I think that once in every ones life they have relayed a story to someone that they have heard from someone else. Whether they over hear it, hear it on the news, or if someone has personally told them. I know especially in high school, stories or what some would call rumors would spread around the school like wild fire. Or now through facebook and twitter, it is so easy to find out things and stories about people that you are friends with or that you follow.I think that there are certain types of stories that may be easier for some people to believe. A main part of believing what you hear is the source that it comes from. I think as people we are a lot more likely to believe people that are close to us, like our friends and our families. I think that if someone that is your acquaintance or someone who you have never met before came up to you and told you a story about something, you would be a lot less likely to believe it. Another huge source that people have trouble believing, is the media. Now a days, I find it impossible to believe everything that we hear in the media. I think we have trouble believing people that we don’t know, because we do not know if we can trust them. It is easy to trust someone like a family member or a friend because you think that they would have no reason to lie to you.
However, one thing that I think is that if someone tells you a story about a friend or a family member, it does not matter who told you, you still probably will not believe it. As people I think that we are more likely to see the best in the people that we love. The problem with this is that it is really hard to find out if the stories are true without talking to person who it is about (which some times it is not the best thing to do). It is almost impossible to figure out something from “facts”. The only place that you can find out if it is true or not is from the person that it happened to, or the one that started the story in the first place.
Talking about stories and watching what happened in class last thursday made me think of the game telephone that we used to play as kids. It started as someone telling a story then whispering it to someone sitting next to them, then the process continues. After about ten people, the story turns into something that is completely different. This is caused from hearing it wrong, or sometimes people just changed it because they did not like what they heard. I think that this has to do with real life too. Sometimes people hear things wrong. But some times people do not like what they heard and try to switch it up and make it more interesting.

I think that there are a lot of things that people can do to help down in Haiti. The things that they can do can range from something little to something huge. For example, just going down to Haiti to help serve food is something that I think that every person in this class can do. On the other hand I think the concepts that we learn in school and what we are planning to do for the rest of our lives is definitely something that can help out the economy in Haiti. I am not an entrepreneur and I will not be inventing some type of medicine that will help cure diseases, but I think that I would still be able to help out the people of Haiti.
I am an Communication Science Disorders major and I think that some things that I am learning in my classes this semester would be helpful for people down in Haiti. I think that the skill that I learned that would be most important would be ASL which is American Sign Language. I have taken two years of American Sign Language here on campus. And I also have a deaf cousin so I am almost fluent in it sign language. I think that sign language is something that is really important for people to know. I think it would be really good for people to learn down in Haiti.
Also, I think that teaching people communication skills to people in Haiti would also be helpful. I think it would be good for the Haiti people to learn how to communicate with other haiti people and the rest of the world.
Another skill that I think that would be good to bring to Haiti would be my photography skills. I took photography classes in both high school and here at Penn state. I think it is important for people to be able to express themselves through art and I think photography is one of the best ways to do it. I would teach them what apertures to use, which angles are the best, what lighting is the best and then how to develop their own photos. I think that photography is also important not just in art but also with showing the rest of the world what is really going on in Haiti. I think first hand photography is important and would be a great way to bring attention to the real problems in Haiti.
In conclusion I think that there are a lot of different things that people can do to help with Haiti. It does not have to be something big like starting a business but it can be something as small as teaching someone how to take a picture.

