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Graduation 🎓

A few of my family members and friends were supposed to graduate either high school or college this year. It sounds crazy to think that all of your hard work consisted in four years is represented by a graduating virtual ceremony but it is what it is. We can not help what our society is facing today, we must do what we do best and adapt to whatever situation is going on. I found this article extremely helpful for seniors or college graduates to plan out their own personal ceremony. I think it’s important for students to take part in creating their own because they deserve to have felt accomplished, and have recognition of all their hard work. Without even the online ceremony there will be a sense of nonclosure, and I think it’s important to close a chapter of your life in order to move onto the next. A close friend of mine just graduated from University of Syracuse, although devastated her family created an empty space in their living room filled with foldable chairs and all sat in front of the computer together while the ceremony was in progress. After, they celebrated by having a “Drive by graduation”. All her family and friends drove by her house with champagne, flowers, posters, and images showing their congratulations to the graduate. I think an experience like this is original and will be unforgettable. I love how people are adapting to the change of ceremonies like this, and not letting this pandemic take anything else from them :)

Happy Graduation to all during this time !

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My father actually works for a bank located in Borough Park. Most banks are essential but this bank had to close down due to the sever impact of Covid 19 going on in this neighborhood. He said loads of people were out on the streets, without mask, and going on about their days. Their were gatherings of large groups of people and festivals to celebrate Holliday’s during this time in quarantine. There were several large gatherings of funerals that were still happening when the limit of people in a room was about 10 max. Borough Park is only a few minutes away from Dyker Heights where I live. There had been many reports involving the nypd attemp to close down streets or blocks due to their incapability of staying home and social distancing. My cousin who works in the hospital at Maimodes closest to Borough Park, said most of her patients were Hasidic Jews and when she asked them where they think they could’ve got it from it was always an excuse of being at a party or any other attempt at breaking rules of social distancing. Now, I do not think all Jewish people are not taking social distancing seriously. Mayor DeBlasio tweeted..” My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period. “ I understand DeBlasio said all communities as well but I don’t think it was right for him make a broad category for the entire Jewish community.. there are different types of people in the community as a whole. He should have specified Hasidic Jews in the certain neighborhoods that were being affected by Covid 19 the most.

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Safety of my Grandmothers

The hardest part for my entire family is watching both of my grandmothers be apart from us. Both of my grandmothers have lost their husbands at around the same time, about seven years ago. My grandmothers did all the cooking always took care of the house but their husbands who were my grandfathers spoiled them as well.They both still live at their family homes. We were thinking about having one of our families take in each of our grandmothers but it is very difficult because not everyone is working from home, and even some of us are exposed to supermarkets, or pharmacies. Since quarantine had started my mom has gone food shopping or to local pharmacies for not only my family but both of my grandmothers as well. She takes all the groceries into our house and disinfects them all and puts them in our own personal bags. Either my mom or myself drops off whatever is necessary with gloves and mask on and leaves the bags right on their front porches. We call them many times throughout the day and luckily they have smart phones so we get to FaceTime them or video chat to see them often.Now that the weather is getting nicer my mother and I have been trying to go visit them every few days and sit outside of course 6 feet away from them.It’s been hard because we missed a huge family holiday celebration of Easter and today Mother’s Day. My mother was debating on whether or not she should have my grandmothers come to our backyards and at least sit down with us for a little while. Although, we felt it was a little too cold in our backyard and didn’t want them getting in such a tight compact space in the car with us. So instead we brought each of them dinner and a plant long with the card to say happy Mother’s Day. Although, they do get frustrated sitting at home And don’t really understand everything that is happening, my mother reassures them that we are doing this and holding off because we love them and want them to be safe. We are doing all that we can do to cater and help them feel less lonely at their homes. Our priority is keeping them happy, and most importantly healthy during this time.

Second Image: My little cousin saying hi and happy Mother’s Day to his great grandma 🥺🦋

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Don’t hurt your countries further more..

