I feel like all the videos had an impact on me. Each impacted me in a different way. The first video was the one about terrorism. The effects were actually very scary, for example, the loud booms and bomb noises. I thought I was very interesting when they put the map up and showed all of the different terrorist attacks that were made on the world. At the same time it was very scary and very real. Seeing pictures of the World Trade Center attacks hits very close to home. I live right outside of NYC and we could actually see the smoke from our neighborhood. My town lost 15 fathers that day, some of which were father and uncles of some of my close friends. It was a direct attack on my community, so it was hard not to be scared of people who looked like terrorists. (For example, middle eastern people) I was scared to fly out of NYC for years. The video reminded me of the terror I felt on the day of September 11th. It was one of the scariest days of my life. I made my dad come home, even though he worked close by. However, 5 years after the attacks, my family hosted an Iraqi mother and daughter for 6 months in our home while the daughter was receiving medical care. It completely changed my view on the war and Iraqi people. It showed me that what we are doing in Iraqi is harming innocent people. This experience changed my life. It was the reason I decided to study international politics in college. I want people to understand that what America does is not always perfect. Everyone in the world has feelings. For example, the video we watched where the soldiers crushed the car of the guys stealing wood made me really angry. What kind of power trip are those American Soldiers on? Why would Iraqi people like Amerians if that’s what they see every so often? I don’t blame them. The Iraqi family that stayed in my home taught me a lot about their culture and the fear they live in. They were scared of cops when we walked down the street. They would cower when they heard a loud noise, for example from a truck. They live their lives in fear over there. Who wants to do that? All of the videos provoked different feelings in me. Some sent fear through my body while others made me feel awful to be an American. It is amazing how a video can make you feel.

I found this lecture to be very enlightening. I actually brought my best friend to the lecture and we couldn’t stop talking about it all night! At first I thought I already kinda knew about what Sam and Laurie were talking about, but when I really thought about it, there were so many things that shocked me! Some of which didn’t even hit me till I was having a conversation with my friend afterwards. Too be honest I think I learned more about both sexes equally. There were a lot of things that I didn’t understand about males that I thought I did. Sam and Laurie just explained things so well that you really got to look through another lens and see how the opposite sex was feeling. I was kinda shocked about the data about females. (I am a female) This opened my eyes to how everyone can have different sexual experiences. I completely agree with how females feel like they have to act in a certain way in the male centered world. My friend and I talked about that last night for hours. Why is that? Why do we act like that? Too be honest we couldn’t even come up with an answer! Why is it that if I guy sleeps around its cool, but if I girl does it she is considered a slut? Are girls who are sleeping around trying to act like guys? I don’t know. The sexual assault conversation was very interesting to me. It made me really think back over my life and made me wonder if this had happened to me before? To be honest I think it has, but I never looked at it in that light. Sometimes things go so quickly you don’t know what’s happening and then you think it is too late to stop. I guess I didn’t want to know what would happen if I said no. Why can’t I say no? Why didn’t I say no or stop in those experiences? I guess I didn’t want to feel like a loser. But this lecture has given me confidence to stand up for myself in the future. I think all guys should hear this lecture. Why are guys so stupid sometimes? I think some guys don’t even know that what they are doing is wrong. If they figured these things out then they would have much better relationships. I loved had they did the play on words with the word “needy”. Guys always think that girls are so needy and clingy when really, guys are the same exact way. Another thing I found really interesting was the data on the hook up scene. I believed way more people than that were hooking up on a regular basis. I guess I was fooled. I think everyone should see that so that they would just relax. I feel like when people go out sometimes that it is their goal to hook up with somebody. How stupid is that? The whole “dress code” thing was REALLY interesting. Why do girls want to wear high heels and not wear coats? I don’t!! I hate high heels and I hate being cold! I like to be comfortable and cute when I go out. Those girls are just trying too hard and in the end they make themselves look really stupid. However I did catch myself thinking about it before I went out last night. I almost wore a dress with no tights and heals to indigo. Then I realized, hey! Its cold out there! Who is going to care if I wear some nice jeans and a top! And in the long run I was happier and all my friends made fun of the people who were cold waiting in line with dress and skirts on and those massive high heels that no one really thinks are comfortable. This lecture has really made me think more about the difference in sexes and I am interested in learning more about this topic.

