Big City Poetry Slam
Project Description:
For this project, we started by reading poems where we needed to identify the meter of the poem and how it was organized. For a couple of weeks we studied how poems were written, what makes an actual poem, and finally we practiced for our performances by picking a poem of our choice and memorizing it. After we were confident in our abilities to recognize and read poems, we started on creating our own personalized one by picking about any topic we had studied in our humanities class throughout the year. This project was great for learning about creative writing and recognizing how we have grow as students over the semester.
For this project, we started by reading poems where we needed to identify the meter of the poem and how it was organized. For a couple of weeks we studied how poems were written, what makes an actual poem, and finally we practiced for our performances by picking a poem of our choice and memorizing it. After we were confident in our abilities to recognize and read poems, we started on creating our own personalized one by picking about any topic we had studied in our humanities class throughout the year. This project was great for learning about creative writing and recognizing how we have grow as students over the semester.
Click to read our poetry book.
My Poem
Growth As A Poet
Happiness Project
Project Description:This is a project about what happiness is, how people find it, and where we find our happiness. For this project we each created a happiness essay, an art piece, and an artist statement. Our essays were all about happiness, but with our own twist, in our own words. We created an art piece that reflected how we each find our own personal happiness and incorporated everything that we had learned throughout the whole project.
Project Reflection
How do you feel this project has helped you grow as a student?
I feel that as a student at Animas High School, I have grown during this project in many different ways. I feel that throughout this project I refined my ability to work effectively in class and at home. I used to simply shove all of my work into a single class period trying to get it done quickly, stressing myself out beyond belief, but now I have started to stretch my work out so that I do not feel stressed and I can ultimately have my work flow seamlessly without any problems. I feel that because of this, I have had more free time to refine my work to my highest ability, make it beautiful and something that represents myself as who I am now. I feel that I have engaged my HOHAM of refinement in this project very well, I started by writing my basic essay, but when I was done I went over it again and again until I felt it was perfect. Even though I know I have grown as a student, there are always opportunities for me to expand my knowledge.
Plan for the summer:
I have tried to search for happiness for many years, so with my new knowledge, this summer I am creating a plan that will hopefully help me work towards happiness. After everything that I learned, I realize that I should not be be trying to search for happiness, I need to let it find me. This summer, I am going to do what I think makes me feel good inside and make a mental note of what that was, I am also going to try to limit the amount of time that I spend on my computer and phone when I could be doing something meaningful with my life. Because I know that meaning plays a larger part in finding happiness, I am going to try to understand what I can do to make my life something worth remembering and worthwhile.
Biggest Take-Away:
Because this project was one of the most interesting subjects this year, there were quite a few take-aways for me. Mostly I feel that the biggest take-away was learning that you cannot simply search for happiness and find it, you have to first understand that you need meaning in life. Before this project, I thought that happiness was just a feeling that was nice to enjoy, but after everything that I've learned, I realize that happiness plays a big part in our lives. I did not understand before, but now i know that I had been trying to search for happiness, which was creating the opposite, unhappiness. My biggest take-away is understanding that I need to find something meaningful to me, and to embrace who I am right now.
I feel that as a student at Animas High School, I have grown during this project in many different ways. I feel that throughout this project I refined my ability to work effectively in class and at home. I used to simply shove all of my work into a single class period trying to get it done quickly, stressing myself out beyond belief, but now I have started to stretch my work out so that I do not feel stressed and I can ultimately have my work flow seamlessly without any problems. I feel that because of this, I have had more free time to refine my work to my highest ability, make it beautiful and something that represents myself as who I am now. I feel that I have engaged my HOHAM of refinement in this project very well, I started by writing my basic essay, but when I was done I went over it again and again until I felt it was perfect. Even though I know I have grown as a student, there are always opportunities for me to expand my knowledge.
Plan for the summer:
I have tried to search for happiness for many years, so with my new knowledge, this summer I am creating a plan that will hopefully help me work towards happiness. After everything that I learned, I realize that I should not be be trying to search for happiness, I need to let it find me. This summer, I am going to do what I think makes me feel good inside and make a mental note of what that was, I am also going to try to limit the amount of time that I spend on my computer and phone when I could be doing something meaningful with my life. Because I know that meaning plays a larger part in finding happiness, I am going to try to understand what I can do to make my life something worth remembering and worthwhile.
