This lifer seems very confused about what he is supposed to be spending his time on in prison. The first part of the letter seems as if the prisoner is writing a suicide note. He doesn't have any hope or reason to live, and he makes it sound as though he would be better suited by killing himself. In fact, the author doesn't even reveal the real reason he has continued living in the entire letter. He keeps preaching about purpose but never really tells you what purpose he has to live on. Once you read further into his letter, though, you begin to realize that this man has fully come to grips with his situation. He doesn't have much ill will towards the prison system, although he notes that many of his fellow prisoners do. He doesn't blame the prison for not providing specific programs geared towards lifers. Instead, he insists the life inmates should find their OWN purpose or goal. He has been in jail for 22 years and is beginning to understand that no matter how bleak the situation is, you need to make the best of it. A life inmate literally has is stuck in one of the worst situations known to man, but even then you need to be optimistic and attempt to make something of yourself. This lifer acknowledges that he deserves to be in prison, and he doesn't waste time feeling sorry for himself. This is the preferred attitude of anyone that has committed a crime or done something wrong in their life. You don't need to stay preoccupied on the reason the crime occurred; you just need to figure out how you can better yourself and learn from your mistakes. As a life inmate, you might believe that this process is useless because there is no way out, but this inmate insists that you need to make something of yourself regardless of your status in prison. At the end of the letter, the author begins to question his existence again. As he gets older, he says, it gets harder to persevere and survive in prison. He claims that he was only 14 years old before he went to prison, so he does not have a lot of experience outside of prison, which seems like a lot of wasted potential, but there was obviously a reason he went to prison. I feel sorry for this man, but I would also feel sorry for the victim of his crime if I was able to discover what the crime was.

Watching this video really opened my eyes to the problems of war that are not as life threatening or publicized as most war related issues are, but certainly overlooked. I never really put much thought into the money aspect of the conversation, but it was shocking to hear the numbers that were being thrown out. The topic of how much money should be used for war is quite controversial. For example, the video stated that $663,000,000,000 was being set aside by President Obama for the Department of Defense in the 2010 budget. One could make the argument that this number isn’t outrageous at all, and that protecting our country while making the world a better place is very important. However, after seeing the pictures of the people in the streets in these foreign countries, it seems like were doing more harm than good. Countries are clearly showing their hatred not only for the U.S. bases that are taking up space in their homelands, but the American troops them selves. And I don’t think that what we want is a bunch of smaller countries to “encourage other countries to do likewise.” Another number that most certainly took me by surprise was the number of U.S. bases we currently have around the world. I am all for the protection of this country as well as an end to war, but 700 plus bases in 130 countries seems like a fairly high number. With so many other problems occurring in the world today, not to mention problems we Americans face ourselves such as poverty and childcare, it might be a good idea to reconsider the amount of money being spent on this seemingly endless war. As the days go by, we are going to find more and more reasons for setting up bases in other countries and attempting to control the lives of millions of peaceful people while dropping bombs on their homes. It just seems logical to lower that gigantic number I stated earlier because even a slight decrease in the number would provide us with so much money that could be used towards other important issues.

The speaker in this video did a very good job at allowing the audience to see how inevitable and devastating the effects of war can be on everyone surrounded by it. She speaks of how war is something that takes over your life and forces you to live in a state of constant fear. Living in the United States, I could never even think of myself being in the situations that the speaker told of. Having to stay awake all night and pray that a missile doesn’t land in the living room is something that no one should ever have to experience. The speaker shows the audience how much it upsets her that women and children are affected by the tragedies that war brings. She says how 80% of refugees around the world are women and children, and it’s a shame to hear that because war is something that is fueled primarily by men. Hearing the stories she tells, such as the Congolese women speaking of her children having to witness their father mutilated and murdered in front of their eyes, sends chills up the spine. The speaker is a strong believer in the 2 sides of war. She describes the man’s side of war and the women’s side of war. The men are out on the frontlines fighting for their country and the women are the ones responsible for keeping society running. I agree with the speaker when she says that understanding war and peace from both sides will eventually lead to lasting peace. She makes a good point in saying that women should be represented at the councils of war. I personally believe that anyone who is affected by something as terrible as war should have a place at the negotiating table. As the speaker says, discussions of peace and war ending cannot be carried out without the voice of the people who truly back up those ideas and beliefs. The speaker recognizes war as something that ruins lives and societies. In a predominantly male driven world, it is nice to see how there are women out there who feel this strongly about war ending and peace starting.

Being able to motivate a large crowd of people is certainly no easy task. The more and more people within a group, the less and less focus you are going to have within that group. If something affects a large group of people, the individuals being affected are going to feel distant and unrelated to the problem because they assume other people are taking care of it. They lose focus on the problem and decide that there’s nothing they can personally do to help. The more people there are, the more invisible strings there are to pull and pulling multiple invisible strings is quite difficult. The human brain is very sophisticated and getting a large group of people to all look at a situation and act in a way that is in their best interest is not as easy as it sounds. Assuming that other people will take care of it is too easy because they are also assuming that they will still “reap the benefits.”

