Boy Get Your Records On

As I was growing up, my parents taught me many things. How to use the tiolet, how to eat properly, how to act in public and how to behave. I was raised in a Christian home and my parents showed me through example the importance of filtering the media that I consume on a daily basis. When I was young, my parents took to me to the movies quite often. We'd watch all kinds of films; action , romance, and comedy movies.Most especially Disney movies. When a particularly racy scene would appear, my mom gently tell me to avert my eyes and cover my ears. She told me, "Anak, close your eyes ha. I'll tell you when it's finished." I didn't really understand it because I was young, but I appreciate the way my parents protected my innocence.

When I grew older, my taste in music developed, and I began learning how to play the violin. After a few years, I learned the guitar. Of course, with learning music comes listening to it and I dove into all kinds of  genres. Now music is a very powerful influence in the world of youth today. If it weren't for my dad, I don't know what would have happened to me if I had listened to the wrong kind of music. Lyrics are powerful they can really affect your view on life and how you live. My dad was wise enough to make it a rule that every single song I listened to had to pass through his standards. He'd ask me 3 questions whenever I'd bring a new song up to him.

1. What do the lyrics say? Is the message negative or positive? (if there was cursing in the song, it was immediately "banned." Haha)

2. Is the song too heavy? (My parents were very particular about this, they didn't really like me listening to rock music back then)

3. Is there screaming? (metal and hardcore were definitely part of my playlist back in high school)

4. Would Jesus listen to that kind of song? (as a result of this, most of the music I listened to was Christian. I was into bands like Swtichfoot, Relient K, Jars of Clay, and of course Hillsong )

As I grew older, my parents grew more relaxed because they trusted me enough to have the discernment to choose my own tunes. Right now, I still enjoy Switchfoot and Hillsong, but I'm into bands like A Day To Remember, Four Year Strong, Foster The People, Saosin (I LOVE SAOSIN), and Run Kid Run.

Simbolo

Physical Symbols.

In the organizational theory, importance is based on symbols as they can represent so much more that just the brand or the company.

There are several kinds of physical symbols.

Buildings, brand logos, artifacts, emblems, and even flags.

Buildings are often built with such grandeur and height to create an image of power, wealth, and superiority over the competition. Brand names define products and can make or break the success of the company wielding the name. Artifacts, such as swords, carrying the family crest can represent an entire clan, flags represent countries and organizations.

Although for this blog, I'd like to focus on a symbol which I am sure everyone is very familiar with. The Cross.

What comes to mind when you see the crucifix? Jesus? His death? His resurrection?

Well anyway, this symbol has quite an enormous amount of personal significance to me. For me this not only represents what Jesus did for the whole world, but specifically, this reminds me of the choice he made to die for me. The cross reminds me of the sacrifice he made to set the people of this world free from sin.  The cross is also a reminder of the victory Christ won.

How I Got My First Girlfriend

I lied. This isn't about my love life. HAHAHA gotcha.

This whole week in class we've been talking about Structuration. Basically it's all about how rules are made, how they're implemented, and how people react to such rules.

I think the best way to describe this theory is to use something we are all familiar with.


So today, I would like to talk about popularity in college. The theory says that the rules are socially constructed. As we can see, there are rules and strictures that are created within the collegiate society.



An example would be the distribution of power and influence. The rich kids are usually the ones who dominate the classrooms and the hallways. They declare how we dress, how we should talk, and usually the music that we like. Now this isn't really a book of commandments. All these rules are unspoken. Anyone who does not follow these rules are usually looked down upon, unless their deviance causes a new kind of social ruling to be instated. A classic example would be how students and teachers are expected to behave around each other. They are expected to share a professional relationship and it is considered a taboo for a teacher to have a very personal or even exclusive relationship with a student. A more recent example would be the "bench rule." Basically, it's "don't sit on that bench. It belongs to the swimming team. Don't sit on that one either, it belongs to Jzone Ateneo." This is a silly rule in my opinion. Nevertheless,  it is enforced by our own personal behavior and the way we see people.

Now how are these rules enforced? One of the major factors would be tradition. "We've been doing this forever, why change it?" The culture we have in Ateneo is simply a result of 150 years of tradition. Another would be the uncertainty we all share when we are new to a particular environment. Since we don't want to be viewed as weird or out of place, we often just keep quiet and go with the flow. We follow the system just to fit in and not rock the boat.

In conclusion, I believe that this theory is quite valid, yet it is also somewhat a double-edged sword. It's a wonderful thing if we follow the rules and as we continue to obey them, we climb higher and higher up the social ladder, but it's also kind of sad since those who cannot cope or refuse to conform to the rules set by the society can be viewed as lepers and outcasts. and are often treated unfairly. The system can both set you free and arrest you!