effects. It’s something that America doesn’t think about. We just consume the product without thinking. It will be interesting to see what the producers will have to say on Wednesday.

Black Friday - DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING

Well, today was the day after thanksgiving, BLACK FRIDAY! Black Friday is also a predictability. Every day after Thanksgiving, there is always sales, sales, sales. People buy Christmas presents because things are half price, full price, or whatever. It’s funny how much this has become part of American culture. People will wait outside of walmart or any store to get their hands on the products before it is sold out. MASS AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR HOURS ON END TO GET TO JUST ONE STORE! Malls are always packed, there are always long lines in stores, it's CRAZY! But this has also become something that is dangerous. People die over these things. I dunno. It’s a great day because of the sales, but people become so obsessed and crazy, it’s hard to deal with sometimes.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a great time of year. I feel like if people didn’t have it, people would be super upset. This is a tradition that is always happening, on the date, same time every year. This goes back to predictability. People always expect turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, pumpkin pie, and stuffing. It’s at almost every thanksgiving dinner, no matter where you are. Thanksgiving is such a festive time, and a lot of people say it’s their favorite. It’s for one reason, and one reason only. It’s not always for family (which I find surprising). It’s the one day that people can indulge in food, and eat copious amounts at a time. People can put their diets away (or not) and reach a state of paralysis. It’s a fantastic holiday. No School, lots of food, and always good company. Who wouldn’t want a holiday like that?

False Self Revisited

In a lot of ways we like to look at ourselves in a positive light. However, when it comes to friends, we like to lower ourselves in order to fit in. People will dumb themselves down in order to not cause conflict with their group of friends and themselves. Kids don’t like to be over achievers. Instead they want to seem like everyone else. I don’t understand this. In contrast, I feel that my group of friends did not do this. We never really spoke about grades, or how well we did, but we always said “oh I did good” or “oh I did bad” or whatever. I feel that in high school, it is especially important to fit in and look cool. If you “over-achieve” you are outcast. If you don’t try hard you may disappoint yourself or your family, maybe even your teachers. People also see success as a form of guilt. I find this way of thinking to be odd. However, this causes jealousy. I know within my own family, people are jealous of other people because they have nice things. Instead of just being happy for them, people try to create competition. For what? For recognition? Honestly to me that is stupidity. Either way, it is always a cycle in our society. People always want to do things to fit in. Over exceeding in things is not something that is part of the plan.

Projects

So we have final projects and at first we were going to do the effects of r&b music through out class and culture. However, it’s a big project and 15 minutes might not be enough time. In class we have never talked about the military as an institution. The military has a huge presence in Hawaii, and has had a negative effect on the land on the Hawaiian people. It would be interesting to look at that. I am from Hawaii so I know a lot of the information, but I know there are some things that I do not know. Hawaii is never looked at in a lot of ways. I feel that sometimes Hawaii is the ignored state of the United States. Why did the United States want us anyways? Well the truth of the matter is land and trade. A lot of people never know the history of Hawaii and the struggle that the people have to go through. I think this would be an interesting subject to bring to light, and inform the class and the social, economic, and cultural struggles that Hawaiian People and the land have had to endure.

De-McDonaldization

One of the ways the book talks about becoming de-mcdonalized is to do things without agenda. The book says to do things and avoid routine. However, I feel that this is hard to do. We are a society that feeds on calendars to tell us where we need to be at a specific point, and what needs to get done. We love to time manage our lives and never avoid routine. Routine makes us comfortable. It is predictable. It is what we do. It would be hard for our society to wean ourselves away from this. I know I like tokeep things routine, and the only thing I do out of routine is go downtown to do something. I do this to get away from campus. I guess this is my way of “avoiding routine”. I always feel that when I get out of routine, i.e. swim practice, eating, school, naps, etc. I feel uncomfortable. I also realized that I don’t like to be out my schedule or times of things. If I have something at 10 I want to be there at 10, not later than that. I don’t know. This is something that is so engrained in us, especially as college students, it’s hard to steer away from this. Maybe if I get older, I will be more adventurous.