Recently I have also noticed more littering in our city. I have seen tons of mask and gloves all over theStreets of Brooklyn. The other day, my mother and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. We were both wearing mask… it was very hot and windy. My mother had lifted her mask off of one side of her face in order to catch a bit of fresh air. The wind had taken her mask off her face and blew onto the sidewalk. My mother reached to grab the mask, and place it into her jacket pocket. I feel when people are outside either walking, exercising, or etc their mask (in the case of my mother) may be accidentally flying off. The matter is whether that person will choose to pick it up and throw it out properly or just let it sit there littering our neighborhood streets. While we were also on that walk I noticed a bike rider take his mask off and just throw it out in the air. The bike rider must’ve felt hot thought it would be a smart idea (which is a not so smart idea) to not have to carry around his mask elsewhere and decided to just liter. When it comes down to littering of gloves there are definitely more found on streets than mask. Because people are so frightened of the germs collected on the gloves I feel like they panic specially after being in a supermarket or any kind of drug store where they have to watch certain products. I’ve seen many people outside of these stores pack their bags into their cars and just throw their gloves in the street. Whenever my family and I go to the supermarket we do wear gloves but we place them in a Ziploc bag in the car after we are finished packing up the car. Then when we get home we throw out the Ziploc bag along with the gloves in our outside garbage can. People need to be more smart in the way thet protect themselves. I understand, People are in a panic but they must take our environment in consideration for it is one of the things us people are still responsible for. People then raise questions on why global warming has not gotten better due to the fact that their are more people inside. It is also devastating to see so many supplies of gloves and mask that we as a country did not have a lot of in the beginning go to such waste. These things that are supposed to protect us that are now littering our countries will do further more damage than protection.

quarantine

masks and gloves littering the city during the first phase of the quarantine in Italy

single use and disposable tools used, discarded and littering the streets of our cities are an ironically painful symbol of the same dysfunctional relationship with nature that brought us the emergence of a zoonotic disease like COVID 19.

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Wedding Gift Giving Traditions

My Nonna Sina, my mother’s mother has kept up with a family tradition that has started from early generations of women in her family. For every granddaughter that gets married, she gives them a piece of her jewelry to wear on their wedding day. So far two of her granddaughters have gotten married. The first granddaughter and oldest received a ring, and the second granddaughter a bracelet to wear on their wedding day. My Nonna has many granddaughters so she will give jewelry away from her wedding and also other significant events or gifts of jewelry she has received. My mother then will also give a piece of her jewelry to her granddaughters in the future who get married.My Nonna shared with us all that this tradition has always been present in our family from earlier generations. The gift giving of the jewlery signifies luck in the relationship and future ahead.

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Face Mask shifting in Society

The new uncommon is seeing an individual on the street or in public without a mask. Whenever I see this, a part of me gets frustrated. It has definitely taken time for myself to adjust to seeing others constantly in mask. Although it has become something that is required to keep our world and the people in it safe.The reason we wear these Mask are to protect us from possibly spreading our own germs to others.Many people believe just because they show no symptoms they aren’t capable of having covid. The mask won’t help you if the person you are next to you is carrying covid and is not wearing a mask. The amounts a medical mask are limited. Health departments are encouraging people to protect themselves with homemade mask, cloths or even bandannas.

As a way to help people who have been diagnosed with corona or medical workers in hospitals get access of medical mask, people have been crafting their own mask. The people who have been crafting their own are also donating to essential workers also. Recently I have seen some local clothing businesses in my neighborhood selling crafter face mask online. When I first saw this I thought it was a bit offensive to turn this into another fashion trend.

