What an amazing letter. I commend the prisoner who wrote this because I’m sure it took a lot of guts and heart to spill out his emotions and feelings toward us in this letter. The sole testimony of this man just goes to show to everyone, including us, that we are in need of unselfish love and compassion. In the midst of our own troubles and times of crap where we can easily dwell within ourselves, at the end of day, people matter. Life isn’t and shouldn’t always be about us. It should be about the person next to us, across from us or somebody we haven’t kept in touch with for a while. Everyone needs compassion, forgiveness, kindness and love to mend the brokenness that’s within them. We don’t have to be tree huggers and go green to make the world a better place. Even though I’m a Christian, I believe attending to the needs of others is important for everybody. People need to be attended to because there’s no one person that’s perfect or is living the perfect life. Yeah, we can attend to kids with cancer (THON) or those with other diseases (walking walks or running marathons), but we can also attend to our classmates and friends. Don’t just ask them how they’re doing and expect the same, mundane answer; ask them how they’re REALLY doing and hear them out. It makes a huge difference. That’s how real, genuine friendships start and are grown to be kept for a long time.

I know there are some people will not put this one article and tag it as the typical “lifer,” but the fact that this man is going through this type of transformation seems supernatural and unbelievable. Don’t object so much as to what his intentions were when writing this letter or whatever; we can only take things for face value, just believe the man. And yeah, it probably doesn't have anything to do with SOC 119. Sam's the type of man who wants to push your buttons and stimulate your thinking not just about racial issues, but about LIFE issues.

The footage in this video is pretty amazing. It’s ridiculous how the economy still lives and markets are being formed. While watching all of this, I wondered how locals afforded all these resources. From watching the news and hearing things, we would expect these Haitians who have absolutely nothing to get resources like food, water, clothes and other basic necessities for free. However, we see from this video the same local Haitians who have nothing sell something. One thing that stuck out was the man who had a boom-box stereo with speakers, laptops and other electronics. You could imagine how things like that can be sold at a time like this and question what kind of condition these electronics are really in, despite their outer appearances.

As Sam said, though, people accumulate resources and manipulate them in some way to repackage and resell them at a higher price. What strikes me is that it never stops; how do people still have the minds and even the resources to continue this sort of economic exchange in a devastated place where resources are so limited and with a group of people who just want to survive?

I really liked the one man who used his generator for a movie business. It was cool to see how he was willing to create this type of business for the sake of helping people more than making money. I still don’t know how these Haitians have money, but I remember hearing the same man having a phone charging business to enter into the theatre that is the tent with a small TV.

Like the news reporter said, Haitians have an abundance of time and it’s going to be interesting to see how these people who have been displaced will use their time in the coming weeks, months and, maybe even, years. I also wonder if refugee camps are the same as those 30 years ago. My parents fled Vietnam to the Philippines and were taken into refugee camps in Manila. Did refugee camps back at that time and in other places have economies similar to the refugee camp in Haiti?

It’s hard to imagine how devastating this earthquake has been for this nation until we ourselves witness the destruction. Seeing things while not in Haiti is one thing. Being there is another. I was encouraged to see Sam’s friend speak and share his experiences from Haiti. I wish I could take up the opportunity to go down to help but I’m graduating and starting to work soon. I hope others who have time this summer can go down to witness and help. It’s a broken nation with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual brokenness, despite this revival of spirituality news reporters have been talking about.

Reading this article was pretty intense for me; the article definitely enforced what we learned at Thursday’s “Christian Invaders” class. It’s ridiculous to see how our country has come to the point where we’re not even fighting terrorists that belong to certain organizations; the terrorists and radicals that we’re supposed to search after and bring justice to, whether in the form of a court trial or killing spree, are mostly if not all Arab Muslims. I think because of that stereotype and immediate and unwise judgment we, as Westerners, place on them, it probably gives a government like the one in the United States to say it’s OK to risk and kill the lives of innocent civilians. To hear suicide bombings in random places in the Middle East, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel or wherever, seem mundane and common these days; to hear the facts and stories behind the actual suicide bombers is something we don’t hear too often. Initially, I thought suicide bombers would be the radicals like we discussed in class, who really think that it is in “God’s Will” to destroy the Americans for the sake of Muhammad. I can see why these radicals would think that way, given the lecture Sam gave on Thursday. We discussed that day how we, collectively as the American people, are there to take the oil from the Arab Muslims. This article, however, dives one level deeper; Arab Muslims who aren’t considered as threats are being killed left and right, leading them to take drastic measures to avenge the deaths of their loved ones.

