Dupage County Court/Jail Complex

Going into the courtroom, I had no idea what to expect. Sitting in on a double murder trial isn't an everyday thing. When the police man was called to the stand is when it really struck me that this was real. He raised his right hand and then sat down. Many of the questions asked were repetitive, just wanting to get the whole story with ALL of the details. The man up for trial allegedly murdered his mother and then, allegedly, proceeded to murder a prostitute he called to his house. Double murder. The whole time the class was in there, the police man was on the stand and another man was asking him all sorts of questions. They gave a mental picture of the house, told what it was like once arriving on the scene, and then they started to show pictures. They started with exterior. "Was there any forced entry here?", "Was there any forced entry here?" I was sure that I heard that question over a hundred times. After that was finished, they moved to interior. Dents in the drywall, blood splattered everywhere, sheets trying to cover things, and two stabbed bodies laying in the middle of the house.

This case would definitely be counted as a criminal case, cateorigized under felony. This is a way more serious case than traffic tickets, or drug abuse. The accused was of a white race. When asked what theory would apply to this case the first one that comes to mind is the labeling theory. I think of this one because he has now been labeled and talked about and put on trial for being a murderer. That name NEVER goes away. It doesn't matter if he doesn't have to do jail time, if he gets out of jail, or if he wasn't in a good mental state; he will still be associated with murder. His record will have it on there, the media has caught glimpses of it, etc. He set himself up for a very unappealing reputation.

After sitting in on the trial for a couple hours, we went over to the jail. The subculture of the jail was very intense. They are people; real, living, breathing people. And when you're in a place like jail, it's very hard to remember that. They hit the walls, and yell inappropriate things. They are individualized, wearing the same outfits as everyone else there. They are locked up for the majority of their day, depending on their situation. There are murderers, rapists, drug abusers, child abusers; and it is absolutely unreal. They are apart of society but they aren't. It's a really weird feeling. From what I could see the majority of the men I saw at the jail were of white or african american race. Rehabilitation was happening right in front of our faces. They were locked up, not able to do what they want, see what they want. They are being taught how to be better in society.  I think there are two main theories of deviance that go along with the jail. The first one being, strain theory because the sheriff told us that there has been more fighting in the past few years than ever before. And I believe that this is happening because they all feel like they are less fortunate than each other and so they need to up their social status to gain people's respect in the jail. In my opinion, why would you want to impress anyone who has done something so wrong they are locked up for it..? The second theory I would choose is shaming theory because they get locked up, given a specific outfit to wear, given only the food the jail provides, given no privacy at all, and are always being watched. I think that is enough to make the deviant (or prisoners) feel bad and uncomfortable there. I think that jail is one of the only ways to really maintain society at a tolerable level. Prevention of deviance is never really going to happen. There is always someone who doesn't care about the rules and is, therefore, willing to break them. I thought that walking around in the jail that I was always being watched. Not just by the cameras, but by the prisoners. And it was awkward. It was a very intense atmosphere and being in there for only a tour made me never want to go back there.

I saw Sociology..

This week I saw sociology when I played football with some friends. We went to the park and chose teams and then played! It was so much fun until some people started getting really annoyed with one another. When we first started we decided the goal lines and out of bounds but when we began to play, some didn't follow all of the rules. One girl on the opposite team ran out of bounds and then into the goal and started jumping up and down, very exccitedly. It didn't take long for someone from my team to get up and yell cause she went out of the bound line. They argued until we finally called a redo.

Things went back to normal and everyone was playing and getting along just fine. Then someone from the opposite team ran up and threw one of my teammates on the ground. And then ran off like nothing happened. Obviously, she was a little angered by this. So they began to argue and after awhile everyone started arguing and it became a huge mess.

Overall, I think this situation shows deviance in a way because some of the players weren't showing very much respect for others and they were just doing rude things. If that was an actual football game, they would have gotten called for a foul or something. But because there wasn't really any set rules, they got away with whatever they wanted to do and they knew that. I think it also shows conformity because after one person started fighting, everyone started fighting and it turned into a fiasco of yelling and calling people rude names. I learned that I'm never playing football again...

I saw Sociology at..

This week., the juniors have been testing in the field house. For two days we were all packed into the gym for five hours, taking tests that will help us decide our future. With hundreds of teenagers packed into one place, it can get pretty crazy. The first day, Dr. Cheng gave a speech to us about doing well on the test and at the end of his talk he had us all do the wave. I think that this kind of goes along with culture because everyone knew what the wave was and everyone knew how to do it. It's not neccesarily apart of our everyday lives but we are taught to do that and we know when it's appropriate.

