What about the elderly?
The First Amendment
Right to free speech, right to assemble, right to free press, right to address grievances
Email me (Rebecca Davis) at ccdavis1016@gmail.com
Website Goals!
You might be interested in this website if you...
​
Have ever been a single mother...
Or, have ever wondered about a single mother, what her life is like and how you can help her...
​
Have ever suffered from depression or if you know someone who has...
​
Have Post-traumatic stress disorder of if you know someone who does...
​
Have ever struggled to pay your bills, have ever lived in or close to poverty...
​
Have ever wondered what it's like to struggle financially...
Or, wanted to understand someone who is struggling financially...
​
Have ever been fired from your job, or hated your job so much you wish you would be fired...
​
Have ever wondered what a labor union is...
Or, never wondered what a labor union is...
​
Have ever been interested in sociology... Have never heard of sociology... Have ever been to college... Have never been to college...
​
Have ever wanted to write your life story...
​
Have ever been interested in politics... Have never been interested in politics
​
Have blamed yourself for your money problems... Have blamed other people for their money problems...
​
Check out our small store at this website www.elementalportals.com
​
​
​
Both of these websites are still in process!!! If you would like to comment or as a question, feel free to email us at 2elementalportals.com
​
Membership is FREE!
That's awesome!!!
Being a sponsor is also AWESOME! I can keep improving this website because of YOU! Email me for ways to help... ccdavis1016@gmail.com
I like to believe that, if he were alive, Professor Mills would approve of what I am trying to do. He wrote the following line in his book, "The Sociological Imagination." "But, is it not clear that no answers will be found unless these problems are confronted?"
I reserve the right to use a little poetic license in my stories... I like to say... to protect the guilty from the innocent.
Monthly Member Story Swap
Join the next "Monthly Member Story Swap" to share your story and comment on someone else's... It's easy and fun! No judgment allowed! Only constructive criticism!
Dear Readers,
My hope is that you will find something here that you didn't know before. And, then, I hope that will motivate you to research on your own to find out even more.
I had been through so many crises in my life that I came to a point where I could hardly talk. I just wanted to stay home all the time. I still have trouble getting my words out sometimes, so find that I do better if I put it in writing.
The one thing I have been able take courage in is finding out that I am not the only one who has lived through poverty even though I have worked my butt off most of my life. Getting my degree in my 40's gave me a different perspective on money and class and labor. Going to college helped me realize that I was not the only one concerned about inequality and injustice. Most of all, I realized most of my struggles were not my fault. In the great country of the United States of America, the deck is stacked against the poor. The only way we will change things is if the majority of us wake up and recognize how much we need each other to make drastic cultural changes.
It takes a lot of people a long time to change a system. "The people united have never been defeated" is a not just a slogan, it is how things change.
Education and awareness comes by being willing to share our stories. These stories are our biographies. They show us the things we have in common. We need to have a real understanding of history and how and why we receive the information we receive and how the resources are divided. We need to be able to accept the fact that corporations have infiltrated our politics in a big way and that they have the resources to pick us apart and turn us every which way against each other.
My favorite definition of politics is... Who gets What, When, Where, Why and How. We need to vote. We need to really think about where we fit it in the income section and stop voting for things that help the corporations and hurt the regular hard working people. Even the people who think they are "all set" are closer to the 47% than they are to the 99%.
I just love it that more women and more young people and people of color are running for office, and winning!
I am hopeful and I believe most of the other things would work themselves out if we could find a way to make sure each person has the resources they need to reach their full potential. What a concept, right?
Well, one woman I read about asked these kinds of questions. In her book, "His Religion, Her Religion," the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wonders what society would be like if women had had more influence in how religion influenced all of us. Men, she thought, considered more about death and afterlife because that was their position in their society. They hunted and killed animals for food. Women, she wrote, would have created a religion that nurtured every single being that was born. Each child would have been given the resources they needed to develop and grow. The religion would have been based on life on earth and not death and the afterlife.
​
​
​
Myers-Briggs Personality Types
​
Professor Mills encouraged sociology students to "... use your life experiences in your intellectual work...: He also said, "The most admirable thinkers do not split their work from their lives."
The First Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America
​
Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of the Press
The Right to Assemble
The Right to Petition the Government for a redress of grievances
​
The first freedom I would like to discuss is the freedom of the press. Most countries do not have the rights we have to allow journalists to find the news and communicate that information to the people. The U.S. Constitution guarantees that the U.S. government does not have the right to control or block certain things from being published by the press. This is a delicate right and one where we much continue to be vigilant. The men who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights considered this important for democracy.
​
​
​
​
​
​
Music
is
Therapy
You are not alone...
The "About Us" Section is actually, just that... "About All of Us." It's about the people I've met along the way who have struggled more than I have. It's about people who never got the opportunity to go to college, but would have been great students. It's also about the people who have lived before us in history.
It is also about the people whose voices have been silenced, by stigma and other forms of exclusion. People are speaking up about many things that used to hide in the closet... the #metoo movement has given us all more freedom to speak up. I'm calling this type of speaking up... "Us2" because it's for the rest of the people who have been silenced by stigma. People who have silently struggled and want and need a little encouragement to put their feelings into words.