The whole issue makes me feel unsettled. Because of the stereotype we place on Arab Muslims, I’m sure Arab Muslims place the exact stereotype on Americans, specifically American Christians. As an individual living in America, it’s not hard to feel somewhat responsible for this; we pay tax dollars for our troops to be shipped overseas, but to fight for what? As a Christian, I feel like Muslims will place this negative light on me. Now I fear for those who are going on missionary trips to the Middle East. I do believe that, as believers of Jesus, we should proclaim the Christian gospel to the corners of the Earth. But if I were to be a missionary to that area, I don’t want the Arab Muslims to think I’m there solely to convert them or think I’m taking their oil.

Would I avenge the death of my loved one? If I weren’t a Christian, yes. But coming from this background of faith, I wouldn’t. It’s hard not to think about something like this though. We’re talking about real people and those who are close to us. It’s unsettling.

I believe men feel the need to conform to what society says; although I don’t believe many men will explicitly admit it (it’s probably a pride thing or something). When we see reality TV shows on MTV or hear what’s in style and what’s not or see how certain guys get girls based on their outer appearance, most, if not, all of those give us an inner drive to conform no matter what the cost may be. One of my friends asked me after class if guys ever have a self-image problem like girls do. As aforementioned, I think we guys do but we don’t talk about it.

It’s ridiculous to see how the media portrays men: guys have to wear deodorant that will get not just one girl, but all the girls; guys have to be shirtless while riding a white horse backwards (relating to an Old Spice commercial); guys have to drink the right beer, wear the right clothing, have that million-dollar smile, and so much more. Women aren’t the only people affected by the media in the realm of self-image; men, too, have insecurities of what they should look like and can easily forget what inner beauty means. Sadly we live in a fallen world.

This class was pretty intense. As a Christian, I wasn’t really offended by what he said and I’m glad he set the tone for the monologue before heading into it, saying he’s not against Christians given his background and culture. This talk made me think a lot about what we, as Americans, are doing in the Middle East and how ridiculous our culture has become.

Like most of us, I’ve heard countless times that we’ve been in the Middle East this whole time for oil. At first, I believe it was a conspiracy with the government denying it; with the John McCain video showed today, it kind of sheds more light and truth as to what the government’s really doing. I’m from New York and right after the 9/11 attacks happened, many people in the area were discussing about how the corruption of the government at the time would lead us into war with Afghanistan. It’s amazing to see how half of the world’s military spending belongs to us, with most of that money going to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the control of oil.

It did feel uneasy to role play as a Muslim Arab college student; not because of the stereotype Americans portray on them, but solely because of the stripping away the United States has done and continues to do. Sam hit many crucial points in how the media manipulates people; we originally see Baghdad as this run-down city with little to no resources when the reality is the carnage we see in photos is due to our doing. The Christian media also manipulates their motives as well, but not in the sense where the manipulation is driven by the Americans’ necessity and conquering for oil. Role playing as a Muslim Arab college student, I did feel like a lot was taken away from me by a people and country that had no right to. I also felt afraid and scared to death, since the most powerful country was coming after mine because we have valuable resources they need. Sam brought up a good point about the Chinese taking coals from Western Pennsylvania. He also brought up something that I found to be very prominent in the world; they only want peace. When I visited China two summers ago and hung out with undergraduate students, they did view America as this world powerhouse but didn’t talk trash about Americans.

It’s ridiculous to see how our patriotism has enlarged for the wrong reasons; we’re becoming prideful for our country because we’re envious of what others have and want it for ourselves. Can we ever become a country that wants pure peace with the rest of the world? Absolutely not, unless if there are strings attached.

The rise of Chinese (Mandarin) in high schools is no surprise to me. This doesn’t just exist in high schools; it’s affecting the entirety of school systems. My sister has three children, one who’s in elementary school. She told me they’re offering Chinese language classes on the elementary school level, which really astonishes me to see how our culture has evolved in ten years.

