Week 3

I have been a devout coffee addict since high school. Sadly enough, coffee was the secret to all my late-night study sessions and full-time summer job. Apart from fueling my daily activities, stopping at Starbucks to pick up a quick drink became a habit for me, where I would take my lunch breaks to study or simply find a quiet spot to relax. Recently, I found I like doing things alone instead of with groups of people. "Going out for coffee" usually represents groups of people socializing over coffee in an intimate or casual setting.

Coffee originates everywhere from South America to Africa to Asia. As a plant, coffee has been cultivated for hundreds of years as a food crop. Coffee is mainly known as a drink, but around the world it also could have been consumed raw, as a seed, for its energizing purposes. After its popularity increased, coffee quickly became commercialized around the world, allowing people everywhere to get the "coffeehouse experience." While technology continues to change society around us, I think coffee is going to be one social activity that will remain the same until another food crop with the same amount of caffeine pops out of the ground. Coffee remains a universal concept of social interactions and a value of all modern cultures.

The concept of going out for coffee tells us that fast, convenient food is a major factor of American society. Whether it is a date or a professional meeting, Americans value spending money on caffeinated drinks that are fast to make but take a toll on our health (hello, 700 calorie frappuccinos). Both consumer and entrepreneur benefit from the sales of coffee, but the actual producers of coffee, who must labor to cultivate this crop across the globe for exporting without proper compensation, are the ones who suffer from the sales of coffee.

Again, coffee is a universal symbol of social interaction. In countries where coffee is produced, like Brazil, it is probably seen as work instead of leisure but in modern-day countries like France where coffee is exported, the stripped coffee beans are brewed to create the drink that not only fuels our systems, but our society as well.

Week 2

As Michael Schwalbe discusses in Chapter 3 of TSEL, social indexes are used in order to represent or identify a greater or broader aspect of society. One social index relevant to my life is living at home for college. Most girls in my community choose to stay at home after graduating to stay with their families, as well as save money and improve our undergraduate schools.

I grew up in a fairly traditional South Asian Muslim family in California. In India and Pakistan, girls are expected to live at home with their families until marriage where they can start their own families. Although living in the Bay Area made my family and community more moderate, I was still raised with similar values. I attended a very competitive high school where the only acceptable plan after graduation was to attend a four-year university. And although my parents were supportive of my education and career plans, they also preferred I attended school close to home and stayed back for two years then transfer. While the majority of students who transfer do it for financial reasons or to increase their grades, my parents knew that keeping me at home would teach me to be more responsible and take care of myself to prepare me for the sudden change once I moved out.

Many people, both in and out of my community, see this index as a representation of poor prioritizing, where culture and ethnicity dominates over education. Attending community college today is still not seen as the "smart" decision, especially where I come from (in fact, it's seen in both my high school and social circle), because it is the "last resort." From a cultural perspective, this index teaches me that traditional values can dominate other ideals because they keep families (in particular immigrant families) closer to their roots in a land where heritage can be lost so easily. From an educational perspective, this index shows me just how much a brand-name school matters to the public, and just how American culture values the entire package over practicality.

Week 1: Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Saba Anees. I'm a freshman/first-year/3rd quarter student at De Anza, and majoring in Mass Communications. I hope to transfer to UCLA, USC, or UC Berkeley by the Fall of 2011. Sociology is very new to me, and I'm really excited to learn more about it and use it in my everyday life. I'm always up to new challenges, which is why I love writing and journalism, because I get to cover something new with every story. Apart from writing, I do my own community service by organizing and supervising a youth group for kids 8-13 at my local mosque, where I also serve on the Youth Board...but I'm still no girl scout :(

I'm really excited to follow everyone's blogs! If you have any questions or just want to comment, go for it! I love hearing from people :)