I think interracial relationships are the new thing! I believe that it is great that our generation is making the change to interracial relationships more often. I think that this shows that racism is beginning to dissolve slowly. Back 50 years ago, this is something that you would rarely see. My grandparents would never have even thought about dating someone from another race. I have had conversations about this with them. It wasn’t that they were greatly opposed to it, it was just that no one was doing it. However even though they say they weren’t greatly opposed to it, I know that if my dad had been black, my grandfather probably would not have accepted that relationship for my mother. If my dad came home with an Asian girl, my other grandfather would have been furious! He fought during WW2 and wouldn’t even buy cars that came from Japan. I have never dated someone that is not white. It is not that I don’t want to date someone of another race, it just never has come up that I have liked someone of a different race yet. I am very open to dating someone of a different race. I believe that if I fall in love, I fall in love! However, usually I am attracted to white men. I think it would be very interesting to see how my parents would act if I brought a man of a different race home to meet my family. I believe my mother would love it. My mom would be very open to be dating someone of a different race. She would just want me to be happy. My father on the other hand would be a problem. My little sister has also talked about how she wants to marry a black man because she wants to have little black babies. This statement has never made my father happy. He always would roll is eyes and leave the room. Or he would make a sarcastic comment. I don’t know how he would react if it were the real thing. But it might make me think twice before I got in a serious relationship with another race. It is the same reason why I never got my nose pierced. I always wanted to get my nose pierced but my dad made fun of people to their face who had their nose pierced so I knew that I would never hear the last of it if I did the same. I think overall if I really loved a man of a different race, my dad also would want me to be happy. I think once he met him and got to know him, the issue of race would go away. It is hard to say without knowing for sure. However, I think interracial couples are great!

I never thought about diversity when i was thinking about a college. However, i think being in a city school would show more diversity and that would be very interesting! I would love to learn and meet people of various races and cultures. I just went to visit LSU over break and there were tonsof different races and cultures. I was very interested in how all those races meshed together because there seemed to be a very racist attitude. It was interesting to experience a school with lots of diversity but it was also interested to see how they all reacted towards one another. People talked a lot about race and you could also see that most people hung out with their same race, I feel like even though we don't have much diversity we are very tolerant and accepting of diversity at Penn State. No one is turned away or not socialized with based on their race. Everyone is a Penn Stater!

We don't even have much diversity from where people grew up, let alone different races! I think some of my friends think Penn State is diverse because they grew up in small towns in Pennsylvania. However, i think Penn State is even less diverse than my hometown. I also think that it may be hard to see diversity at Penn State because people all want to be the same here. There are clubs and various things that explore different races and ethnicitys, but i don't think it is very apparent because we are all students living away from our families and cultures. I'm not saying that there is no diversity, because there definity is! I'm not saying that we are all the same, i'm just saying that it is hard for me to see the diversity.

I do not think there is very much diversity at Penn State. I remember coming to visit Penn State when i was up for football games with my family and even noticed how it was prodominantly white. Thats an interesting observation for someone who is 14. I thought all the guys and girls looked exactly the same and i wanted to be like them when I got older. I grew up New York City and my family went in all the time. New York City is a place that seemed very diverse to me growing up, and it even scared me a little. Penn State reminded me of the town i grew up in, so maybe i associated places that are less diverse as a safer place. I'm sure this was a very latent action, but maybe that is why i chose Penn State. I knew i was going to feel safe there and that there were going to be people like me. As I grew older, diversity doesn't scare me, it excites me. I love learning about different cultures and races. I find it very interesting and fun! However i feel like most people at Penn State are white people either from outside Philly or Pittsburg.

