Another day, another classroom!

What a non-traditional way to start a school year....3 days, 3 different classrooms! I wonder what impact this is having on my students?!?! Seems to be nothing bad so far.

Our discussion on Sociological Imagination and the reading "Outliers" today was rather interesting. When confronted with the health statistics that Steven Wolf found in Roseto, PA in the 1950's he and others were dumbfounded and tried everything they could to explain it.....they looked at the natural sciences and some of the other social sciences, but no matter what they investigated; genetics, geology, medical science, etc, nothing was giving them an answer. Finally when all the other sciences were stuck with this anomaly, this 'outlier', they turned to sociology. And by examining everything sociologists could look at, the broader sub-societies people operated in, how individuals lived their lives, etc, they began to recognize patterns that we now know today are very helpful at reducing/managing stress.....strong extended family ties (grandparents, parents, kids, aunts and uncles living together or nearby), many communal associations and connections (including religious activities), a very egalitarian (suppressed demonstrations of wealth differences) society, etc. ONLY By using their sociological imaginations could sociologists begin to see the factors that were creating this medical outlier society.

As you consider some ideas for your first official blog entry you could consider what kinds of outliers you have noticed in the world around you already and how you might explain these outliers!!!

***Another thing that you could focus your sociological imagination on is the 20th anniversary of one of the most highly regarded movies in modern US History, "Do The Right Thing" by Spike Lee. I mentioned reading the linked article about this movie that discussed how most white members of US society responded one way to this movie while most racial minorities responded quite differently. Several different experts discussed the movie in this article from, The Nation online. Do The Right Thing link.