We see the power in numbers. The system of capitalism is not working as well for most of us. The lead singer of the band, U2, said that it is, "time to turn the pyramid upside down." He was referring to the 1% of the population who have accumulated the most wealth on the top. The people on the bottom of the pyramid include the 47% presidential candidate (2012), Mitt Romney referred to when fundraising from the upper portion of American society.
We want this website to be a forum for the voices who have not been heard. I know I am not the only person who took a nosedive financially because of the 2008 recession. I hear the recession is over for some people, but what about the people we don't hear from?
I know it's hard for many people to admit they are part of the poor people in society. The stigma is depressing and paralyzing. The written word is the best way to document these stories.
For now, the best way to contact us is through email. Tell us your story. Give us your comments on our website. What would you life to hear more about?
Email Rebecca Davis @ ccdavis1016@gmail.com
​
​
Bono, lead singer from the band, U2 said it's time for the people to "turn the pyramid upside down."
Some of the jobs I've had in my crazy life...
​
Auto Insurance
Caregiver
Census enumerator
Child care
Clerical
Courier
Customer Service
Fast Food
Job Coach
Probation Counselor
Server
Sewing Factory
Union Organizer
Victim Advocate
Try listening to these two versions of the famous REM song, "Everybody Hurts." Both are available on You-Tube. One is by an Irish group called, "The Coors." The other is by Rev. Kelly on America's Got Talent.
One of my favorite songs is, "Working Class Hero," sung by John Lennon. If you want to be reminded of your worth as a working class hero, listen to this song on You-Tube!
Why should the 1% with the most money and resources be able to influence politics for the rest of us?
And, how did the rich get all that money anyway? That's what I want to know!
Imagine
Get above the trees to get a fresh perspective...
"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" by Max Weber
​
Max Weber's theory is about how people in our society came to believe that money and success are a sign that you are a good person. I've always wondered about this because a lot of people with money are corrupt and there is a lot of question about how some people get their money... exploiting workers, ethics violations, harming the environment.
According to Weber, during the days of the Protestant settlers in New England, wealth became a sign that one was favored by God. This concept has evolved into one where we tend to look at a "successful" person and assume he (or she) is good because they are successful. The other side of this is that if a person is not successful, then he must not be good.
I will be writing more about this later.
This website was created by Rebecca Davis. Inspired by C. Wright Mills' book, "The Sociological Imagination," Rebecca uses the sociological imagination to look at her life at this time in history.
Rebecca has a B.A. in Sociology, but gives just as much credence to her life experiences and the fact that she is also auto-didactic. ***
"A sociologist job is to challenge society." My instructor, Associate Professor Jennifer Friedman from the University of South Florida.
If you really want to understand the relationship between workers and the 1%, I recommend listening to the following people on You-Tube...
​
Robert Reich
​
Richard Wolfe, Economist
I am using information I learned from reading C. Wright Mills' book, "The Sociological Imagination." Professor Mills wrote that it is, "the political task of any liberal educator" continually to translate personal troubles into public issues, and public issues into the terms of their human meaning for a variety of individuals." Professor Mills believed that "individuals can only understand their own experiences fully if they locate themselves within their period of history linking micro and macro analysis with the sociological imagination." He referred to this as the point where "biography intersects history." Mills also believed that citizens should be thoroughly engaged in politics and decisions made in their behalf, but maintains that "it is very difficult for most individuals in society to link their personal troubles to the social institutions in which they live."
My List of Ideas to Research
​
I love to research and write about what I read. I know there are others like me. Is there something you would like to know more about? Maybe, it's on this list. Maybe, not. Maybe, you have a story of your own simmering below the surface. Whatever it is... write it and submit it to my email... ccdavis1016@gmail.com.
​
Every month I will choose a few stories to highlight. We will also be using your ideas to choose what to discuss in the days ahead.
​
And, one way to dip your toe in the water is to join in the "Monthly Member Story Swap." Using the "sociological imagination" to connect our life experiences.
​
My List of Research Ideas
​
1. What is a system?
​
2. What do the words "proletariat" and "bourgeoisie" mean?
​
3. What is the Haymarket Tragedy? What does it have to do with an 8-hour work day?
​
​
​
​
Many of your experiences (your biography) are much like other people living during the same period of history as you are living.
Don't blame yourself or others... it is the systems that need correction.
Am I a sociologist? No. I have a bachelor's degree in sociology, but I didn't even know what sociology was until I was in my thirties.
In addition to my bachelor's degree, I am also auto-didactic.
"For when people poured out their sorrows to each other..." The Blues
Education!
Have been told by some people that getting an education in liberal arts is not a good thing. Some people say that secular learning "draws you away from the Lord."
Following the connections between protestant beliefs and capitalism it makes sense that those who rationalize and follow these beliefs follow people in the 1% who don't want you to learn about so many of these things. For example... Karl Marx. His descriptions of how a person feels when working away at a job that barely pays the bills. His acknowledgement that many businessmen completely understand how much they exploit the common worker. These things should not be hidden anymore. I agree with Bono. It is time to turn the pyramid upside down!
​
By now we should have evolved enough to have learned nonviolence... Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the women who fought for the right to vote.