Lord of the Flies

                I believe that this statement by Andre Gide is true. Although, I believe that this statement is referring to more of a non-physical death, rather than physical. So rather than society actually killing a person, I believe it could kill his or her spirit, or soul. Ways that you could kill a persons’ spirit could be by making them feel like an outcast. There could also be instances where people could have enough power over someone and they could fill their head with lies that make them believe they are not worth it and get in their head and eventually cause the person to commit suicide.

                If we can’t separate our savage self from our civilized self, I believe that our savage self would definitely take over rather than our civilized self. As much as people hate to admit, if things got hard enough, you would rather do what is best for yourself and be greedy rather than trying to help other people, which is a savage. Lord of the flies shows a great example of this. Rather than sticking together, Jack makes his own group and they eventually end up killing each other and fighting. I feel like no matter how hard you try to stay civilized, your savage self will always end up taking over.

                A civilization is created when everyone comes together as a whole to work together and survive rather than working alone and only for yourself. It is hard to decide whether people are controlled by the society, or if the society is controlled by the people, but since I have to choose, I believe that people are controlled by society for multiple reasons. There are lots of rules, laws, and norms that people have created, and everyone just follows them. If someone doesn’t follow the rules, laws, or norms that we have, they either get in to trouble or just stick out.

 LOTF is basically telling Simon to stop trying to help out the rest of the boys because they will never be rescued and will be here forever.

Simon has been doing his best to help everyone in the group rather than being a savage and only helping himself. 

Because LOTF is only in Simon's head. Not anyone else's. 

Refugees

1) 18-24 months
2) 110,000 refugees
3) Democratic Republic & Congo
4) 39,000
5) California, Texas, & New York
6) From 2015 to 2017, the amount of refugees we let in went way down
    I didn't realize how many refugees we let in from Africa
    I figured that there would be more from Africa
7) I didn't realize that a good chunk of the ones we let in are Christians
    We also let a lot in that are unaffiliated which is surprising
8) We have become more accepting of different cultures, and they also have light colored skin.
9) It has moved from Europe to Africa to Asia. Bhutan.
10) There are a lot more of African Refugees than I would of thought
       There used to be a lot more refugees from Asia than there are now
      That Eritrea is settled in Montana
11) 50,000
12) At first it was dropping, but now it is increasing, but still slowly.
13) 1 in 10
14) 6 in 10
15) Norway and Switzerland

I do believe that the US should feel obligated to take in refugees because we are big enough and we have the ability to help, so we might as well.

Formula One Grid Girls

     I have known about things like this, like ring girls, but I have never heard of grid girls before reading this article. After reading this article, it changed my perspective on those types of jobs. I realized that it does not make a woman's image look very good, so I believe that it is a good idea that they have decided to stop doing it. A grid girl has been used to be dressed in a uniform, stand in front the drivers' cars before the race, and hold up their number. They also would stand by the winner at the end of the race. This has been going on for a very long time and is considered a tradition, but I believe that it is a good idea that they have decided to stop doing it.

     There are quite a few shoes that I could put myself into. After putting myself in the grid girls' shoes, I would feel very conflicted because first of all, I probably chose to have that job, and I probably like it. It would be very hard to understand why they made the decision to end it, but eventually, I think I could try to understand. Putting myself into the racers' shoes, I would be upset, because the racers probably like it. Lastly, putting myself in the shoes of the ones who made the decision to end grid girls, I would be proud, because it is helping the image of women.

Barnga

1) Frustrating
2) Just a competitive game of who can get the most paper clips
3) When Tyeson and Ryan were trying to argue about what the winning card was
4) We just gave Tyeson the paper clip and went with it
5) It is what made the game frustrating, because we all had different rules but weren't able to talk about it so we were all confused
6) yes, you are able to tie this game to culture
7) It would probably be a good idea but the game would still be confusing
8) That we rely on being able to talk to each other, and that we can't properly communicate without it.

