Litter in New Trier

One of the things that always bothers me while walking around the school is the amount of trash I see lying around. While in general, generation by generation the amount of littering has gone down, I still do see lots of litter lying around the school. When finding garbage to take pictures of, it took me barely any time to come across it.

Milk carton left  on a vent

Seen on the second floor rotunda

Seeing all this garbage lying around the school makes me think of this line in the Great Gatsby:

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..." (179).

Although I don't want it to, I think this quote pertains to us, the student body of New Trier High School.
The carelessness and laziness of not throwing trash away just leads to other people having to clean up after us--Almost always the custodial staff. I think that some students don't realize that these simple, mindless actions of not cleaning up cause a lot of unnecessary hassle for the custodians, not to mention it is disrespectful.

(Not-So) Breaking News: Crime in Chicago

This year it seems like there has been one violent event after another, with the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the Boston marathon bombing. As horrible and sad as these events are, I would like to draw some attention to events that have happened this year very close to where I live. I took these photos in the second floor rotunda at my school, where there is a tribute to the teenagers who have been murdered in Chicago this year.

How can it be that such an alarming number of people have been murdered right here in Chicago, and yet until this tribute at school, I have almost never heard anyone talk about it? While doing some research for this post, I came across this blog; http://crimeinchicago.blogspot.com/ , which records every shooting that has happened in Chicago this year. On the sidebar, you can see how many crimes each neighborhood has. The neighborhood with the most crimes this year is Englewood, with 277 crimes from January to May. Englewood happens to be one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Chicago, with a poverty rate of 44%, and 97% of the population is African-American. On the other hand, the town Newton, Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was, is an upper-middle class neighborhood where 95% of the population is white. I honestly find the difference in the amount of media coverage between the two situations disturbing. I also think that this contrast in news regarding the events stems from this notion that we have talked about in class, the idea that some lives mean more than others. After having seen the sheer number of teens that have been murdered this year, Ifind it very eye opening--due to what the media chose what and what not to cover, I was oblivious to the violence occuring so close to my own home.

The Exclusivity of Gated Communities

from www.tamparealestatelink.com

While researching the Westmoreland Country Club for my final exam essay, I read on the Wikipedia page on country clubs that they began in the 1800s and played a huge role in suburbanization and the development of gated communities. This led me to read more on gated communities. Like country clubs, gated communities are extremely expensive to live in and are very exclusive as to who can live in them. They also are exclusive to any strangers who are simply passing through. Some communities even have identification cards that show if someone is a resident or not.    As I mentioned in my essay, people that are more affluent have the tendency to be more closed off and isolated than less affluent people. This seems obvious for a gated community, since the residents literally have a physical barrier separating them from the "outside world", or people of different classes. What I found to be less obvious while reading about these communities, was that cul-de-sacs are, to a lesser degree, gated communities.

photo from http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livability/story/the-cul-de-sac/

Because of the way they are set up with only one way in or out, a person entering a cul-de-sac probably has a set purpose for being there. This set up makes the homes in the cul-de-sac more of a small community, and makes it obvious when someone is there who is not a resident. According to Wikipedia's section on criticism of gated communities, residents of cul-de-sacs believe the exclusion of people passing through reduces the danger of crime. While it is safer for kids to play outside in a cul-de-sac (because less cars come through) I disagree with the above statement. I think to stop non-residents from simply walking through an area to "reduce crime danger" just suggests that if someone cannot afford to live in one of these gated communities, then they are viewed as criminals.

The War of Eden's Plaza

In Wilmette, Illinois, the Eden's Plaza Shopping Center has been around since the 1950's. However, it was much smaller than it is today up until the late 80's. My mom mentioned to me that there was some tension at this time with regards to the stripmall expanding. She told me that my grandparents were very against the expansion because they were afraid certain establishments (for example, fast food restaurants) would be put in place there. They feared this might somehow lower the value of the neighborhood.