I had always wondered why Muslim women wore Hijab on their head so when Sam called the two muslim girls down to talk in front of the class I was very intrigued. I had always thought that the reason why they wore the Hijab was because their husband wanted them too or because it was part of the sexuality. However, the Muslim girl from Turkey said that Muslim women wear Hijab and cover themselves up because “thats what god would want them to wear”. Also she said something about how they dress that way because it shows that they are modest. The girl saying this brought up a lot of controversy within the classroom. I was looking at the twitter feed during this and a lot of girls were upset that she said that she dresses like that because she is modest. This made some people think that she was saying that people who do not dress like her are not modest. However, I think it is completely ok that she said that. People do not realize that we are all brought up to think of things differently. Being “modest” in Turkey or Saudi Arabia is different then what we think being modest is here in the United States.
But after looking at what all the people had said on twitter I really started thinking about how the way we dress effects what people think of us. Cultures all over the world dress in different clothes. However, I do not think that the way that western women dress, shows whether we respect ourselves or our bodies. I think that the culture here in America is a lot different then the culture in Europe. What Europeans think is being modest, is way too over the top for americans. However, since there is a big difference in what is acceptable to wear, american girls look like they would be a slut or a hoe by the way they dress. Today in class we talked about how you can pick a slut out of a group by the way she is dressed, however I think that is completely wrong. I think that whether a girl is considered a slut should be because of her actions not her outfit. I know a lot of girls who dress in short dresses do it because they want to look pretty, not because they are slutty. However, now that I think about it girls should not feel that they have to wear a short dress to look pretty. I think that girls should be able to go out in sweatpants and a sweat shirt and look pretty, but thats not the way that our culture is. Just like that wearing a short dress would not be pretty to a muslim men.

I have read “The Hunger Games” and all of its sequels. I also went to see the movie during the midnight showing. I absolutely loved both the book and the movie and thought that the characters in the movie matched up perfectly with the characters in the book. While I was reading the book I picked up that both Rue and Thresh from District 11 were black. It was clearly stated in the book that both of them had “dark skin and eyes”. Therefore it did not surprise me, when both Rue and Thresh were played by black actors. Also if you have read the story you would know that it takes place in the United States years from now. Knowing this I expected that not all of the characters would be white considering our country is a mix of all different type of people. However, after reading some of the things that people had tweeted I was very surprised.

The first reason why I was surprised was the fact that it actually mattered to people that not everyone in the movie was white. Now that I think back, most characters in movies are mostly white and that there are only a few famous black actors in Hollywood these days. But I think that it should not matter to people if the actor is black or white. For example I thought it was almost disgusting that some one said “kk call me racist but when I found out that Rue was black her death was not as sad. #ihatemyself”. Honestly I think that person should hate themselves because the color of some ones skin should not change the way that you feel about them dying. I feel that is one hundred percent racist and uncalled for. However, although the fact that Cinna was black surprised me a little, it did not change the fact that I adored his character. I think that Rue, Cinna and Thresh’s characters were right on point and did an amazing job in the movie. It is sad that some people do not think that they did because of the color of their skin.
Another reason why I was surprised was because people could not believe that the “good characters” could be black actors. It makes those people sound so ignorant. It said in the article that there was a girl that wanted to know why they "made all the good characters black" and that “Good people cannot possibly be black. Black people are villainous. Duh.” This brings it back almost full circle to the clip that we watched in class about the kids saying that the white baby dolls were good, and that the black baby dolls were bad. This too was very surprising to me. It just shows how much socialization has an effect on people.

What we watched in class was an eye-opener, I never really thought about all the things that the army does over seas. When thinking about the war I mostly focused on how the army was fighting for us, not what they were doing to the citizens over there. It is hard to keep an open mind when you obviously want whats best for your own country. But when you put your feet in someone else's shoes, you really learn a lot about the situation.
The one video- where the soldiers saw a man stealing wood and ran over his car repeatedly with a tank- completely shocked me. I understand that stealing is wrong and illegal, but it was merely firewood for the man to use to heat his house. I think that it was wrong to completely destroy something over fire wood. And it made it worse that our soldiers were unaware of the fact that this citizen was a taxi driver. They destroyed his only source of income, so how is he supposed to survive when they took that away from him?
Also the recent news of Army Staff Sgt.. Robert Bales is so devastating. The Sgt. snapped after a roadside bombings and went to a village nearby and killed sixteen civilians and all of them were women and children. I had a lot of mixed feelings when I heard this. At first I thought that it was disgusting. I could not wrap my head around the fact that a solider killed 16 innocent people. But then it brought me back to the fact that its considered “ok”, since for everyone one american soldier it is ok to kill 29 people. Even though I think that this is wrong, the government thinks that it is fine. However, at the same time I could understand why the Sgt. snapped. If I was over seas and I had to see all of my friends die by the hands of other people I would be livid. I could see myself snapping just like he did. It also brought me back to when we had the Iraq vets talk to us during class. They told us that everything is so different over there than what we hear here. We do not know what is really going on over there and what the American soldiers have to go through. One of my veteran friends told me that before they are allowed to go back to their home towns they have to go through three months of therapy. This just shows how messed up they can become over sea’s, and makes it understandable that people snap. But i feel that I am some what bias. I have a really close friend of mind that was over seas. If it came down to his life, I would want anything to be done.

