I think that it takes a lot for a person who feels trapped in silence to speak out. I have never personally experienced sexual abuse, but I can only imagine the toll it takes on a person, both physically and mentally. The most important thing a person needs is an abundance of support from their family and friends. Without a strong support system, a person may feel helpless or scared to seek help. A person going though such a traumatic event needs to know that they have people they can turn to for guidance and help. Unfortunately, many people believe their problems will eventually go away if they deal with their issues on their own and remain silent. This is why so many adults come out years later about being sexually abused when they were a child. These people have spent years suffering because they felt they couldn’t tell anyone about what they were going through. People often believe that sexual abuse is something to be ashamed of or that they have done something wrong. I believe that this is why school needs to have more programs that offer information regarding sexual abuse. Many people are not aware of the severity of sexual abuse and how often it occurs. If schools were to offer these programs, people who are suffering many feel more comfortable to seek help knowing there are people out there who understand what they’re going through. The biggest problem that occurs is when someone is sexually abused by on of their own family members. When this is the situation, breaking the silence is much more difficult. Usually these are the victims that remain silent for the longest. It is very difficult to tell someone in your family about another family member sexually abusing them. People need to know if they are afraid to turn to another family member first, that there are other support systems out there such as friends and teachers. I think that reporting one of your own family members to the police would be a very difficult. That is why sexual abuse can be such a complicated situation for a lot of individuals. I know that if I ever had to tell my parents that I was sexually abused they would immediately report it to the cops and make sure I was given all the help I needed. I think that is important that all people suffering from sexual abuse report it to the to the police. No one should get away with doing such a terrible thing to another person. A person that has been sexually abused someone and got away with it could very easily find another victim to sexually abuse. This is why remaining silent is both harmful for yourself and the people around you.

I think that money is only one of the things that bring happiness to people in life. I do believe that having money provides a lifestyle that most people desire and strive to achieve during their lifetime. People that have money are able to live comfortably without having to worry about things such as putting food on the table for their family, putting their children through college, having health insurance, or buying the necessities for their basic needs in life. Money has its obvious benefits in life and can provide people with a great amount of success and prosperity. That being said, money is never going to be the golden ticket to a person’s happiness. There are many more things in life that bring people happiness and gratification. People also achieve happiness from having a loving and supportive family, close relationships with friends, as well as having a passion or interest for something in life besides for their job. For example, there is a good chance that a person that constantly works and never spends any time with their family or friends will feel unhappy and lonely. That person may be the richest person in the world, but if they spend all their time making money and never take a break to enjoy them selves and experience anything life has to offer, then they will never feel true happiness. Many people believe that if they are rich then they will be happy. Unfortunately, this is usually never the case and some people have to learn this the hard way. I believe that happiness in its fullest form is something at comes from a little bit of everything and requires different things for each person. Someone who is unhappy and poor may blame not having money for his or her own unhappiness. Yet they may be unhappy for more reasons than just that. They may have come from a broken family and never received the love and support they always longer for. Or they may have been bullied in school by their classmates and never told their parents or teacher about it. Or they may be stuck in a bad marriage and can’t communicate their feelings to their significant other. Money is a lot easier to blame as the cause of their unhappiness then these things happening in their lives. Sure money may be one of the causes of the sadness they feel, but there usually is other things going on in people’s life that is causing them sadness. It’s not to say that most people don’t feel happy when they get that paycheck they worked all week for, but if that paycheck is the only thing that makes them feel happy in life, then that is clearly not enough to have consistent happiness within in life.

I must admit that I have trouble believing that white people will be the minority in the future. I have always thought, even as a young child, that I live in a white centered world. It has appeared to me that the culture and values that exist in America are derived from the white race. One reason I was surprised when I heard Sam say that white people will be the minority one day is partly due to the fact that I have been surrounded by the white race all my life. I grew up in a small conservative town where the majority of the population was white. However, when I came to college it became clear to me that the world has diversified a lot more than I had believed. I know that a lot more diversity exists in our world today than I had once pictured as a young girl. Despite this change in environment, it still seems that white people are the majority. When I sit in class each day it appears that that the majority of students are white versus any other race. To be honest, if I walked into a class where the majority of students were black I would definitely be surprised. On the other hand, I still am aware that there are plenty of areas where races other than the white race are the majority. In places where there is a great deal of diversity, such as New York City, some people don’t even notice a certain race exceeding another in the population. Since I have never been exposed to such diverse areas, it has been difficult to accept the statement that white people will not always be the majority. This being said, I certainly do not feel scared about the fact that the white race will not be the majority in the future. I think that the process of immigration and assimilation is one that will be gradual and take time. This process will take some getting used to but I don’t necessarily think it is a bad thing. I believe that people of color and other races will be given a better chance to succeed, such as getting hired for a job over a white person. Like Sam had mentioned once in class, white people with and without a criminal record have a better chance of getting for a job than a black person. Hopefully, with white people has the minority, unfair opportunities such as these will change in favor of equal opportunities for all races. Like I had mentioned before, I have been exposed to very little diversity growing up so I am eager to see how this may change things for me in the future.