McJobs

In the book, the author discusses the ideal of employees who have skills, but cannot use them in their jobs. He says “The result is a high level of resentment, job dissatisfaction, alienating, absenteeism, and turnover”. This goes back to the power of authority brought up in “Ain’t No Makin’ It.” The boys of “Ain’t No Makin’ It” hated authority as well as felt resentment and alienation when authority was over them. This was especially apparent when the boys got older because they could not hold a job. It’s funny to think that this could be part of McDonaldization, but as we read, it is.

Predictable.

So we read part of the book describing how things were predictable and calculatable. People need to know that a product will be just as fun, satisfying, tasty or beneficial all across the board. It doesn’t matter where you go. The aesthetic of the stores all look the same, smell the same, have the same merchandise, etc. This is like the Big Mac or even the look of a McDonald’s restaurant. No matter where you go you will always know that McDonald’s will have a Big Mac with two patties, lettuce, onions, that special sauce all on a sesame seed bun. This is also similar in shopping stores that are franchises. Forever 21, a “hip” shopping store, will always have the same clothes in the stores and online. This also is another point for McDonaldization. Instead of going to the store and buying things, people can now turn to the internet and have things at the touch of a button. They don’t have to leave the comforts of home. They can have things when they want, how many days they want it in, etc. Our culture has become so lazy and dependable on efficient things.

Time Is Money

"Time is money and money is time." Making things faster and efficient has taken our society by storm. Internet is always trying to get faster, cars are always trying to get faster, e mail replaces postal service mail. EVERYTHING IS FASTER! Highways make transportation faster, chain restaurants make food faster, having a gas station every 20 miles makes things faster. Everything must be faster in society today. I don’t know a time where if things weren’t fast. If it’s not fast it’s deemed not good. Take for instance a restaurant. You want to sit down, have your food within 15 minutes then leave. Everything has to be fast. Wasting time is wasting money, and I feel our society is really starting to take hold of this idea. But sometimes, having something that is made cheap or fast doesn’t always equal a better product. It may be worse than the product that took just a little longer and can with hold for a long long time. So which is better? Fast way or slow way? I don’t know the answer yet. I’m still working on that myself I guess.

Does Faster = Better?

McDonaldization is the idea that our society is obsessed with time and how to make everything faster. Our society is so wrapped up in this ideal. I don’t like McDonald’s because of it’s food quality. But this is just personally. I know a lot of people who pick up McDonalds because it is convenient. It’s easy and fast food for a reasonable price. You drive up to the window, you place your order and you’re out. Food is a basic necessity in life, and well McDonalds prepares the cheap and efficiently. Efficiency equals more time you have to do other things. Time is important to us. Can’t we just slow down a little bit?

A Reflection I guess...

So, after talking about gender roles in the last blog, my boyfriend and I were talking and I realized some things. My boyfriend has a hot temper because of his job. He knows that I don’t like it when he’s angry cause he takes it out on me. So, he tries to calm himself down before talking to me. I realized that maybe I am a person who is promoting the false self. Because I was satisfaction in the relationship, I am trying to make him cater to me. This is just my point that I was trying to make in the last blog. We are always trying to make others happy. We are always in a constant struggle to try and please other people.

Another thing that brought about this blog is reality t.v. shows. I must admit that I am a t.v. junkie, and I like to watch reality t.v. shows. One of these shows is called Rock of Love 2 with Sharron Osbourne. I feel like with a lot of reality t.v., people put on this front and depict someone that they really aren’t. I feel like the maybe by having these things so visible in our society, it strengthens the idea of being submissive to other people and to trying to make other’s happy. I dunno just a thought.

