15. April 2009 by student.

            She sits calmly in her chair, no rapid movement. With a steady gaze into every eye of the room, taking in all of her surroundings, she waits for assistance. No type of communication, just simply smiles, and a few “hmmmppphhs” here and there. Miss Ita, waits patiently for the next nurse to bring her some medication, supper, and juice to guide the supplements through her body. With no complaints or even groans, she still maintains a pleasant vibe.           

             Alzheimer’s disease can be defined as “a progressive disease in which nerve cells in the brain degenerate and brain matter shrinks, which results in impaired thinking, behavior, and memory.” (WEBSTERS) The name Alzheimer’s came from a Greek physician named Alois Alzheimer who first described this disease in 1906. He was one of the first physicians to pay close attention to this disease, leading future scientists and physicians to discover more about Alzhemiers. There is no listed cure for this disease. Many prescriptions and medications have evolved that enable the patients lives to be prolonged.           

            Alzheimer’s is a disorder that commonly evolves within a person’s lifetime between the ages of 40-50 years old.  Dementia is a symptom or nearly 50-70 percent of all cases Alzheimer’s. Today, nearly 5.3 million Americans are currently living with this disease. This disease is fatal. It is said to have been the sixth leading cause of death of this year.           

             This horrifying disease took a major toll on my family for the past couple of years. After trying to tolerate the midnight quests, chases, and forgetfulness; it began to be too much for my mother to bear. Being that I am a brother of two younger siblings, my mother could no longer maintain a stable household because of all the constant chaos. After repeatedly devoting a majority of our time to compensate for my grandmother’s illness it was too much for the entire family. As high school students, my brothers and I would all continuously become deprived of sleep, and miss school to catch up from the prior night’s escapade.         

              Sadly, my grandmother was not always likes this. She grew up amongst 8 siblings in the hills of Jamaica. With a completely healthy lifestyle she managed to raise a beautiful family of five, my mother being one of them. After several years in the states, my grandmother attended church frequently, read the bible on a daily basis. But, did god prevent this illness? Can he do anything to cure Alzheimer’s?            

             Today my grandma resides at the Rehabilitation Center of The Palm Beaches locked within two steel, double doors. The only way to access/ exit her center is to type in the code to the padlock. Though as devastating as this may be to us, what is even more tragic is that all of the residents there have no knowledge of what catastrophic event has just taken over there destiny.           

              Unfortunately, what I am trying to exclaim is the fact that this illness can take over even the sweetest persons of the world, the most giving to society, and most praised of the lord. As sad and tragic as this illness is it will continue to always take the precious lives of our loved ones.

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15. April 2009 by student.

Life on the Compound: A look inside Polygamy.

(Polygamy: The condition or practice of having more than one spouse at one time. Also called plural marriage.)

Last year, over 500 woman and children were taken from the Yearning for Zion Ranch, in Utah. A judge believed them to be in danger of physical abuse by the men in the ranch. Although, the woman and children, since then, have returned to the compound, it makes you wonder what kind of life these people are really living. Are the stereotypes we see, false or reasonably true?

Life on a compound can be looked at as a society. They have their own culture, norms and values. Most people who grow up living this lifestyle, will live and raise their families on the compound, too. Modern-day polygamist societies are not concerned with life outside of the compound. They do not teach their children (who come in overwhelming amount of numbers) the most basic social sciences, no fundamental history; and they know nothing about their constitutional rights; they have no contact with the outside world. The compound can also be seen as a cult. Minds are controlled and information is not given to them; they’re told what to believe and what choices to make; and they are not free to leave.

Carolyn Jessop was part of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) until she escaped from the compound and her abusive husband. She took with her, her eight children. The eldest, Betty, who was fourteen at the time, had a hard time fitting into to society, normally. She refused to change her appearance and beliefs. Although she had the option to live an independent life, after turning eighteen, Betty decided to return to the compound. She did not like the world outside the compound. She was thrown into a completely different world, where the norms and values were opposite of what she had been raised to believe; she was terrified of the society that most Americans live every day. She missed the comforts of her old life, family and religion.

Warren Jeff, who is currently in prison for sexual conduct with minors and incest, became the FLDS president in 2002. After he took over, more girls were married into plural marriages. Women were “given” to men based on status in the compound; more power, more women. Since females were in greater demand, most boys are of no “use” to the compound. Once they turn eighteen, they are sent away to start their own lives, independently, off of the compound. As of now, the teenage girls in the compound say that they are not forced into marriage. They are given the decision to marry or not to marry the man their parents chose for them. Most of the time, the girls do marry the man because they are following their parents’ wishes.