I definitely don’t think that a person who hangs out with people from another race should be called a “poser.” The definition given for a poser on UrbanDictionary.com is “one who pretends to be someone whose not and who tries to fit in but with exaggeration.” I believe that most people choose who they want to hang out with based on personal choice and preference, not because they are pretending to be someone they are not. That being said, I primarily hang out with people that are the same race as myself. However, I wouldn’t totally consider this “personal choice” because I was not given a lot of opportunity’s growing up to the step outside my comfort zone and hang out with people of another race. I was raised in a primarily all white community, so I exposed to very little diversity until I got to college. On the contrary, if the situation were reversed and I grew up in the projects of New York City in a primarily black community, I would probably mostly hang out with people from a different race than mine. Since people of the same race have surrounded me during my upbringing, I naturally gravitate towards the white race subconsciously. However, I am very open to hanging out with people of all different races. In fact, I sometimes envy people that have a lot of friends outside their own race. I think you can learn a lot of interesting things from having friends of a different racial background than your own. I certainly don’t think that anyone that happens to join a group of friends that they felt connected to despite their racial differences is a “poser.” No matter whom you hang out with or what you do, there is always going to be people that will criticize you for your actions. I think that people need to be more open minded and accepting of different racial backgrounds. Since I’ve been at college, I have tried to broaden my horizons and be open to hanging out with people of racial differences. Friends should not be chosen based on what race they are but whom they are as a person. If you only choose you’re friends based on the color of someone’s skin, then you are forgetting to notice the things that are most important like their personality and values. I think it’s sad that some people are so close-minded that they will only associate themselves with people of their own race. People that disregard different racial groups other than their own are missing out on learning from people that are different and unique. I think that people are not “posing” by hanging out with different races, but in fact just hanging out with the people they get along with best and who make them happy. I think having friends of different racial backgrounds can open your eyes to a lot of things you may not have known otherwise.

As a female, I personally don’t always think the way you dress is reflective of the way you want to be treated. Sure, if you stand on a street corner, half naked in a mini skirt and stilettoes, you better expect to receive some nasty or perverted comments from male onlookers. As far as the way girls dress here at Penn State, I think the intentions of most young women are very different. To relate this to my own personal experience, I was a bit shocked when I came to Penn State and saw the way girls dressed when they went out at night. But soon enough, I found myself following the crowd and wearing a pair of heels and a dress out at night. The truth is… I just didn’t feel like I was dressed appropriately on a Saturday night next to other girls if I just wore my plain old jeans and a T-shirt. Now relating this back to the video, “Why do woman dress a certain way and want to be treated in a different way?” is a question that I believe can lead to false assumptions. I hope that wearing a dress and heels at night wouldn’t cause people to treat me differently. Whether I’m dressed in casual clothes, like jeans and a sweatshirt, or I’m dressed up going out to a party, I expect to be treated in both circumstances with the same respect. I simply dress the way I do to follow the fashion trends and culture that exists here at Penn State. However, I unfortunately know that it is a common occurrence to be misperceived and looked at a certain way by onlookers because of the way you dress. People make assumptions automatically based of the image you portray. For example, if you wear a short skirt, someone might assume you’re a slut. However, the same girl being called a slut may be much more conservative and reserved than the person passing judgment. If a girls expects to be treated with respect, even when she is dressed revealing, it shows that she has confidence in herself no one matter what others may think. I think that the way girls dress at Penn State is socially acceptable within to the environment and for the culture that exists, especially among sororities and fraternities. If you ever attend a frat party here at Penn State, don’t be surprised by the revealing clothes that almost every female is wearing. However, change the environment to a house party back at home, and this type of clothing would be completely not socially acceptable. In my opinion, as a woman, I don’t dress a certain way to be treated a certain way. I expect people to treat me the way I would like to be treated regardless of what I’m wearing.