As an Asian-American, this definitely affects me in multiple ways. I’ve always been accustomed with Spanish-speaking natives teaching Spanish language classes; French natives teaching French; real Germans teaching German, so on and so forth. When I read the article and saw the picture of a White woman teaching Chinese to her students, I was pretty amazed to see how far the American culture has come to the education of other languages. When I took Spanish in high school, I called my teachers, whom were somehow all female, “señora” or “señorita,” followed by their last name. To me, it made sense and felt right, especially with their genuine, Hispanic or Latino last names. It’ll be really difficult for me to imagine that in a Chinese language classroom setting with a non-Chinese native, or even a non-Chinese American for that matter. Can I envision students calling their teachers “Schwartz Lao Shi” (Lao Shi means teacher in Chinese) or “Richards Lao Shi”? To set the record straight, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing or something I oppose; rather, from an Asian-American (specifically a Chinese-American) perspective, the transition to plausibly having Chinese, not Spanish, the most dominant foreign language taught in a classroom setting with the aforementioned scenario seems rather odd to me.

I’m grateful to be a Chinese-American born and raised in the United States under the care and guidance of native Chinese; being able to know and speak Chinese (for my case, Cantonese) in America has been a huge plus for me in social interactions with first generation Chinese densely populated in certain pockets of New York, where my roots lie. It’s very, very interesting to see how more Americans are curious and desiring to know this foreign language and culture. Last night, dinner at East Halls featured Asian Night. I thought of this class right away when I entered through the doors of the dining commons; seeing different stations of various Asian foods with your typical servers behind the food wearing Asian teepee-looking hats that are totally fake and plastic, being dumbfounded by the poor attempts of Chinese calligraphy on huge colorful banners, and hearing Asian-sounding music through a jukebox (probably played by one of those Chinese harps) rocked my view on how Americans view the Asian culture. I could’ve been easily offended, but I’ll give them an A for effort.

This is a pretty deep and bold question to ask. Props to whoever asked this. I’ve taken Sam’s SOC 001 class before and, as he said in the beginning of this semester for SOC 119, his intention is not to push anything down our throats nor change the way we think; rather, he hopes for our minds to be more stimulated and our thinking to go deeper than usual. Just to set the record straight, these sociology classes I have taken with Sam have been the most intellectually stimulating classes I’ve participated and privileged to be a part in at Penn State (this is coming from a senior graduating not too long from now).

Sam’s words have changed my opinions, especially my perspectives and opinions of certain racial groups and people. To me, he offers lenses that go beyond the superficialities of what we see on a normal basis. As a third, non-related party to the whole concept of the White Team vs. Black/Brown Team, though I’m still not sure whether I would be considered on the Black/Brown Team since I am an Asian-American, I guess you could say I have a better understanding of White and Black people and their interactions towards each other. Growing up with stereotypical immigrant Asian parents, I was immersed in a culture where I was told these certain things about White people and those other things about Black people, most of which were negative. Rooted in the highly, ethnically diverse New York Metropolitan area and going to the largest state school in the majorly White Pennsylvania was, and sometimes continues to be, an interesting transition, where my views of White and Black people change every day. In conjunction with my stereotypes of certain people, my opinion of how their children end up at certain colleges changed as well; as Sam spoke about earlier this semester, we should think about living in a middle ground between choosing decisions and being affected by factors and forces outside of our control. One thing I realized is that people of certain racial groups don’t just choose and attend certain schools because they want to but they’re also affected by circumstances and their surroundings.

Has anything Sam said made a difference to me? It most certainly has. If it weren’t for this class or the other class I took, my thoughts about life wouldn’t be at this point. This SOC 119 class isn’t your typical major or general education class; it’s a place where we’re learning and discussing about everyday things we don’t normally learn or discuss about. There must be a reason why this is the largest race relations class in the country; people are interested and long to know answers to deep questions about what matters at the end of the day: people.