After time has gone by I think the idea of customized mask is a great way to gather income for small businesses heavily affected by this, and also protect the public people in some kind of fashion. We will be wearing mask for a long period of time even after quarantine is done. I never thought I would buy one but I just purchased several. It is a way of drawing some kind of excitement, color, and personality to the specific individual wearing the mask. This is especially helpful in getting young kids to wear a mask. Some custom face mask are specific to children with their favorite characters, movies, or toys on them. Making the “task” of children having to wear mask simpler. Also local buisnesses are taken part in donating funds in making their own original mask. The mask are protecting and lifting our spirits while providing an income for small businesses. This is the new normal as of now and we must develop ideas like this to not make the world or ourselves feel so dreary.

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Religious Rituals

Easter was a little bit different this year for my family and I. Usually the Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday. My entire family and I always attend mass, And receive palms. In that mass my grandmother always donates money so that My grandfather can be a part of the dedication at the end of the mask. She has done this every year after my grandfather had passed away. Usually for Easter my entire family gathers together for a meal after having to gone on church. These two important events happened on back to back Sundays every year. As a family, we decided that we all would attend a live Facebook story of our neighborhood church. Our neighborhood church set up lives in where you can attend mass virtually. After the mass was finished, and a couple hours later we had a family zoom call. We sit on there for hours talking, laughing, and adjusting to the virtual life. Although this year’s celebration was not comparable to our usual Easters. It is important that we were surrounded by one another even if it was just over the phone. It is also amazing to see how even churches are exploring this virtual world. Giving the Catholic people a period of time together, praying, and building their faith as a human. I’ve many stories where groups of religious people are still trying to gather in their churches or synagogues or where ever they choose to pray as a group. I think that people need to remember that yes it’s good to go to these places and focus on your faith but there are many resources now in where we can do so virtually. You can build your faith in your own home.

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Paper 3

Life and Wedding Rituals

The culture of my family is Italian. My mother’s parents were born and raised in Sicily, Italy while my father's parents were born and raised in Calabria, Italy. My mother has two sisters who were both born in Italy as well. My mother was the first and last child that was born in America. My father and his younger brother were both born in America as well. Both my mother and father are the first generation of Italian-American in their families. Both of my parents' first languages were italian, and second english. They were both raised with an Italian mentality. The mentality of italians is to put family life over everything. You are to always stay loyal to your family, and remain close. Italian was both of their first languages as children and learned English as well. My parents were grown up with similar traditional beliefs, values, and lifestyles that stemmed from their parents (my nonni), and generations prior.

My mother and father met in their mid twenties, in Brooklyn where they both have lived all their lives. They were introduced to each other by mutual friends. My grandparents were pleased with both my mother and fathers and their choice to get married. They both came from families that had followed similar italian lifestyles. Although my family did have a preference that my parents get married to a person with the same culture, it was not required. Today my parents have the same preferences for me. I am more attracted to italian men in regards to getting romantically involved with. I tend to look for a partner who has grown up with the same traditional values as myself. Arranged marriages in Italy are no longer practiced for most families. Recently as I was having a conversation with my nonna she had told me that her parents brothers and sisters did end up in incestral marriages with their first or second cousins. We had this conversation when my third cousin Francesco was immigrating to America with his family. My nonna went on and on in conversation about how handsome he was and was speaking to her granddaughters with the intention of potentially setting us up. We all looked at her as if she was absolutely insane but incestory was something that was normal in Italy years and years ago but is something that sounds so absurd today. My mother’s sisters and father's brother had also been able to marry who they wanted, and it just so happened they had come from an italian cultured background as well. It just so happens that you sway to what you know. A couple years ago my cousin Frankie who was twenty-one at the time got his girlfriend pregnant. Both of the families including my cousin and his girlfriend agreed to keep the baby which turned out to be babies (twins). They were both brought up in families that were extremely faithful. In my family and the catholic religion it is traditional to get married before having sex (which has faded away over generations) and having children. Basically, the couple was together for 5 years prior to this happening but decided to have a shotgun wedding before the babies had arrived. It made their family members happy and it felt like the right thing to do morally. When my parents got married their lives and resources had merged together. After years of being in a relationship and in marriage, they shared a house, a bank account, level of their education. Many people in marriages do not share everything with their partner. Especially in today's society many keep separate accounts or any other independent resources they may have. My mother and father share almost everything, unlike their best friends who keep their money and spend separately.