I found this video extremely fascinating. The first thing that struck my attention was the positive attitudes that Brittany and Abigail had towards life and that they always try and make the best out of every situation. The challenges these two must every day is beyond my imagination. Instead of letting these struggles hold them back, they continue to persevere in life, like learning how to drive and furthering their education. I also respect them for declining any offers to participate in interviews or documentaries. I think they are trying to life normal and happy lives without the media exposing their every move to the public. As for the issue of free will vs. determinism, I unfortunately must say that determinism wins in this situation. Living as conjoined twins denies these two girls a lot of the freedom that other people have. Whenever one of the girls wants to do something, the other girl must agree as well to partake in. For example, if Brittany wants to take a shower in the morning, but Abigail wants to take a shower at night, they must compromise and come up with another time that works for both of them. They therefore have to agree on anything and everything from where they go, to the people they hang out with, to the activities they wish to participate in, to the time they want to go to bed. Although their bodies are conjoined, which is due to biological factors outside of their control, they still have two separate brains. This means they have the freedom to think whatever they want, voice their own opinions, and have their own beliefs. They have the freedom to express their feelings and seem to have a very supportive family that would encourage them to do that. One major freedom Brittany and Abigail don’t have it the ability to have any “alone time.” Personally, I think that this would be very hard for me to do. Sometimes when I’m with someone for a really long time, I get sick of them and need some time to just be by myself or hang out with other people. This is unfortunately is something these two girls will never be able to do. Clearly, a lot of factors in their life are automatically determined by the physical state of their body. Having intimate relationships will be another struggle Brittany and Abigail must face in life. Although they technically have the freedom to date whomever they want, determinism holds them back from being able to have what most people consider a “normal relationship.” Referring back to the issue of privacy, these girls will never be able to have any alone time with their partner, which is a very important factor in building relationships and making them stronger. Hopefully Brittany and Abigail will be able to overcome a lot of these struggles they face and live as normal as a life as possible.

It’s obvious that women have a lot more pressure than men to dress up, even if that means sometimes “sacrificing their own comfort.” Personally, this pressure increased a tremendous amount for me when I went to college. In high school, the typical outfit I wore out was a pair of uggs, jeans, and a sweater in the winter or flips-flops, shorts, and a t-shirt in the summer. It usually didn’t get any fancier than that unless I was going somewhere like a wedding or a graduation party. In college, I quickly noticed that most of the girls I saw at parties wore short dresses and heels. I felt out of place and unnoticed in my usual day to day clothing. Afterward, I went out and bought a few pairs of heels and some new outfits. However, while a majority of women at Penn State don’t dress in this way, I have also seen that some girls dress way too revealing and provocative to be out in public. In my opinion, there needs to be a balance between “dressing up” and “dressing classy.” I have discovered that I actually like to dress up and everything I wear is something I have chosen to wear, not something I “had” to wear. In high school, I would have looked ridiculous and felt uncomfortable if I wore heels and a dress to a casual house party. On the contrary, if the situation was reversed, and I wore a sweatshirt and jeans to college party, I would feel equally as uncomfortable. I have a lot of fun getting dressed up with my friends and helping pick each other’s outfits out. Sometimes I feel like I’m dressing up more for myself and my friends rather than for the guys to notice me. I’m not going to lie, at certain times it does feel nice when your outfits attracts the attention from a guy, but it’s not my number one reason for getting dressing up. A lot of my guy friends have even told me before that they think the way girls dress at Penn State can be a little over the top. Although this is probably true, girls continue to dress up every night they go out. I believe this is more due to the pressure to compete with other girls than it is to look good for the guys. When all your friends are wearing high heels and you have flats on, be prepared to for girls to question you on your shoe of choice that night. Guys don’t have to experience as much pressure because they typically only wear jeans and a t-shirt or button down when they go out. I think women are all pressured to dress a certain way, however I do think that every woman also has the choice to pick and choose what makes them feel the most comfortable. If they are wearing something that they feel completely uncomfortable in then that’s their fault and no one else’s.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that I do not believe in some of the stereotypes that exist today. Its hard not to stereotype a certain group of people based off of their religion or race. One stereotype I admit to having believed is that “all Asians are smart.” Of course I know that there are Asians whom aren’t that smart and don’t do well in school, or end up even going to school. However, whenever I go to the study lounge or the library it usually seems like the majority of students studying there are Asians. I especially notice this if I’m studying late at night for exams. Usually the study lounge will die down once people start going to bed, yet there is always a decent number of Asians that are still there studying when I leave in the wee hours of the morning. I think I came up with my own stereotype that Asians don’t sleep as much as other people. I know that this stereotype doesn’t pertain to all Asians and could very well be false, I just have noticed that a lot of them stay up later to study then most other students. One stereotype that I never heard about until I came to Penn State was that Jewish girls are “JAPs” or “Jewish American Princesses.” When someone said the word “JAP” in front of me for the first time I thought that they were referring to a Japanese person. I think its funny that stereotypes exist in certain places and not in others. I personally come from an area where mostly everyone is Christian or Catholic. I only knew a very small handful of Jewish people in my life before I came to Penn State. I have been told that the term “JAP” means that most Jewish girls are spoiled, materialistic, goldiggers, wealthy, high-maintence, and bitchy. However, I have made a lot of Jewish friends at Penn State and have not met one yet that seems to display any of these features “JAPs” supposedly have. Most of them seem to be down to earth and nice people. I do believe that often times you get to know a certain individual and realize that they are nothing like the stereotype you labeled them as previously. I think a lot of stereotypes exist at Penn State that aren’t very fair to the individuals to whom the stereotype applies. I guess stereotypes are never really fair anyway though. I also have heard through the grape vine most of my life that black people are “ghetto” or “hood.” Since I come from area where basically everyone is white, I was never completely convinced if this stereotype was true or not. Since I’ve been at Penn State I’ve discovered that black people are defiantly not all ghetto. In fact, from what I’ve seen I think most of them lean more towards not ghetto then ghetto. I think that some stereotypes are truer than the others, but they never can be completely true because each individual is different and unique.

