This past Wednesday in class we watched an interesting film, “Taylor’s Campaign”, about a man who was running for City Council in Santa Monica, CA advocating for the homeless. He wanted to advocate for the homeless because Santa Monica’s policies were beginning to change in a way that were degrading the homeless, plus he had spent some time being homeless before. There was a lot of things that stuck out to me in this video or that shocked me or made me sad. One of the big things that surprised me was the amount of things someone can find just by dumpster diving. At first I acted really surprised at how much Americans were throwing away in their trash, but when I really thought about it I knew I was guilty of throwing things away that I could have donated before. However, the biggest thing that struck out at me was the amount of times the homeless people said, “We are just being treated this way because of the cameras.” There were several accounts throughout the film when they were not harassed by the police because they were on film, so we were unable to see how they really act. Another time was when a man offered one of the homeless guy’s a job to help him back on his feet, but as soon as he called him it was a scam. He said that he was only doing it because he was on camera because everyone wants to look better on camera. People want to be perceived as “good” so when we are put on film we more often then not change our persona, it is something everyone is guilty of. For example, my generation is hyper focused on social media and showing the world what they are doing 24/7 – SnapChat helps us do this a lot. When we are out with friends or doing something we want to show the world we are having a great time. If I am out with friends I know I can begin filming them and I guarantee they will act like they are having a great time even if they are not. Some people, before they start filming, will tell their friends to look happy because they are going to take a SnapChat video. This is the same idea as filming the interactions with the homeless because the police and any other stranger filmed are acting in a way that they want the audience to perceive them. We are only seeing the interactions in a controlled way.  It goes from a man pretending to offer a job to make himself look good or the cops pretending to help relocate the homeless who could no longer stay where they were currently residing. Filming things is not always a true reality because a film is a record and NO ONE wants to be caught on camera looking “bad.”

Throughout these past two weeks in class we have already learned and discussed so much that it makes me eager to see what the rest of the semester has in store for us. I have volunteered with the homeless on numerous accounts, but I am interested to learn more about them through this class and our internships. This week in class we focused on a book titled, “Nickel and Dimed” By: Barbara Ehrenreich. I read this book my freshman year for my “Introduction to Sociology” class, but it was nice to reread it with a new perspective and focus. Whenever someone reads something for a second or third time their will always be new things to discover that weren’t noticed the first time. While reading, one of the biggest things that stuck out to me was the unreliable job posts ads. I understood the company’s side saying it is “their insurance policy” in case someone gets hurt or is fired then they always have an applicant to fall back on. However, this is not fair to the people who are genuinely trying to find a job and earn a living. It is also not right for employers to use this to scare their employees by reminding them how easily replaceable they are. There are many shocking stories of different work environments in this book, but this scam grabbed my attention the most. I think it caught my attention the most because I had never heard of company’s doing this prior to reading the book, let alone using it as “insurance.” I hope not only publishing fake ads changes, but all work environments that are not physically, emotionally, or mentally healthy for a person to be working in. Personally though, I do believe unskilled jobs are targeted with unfairness because employers are taking advantage of those who will accept any job.