7/7 About what you said regarding recruiters for students to go to a particular university. I understand that's its not really a bad thing because, yes like you said, most of those students would never really have though about that particular school or even college as an option for them. But what about the other students in the school? They are also the victims of their less than qualified school and resources. They are also being subjected to a crappy education and being lost "in the system" but because they aren't seen as good enough to succeed they won't get recruited either. I once heard that there may very well have been people as smart as einstein before and after him, but its all about the timing. He came at a time when technology was no really taped into and became the genius that he is. There are people as smart as him today but you don't hear about it as much because our amount of knowledge is so extensive now, that progress is moving at a slower rate. To my point, these other high school students who are not being recruited, may very well have the potential to be someone great also, but they are being overlooked, so how will we ever know?

7/7In some ways I have always understood how blessed I was in many parts of my life. I a house to live in and food to eat everyday, I know I ‘m luckier than more than half of the world. But I didn’t begin to see the extent to which “nepotism” was in my life. My grandparents always talk about all the hard work they had to do to come to this country and establish themselves, and I don’t doubt that they “earned” a lot of what they now have. But I see how that “hard-earned” privilege has become diluted, first through my parents and now to my brother and me. I believe that people have the freedom to make certain choices, but that those choices are more often than not, determined by factors and forces outside of our control. So I had the choice to attend college after high school and be the first generation in my family to do that, but I see how I, unlike the rest of my family before me, didn’t have that choice. My parents have raised me with the idea of hard-work and responsibility of self, but they also are aware and make sure I am aware of the fact that knowing the right people, can a lot of the times, do more for you than anything else. Not to downplay hard-work, because I also think that people tend to appreciate more of what they have if they had to work for it on some level, but if there was an “easy pass” offered to us at some point to maybe skip a few of those hardships, most of us would take it.
I partially agree with the way Barack Obama wants to approach affirmative action. I see how focusing on race alone isn’t the way to attempt to attain social equality and that social class is important too. But it also goes closely with whole idea that we hear of before of “white privilege”. It would probably be easier for a poor white man than a poor person of color to get through certain obstacles and come out on top. (assuming both have the equal will to want to succeed) So how do you decide who gets the benefits of Affirmative Action. This white man in a sense was not responsible for the past of his people (with slavery and discrimination), so should he still be held accountable?
Education is the key to improving our society, in my opinion. Sam is always talking about how he just wants us to know some facts, so that we can make up our own opinions on an intellectual basis and not just be ranting like an idiot with misguided information. It’s easier said than done, I know, but if we invested more resources in educating our people, than in other things, we might have a chance at solving a lot of problems. And now the question is who wants to pay up, for this education plan to take effect? That one I still haven’t figured out, at least not to an extent that people will be happy with.

7/4 I agree with your idea of how people tend to just regurgitate a lot of information they hear and form their opinions on often time, misguided facts. I'm not trying to excuse them, but it is sometimes hard to get all the facts, when you have so many sources of information (especially with the internet nowadays) that can all be wrong. Like Sam I don't think that we can just open our borders to everyone all the time, things just wouldn't work if we did that, but I definitely see the emphasis on immigration from Latin and Central American countries than from anywhere else. And yes, immigrants are what this country was composed of and its interesting how we are now making laws to keep out other immigrants. I do agree that there is a lot of discrimination in immigration laws and a lot of these laws tend to stem from fear of the "other. As soon as something starts going wrong, American's need a scapegoat, and immigrants are the easiest target to turn against. Because its easy to forget all the contributions they have made to this country and easier to see them as the problem.

7/4 I knew we were a country of immigrants and I know some of the history of immigration laws but definitely not to the extent in this lesson. It was really interesting to go through all the laws and amendments throughout the birth-place of this place we now call the United States. I thought it was crazy how all the discrimination was so obvious in the laws and how that was that was the only way people “felt safe”. The laws even went as far as being called “Operation Wetback”. That is pretty offensive and it was the actual political name used for this campaign. In the articles (Shadowboxing with Race) there was a really good point made: “Each period of anti-immigration sentiment has coincided with a loss of confidence in the cohesion and resilience of the American nation.” (Shadowboxing 109) People do some really crazy things when they feel threatened and they always need a scapegoat, so of course it’s natural for them to choose “them”. When you don’t understand someone or the culture they come from, you can feel threatened by them, of course this depends on where you are in terms of stages of race. What really got to me in the reading was the amount of racial profiling that occurred during the duration of a lot of the immigration laws. For example, they would just take people who looked Mexican and deport them, and many of them were U.S. citizens, but their rights were taken away because the “security and progress” of the nation was at stake, so naturally we had no time to give rights to these people, even though the country was founded on this idea of freedom and democracy. I liked what Sam was saying about how business and large landowners have shaped our immigration policy. I guess I never really paid attention, but its true that border patrol security tightens and loosens depending on how our economy is doing and whether or not we need cheap labor. Article 14: Phantom Menace was really interesting, talking about this hysteria on people’s fears when it comes to illegal aliens. “...there are many places where there are relatively few illegal immigrants, but where Americans are nevertheless apoplectic about illegal immigration” (Shadowboxing 106) I never really understood why people in certain areas of the U.S. were so upset about the immigration problem, when they didn’t really have illegal immigrants in that area. But again it comes around to the whole idea of people needing a scapegoat when things are going wrong. Even if that scapegoat is no where near the problem. I feel like, even though we have made a lot of progress as a country, this whole issue on immigration will never really find a solution. There will always be a reason for someone to be unhappy and to continue to blame problems on immigrants.

