...Introductory To define sociological imagination, I will discuss my role as female and as middle child, while growing up with a low socioeconomic class and how it has shaped me today to go to college and earn a degree. The basics of sociological imaginations can be defined as a way we look at every day things, our “normal” or familiar, compared to public issues. Personal Explanation Throughout most of my childhood, I was raised in either a single parent home or a blended family, but mostly with a single parent. My father died when I was 14, but prior to his death, he wasn’t in the picture much. My blended family consisted of a stepfather and stepsiblings. I had to help take care of my two brothers, one younger, one older, while my mother typical worked at least one job, sometimes two. I would have considered us very low on the socioeconomic pole, although we weren’t below poverty level, but not far from it. Looking back, I realized how tight things were for us. Very seldom we would go out to eat, go shopping, or go out for entertainment. Our goal at that age was to get through high school, and a college degree had never been mentioned. My mother worked very hard to keep us with clothes, food, and a home. Although I have to wonder if college was never an option because of it was part of our culture (no one in our immediate family had gone to college) or if it was due to the lack of funds, or knowledge to get started with college courses. Sociological Imagination ...
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...am 47 years old and I live in Texarkana, Texas. I moved to Texarkana about twelve years ago to get away from the craziness in Houston, Texas. So, I decided to move to the country where I now live with my boyfriend, two, toypoodles, a ferret and my boyfriends parents. We all live in the country on 5 ½ acres. Our home is 2 homes in one which are both separated, the parents live on one side and we live on the other. Once you have been use to living the city life and move to the country it can be quite an adjustment because there is not much to do in Texarkana, Tx compared to Houston. For instance, simple things for me like driving to town seem like such a chore. Since moving to the country instead of going shopping for dinner no more then a mile from home I now have to drive over fifteen miles to town. Sometimes i feel like I have wasted my entire day. The up side of living in the country is that it is quite peaceful and you do not have your neighbor in your back yard. I have four children 2 girls and 2 boys. My girls are Diana my oldest 29 who has two children My grandchildren Makelia 7 and Baby Juan 4. My daughter Mary is 28 and she has 3 boys Vince 8, Louie, 3, and Baby Luke who is 1 ½ . Then, my boys are Brigido 26 (he is my trouble child) who gave me my 2 beautiful grandchildren Isaiah 8, and Destiney who is 4. My baby is Cameron he is 22 years old and in college in Austin, Tx. I am not working at this point because I have been working on obtaining custody of my 2 of...
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...depends on who you ask and what their degree of happiness is in their life, Gilbert the author of Stumbling on Happiness, explains that experiences might bring more satisfaction than that of durable goods. With this he is simply stating the fact that happiness is dependent the things you do in life and not the objects. It is the time that you share with friends and family what makes life meaningful and that creates happiness. All the objects in the world that money can buy is meaningless when you don't have anyone to share it with. 2. Harvard economists Alberto Alesina and Paolo Giuliano say that strong family ties imply more reliance on the family as an economic unit that provides goods and services and less on outside institutions such as those found in the market place and government. Why does household production (doing things together or making things within the home) activity have such an impact on family ties? Can you give an example from your own family? Not completely sure if I am answering this question correctly but basically the way I see things, I must say I agree with both economists who say that strong family ties imply more reliance on the family as an economic unit and etc. Household production has a huge impact on family ties because I believe that it is very important when families work together and produce things that become of value to their household and their family. For example my family and I have worked together as a team to remodel our house, and...
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...4703-993 April 27, 2011 Disharmony and Mismatch: The Truth about Online Dating Five years ago American journalist, Thomas Friedman, wrote a book entitled The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. His main reason for writing this book was to point out that the world in which we live in was being flattened by technology. What he meant by the term “flatten” was that the things that couldn’t be done decades ago due to the lack of technology are now being conducted today at a fast rate because of how advanced the technology is today. Take for instance, the Internet, decades ago not that much could be done on it but now it allows people to communicate with one another across the globe. He goes into detail as he talks about the workflow software, which was one of the ten forces that flatten the world as it contributed to the improvement of the Internet (Friedman, 2006, p. 78). Now it allows people to interact with one another through various means like social network, emails, and now with the upcoming of Internet dating. Internet dating, once considered taboo, is now an effective way to meet others like ourselves that we may have otherwise not met in a public setting. Today, this type of dating appears to be replacing our traditional ways when looking for a soulmate, especially for those who have had an unsuccessful face-to-face relationship. Internet dating is now one of many ways to find that potential someone that might lead to marriage. If one is...