I do not know very much about poor white society. The video about Tammy really opened my eyes to another life people are living within the United States. I am white, and i guess i never really considered the fact that there are tons of white people living in poverty. I think this is because where i live, you do not see very many poor white people. In the lower income cities around me there are usually only poor brown and black people. My community is predominantly white, and as you move more towards the cities you see more poverty and more race. In my mind, i guess white people were never the ones that needed help. I don't really know why i've thought that, In my mind, when i consider helping people in poverty i do not think about the white society. I think about the kids in Africa or other people like that in the international scene. However, i believe poor white society deserves our help! They do not get the race advantages for example when applying to colleges. They also are kind of under the radar. People think because they are white, they do not need help. However i feel like this is completely unfair. When you are very poor, it is very hard to get out of that situation without a little help. However, sometimes i believe poor white society refuses the help that they need. Tammy should not have been walking miles to work at Burger King when she could be receiving welfare and taking care of her children and maybe bettering them to do better in life. The movie is relative though. Tammy stated that her father would be proud of her for what she accomplished, so maybe her prior life was really bad, I think there are a lot of problems here. I think people need to realize that this is part of our country that deserves our attention. However, the poor white society needs to accept the help, or there is nothing we can do for them.

I think this is an interesting question. This is a subject that I have actually thought about before. For a very long time in the past of our country’s history, blacks have been the subject of extreme abuse by whites. There are many blacks who still feel oppressed because their ancestors were involved in slavery. This attitude tends to get me angry. Are blacks still in slavery? No. Do whites think that blacks should be slaves again? Absolutely not! I am not saying that blacks are not subject to racism in the United States, but I feel blacks do not receive half as much racism as many other races. This could be my opinion, but I feel like this is what I have observed over the last few years. I definitely feel like people are more racist towards Muslim people than blacks. I feel like the US, has had 300 years to understand and get use to black people being in our society. I am not saying that blacks have the same opportunities as white people in the US, but I feel like the black community is more accepted. They are the stars of most of our sports teams and they are at the forefront of the music business. When you get on an airplane, would you think twice sitting next to a black person rather than a Muslim person? Here is another thing I would like to clarify. There are a lot of Muslim people in this country that do not look Muslim. I believe people who are Muslim and wear the typical Muslim attire are the people that certain people can be racist towards. I think people are scared of Muslims because they do not know what their culture is like. It is ignorance. They do not want to understand so instead they have certain feelings towards them. What most people do not know is that a Muslim practices Islam, which is very close to the religions Judaism and Christianity. Muslims believe in a lot of the same religious figures that we do, like Moses and Jesus. They just believe that Muhammad was the true and last speaker of god. Learning about Muslims was something very interesting to me. It really changed a lot of my own opinions on how I view Muslims. I was never racist towards Muslims publicly, but maybe latently when I was getting on a plane. However, I do not feel this way anymore.

The video we watched in class astounded me. I could not believe that 22 people did not stand up for the Muslim woman. I was embarrassed to be an American. I can not believe that people are so nervous to stand up for what they believe in. And what’s scarier, that some people didn’t believe that what the guy at the store was saying was wrong. Cultures can not be classified completely by what one or a group of people did. That is not fair. Today, you would not see that happen to a black person. Would you say a black person is not American? Would you say an Asian person is not American? So what makes Muslims so different? Therefore, even though both groups experience prejudice and discrimination, I believe that people are more racist towards Muslims than Blacks.