6/30 I really liked your story about your mom, it was great because my parents and grandparents do the same thing. I come from a Mexican family and about 7 years ago when my aunt joined the army she meant a man and they got married. He is a wonderful man who loves her very much and he happens to be black. Needless to say, as accepting as my grandparents had said they were, they were not too happy when she told them this. Partly because she just called one day and said oh btw I'm married and partly because he was not Mexican. This opened my eyes to my grandparents racism. Of course they have adjusted and are more accepting now, but I understand what you mean about some people just having bad days and getting into this mindset about "us" and "them".

6/30 I was waiting for this topic to come up all semester, and it was definitely worth the wait. The whole LGBT issue, is something I think about often, just because of the many friends I have that are apart of that community. I agree with Sam when he said that we have come a long way in just 15 years, but we still got a ways to go. Personally, as far fetched as some of the things Sam was saying throughout the class (with his idea of everyone being bi-sexual to some extent) I agree with it. I didn’t always and it’s been a journey for me too, to get to where I am today, but nonetheless I have learned a lot about the LGBT community and really gained some new perspectives from my friends and this class. I enjoyed the reaction he received from the black fraternity members in the front rows, when he mentioned the homosexual tendencies that go on in frat life. Especially because I know a couple of those people that made a rumble at his comment and know that their uncomfortable-ness with that comment was for a reason. The whole issue of LGB couples adopting children and whether or not that is acceptable, is a touchy subject with some of my friends. I believe, they should be allowed to adopt children and again agree with Sam when he says that when you really think about it, these children aren’t accidents, they are carefully thought out and highly-valued children in their families because it was so hard for their gay parents to adopt them. Not to say that children mean any less to a heterosexual couple, but what’s the problem with children being in a home where they are loved and will be looked after? And since I believe that people are born gay and its not a choice they just make one day, being raised by gay parents won’t make a child gay. But I do think it will make them more accepting of not just other gay people, but just differences in individual’s period. Being a women of color I see the hypocrisy in other people of color denying rights to the LGBT community and I try to understand it, but it just makes no sense to me. I’m also a Christian, a faithful follower of God and I believe he made all people the way they are, and we have no right to judge anyone, but ourselves. Overall this whole discussion on Multiculturalism and the LGBT community was very informative. It was nice to hear some of the stats for the Multiculturalism discussion, because it restores hope in me that we are moving in the right direction, even if the process is slow. I especially liked the statistic that said that about 50% of the U.S will be Multicultural by 2050.

6/23 I agree with you about the doll experiment, that made me upset too and it really made me think about how that is the way things are. I grew up with the same type of ideas, even though I didn't know it, but now looking back on it, I see that I also choose the "good" (white) doll. About the child being called dirty, it is sad that he had to go through that at such a young age, but I don't get mad at the other child who called him dirty. He doesn't know any better, he most likely said it out of innocence and he too is trying to understand this race issue he was born into. I'm not trying to excuse such actions in all people, because a lot of the time ignorance really isn't any excuse, but in this case, it's hard to really take one side over the other. At least in my opinion. And I completely agree about the way Asian's are portrayed in movies, they never are in a leading role and the ones that come close are usually only half Asian. But this is also true about a lot of other cultures as well.

