Lab 8: Understanding Bias

• When I met my girlfriend and we started hanging out more and she wanted to drive my truck that I would spend hours working on, cleaning, and polishing, I would be very hesitant because of how I thought women drive a truck. I felt that she wouldn't be careful and would eventually bump or scrape something. That made me say no until I realized that she is a very good and careful driver.
• This came from the way my mother would drive my father's truck and how she didn't realize the size of the truck and would come very close to bumping someone else's vehicle. This made me think that all women are the same.
• I try and not to create unnecessary biases towards anyone or anything because I want to be able to meet and learn something about that person or thing. I try to overcome biases that are presented by other people's opinions.
• I have learned more about it and eventually learned to deal with it and be able to overcome that bias.

This video to me was about the biases that all people hold against black men. People need to look more in depth of that person. We need to stop the biases and learn about the person. When my girlfriend asked to drive, I said no. After I rode with her in her dad's truck, I learned that she is very good at driving a truck. I now let her drive my newer truck when she wants to.

This course has helped me know more how to deal with people of all races, cultures, and groups. I was not very social in class, but I was always thinking of what I would say if I were to answer. I learned how to deal with people in my future career and what challenges I could face in that career field. I will be able to be more understanding toward people and take into consideration of their opinions. I learned how to be a better leader and person. I learned how to accept difference and work with them to be able to come with the best possible outcome. Thank you Dr. Thorpe for giving me these attributes to make me a better person.

Lab 4: Political Influences

I attended a local city council meeting in Saint Anthony, Idaho. The biggest decision was whether or not to cut down on plowing snow off the roads. This was ultimately decided with not cutting down on the finances.

• If they were to cut down on the plowing, the roads would be dangerous to drive on when the time would come. It would put families in danger on the same streets that people had been driving everyday for the last year.
• It keeps the families safe in winter when the roads do get crappy.
• It actually helped the families reduce tension when they know that the roads are going to be safer while driving.
• There is not much that will impact me in my future career except the driving conditions that I will be faced with.
• This reassures me that while I am in Pocatello, my mom and sister will be safer driving during the winter. With a future family, I will be able to travel safely with my family.
• Every point was covered in this meeting to make this decision.

This gives the parents the reassurance that their children will be able to travel to and from school and other activities on safer roads. The city employees that plow the roads are going t make sure that the roads will be plowed. There were some officials that wanted to cut down the spending on plowing, but their minds were changed quick because people made them think of their family and how it would put them into more danger. I strongly agreed with the decision that council members made.  

Lab 7: Exploring Mass Media

-Week of December 7-13

Television

Date, Day, Time Spent	Name and Type* of Show	Description of the Action (What were the conflicts? What types of cooperation were displayed?)	Description of Cultural, Gender, Occupational, Racial, Orientational, etc. Roles and Biases	Number and Kinds of Advertisements
12-8-15 60 Min. 12-10-15 45 Min.	Criminal Minds Drama TV Series	The cast is the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI.	They have to look at the behavior that is presented by the criminal.	Zero Ads. It was on Netflix
12-13-15 1hr 59min	The Ridiculous 6 Comedy Movie	6 brothers with different mothers and one dad were given a task to save their father from western criminals.	-Caucasian adopted by Apache Indians. -African American Piano Player -Caucasian Moonshiner -Hispanic -Caucasian that protected Abe Lincoln -Caucasian Mentally Challenged Boy	No Advertisements. It was on Netflix as well.
12-10-15 2.5 Hours	NFL Football Sports	Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings	The Cardinals won 23-20	Dozens. Alcohol, upcoming sports games, sports news, local businesses.

* Comedy, sports, news, drama, cartoon, musical, mystery, satire, and so on.

Social Media

Date, Day, Time Spent	Name of Social Media	Description of Action	Description of Roles and Biases Portrayed	Number and Kinds of Advertisements
December 7,9,11,12 3 Hours Total	Facebook	Looking at the News Feeds and Videos.	A lot of the Presidential stories about the Middle East and Donald Trump. Police Brutality. A lot of crude language and degrading posts towards stereotypes.	Zero
December 7-13 About 2 Hours	SnapChat	Sending and Receiving Pictures.	I don’t see a lot of biases because the only people I talk to are family and friends.	Zero
December 7-13 7 Hours	Xbox Live	You play online against a lot of different people.	There is a lot crude language and putting people down.	Zero

Please note the total viewing time (in minutes) for the week.

8 Hours and 15 Minutes

After this lab, I realized that I probably spend too much time on social media and television. I realized that people are meaner when there is no possible way of meeting the person that they are being negative to. This bias makes me want to not put people down and be as positive as I can, but also be able to express my opinion when it is necessary. The things that I faced while watching Criminal Minds made me think about why people do what they do even with just talking to a friend or new person. On Facebook, I noticed so many biases and negative news. The Presidential Debate between the candidates is making a lot of news these days.

Lab 3: School Community Walk

I picked a small elementary school that I have drove by many, many times. It is call Willow Elementary School in Grantsville, Utah.

• The children that attend this school, live in the main part of town of Grantsville. The social classes are from every level. There are mainly middle class families that live in that town.
• The main elementary school burned down in 2009, and since the rebuild of Willow, there has been a huge increase of suburban neighborhoods and tightly packed housing. They are mostly higher class homes that are priced for middle class families.
• There are parks all around town that children play at after school, but the most popular is the small park that is across the street at the city fire house.
• The conditions of the parks are anywhere from brand new to very old. Most of them are rebuilt and updated every 5 to 10 years. The school playground is very updated and brand new. The playground sets are brand new.
• I didn't go inside the school, but I suggest that the children eat in the school cafeteria.
• Local school buses are the only public transportation in Grantsville.
• The school is located on the end of town, but there are a few gas stations and one local grocery store.
• The culture in Grantsville was mainly Caucasian with a small number of Hispanic families.
• English is the main language with Spanish in second.
• There are several local restaurants and cafes that line Main Street.  
• The closest main road near the school is Utah State Route 112 that connects Grantsville to Tooele.
• This school teaches children from Kindergarten to 5th Grade.
• The resources from this school is the lunch and a school nurse.
• The children are gaining a very strong knowledge from the updated technology.
• They are learning very helpful things that help them advance in life very fast.

This school build bonds that small town should create. The children grow up in school with the same kids from grade school all the way up to high school. Being from a small town myself, this was very helpful to gain the ability of building very strong relationships.