Journal Three by Hunter

Part One: Eccentricity means a person who acts in a unconventional way, someone with a quirky personality and behaviors so to speak. Someone that behaves differently than society norms tells them too. I believe being eccentric is encouraged every single day but to an extent. We value difference, individuality, and creativity on an every day basis in the united states but the majority of us don't like to accept it when someone is "way out there". We've all been that person that rolls their eyes at the one person in class who never shuts up and acts odd and out of place. Although, we shouldn't shame someone for their out-there personalities.

I believe most of this indifference to people who are eccentric comes from the beliefs passed down for our parents. Our parents want us to fit into their mold on what they think their child should act and do, so they cast down judgement when we do something that's outside of the norm, so in return as we grow up, we judge those who are different around us. We all have something inside of us that makes us quirky and different, so we should embrace our own uniqueness. as well as everyone else's. I was very lucky growing up to have parents that were more accepting than the average american family, and I was allowed to do as I pleased (within limits for my age of course). I went through a hardcore "emo/scene" phase and my parents let me dye my hair black and bought me multi-colored skinny jeans and half way through high school, i became a cheerleader and bleached my hair. My parents were along for the whole ride and no harm was done (except to maybe my hair). I was able to embrace my quirks and it has allowed me to turn into the person I am today. You should be able to be who you are without having to hide parts of you for societies sake.
Part Two: My original question was "what events did the Stonewall Riots help push into motion" and I learned that the solicitation of homosexual relationships were illegal in New York City and there was a criminal statue that allowed police to arrest people wearing less than 3 articles of clothing appropriate for their gender. The 1960's definitely weren't welcoming of the gays! I got this information from History.com (http://www.history.com/topics/the-stonewall-riots) which is the website for the actual history channel and I would say it's a pretty credible site as it's for a tv channel that only shows historical events.

Current photo of The Stonewall Inn where the riots took place June 28th, 1969