The production of this video game is pretty absurd. Growing up with other Asian-American adolescents during middle school and high school, I was exposed to Manga (Japanese comic books) and Hentai (porn in Manga) on the internet. Thus, I’m not surprised that Japan pulled a card like this, where they would make a video game out of this kind of culture. Correct me if I’m wrong, especially to Japanese and Japanese-American students reading this, but I believe Japanese women, like all women in this period of time, are vulnerable and subjected to be treated as objects, not as real beings. I think Sam’s right about the lack of some outside-the-box psychologist behind the origins and creation of this game; this game was probably created by video game producers who, like most human beings, have warped views of a woman and her identity. In the United States, the porn industry is exponentially growing with online videos and movies with women making themselves vulnerable to men. People are talking but there’s really no uproar regarding this issue because many (especially men) believe masturbation or self-orgasms is natural to their sexuality. I believe Japan has the same mindset; as the CNN reporter exclaimed, much Hentai content consist of women being raped and overpowered by men. Therefore, the Japanese believe they can enhance the Hentai readings by creating a game that offers a better outlet and more pleasurable experience, with players having the power to do anything with a woman with one click of the button. This thing that’s going down in Japan can most certainly be related back to our country, where we have videos, movies, and even desktop programs that replace the old Playboy magazines and good-but-not-good-enough sexual media outlets in the palm of our hands.

I don’t think people should judge the Japanese so easily; they, like us, are immersed in a culture where pornography is the norm and the feeling of male dominance over a woman is OK, no matter what outlet it will be. I’m also not surprised by how the Japanese government is reacting; this is a country that’s too proud to answer anybody’s questions about their own culture, especially after what happened in World War II. Asian countries like to keep their profiles on the down-low, like China; they totally deny anything and everything that happened in Tiananmen Square 30 years ago.

What I would like to know is if anyone in the United States would be daring enough to buy a game like this. Would they be so desperate to find another outlet of defiling their eyes through the unclothing and digital raping of women? I mean, American porn is so self-gratifying that there has to be a limit where people need to turn to other outlets...

I guess I’m somewhat in the same position as this guy; I’m an Asian-American and I’m not sure myself whether I’m on the White or Black/Brown team. In the classroom setting, I assume I’m on the Black/Brown team when we do those texting polls or speak about certain issues or volunteer to go up and be a part of Sam’s examples; it’s like White people versus everybody else. Honestly, it’s up to you. This whole concept of two teams is just a concept; it isn’t something that’s written in a tabernacle or a law. This whole class is designed so that Sam makes us think about these issues so you make it to however you want it to be. This issue that the student brings up is pretty sticky; he’s half-Hispanic and half-White and claims his ethnicity is Puerto Rican but his race to be White. If I were in his position, I would choose whichever group I’d feel most associated with. It’s just like the half-Black half-Chinese guy from the class; he looks completely Black but half of him is made up of Chinese blood. As aforementioned, these teams are conceptual; choose whatever you feel is most comfortable because these “teams” don’t define who you really are. As I continue to sit in this class, race relations is quite complex and there’s somehow gray area wherever you go. I hope we can all better understand the complexities of ourselves in relation to race and ethnicity as the semester winds down.

Ever since taking SOC 001 with Sam two years ago, I never stopped asking questions. It’s not like I didn’t before taking that class but I always kept those questions to myself and let it be. It’s crazy how we are entrapped with so many questions and issues about anything and everything. As an Asian-American, I wondered why my eyes were smaller than most people’s… maybe it is “just the way it is,” but why is that we are made this way? As an American, I wondered how we came to the quota of using certain words as derogatory or profane, like the f-bomb; maybe it is “just the way it is,” but people have to ask themselves those kind of questions sometimes, whether it reaches on a dynamic or small-sized scale.

As a devout Christian, I would ask myself and even God why there’s so much brokenness in today’s world; when I first stepped into the faith a few years ago I questioned God’s presence, asking how a good God let murders, crimes, suicides, depression, and other forms of brokenness happen in the world. After questioning that multiple times to not just God but to older men who are wise and knowledgeable in their spiritual walks, as well as reading books by renowned authors and professors, I came to some sound and valid conclusions, which I won’t discuss right now, but asking tough questions to figure out the things in life are pretty crucial. We’re given minds and hearts for a purpose and we weren’t programmed to be like robots. We’re human beings. It’s good to ask questions, no matter what race, ethnicity, gender, or background you’re coming from.