Also, when we were given breaks in between tests everyone would seperate into different groups. It wasn't socially exceptable to step into another groups space or area until we were forced to go back to our assigned seats. Another example was when we had a break, someone hit the box off of the fire alarm and it started buzzing. Everyone got silent and stared over at the kid who did it. Then when it was fixed everyone clapped and yelled for the person. It's conformity to your peers when you do what they are doing.

It's our culture to test for college. Not everyone takes it as seriously as others but we all know how to act. This kind of testing is really specific on the directions which made all the stundents laugh because some things are obviously not okay. I think that it proved a lot of peoples maturity levels when taking these tests and getting through the long two days.

I saw Sociology when...

While learning about the gender roles, I remembered a time when I was at the store picking up outfits for my cousins. I walked through the boy clothes section and saw all the blue and darker, sports type clothing they had out for the boys. As I was going through I noticed a little boy and his mom a little ahead of me. The boy was crying because he didn't want any of the clothes his mom was picking out for him. I felt bad for him, thinking he should be able to choose his own clothing if he wants to. I really couldn't do anything about it so I walked away headed towards the girls section.

I walked through the racks of flowers and princess clothes that all the little girls couldn't wait to get their hands on. I realized that the boy and his mom started to walk away from the boys section towards the registers. This meant that they had to pass the girl clothes. And as they were passing the boy stopped to look at a pink girls shirt. His mom tugged his arm not wanting him to even look at the shirt. But when she did that he only started to cry more. She picked him up and put him in the shopping cart telling him that they weren't going to get any clothes at all.

I think that boys learn they need to wear one specific type of clothing and nothing else. And girls learn they need to wear the opposite type of clothing and nothing else. I don't think it was fair to pull the little boy away from the pink shirt. It's not like the shirt was going to give him a disease or make him gay, like I'm sure that mom was thinking. People, even little kids, have the right to wear whatever type of clothing they want. That mother took her sons right away when she wouldn't let him even look at the shirt.

Gender Roles

This week in class the focus has been on gender roles. What makes a person feminie and what makes a person masculine. It made me think how boys and girls could be either now-a-days. A girl doesn't nessecarily have to be feminine and a boy doesn't nessecarily have to be masculine. Sometimes this way of thinking poses a problem though. Some do not think it is okay for a male or female "act" like the other gender.

This makes me mad because I think that people should be able to be who they want and how they want without the unnessecary imput from others around them. We brought up in class that some think they are born that way, and it isn't their choice at all. In some cases, I think that could be very true. Just because a boy wants to play with a barbie doll or a girl wants to play with hot wheels, doesn't mean that they are going to be gay or lesbian. It doesn't mean that they are going to grow up more like a boy instead of a girl or vice versa.

In my opinion, I think that parents are paranoid. They don't want their child to be made fun of so they do everything in their power to keep them from switching the gender roles. Parents sometimes need to back off and let the kid be who they want to be. If they push away the type of person that child is supposed to be, they are pretty much pushing away the child itself.

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

After reading the article, Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, I really thought a lot about what Amy's husband said. He explained that it isn't a child's job to spend their lives repaying their parents. I love my parents and I help them out as much as I can so I can't fully agree with what this man said. We (children) didn't choose to be born and we didn't get to choose our parents or family but neither did our parents. Of course they chose to become pregnant and start a family but they didn't get to say, "I want my kid to be this, this, and this." I think as children it is one of our responsibilities to help out and listen to our parents. On the other hand, our parents shouldn't be making every single choice for us. Mothers and fathers need to give us freedoms, that's how we as kids learn to grow up.

Honestly, I believe that the way Chinese mothers raise their children is somewhat wrong. It could be that I'm not used to that and I've never been around that type of parenting, but it's a little different. Pushing children to the very extreme, like she did while helping her daughter with piano, seems unethical. Children need breaks and to walk away from something for awhile. All humans need that, not just children. I think these mothers are building a strong person and an involved person, I also think though that the Chinese mothers could do this in a less intense way.

In my opinion, if I was called garbage by my mother or father I would be so upset. I don't believe it would help raise my self-esteem. As kids grow up, there are a lot of things in the world that can make a child feel vulnerable or drop their self-esteem. Hearing something that, plain and simple, would not make someone feel good. I think that with all of the different theories of Mead, Cooley, Piaget, and Freud they explain why the Chinese mothers act this way, or how this style of parenting helps.

Culture!

