Social Institutions

In society, there are many institutions that are put in place to categorize people; these categories are used to divide the human population of the world.  Gender, race, sexuality, class, nationality, religion, education, etc. These categories have been systematically put in place by the society at large in order to judge others, and in effect, disassociate themselves from others.

Personally, I don't buy into any of it.  My skin might be physically white, but I don't identify as white. I don't identify as black either.  I identify as me.  The same goes with any other institution set in place to categorize people.  It is automatically assumed that I'm white (we'll stick with race for the time being), but I don't even know enough about my genealogy to know if there are any members of my past family that were Black, Asian, or Hispanic.  Knowing this gives me the ability to claim to fall outside any of the socially "normal" categories.  I attend an HBCU.  My skin may be white but that doesn't stop me from being friends with, or identifying with those whose skin may be black. 

Race is a touchy subject in America. For example, as long as Barack Obama is the "first black president" instead of the "44th President of the United State of America," race will still be a problem.  All of this notion that we've "moved past race" as a culture is clearly hogwash.  As long as FSU students remain afraid to go south of Gaines St. or go out on the FAMU homecoming weekend, we clearly still have an issue with racism.  There may scientifically be three races (Mongoloid, Negroid and Caucasoid) but all three are still human beings.  Every person on this earth bleeds the same color: red.  That is something that won't change no matter what color skin we might have, what socioeconomic class we might fall under, who we go to sleep with at night, or what gender we identify with.  We all need food, water, shelter, compassion and most importantly, we need each other. 

Backing out of race and moving into another touchy subject: sexuality.  I am automatically assumed to be a heterosexual when I meet someone new.  Why?  I may not be homosexual OR heterosexual, but I don't understand why all humans must have this preconceived notion of others before even getting to know them.  Human beings are just sexual, just like any other creature on the earth.  Scientists have found that many animals have sex with members of the same sex.  I feel that I must reiterate, humans are still animals, which means we retain many animal qualities.  Sex is a natural part of life, a part that humans partake in just like most other animals. 

Nationality is another institution that has some sketchy beginnings.  Why are we "proud" of a country that we didn't choose to be born in.  I didn't choose to be born in America, nor did someone from Switzerland choose to be born there.  That is a decision made prenatally by our parents (and partially by world governments denying or admitting emigrants). 

I must reiterate that social institutions are SOCIALLY and CULTURALLY bound.  Everyone behavior is their own decision, and should have no automated responses to certain stimuli.  There are many institutions that I don't buy into.  I only went into two of the big ones, but there are definitely smaller ones that I feel the human race should not entertain. 

Should I Double Major?

Well, today I talked to dad about some possibilities for my future and he had some good points.  He said that there will be some news firms that will only hire someone who has a degree in journalism, which I won't have if I don't transfer to FAMU or double major in journalism.

I thought about double majoring and the minoring in Spanish because I'm so close to having a Spanish minor anyway.

I'm not sure yet, we'll see.  I'm going to talk to Dr. Grable tomorrow about it and see what she thinks.

More to come on this later.

Summer

Well, I'm in South Florida for the summer, and I'm bored to tears.  Yes I have a job, but it is only there until 10am which leaves me with an entire day to entertain myself.  There are a few people in Naples to hang out with, but it's nothing like Tally, especially since graduation.
I hate this town.  I told myself to go to the beach today and be a beach bum, but I decided against it because there is really no one to go with and what fun is the beach without other people?
I'm really missing journalism.  I have nothing to do for the newspaper, radio station or class that involves journalism.  I've replaced summer journalism classes for answering phones.  I do enjoy what I'm doing, but I think that I could have spent this summer better. =\

Religion and Sexuality

I wish people could get past this religious barrier in this country.  We have so many religions represented in our 307 million person population.  There is Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Paganism, Catholicism, the list goes on and on.  We've inserted a line between Church and State, I wish that we could, as a society, insert a line between Church and sex.  This is a little different than separating Church and State, I know, but wouldn't it be wonderful if we could get past the judgment and hate because of something so private?  Sex is between two (or more) people and God.  Sex shouldn't leave the personal life, because it's such a personal connection between the people involved.  If I have sex with one person, then it's our business, not yours.  If I choose to tell you about it, that's also my decision, but it means I've told you in confidentiality and you don't get to go and tell any-and everyone you know about it.  We don't judge based on sexual position (missionary, doggie-style, etc.), why should we be able to judge based on gender?  It doesn't make sense to me.  To each is their own; much like I like Chinese food, and some people might not.  It's all a matter of personal preference.  Just because your religion might condemn it doesn't mean that mine does.  I'm not trying to change your religious attitude or belief, I'm just trying to help you understand that not everyone shares your opinion. 

Death on Tennessee St.

A few days ago, I saw something that I really wish I hadn't seen.  It messed me up.  I was driving home from a friends fiesta de su cumpleaños.  I was on Tennessee St., about to turn to take another friend to his place, when I saw the paramedic's Chevy Suburban turn its lights on and pull in front of me.  There was a man lying motionless in the street.  Well, I pulled off the road immediately and got out of my car to see if I could help (this was before any of the additional law enforcement/paramedics arrived).  I didn't see anything earth-shattering happen, but I knew that I needed to be there to help.  I've never seen a dead body before, and it's mind boggling.  This poor man was hit by a driver (we'll assume they were drunk, considering it was at 4 a.m.) and was, hopefully, dead on impact; I'd hate for him to have been in much pain.  Well, then TPD arrived, and they arrived, and they arrived some more.  I'd say there were close to 20 police cruisers there.  An ambulance arrived, but he wasn't immediately loaded onto a stretcher.  They blocked off the entire street, and put police tape up around it.  At this point I couldn't stay more, as I'd already seen far too much for my poor little brain.  Needless to say, I prayed for that poor man's soul and his poor grieving family and friends.  Rest in peace.