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...Financial Project Five years ago I bought a house for $171,000. I made a down payment of $35,000 therefore taking out a loan for $136,000. I am now five years into a 30 year loan that has a 5.6% fixed interest rate and would like to pay more. After receiving a bank statement I found I have a $121,259.44 balance left on my loan. I have been thinking about switching jobs or picking up a part time job since I am just making enough money to cover my expenses and I want to pay off my loan faster. I have also given thought to refinancing my house and whether it is worth it. Is paying a little extra monthly, therefore reducing my loan by five years (option 1), worth it? Should I refinance instead (option 2)? I did my research and what I found surprised me. Currently I have twenty five years left on my mortgage but I would like to pay it off in twenty. Since I am tight on money I had to find exactly how much extra money I would need to pay every month to shorten my loan to 240 payments or twenty years. If I pay an extra $90 a month towards my principle, I will shorten my loan to twenty years and save about $23,914 in interest. This is very reasonable because before I would have paid about $104,310 solely in interest over the remaining life of the loan. I believe it is a waste to pay so much of the loan directly towards interest, by paying an extra $90 per month I am able to drop this total interest to about $80,397. I can easily see myself working couple hours a week to pay this...
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...Extinction Bloody mouth open widely like a huge bowl, devoured my mother’s emaciated body, the blood that splashed out dyed the sky red, but I was powerless to save her. Now,I, Eren Yeager has been succeed in becoming a member of Scout Regiment. After killing a lot of Titans, i still cannot forget this sanguinary scene. It is 2700 this year, the 180th year that the terrible species , the titans appeared. They preyed on a large amount of humans. 100 years ago, humans, who had a world of difference in strength when compared with titans, had been endangered.Humans who survived in this big tragedy built three huge ramparts to preventing themselves from attacking by titans. The most outside zone which some poor people and normal civilians...
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...-The present. Life expectations have never been higher. That’s great. Our number is really high. We’re right here on the exponential plot. Where the hockey puck is right. (Show graph from 1900 to now of life expectancy.) Point to specific points in history like antibiotics, regularized food supply, chlorinized water supply. Have an entire line showing the progression of medical science. -Life in the past was simpler, people had a sense of duty, worked based on daily schedules everyday. They have this trade, be it farming and they can make a decent amount of money off of it. They had something they want to be, I wanna be a farmer. And then that’s what they did for the next 40 years. But it meant tilling your own land, creating your own value. Meanwhile, people of today work in cubicles, 9-5 jobs. (Put a picture of office worker up), ___ percent of you will work like this if you were average college students. But since your economics majors, its probably even a higher number of you right. I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing, 9-5 is the best hours to knock them out – that’s why its so popular. I’ve gotten a night shift job that I quit in 3 days because I was not aware how badly 7PM-7AM sucked. Just so much coffee during that time. Sleep loss is no joke. But my point is that this type of work is no more fulfilling than this job. -Life in the past actually had less work hours. -Even if the present life count is higher, at what point are you not living anymore. (Show...
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...when you are 50? Why? I think that when I am 50 my most vivid memory of high school will be when my friends surprised my twin sister and I on our fifteenth birthday at school. The reason for this is because of all the happiness and gratitude I felt that day as they had decorated lockers for us, gave us many gifts and cards, brought food and made us laugh all day. This may not seem like much, but it meant the world to me. 2. Are you better at taking recall tests (essay, fill-in-the-blank) or recognition tests (multiple choice, matching)? Has this changed since you started school? I am much better at recognition tests rather than recall tests as the key words in recognition tests help to make me remember more about the topic. As it was many...
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...Decision-Making Process "Life is filled with choices and decisions. Many of these are minor, but there are also times when we face difficult decisions. Good decision making is enormously important when we face significant decisions. It's also important to make good decisions all of the time" (Rich, Ed.D., MSW, DCSW, 1994-2012). In this paper it will identify a time in my life when I had to make a personal decision. The paper will also include the steps of my process, how my decision-making process is similar to the one in the text and how might my decision be different if I used the same steps in the text. Almost two years ago I made the personal decision to go back to school. What led me to this decision were all the mornings I would wake up to go to work and not be happy and feeling like I am not living life but just existing. Another reason I choose to go back to school was because while I was at work I was asked to train two interns. I believe these two interns had just graduated from college and was training them to become my boss. That thought made me stop playing around and sign up for school. The steps I made to get back in school was simply getting on the internet to look at different schools. After a few weeks I choose University of Phoenix and being to schedule appointments to get the ball rolling. Shortly after that I was sitting in my first and almost a year and a half later I am half way finish with my degree. In the text "The ideal decision-making process...
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...Zach, Let me first extend my gratitude for allowing me to express my views regarding the fitness center. I’m one of the 35% employees who use the fitness center, and I can, without any doubt testify that it is indeed a valuable asset of the company and has had a positive impact on my life. Recently, I had collected some data from the company records to find out if the fitness center has had any impact on our employees. I found that generally the users of the facility had lower medical costs than the non users. It was also observed that the annual absenteeism rates are half (6 days) for users when compared with the non users (12 days). I do agree that this could also be due to the natural health conditions of the persons involved, and may have nothing to do with the fitness center. But having personally realized that my productivity increased after frequenting the fitness center, I instituted a Wellness Program in my department, about 8 months ago. I can now proudly say that productivity has been up by 18% while the sick days have decreased by 5% in the claims department. Employees have set a goal of using the fitness center twice weekly, and some groups have even formed support groups to encourage each other. Most of the department’s employees now frequent the facility at least twice a week. One of your arguments in support of closing the center was that it’s not required since no other competing company in our area offers this benefit. However, my view is that it could become...
