Throughout this past year, family structure and responsibilities to my job have had a significant impact on my time to dedicate to my studies this semester. Having to work around my children’s schedule while me working around my work schedule since Covid 19 has had a horrific effect on my family and myself. Trying to manage my school schedule as well as my work schedule and my duties a full-time mom of two boys can get to be hectic. None of these responsibilities can be pushed off to a later date. I have to be a parent to my children and work to pay the bills I just can not quit and rely on another to pick up my slack. A few months ago, my mother had a stroke. Since the stroke she has needed more care with activities of her daily living. Throughout her life she has been an independent woman who took care of herself. Having this change on my family has had an impact on my daily schedule. There is less and less time for self-care when juggling my responsibilities as a daughter, mother, student, and working fulltime. Over the past year and a half Covid 19 has been another historical event that has had a significant impact on my daily life. As a result of the quarantine adding the restrictions to my daily life has added a new variable to my already seemingly chaotic life.

I chose the above as significant historical forces because they have been the most dramatic and impactful within the past year. I identified my family structure being shaken because of my mother illness to emphasize how having to make time for family as well as managing full time work and school has been a difficult task. From what has happened and all the people who’ve died and all the restriction placed on us by the both the state and federal agencies have made me realize how significant family and routine is to shaping my life.

Race, Ethnicity, class, and gender have the strongest impact on my sociological understanding. It would be irresponsible of me to not acknowledge that race and things surrounding race like class, image and economic status go hand in hand. These categories have an immediate affect on my life and view of the world. One because I was raised in Baltimore which according to world populationview.com Baltimore is 62% black or African American. Although I never noticed it as a child, but the quality of education and the daily experience were not ideal. I experienced everything from overcrowded class rooms, old worn textbooks to inexperienced teachers. The day to day life in Baltimore city was also normal to me. I had no idea except on television that cities looked different than how Baltimore did. I was accustomed to seeing dilapidated neighborhoods with boarded up abandoned and drug infested houses. From this I think I developed in my mentality that this was somewhat normal and could be seen in every and any city in America, which was true however, just not to the same extent as in Baltimore. Although these are all things out of my control I always had an ability to see beyond where and how I was raised.

Is it possible to miss something you never had? Growing up in my house hold moving forward to go to college was never a priority for me. Being taught to just do the bare minimum is how I saw it. Coming from a family who never went to college I had no one else to look up too, so all I knew was to get through high school get a job until I realized I have my own priorities and now I see life for the bigger picture to want better for my children and myself. Using social stratification help me categorize thus factor of my background by pointing out these things that needed light to be shed upon. Now that I am grown seeing what I have seen experiencing what I have helps me to pull my self away from that situation to do better and that is what influenced me to further my college education. Having sociological imagination help me to look from another point of view on my life by wanting better. Being considered middle class I look at life on a different level by using poverty where I grew up as a motivation to where I am headed. Being a woman who comes from Baltimore and headed down the right path to my career a lot of people are biased against African American women succeeding in life. Over the year’s women like my self