People Like Us

After viewing all nine videos of "People Like Us", I liked the distinction of the rich upper class and the blue collar working class. The two clips I've selected to talk about more are "Friends in Low Places" and "Belles belles belles". In the "Friends in Low Places", the college students seem to enjoy themselves going into a random neighborhood bar and mingle with the locals. I didn't see anything wrong with what they did but that one guy who called them "yuppies" was irritated by their behavior. My guess is he likes to go there, have a drink or two and talk to the bartender. From his point of view, I would have probably ignored it and went about my business. I felt the college kids were just wanting to get a different experience of the bar scene than the one in the city. They weren't doing anything wrong and in fact, that one guy did mention why you can't say "Is this a dive bar?" Though, I don't understand they guy eating the banana? Overall, I think the college students wanted to mingle with the working class people and just hear some of their history and such. The second video I chose is the "Belles belles belles" and this one had me thinking. In a small Texas town, they have a group of dancer called The Belles who have a reputation in the town. That one girl said once they reach a certain age is when the girls would say "Are you going to become a Belle?"  and since she wasn't born there, she didn't even know what a Belle was. The girls can audition once they are in second grade and start from there. The coach does not like to hear the word "clique" and refers to the squad as a family. Many of the students they interviewed didn't have any nice words to say about the Belles. Some refer to them as "Fascists" and that one girl told the camera that she straight up hates them because they don't do anything for the school. On the other hand, the coach doesn't seem to mind if the students like or dislike them and that she knows her girls well. I had many reasons why I chose these two videos to talk about. The "Friends in low places" reminded me of when I go visit my friends up in Milwaukee, they always take me to the bars that I will enjoy. One bar, "World of Beer" was excellent because they had about over 100 different kinds of brew. Then we go to the local bars where I would socialize with the students. In fact, my friends would encourage me to go up to random people and socialize. The next day, my friend would show me pictures where I talked and danced with a lot of girls. The second video, "Belles belles belles" reminded me a lot of a group in my high school. This group was called the Expressions who specialized in singing, dancing and were known to be a special group. Throughout my years in high school, they had their own group and wouldn't allow outsiders to be in their group. I remember senior year in Sociology class, there were three members who got o do a project on a certain group and of course, they chose themselves. While the rest of us did other groups such as Rastafarians and goths, they did themselves in a really narcissistic fashion.

I grew up in Arlington Heights which is a middle class community. I was probably one of the few Latino students in my elementary school and I could blend in. My parents bought me books to read and toys to play with. I did play in a little league for three years and enjoyed baseball since. I also have a little sister who I have seen grown up into a teenager. My parents (especially my father) likes to cook at home and my dad cooks Mexican food while my mom does Colombian food. My friends growing up were really respectful towards me but when I joined cross country in high school, a lot of the teammates who went to other schools             had little respect. If "People Like Us" did a segment of my town, it would probably focus on the students at my high school and the different cliques they were all around. Then they would follow up like a few years after graduating and find most of us hanging out with people we wouldn't normally associate with. For me, my friends have introduce me to people from Milwaukee that I still keep in contact with.

A little bit more about me.

I'm Jonathan Chavez but prefer Jon. My father is is Mexican and my mother is Colombian. I visited both Mexico and Colombia to visit family. After graduating Buffalo Grove High School, I went to Harper College where I graduated last spring with an Associates degree. In the fall and currently, I'm working at an after school tutoring program. I also have great friends that I can rely on. From baseball games to a trip to Milwaukee, it's fun to be around them. Ever since My family took me to Disney World when I was little, I was fascinated by film. I was introduce to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Terminator and many more. As I grew older, my taste in films matured. Now I enjoy films like Seven Samurai, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 8 1/2,  The Wild Bunch, 2001, Where Eagles Dare, The Godfather, Dr. Strangelove, and many more. The only music I enjoy is anything rock, alternative, a little bit of jazz and some electronica, Some of the bands I love to listen to include Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, The Who, Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Crash Kings. My favorite authors include Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Alexander Dumas, Philip K. Dick and others. I also enjoy creating and writing stories whenever I have free time. One day, I wold like travel all over the world and visit places like London, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, France, Greece, Morocco, Spain. Even though I'm going into teaching, my real passion is to make a film. Maybe I'll get to teach a film class or film and lit. Now that I am at Roosevelt, I would like to be on track make the distance to show everyone I can do it.