Biggest Take-Away:
Because this project was one of the most interesting subjects this year, there were quite a few take-aways for me. Mostly I feel that the biggest take-away was learning that you cannot simply search for happiness and find it, you have to first understand that you need meaning in life. Before this project, I thought that happiness was just a feeling that was nice to enjoy, but after everything that I've learned, I realize that happiness plays a big part in our lives. I did not understand before, but now i know that I had been trying to search for happiness, which was creating the opposite, unhappiness. My biggest take-away is understanding that I need to find something meaningful to me, and to embrace who I am right now.
Model United Nations
Project Description:
This project is the Model United Nations, where different countries throughout the world are assigned to students and they assume the roles of ambassadors in order to come together and solve issues. The students were asked to create resolutions in order to solve some of the current conflicts plaguing this world and to engage in debates. The issues that they were asked to solve was the denuclearization of North Korea, along with finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian homeland conflict. The students researched their countries, wrote policy papers, resolutions, and speeches that they would present in a real world scenario in order to agree upon solution that all of the countries support. The Model United Nations was about collaboration and finding a way to agree on a solution in difficult situations, and gave the students a chance to feel what the real UN does and how they come to consensus.
This project is the Model United Nations, where different countries throughout the world are assigned to students and they assume the roles of ambassadors in order to come together and solve issues. The students were asked to create resolutions in order to solve some of the current conflicts plaguing this world and to engage in debates. The issues that they were asked to solve was the denuclearization of North Korea, along with finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian homeland conflict. The students researched their countries, wrote policy papers, resolutions, and speeches that they would present in a real world scenario in order to agree upon solution that all of the countries support. The Model United Nations was about collaboration and finding a way to agree on a solution in difficult situations, and gave the students a chance to feel what the real UN does and how they come to consensus.
What are you most proud of about this conference?
I am proud of so many things throughout this Model United Nations papers, resolutions, and conferences, and while I am most proud of all of the things I accomplished, I feel that I can always improve upon ideas in the future.
But mostly I feel that I am most proud of how I, along with the other Security Council members, came together during the unmoderated caucuses to create and amend the current resolution that we were trying to agree upon. Specifically, we came together to refine resolution 2B, which happened to be the most agreed upon, and came to consensus on how we could make it fair to all countries supporting the two state solution so that it was not causing any more harm and refugees than there were already. We agreed to change many things on the resolution, but I am most proud of how I was able to change the resolution to support the Israelis and have the other members agree upon it, and support the idea. While I am also proud of my speech and the conference, I feel that I will remember how I, along with the other members, could find the document that supported a peaceful agreement that would benefit everyone. While this whole project was extremely fun and engaging, I think that I will look back upon this often to make my future projects better.
What did you connect with the most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
This whole project has pushed me to change and engage more in the way I think and perform in school, and I think that has made my education all the more fun and has brought my attention to the current way I think about the conflicts that are going on today. I feel that I connected the most with how the Palestinians and Israelis have been fighting over the land that they thought was their homeland and had specific rights to. This really pushed me to fight for both sides, and while my country had a slightly specific point of view, I constantly wanted to say what I personally felt, and I think that this made me put all the effort that I could into finding a solution to end the suffering of the people, wether they are Israelis or Palestinians. Most specifically was when I was researching the Israelis and Palestinians for my policy paper and I found the data showing how many people had lost their lives to the war. As quoted by BBC, “The UN says at least 2,104 Palestinian died, including 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women. An Israeli government official told the BBC that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had killed 1,000 "terrorists" during the assault on Gaza,” I think that I was really drawn to finding a solution that would allow all of the people to live in peace, even though the United States of America support the Israelis in all aspects, and I found myself going back over the previous failures of the UN to see if I could find a better way to find peace. While I truly wish that the conflict was easier to end, it has given us, the students, a way to understand the current conflicts in this world, to create a better future for ourselves.
