Week One: So what's "social difference," anyway?

What's up?!

(Is that a weird blog introduction...? Is it weird to not care?)

My name is Amy, and I'm a third-year English & Geography student at UCLA. I'm writing this blog for a class I'm taking this quarter, called "Cities and Social Difference." Quite appropriate in a city like LA, which is definitely divided along basically every line that you can think of that separates and classifies people. The fact that LA is such a bizarre "city" -- which sometimes seems more like disparate neighborhoods modge-podged together by a toddler -- really drew me to the class in the first place. I want to know how all of these places got lumped together and called one city, while still maintaining so strongly how different they are. How can people who "don't do the ten," who "can't handle Venice's hipsters," and who "avoid Hollywood like the plague" be so territorial and yet still claim the general title of Angeleno?

These are my questions. And those quotes are all real. (And while perhaps not a very nice reflection of LA's residents, you can't say you've never heard anyone drop a comment like that, haha.)

My specific interest, though, is education. I've worked as a teacher, TA, intern, tutor, mentor, and a you-name-it-I've-done-it; I've worked in LAUSD and SMUSD; I've taught in elementary, middle, and high schools. Needless to say, I've seen a lot of social difference in my experience in the classroom. Understanding that difference is key, because it can help you better manage your students. More importantly, however,  understanding the differences between students presents unique opportunities for leaning and cultural understanding that can only come out of a room full of people from different backgrounds.

Overall, my hope is that taking this class will give me a better perspective on the role that social difference plays in an urban classroom by giving me more information about the various ways that cities influence the culture of the people that live there. Hopefully you'll watch me move closer to that goal as the weeks move forward!

Cheers,
Amy