My mother and father were treated as family on each of their sides. My mother refers to my dad's mother as mama, and his father papa, and vice versa. They are both extremely close to their inlaws, and both sets of my grandparents are close to each other as well. My nonno on both my mother and father's side were extremely close and had passed away a day after each other in the same year. My nonnas are still alive today and enjoy each other's company in and out of the family kitchen. My nonna rosa who is my father's mother is extremely close to my mother's side as a whole as well. My parents, and their siblings have raised myself, my brother, and my cousins in the same traditional way they had grown up. As I stated earlier, my mothers and fathers family are both from Italy but come from different towns or cities. My aunts and uncles share the same situation. Although there are different parts of italy, most lifestyles are similar. Italian values include spending lots of time with family, religion and maintaining Catholic traditions, and pleasurable meals prepared with dedication and most importantly love. As a child I was always surrounded by family, and was fortunate for that. Unfortunately, my dad's brother and his family live in Long Island so we only see them a few times a year. Most of my family on my maternal side live in the same neighborhood as me, one across the street on the same block, and one a couple blocks away. The rest do not live far maybe 10-20 minutes away. Since we all live so close we tend to see each other often. My maternal cousins and I even attended some of the same schools. I don’t consider them to be my cousins. I consider them to be brothers and sisters to myself. My mother and her cousins are extremely close and were raised on the same block which allowed them to have a sister or brother relationship with them as well. I refer to most of my mother's cousins as aunt or uncle because of the close relationship. Their children who are technically my second cousins are just as closed to myself as my first cousins are to me as well.

I do believe other cultures are close with their families as well, but the Italians idolize this in their families. Another important value in my italian family is religion. Almost ninety percent of Italians are catholic. My family is included in that ninety percent. Traditionally a good catholic would be one who goes to church weekly, prays, receives sacraments, respects others, follows the ten commandments, and has faith. Today it is extremely difficult to get to church every week so my immediate family tends to attend on religious holidays. Italian families tend to share an early dinner once a week with their families which catholicism is still provided in a moral structure. There are many patron saint days that Italian families celebrate. A popular saint day for Italians is on March 19th, Saint Joseph's day. A feast takes place in Italy that honors Joseph, husband to the Virgin Mary and earthly father to Jesus. It is also the day in which Italy celebrates Father's Day. And if your name is Joseph or Josephine, you will also be celebrating your “onomastico.” Since my family is living here in America, there is a traditional pastry we get every year on Saint Joseph's day. Italian tables are filled with fig dishes, including fig cookies, zeppoles, or sfinge dough fritters covered with powdered sugar as well. We celebrate with pastries because Saint Joseph is also referred to the saint of pastries. Every Sunday my family makes it a point to gather for an early evening dinner that is also a tradition in Italy. My grandparents made sure it was essential no matter how busy the family got.. There are three portions of this dinner, antipasto, primo corso, and secondo corso. Antipasto always comes first and most of the time involves fresh bread, bruschetta, olives, soppressata, and some cheese. The primo corso which means first course comes out a few minutes after which consists of usually pasta with fresh tomato sauce, or can be soup or stew. The secondo corso which means second course is usually meat, usually chicken cutlets on a usual Sunday. During this dinner we spend quality time laughing and lots of yelling. By yelling I mean speaking to one another. As Italians we spend to speak out loud. Till this day my family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and now my cousins children all join together for meals on Sunday filled with lots of food. The social life of italians revolves around eating, and celebrating. The love of food conforms to the traditional vision of an italian family.

