Political Views
Justin Patera
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
October 10th, 2018
My family income has always been in the middle and upper-class range. My dad retired at 55 to take care of me with money in the bank while my mom continued to work and teach at UIC. While she did this my father paid for most things but when we moved here to Houston a lot of that changed. She now makes and has a lot more than my dad but this hasn’t changed her viewpoints politically speaking. She has always been liberal but never unbelievably irrational or borderline crazy. She and my father have always had the same viewpoints, however, my father's side of the family is without a doubt much more conservative.
As I said earlier I grew up in Chicago so a lot of my ideas/concepts are very “progressive” whereas here, in Houston, it can change really fast. In Chicago, I went to a very diverse school and constantly had teachers from all different backgrounds as well as students. Here, it’s very different. I know Post Oak thinks its a very diverse school, but I would dare to oppose. That being said, I like to play the devil’s advocate from time to time. However, this is different for me. I grew up very different from what I experience now. I have soccer games out in the middle of nowhere and since a lot of my team is Latino, European or mixed we end up enduring a lot of crap when we go beyond the city limits especially to places like College Station. A lot of the teams out there tend to be overall more conservative which in turn, leads them to be nasty to us. Parents are less likely to call us names but once you step on that field those kids call you whatever they please, so long as they’re not heard.
Being that I’m Mexican American I almost feel different than those of my racial group who are from a lower income family. In part because they seem to be more connected with religion and they look at me differently because of the privileges I have that they don’t. I’m part of a different culture, yet the same. I am known as a Hispanic, simply meaning a Hispanic with more opportunity, privilege, and money. Besides this, I am without a doubt a part of a less represented racial group politically. Latinos don’t seem to be too great at speaking up, having public leaders and especially not with voting which I feel affects us greatly.
The Bible. I am Mexican so my mother and grandmother are unrealistically religious. Despite this, I am not. I wasn’t brought up like my mom, going to church every Sunday. We used to go a lot but then stopped, in part because I have soccer games on Sunday but even before then it was a rare occasion we attended church. In relation, as far as I know anyway, my father has never been super religious. He is, but only to the extent of my mom and the Catholic schools he and she both went to when they were younger. As for me, I would like to consider myself Athiest but I think my mom would kill me is that she’s so religious. I don’t believe that there is a “higher power” I believe we created religion seeking to answer things that could not be proven with physical evidence. I think whats afterlife is what came before your life, absolutely nothing, no memory, just an empty space you drift in, unknowingly.
Being a male I know I have some advantages socially, I am less likely to be sexually harassed and such but, that doesn’t stop unfairness I will experience during my life. I feel as though racism is really my biggest threat. Especially since I travel with my team a lot of the time out of the city. I was grown up being told about how to act with cops, how to look in public and how to not draw attention to myself. When I leave Houston I get a little scared. Especially when I am on my own in the middle of nowhere Texas with an environment I’m not familiar with. That’s why I like having my team with me, whether we go out to eat together or even if it’s just to the gas station down the street. Being with people who look like me, or who I can trust reassures me of my safety.
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
October 10th, 2018
Political Views
For most of my life, I have been in a Montessori school and was also raised, for the most part, in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago is a very liberal city so I grew up around these concepts within my school and family. My mom and dad both had a college education but my mom went farther by getting a Ph.D. whereas my dad has a business degree. They for sure had influences on the way I think and the thoughts I have politically.My family income has always been in the middle and upper-class range. My dad retired at 55 to take care of me with money in the bank while my mom continued to work and teach at UIC. While she did this my father paid for most things but when we moved here to Houston a lot of that changed. She now makes and has a lot more than my dad but this hasn’t changed her viewpoints politically speaking. She has always been liberal but never unbelievably irrational or borderline crazy. She and my father have always had the same viewpoints, however, my father's side of the family is without a doubt much more conservative.
As I said earlier I grew up in Chicago so a lot of my ideas/concepts are very “progressive” whereas here, in Houston, it can change really fast. In Chicago, I went to a very diverse school and constantly had teachers from all different backgrounds as well as students. Here, it’s very different. I know Post Oak thinks its a very diverse school, but I would dare to oppose. That being said, I like to play the devil’s advocate from time to time. However, this is different for me. I grew up very different from what I experience now. I have soccer games out in the middle of nowhere and since a lot of my team is Latino, European or mixed we end up enduring a lot of crap when we go beyond the city limits especially to places like College Station. A lot of the teams out there tend to be overall more conservative which in turn, leads them to be nasty to us. Parents are less likely to call us names but once you step on that field those kids call you whatever they please, so long as they’re not heard.
Being that I’m Mexican American I almost feel different than those of my racial group who are from a lower income family. In part because they seem to be more connected with religion and they look at me differently because of the privileges I have that they don’t. I’m part of a different culture, yet the same. I am known as a Hispanic, simply meaning a Hispanic with more opportunity, privilege, and money. Besides this, I am without a doubt a part of a less represented racial group politically. Latinos don’t seem to be too great at speaking up, having public leaders and especially not with voting which I feel affects us greatly.
The Bible. I am Mexican so my mother and grandmother are unrealistically religious. Despite this, I am not. I wasn’t brought up like my mom, going to church every Sunday. We used to go a lot but then stopped, in part because I have soccer games on Sunday but even before then it was a rare occasion we attended church. In relation, as far as I know anyway, my father has never been super religious. He is, but only to the extent of my mom and the Catholic schools he and she both went to when they were younger. As for me, I would like to consider myself Athiest but I think my mom would kill me is that she’s so religious. I don’t believe that there is a “higher power” I believe we created religion seeking to answer things that could not be proven with physical evidence. I think whats afterlife is what came before your life, absolutely nothing, no memory, just an empty space you drift in, unknowingly.
Being a male I know I have some advantages socially, I am less likely to be sexually harassed and such but, that doesn’t stop unfairness I will experience during my life. I feel as though racism is really my biggest threat. Especially since I travel with my team a lot of the time out of the city. I was grown up being told about how to act with cops, how to look in public and how to not draw attention to myself. When I leave Houston I get a little scared. Especially when I am on my own in the middle of nowhere Texas with an environment I’m not familiar with. That’s why I like having my team with me, whether we go out to eat together or even if it’s just to the gas station down the street. Being with people who look like me, or who I can trust reassures me of my safety.
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