6/23 The most interesting thing that stood out to me during one of the lectures was the experiment that the high school girl recreated with the black and white doll. The last little girl especially was interesting because she was asked to point out the “bad” doll and the “good” doll and then she was asked to point out the one she was like. She started reaching for the white doll, maybe wishing she was like the “good” doll but then she caught herself and pointed out the “bad” (black) doll. It just really gets to me that even at this young age, she is already seeing herself and her people in the negative light; unconsciously too. It’s like she doesn’t see it happening, nor does anyone bluntly tell her (well in some cases parents do) that she will be the “them” in any “us” and “them” discussion. So this little girl doesn’t know the reasons why, but she knows that she is like the “bad” doll and she needs to try to be as close to the “good” doll as she can so that people will accept her. This made me think back to my childhood and the types of dolls I played with. Being a Latina women, I didn’t really have a choice of my Latina looking dolls...there was white and there was black. I never remember my mom telling me to pick the white doll over the black or vice versa, she just let me choose. But she would always buy me the white dolls for my birthday, Christmas, etc. I don’t think she did it on purpose, it was just something that resulted from her childhood as well. She was just doing what was “normal” to her. So I got the white dolls and I remember the only doll I had that wasn’t white, or at least not completely was Jasmine (Disney). I remember that became my absolute favorite doll and I would play with her more than the rest. Not that, that really helped my perception on beauty or skin color. Like I said, she was from Disney, she still had lighter skin then mine, but her hair was just like mine and that’s what I held onto the most. I guess what I’m getting at is that without ever really knowing it, I was just like that little girl in the experiment, just like Sam said. I would have chosen the white doll. I know more now then I did before and think about race and culture and the challenges we all face today, but that is still a hard question. Which doll is better? Everything around me still tells me the same answer, but will I be able to shut it out and decide for myself?

6/20 I agree with your comment on the twins. But I personally find the video unnerving and a little bit scary. I don't pretend that racism doesn't exist anymore, but it is still hard for me to understand how a person can be brought up to hate someone or a group of people they never meet and really now nothing about. I guess what I'm really getting at, is that people are so easily influence by upbringing and kind of easily brainwashed into thinking a certain way, its scary. On another note, I agree with you to a point on people getting easily offended by others and taking things that weren't meant to be hurtful as a personal attack. But it's definitely not a simple task to just have all people just stop getting offended so easily. And then to what point is it ok for one person to be blunt with another? Because there are times when someone says something to be intentionally hurtful or because they are truly ignorant to another person's culture and race. For the latter, the person to which the comment was directed shouldn't get offended and should understand the other person's ignorance and educate them in a way as to not be condescending. But for the former, it's not ok for someone to disrespect another person's culture and would it be ok for that person to get offended and respond? Or should they just ignore it and let the commentator continue with their offensive opinions?

6/20 “But at least we have something in common - an impossible task. And that is the bridge - because we all have to face the biases of our upbringing, the blindness of our ignorance, and the fallacies of our world views in order to make the crossing.” (Making Peace 67) I really enjoyed this quote from Laurie’s book, because I felt like it summarized a lot what she was talking about when it came to the “boxes” and traps we have put ourselves in. I definitely see these “color traps” that she is talking about. I myself have fallen into them a couple of times, and only until recently have I made any type of intentional change in thought to try and prevent this. It’s hard not to judge people from a glance. First impressions take all of 30 seconds to make, and we tend to make them about everyone that passes in and out of our lives. I used to sit at the HUB (PSU University Park) during its busiest time of day and watch people coming and going. Interacting with each other and not; and I tried to pretend what they were thinking about and what their lives were like. I noticed that a lot of the things I would come up with, in some way or another correlated to their race. I didn’t mean to do this, nor did I do it in a patronizing way; but I realize how wrong it was of me to pretend I knew anything about these people from just a glance. There have been times that people have done that to me, and I don’t enjoy it. I have had friends tell me their first impressions of me and how I turned out to be completely different from what they originally thought I would be. Like I said before, I have done this to people, I see only what on the surface sometimes. I personally don’t like saying “I don’t see colors”, because I do. But in the way that I love the differences in our cultures. I think that is what makes the world so interesting, but I don’t believe people are all that different. Humans tend to be the same in certain aspects; we all feel pain and sorrow, happiness and anger. It’s interesting how a person of color can say “I don’t see colors” and this would be taken as an invitation for a white person to feel comfortable around that person. As opposed to a white person saying that and that person being considered as ignoring or avoiding the issue of color altogether. There are all these different “rules” that only seem to divide us more. These “traps” correlate directly with the idea of “boxes” that Laurie talks about in her book. She suggests that we are born into these specific boxes, depending on our race and social class, etc; and that depending on the shape and size of our boxes we are limited in our views. Some of us can only see the sky and not the ground we sit on, while others of us can only see the other boxes that surround us and ground but not the sky. As hard as it is for us to believe it, and as much as we like to pretend, the fact is that “None of us sees the entirety” (Making Peace 72)