The role of being a female in an Italian family has shifted as new generations come. It is still expected for women to take on household chores. Those chores include cleaning, cooking, laundry, and taking care of their children. Years back the women in these families were not expected to work or even learn how to drive. All labored work was saved for the men. My mom is the youngest of her two sisters and I believe that is when this shift happened in their family particularly. My two aunts are stay at home mothers and do not drive. My mother at a young age was working and continued working years after she gave birth to my brother and I. She still manages to work, clean, do the laundry, cook, and do whatever we ask her to do. She does it all well. The Italian women cater to their families and tend to put them first. Some would say we tend to be spoiled growing up.

The way others are brought up in their cultures are individualized for each family. For my family specifically due to our italian heritage the main important things are food, family, and our religion. These three things are what has shaped my family and the morals we have.

Glossary Items:

Nonni: Italian for Grandparents

Nonna: Grandma

Nonno: Grandpa

Calabria: town in Southern Italy

Sicily: town in Southern Italy

Onomastico: Name Day in Italian

Catholic: Religion

Virgin Mary: Mother figure of Catholic Religion

Jesus: Son and Savior of Catholic Religion

Primo Corso: First Course

Seconde Corso: Second Course

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My family Kinship Diagram 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

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While this REAL pandemic is currently going on all around us, misinformation about the virus is being spread world-wide by TOP companies in the news industry. All this information without facts behind it to back it up are making Americans fearful to live the average life, stocking up on unnecessary items & not following simple social distancing rules to maintain a safe & healthy lifestyle. My cousin Christina is currently working in the medical field as a radiologist. Radiology plays a big part during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the amount of cases that include pneumonia which is serious & could be a fatal symptom of Covid-19. My other cousin Sabrina is an ER nurse in the hospital. She deals with the patients first hand and is most vulnerable. She also has said to us she’s seen hospitals write covid for patients who died of other things like heart attacks. Some theory’s are that hospitals are receiving more money for having more covid deaths. The news stations aren’t tallying up just Covid-19 related deaths but ALL deaths in relation too ANY of the multiple symptoms that could be Covid or just your common cold/. This then makes everyone who is watching the news panic & become more worried when they have a symptom which could just be allergy related. the only information that should be approved & backed up are from officials like the surgeon general & president.

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On April 18th, Gov. Cuomo said he will sign an executive order to allow people to get their marriage licenses remotely, and allow clerks to perform ceremonies over video.

At first I personally did not understand why someone would rather have a zoom wedding than post pone their wedding. After reading this article it opened my mind to the idea. Either way I do think it’s amazing the people are giving the right to do so remotely.

The couple below come from traditional Muslim families. Their wedding ceremony is referred to as nikkah. Both bride and groom are essential workers. The bride was a nurse. She has seen the ins and out of how the Corona Virus is affecting the worlds people and their health. At first, the couple was thinking of postponing the wedding. But then they thought why wait .. why wait to spend the rest of their lives with their love of their life. Basically they were expressing how you never know when your life will cut short to the end especially during a period like this. So why wait. Traditionally in Muslim families you are not supposed to move in with your partner until marriage ( Same as my Italian family ). Husband and Wife wanted to wake up to each other and sleep together everynight. They didn’t wanna wait any further to start their lives together. This message is beautiful. The couple rearranged their ceremony, invited their family to view on zoom, and got a clerk of their religion to call in and perform the ceremony. They do not regret their decision at all.

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Memes that speak volumes about my family 😂🍝🇮🇹