I agree with everyone else that has already commented on this blog. I think that power and privilege are very much related with one another. There is no doubt in my mind, that people with power are way more privileged then people without power. However at the same time I feel that the privileged people are the ones that have power. If you spend your life growing up in a rich powerful family, you are more likely to have more privileges. Sadly, now a days, I think that is very hard to become “powerful and privileged” if you were not born into that life style. In the twenty first century it is extremely hard to go from having nothing, to becoming one of the most powerful people in the world. Sure, there are exceptions and some people can work their way up, but I think that also has to do with luck. As much as I do not want to use this as an example, Justin Beiber is one of those people. He went from being a little kid, who’s parents did not have a lot a money and struggling to one of the richest teenagers in the world. This, I believe is luck. But when you look at all the other powerful and rich people, you can see that most of their power and privileges are directly related to their family. If you have the last name Trump, I doubt that you will have any problems finding a job. In fact with a family like that, you can have jobs just handed to you.
But at the same time I always think about how Sam says that since we go to Penn State we are considered to be rich and elite compared to other countries. I know personally compared to the rich and famous in the United States, my family is no where close to being rich. Like most kids that go to Penn State, I had to take out student loans and work my ass off to stay in school. And it just amazes me that statistically my family is considered to be very rich compared to the rest of the world. My dad does not drive a Lamborghini and I do not have a beach house on the cape, but I am still considered rich. It brings into perspective just how poor countries outside of the United States actually are. Here we have people complaining about not having the newest car, or even the iPhone and at the same time there are people that are without food. So in a way, my family is powerful and privileges but until I took this class I had never realized it. All of my focus was on the people that live in Beverly Hills, not the people that attend Penn State.

When I first saw this picture it was on facebook and someone had shared it. When I saw this I thought that this picture was amazing, but it was not because that it was a picture of two men kissing. The story behind it is what I was actually the most happy about. This picture shows how love can last after four years of struggling. It shows a story of how happy the two are to finally be back together and open with their relationship. When I first saw this picture I focused mainly on the love story not the gender of the two people.

I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture. There is a famous quote that I think fits perfectly with this picture, “Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over.” I think that this quote is as true as it can get. I do not think that you can control who you love. There are just certain people, that when you are with them, can make you feel like your life is perfect. I do not think that it matters if they are smart, ugly or even more importantly a guy or a girl. I think if you are the happiest you have ever been in your life with someone, it should not matter if you are gay, straight or bisexual. Growing up you are always told that you should do what makes you happy and you are told that you can be whatever you want to be. Well if you want to be gay, and that makes you happy than I think that there is nothing wrong with it.

It really sickens me when people are against gay relationships. Honestly, I think that it is no one else’s business who you are dating. You are not being forced to go around and have sex with someone who is the same gender as you so something like this should not pertain to you at all. Some people are saying that they are just disturbed by this picture because of the “public display of affecting”, but I think that is not true. Now a days you can not go anywhere without seeing some type of couple making out either on the street, outside of class or even at a party. I just think it is really sad how our culture was socialized to be against gay relationships, but at the same time accept lesbian relationships. I think it is so hypocritical when guys say that two guys kissing or dating is “gross and wrong” but when it is two girls it is so “hot”.

