For the past three months, we've been learning about socialization, culture, and the

necessary foundations of human life. We've read very information-rich articles and stories about
these topics. Some of the materials we've read include The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Or
the article The Cycle of Socialization by Bobbie Harro. A piece that dramatically paints society
as a white man's world, teaching about things like target and agent groups, and how ideas that
parents have will most likely be passed down. We also learned about the ship of Theseus, the
looking glass theory, watched mean girls, and much more. After gathering background
knowledge, we wrote an essay about how we've been socialized. I made my essay on how
women on online platforms are treated much better than men are, and how putting women on a
pedestal does nothing but make everything worse. In addition to the essay, we created masks
that creatively show our outlook on life, society, gender, etc. I made mine around the topic of
being anxious and being introverted- not being able to open up.

I'm genuinely proud of the work I did in my essay, not only because it's an exciting topic,
but because I put much effort into my paragraphs. I wanted to make my point, and make it as
clearly as possible. The one thing I definitely could've done better on is advocacy. Specifically,
advocating for myself through a teacher. I read my essay multiple times to family and friends
and asked them for feedback, but only asked my teacher for feedback once or twice. There
were a lot of times that I felt stuck or stopped during my writing. And even if I didn't know what to
write yet, I eventually got through the blockades and created a piece that's fun and interesting to
read. I've polished my essay and my mask to a point where I'm proud to turn them in.

This project was very eye-opening. After gathering a bit of psychology knowledge, you
see the world differently. And while humanities will probably never be my favorite class, this
project made me want to learn more about humans and socialization. As for my mask, I've
never really liked working with really physical and hands-on media. I've always stuck to painting
and drawing, but I enjoyed creating the masks. Playing with the delicate facial features, how
much you exaggerate one area, or smooth down another, can all change the face in exciting
ways. In all, this project has helped me grow and learn as a student.