Tammy

There were many parts of the video that were sad, surprising and even shocking, but it was the story of Tammy and her family that I found myself thinking about days after watching. I mean I knew people lived like that, but I guess I really hadn't ever met someone living in poverty. Getting to know her family in the video made me appreciate my life more and more. First of all, Tammy has 21 siblings! That's crazy, but no wonder her parents didn't have enough to go around. This resulted in Tammy rasing her own family in the lower-class because that it the class she was born into. Our society tends to think down upon people of the lower-class because we think they're lazy and don't find a way to go to school and get a decent job. But the truth is they can't go to school because that takes away from time they could put towards earning money - something they desperately need. And Tammy works very very hard. Her job as a janitor at the local Burger King might not be the hardest job on the planet, but the fact that she walks 10 miles each way to get there and back is remarkable and shows the effort she is putting in to provide for her family. While I was watching this, I kept thinking that her life could never possibly happen to me. First of all, I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to college and this will hopefully get me a good job. But even if it doesn't and I end up with no money, my parents will always be there to help me - a luxury Tammy doesn't have. I hope that Tammy's son Matt defies the odds and ends up going to college and getting a better life for himself.

Jail and Drugs

This week we have studied both drugs as well as prisons. These may seem like two separate subjects, but I have come to realize that they are very much related. In both the article, Court 302, and Morgan Spurlock's experience in jail in an episode of 30 Days, it is evident that the majority of crimes are drug-related. However, the interesting thing is that most of the people locked up for drug-related crimes are minorities and are poor. We all know that plenty of white rich people do some hard-core drugs but it doesn't appear that they really are punished for it. This goes back to the Sanits and Roughnecks, rich white people aren't punished because they are perceived to be upstanding citizens and if they do mess up, they aren't trouble makers, they just "made a mistake". And if they do by chance get caught, it's a totally different story. Take Lindsay Lohan for example, I can't even count the number of times she has been arrested for drug or alcohol related crimes and somehow she always gets away with miniscule sentences and she gets to go to rehab centers that are probably more like luxury resorts. These people in prison; however, need rehab the most because it's impossible for them to break the cycle without it. Often times, inmates just end up back in jail after they are released. They need help, but our country isn't willing to pay for that.

Saints and Roughnecks

I thought the Saints and Roughnecks article was very interesting and I have to admit I was kind of shocked by it. I couldn't believe all these things the Saints were doing while still maintaining good grades and the role of leaders in their school, some of them even won very prestigious awards! I don't think we really have Roughnecks at our school, but we definitely have some Saints. However, I think there are some differences. First of all since our school and community is so big, not everyone has a certain perception of everyone else. I don't think there's really a group of kids that every teacher would just regard as good students because its likely they have no idea who the kid is. Same goes for the police. But they're are definitely people at school who take difficult classes, are involved in extra curricular activities, but get into some bad things outside of school. But again I see another difference. At our school I don't think there's any way someone who is regarded as "a smart kid" could skip half his classes and still get good grades. If they're known as smart, they're probably taking a lot of accelerated and AP classes and it's just not possible to miss that much school and not do homework and still do well. I don't know, maybe I'm just ignorant to what really goes on, but that's how I see it.

Onward House

It's been kind of difficult for me to find community service opportunities because I had my heart set on working at Habitat for Humanity but with the contract problems that fell through. I was really in need of hours so I decided to try out Onward House yesterday. It's not that I didn't want to volunteer there, I just wasn't particulary excited. Once I got there, a little girl went up to the teacher who was in charge of the room I was working in, whispered in her ear and pointed at me. The teacher informed me that the little girl wanted me to help her with her homework. So we were off to a good start, someone actually wanted me to help her. As we worked on her homework, I got to know her a little better. She had a sense of humor way beyond her age which was hilarious. I loved working with her but I was amazed to see the difficulty she had with very simple tasks. It made me realize that they really do need us there and the one on one attention is particulary beneficial. I'm definitely planning on returning and I hope I can get the same little girl again :)