The past few weeks, we've been talking about culture and how all of the different types of cultures interact. Culture universal shows us how many cultures have the same idea (weddings, funerals, etc.) but each culture has different "rituals" that go with it. After watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I realized how different my culture is from their Greek culture in the movie. Their family parties consisted of yelling, talking over each other, eating, eating, and more eating. My family parties consist of sitting in the backyard for a barbeque, telling stories, and playing football. We both have family parties, we just do things differently as different cultures. I also looked at the way they got married. The extended family would spit on the bride as she walked down the isle. The pastor spoke in all Greek and once they were married they had to take their first steps together as a couple around the alter. My aunt's wedding that I attended just a couple of months ago, was very laid back and calm. They walked down the isle, were married, and that was it.

I think it's really interesting learning and taking part in other cultures. One needs to have the culture clash and culture shock in their lives to completely understand the fact that everyone is different and just because one culture doesn't do it the same way that you're culture does it, doesn't mean by any means that they are wrong. Innovation, technology, and diffusion has played a huge role in the way many cultures are today. For the most part, it is because of these three things that a lot of cultures are linked together in some way. But on the other hand, I believe that ethnocentrism is something that can really hurt our cultures as a whole. It goes along with one culture thinking another culture is wrong just because they don't do things the same way. Judging a culture is the same as judging a person, it hurts the people involved especially when the person judging doesn't know anything about that specific culture. I think if more people would be open to letting in new and differnet ideas and cultures, our society would be a better place to live in and be apart of.

Breaking Folkways

Folkways, the social norms we all follow in our everyday lives. It makes us "normal" or somewhat close to that. This week in class we had to break folkways and watch the reactions of people around us. To be honest, it was really hard! To do something that people don't normally do and to get weird looks from people takes a lot of courage. Especially because we were purposely doing it. Making sure we weren't breaking mores (do something that goes against our morals) or laws (the rules of our society!).

For my project of breaking a folkway I went to stores and paid in all change. No paper money involved. Quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies. It was kind of intimidating to go up to the cashier and take out a big bag of change and start counting. I felt really awkward. Some people would give me dirty looks because I was slowing everything down. One person even yelled at me to hurry up and count faster. They would watch me with hawk eyes making sure I was counting it correctly but they wouldn't help me out. Out of all ten times I did this, there was one person who helped me and didn't make any rude faces or comments. I don't think that people understand that when they yell or make rude faces it just makes the situation worse and embarrasses the person. But after a couple times I got used to the faces and comments.

Overall, I think that people are really rude! I learned a lot from this project how fast-paced our society is. Everyone wants to get in and out without any hold ups. I don't think a lot of them realized that the more they interrogated me about it, the longer it took. I would look up then have to restart counting or I they would start taking some away and I would lose track. I think our society needs to slow down and take a chill pill. Because something so small as paying with change really made people mad. This shows a lot about the way our society is run and the way no one will go against what it is.

American Culture and Society

After taking a look at American culture and society, I think that we are looked down upon from many other societies and cultures. With all of the inappropriate things that are just plain normal to us, to other cultures it is against the law or just downright wrong. We talked a lot about kissing in public. It goes back to the article we read in class about the man kissing the Indian girl in a public place in front of people and that was considered illegal or wrong. The Indian culture doesn't allow this kind of behavior. And walking through the hallways or just seeing it on the streets or in public areas, we have no rules against public display of affection. It seems as though  people have made babies standing by their locker at my school. It's gross and not something that should be displayed for all to see. I don't think making it a law is really necessary, but to at least have some rules or guidelines would make the situation a lot less awkward for those around the situation.

I also think that American culture and society is very big on being perfect. We all have this standard that we are supposed to live up to. And it's really annoying because the only people who live up to that standard are the unhealthy, not-going-to-eat-till-you-can-see-my-ribs kind of person. Going against the fact that we all have that standard of being perfect, America has a huge problem with obesity. A whole lot of our population is considered to be obese. This lifestyle is also unhealthy for the human body.

Overall, I think American society is given a very bad reputation because of the things it comprises. If we could set guidelines or boundaries to some things, I feel that we could change our reputation to be something good. But until everyone starts to work together, American culture and society will, unfortunately, be looked down upon.

American Society

This picture of a female model represents American culture because this is the so-called "picture perfect" look. Everyone wants to look like these girls. Skinny, tall, perfect hair, perfect smile. Our American society tries to live up to these unrealistic expectations. This is the cause of eating disorders and self esteem issues. Nobody actually looks like this "perfect person" everyone talks about.