In American Studies class we discussed how few fast food restaurants and large chain companies (like Target and Wallmart) exist in the North Shore. As convenient as these stores are, people don't want them ruining the village "look" of the area, or drawing in the "wrong" crowd of people who do not "belong" in the North Shore.  I think that by labeling certain people of lower incomes as the ones who do not belong in the neighborhood just makes the North Shore more isolated from reality, since there is generally very little diversity in terms of social classes.

Just last year, a Wallgreens was opened in Eden's Plaza where a Borders book store used to be. I couldn't find any information on whether this was controversial or not, but I personally find it to be very convenient since it is so close to my house, and there are not many drugstores like Wallgreens in Wilmette.

Edens Plaza before Walgreens was put in place

For more info: 

http://wilmette.suntimes.com/11803800-417/walgreens-coming-to-edens-plaza.html

Youth Movement Against Body Hate?

I think that for the 3rd and 4th quarters, body image has been a topic I have been thinking a lot about. Here are the two blogs I wrote about body image:
http://americanstudieswithbecky.blogspot.com/2013/05/abercrombie-and-fitch-body.html
http://americanstudieswithbecky.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-impact-of-moms-on-body-image.html

As I have mentioned before, the media plays a huge role in shaping people's views on how they should look. Because the media pretty much only shows airbrushed pictures of tall, thin, fit people, many teenagers have suffered from eating disorders and low self esteem.
However, I noticed that whenever I go on tumblr.com, I almost always see at least one post about self confidence and body-love. Here is what I find to be the most common example:

www.tumblr.com/

While almost every girl I know has some sort of dislike towards her body, I do think that recently there has been a lot of criticism of the media from adolescents. I am very interested to see where this will be headed, and I hope that eventually there will be a larger-scale movement to try and end body hate and the unrealistic portrayal of women in the media.

Attitudes Towards Different Languages

Recently in my Spanish class, we watched a short film called "El Rincon de Venezuela," which means "the Venezuelan Corner." It was about a family from Venezuela owning a restaurant in New York City, and their struggles facing classism and financial issues. At one point, the mother is trying to advertise by handing out flyers. As she yelled out the name of the restaurant, "El Rincon de Venezuela," a man walked by and said "English, English, I don't know.." This part can be seen at 7:45 in the video below.




This short clip made me think about how immigrants are treated in America, especially those who do not speak English. As we discussed in American Studies, people tend to have expectations that all people who live in this country must always speak English. I think this shows that many Americans are closed minded when it comes to different cultures. As you can see in the clip, no one stopped to talk to Rosario and her mom when they handed out flyers. Although this is a work of fiction, I wonder if their restaurant would get more business if it was owned by a white American family. I also wonder, if America is often referred to as the "melting pot" of all different cultures, why are people so closed off towards the different languages of immigrants?

Abercrombie and Fitch's "Ideal Body"

In every stereotypical school, there are the supposed "cool" kids and the supposed "uncool" kids. As silly as it seems, one thing I remember from my time in middle school and junior high was that the "cooler" kids stereotypically wore clothes from the store Abercrombie and Fitch. In fact, this is exactly the vision Mike Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, hoped for. In a recent interview with salon.com (linked HERE), Jeffries exclaimed:

We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.

What's more, Jeffries has actually gone so far as to define what he considers to be uncool, pegging anybody who is overweight by today's standards as the ones who "don't belong." What the company does is make their clothing run so small that even the largest sizes will not fit some people. I personally don't own any clothes from this store, but I have definitely heard other girls say how they're clothes from A&F were about two sizes bigger than what they normally wear.

Sadly, this is just one example of how the media plays a huge role in shaping the way we think. By being completely discriminatory against people who aren't thin, this company is in a way trying to teach people that the only way to move up the social ladder of youth is to be skinny. Abercrombie is showing that there is a set mold for being "cool", and things that make people different like different body types makes them uncool, instead of a unique individual.

Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch (Ironically sporting A&F clothing even though he is not  a "..kid with a great attitude.."