False Self

In life, no matter it be work, school, friends, etc. we are always putting on an act. O.K. well maybe not all the time, but sometimes. Like the book says, we have a false self for the gratification and satisfaction for other people. I worked at retail store called Honolua Surf Company. Everyday, we had to put on an act for customers to make THEM happy. It didn’t matter if they were pricks or assholes to us, we had to be of service to them. I don’t understand why. This can also be seen through genders. For instance, if you are not nice to a customer and are a female you are considered a bitch. The customer will complain the manager, you get a warning, and the list goes on and on. We are a country so built on other’s doing things for us it’s unreal. Also, we can see that sometimes this is prevalent in the home. Mother’s come home from work, but instead of taking time for themselves, they have to take care of their family and cater to them. Instead of having some time and space to relax, their thoughts and feelings must be pushed aside in order to make their family happy. This is a gender role that is placed on by society. Dad works hard at work so he gets time to relax. The mother also works hard at work, but also must take care of the house and the family. Why is this so? American’s are so fixed on this ideal that its hard to wean them off of it. Kinda screwed up.

November 4, 2008 – EPIC!

Today was one of the most historic days of our countries history. Barack Obama, an African-American man who grew up on the small islands of Hawaii is now the president of the United States. That is epic.

Touching

We were talking about touch in class on Friday, and a scenario came up in my head. Women touch more softly, almost in a caring and nurturing way. Guys on the other hand tend to touch in ways that are more physical and aggressive. One such example is this guy we will call, X. X tends to hit, slap, and punch. These physical touches are not harmful in anyway, but are touches that I feel are more aggressive. I then think back to my blog before this one. I said in class that I want to punch the kid back whenever he does these things to me. This still holds true. I feel that this may have to do with my background coming from Hawaii. Women in the mainland tend to have more of a “gentle touch”. I on the other hand grew up more aggressive. If someone looked or hit me the wrong way, I would want to fight back. That was how I was brought up. This is not necessarily because of my family background, but because socially, this is what was taught to me. Over the years here at LC, these things have toned down. I dunno if I could attribute this to a more middle class way of thinking, but somehow I do. In Hawaii, there is no real barrier between lower class and middle class ways of thinking. There is a difference in Upper class, and those kids are hated on (I think that is normal everywhere). Socially, the two groups tend to think a like. In turn, I don’t always feel like it has to do with your social hierarchy, but also the environment in which you surround yourself with.

LC vs Hawaii Thinking

As I’m thinking this book, I think about emotions here at LC and at home. I am from Hawaii, and I am not afraid to wear my emotions on my sleeve. If I am not happy, then I am not afraid to express it. For example, a friend and I got into an altercation once. I yelled at him because a) I thought he was dumb and 2) he was pissing me off. However, here at LC I express my emotions very differently. When I’m happy, I am very happy and there is no need to hide that. But when I am mad, I tend to feel the need to hide that anger. I am not in my normal social settings, and don’t know how people will react to my emotions. Maybe I am afraid of what people will think of me, and wonder why I am feeling that way. It’s almost as if I’m trying to keep people distant from me when I’m upset. It’s seems also that I am trying to hide my sadness or anger to make other people happy. This seems as if I am sacrificing my happiness for other people’s happiness. I live in close quarters with my three other room mates, and feeling angry makes the room feel uncomfortable and tense. None of us want that, and sometimes hide our anger in order to try to cut the tension when really it just makes it worse. This is kind of like the household. Maybe this is a gender characteristic. We are all females in my apartment and it has been a social norm for women to try and make other’s around you happy. Like I said earlier, it’s like we’re catering to other people’s feelings and emotions and the sacrifice of our own.

Private vs. Public Emotions

In our class, we are discussing the book called the managed heart. In the book, it talks about how we perform emotions and feelings in professional life. But it is difficult to think about performing emotions in public, and not in private. Personally, I think that we are always performing our emotions. It just depends on the specific audiences that are around us. In a way, it’s kind of like the Las Chicas and performing their identities. Instead of performing our identites, we are performing our emotions… which can sometimes translate into identities. I feel that in most of professions, you commodities your emotions in order to get a higher profit, and make other people happy. We also perform emotions at home. People feel like they have to be happy at home. They may not always feel happy, but they feel like they need to be happy at home for their family’s sake and happiness. I feel that as a child, you also feel like you have to feel happy around your parents and obey their commands. It may not make you happy, but you have to pretend that you are happy for your family. I’m not necessarily saying that feelings of happiness and other emotions are not genuine. I’m just saying that maybe feelings and emotions are produced at home in private, as well as in public.