In class we talked about how race and names can affect a lot of things. The main thing that we focused on was getting a job. I totally agree with Sam when he said that race is a huge issue in the job front. And also, it did not surprise me when Sam said that people’s names can effect whether they get a job or not because it reflects their gender and background. Even though two people may have the exact application, it is proven that the white person is more likely to get the job than a black or brown person. I think that this is very said. There should be no reason why race should be a problem with in the job front. Employers should focus on who is the most qualified and who fits the best in their company personality wise rather than basing it off of race. I also think that it is horrible that black or brown people feel like they have to “try harder” than white people. There should be no reason why they should try harder and be better if they have the same application and qualities as the white person that will most likely get the job. Also, I feel that after the Twin Towers were taken down on September 11th more employers focused on not hiring people with Middle Eastern names because they were scared of terrorism. I think that this is not fair to anyone. I understand they people were scared, because we all were, but that one person that you denied because of their name could have been the best thing that ever happened to your company.
Even before we started talking about jobs, one clicker question asked if you would hire someone is they are perfect for the job, and not everyone said “strongly agree”. At first this came as a surprise to me because I would hire the person that is best fit for the job, but when people started saying why they felt they wouldn’t, some of the things they started saying were making sense. One girl said that she would pick someone that she feels she connects the best with whether they are the perfect match or not and I agree with this. The only problem with this is I think that people can relate most with people of the same race as them, so they would focus on hiring someone that is of their color or racial background. Also one kid said that he would focus on hiring people in his family. This I can definitely agree with because I could see myself putting my family first no matter what. But when Sam brought up that it is mostly based off of race I was surprised because something like that would have never crossed my mind.

I would be very offended if someone rejected my religious text without ever knowing the “evidence” or the “story” of the text. I think that this is very ignorant. I’m not saying that I do not understand that people have different beliefs and Gods and idea on how life started and why we are here, because I do understand. Im not saying that they have to like to the text, I would just want them to read it so they could have a better understanding of my religion. Just because you read someone’s religious text does not mean that you have to believe every thing that it says. I would not want to try and convince someone to believe my religion, I would just want them to know where my beliefs came from. I do not think that there is anything wrong with not having a religion or believing a different religion than my own. I would just want them to understand.

Growing up I did not know a lot about my religion. I was baptized when I was a child because my parents wanted me to be. I went to church because my parents made me. I made my communion because my mom told me that we would have huge party after with a magician and a lot of presents and money. And then I made my conformation because I had already done everything else so why the hell not. It was not until a few years ago that I started really becoming into my religion. My grandfather, who was a huge influence in my life was diagnosed with brain cancer. I had heard from all of my CCD classes about praying and anointing of the sick but I really had no idea what any of it had meant. My mom thought that this would be the perfect time to start reading the bible and to really get to know my religion, so I did. After reading the bible I learned so much more about my religion that I had never really known before. It was after reading the bible that I was finally able to open up to the religion that I had “believed in” all my life. I was able to understand why my parents told me to believe in certain things and everything that I had done in CCD had started making sense.

This is why I think that I would be offended if someone rejected my religious text without knowing the “evidence” or the “story” of the text. I had done it until a couple of years ago and now I realized how stupid I really was. I think that you cant really know what you believe until you read about and fully understand your religion.

Yes, I think that white people do avoid talking about race more then people of another race does. I noticed that in my discussion group that while talking about race, the people that were most likely to speak out about it are black or brown people. There are a few reasons why I think that this is true. One of the reasons that I think that this is true is because when people are called out for being racist, its mostly referring to white people. I’ve never heard a black or brown person be called racist, just white people. With this I think that most white people do not want to be considered racists, so if you do not talk about race there is no way that you could be considered racist. Honestly I think that most people would rater be called a cracker than racist. This is because most people want to be viewed as positively. If you are called racist people will think that you are a bad person. But if you are called a cracker, people will just think that you are white, so you will not be viewed as a bad person.

However, I think that the main reason is that white people do not want to offend black or brown people. I feel like white people are still feeling guilty about the history between the two separate races. I think that white people are scared that if they make a comment regarding black or brown people they would take it the wrong way. However, I do not agree with this. I think that all people, no matter if they are black, brown, white, Asian or a mix of all four should be able to talk about race. I think that there is no reason why one race should be scared to talk about another race.

I think that this question is directly related to the white girl in our class being scared to pick out the blackest person in our class. Because she was put on the spot and asked to talk about race, she freaked out. She thought that since she was talking about race she was “going to get jumped after class”. I think that this is really sad. All people should have the right to say what they feel without being scared of the consequences. I feel that if the roles were switched, there would not have been that big of a reaction. I think it would be easier for the blackest girl in the class to pick out the whitest girl in the class. And I think that if this was to happen, the black girl wouldn’t be scared that she would get jumped after class.