What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
During this project I learned so many important things that have help me to gain a better understanding of our world wide conflicts. Mostly I feel that the most important thing that I learned during this project was seeing how each country had a different perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how they supported their ideas. I think that this was important because it allows me to find ways to create a solution from my perspective that they will support and will not disregard as useless. One example was when we read the resolutions, the Middle Eastern countries supported the North Koreans and did not like the idea of denuclearization, whereas the other countries did, and I felt that we were successful on passing a resolution because we were able to understand what they wanted and how we could allow them to compromise on their views, so that a solution could be agreed upon. And while the perspectives of the countries was a major helper in the conferences, I think that another important thing that I learned during this project was researching and finding data to support the concepts that we were putting into our policy papers and resolutions. As seen in my previous policy paper, "The United States of America, along with the UN, believe that North Korea cannot be trusted with nuclear technology, even if it would actively advance their society because North Korea has misused power in the past." This shows that I had to really dig into the resources online and on paper in order to thoroughly create and represent my perspective, and I feel that this was really important for me to achieve the pride that I want to go into my work. Even though I feel that there is so much more for me to learn about the details that go into the conferences, I feel that I can greatly increase the level of work that I put into my work in the future, both to make it the best I can, and to solve any problems that me be an issue within our countries.
I am proud of so many things throughout this Model United Nations papers, resolutions, and conferences, and while I am most proud of all of the things I accomplished, I feel that I can always improve upon ideas in the future.
But mostly I feel that I am most proud of how I, along with the other Security Council members, came together during the unmoderated caucuses to create and amend the current resolution that we were trying to agree upon. Specifically, we came together to refine resolution 2B, which happened to be the most agreed upon, and came to consensus on how we could make it fair to all countries supporting the two state solution so that it was not causing any more harm and refugees than there were already. We agreed to change many things on the resolution, but I am most proud of how I was able to change the resolution to support the Israelis and have the other members agree upon it, and support the idea. While I am also proud of my speech and the conference, I feel that I will remember how I, along with the other members, could find the document that supported a peaceful agreement that would benefit everyone. While this whole project was extremely fun and engaging, I think that I will look back upon this often to make my future projects better.
What did you connect with the most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
This whole project has pushed me to change and engage more in the way I think and perform in school, and I think that has made my education all the more fun and has brought my attention to the current way I think about the conflicts that are going on today. I feel that I connected the most with how the Palestinians and Israelis have been fighting over the land that they thought was their homeland and had specific rights to. This really pushed me to fight for both sides, and while my country had a slightly specific point of view, I constantly wanted to say what I personally felt, and I think that this made me put all the effort that I could into finding a solution to end the suffering of the people, wether they are Israelis or Palestinians. Most specifically was when I was researching the Israelis and Palestinians for my policy paper and I found the data showing how many people had lost their lives to the war. As quoted by BBC, “The UN says at least 2,104 Palestinian died, including 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women. An Israeli government official told the BBC that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had killed 1,000 "terrorists" during the assault on Gaza,” I think that I was really drawn to finding a solution that would allow all of the people to live in peace, even though the United States of America support the Israelis in all aspects, and I found myself going back over the previous failures of the UN to see if I could find a better way to find peace. While I truly wish that the conflict was easier to end, it has given us, the students, a way to understand the current conflicts in this world, to create a better future for ourselves.
What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
During this project I learned so many important things that have help me to gain a better understanding of our world wide conflicts. Mostly I feel that the most important thing that I learned during this project was seeing how each country had a different perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how they supported their ideas. I think that this was important because it allows me to find ways to create a solution from my perspective that they will support and will not disregard as useless. One example was when we read the resolutions, the Middle Eastern countries supported the North Koreans and did not like the idea of denuclearization, whereas the other countries did, and I felt that we were successful on passing a resolution because we were able to understand what they wanted and how we could allow them to compromise on their views, so that a solution could be agreed upon. And while the perspectives of the countries was a major helper in the conferences, I think that another important thing that I learned during this project was researching and finding data to support the concepts that we were putting into our policy papers and resolutions. As seen in my previous policy paper, "The United States of America, along with the UN, believe that North Korea cannot be trusted with nuclear technology, even if it would actively advance their society because North Korea has misused power in the past." This shows that I had to really dig into the resources online and on paper in order to thoroughly create and represent my perspective, and I feel that this was really important for me to achieve the pride that I want to go into my work. Even though I feel that there is so much more for me to learn about the details that go into the conferences, I feel that I can greatly increase the level of work that I put into my work in the future, both to make it the best I can, and to solve any problems that me be an issue within our countries.
Israeli-Palestinian Policy Paper and Resolution
North Korean Policy Paper and Resolution
North Korean MUN Mid Project Reflection
What has been most challenging about this project? Why?