Facebook is big in American society. Everyone has one. It leads to making new friends, to making enemies. Facebook can be good in ways, but usually people have a bad conotation about this social networking site. At first, one had to be 18 years or older to use this website. But it soon became very popular and now it seems as though the whole world has one. This is a big communication tool that people use which makes it so popular in American society.


Reality television is one of the biggest influences on people around the world, especially the American society. We get these ideas and thoughts put into our heads about sex, drugs, drinking, etc. This overall hurts a persons self esteem, ruins their reputation, or digs them into a deep hole. Everyone watches some kind of reality tv show and if you don't you still know about one or two and you're influenced by them. This gives American culture a bad name when Americans are focusing on all of these bad things instead of presenting ourselves in a good manner.


Fast food restaurants have become a social norm to American society. Our society is very fast-paced and busy with tasks that we usually don't have time to sit down to a nice cooked meal for dinner. So where do most Americans turn? Food that is fast, simple, and easy. But it is also horrible for our bodies and doesn't help us whatsoever. Americans have become known for all the fast food eating we do because of the number of obese people we have living in our country. This is a bad representation of American society but it's probably the biggest of them all.


Even though we are pressured to look small and skinny, most of our society is very overweight. 85% of adults and 20% of children are overweight or considered, "obese". This is a huge problem in American society. It goes along with fast food, where we eat and eat and eat but we don't feel full because we aren't putting good things into our bodies. America has a reality tv showed called Biggest Loser, a show to see who can lose the most weight in a given amount of time. I think that's when we know American society has a problem and should think about changing its ways.

Sociology On The Streets

This week I saw sociology while walking in the hallway. I tried to look at the different aspects of groups and the barriers that go along with it. Different cultures have different customs and different things that they do in every day life. This fits into West Chicago Community High School because all of the different groups have different "customs" or different ways of living their lives. They don't necessarily talk in different languages but every group functions differently. Some groups talk about everything openly and some groups keep everything to themselves.

While I was in the hallway yesterday and I walked past a group of people screaming and then a group of people not saying one word to each other. All of the people within the groups are completely different from each other too. People don't hiss at each other or know each other by their specific numbers but they act so differently. I don't think people know how to act exactly the same which is good but it makes things really confusing. That's why there is so much drama that goes around because everyone clashes with each other. I think that after awhile everyone learns how to deal with each other and move on in life. That's part of life I guess.

The past few weeks we have been talking about groups. Who makes up different groups and what their interactions are with the people around them. Making a web of all the groups I'm involved in shocked me. I never realized how many groups I was a part of. And also, all of them have different names! My favorite is interest groups because you get to pick what you want to be a part of. It's much more fun when you choose to do it rather than being forced to be in it.

While we were on the topic, I tried to pay close attention to the groups that surrounded me while I was at cheerleading. There's the whole gym, which is a group altogether. Then it breaks down to being on a youth, junior, or senior team. Then it breaks down to all the different levels and teams. Then it breaks down even further to the different friend groups in all of the teams. It could even go down to the different schools everyone goes to. It amazed me watching and being involved in all of these different groups when all I did was sign up for cheerleading. I like how when everything is broken down like that everyone gets a name or a label. The whole gym is Cheer Alliance. Then teams would be kittens, lions, pink panthers, jaguars, cheetahs, and pumas. Groups divide all of our lives into little sections and splits everyone up. It's actually really interesting.

People Watching!

This past weekend I had a cheerleading competition with over 35,000 cheerleaders competing. So I took some time to watch people and their quirky things they did when they thought no one was watching them. This sounds really creepy to me so I probably wasn't too good at it but I tried my best! The first person I saw was a little boy probably 5 or 6 years old. He was sitting outside of the competition watching all the girls in the half uniforms with huge bows and 10 pounds of make up on. Nobody really seemed to notice him. Then he started to kick his feet back and fourth and as another cheerleader walked by he kicked her and started to giggle. He then made an effort to kick every girl that walked past him. It was like he was playing his own game inside of his head.

The next person I decided to watch was a group of girls cheering on their friends team as they performed. They stood right up close to the stage and were screaming their heads off for the girls. They was jumping up and down and about halfway through the routine one of the girls got so into it her shoe lace somehow got wrapped around on the baracades lining the stage. So now as she was yelling and screaming for this team she was also trying to get her shoe off of the baracade. It looked as though she didn't want any of her friends to notice though. So at the end of the routine she kicked her shoe off and let her friends get a little in front of her before she bent down to grab it and run off.