emotions

It is always difficult to distinguish between a feeling and emotion. According to "The managed heart" feelings are the initial thing that we feel. The emotion is the underlying and deeper feeling. We think about out feeling and turn it into an emotion. In America, we show are emotions. We "wear our emotions on our sleeves". Now is this normal? Do we really always have to show an emotion all the time. Showing your emotion is especially important for jobs. Also in America, we must FAKE an emotion for the satisfaction of others. An example that we talked about in class was a flight attendant. For many flight attendants, they must smile and cater to everyone's needs and wants. They must portray that they are happy. Their true emotions must be pushed a side in order to make the customer happy. This is also true in the sales world. I worked as a sales associate for two summers. There were days when I would have such a bad day, but I could never show it to the customer. I always had to make sure that they were alright and that they were finding everything to their likable standards. Although this is hard sometimes, I feel that this is a norm for our society. Our society puts up fronts. We hid our true selves in order to hide our true feelings or our emotions for the sake of other people.

abortion, class and race

Going back to wednesdays class, abortion came up in our class. In American society, abortion and teenage pregnancy seem to be major taboos for teenagers. However, for the Mexican-Americans, this was a sign of adulthood. This is what they were aspiring for. Middle class white girls get birth control and often get abortions. This is because a) they can afford it, and b) because like the preps, they want to seem innocent and "pure". They don't want ot be seen as promiscuous. They also have resources that are readily available to them. One of these resources is money. Also, White American girls want to have children later because they want to take the path of college. They want to get a good education because they believe it will create a more comfortable way of living.

However, for the Mexican-American girls a baby would be like a badge a girl scout would get. It's an accomplishment. Abortion is not an option. A reason why this is so is because of their religion. In Catholicism, abortions are looked down upon. A fetus has life, and abortion is killing a life. This is a sin. Therefore, keeping the baby is better than being seen as a sinner.

Clothing and culture

In the book, the subject of clothing and make up became an issue in the book. The Mexican American girls wore darker make up and baggier clothes than the preps. The preps went more natural and wore more form fitting clothing. For the Mexican-Americans, this was to make them look older and help them achieve (or what they perceived to be) an adult status within their community. This appearance of a darker and older appearance pushed away the the child like aspect, even though in reality, they are still really children. Another way that they want to get rid of their "childish" image is by having a child. They think that this will boost them into an adult stratosphere.

However, I feel that teenagers are always trying to look and act older. When I was a teenager, I remember wanting to be treated somewhat like an adult. Teenagers want freedom and parents are reluctant to give them that freedom because they are still just children. I also feel that our society is shifting into a materialistic society which is transcending down into the younger generations. Teenagers focus so much on their appearance and clothing. It's almost an obsession. We want people to think we're cool, so we wear the coolest clothes, nicest scents, etc. I feel like this is also going deeper into the younger generations.

Also, in Latino cultures, having children when you are a teenager is acceptable. It is not something that is shunned out of their society. The Mexican-American girls feels like it gives them a sense of purpose. These cultural upbringings change the way these girls view adulthood. This also changes the way that they may see sexuality. It is interesting because in a way this rejects alot of social norms. For instance, in many situations, a teen pregnancy would look down upon. I know that in Hawaii, it would be taboo to have a teen pregnancy. I feel that girls would be looked down upon by society. However, in the Mexican-American societies, it is widely accepted.

Class culture

Julie Bettie brought up class as a culture. She says that class differences and meaning are shaped by how people, especially girls experience gender and race. She also says that class culture plus gender and race has something to do with inequality.