For me personally, I feel that the most challenging part of this project was writing a speech which reflected the country we represented. Because I was representing the United States of America, I felt that I needed to create a speech that was moving, inspirational, and pushed other classmates (delegates) to vote for the resolution I wanted. I think it was challenging because I only had a few hours to write it, and because I wanted the speech to reflect the self confidence that I was trying to show the others.
What challenges have I overcome? Why?
I feel that within myself, I have overcome my fear of speaking in front of a lot of people. At the start of this school semester, I was quiet and I was terrified of talking to a large group of people, and while I still don't like to do it, this Model United Nations project has allowed me to overcome that fear and embrace the culture at Animas.
What are you most proud of at this point? Why?
I know that I am most proud of how I committed to the Committee that we put on, and while I know I didn't do an amazing job, I'm proud because I walked myself through all the steps. During the Committee we did a trial run where we needed to follow a script and get used to Points and Motions, and when to use them. I'm proud of myself because I managed to figure the script out pretty quick and when to implement them. During the actual Committee, I was able to figure out the steps without the script, and I feel that this will help me later in the school year.
Analyze and explain what the following quote means to you: "Complacency is where genius goes to die" - Matt Hughes
To me the quote means that when you start get so good at something to the point where you start slacking off, and feel smug with yourself in that area, then you start to lose the knowledge that you have and you start to think of yourself as above all others. And while this quote is a little complicated, it says that anyone who thinks of themselves as better will fail at what they want- personally.
For me personally, I feel that the most challenging part of this project was writing a speech which reflected the country we represented. Because I was representing the United States of America, I felt that I needed to create a speech that was moving, inspirational, and pushed other classmates (delegates) to vote for the resolution I wanted. I think it was challenging because I only had a few hours to write it, and because I wanted the speech to reflect the self confidence that I was trying to show the others.
What challenges have I overcome? Why?
I feel that within myself, I have overcome my fear of speaking in front of a lot of people. At the start of this school semester, I was quiet and I was terrified of talking to a large group of people, and while I still don't like to do it, this Model United Nations project has allowed me to overcome that fear and embrace the culture at Animas.
What are you most proud of at this point? Why?
I know that I am most proud of how I committed to the Committee that we put on, and while I know I didn't do an amazing job, I'm proud because I walked myself through all the steps. During the Committee we did a trial run where we needed to follow a script and get used to Points and Motions, and when to use them. I'm proud of myself because I managed to figure the script out pretty quick and when to implement them. During the actual Committee, I was able to figure out the steps without the script, and I feel that this will help me later in the school year.
Analyze and explain what the following quote means to you: "Complacency is where genius goes to die" - Matt Hughes
To me the quote means that when you start get so good at something to the point where you start slacking off, and feel smug with yourself in that area, then you start to lose the knowledge that you have and you start to think of yourself as above all others. And while this quote is a little complicated, it says that anyone who thinks of themselves as better will fail at what they want- personally.
Socialization and Identity Project
What is socialization, and how does it influence our identities? Well, that is what this project was about. Learning about oppression, how we are influenced by sources in our world, how we put up masks to change who we are, and how we can change our narrow view on ourselves. This project was an essay about how we have been socialized, and a mask that we created to represent our own personal socialization,
My Socialization Essay
Who Am I?
We are all simply living beings, yet one thing makes us human, socialization. This is how we learn about all our norms and beliefs, and this socialization has chained us to a narrow perspective of things that has been harmful to us as a people, and these ideas were given to us by a cycle that is continuously kept going by us subconsciously. Socialization is taught to us through five important agents, media, family, peers, religion, sports, and these affect us the most. These agents have influenced every part of our daily lives and they have taught us what we believe to be normal. "We are then socialized by powerful sources in our worlds to play the roles prescribed by an inequitable social system." As stated by Hardman and Jackson in the article Cycle of Socialization. And then these agents have created our identities that make us consider who we are in today’s society. “They shape our self-concepts and self-perceptions, the norms and the rules we must follow, the roles we are taught to play, our expectations for the future, and our dreams.” Acknowledged severely by the Cycle of Socialization article. Through the media and society I have been socialized to think that I must be athletic, strong, and smart to be a so called perfect man, that because of my social class I need to work harder in my academics for opportunities in our world, and because I’m white I can speak to others and not be contradicted because of my skin color.
