This girl brings up a very interesting point here and I have a couple different viewpoints on it. First, let me start by saying that there are people in the world that are very self-centered and unwilling to help other individuals. There are those that care more about themselves and don't even care a little bit when they hear that terrible events have happened that killed thousands. Some people see it as though if it doesn't directly affect there lives than why should they care. However, there are tons of people out there who take time to think about those individuals who are suffering and those that just lost loved ones. I, personally, know of individuals who went down to New Orleans to lend a helping hand after Hurricane Katrina destroyed everything in its path. Even if someone just takes time out of their day to think about those lives that were lost and perhaps say a prayer for them I think that says a least a little something and shows they do care about others. I know when I hear about a tragic event like the earthquake that hit Haiti and killed so many innocent people, I do feel extremely sad and often do something such as take a moment of silence and pray for them but I know there is often more I wish I could do. However, just because I can not physically be there to help out and make things better doesn't mean that I don't think about something like when 300,000 innocent lives are taken. Like I said before, it's true that some people don't even think twice about news like that upon hearing it and go on doing whatever it is they were doing at the time because they just don't let it affect them. However, while we should try to help others as much as possible and at the very least take a moment of silence for them I can see how we wouldn't let that affect us from taking tests and stuff. Things like that should affect us in some way even if it's just in a small way but at the same time we often don't let it affect our daily duties and such because they are not individuals who we know. If a mother, father, relative, or friend dies than there is a personal connection there an feelings and emotions that are rooted deep in a person that make it harder to just forget about or go on with our daily routine. I don't necessarily think though that it makes us bad people for letting the death of a loved one affect us more than the death of others. However, as stated before I think there should be at least some emotion felt upon hearing news like that.

It is the American dream to want to make something out of yourself, even when you have nothing. In class on Thursday Sam told the story of how immigrants that had nothing, no money or items, took the chance and traveled all the way to the United States in order to create a new and better life for their family. He continued to say that the history of America is one of people who worked hard for what they got and now look how far America has come. Maybe I am an idealist, but I feel with hard work it is possible to get where you want to go. The history of the United States proves this. So does my family history. My great grandparents on my father’s side came here as immigrants because they wanted a better life. My grandfather worked hard and opened his own furniture store and my father also worked very hard in medical school and now has his own doctor’s office. I think that even if there was some luck on their side, they had the determination and hard work to make money and thus a better life for their children. Because both of my parents worked so hard, they were able to send me and all my brothers to college and we are all working hard in return. It is easier with money, as I think everyone knows. We talked about in class how those with money are naturally ahead at the starting line, but I think a lot of the time it is because people before them worked so hard to make a good life for their family. I know that I am working hard in college and going to work hard if I go to graduate school and at my job so I can support my family in the future and know that I can give my children and their children a good life. Yeah people with money can get away with things more but I think in the end it all comes down to how much time and effort a person is willing to put into accomplishing what they want. We talked about the illegal immigrants and I think that they just want what all of us do, to work hard and make a living. The thing is I know that I come from a family where my ancestors gave me a better life because of what they did and it is sad that there is just not enough room or money for all the people who want to work and get educated to help out their family as well. I think that people forget that sometime immigrants want the same thing as we all do because it is easier just to think of all the annoyance and money they are causing us. As Americans I think we all know too well the feeling of wanting to be more than where you started or wanting to continue on a path of success and work.

This letter was so insightful and was really an eye opener for a lot of people especially for myself. I, like many others, am guilty of assuming that all people in prison are hardened criminals that are monstrous and will stay like that even if they aren't in prison for life. Many people in society assume that all people in prison are evil and will never learn from what they did. The man who wrote this letter shows us that while some people in prison don't learn from what they did there are others that do learn and are trying to make their life in prison the best experience as possible. Who would have ever thought that prisoners would be caring human beings who are willing to help other prisoners? Honestly, I would have never thought that and I think a lot of individuals out there wouldn't expect that either. I think part of the reason why I had that misconception about prisoners has something to do with my job back at home. During the summers I work at a courthouse where I get to see prisoners come pass by my office throughout the day when they are being escorted by police officers to their hearings. In my time working at the courthouse I have seen some scary situations where the prisoners rebel against the officers and try to hurt them in an attempt to escape. Seeing these scenarios was not exactly heartwarming and I think is part of the reason why I assumed all prisoners are monsters. However, after reading this letter from the "lifer" it gives me a better understanding of how some people change for the better when they are in prison. It amazed me that he stated in his letter about prisoners wanting to help other prisoners like when someone gives up their phone time to a prisoner who really needs the extra time to talk to a loved one. It also amazed me how he talked about donating blood and writing letters to others outside of prison, which are both activities that I would not normally expect a prisoner to do. It really touches me to know that some prisoners really are willing to be there for other prisoners especially when one just feels like they can't make it through the crappy day or when something happens like they lose a loved one. I think it's really important that they are there for one another because, let's be honest, if they weren't there for one another than who really would be there for them? Yes, they have family who I'm sure visit some of them as often as they are allowed to but overall they really do just have one another to turn to during this time that they are in prison. I think what amazes me the most though is that someone who knows that they are spending the rest of their life in prison and there is no hope of getting out whatsoever can have such a positive outlook on their life. Overall, this was a really touching and eye opening letter that made me realize some prisoners really can change who they are and learn from their mistakes and in the process have such a positive attitude even though they are stuck in prison for the rest of their life.