Plural marriages cause greater competition and social conflict between wives within a household, too. Husbands have a favorite wife (the one he enjoys having sex with the most, basically). She receives more money and necessities to live than the rest of the wives. The favorable wife would also rule over the other wives and their children, too. Since families are very large, money is something hard to come by. If a wife has a job, she must give her entire earnings to the husband. He would only give back what he thinks you need and deserve, if it were any compensation at all. Social inequality and power arrangements play huge role in these households.

These people are happy with their lifestyle. It is extremely different than what I would call a “good life,” but I have been raised in modern-day civilization. These people have been raised with no real perception of free will and independence. Betty, the girl who returned to the compound, is around the same age as I am, but we are polar opposites. Betty is content in following her ancestor’s lifestyle because it is normal and right in her society. I am content in pursuing my own decisions because it is normal and right in the society I follow.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

15. April 2009 by student.

So all of my blogs have been pretty big, and I highly doubt anyone actually sits down to read them. That’s why I decided to make this one a bit more shorter. Today in my ethics class we talked about the issue of familes being changed and it was funny because it made me think back of Thursday’s class where we also discussed the family issue. After hearing many people’s comments about the old perfect family and the new modern family, I have to say I don’t agree with any. Because neither of those types of families are right.. The old fashioned perfect family was not a good picture because nobody is perfect and they illustrated the bright dad that went to work and the mother who was an awesome cook and a lovely mother of two adorable children.. when in reality both the parent and the mother can be brilliant and both work and take care of their children who at times are not so perfect but still are their kids. Then in the other hand we have the new kind of family where the kids are always stuck in their room in their own little world while the parents try to deal with the bills of the house… I don’t not giving your kids enough atention can be the best thing to do.. but being on top of them 24/7 is actually worst because you do not give them time to breathe so they go and do things behind their parents backs.. Therefore my suggestion is.. not to portrait the perfect family but not to live like the moder family. Try putting both together and making something out of it. Since both parents need to work now, then maybe after they both get home from work.. try to always have dinner with your children no matter how tired you are, because that will help them grow up in a family environment and they will learn to be better themeselves in the future! 

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15. April 2009 by student.

During December in Greece a youth was allegedly shoot, murdered, by the police without anything to justify the use of such excessive force. This incident caused an eruption of riots, demonstrations, and civilian occupations for the entire month across the whole country.

Across Europe recently many large demonstrations of youth civil disobedience, usually leading to riots, have taken place on a more dramatic scale recently. Usually these riots, demonstrations, and such are caused by something whether it be an unfavorable educational reform (in France and Italy), the elections (France), etc but recently, especially during the incident in Greece, social scientists (such as sociologists) have looked into social causes for these dramatic incidents of civil disobedience or, in the case of Greece, social upheaval.

Most of the protesters are usually young men and women, probably between the age of 29-19, that have or are getting a college education. However, This demographic, statisticians have found out, have recently been the demographic most likely to have a larger unemployment rate then the other age groups, to be the least paid even if they have a college education, and sometimes the least satisfied with their jobs (which in some cases are more like temp jobs or paid internship type jobs).

Part of this demographic grew up in economically prosperous times in Europe in which the future seemed very bright only to find out that things have changed when they’ve got older. They now face a job market that is, while providing more jobs, is much more fluid (i.e. this is due to that now it’s easier in Europe to dismiss workers) then ever before. Politicians dealt with the social ill by creating more and more jobs but this actually does little to curb the social unsatisfaction that certain sectors of society are having.

Perhaps it’s because while there are more jobs it’s possible that these jobs are now less paying, more flexible-fluid (to the employer), and in some cases requires too many hours of working for too little pay. In the case of temp type jobs many workers work close to the level of full-time employers but their employers never promote their job status to full time. This has been a trend since the 90s in the industrialized (or post-modern) parts of the world, to have “perma-temps” who have been on the job for a long time yet will possibly never be a full-time employee due to the extra expenses for businesses associated with full-time employment.

Politicians however don’t really care much for the younger sections of the population, since they tend to be the least likely to vote. Many people extol the young to vote…but one reason why so many of the youth (in Europe, although this could extend to the U.S.) don’t vote is that they feel they aren’t being represented by any candidate. Indeed, many of the street protests in Europe have been marked by a specific ideology: Anarchism. The 20th century has been marked by many Marxist-influenced movements but many observers on the radical left has noticed a rise to prominence by anarchism, some stating that this ideology would play a similar role in our 21st century as did Marxism. Anarchism finds it worthless to engage in voting in what they see as an illegitimate state who’s only role is to be an instrument of rule for the elite.