She says that class identity is shaped through markets and the buying of commodities. Class identity is also fueled by institutions like school, family, peers, and society. I also believe that class identity is formed by the amount of money one person has. Depending on the amount of money you have, you are able to buy commodities for social and personal relationships. Women feel that they must compete with one another to see who can outshine who. Bettie says that women of lower class status contrast themselved to people of higher status. This puts a "hidden injury" or psychological burden on them.

new book

After reading the first chapter I am very excited to read this book. I already want to just into the next coming chapters and find out more about the perspective of the author and the girls she interviews.

The end of Clarendon Heights

This book has opened my eyes to many perspectives on social mobility within social classes. At the beginning of this book, I found myself rooting for the Brothers and disliking the Hallway Hangers. Towards the middle of the book, I found myself rooting for both group of boys. I was hoping that towards the end of the book all of them would have found the "right path" and be living these lives of middle class income, white picket fences, and out of the ghetto. That is not necessarily the case. Only a select few got out of the ghetto and have done things with their lives. Some of the boys have moved out of Clarendon Heights. Others are still on drugs, selling drugs, or in jail. Others have child support that they have to pay, and others are still living in Clarendon Heights.

I then posed a question to myself. Do I think that these boys have reached a point in their lives where they are now socially successful? In the middle of the book, I may have said yes. Now I say maybe not. However, I do feel that these boys have been through alot and have over come a lot of struggle to get to where they were two years ago. As for some of the boys, they have reached a low point. I hope that they are now on their way to a high point and able to make a life for themselves and their children. These boys were interesting to read. They gave a totally new perspective on stereotypes, and really made a point of saying that your environment and surroundings help you mold you for your future.

Education

The education system guides us to believe in the achievement ideology. Teachers butter us up to believe that hard work and dedication will guide us to a good jobs and a great life. Is that necessarily true? I don't believe so. Jay MacLeod says that kids who are in lower socio-economical status' do not have an equal opportunity, and in fact are shunned from striving to move up in social classes and status. I feel like there is a stigma against these people. In turn, teachers perceive these children to be highly unmotivated. MacLeod proposes a plan to eliminate this and perhaps gives children of lower status a chance to achieve greatness. He says that teachers should teach their children about social classes, and the inequalities that surround them. Teachers should also teach them about people who have had to struggle in order to get to a good point in their life.

In class, someone brought up the point of cultural capital and social reproduction. MacLeod wants to break these ideologies because he feels that they are prevalent, and hold people back from their fullest potential. However, I feel that his new system that he wants to institute also reproduces cultural capital. However, I feel that social reproduction is broken. Kids are able to see how people who are from their socio-economic status have over come difficulty and reached success. Although this is a good thing, the achievement ideology is still in place. I’m not totally sure how this can be broken, but if we can somehow break all three, I feel that we will be able to see more equality between classes and see more social mobility.

Social mobility is good, but that also means that competition would become more intense and scarcity of jobs would become a complete reality.

Cultural perspectives

The education system guides us to believe in the achievement ideology. i know that in my circumstances, this is definitely the case. The achievement ideology is present everywhere you go. But I feel like people have to look at the cultural backgrounds of the students. it's not always the case that families believe in hard work dedication and further schooling to get a head. Sometimes the families cultural background says that the person has to work right out of high school and take care of their parents. it's a cultural stand point. I feel like the achievement ideology complete blocks this out and doesn't take this into account. I know that this is the case for many Polynesian cultures. But, it's something that is always looked passed.

the brothers

In the last chapter we read, the Brothers future has turned out to be similar to the hallway hangers. Although they are not doing drugs, they are working in low wage jobs. SOme of them have gotten a college degree, while others have joined the army or just worked. It is interesting to see where they were at. This is because the boys had such high hopes of getting out of the ghetto. THey wanted to make a life for themselves. I am not sure if they have given up on themselves, but it seems like they have given up on trying ot make a better life for themselves. They do not try and get great jobs or persue things that they want to do. One of them wanted to be a police man, but intern is not a person working for the airlines.