Men are expected to follow certain rules and conform to the standard views on men and that they need to be smart and athletic to fit the gender of a man. Be tough, be smart, don’t cry, showing emotion is bad, and all of these messages come from a place called the Man Box. The Man Box is a place where there are rules that are held in place by society and that I MUST follow these rules if I want to be a man who is considered normal. As a teenage boy I’ve heard the messages many, many times being thrown at me from media and sports. I have often tried to form these norms around myself and be what I’m told to be. As Tony Porter, states in the video A Call to Men, “Growing up as a boy, we were taught that men had to be tough, had to be strong, had to be courageous, dominating -- no pain, no emotions, with the exception of anger -- and definitely no fear; that men are in charge, which means women are not; that men lead, and you should just follow and do what we say; that men are superior; women are inferior; that men are strong; women are weak; that women are of less value, property of men, and objects.” This is the Man Box. After hearing this I was surprised that these messages were about how I, as a man, was supposed to act and that this was how I needed to act in order to fit in. I see in the media these messages of gender and these are having an effect that is harmful to me. As a negative effect of these messages I started to doubt myself, that I was never going to be accepted, and because of these negative ideals the confidence I had in myself started to drop. Is it fair that I must change who I am? Is it fair that I must act like a man to be one? No, but because gender ideals have been so deeply ingrained into society, it has become completely accepted by everyone and that all men and women alike need to flow into the confines of their gender.
The way my gender has been represented in media and sports has allowed me to think of my gender, being a white man, as an acceptable way to fit into society. As the article Cycle of Socialization by Bobbie Harro states, “We are all born into a specific set of social identities.” I have often being told I was ‘gay’ and sometimes to ‘man up and stop crying,’ and this has caused me to ask myself why I put on a mask to change my identity, and I can only say is that I change the way I act because I wish to be considered normal by my friends and to be accepted as a man. From the video My Princess Boy, Cheryl Kilodavis asserted, “People want to say he’s gay or he’s transgender. And what I’m saying is accept us for who we are.’ This really struck me as true, that I need to be accepted for who I am, and not for who I was told to be. For example being a man and having gender constrictions has caused me to challenge my self image and retract inside myself to put up an outward facing identity mask that creates an image of what others believe I must be.
Your economic class, something that, like gender, largely impacts whether you are worth viewing in today's society and how you succeed in the world, which is around us constantly. Coming from a middle class background, I feel very differently about someone else who is not in this category. I know that because I am in this middle class I have opportunities that people of the lower class may not, and can succeed in the choices I make, but I can never reach the social seniority that the rich hold over me and everyone else. To explain how different the the middle and lower class are from the upper class in America, the video Wealth Inequality In America claims, “The bottom 80% of America, (poor through middle class) hold only 7% of America's wealth.” It is so shocking to me that I am in the bottom part of the wealth even though I am not poor and that the rich have immense amount of power over others. I have seen that the rich have lots of power and almost all of the richest people in the world are white men. Being above the lower class I have been motivated to work my hardest to succeed in my endeavours. As a teenager I’ve tried to do my best in school, because I know that if I do my best I will be able to achieve a higher level of education in college and in the careers I am interested in. But can I achieve my goals if I am of a lower social class, even though I’m white? I believe I can if I set my mind to it.
The economic class system, the way society has categorized people by how much money and social power they have, I believe was simply created so that I cannot challenge who I am and break the negative confines of the cycle that is continuing even though we don’t notice it. I have often changed my self image many times, but only because I wished to be accepted by who I considered my friends. But I see now that they weren't truly accepting me, they were accepting the person who had put on the mask that changed my identity. I know that by changing my identities I am opening myself up for more choices, but I do not wish to take choices that I need to change myself in order to do so. I have always had a great chance at having opportunities presented to me in my life, that many people of the lower class may not. For instance I know that because I can afford to ride bicycles, to buy the jerseys, and go to the races, that I will be able to reach the places in life I wish to go, but not without working for it. I have tried to extend the knowledge that I have because I wish to achieve a higher level of importance among the people, and so I will not be considered among the people of a lower class. As the video Precious Knowledge notices, “When you grow up in a poor area you don’t get the same opportunities as other people.” Everyone's driven by wealth including myself, and this is one of the negative influences from the ‘Cycle of Socialization’ that drives our society. This is creating a greater gap in communication between the economic classes.