However, despite the social dissatisfaction amongst the young, the governments of Europe seem to desire to do little to solve the problems that affect this demographic. Perhaps they learned by history that many of the young adult-based social upheavals in the past (May 68 in France and the early 70s in Italy, etc), while making much demands for revolution, never amounted to radical change of society. This is partly because in the more dramatic cases, which usually becomes dramatic because the older work-force joins in the side of the young radicals, the older workforce instead opted to be obedient to the “radical” institutions such as their trade union or socialist/communist party, which ordered them to, ironically, “stop rebelling and get back to work.”

With the economic downturn, which has hit the young-adult demographic the hardest, one wonders how things might end up in the future. The nonchalant attitude of the governments towards youth social upheaval however might be changing. One article mentions how the French President made a statement that shows a fear for, at least, a part of the general population and that this affected his decision about his party’s stimulus package. Other countries perhaps will just increase their use of surveillance and repressive measures.

Two questions remind: We know that the labor market situation for young adults is a recipe for social unrest but will this current situation worsen and reach the point of another May ‘68-like insurrection (with the possibility of success in their part now that distrust of parties and labor unions have increased even among older workers)? Will these labor market conditions follow these young adults even in their later adulthood instead of becoming better as they get older?

What lies in store for the future of Europe? Will these young adults actually cause about reforms (to alleviate the labor situation) or even the possibility of radical change? Only time will tell.

Sources:
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/1075
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BB2YK20081212?sp=true
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/are-the-greek-riots-a-taste-of-things-to-come-1064479.html

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

15. April 2009 by student.

Here is another aspect to the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah.  The entire book was a look at his life, as a person caught up in a war that was not his to begin with.   Ishmael went through a very rough time towards the end of the book.  After losing everyone he knew he was put into the army.  Then was plucked from the army and chosen to start all over and live a normal life.  If this were to happen to me I would react just as Ishmael did.  After experiencing so much at such a young age I would most likely resort to violence just as Ishmael did.  (So I wrote this as if I were Ishmael and had experienced his life.)

                I was only a child at the time.  I had barely even experienced a normal childhood of running around and having no worries.  Everyone spoke of the war but we never thought that we would actually experience it.  Then while traveling to a village we witnessed it all.  Bodies drenched in blood, bullets flying past people, and everyone in a panic.  At first I didn’t know what to do.  Then I realized that in order to live I had to run and constantly watch out for my life. 

                Very early on in my life I was forced to join the army as a boy soldier.  I was very fearful of what lied ahead in my near future.  I was given a gun and told to kill all rebels at first sight.  I got used to this fast.  Had I not, I would have lost my life a long time ago.  I saw a lot of gruesome things while I was a part of the army.  I witnessed things I never would want anyone to see or experience. 

                Witnessing shocking things first hand left many images in my head.  These images were constant reminders to me of how horrific everything was.  I often had nightmares as well.  Then I was instantly pulled from the army and told to live a normal life. 

                This was not an easy task.  Every day, for almost half my life, consisted of violence and killing and watching others do the same.  Then I was supposed to stop everything.  In comparison, this is like being and alcoholic and then all the alcohol in the world disappearing right in front of my eyes.  It wasn’t easy and I started to get even more nightmares.  Now as an adult though I have learned to control my past memories and forget about them.  I no longer am affected by these appalling memories.  This took almost 10 years though and a lot of dedication to moving on and trying to lead a normal life. 

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

15. April 2009 by student.

What if we legalized Marijuana? I know it sounds crazy but let’s take a moment to really think about this.

If marijuana were legalized growing and selling marijuana can become a huge industry.  Marijuana is already widely used, but not taxed or regulated.  Legalizing, then taxing illegal items is not a new concept.  During the prohibition, law enforcement was spending massive amounts of money trying to enforce the prohibition laws.

The government then legalized alcohol again, turning a great loss of government funds into a great gain. Not only will the government prosper, but so will entrepreneurs.  Giving people the chance to legally grow and sell marijuana will help in creating a new legal and very wealthy industry.

Legalizing the plant will most definitely create jobs, not just with the THC part of marijuana, but hemp. Hemp is one of the fastest growing plants and can be used for oils that can be used to produce biodiesel fuels, clothing and paper with superior strength, and is a relatively good source of protein and fiber. Thus creating jobs for farmers who would grow it, but also for the textile industry, and help with the “Green Movement”.(CannibisTax.org  12)

Basically what I’m saying is, weed is not as bad as the government makes it out to be. The reason why marijuana is not legal is because currently, they cannot tax it. But legalizing marijuana would actually help the economy, just make sure it’s “homegrown” put it in the hands of our entrepreneurs and there we go, the U.S. can tax the purchase, of marijuana and the companies growing and distributing.