I have to say that I was rooting for these boys. They were minorities trying to make a difference in thier life and also their own families life. They are not stuck in the same place that the hallway hangers are in. Although they still have a better mentaility than the hallway hangers, they are lazy and are somewhat unsuccessfull in thier persuit of having a middle class life.

changing for the better?

The boys of the Hallway Hangers had a hard future in front of them. Faced with an unfair advantage, many of the Hallway Hangers were faced with challenges. In societies eyes, they were already failures at life. In turn, they also felt that way about themselves.
Many of the Hallway Hangers were setting themselves up for failure. Many of the boys were incarcerated, had children, hit high drug habits, sold drugs to make extra money and maintained low paying jobs or "under the table" jobs. If they weren't employed, they were unemployed. Many of them feel blessed to be alive. I believe it was Jinx or Boo-boo that said that they never expected to be alive. They thought they were going to be dead. Others have hit hard times and are coping with it. One of the boys had a girlfriend and daughter who passed away. That is a hard situation to recover from, especially when you think you have found a security that will back you up through the hard times and the bad.

Although many of them have "failed" at life, I believe that some of them have had success in some ways or another. Frankie is one that has really changed their life. He prays, goes to church, and does not drink or smoke. He has gone to some college training and has changed for the better. Even though Frankie was unemployed, I consider him to be a success story. He has changed his life. He never thought that this would happen to him, and I'm sure no one thought that this would happen. But this is inspiring because he did something that he thought he could never do. He changed his perspective on life, and has tried to make a better life for himself.

Achievement Ideology

The achievement ideology is the idea that the better yo do in school, and the higher the education you receive, the better the job you will receive will be. Basically the achievement ideology is the notion that socially perceived success is achieved through hard work and education. The Hallway Hangers totally reject this ideology. They believe that school is not going to help them in the long run. They feel that they can get jobs that require no HS diploma. They feel that the time they spend in class is worthless. They feel that tit will never take them anywhere. Another problem that the Hallway Hangers seem to encounter is having an authority figure tell them what to do. Authority to them means a sense of restriction. The teachers at LHS not only would hold authority over them, but would also keep the boys from striving to their fullest potential. Because the boys were labeled as "troubled", the Hallway Hangers had a lack of attention that ultimately deterred them from school, and also helped them reject the presence of authority.

THe brothers are the complete opposite. They accept the achievement ideology and feel that if they do work hard in school, and get a higher education, that they will achieve a socially precieved notion of success. Also, if they fail at something, it has nothing to do with their environment or people that are in their lives. Success soley depends on them. They also feel that failure solely depends on themselved. The Brothers Strive to be the best. They feel that they have equal opportunities towards the labor market, schools, etc.

The Hallway Hangers feel that nothing is given to them for free. THey feel that there a prejudice against them, and that minority groups, such as the Brothers, tend to get all of the attention. The Hallway Hangers feels like the world is against them while everyone else has opportunity knocking at their front door. This is interesting because in America, minority groups always seem to struggle, and always seem to be bypassed. Social discrimination as well as racial discrimination hardly falls upon white people.

This book is also shedding light on the social reproduction theory. The hallway Hangers seem to understand and know that they come from a low income neighborhood, they grew up in a low income neighborhood, their family has grown up in a low income neighborhood, and that is more than likely that THEY TOO will be living in a low income neighborhood. The Brothers seem to think that with the achievement ideology, they will get out of their low income status and move up to working, middle class living. It will not be easy for them, especially coming from a neighborhood who's reputation is looking so down upon. However, the boys share an interest in getting out of the neighborhood or at least making some money to support themselved at some level.

Money is the mans to end.

In this weeks reading, we found that the boys were aware of the importance of money in their lives. However, the two male groups are extremely different in their dreams and aspirations for themselves for the future.