Even though I am not a male I still have strong opinions and views on the question in the video. I have enough guy friends to know that although some of them strive to have the perfect muscular body, most of them do not feel the need to conform to society in the same way that women do. Women are constantly striving to get the perfect body and to make themselves as attractive and desirable as they can. Men, on the other hand, don't care that much about their appearance at least not to the extent that women do. Of course, there will always be that number of men who are obsessed with going to the gym and getting as muscular and buff as they possibly can but to my knowledge most men don't strive that much to get the perfect body. I mean let's think about this logistically, for the most part the majority of humans who have eating disorders are women. I am not saying that no men out there in the world have eating disorders because that would just be completely foolish to think. However, it is well known that for the most part the individuals who have such problems like eating disorders tend to be females. I think it is safe to say that women feel more of a pressure to conform to what society thinks is beautiful and attractive than men do. I also think that even though women compare themselves a lot to other women, men are also responsible for how much women feel they need to conform to society's image because men often judge women and critique them on a daily basis. I can't even count how many times I've sat in front of guys in class or have passed them on the street and have overheard comments they were making about other girls they were looking at. It seems that guys are always judging girls and comparing them to other ones that they know or that they see at that time. Meanwhile, most girls that I know don't sit there and judge guys to the extent that guys do to girls. I'm not saying girls never talk about guys that they think are attractive or stuff like that because of course we do, however, for the most part I have overheard guys judge girls and talk about girls way more often than girls talk about guys. This is, in part, why I feel that guys don't feel such a need to conform to society because they are not being judged or critiqued as much as girls are. I think that is just the way that we have grown up in society and although I wish women weren’t judged so much on physical appearance I don’t think it’s ever going to change.

I felt that the play that was done in Tuesday's class was really thought provoking and gave a different outlook on how women may feel about their breasts. Typically when women are dissatisfied with their breasts it is usually because they feel they are too small and have a desire to get bigger ones. This play flipped the normal aspect on it and instead it was a girl complaining about her breasts that she felt were causing problems in regards to her relationships with boys so she wanted it to look like she had no boobs at all. Since I am a woman and have a lot of friends that are women, breast size and body shape are two very common issues that are discussed and complained about quite frequently. Whenever I have heard girls talk about their breast size it was usually talk of them being too small and wishing they had bigger ones and very rarely have I heard a friend say they wanted smaller ones because they were too big although it has happened a few times before. Not only though did the play show an opposing viewpoint to what woman typically think when they think of boobs but it also provoked a lot of thought on body image in general. It really is disgusting to think how much we dwell on our body image and how obsessed we women can be about trying to obtain the "perfect body". In my opinion, women are almost always comparing themselves to other women no matter if it's comparing breast size or even something else like lips. We, as women, critique ourselves so hard and are always comparing our bodies to the other bodies of women out there. I know that we are all women and should embrace our bodies and love what we have but honestly that rarely happens. It is true that some women out there are happy with themselves and I really do amend and applaud them for that because I feel that most of the women out there find flaws in at least one part of their body if not more and try so hard to fix the flaws that they see. It's so upsetting to know that so many women out there have eating disorders and such because our society has a specific look that they think is beautiful and if a woman doesn't look that exact way than it's like we instantly have to put forth an effort to try to change ourselves into that image. Take a look at most of the magazines out there and you will find the exact same thing in every one of them. Most of them are filled with extremely skinny, tall, beautiful models that are toned in every part of their body and are essentially perfect. I really don't think those women exist because even models in magazines need some part of their pictures photo-shopped. When will society ever change it's image of what it truly means to be a beautiful woman? Honestly, it's sad to say this but I don't know if society's image of what is beautiful will ever change.