Another, closely related argument in favor of legalizing marijuana is that marijuana is already widely used.  It is evident that current enforcement of marijuana laws are terribly ineffective, as marijuana is used by many citizens in the United States. In 2007, 89% (that’s 775,000) of Americans who were arrested were charged with possession.(King Simply just having the weed on them, or in their car…not DUI, not distributing or selling, just having it on or with them.  Many of these users do not see marijuana use as a crime; therefore they do not see themselves as criminals.  This is exactly the case during the prohibition of alcohol.  Even though alcohol was made illegal, regular people still continued to use it.  We also see marijuana bans being brought to a vote of the public every so often, and the majority of the time, the public votes against banning marijuana.  So then why is marijuana still illegal?

Finally, legalization of marijuana could lead to a decrease in other related crimes.  Along with marijuana come many other criminal activities. You basically have a huge pyramid scheme. You’ve got your local dealers, the guys that supply them, and the guys that supply them, so on and so forth basically ending with a rich drug lord in some other country still making his money. People die all the time from drug related crime, turf war, dealers being robbed, etc. During the prohibition of alcohol, there was an entire industry of bootlegging and police corruption.  As soon as alcohol was legalized again, this entire industry and the corruption that went along with it, dissipated.  Much of the profits from marijuana use go to fund gang activity, prostitution, and gun violence.  If marijuana were legalized and regulated, this money would not be in the hands of criminals, but responsible entrepreneurs, businesses, and the government.

I continually brought up the prohibition to illustrate that alcohol and marijuana are not so different, and ultimately legalization is the answer.

Although there are strong arguments for legalizing marijuana, some believe that if marijuana were legalized, it would be more widely used by the youth of our country.  This is not the case.  Currently, there is no regulation on what age people can obtain marijuana.  There is already a major underground industry that grows and sells marijuana to anybody who wants to buy.  If marijuana were legalized, the control of who can obtain it will be taken out of the hands of drug lords and put into the hands of licensed retailers and the government.  Right now, a marijuana user does not have to show identification to the seller to prove his age, but if it were legalized they would have to show identification to the retailer, just like the sale of alcohol.  It is much more logical to say that young people will use marijuana less if it were to be legalized and regulated.

Opposing arguments may state that marijuana kills brain cells with permanent affects on the brain, which is FALSE! Current studies find that marijuana has no affect on none of the medical tests that have been used find any harm in humans from marijuana, even with high doses over a long period in time.(DPA 11)

They may also say that marijuana causes people to commit crime which is false again! People may think that people who smoke marijuana commit more crimes, but on the contrary, scientific study shows that ingestion of marijuana reduces aggression in both animals and humans. (12)

They might even say that it is possible to overdose and die from smoking too much marijuana, which is just wrong again. It is not possible to overdose from smoking marijuana, the only reason why that is being said is because the amount of people who go into the emergency rooms are now more open to admitting that they have smoked marijuana even when that is not the reason why they have been admitted to the emergency room in the first place.(13)

From looking at the evidence, it would be very advantageous to society to legalize marijuana.  It is clear that legalized marijuana could be a very lucrative business, marijuana is already used by millions, and legalizing marijuana would cause a reduction in related crimes. If people objectively look at the issue, the logical solution is legalization.
Works Cited

DPA Network, “Marijuana: Facts.” (2008) 17 Oct 2008 <http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/#brain>.

NIDA, “Marijuana: Facts for Teens.” Sept 17, 2008 17 Oct 2008 < http://www.nida.nih.gov/MarijBroch/Marijteens.html>.

King, Bonnie. “US Drug Czar Mis-Used Marijuana Statistics as Scare Tactics While Arrests Soar, Reports Reveal.” Salem News.com Oct-09-2008 17 Oct 2008 <http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october092008/marijuana_100808.php>.

“Fund State Programs, Not the black Market, Control Cannabis, Support Industrial Hemp.” Canibistax.org 10/05/08 27 Oct 2008 <http://www.cannabistaxact.org/>.

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15. April 2009 by student.