The Hallway Hangers are extremely away of the odds that are against them economically and socially. First of all, they know that because they come from low-income housing developments of Clarendon Heights , they have a "reputation" that will follow them no matter where they go. They also understand that opportunities are small, and they feel that the life of the streets is the only way to be successful. They never know if they will be here today or gone tomorrow. They live their lives day to day. Success could be characterized by selling drugs or stealing. Any means of making money is the focus. The Hallway Hangers believe that talent and effort does not always yield success. In many of their eyes, jobs are made through connections. It doesn't matter what you have to offer. The Hallway Hangers feel that they are trapped in their situation. They see hurdles that they feel the brothers do not see or understand yet. The Hallway Hangers feel the Brothers are not as street savvy as they are, and feel like their dreams and aspirations will never become a reality. Although this is true, there are a few that want to make it. They want to get their family out of housing, and they want to make something out of themselves. On of the Hallway Hangers wanted to own his own company. It didn't matter how long it would take. He just wanted to own his own company. I feel that this is a highly ambitious attitude compared to most of the Hallway Hangers who are mostly pessimistic about their entire situation.

The Brothers on the other hand have more optimism about their options for the future. many oft them want high paying jobs such as architects, lawyers, doctors, businessman, and profession sports athelets. The Brothers feel optimistic and have focus on nice house, lawns, kids, and wonderful wives. However, it seems like the parents are the driving force behind the boys future. They want their sons to also get out of this social and economical situation that they are in. THe parents have told the boys to reach for the starts and the skies the limit. This philosophy fules the boys to have a middle class, stable, and comfortable lifestyle. Something that every parent wants for their child. The boys believe that if you put your mind to anything, you will reip rewards from it.

However, money is constantly the means in which the end of poverty will end. Both social groups want to get out of their suffering in the neighborhood. One just feels that they cannot get out of the situation no matter how hard they try. The Hallway Hangers understand that their success rate is close to 20%. The Brothers may know this, but still set personal goals to reach a higher status.

Ain't no making it

The book "Ain't no making it" is an interesting story of the different cultural aspects that are present in the world and the American society today. The author Jay MacLeod takes an interesting approach by looking at a low income housing, and seeing the different perspectives of the younger generation of boys within the community. The language of the two different groups (the brothers and the hallway hangers) were completely different. I think the contrast between the two groups are very different, even though they groups come from the same cultural background. The values of the groups are especially different. The Hallway Hangers seem to focus more on the things that could potentially help them get through the day. They feel that the image of being bad is the way that they can get through life. They smoke cigarettes, drink beer, and are psychologically dependant on marijuana. They may be psychologically dependant on other drugs as well. The Hallway hangers comprised of mostly white members. There are a few members that are African American. I thought that they might want to move on from the situation they were in, and would want to make a change in their life. However, they feel that they can't because of their socio-economical stature. They feel hopeless and feel that they are stuck in this situation, and will always be in this situation. Not only do they feel this way, they feel that success in school means that you don't be long in the neighborhood. Almost like, the people who are trying to get out of their situation are "shit heads" and don't belong, even if they are of the same socio-economic background. However, the boys of the the Hallway Hangers do have a sense of a cohesive unit. The boys depend on one another as if they were a tight nit family.

This is a contrast to the boys of the Brothers. The Brothers are a more focused group of brothers that want to make a change in their life. They feel the need to change their economic status and to get out of the ghetto as much as possible. This is caused because of the racist commentary that they endure every day. They do well in school, sports, and social life. They feel that failure is their fault. They view the Hallway Hangers as a group of low life punks that are simply lazy. The Brothers seem to have more of a focus and see to know where they are going and how they can get there. Although they have such positive outlooks on life, the boys are not as cohesive as the Hallway Hangers. They would fight for one another, but they also live lives outside of the group as well. They have steady girlfriends and sports that take priorities in their life.

I feel that these contrasts are so interesting. I find it interesting that the Brothers who are mostly comprised of minority groups are more motivated to change their life and get out of their low-income situation. In contrast, the Hallway Hangers feel that because they have been in this low-income situation for so long, there is no way they are going to get out of this. They feel that crime, drinking, and doing drugs is the only thing they will know how to do. It is always perceived the opposite way around. I think this goes to show that it has nothing to do with race, but has to do with class and socio-economic status.