In present day I am often told to be more of a man then I am now, and to stop wishing for things I cannot buy. These have been told to almost all of us at one point in our lives and made us think of how we cannot be and that we can never be as good as someone else. Can people change? Yes, of course, we can all change, but why don’t we? As the article Cycle of Socialization acknowledges, “We are innocents, falling into an already established system.” and, “These messages are an automatic part of our early socialization, we don’t initially question them.” We are told that we cannot change because this is who we are, and if we do change then we are not considered human. If we want to change, everyone must sacrifice part of who they were to find our new true selves that involve our inner beings. The reason we have not changed is because we are afraid that the people who already have fallen so deeply into their own prescribed identities will think of us as outcasts and devalue us, just like if we ignore the Man Box and its rules. How can I as an individual break the harmful cycles of socialization? I think that I can break the cycle by doing what I choose to do and not what others tell me. I can believe that if we empower each other, and the already existing society that is forming our world, we can help each other to break the self perpetuating cycle, the negative confines and the harmful rules that are causing us to change who we are in order to be accepted.
MASK paragraph.
Everyone has a mask, whether it’s for hiding something or telling other people something we want them to believe, and we all put them up subconsciously. For me, my mask represents how I’ve been socialized mostly by gender. So my main focus was how I have been told about gender through messages from the 5 agents of socialization. I decided to show how the agents of socialization have given me ideas about how I’m supposed to be, and how I inevitably pieced them together to form an identity of what others think I am on one side of my mask. I will write messages about who I am on the other side such as, creative, thinker, quiet, and other messages to show how I am inside myself, and how I wish to be without being told otherwise. I decided I would paint flowing shapes on the forehead of my mask to show how I have ideas that I wish to share. I also drew music notes to symbolize how my brain, my consciousness, is constantly in an imaginary place. I realized I was hiding quite a lot as a man and that I was influenced by messages more than I realized.
We are all simply living beings, yet one thing makes us human, socialization. This is how we learn about all our norms and beliefs, and this socialization has chained us to a narrow perspective of things that has been harmful to us as a people, and these ideas were given to us by a cycle that is continuously kept going by us subconsciously. Socialization is taught to us through five important agents, media, family, peers, religion, sports, and these affect us the most. These agents have influenced every part of our daily lives and they have taught us what we believe to be normal. "We are then socialized by powerful sources in our worlds to play the roles prescribed by an inequitable social system." As stated by Hardman and Jackson in the article Cycle of Socialization. And then these agents have created our identities that make us consider who we are in today’s society. “They shape our self-concepts and self-perceptions, the norms and the rules we must follow, the roles we are taught to play, our expectations for the future, and our dreams.” Acknowledged severely by the Cycle of Socialization article. Through the media and society I have been socialized to think that I must be athletic, strong, and smart to be a so called perfect man, that because of my social class I need to work harder in my academics for opportunities in our world, and because I’m white I can speak to others and not be contradicted because of my skin color.
Men are expected to follow certain rules and conform to the standard views on men and that they need to be smart and athletic to fit the gender of a man. Be tough, be smart, don’t cry, showing emotion is bad, and all of these messages come from a place called the Man Box. The Man Box is a place where there are rules that are held in place by society and that I MUST follow these rules if I want to be a man who is considered normal. As a teenage boy I’ve heard the messages many, many times being thrown at me from media and sports. I have often tried to form these norms around myself and be what I’m told to be. As Tony Porter, states in the video A Call to Men, “Growing up as a boy, we were taught that men had to be tough, had to be strong, had to be courageous, dominating -- no pain, no emotions, with the exception of anger -- and definitely no fear; that men are in charge, which means women are not; that men lead, and you should just follow and do what we say; that men are superior; women are inferior; that men are strong; women are weak; that women are of less value, property of men, and objects.” This is the Man Box. After hearing this I was surprised that these messages were about how I, as a man, was supposed to act and that this was how I needed to act in order to fit in. I see in the media these messages of gender and these are having an effect that is harmful to me. As a negative effect of these messages I started to doubt myself, that I was never going to be accepted, and because of these negative ideals the confidence I had in myself started to drop. Is it fair that I must change who I am? Is it fair that I must act like a man to be one? No, but because gender ideals have been so deeply ingrained into society, it has become completely accepted by everyone and that all men and women alike need to flow into the confines of their gender.