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... In my opinion, everyone is born with a blank slate. No one’s personality is predetermined. I don’t believe any baby can be born evil, just like dogs can’t be born evil. This has been proven inaccurate after several cases of people being evil although they were raised in a good family. Every person has their own opinion on this topic and is yet to be discovered fully. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but raised in a Hispanic household. I was conceived in Colombia but my dad moved to America after receiving a scholarship for soccer. My family is very different compared to any other Hispanics. I would consider us very Americanized. I was raised by parents who are very open minded and smart and live a healthy lifestyle. We are all about being eco friendly. We are the definition of tree huggers. It’s very difficult to say whether we are born with these traits and interests or they grow upon us depending on our environment. My dad was a great athlete. He was great at most sports. He’s very agile and coordinated. I have loved playing soccer since I can remember. I started kicking around a soccer ball with my dad since I was 5 and I’ve carried the passion for it just like my dad all along. I remember at only 10 years old, I was very good with my feet. I was a lefty just like my dad and I had the same style of playing. Although it might have been in our blood to love soccer, I do believe I carried this talent on from living with my dad. My dad has...
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...12 YEARS A SLAVE This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and two kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the south of America for 12 years. His extraordinary journey proves the resiliency of hope and the human spirit despite the most grueling and formidable of circumstances. The conflict of the story is When Solomon protests his captivity and asserts his right to freedom, Burch, a brutal slave trader in Washington, D.C, responds by beating him into submission and threatening to kill him if he ever mentions his freedom again. If I faced the same conflict, I would feel very angry because my...
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...ketone is generally described as the aromatic element of a raspberry that one first recognizes when in close proximity of a raspberry. While this ketone clearly affects the scent associated with a raspberry, this is not the only thing that can be affected by a raspberry ketone, though. More specifically, raspberry ketones are now being associated with not only weight loss and fat burning, but they are also being through to aid in reducing the likelihood of having liver cancer and cell damage. Raspberry Ketone represents a new element on the market that helps in the fight for a perfect body, sustaining weight loss and fat burning. Just recently been proven to give individuals who regularly consume this product the upper hand in the battle against weight again and fat retention. This represents part of the sales pitch that the company offers, but what does science say? There is some proof for this product but nothing is certain and there were no human studies recorded so far for this product. It was tested on a few fat animals, like every other thing that we as humans think about. The majority of the tests were done almost 10 years ago. One of the results of this study concluded that the addition of raspberry ketone helped: Reduce body weight by speeding up processing of fat Reduce fatty tissue, especially liver fat stores These were studies made...
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...Activity One Tell us the story of how your own values and attitudes towards people with a disability have been shaped throughout your life. You can present this story in any way that works for you: korero, written story, poster, video….the choice is yours! To complete this activity successfully make sure you include: * Examples of how your values and attitudes have been influenced by at least three of the following: Ethnicity Culture Employment Status Religion Age Political Perspective Sexual Orientation Gender Family/Whanau Education * At least three life experiences that caused you to think differently about or become more aware of your own values and attitudes towards people with disability Activity Two Tell us about how your personal values and attitudes impact the working relationship you have with two different people with a disability that you support. You can present this story in any way that works for you: korero, written story, poster, video… the choice is yours!!! It may be different from other activities or pulled together into one overall story. To complete this activity successfully make sure that you include * At least one example of how you manage a relationship with a person you support whose values differ from your own (You can join the story together with Activity One) All throughout my life I believe and practice to treat all people of whatever race, age, gender, religious belief, political affiliation, cultural background...
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...Zambia, my country of birth where I spent a significant part of my childhood, got its name from the Zambezi River, the largest river flowing into the Indian Ocean. It is a landlocked country located between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zimbabwe (Holmes & Wong, 2009, p. 7). Zambia’s population has been steadily increasing from 7.8 Million in 1990 (City Population Zambia, 2007) to 12.9 million in 2009 (US Department of State, 2009). At the forefront of Zambia’s economy is its ability to mine for great natural resources such as emeralds, aquamarines, amethyst and tourmalines (Dickovick, 2008, p. 320). It also produces 6% of the world’s copper, making it the fourth largest producing copper nation (Holmes & Wong, 2009, p. 44). Lusaka, the city I grew up in and the capital city of Zambia is one of the fastest growing cities in central Africa. Lusaka has changed dramatically from the time I left in 1990 to the time I visited it a few years ago. The changes in society, economic infrastructure and human condition have been dramatic. Zambia has changed so much over a span of 19 years. All the activities that I remember doing with my family and friends, such as safaris and picnics at the Kafue River, on the weekends and holidays have been closed. The zoo which used to be filled with amazing wildlife, which I frequently visited, does not exist anymore. All the animals which once resided there died or escaped because they were not fed properly or looked after...
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