The New York Times article was a great example of how managing crowds can sometimes hold a lot more importance than you would think. Imagine all of the chaos involved in a natural catastrophe or something similar. Thousands, maybe millions of people all panicking worrying about their own safety. There would be too much going on and nothing would get solved making matters worse. However, if a plan were implemented that specifically laid out how the crowd as a whole should go about dealing with the situation, things would run a lot smoother and the problem could ultimately be subdued. I guess answering the question of “how” to manage a large crowd is to allow the individuals to see just how real the problem is, and how much it truly has an effect on their life. People need to feel very strongly towards something before they decide to take action and voice their opinion about it. So sparking that intensity is key in getting the motivation required from many people to make a difference. Back in the day, voicing your opinion was considered a norm and so it is funny to see how in today’s society so many people seem to keep their mouths closed than to show how they truly feel.

Watching the CNN video on the city of Helsinki brought me back in time to memories of waking up at 6 am sharp for school on a rainy day and wanting nothing more than to turn my alarm off and roll over to fall back asleep. The feeling and mood that the winters of Helsinki bring upon the city, on a small scale, can be related to those same feelings that I felt on those rainy school mornings. The people speak of how limited light brings with it depression and laziness. One man says that you really need to find something that will keep you alive.
The darkness that comes with the long season of winter makes the Finns experience feelings of depression, exhaustion, and perhaps a little less motivation. As Mr. Richards mentions in class, there are invisible strings that shape and structure our society and our lives, and many people don’t notice that the weather conditions around us can play a big part. Just imagine how much better of a mood you are in when its warm and the sun is beating down on the street in front of you, compared to a dreary day filled with rain and darkness.
This realization of how the dark winter months have a negative affect on the people of Helsinki has made the city come up with ideas to give some life to their dark winter wonderland. One way that the city attempts to brighten up the streets and the people is the annual event called The Season of Light. The art of light is used to illuminate the city through street acts and music. Therapeutic bright lights can also be found around the city of Helsinki, with some offices providing these lights for every one of their employees. Others find relief by traveling on family vacations to different countries, or taking a plunge in the freezing Baltic Sea. However, when it comes down to it, my personal opinion would be to move out of the city of Helsinki. It may not be practical for a family to just get up and go, but living in a place with such little sun light for an extended period of time would just put too big of a damper on my life.

One of the largest fears that can overcome a parent is the slim chance of their child being kidnapped. It is hard to see at our age now, but the truth is that we mean the world to our parents and this is why parents are so protective over their children. We were talking in class the other day about who would feel comfortable letting their 7 year old child walk to school if it was less than a mile away, and I found it absurd that so many hands were raised for people who said yes. After watching a video like this, it is so clear that kidnapping and abduction is not only real but also not difficult to accomplish, especially when going after a 7 year old.
People are so afraid of the uncommon because when something is unfamiliar or different to someone, it makes people alarmed and anxious. But just because kidnapping is uncommon doesn’t mean that it should go overlooked. A 7 year old should absolutely not be walking to school alone and they shouldn’t be talking to strangers either. Although not all strangers are harmful, and sometimes it might be useful to ask a stranger a question if your lost in an unfamiliar place, a 7 year old cannot differentiate between who a bad stranger and a good stranger might be. Until they are old enough and wise enough to make the right decisions and know right from wrong, then a parent or older sibling should accompany them.
It is good that we have these videos and stories to show us the reality of child kidnapping because like I mentioned before, the unfamiliar is a scary thing. Now more than ever, we need to be alert and aware at all times. Losing a child is one of the worst feelings a parent can go through and it is something that can be easily prevented. Taking the bus to school or setting up a carpool are just a few ways around what could be the worst mistake of a parents life. Don’t let it happen and keep an eye on the safety of your kids.