The way my gender has been represented in media and sports has allowed me to think of my gender, being a white man, as an acceptable way to fit into society. As the article Cycle of Socialization by Bobbie Harro states, “We are all born into a specific set of social identities.” I have often being told I was ‘gay’ and sometimes to ‘man up and stop crying,’ and this has caused me to ask myself why I put on a mask to change my identity, and I can only say is that I change the way I act because I wish to be considered normal by my friends and to be accepted as a man. From the video My Princess Boy, Cheryl Kilodavis asserted, “People want to say he’s gay or he’s transgender. And what I’m saying is accept us for who we are.’ This really struck me as true, that I need to be accepted for who I am, and not for who I was told to be. For example being a man and having gender constrictions has caused me to challenge my self image and retract inside myself to put up an outward facing identity mask that creates an image of what others believe I must be.
Your economic class, something that, like gender, largely impacts whether you are worth viewing in today's society and how you succeed in the world, which is around us constantly. Coming from a middle class background, I feel very differently about someone else who is not in this category. I know that because I am in this middle class I have opportunities that people of the lower class may not, and can succeed in the choices I make, but I can never reach the social seniority that the rich hold over me and everyone else. To explain how different the the middle and lower class are from the upper class in America, the video Wealth Inequality In America claims, “The bottom 80% of America, (poor through middle class) hold only 7% of America's wealth.” It is so shocking to me that I am in the bottom part of the wealth even though I am not poor and that the rich have immense amount of power over others. I have seen that the rich have lots of power and almost all of the richest people in the world are white men. Being above the lower class I have been motivated to work my hardest to succeed in my endeavours. As a teenager I’ve tried to do my best in school, because I know that if I do my best I will be able to achieve a higher level of education in college and in the careers I am interested in. But can I achieve my goals if I am of a lower social class, even though I’m white? I believe I can if I set my mind to it.
The economic class system, the way society has categorized people by how much money and social power they have, I believe was simply created so that I cannot challenge who I am and break the negative confines of the cycle that is continuing even though we don’t notice it. I have often changed my self image many times, but only because I wished to be accepted by who I considered my friends. But I see now that they weren't truly accepting me, they were accepting the person who had put on the mask that changed my identity. I know that by changing my identities I am opening myself up for more choices, but I do not wish to take choices that I need to change myself in order to do so. I have always had a great chance at having opportunities presented to me in my life, that many people of the lower class may not. For instance I know that because I can afford to ride bicycles, to buy the jerseys, and go to the races, that I will be able to reach the places in life I wish to go, but not without working for it. I have tried to extend the knowledge that I have because I wish to achieve a higher level of importance among the people, and so I will not be considered among the people of a lower class. As the video Precious Knowledge notices, “When you grow up in a poor area you don’t get the same opportunities as other people.” Everyone's driven by wealth including myself, and this is one of the negative influences from the ‘Cycle of Socialization’ that drives our society. This is creating a greater gap in communication between the economic classes.
In present day I am often told to be more of a man then I am now, and to stop wishing for things I cannot buy. These have been told to almost all of us at one point in our lives and made us think of how we cannot be and that we can never be as good as someone else. Can people change? Yes, of course, we can all change, but why don’t we? As the article Cycle of Socialization acknowledges, “We are innocents, falling into an already established system.” and, “These messages are an automatic part of our early socialization, we don’t initially question them.” We are told that we cannot change because this is who we are, and if we do change then we are not considered human. If we want to change, everyone must sacrifice part of who they were to find our new true selves that involve our inner beings. The reason we have not changed is because we are afraid that the people who already have fallen so deeply into their own prescribed identities will think of us as outcasts and devalue us, just like if we ignore the Man Box and its rules. How can I as an individual break the harmful cycles of socialization? I think that I can break the cycle by doing what I choose to do and not what others tell me. I can believe that if we empower each other, and the already existing society that is forming our world, we can help each other to break the self perpetuating cycle, the negative confines and the harmful rules that are causing us to change who we are in order to be accepted.
MASK paragraph.