The first thing I want to state is that I understand why someone would ask this and why others would agree that they questioned if the class was really affecting there opinions. I think it is normal and typical for people to at some point during the course of the semester ask themselves what they have learned and if it has changed there opinion in one way or another. However, I don't understand how someone can sit through a whole semester of this class and not obtain anything from it and not have it affect their opinion in even the slightest way. I really do feel sorry for this kid that he hasn't obtained anything or changed his opinion in the least about the issues we discuss. I mean no offense but why did he take this class in the first place then. Everyone that I have talked to who has taken the class in previous years or is taking it now is doing so because they wanted to learn more about these issues that we still face today on race and in one way or another there opinion changed at least a little bit. I must say quick to that I don't know if anyone who commented on this realized this but the person who asked the question in the video is the same person who believed in class that nepotism is perfectly acceptable. I remember a few classes ago when we talked about affirmative action and nepotism and this person talked on the microphone how nepotism in his mind was fair and said so what if he gets a great job based on the fact that he has an uncle or something working for the company. I know my reaction as well as the people's reactions around me were all the same. The people that I was sitting around could not believe that he said what he did and ever since he made that comment I have completely thought of him as an arrogant asshole. Anyways back to the question that he asked, I think the people who are unaffected by this class and who don't obtain anything from it are the people that went into the class with the idea that they may already know everything about race relations and just wanted to take it for easy credits. I think it's inevitable to have people in a class who are just taking a class because they heard it was easy and I admit I'm guilty of doing that once or twice before too. However, I think and would hope that the majority of people in a class or at least in Soc 119 are taking it because they really wanted to get something out of it and learn more about this issue that we have such problems with. I believe that in order to gain something from this class though a person has to be open-minded and not be stuck in the mind set that they already know everything about racial issues. I know personally that there is something we learn about in almost every class that is either new information to me or has changed my opinion in one way or another. I'm not saying that my opinions are completely different than they were going into the class at the beginning of the semester but there are things that make more sense to me now and make me think a little bit differently.

Honestly I'm going to try not to be too "bitchy" responding to this comment but either way I disagree with this comment and it really does piss me off. I can see why someone would say "oh it's just a video game" but seriously just because its a video game doesn't make it anymore acceptable that the whole concept of it revolves around rape. I know that in the comment it stated you would not be buying the game and that is great for you but the fact that you are even okay with a video game on this concept disgusts me. You stated in the comment that although you didn't think making a video game on this was a good idea you said you didn't see a reason for it to be removed. Are you freaking kidding me? Maybe you can sit here and say that you think I'm overreacting to this but the fact that you saw no reason for it to be removed really makes me wonder what kind of person you are. The thought of someone making a video game like this is completely wrong in the first place but then to top it off there are people that really do not see a big deal in this at all and whether they decide to play it or not they still think it should be left on the market for millions of people to buy and play. Maybe you have never known someone who was raped but I can guarantee that if you had a mother, sister, friend, or other relative that you knew was raped your opinion on this came would be completely different. Think for a second how a person who was raped would feel about there being a video game out there on the market promoting the rape of women. I know you say that you could care less what people do in their free time and I'm not telling you that you should care what everyone does but you obviously think that this game is at least a good idea for people who have a fetish of raping women and that is seriously disturbing. If there are people who have a fetish of raping women and I'm sure they exist, this video game just feeds into their sick obsession and who knows maybe it would give them even more thoughts of going out in the world and raping someone. What I want to make perfectly clear here is that although not all people who would play the game would go out and rape women there would be some percentage of ones that would end up doing it. For people who were already having thoughts of raping women, this video game wasn't made so that they would get their desire out and have no chance of committing the criminal act in the real world. I know you brought up video games like Grand Theft Auto and said how not once did you feel compelled to go out and commit acts that were shown in the video game and that's great for you that means your a normal person then but not every person out there who plays a video game is unaffected by its contents. There is a percentage, whether small or large, of video gamers who are affected by the content in the game and are likely to commit some of the violent acts that are shown in the video games. My point here is you are completely wrong to think that people could play this game and every single one of them would be unaffected by it. I know you have your own opinion on this and I'm sure there are some that agree with you but either way keep in mind not everyone who plays these kinds of games are normal and in the right mind set to do so and also take and step back and try to imagine how you would feel if you actually knew a lot about the issue of rape and knew someone who went through it.

