Our second writing assignment in Sociological Imagination will be an annotated bibliography on a social stratification topic of our choosing. We were asked to share our preliminary research questions with the class. Mine is, “In what ways does the music industry discriminate against newcomers over age 40?” I explained that whenever established artists or industry…
The things yogi Jessamyn says on her Instagram feed about larger bodies in the yoga world resonate with me, particularly as a larger-bodied woman of color. I don’t always think of these things on a conscious level, but as I have gotten larger I am less likely to believe in my body’s ability to move…
Somehow I have lived in New York City for over a decade without knowing about the African Burial Ground National Monument in downtown Manhattan. I agreed to meet a friend there today for a tour. I was not prepared to come face to face with physical evidence (burial mounds) of the remains interred there. In honor…
I don’t like when people tell me what to pay attention to and by an act of omission block my access to things they do not approve. This is what media gatekeepers do by choosing who to promote and when. An individual gatekeeper doesn’t have much sway, but multiple gatekeepers sharing the same prejudices narrows…
There are organic cookies I like which I cannot find in my predominantly working- and lower-middle class neighborhood here in the Bronx. When we lived in middle- and upper-middle class Kew Gardens I could walk up the block to the local organic market, and buy them as long as they were in stock. (They often…
