Kids + Money

Summary:

Kids + Money is about 11 and up that have different idea of money and what to do with it. Some kids like Emmanuel who goes to Harvard West lake which is extremely expensive to just go to. However to fit in you have to wear the right clothes, drive the right car, and have the right house in a gated community. Then there are other kids like Zore who lives in an apartment that forces her to live in the same room with her parents. Besides having rarely any privacy but she doesn't have the advantage of going out and spending 300 dollars on Christian Dior Sunglasses. Sadly the way kids identify people on the way they look, so when a kid is brought up in a world where you get what you want because your parents have that luxury of giving it to you, you expect everyone else around you to have the same luxury. Phoebe went to Junior Prom and spent a lot of money but her friend Jennie who doesn't have that luxury had to stay home. They both go to the same school, hang out with the same people, but Jennie still didn't want to admit that she couldn't afford to go because it's social suicide. It's our norm to have our financial status identify us because society expects us to want to always have the expensive clothing and in the end, the individual always does.

Norm:Individual VS Society-Ritual

Eighteen
Every birthday you get a party, cake and even some good gifts to get you through the next year. Turning eighteen has all of that but the added bonus of becoming an adult to the rest of the world. How is it possible that the day before you were this “child” that didn’t know any better but now you were responsible for your actions and if not you would get in trouble with the law. Was there a magical brain surgery at the stroke of twelve that made you think responsibly and cautiously? Though I have not turned eighteen yet, I will be. And I have created the ritual I will do the day I turn eighteen. I would do everything that I wasn’t able to do when I was seventeen the day before. I would go to a liquor store and buy a lottery ticket and a scratcher. I would register to vote. I would go to a tattoo parlor in Los Angeles and pick out a tattoo, I wouldn’t get a real one but I would get the Henna version. I would have my birthday party in Los Angeles. After the cake and during presents, I will scratch the ticket and if I win or don’t, I will go back to the liquor store. I would buy a pack of cigarettes even though I won’t smoke one. I would stay up past the old curfew society had enforced on me which was 10: 30 pm but make sure that cops were around. To show them that I was the legal age limit because I certainly don’t look it. And go home and thank god that I’m not a guy cause registering to be in selected service in case of a draft happened would have been a major downer on my day of becoming an adult. I would now be a productive member of society.

Norms: Individual Vs. Society-Versu

Word Count: 217

Different

I don’t have parents I can go to. I have no rules except I must eat dinner and even then it’s negotiable. I use common sense and knowledge that I’ve learned from TV or school to get through life. I don’t expect anything from my parents not even a car ride. I do respect my mom hopefully like most teenagers. Many teenagers take the badgering of their parents as a curse but the grass is never greener on the other side as I always assure them. Most American parents taught their children things their parents taught them. I learned how to knit but nothing else and I had to bug my mom to teach me. Most families go places for the summer, the farthest I have gone with my mom anywhere was Disney land and that was for my sisters 10^th birthday. I know it’s not her fault because last time she was on a plane was when she came to the United States 25 years ago. I sometimes don’t like the fact I wasn’t put in a piano class or ballet like I wanted. I learned that you can’t always get what you want at a very young age which made me different. I knew whining and complaining never helped just made you feel worse.

Social Networking Narrative

Danielle is OFF TO CATCH THE WHITE RABBIT (12:00 AM)

The first time I even heard of Facebook was from my sister and she was in college. I assumed it was only for college students. Then on one Friday, I was told that my group decided to get together. I asked “Why wasn’t I invited” and they responded “It was on Facebook” I was a tad confused. I realized Facebook had spread to High School. A week later I decided to join Facebook to be in the loop with future events. Though I don’t obsess over Facebook like many users do, I do like the site better than Myspace by far. Sometimes I can also get carried away by reading status updates and comments on the updates. To make matters worse Facebook set up a messaging system similar to Aol Instant Messaging, so you can be on for hours without even realizing it. Now that meeting online is more convenient and free for my friends and I to talk, we barely go out. That’s the only downside to social networks like Facebook except the fact that it can be distracting when I want to do homework but can’t seem to peel my eyes off of Facebook to start working on that essay I have been procrastinating on.