The Ever So Sociological Lorax

The Lorax is a fantastic movie, coming highly recommended from a random high schooler who had the privilege of watching it in her sociology class. It is about a society that grows so technologically advanced and they live inside a little city area. Inside the city, they have every type of weather they want: beaches, snow, parks, etc. All of the nature, however, is fake, mechanical. The people of Thneedville's Social Construct of Reality is that the world is solely made of technology and nature is unnecessary and basically nonexistent. All they know is that nobody travels outside of the city walls, until a daring 12 year old boy travels outside in search of a tree. When he does this, he sees the dreary reality of life outside the city and what the citizens of Thneedville have condoned without even knowing it.
Throughout this movie, many sociological terms can be seen and identified. One such term is ethnocentrism which means culturally centered, in other words, you think your culture is the best. One specific example of this is at the end when O'Hare, the head of Thneedville, continues to fight against planting the seed and allowing trees to grow. He gives a speech about how living without nature is better and continues by singing this Brief Blurb in the middle of a song about letting the seed grow.
Another sociological term seen in The Lorax is when Ted uses his sociological imagination to think about the Trufulla Trees Audrey shows him and what life was like with the trees around. He decides to take this exploration of his sociological imagination further, going to visit the Once-ler to ask him about the trees. The Once-ler shares a story of a time when he was not very sociologically mindful. He only thought about his technology and what he wanted, rather than thinking about the nature he was destroying around him and how his actions would impact them.
When the Once-ler cut down the trees to create a thneed, conflict theory was exhibited between nature and society. Nature and society clashed and caused a major change resulting in the complete destruction of nature and the creation of the town of Thneedville.

Plungers Unite

I volunteered this weekend participating in the Polar Plunge in Fox Lake. I raise $120 to donate to the Special Olympics from 11:30 am-2:00 pm. Wow, what an experience. So first of all, we ran into a frozen lake in the middle of the winter on February 26th, 2013. It was FREEZING in the water. When I ran in I decided to go under completely, that's right, face, head, hair, EVERYTHING. I didn't feel the cold until I actually ran out of the water, then I felt like little needles were poking me everywhere, but more like dull needles that made me feel weird, rather than in pain.
While I was volunteering I took note of my surroundings, trying out this newly found sociological mindfulness. In doing this I saw people of all different ethnicities, ages, races, and genders. The oldest person plunging was an 83 year old woman, I'm not sure how old the youngest was, but I know at least 5. The people wore everything from bikinis to t-shirts to outrageous costumes. My best friend and I dressed as superheroes, her as batgirl and me as superwoman. My favorite costume was probably a family that dressed as the Addams family. There was one for every character, even cousin it and the hand!!
The people I came into contact with were of all different personality types as well. When the plunge first started, I tried to see those who were already jumping in, and people also trying to see the shore amidst the chaotic crowd were pushing and shoving to get the best view. Others, such as those working at the check in table and announcing prizes were excited, smiling, kind people. Some were screaming with excitement and jumping up and down in anticipation, others remained calm and collected. The people I encountered were from all over the area and were all very different.
At the plunge, lunch was served. They set out pizza, which was gone almost immediately (I didn't even get a slice) and a lot of different types of chili and soup, which totally makes sense because of the activity we were participating in. They also served coffee cake, coffee, and cupcakes.
Before actually plunging, like that whole week, I was so excited and couldn't wait for the plunge to actually occur. This feeling remained constant until I was standing on the beach about to run into the water and I realized what I was about to do. Expectations turned into reality when I was running out of the freezing cold water and could only think about getting into a heated tent and changing into my warm coat and sweats.
It was so ridiculously fun and I'd recommend it a million times to anybody who asks.

Sociological Mindfulness

Sorry this is late! I thought I had already done a blog, I'm really not even sure if I'll get credit for this, but I'll still do it! So last week we did a sociological experiment. My group tested to see the typical student's purpose of working to obtain money at Stevenson High School. Whether it be out of necessity or luxury. Our hypothesis said that the majority of Stevenson High School Students had jobs solely to have extra spending money on things they wanted rather than needed. As my partner and I were creating the survey and asking the questions I realized how just a few weeks of class had already made me act more sociologically mindful. Rather than asking questions like "What is your gender?" and having two answers: boy or girl, I asked, "What gender do you identify yourself as? and included 3 answers: boy, girl, and other. This new mindfulness also occurred while I surveyed people. When we arrived at the question about ethnicity, rather than looking at their ethnic features and skin color and answering it myself, I took the time and consideration to ask. Although some chuckled at the question, replying, "I'm obviously caucasian, do I look black?" a few surprised me, being latino rather than caucasian or half of something. This new sociological mindfulness has crept up on me from just a few weeks of class and a short amount of learning, I can't wait to see what it will do for me and make me observe as the semester continues.

Nothing.

Nothing. No one. Standing in the middle of a public space, doing nothing, felt beyond odd. I wasn't bored, I have a talent for entertaining my mind when nothing is going on, but it was almost as if I went unnoticed. I stood in the mall for 10 minutes doing absolutely nothing. No phone. No iPod. No talking. Just standing. I'm not sure what exactly I'm supposed to do for this assignment, so I guess I will just blab about what happened and what I noticed.

Throughout the entire 10 minutes, I went basically unnoticed. A few people passed glances at me or shot looks at the wierdo standing alone in the middle of the mall, but other than that people just passed, only really looking at me if they were about to run into me. It was like standing in New York City where everybody is too busy to stop and look around at the people and places they are passing by, except I was in the suburbs of Chicago. I guess this was a good lesson to experience. People should take more time to enjoy those simple moments in life, to just breath. I think that everybody in today's society are so caught up in the latest technology, newest design, and most expensive car, that we don't stop to appreciate the abilities we have and the beautiful things we can see with this new technology. So many people don't even talk face to face anymore. How many girls have had their hearts broken over text because their significant other can't gather enough courage to break up with her and see her reaction. Although it may seem like a lot, this is what I got out of doing nothing for 10 minutes.

As for my wandering thoughts during those brief 10 minutes, I began to notice the minor details that would have blown right past my brain had I been speed walking to the next sale rack. I saw the loving gaze of the old man staring at his wife and the way two young siblings laughed with each other without a care in the world. I noticed so much more than I normally would have, and than anyone around me. No matter how uncomfortable I felt in the first few slow, agonizing minutes, as my mind adjusted it was almost fun doing nothing.