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Crazy Rich Asians is my favorite movie that involves life and wedding rituals. There were many specific details in the movie that represented Chinese Culture. Rachel, a middle class Asian professor, and Nick, a high class Asian businessman are dating. Nick has his bestfriends wedding in Singapore and decides to bring Rachel along (Rachel is not aware that Nick and his family are royalty in Singapore). She meets his family and is stunned. Rachel shows up to Nicks grandmothers gathering and is offered fragrant water in a glass bowl..she picks up the bowl to drink it but in the Chinese culture the bowl is used to wash ur hands !! Many Chinese restaurants use them. Another moment was when before leaving to Singapore Rachel goes with her mom dress shopping. Kerry (her mother) explains that blue and white are colors Chinese wear to funerals. To wear red is “lucky” in China. In my Italian culture, when you wear something red it prevents any malocchio or any evil or bad energy to be put on you. Another important moment for the Chinese culture was when it showed Rachel along with Nick and his family making dumplings. In China, especially during Chinese New Year, it is tradition for families to gather together and make dumplings. Just like Italians, food is a huge part of the Chinese culture, and brings families together. Family approval is an extreme part of choosing a partner to marry. The children of Chinese families tend to do whatever the parents want them to or follow in their footsteps of career. Nicks mother did not approve of Rachel because she said she’s too American for the family. She did not like that Rachel was independent and got a job for herself doing something that makes her happy. She told Nick Rachel was not welcomed in the young family. The women of the Chinese culture catered to the men and their careers. For their own careers they took a step back. Rachel did not want nick to disobey his mother’s wishes and decided it was best to leave him. Nick went against his mothers wishes and still wanted to continue his relationship with Rachel.

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Stay Home.

Its difficult to see people not obeying the social distancing regulations when you are. It’s frustrating. I have seen so many post on Instagram of people having large gatherings in someone’s home. Just because you are home and not outdoors in a restaurant or etc this does not make it okay. Just because you have not experienced covid 19 or any symptoms that does not mean you or one of your close family members doesn’t have it. We have to think smart in this situation. I understand the weather is getting nicer out but if we jump into making plans with large groups of people, wearing no mask, and not standing six feet apart we will ruin the summer and beautiful weather ahead of us. Don’t be quick to get out of this quarantine. By rushing you will only make the process longer, and more and more people will be effected. Stay home until we are told otherwise. Our country has lost enough lives.

Stay home.

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Paper 2

“Cliques”

Looking back at my experience as a student I could first handedly say I have been a part of social group differentiation. Whether or not you know it or not, we are all likely to have been a part of some kind of group isolation or we can use the term “cliques”. The word clique usually carries a negative condensation. Cliques are known to exclude others. The idea of a clique has been a part of themes of many movies or shows. For example, the iconic clique movie Mean girls. In the movie there is a group of three girls that are seen to be popular. They are only friends with each other and bully people who are different from them. Movies and shows often portray cliques to act in this certain way. In reality cliques are forming whether we mean for it to happen or not. Cliques develop in schools by finding something in common between classmates. In my case, I can say that the clear sight of social group differentiation in my own experience took place in middle school. I attended Mark Twain Intermediate School which was considered only for “Gifted and Talented”; this meant that you had to audition for the school for a specific talent or gift. The talents and gifts included dance, drama, vocal, instrumental, athletics, math, creative writing, science, and tech. The school does not intentionally set up the students to form these cliques, although it is something that naturally happens.