My heart reached out for the Haitian people as I watched several videos of the entrepreneur projects taking place in their country. Although these videos are only a few examples of many, it really goes to show you how much we have here in the United States. These people are trying to make a living off of a very short supply of materials and finances. One video that really exemplifies a struggling entrepreneur project is the one featuring Euclid, a woman living in Haiti that is trying to make a living of off her “Boho” chic designer clothing. She runs her own business with the help of her husband, who delivers the clothing during the day after working his night job as a security guard. Unfortunately, she needs material that holds her paint better and a bigger office space with more than one single mannequin. Currently she is using half of her apartment for her clothing business, where she lives with her husband, daughter, and baby on the way. Euclid is constantly trying to improve her business with the little bit of resources and supplies she has access to. Anaes, another Haitian woman, designs and creates her own bags. She desperately wants her business to be successful and to sell her bags someday in the United States. She seems to be very eager to get any feedback on her bags and how she can improve her bags to make them more fashionable and marketable. I think these women need to be given access to contact other designers in the United States that could offer them advice on how to make their merchandise more affordable and to update them with the latest fashion trends and styles. This could greatly improve the business for an entrepreneur because it would provide them with an outside source of knowledge that could guide them in the direction of bettering their company.
Another video that really impacted me was the video on the conditions of the Christian Partners Church in Haiti right now. I couldn’t believe that the church had no roof and only one wall. These people desperately need a screened in structure build around the three walls to keep the mosquitoes out. After the earthquake, the parish was forced to relocate to another location. What surprised me the most was how many people still came to Sunday service despite the lousy condition the church was in. In the video the entire parish is singing along with a band, which only consist of a single man on drums and a woman singing at a microphone. Although these people don’t have a lot, they are still willing to come together as a community and look past the conditions that surround them. I think its great that Sam is having us get involved in these issues Haiti faces. Obviously Haiti’s economy needs improving and hopefully this project will be able to provide these entrepreneurs with the financial help they need. Hopefully, one-day things will go back normal for the Haitian people and being able to support themselves and their families won’t be such a struggle.

A lot of my family and friends were shocked when I surprised them with the big news... I had chosen to attend Penn State! Immediately some of my friends warned me that they were concerned Penn State would be too big and overwhelming. By this I mean that they were worried that I wasn’t ready to make the transition from a small beach town in New Jersey to a huge state college in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. As crazy as this may sound, my eighth grade graduating class only had eight students in it and since my town is only one square mile long, we had to combine with a neighboring town for our high school to have enough students adequate for normal size classes. Also, my friends though it would be hard to adjust to such a new and intimidating environment without knowing a single student that was attending the school. Yep, that’s right I was the only person in my high school that year would be attending Penn State in the fall. However, despite my friends concern, I actually excited to go to a college where most of the classes were bigger than the size of my high school graduating class. I was ready for go somewhere big, new, and nothing like anything I have ever experienced before. I was intrigued by the fact that I was going to spend the next for years of my life in a completely new and unfamiliar place.

One of the things I loved most about Penn State when I visited for the first time was the atmosphere and culture that exists amongst the school and its students. I quickly noticed the spirit and enthusiasm that all Penn State students possess. You can see it if you go to a Penn State football game and watch the students all come together, dressed head to toe in blue and white, and cheer for their school the entire game. You can see it if your ever lucky enough to attend Thon, a twenty four hour dance marathon, where thousands of students dance for endless hours to raise money for kids with cancer. Even before I attended my first freshman football game or danced at Thon, I could feel the spirit that’s present at Penn State. It made me feel like I wanted to be a part of something bigger then anything I was ever a part of before. Not only was this school excellent academically, but if offered me life changing opportunities. When I was done walking around campus, I knew Penn State was the school for me. Despite the fact that I was told I’d be better off somewhere smaller and closer to home, I cant stress enough the importance of making your own decisions. I choose Penn State because it allowed me to break away from my life at home and spread my wings somewhere that would push me to succeed.