family portrayals

Ideal family portrayals in America suck because majority of families aren’t ideal models. Mom, Dad, Son, and Daughter that live in the suburbs. Mom stays home to take care of family business, shop, and clean, while dad works hard at a good well paying job, and two children that go to school. If life was so simple there would be no point of looking for the ideal in anything because it would always be ideal.

 When I typed in ideal family in google
(photo to the left) this is what came up along with ideal suburban homes below.

Growing up in what most would consider the “hood”, majority of the families surrounding me or that I knew were single mother homes. Even if the father was involved normally he was outside the home. Growing up for majority of my childhood it was me my mother and sister. My mom was a nurse at Cedar Sinai and she work 12 hour days almost everyday. When I got older my mom started doing foster care and so there would always be an additional child we considered family while they were there. The idea of an ideal family for some people is just to have someone who is willing to love you just because your you. During my mothers foster care years I learned a lot, and the ideal family portryal I find irritating because although its great to have that, I feel as though it degrades or puts other types of family underneath what society portrays is ideal. My family to me is ideal because I wouldn’t be the wonderful person I am today if it wasn’t for the family structure I had.

Religion in my eyes

In my world religion is such a large part of what makes me who I am, and because of that I always automatically assume people are Christian and until proven otherwise. Every day I get on twitter and there is always someone saying Thank You God for waking me up this morning, or someone explains a situation thank God for a good outcome. I never realized so many people lived without religion until I came to college. Religion is always a tricky topic to talk about simply because if someone doesn’t agree with how I view God or the world it always baffles me. I never understand why people think the way they do. I have a really good friend Jackie that I met when I came to school. We got really close and religion had never came up so we never discussed it until one day I was like I don’t understand people who hate god or believe that god doesn’t exist etc., and she interjected and said that she didn’t believe in God. When she said that it through me for a complete loopy moment because I had automatically assumed she was a Christian. We are still friends but it was just an incident that made me look at the world differently. Because where I come from the church is a very big part of everyone life no matter if they are consider a sinner or saint. Gang Bangers, Teachers, students, geeks, sluts, almost everyone was a believer and if they weren’t, they were considered crazy. So to come to college and meet a morally good hearted sweet person who actually lived by Gods rules without even trying because she was a non-believer was one of the most absolute craziest things that ever happen to me.

Even when I look at television awards I always look to hear the celebrity thank god in their speech and when they don’t it always changes my view about them. For example I don’t really take much interest into the whole illumanadi topic that goes on in the entertainment world because I refuse to believe this many people don’t believe in God. For Example Tyler Creator is so demonic and demonized and his songs reflect his ill feelings towards God but when he received an award his mother was in the crown thanking God(his mother thanking the Lord). Like most r&b and rap artist grew up with a Christian upbringing even if they weren’t taken to church every Sunday, the basic morals of God was instilled into them so I always look for celebrities who believe in God and those are the ones I support.

Superbowl Patriots vs Giants

Unlike some international sports like basketball and soccer, football is the only sole baby of America. For some people it’s a life representing teamwork, determination, trust, passion, communication, and manhood. The Super bowl is like the religion of that life, where Americans praise and honor the two best teams of that year. Every season teams and fans fight hard hoping and wishing to be one of those teams in the midst of the battle. Companies spend millions for commercial spots to be played during the game, Some great music artist gets the honor of singing the national anthem, some other great artist gives a mini concert at half time, people fly around the country for a seat in the stadium, and some people buy the biggest tv they can afford to host a super bowl party. Men throw on their apron and work the grill while the women make the “sides”, people drink and gather with friends and family, and bets are placed in hope that someone’s favorite team will get the ring at the end of the night. There’s usually a lot of excitement accompanied with yelling, ooh’s, aah’s, curses, hope, and anticipation of the next play.

This year the super bowl for me was a chance to be surrounded around a family, something I don’t get that often because I’m so many miles away from mine. I had the opportunity to go to professor’s house and enjoy the super bowl. We had ribs, corn, greens, steak, strawberry shortcakes, and lemonade, a meal that meant more to me this one day because normally I’d be at my house entertaining guest and enjoying my mother’s cooking. My best friend had 400 dollars at steak so every play was a turn in his stomach, while my idea of football is nice looking buff men pushing each other around to see which team is the best.