CliQuEs

I apologize for this being so very late.

Cliques are a part of everything everywhere whether we realize it or not. In school the cliques are easy to see. In the workplace, there are groups based on not only what a worker specialty is, but also there gender and just friendship. I am not sure of how others view me, so I don’t really know if I am part of a clique or not. I hope that I fit into many different groups. I feel like I have manly different friends. Unfortunately, I do judge people based on what group they hang out with, unless I specifically know the person. I have been trying very hard lately not to judge though. But I find myself looking at a person, and who they hang out with and judging them and then realizing that that person is nothing like how they first seemed or how they were acting with a certain group. Everyone will act differently with different people. I know that I act very shy around teachers or classmates that I don’t know very well, but around my friends I am crazy and laughing. So, judging people by who they hang out with and how they act with those people can be very misleading. One can never really know the true colors of someone without spending great amount of time with them. I don’t even know everything about my friends. So, in reference to the question, Is stereotyping ever good?, obviously I would say no, but I would also say that is worthless. One can spend all of their time looking at a person who might dress strange or hang out with the “geeks”, and never realize that this person is the best listener or the greatest artist or musician.

I don’t find myself judged incorrectly by my friends, I hope!!! However, I do think that courage is an awesome trait to have. With courage one can do anything and be friends with anyone. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of courage, but I’m working on it. I find myself shy some days and going up to people I’d usually would be too scared to the next day. I thank my friend Stephanie for this as she has opened my eyes to the greatness of certain people. She has also increased my courage level by encouraging me to talk to certain people. Although we do judge people a little, as everyone does, she has made me think about not judging just by talking to me about how her sister can be judgmental sometimes. She also accepts anyone and encourages me (without realizing it) to talk to these people also. (Thanks Steph!!!)

So, I really have been thinking lately about how I treat others. My friends have opened my eyes in both good and bad ways.

Traditions and Family Values

Good morning (or afternoon) students of English!

Today I want you to think about traditions and family values. We are going to read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "Thanksgiving in Polynesia" soon-ish and we will be discussing these issues.

I want you to consider these questions. What are traditions? What do they mean to a family? To a specific society? Are they important? Do we tend to follow them without questioning them? What tends to make us question them? Does your family have any traditions (for holidays, birthdays)? What are they? Do our traditions tend to show our family values? If so, what? If not, why not?

Enjoy!
Mrs. Gaboury

Please post as a comment, not a new post.

Freaks and Geeks

In high school, whatever you clique you "belong" to is prettymuch who you are and will ever be to other kids. It determines where you sit at lunch and who you're friends with to everyone else who is not "part" of that clique. Cliques can impact how peope view you, as a person, in high school and beyond. I'm sure almost everyone belongs to a clique. I know I do.And every clique seems to have it's own symbol or maskot. It's weird how we can associate an entire group of people with just one object, image, or word. I don't believe that I have ever judged a person by the friends they have or who they hang out with. It's not my thing. I judge a person by their personality and attitude. I don't think that stereotyping has ever and will be good. It's a problem more than anything. Stereotyping hurts people and effects how they think about themselves and others around them.
My friends don't judge me at all, that's why I'm friends with them. Because they like me for who I am and not what I stand for or am viewed as. I look at the "ggek" group and think to myself "Wow, I really admire these kids. They take so much crap from everyone else but they keep on going and brush it off." I kind of look up to them. When someone says something about/to me, I flip. I get angry and can't handle it. But those kids just take it in stride and let it go.
I'm not too sure on who I consider my role model. But whoever it is would have to be strong willed, out going, funny, and is able to take a joke.

Jon Cretaro's family traditions

Traditions are what brings families together on whatever holiday, they are when people seem to do something every time something important to them happens. They usually mean allot to families and are really important, because if a family forgets to do one of their traditions it could be really sad and they could miss awesome stuff. My family does have some traditions like we always have dinner together on thanks giving and we always are together for Christmas, but this year that wont happen, my older brother Jordan is a United States Marine and is not aloud to return home because he will be on duty so thats a few let downs but oh well, he will be back soon, around June and i haven't seen him since July. Traditions do show family values like how much everyone means to one another and how much they all love each other, so traditions are what really makes a family closer

Cliques + Courage

I'm not part of any clique exclusively, I hang out with whoever I choose to. I also try to judge a person on their personality and character, not who they're friends with. My only wish is that everyone would extend the same courtesy to me, that they do not stereotype me by the people I hang out with or the way I look. Though, this is often exactly what happens. People assume that because I dyed my hair that I must do drugs, that is like saying that just because you're a republican you're political views are intelligent, it is just not true. In fact when making assumptions like these they are often times the opposite of the truth. People make these assumptions because they want to be able to put you in a box that they can understand, rather than try to understand, or even accept, the person you are.

I believe that there are many definitions of true courage, that different people have different definitions. My definition of courage is doing the right thing even when it is hard to do. This is one reason I admire my sister. Throughout her two years at APHS my sister was harassed by certain teachers because of the way she looked and her non-conformist attitude. While most people would have been worn away by this harassment, my sister didn't change to these teachers' ideas of what a student should look like and how they should act. She stuck through for two years of high school until she and my family finally came to the conclusion that she should get her GED. My sister did this and also took a college art class. Such a path might have been looked down upon by many, but I believe that this was the right thing to do in my sister's case. Also, because this path is looked down upon I believe it took courage for my sister to do this knowing she would be judged and stereotyped for it, and that it was a far better choice than letting some tyrannical teacher tell her who to be.