Sociological Mindfulness/Imagination

After watching the Ted video, I was very deep in thought. The speaker in that video made some great points that I never even would of thought of if I hadn't watched it. Towards the beginning of the video, I was really confused and had a hard time getting a grasp on what the speaker was saying, but as the video went on, it started to make more sense. He went really deep into perspective, which made me think a lot. The most interesting point he made in my opinion is when he was talking about being an Arab Muslim. When he started to talk about how maybe before those two guys were killed, they could of told their kids that they will be back soon, and that they love them, because they could just be fighting for their country. It just really hit me when he said that, because that is a way that I never could of seen that, so I found it very interesting how he said that. There are many times in my life where I have been sociologically mindful, like just by doing little things like when I see people who are superior to someone, and being very rude towards them, I have stepped in and stopped it before. When I walk by someone and see that they are getting bullied, I am not the type of person to just stand there and watch it, I need to say something. Lastly, I see myself fitting into the big picture of society because I believe that I am someone you are able to look up to. I am a very willing and generous person. Whenever someone asks me for help, or for a favor, I am almost always willing to do it, and I am very generous because I am always willing to share what I have. Knowing that I have been a kind person my whole life makes me satisfied and believe that I fit into the big picture of society.

Freaks & Geeks

1) Thoughts and ideas from the pilot episode 
By judging the pilot episode, I really liked this show. It is good to watch and it also has lots of good messages in it.
-Conflict theory: Jeff trying to make Lindsay join the math contest instead of getting in trouble
-Functional theory: Lindsay actually having fun at the dance
-Symbolic interactionism: Jeff telling Lindsay that she can't call him Jeff anymore
2) What are the groups and what functions do they serve? Are there negative influences from any of the groups (dysfunctions)? 
-The geeks - they are brave because they stand up to their bully and one of them has the guts to ask the girl to the dance.
-The bullies - they are mean because they pick on people for no reason.
-The jocks/populars - some of them are mean
-The freaks - they are brave because they fight the bullies
Yes, there are negative influences from the bullies.
3) Who has power in the episode? How or why do they have power? How do they use it?
Lindsay has the power in this episode because she has enough confidence to stand up for herself and the people around her. She uses it in a good way by sticking up for people.
4) What are the important symbols in this episode? How do the characters act based on the symbols they find important?
-The nerds struggling with being bullied - they fight their bully
-Lindsay struggling with a little of everything - she just accepts her punishment, and then she dances with the autistic boy that she somewhat caused to break his arm
-Lindsay's brother struggling to find a date to the dance - Even though he got turned down by the girl he asked, he still got to dance with her at the dance.
5) Can you relate any of these theories to your own life? How can the things you do be interpreted through one of these theories? 
Yes, the conflict theory, because I'm really bad at decision making. I'm always in conflict with myself.

Intelligence

               In recent studies, researchers have came to the conclusion that by doing aerobic exercises, you can actually improve your memory function and keep a more steady health for your brain as you age. This study was discovered by researchers at Australia’s National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the Western Sydney University, Division of Psychology,  and the Mental Health at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

                The first thing the researchers did was that they studied the effects that happened after doing aerobic exercises on the part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is a very important part of the brain for memory. It has been proven that as you age, your brain health gets worst, as the average brain shrinks about five per cent per every 10 years once you turn 40. By doing studies on rats and mice, it has been able to prove that exercise increases the size of the hippocampus, but up until now, the evidence we have gained from humans has not been consistent.

                A researcher by the name of Mr. Firth came to the conclusion that, “When you exercise, you produce a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which may help to prevent age-related decline by reducing the deterioration of the brain.” Mr. Firth also stated that the results have also proven that they are able to help prevent things like Alzheimer’s and dementia, but more research is going to need to be done to know for sure.

                Overall, the data was able to show that instead of the aerobic exercises actually increasing the size of the hippocampus, the ‘brain benefits’ that it gains are because of the aerobic exercises “slowing down the deterioration in brain size”. It has been proven that physical exercises is one of the only ways you can help maintain your brain size and the way it functions when you start to get older.