Everyone has a mask, whether it’s for hiding something or telling other people something we want them to believe, and we all put them up subconsciously. For me, my mask represents how I’ve been socialized mostly by gender. So my main focus was how I have been told about gender through messages from the 5 agents of socialization. I decided to show how the agents of socialization have given me ideas about how I’m supposed to be, and how I inevitably pieced them together to form an identity of what others think I am on one side of my mask. I will write messages about who I am on the other side such as, creative, thinker, quiet, and other messages to show how I am inside myself, and how I wish to be without being told otherwise. I decided I would paint flowing shapes on the forehead of my mask to show how I have ideas that I wish to share. I also drew music notes to symbolize how my brain, my consciousness, is constantly in an imaginary place. I realized I was hiding quite a lot as a man and that I was influenced by messages more than I realized.
Project Reflection
What am I most proud of about my socialization mask? I feel that I am most proud of how I came up with the creative side of my socialization mask, the side that represents my actual self and not what others tell me. I'm proud of this because I came up with the concept really quickly at first, and I had no thoughts of changing the initial design because I felt it was what truly represented me and what I wanted to be. At first I started by drawing what I had for my mask brainstorm concept, and I really liked the way it looked on my physical mask and felt that it was perfect, and needed no changes other that minor touch ups. I feel that this is what I am the most proud of in this project just because it was the one part of my work that I didn't want to change, and that because I didn't want to change it, it came out how I wanted it.
"Is it fair that I must change who I am? Is it fair that I must act like a man to be one? No, but because gender ideals have been so deeply ingrained into society, it has become completely accepted by everyone and that all men and women alike need to flow into the confines of their gender." I am proud of this quote, and I choose it because I feel that it represents a lot of people, not just myself, and what they need to deal with in their everyday lives. I'm proud of this quote because I found the research that concluded that society has been hard on all types of gender, and that I was able to find exactly what I was looking for in the time I was given.
I feel that the biggest thing that I am going to remember from this eye opening project is how everyone had fun making their masks, and how I loved what my mask came out to be. I know that my mask was the best project I've done in school and this will stick with me in my future projects, how much fun they can be, while teaching us something at the same time. The whole mask project was my biggest take-away simply because I had the exact idea for my mask and once I painted it, that was how it was going to be because I loved it. After finishing my mask I saw that I had put all of the effort I could into it and it then became a work of art that I created.
Do I want to share the knowledge that I have gained with the community, or the messages I've seen? Yes, I feel like the knowledge I gained should be shared with the community, but maybe not just shared from me, but from everyone who has the wisdom and wish to help broaden the thoughts of others. I feel that I need to share what I've learned about how women are treated as property and how we can stop this. I feel that I have specifically grown my skills in refining. I typed out my essay completely, and even though I was done I kept going over parts that I thought were poorly written to see if in anyway I could make it sound better. At one point during my project, I simply stopped and thought about what I said for a moment, then strengthening sentences just came to me and I put them down. Refining during this project for me was not simply about editing grammar, for me it was about changing my essay to sound good and look professional.
"Is it fair that I must change who I am? Is it fair that I must act like a man to be one? No, but because gender ideals have been so deeply ingrained into society, it has become completely accepted by everyone and that all men and women alike need to flow into the confines of their gender." I am proud of this quote, and I choose it because I feel that it represents a lot of people, not just myself, and what they need to deal with in their everyday lives. I'm proud of this quote because I found the research that concluded that society has been hard on all types of gender, and that I was able to find exactly what I was looking for in the time I was given.
I feel that the biggest thing that I am going to remember from this eye opening project is how everyone had fun making their masks, and how I loved what my mask came out to be. I know that my mask was the best project I've done in school and this will stick with me in my future projects, how much fun they can be, while teaching us something at the same time. The whole mask project was my biggest take-away simply because I had the exact idea for my mask and once I painted it, that was how it was going to be because I loved it. After finishing my mask I saw that I had put all of the effort I could into it and it then became a work of art that I created.
Do I want to share the knowledge that I have gained with the community, or the messages I've seen? Yes, I feel like the knowledge I gained should be shared with the community, but maybe not just shared from me, but from everyone who has the wisdom and wish to help broaden the thoughts of others. I feel that I need to share what I've learned about how women are treated as property and how we can stop this. I feel that I have specifically grown my skills in refining. I typed out my essay completely, and even though I was done I kept going over parts that I thought were poorly written to see if in anyway I could make it sound better. At one point during my project, I simply stopped and thought about what I said for a moment, then strengthening sentences just came to me and I put them down. Refining during this project for me was not simply about editing grammar, for me it was about changing my essay to sound good and look professional.