This blog was really quite interesting to me. It made me think that he has absolutely every right to feel as confused as he does. However, this also makes me wonder why no one else has brought this up. I am sure that he is not the only multiracial student in our Soc 119 class and I would think that he is not alone in feeling the way that he does. Maybe not every multiracial student in the class has given such thought to the matter as he has but I would still think that a majority have a least thought about it to some extent and are probably feeling a similar way to how he feels. I agree with what some other respondents to this blog have posted concerning feeling bad for him not because he is multiracial but because he has to feel this way and doesn't know what team he should be on. Personally, I think he should be on whatever team he wants. He stated in the post that he had a hispanic mother and a white father but he grew up with his mother's side of the family which is hispanic so he shouldn't have to feel that he has to choose the white team just because his skin color is white. It really saddens me that people would look at him and automatically assume he is white just based off the color of his skin because upon hearing that said to him I can imagine that only makes him more confused on what team he should consider himself to be on. However, I know that people have always made stereotypes of people just based off of their skin color. I was in a discussion group for the race relations project a few days ago, and one of the topics we discussed was how no one can really tell what another person's race or ethnicity is based off of their skin color. However, many people often think that they can make the stereotypes based off of the color of their skin and they many times think they are right when in reality majority of the time people who assume someone is white or black or whatever race is wrong about it. It sucks that people, including Sam, have gone up to him and assumed he was white or asked about his views within the white team. Honestly, I know i am personally not in this situation myself but the best advice to him would be to pick whichever team he feels more comfortable identifying himself with. If he agrees with more views on the white team then maybe he should lean towards that but if its the opposite and he agrees with more views on the black/brown team then he should lean towards that. I don't even think he necessarily has to pick a team anyways. Maybe one day he would agree more with the white team and on a different day agree with the black/brown team so really he should just lean towards whichever team he feels more comfortable with.

Let me first start off by saying that I can't believe people are still talking about this topic. I remember a few weeks ago there was a blog about the people in charge of the Census wanting to possibly take the word Negro off the Census. The stance that I took at that time is the same stance I have now. I personally think that it was a good idea to keep the term Negro on the Census. As was discussed in this blog and the previous blog on the issue, if the term Negro is taken off then many older black citizens could be confused on what to put because they associate themselves with that term. The term Negro is what the elder black people have used to describe their race for pretty much their whole lives. However, I understand why a younger African American person could be offended by seeing the term Negro on the Census. It's a term that often brings the thought of slavery to their minds upon hearing it. What I think is so frustrating about all of this is that in general not everyone is always gonna be happy about something. In the Census of course there are going to be multiple groups of people complaining to change words or add other terms and what not. However, even though younger African Americans have a problem with the term Negro why is it that they can't understand why it is still on there? I feel like it has been explained to them but they chose not to listen and instead just want to stay ticked off about it. Whether it's blacks, whites, or native americans I feel like people just often love to complain about things no matter what the issue may be. I feel that the younger African Americans should be able to understand why the term is on there and although they may not be thrilled about it they should be able to understand that it is there for a significant reason and is not there to be offensive. Like was stated before, if the term Negro was taken off then many older African Americans would be confused and not know what to put down for their race because that was the term that they associated themselves with for so long. The last thing the people making the Census are trying to do is confuse or offend people. Logistically, the term should be on there for the elder African Americans so that the Census can be as accurate as possible. Even with the term being on the Census, the younger African Americans who are having the problem with it can still mark themselves as what they want like African American. Thus, with the term Negro being on the Census the elder African Americans are able to still mark themselves as what they have always considered themselves while the younger African Americans can still put down another term that they associate themselves with like African American.

This was an interesting article that really did make me think a lot about the topic and pose some intriguing questions to me. Maybe I am just naive but I guess I never gave to much thought to the concept of today's minorities becoming the majority in the near future. I suppose I never really thought of it because it never came up in high school classes or even college classes until now. For whatever reason when I first read this article it was really hard for me to think that in just a short while the number of blacks, hispanics, and asians could surpass the number of whites currently. This may have been due to our previous lecture in Sam's class where we found out the statistics that blacks make up about 1500 students out of the almost 40,000 students here at Penn State. When I heard the statistics I really was amazed. I remember sitting next to my best friend in that class and we both turned to each other in complete shock that the number of black students here were so low. Let me add to that though that my best friend and I are friends with a good amount of black people so maybe that is why it seemed the number should be so much higher because we feel like we see them so often on campus and are always associating with our friends that are black. After reading the article through a second time though I began to see how this could be possible and I started telling myself it wasn’t a matter of if it would happen but more a matter of when it would happen. I think it's very plausible that this could happen somewhere in the future however I still find it hard to believe that it would be within the next few years or so. I think overall it would take quite some time for a minority to become the majority. However, whether blacks, asians, and hispanics become the majority in the next few years or in the next few decades I strongly hope that by then everyone can treat each other equally. My major concern with what will happen when they become the majority though is that they will want to "get back" at the whites for how they thought whites have treated them for the past how many centuries. It’s kind of like I feel that possibly they would want to get back for things that have happened such as slavery and other forms of discrimination that they have encountered in the past. Obviously no one can say exactly what will happen when they eventually become the majority but I honestly hope that at that time we can all see each other equally since we are already trying to work towards that now.