This free verse poem infiltrates the human emotional field not only with it’s simple yet descriptive language, but also with it’s smooth repetition and, obviously, sensitive subject matter. One of the most interesting parts of the poem is the style the author uses. The situation is presented to the audience with the first line “I cannot remember my first day in prison and what I felt.” I found this to be the perfect set up for the story which was about to unfold, and was delivered in a fashion that could be appreciated and grabbed hold of the reader’s attention, rather than just flat out saying that he/she was in jail. Then, this pattern of ‘I do not remember‘ continues and keeps the reader’s undivided attention by focusing on topics that would be so important to the average person to have in their life regularly. The fact that this prisoner can’t remember such important day-to-day emotions or the last time he spoke with key people in his life really shows that he has been shaken to the core by his imprisonment. The style he uses in delivering the line about not having communicated with his wife in so long (I cannot remember the last time I heard from a woman I dated, was friends with, loved, or thought I loved, or the one I married) is potentially the best part of the entire poem. The transition from the first stanza to the second is extremely abrupt, when the author blatantly states that he has taken someones life. If the reader was not previously hooked by the language and style of Remember, they are bound to be hooked by the subject matter at this point in the blog. After all, it is not common that one gets to read about the experience of a jail bird, let alone a killer. I was personally taken by surprise at this point, because though I was aware that this person was in jail for good reason (considering all contact he/she had is now cut off) I definitely did not expect to be talking to a murderer. The perfect form of repetition comes halfway through the second stanza when discussing the pain that was felt by both the killers and the victims families.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the ambiance formed and tone used in the poem, and can appreciate the way in which it was delivered to the audience.

Conformity is something that goes unseen very easily in today’s society, and the video is a great example of how conformity exists and works. The video clearly portrays the looks of confusion and uncertainty on the men’s faces as they continue to remain the only ones in the elevator facing a different direction. However, given time the men slowly but surely reposition themselves so that they fit in with the crowd. The crazy thing is that there’s no good reason why they did this. It is simply natural as a human to wish to conform to society and one’s surroundings. Although this was a small clip briefly showing the concept, conformity can be seen everywhere, especially in today’s world more than ever. A list could be made up of thousands of examples of conformity, but a big one that stands out these days is life after high school. When one reaches their junior year in high school, all they hear about is applying to colleges and getting good SAT scores. Then senior year involves picking a college and after that, you spend the next 4 years of your life educating and preparing yourself for your future. But when our generation’s parents and grandparents grew up, the social norm was not college after high school. Many people joined the army or navy and many others started their careers fresh out of high school. The factor of conformity did not play as big a role as it does in today’s society. Another great example, which isn’t as accurate as the first one but definitely shows how conformity has grown with our society, is the desire for all of the materialistic objects and luxuries that we take for granted these days. The students walking around Penn State for example share so many things in common such as the clothes they’re wearing, the MP3 players they’re listening to and the phones that they’re texting on. The narrator in the video said something about “maintaining individuality” and this is something that lacks in our society today. Almost every one of my friends has a blackberry or iphone, an Apple laptop, a Northface jacket, a pair of Timberland boots and a New Era hat. In fact all of the things that I just mentioned are things that I own, but the point is that we live in a world where failing to conform means being different. Some people like different, but those who don’t will continue to conform. This is why the future is sometimes portrayed as neighborhoods filled with houses that look the same, and a society where the people all wear the same outfit and look the same. Conformity is something that will always be around.

The author of this blog seems to have clearly reached the point in his life where his freedoms will never be taken for granted again. After reading the list that was made of the freedoms this man misses most, I cant even imagine what it would be like to be behind bars and miss out on all the experiences and freedoms of life. There are just a countless number of everyday scents and sights and activities that we as a society truly take for granted. And there is no question that people don’t appreciate or even acknowledge freedom until it is taken away. However, to take away someone’s freedom is basically impossible. As the author of this blog stated, all of the freedoms that were taken away from this person such as spending time with friends or walking to the kitchen to get some food made them appreciate the freedom they had within themselves. There are always going to be decisions that have to be made and when nobody but yourself allows you to make these decisions and choices, then you have found freedom once again. I believe that this is what the author was trying to get at in his blog. It is scary to think that something like going to jail is a way of showing people to appreciate their freedoms. When you read something like this blog you feel ashamed of complaining about little things everyday like the weather being too cold or there being traffic on the way home from work. The fact that you are breathing fresh air and able to afford and drive around in a luxury product such as a car are freedoms that people behind bars are missing out on as the days go by. Life is short and precious and having to spend a part of life locked up really gets you to see the beauty and freedom of the world we live in. I enjoy reading these blogs because in a world where almost every freedom I have gets overlooked, it is nice to hear from the people who pinpoint all the freedoms we live with and take for granted each day. It makes me appreciate life that much more.

As a sociologist, I feel inclined to tell you that although suicide may seem like the perfect way to escape the real world and all of the problems in life, the fact of the matter is that suicide is one of if not the most selfish decision you can make as a human being. Committing suicide is purely a choice that comes from within, and most people don’t realize the effects that committing suicide has on everyone in that persons life. Ending your life is simply not the right way to go about escaping your troubles and problems in life. There are so many ways you can go about getting help for depression and thoughts of suicide, and if your family and friends know that you have thoughts of suicide in your head, I guarantee that they are going to do everything they can to help you get rid of these thoughts and get on track to living a healthier and happier life. It seems that in Japan, a man’s job is everything to him and his position in society. But slacking at your job or even getting fired still shouldn’t be enough for someone to take their own life.