Mark Twain is a middle school which means it contains the three grades from 6th-8th. Within each grade I would say there are close to 500 students or more. Each grade has four “clusters” which are basically sections.The clusters are divided by letters for example 6K, 6L, 6M, and 6S. Each talent or gift that you are accepted into has one class with about 30-40 students. Each cluster has about three talents per cluster. For example, 6K would include those students in dance, vocal, and creative writing talent. So this means for the whole year of 6th grade we are in class with these students and are shuffled into lets say three sections for each subject. In my case, I was in dance talent so the majority of people I built strong bonds with were also dancers. This was something that happened naturally because of the amount of time I spent with these individuals. It also helped that most of us had many things in common. At the time, we were all the same age, mostly the same gender besides two individuals, shared a love for dance, and had similar outside interests like justin bieber or competing in dance competitions. Another thing that Mark Twain does for organization purposes is instruct students to sit in their clusters for lunch as well. Lunch in middle school is basically the only time you are able to hangout and chat with your friends about things aside from school. Since that was really our only period of socializing we stayed with the people we had to stay with, and were most comfortable with. Cliques did form within the department itself but that is also a natural human thing to do. You process relationships and chemistry differently with certain people, sometimes a connection is not there with a certain individual just because you share one thing in common. The group of friends that I made in Mark Twain were not all dancers but most. Two close friends that I made were in different talents, one being in drama, and the other in vocals. The friend from drama was friends outside of school with some dance talent friends I had because she was on the same dance competitive team as them. We all hung out outside of school which created our bond to deepen. My friend who was in vocal talent shared a cluster with us in dance talent for two years, we got to eat lunch together and had some academic classes together as well. To add onto the friendships I made, I also have a twin brother whose name is Peter. He went to Mark Twain as well as an athletic major. The dance and athletic talents were never mixed together and I think it was because drama but we all were athletes and shared that in common. It also helped that Peter and I were twins because when we had friends over or birthday parties this helped mingle the two groups together. So I’d say I had maybe a handfuls or two handfuls of friends who were outside of my talent. But generally speaking, I do believe that each talents common interest along with the way the school had to organize classes and etc had allowed many cliques within a clique to form.

I would say that my experience in social group differentiation was triggered from middle school and on, still continuing in the present as I am a Long Island University Dance Major. I don’t believe that forming cliques could be prevented in ideally any middle school, but since I did go to performing arts schools it made it easier to do so. I went to a private small catholic school in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn for elementary school. Even though I was much younger and don't recall much I believe that since it was a smaller school mostly everyone was included in everything. Indeed I had closer friends than others but for example when it came down to someone's birthday party everyone was invited I interviewed my friend Nicole who attended the same school as I did for both elementary and middle school. I asked her “Do you believe cliques were formed?”. She responded “I would say so.. But they weren't real cliques.” To elaborate on her answer she explained…” More friendships and bonds were deeper than others. But since we all knew each other from about three years old it was different. But we did all have to mingle at one point or the other.”

The term “cliques” tends to have a negative condensation, but it is nothing more than a group of people who gravitate towards one another because of common interest. Yes, individuals have taken being in a clique to an extreme where they completely isolate themselves from socializing with others completely. But that itself is something more than a clique. We have all been a part of a clique whether we know it or not. Involvement in a clique opens your eyes to what exactly social group differentiation is. In my experience, my reasoning beneath being a clique had a lot to do with our common interest and talent. For others it can be culturally, race, ethnicity, music, or any differentiation possible. This is my story and what has brought me awareness.

Glossary Items:

Clique: a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common.

Cluster: A close group or section.

Mean Girls: Movie directed by Mark Waters 2004

Mark Twain: Middle school for Gifted and Talented located in Coney Island.

Social Group Differentiation: distinction made between social groups and persons on the basis of biological, physiological, and sociocultural factors, as sex, age, or ethnicity, resulting in the assignment of roles and status within a society.

Words from The Benefits of Cliques written by Andrew Smiler,

HUFFPOST...

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Dancing During a Pandemic

As you may know, I am a dance major at Long Island University Brooklyn. Adjusting to the online world of learning has not been easy. Online schooling for academia classes had already existed and had been successfully experienced by many students prior. Dance is a hands on physical practice. Since the art of dance is usually explored and taught in live classes, this pandemic had opened a new chapter of online learning for the art.

For me personally it was difficult adapting to this online world. Prior I was dancing in a beautiful open studio space with the energy from other bodies around me fulfilling the space. Now I’m dancing in my living room, bumping into furniture, family members speaking loudly in the back, limit focus to my practice. It is frustrating.

But, it is amazing to see how the dance world has created this brand new chapter of online dance. Yes, these online classes will never compare to the live classes but it is something. These classes make our bodies feel secured, strong, motivated, and relaxed. I am grateful to be apart of it. As I said in my first post.. dance is what makes me who I am. Without practicing everyday I would not feel myself. Thank you to the dance world for making me feel as whole as I can through a computer 🦋