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The bible is apart of my material culture. I use the bible as a standard way of living i,e how I treat people, how I love, how I behave etc. I use it as a guide to get through everyday life because I believe that it holds many answers for day to day living. It has a great affect on what I do in my life and how I choose to live. It can also be considered apart of my nonmaterial culture because its symbolic and it represents my religion (Christianity) it is considered sacred and it is supposed to be treated that way as well.

One of my values in my culture is pro-life. I am firmly against abortion. I am pro-life, Christianity taught me that murder is a sin so why take a life away for a mistake that you made? This can also be considered as a belief, I believe it to be true that you committed murder if you have an abortion for the simple fact that life in my opinion begins at conception (when the sperm meets the egg).








 

 I experienced culture shock last summer when I went on vacation to Orlando Florida. Everyone is so friendly and open and willing to have a conversation with you and they don't even know you!! Since I am from New York I was a little taken back by how friendly everyone was and how people took time to actually say "good morning" or "how are you?" In New York it is not a norm to speak to a complete stranger. Everyone moves at such a slow pace there as well and I am so use to being on the go and taking a bus here or calling a cab to go there but in Florida if you don't have a car there is nothing you can do. They don't have a night life either like we do in New York, everything closes so early and I wasn't used to it because in New York its the "city that never sleeps".

Although the whole "black power" movement may be over now this symbol still means a lot to me. My parents and grandparents and great grandparents experienced a lot of criticism for being black. They made me appreciate being black and I absolutely love it and no one can take that away from me. Black power is used to show the strength of the African American people as a whole and I still very much appreciate this symbol.

Sign language is a language that I have started to learn because I recently befriened someone who is partially deaf. Not only can this help me with communicating with her but I realized that there are people in society that are deaf as well. I encountered a woman last summer who needed directions but since she was hard of hearing I had no way of helping her. Learning this is very helpful and I can now communicate with those that are hard of hearing.

Abstinence is a behavior that I personally think should be a way of life it prevents many things unwanted pregnancies, stds's, HIV/AIDS, and single parenting. The knowledge of abstinence is important because it makes you aware of the things that can happen to you. Some say "safe sex is the best sex" but no sex is the way to go.

Being a teenager

Being a teenager isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. I am still only 18 and it's hard but not as hard as it was for me in high school since I'm in college I have been maturing and learning more about myself whereas high school your just going along to get along. Suicide is a real thing and adults don't even try to understand how it is to be a teenager because reviving those memories may be painful or they may have done things they regret. I have had so many friends that tried to commit suicide just because it felt like no one was listening or fitting in was to hard for them. I know how it is to not always be down or fit in with everybody but those four teenagers in the article maybe just needed someone to listen to them. Having nothing to do can also be a cause of finding outlets to do what you want to do. If it seems as if the adults don't care why not go crazy and just do what you want? Teenage years are very critical and adults don't always understand that and they don't try to they'd rather label teens as losers or other derogatory names when in reality all they really needed was something to do or someone to talk to. Its interesting how boredom can suddenly lead to suicide, teenagers have way to much time on their hands and it appears that idle time can lead to experimenting with different things that may not always be the best decision for one's life. Teenagers go crazy with nothing to do because parents try to force them to do what they want them to do. I whole hardheartedly believe that "strict parents make sneaky kids". If you let your kids be themselves and be open with them I believe you won't have much trouble with them. My mom and I have a close relationship I tell her EVERYTHING and she always listens I believe parents should try to consider their kids and what they may be facing. Teenage years are not as easy as they may seem ... 

Alcohol & Drugs ... the cause of violence?

Many would say that the use of drugs and alcohol cause violent behavior but is this something that was proven or thought of? For years many people believed that the cause of violence was alcohol and the use of some type of drug. But no one ever dared to raise questions against such a statement. In reading the article I learned that the use of these things do not cause violent behavior and the phrase 'I didn't know what I was doing, I was drunk" is now used an excuse for irrational behavior such as domestic violence. I myself believed that substance abuse was a reason for violence because growing up that's what I was told and that's what people instilled in me. After reading the article and the textbook I now have a different view on "theories" and the traditions that people have. When I think of abuse or the beating of a woman the first thing that comes to mind is Chris Brown and Rihanna's situation a few years ago. As I think of this situation I don't recall anyone saying that Chris Brown was "under the influence", he beat her for his own personal reasons. Yet no one has questioned whether abusing substances has to do with violence in relationships. In reading the text book I learned that social structure teaches people how to act, therefore we go with the labels that are put on us by society and we never really step back "out of the theories and truly think for ourselves. The cause of the abuse is linked to everything going on in one's life maybe what they saw as a child going up or maybe their belief of having power over a woman or maybe they were abused as a child or maybe just had a rough time growing up. There are many different things that affect people and how they react or treat other people usually these things stem from childhood. In my opinion I believe one can change what was instilled in them as a child and soon be a better person only if they are willing to..

Who Am I?

My name is Nasia ... I'm 18 years old and I'm from Queens. My neighborhood, my family, my friends and my values make up who I am and still becoming as a person. My biggest influences in my life would have to be my mother and my best friend that past away last year. My mom influences me because she is the definition of a woman in my eyes, she motivates me to do better in everything and she pushes me beyond my limit. My best friend is still an influence in my life because he touched my life in many different ways and everyday that I feel like I'm not important it feels as though he's right there encouraging me to continue. He always gave great advice and had a major impact on so many lives. I hope to make an impact on peoples lives just as he did. Some of my goals in life is to obtain my masters degree in social work and later become a social worker in a failing high school. I chose this career path because a lot of people have given up on the youth and I want to be the one to make a difference in someone's life. In my life I've always heard stories of people losing friends and loved ones to gun violence. One of my close friends associates herself with many guys that are in gangs and that live in our neighborhood. It seemed as though every other week she was losing friends to gun violence to the point where it became hard to believe and I became insensitive to her grief until it happened to me. On April 17th 2012 I lost my best friend to gun violence suddenly life seemed so much more real being that the week prior to his death I saw him. I understood the feeling of losing someone so very close I couldn't understand why life was so unfair and why it had to be my friend. I began to question the gun laws in New York and I suddenly became angry because I realized it was not only my friend but so many other young people that were dying to early. I feel personally guns should not even exist because my best friend would still be here but then I realized there are many uses for guns in society. Guns are needed for wars for defense purposes, police need guns to protect society, people keep them in their homes for the safety of their family. Although the loss of my friend hurts me deeply there is a bigger picture to EVERYTHING.