The last person I wasn't really watching, it just kind of happened. On my flight home I was sitting next to my sister and one of my friends and the flight attendant kept giving us really weird looks. We thought we did something wrong so we were acting on our best behavior. But as I watched I noticed that she was giving everyone really weird looks. This was weird to me because usually flight attendants are really nice and happy. So we sat through our flight and once we landed my sister went to the bathroom and overheard the flight attendant say she thought she was pregnant on the phone to someone. Which explained all the nasty looks and the attitude of stay away. I thought it was interesting to watch someone be so angry for no reason but then realize they acctually have a good reason.

This weekend showed me how weird some people are. I don't know if I just was coincidentally catching people at really bad times but it was a train wreck. I think with so many people around this weekend and all the cheerleaders being, well, cheerleaders it was just a long weekend for everyone. Very entertaining on my end though! My sister, my friend Kristi and I all enjoyed this sociology assignment!

Theft

This week in class, we have been asked the question, "Will the kindness of strangers stop theft?" This goes along with socioloy because it's pointing fingers at different groups of people and figuring out if society would help them or if they would just turn their backs on them in time of need. We learned that if just asked the question, "would you help a stranger by stopping a theft?" everyone would say yes of course, because they want to look like a good person. But when their identity is hidden, it's a completely different story. Most people would say that it depends on the situation. Some people even said that they wouldn't help at all. I think when one answers depending on the situation it could mean a lot of different things; if the theft was a male, if the stranger was obnoxious, if the stranger was a teenager or an adult, etc. The location, time, and the amount of people around could have a major effect on if someone would help or not, also.

This week my older sister told me that she saw a theft take place from across the street. And I asked what happened and what she did about it. My sister said that a man went up behind an older lady and grabbed her purse and ran. She told me that she felt bad for the lady who just had her stuff stolen but my sister was too scared to go over and help. She also said that a man walking down the street tried to chase the theft down but never came back. I think overall, stopping a theft depends on the situation.

Sociologists!

This week in class we learned a lot about famous sociologists and what they did for this particular science. I did a project on WEB DuBois figuring out what he really stood for in his beliefs. DuBois mainly focused on race inside and outside of the United States. He tried to stop all the segragation going on in a peaceful and conservative way. He believed that no matter what color skin you had, you were equal to all other men.

This week I have thought about this issue of segragation and that if you aren't white you are considered a minority. We all come from different backgrounds, so who is to say which group of people is a so-called minority? People such as WEB DuBois, Martin Luther King Jr., and Lyndon B. Johnson have all tried to stop the segragation that pollutes our lives every day. In 2011, things have turned just a little but there is still a faint line that shows the United States still has this racism problem. Last month, I went downtown to walk around the city with my cousins and we met a black man who looked as though he was blind. He asked if we could help him across the street and when we got to the other side he asked what color we were. Before we could say white, he went on explaining that he was walking around the city with his eyes closed to see who would help him. This was a test to see how much racism effects our lives. That was a very bold statement for that man to make but it got the point across. Racism and segregation is still very visible in the United States and no one is stopping it.

Who am I?

Hello, I'm Kylie!(: I love to dance and play guitar. I'm also on a competitive cheerleading team. My favorite color is purple. I am also a vegetarian. I am terrified of squirrels and spiders. I need to have something going on or else I go crazy and I can't focus. I have 3 siblings, Danielle, she's my half sister and doesnt live with us, Adam, my younger brother who is a freshmen at WCCHS, and Kallen, my younger sister who is in eighth grade. I'm really close with all three of them and we hang out all the time. I can be really crazy most of the time but I also have a quiet side too. I've gone through a lot of rough times in the past couple years and so I've learned to just live life as best as I possibly can. I have the best friends in the whole world. I know I can go to any of them for anything and they will always be there for me. I am a very good listener and I love helping people. I try to stay as positive as I possibly can throughout every situation!

After I graduate high school, I want to go to a four year college and major in psychology. I can't wait to get out of West Chicago but at the same time I'm really nervous. After college, I want to live around here where I've grown up my whole life. I want to get married someday and have kids. My goal is to never regret anything that happens in life. My dad is a big influence on me and he's really a great role model. He has taught me that you have to get through all the bad things in life to get to the most beautiful things. He's a strong and successful person and I hope one day I can be like him. I've also been very influenced by my mom. She was diagnosed with a disease called, MS. Even though it isn't fatal, it gets really scary. She has taught me how to stay strong even when everything around you is going wrong. She's one of the strongest people I know and I give her so much credit for that. My siblings and my friends and the rest of my family have also shaped me into the person I am today and I'm very grateful for that.