Greed

They say money is the root of all evil but I believe this is inaccurate. What is money aside from some special paper with pictures of dead presidents? The problem lies within everyone, and this problem is greed. We are born with the idea in our heads that the world revolves around ones self and with that comes a misplaced sense of entitlement. This is easy to see, just go over to a daycare and all you will hear is “gimme” “mine” and the sound of crying children when they do not get what they want, what they believe is theirs. This greed subsides in most people as they grow up, or is it that we just get better at hiding it? We see and deal with greed everyday. A lot of time it is not out of necessity that people do the things they do, it is because they feel they deserve it, or just flat out want it. Just type in “embezzlement” in Google search, you will pull up about 2500 results. The people committing this aren’t in financial hell, they have plenty of money but just want more, and are willing to risk it all for it. Now I am not saying that only rich people are greedy this is far from true, this just helps to illustrate my point, which is people are greedy, everyone to some extent. How many times have you walked (or drove) by a homeless person and felt bad for him/her but when they ask for some spare change, which will most likely end up in between your big comfy couch cushions, ignored that person completely, like you suddenly lost your sense of vision and or hearing? Or quickly rolled your window up and turned up the radio on a fireman holding a boot or helmet to your window? Not only does greed keep you from giving but also takes away from most the capacity to respectfully decline. I’m sure as you read this you are mentally creating a laundry list of excuses and reasons, some of which may be valid, to not give but let’s face it we all can give more than we really do.

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15. April 2009 by student.

Child trafficking happens everywhere, in the United States, and in other countries. This is an unfortunate thing. India is a country where this seems to happen the most. India has been identified as a source, transit and destination point in the international circuit; large numbers of children are also trafficked within the country.  Shakti Vahini did a study in 2006 titled “Trafficking in India” that revealed 378 of the 593 districts in India are affected by human trafficking. 10% of human trafficking in India is international, while almost 90% is interstate.  Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the states from where the maximum numbers of people are trafficked to other states. Intra state/inter district trafficking is high in the states of Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. States like Delhi and Goa are ‘receiver’ states.

People wonder why children are being trafficked. One of the big reasons for child trafficking would be to make them become beggars. Other reasons for children being trafficked are sexual exploitation; adoption; entertainment & sports (for example, acrobatics in circus, dance troupes, beer bars; as camel jockeys); marriage; labour; organ trade; drug peddling and smuggling.There are 1.2 million children trafficked to work for the benefit of others. Well organized networks are to blame for child trafficking; there are a number of people who are in the system of child trafficking. According to the International Labor organization, those who lure children into the world of begging make $15 billion annually. The children that are taken can be as young as 2, so they won’t know their way back home or the name of their village. Children can bring $650 a month whereas people in those difficult parts only bring in $150. Due to how well of an income these people make, child trafficking will not end anytime soon. It is all about greed.

Posted in Social Problems | 1 Comment »

15. April 2009 by student.

Once in a while, a movie comes along that truly captures your heart, for me it was this year’s film Slumdog Millionaire. I saw it win every award that it was nominated for, I would see the previews and here all the accolodes for it. I knew it was finally time I saw this movie. From the opening scene I was already captivated.The film is heartbreaking, romantic, comedic and powerful. It follows the story of three young children from the slums and the youngest boy from the slums of Mumbai, when he grows up makes it on India’s version of Who wants to be a Millionaire?, he wins it all, and people of course thought he cheated because they wonder how a kid from the slums could know anything. As each question is read, he flashes back to an event from his past that has to do with the question. His life experiences win him everything. Of course his life experiences are so heartbreaking. I am not going to type out the entire plot line and all the details, but the point I am trying to get across is this. The film shows a part of the country, that many people go without paying attention to. 

Mumbai has about 60 percent of their population living in slums. That is more than 7 million people. That is tragic. There are so many children left without parents and homes. The families sleep in dirt, trash infested areas, with barely anything to keep them protected from the outside. This film shows us just what is going on the world, without sugarcoating anything. Most movies these days focus on the rich and fabulous lives of people living in New York and LA. This movie has opened my eyes .

We all take so much of what we have for granted, and don’t even realize what is really going on in the world. I know there are so many third world countries out there that we are trying to help and it is so heartbreaking. Two of the children of this film actually lived in the slums. They filmed in the actual slums. What I don’t understand is this, India has so many wealthy parts to it’s country but nothing is being done about 7 MILLION people being left to live as “slum dwellers”. WHY? Our country is always reaching out and helping.  They didn’t sugarcoat this film because they wanted to show what life is really like for these people, by using real people, that are familar with this. The fact that children beg for money by doing whatever they need to breaks my heart.

I am glad this movie came out, I am glad I saw it, and I am glad it won so many awards. My eyes were opened completely and I always try to count my blessings because I know people out there would kill to have the things I have and when I find myself complaining over something so silly, I stop and realize how lucky I am to have a little problem like not being able to go out to a nice dinner.

Works Cited

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/

http://www.macalester.edu/courses/GEOG61/espencer/slums.html

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