Collogero's Groups in "A Bronx Movie"

Collogero has a few different groups that influence who he becomes during his life. His first master status, I believe, was "son of the bus driver". He listened to his father in most things-except when he went to the bar-and talked about the New York Yankees with his father because they both placed importance on it. When Collogero was nine, he finally met Sonny, who his treated as G-d in the city, and became the master status of "Sonny's kid" as he was introduced to Sonny's friends and told that "nobody cares about the yankees". He experienced some role strain as he grew up in Sonny's bar and was told to beat people up and that it is better to be feared than loved. Thankfully, he was always a bit different than the rest of them and hid in a corner when, if he were really in the group, he would have been beating bikers up. He also thought it was no way to live to be feared and not loved. However, this was his master status at the time, no matter how well he fit in, this was how he defined himself. Later, he also became part of the Deuces Wild with his racist friends that skipped school and hung out all day. There was also role strain in this group as he was not racist and said that the african americans didn't mean anything when they went through the neighborhood. He also tried to keep his friends from hurting the boys on the bicycles too much and didn't do anything to them. i like to figure that Sonny and Collogero's friends from the Deuces Wild still had a big impact on him even after they died that one night.

Serving

I've really enjoyed doing the service projects that I've done so far in my life. I just really get this weird high out of helping people, which is weird, but true. For example, my youth group went down to a site recked by Katrina and we found all kinds of belongings from the people who live in the house before it became rubble. it was so cool to be able to help out by doing some manual labor for a day. In addition, I've been able to paint houses in the bad part of Charleston South Carolina, racked leaves from the entire camp ground of Phantom Ranch camp, and taught English to kids in Peru. I'm pretty excited about being able to serve people in Chicago this semester. I'm hoping to do some soup kitchens and feed the homeless.
To some extent, i feel like i shouldn't be talking about what I've done to serve other people, but i guess you guys might just need to know where I'm coming from in order to understand. I think it's ok to enjoy community service if your helping people. i mean, if you had a really bad attitude about what you were doing, the people you were serving would be able to tell and they wouldn't want your help as much because they would feel like they were just being a chore. Anyways, just my ideas on the subject of enjoying service work a little too much. ha.

Chic'aaa'go

the word chicago.

"you chicago-ens have a weird nasal accent. the way you say chic'aaaa'go is hilarious!" or so say those people from down south. however, we tend to think, as they say these things, "what the heck? no we don't! you've got this weird drawl on all your words! you talk so slow!" or something of this nature.

what's going on? correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm figuring on a social contruction of reality. no matter how hard i try to hear myself say chicago with a nasal accent, i can't hear it! course, from their point of view, it's completely obvious! are my ears going? are their ears going? i'm thinking that what we were talking about in class relates to this situtation because it's all about how we grew up. i grew up hearing chicago said like chicago! i just figured thats how it's supposed to be said. (which, in my view, it is) society told us that thats the way it is. and we accept it as truth. i guess, in these small situations, truth isn't always the same for every person. we each have our own opinions, according to how we were raised in our society.

am i making any sense? ha.

The awkwardness of silence

i guess i don't like silence. but thats just because mostly silences are awkward. and who likes that? I definitely know a few people that talk just to fill the space in the conversations....i get the feeling that they are even the most well liked people sometimes! our society, and the people in it, just all enjoy noise! maybe it's just America...who knows.

Sure i wish people would spend more time listening...but isn't that what everyone else is doing when they talk? hmmm, i guess it just depends who talks and who listens the most. Thats why there are talkers and there are listeners? course, sometimes the listeners want to talk. I have seen this happen in my youth group where the listeners never get the chance to tell that story or perhaps just talk about their day and the talkers just don't stop talking. I happen to be a listener-and i really do like to listen most of the time-but every once in a while it's nice to have those silences so that you can talk and they can listen.

Strangely enough, I'm totally fine with silences when i'm with my family (expecially my dad's side) and a few close friends cause we just know each other really well and don't really have any need to talk when we know everything each of us could say. i guess i'm thinking of times on road trips when you talk every once in a while-with sometimes half an hour or so in between where we don't talk at all. there are also times when you see certain people so often that you end up telling the same stories to them if you feel the need to fill the silence all the time. i believe that silence is golden i guess...there are times to talk and times to stand the silence. this idea reminds me of ecclesiastes (time for everything under the sun...) and hemingway (his writing reflects that he believes that what is written out is not as important as what isn't written aka reading between the lines...) just for thoughts.

Ha. i'm totally one of those people that spent my time looking for songs for my minipod. but i really love music!! what can i say?!

p.s. totally random, does anybody ever have their tv on when they sleep? cause i went to visit Illinois State a while back and the girl i stayed with's roommate HAD to have the tv on every night... i've never heard of such a thing in my life! but i think its just another way society gives us this need to fill up all our time with noise and talking instead of enjoying the silence before we fall asleep at night.

Me on Blogging

Blogging is sorta like talking to a good friend-or not so good friend depending on what you say-and letting the whole world hear your conversation. Something about it just sounds like a major fluke in the new technology were creating this century. It may create an easier way to have a conversation long distance, but you never know who is listening in on the call. In this cause you do know at least some people who will probably be listening-this class and mr. salituro. I guess i just hope i can think of enough to say! :D