The movie we watched in class touched me on many different levels. I could not believe what I was seeing. I knew that there was slavery all over the world, but this movie really hit me hard. I could not stop thinking about it all night and it made me think very hard about my own life. I do not support slavery, but obviously I do because slaves make many of the things I have. As Sam said, how do we cope? I have had this battle within myself for a few years now. I wish there were ways we could just pay more so that all human beings could have a better life. I would pay 25-50 percent more for everything I own if I knew it was not being made by slaves. I can afford it, and I would get use to the price increase. However, this is not my decision. After the movie I did not eat my second piece of chocolate, I was disgusted. When the man in the video said, if you eat that chocolate, you are eating a piece of my flesh, I was sick. To me, that is true. Those cocoa beans are their life. They eat, live and breathe cocoa beans. They don’t even know what chocolate tastes like!! That is a shocker in its self! Have you ever met someone who has never eaten chocolate? I’ve never realized that even a piece of chocolate could be a luxury for many people. I believe the way Sam taught this lesson was very effective. We all ate that first piece of chocolate like it was nothing, but after the movie I looked at that second piece and all I saw were those young men being beaten. I left class wondering what I could do? I can’t just stop buying things because slaves could have made it. What I realized is I have to spread the word and tell people about these things so that we can put a stop to it. If enough people know what is going on in the world, the bigger chance there may be laws against this type of treatment in the future. After watching this movie, it made me proud that I was an International Politics Major. This is what I want to do with my life. I want to work with the UN and affiliates of the UN to ensure that there can be more peace and justice in this world. I want to travel and help people all over the world. If I could help one person, if I can change one law or even raise awareness in the United States, I will have done my job. I hope one day that this will come true and we can start to put a stop to these awful things in our world.

I found the freewill and determinism lectures to be very interesting. It really made me think hard about my own life. I was dealt really good cards in my life. I grew up in a very wealthy suburb of New York City in New Jersey. My parents were very supportive and helped me through all of my problems. I’ve never had to worry about having a meal on the table, money for clothes, or money for the various things I need in my life. If I needed medicine or if I needed to go to the doctor, it was never a problem. I knew my entire life that my family expected me to do well in school so that I could get into a good college. Both of my parents went to very good colleges. My dad is an accountant and has been saving money for me to go to school since I was born. I’ve never had to completely support myself on my own and I will never have that pressure. My parents will always be able to help me in my life. However, this didn’t give me any reason to slack off. I was always a very hard worker. I have never missed a homework assignment or turned anything in late in my entire life. I pushed myself to do well in sports and I worked hard to work my way through very prestigious choirs. I felt like I owed that to my parents who were always so proud of me. I never wanted to disappoint them or myself. I always knew I was lucky. But this class has taught me that I was extremely lucky. I am a white girl with a wealthy family. I received a wonderful education and have gotten to travel the world more than anyone I know. I like to tell myself I know the value of a dollar because I have worked some very hard restaurant jobs waiting on tables. However, I wasn’t working for rent money, food money, or insurance money. I was working for beer money and money to travel and hang out with friends. My parents will not even let me get a job at school because they think it will take away from my education. I use the money I make over the summer for all my extracurricular activities until the next summer. Sometimes I wonder if I had to pay for school if I would have gone to a community college or a school in my state. I wonder if I would even be in college. I know I am a hard worker, but I don’t even think I could handle going to school and working a part time job. I feel extremely spoiled but grateful. If I need anything, my dad is a phone call away. I wonder what it would feel like to not have that luxury. To be honest, after this lecture, I called my dad and told him how grateful I was that he saved all this money for me. It made me think about all those times I called him and said, “Daddy I need more money, I want to shop at Wegmans because the produce tastes better there.” Or when I was abroad, “Daddy I want to go to spring break in Italy for 10 days.” His response was always, “I will figure it out.” To be honest, writing this, I feel like an awful daughter and a spoiled little brat. Why can’t I support myself? I know I could do it. But the thing is, I don’t really want to yet. It is what I am use to. Determinism has played a huge role in my life. I was born into a wonderful life and family. I mean, I still have to work hard in my life. I got a 4.0 in high school. If I didn’t keep a 3.0 in college, my parents told me I would have to take out loans and pay for college myself. Everything I got came with a price. If I was using drugs and flunking out of school, I would not be receiving the same luxuries my family gives me now. I do not know what it is like to struggle. Even though my family has given me a lot, they still push me to do my best and push me to use all the resources available to me to become a better person. My parents have also instilled in me to give back to people who are not as well off as we are. I have been doing various types of community service since I was 10 years old. Now that I am majoring in International Politics, I realize all I want to do is help people in different countries who need things more than I do. Since this lecture, I have been trying to find ways to become more independent from my family so I can learn to make my own way. This way, I can give my own children the same opportunities I have.