The first thought I get from the topic of Haiti is suffering people. I automatically think of building rumble, dead bodies, and donating money. From the videos of what Haiti was like when it first happen, had a lasting effect on what I thought Haiti was going through. Honestly, I feel like people are slowly starting to forget about what happen to Haiti and donating to this cause. People aren’t as enthusiastic to donate their own money, but that’s what I have been seeing. I’m sure many people are still donating, but not as much anything. It is kind of like how Katrina victims were helped in the beginning but left to help themselves in the end.

Now that I see how Haiti is evolving into tent cities, I find it amazing how these people cope with what they have. I found it interesting that some people went without electricity before the earthquake, yet found ways to obtain it now after the earthquake. I also found it interesting that many people have services like beauty shops, cell phone charging, and movie businesses. It seems like it is beginning to thrive.

You would think if you didn’t have much, you wouldn’t waste your money to get a pedicure. These women get a pedicure more than I do in America. I can understand that the roads are dusty, but really? I’m sure everyone is looking for things to sell and make some money. I guess they have the idea correct about how to restart their economy in tents. The sad part is that they will continue to live in tents for years upon years since things are moving slow.

I also like the idea of the recharging cell phones. I find it hilarious. I wonder where they can find a place that involves them getting cell phone service. I mean, they can’t just go to an AT&T and ask to get phone service. I know it is very expensive to get cell phones in foreign countries, I can’t imagine this at all.

I am happy that the Haitians are finding ways to make money and still live. These people have suffered a great amount, yet they still sing and pray together. It brings hope to other countries or cities that face disaster. I hope Haiti will one day become as economically stable as they were before, even more so. What touched me the most was how these business people weren’t all about profiting, they were about helping each other too. They didn’t make it impossible to buy services and products and they worried about each other more so than Americans would do. I feel like sometimes people from the US forget how to show compassion towards one another. We forget that its not all about money in the end when there is great suffering. People didn’t become united until 9/11, for example. People bought American flags and propaganda after that event. Its sad that sometimes we need a great disaster to bring us together.

I was confused with the question being an answer. So to answer this question of what it means to be a woman, I think it has to do a lot with what we’re made of. Women have this way of being sensual. We have a way with the products that we use to the clothes we wear. We have the power to drive the opposite sex insane. Now if you take away body image, women are just as amazing. Women are able to make another human being. It’s weird enough that we carry this person inside of us for nine months. It’s weird to think that this person grows inside our bodies and is fed with what we eat too. What’s really odd is that our breast become a source of nourishment for them too…they fill up with milk.

My point is that women are able to do things that men aren’t made to do. Although we require food, sleeping, and grooming like men, there will be things that men would not ever be able to do. We are able to balance a family life with work life. We are able to cook, clean, do laundry, and more. I’m empowered to be a woman.

Hollywood has a way of making women into anorexic people. They pose unnatural airbrushed women on the front pages of popular magazine. These magazines also give stupid advice on how to look better or have a better sex life. I’m not dissing on magazines because I read them too but some women do not know how to decipher what real and what’s attainable. The Hollywood sense will always pose a glamorous light on women that are skinny. They are often ridiculed if they gain weight. For many women, we look at these women in the limelight and want to be just as attractive as them. We copy their products, style, and even food regiment. It’s sad that this trend doesn’t seem to die down with time. I’m not saying all Hollywood women that are successful are skinny. Look at Queen Latifa and Oprah. They offer women the option of being healthy and not unnecessarily skinny.

I guess the last part of this question is how our shape, size and features make us beautiful. I’m Asian but I was born with that fold so I don’t have to consider plastic surgery like many Asian women do. I have black straight hair that many people envy because I don’t have to do much to manage it. I also have olive skin so I don’t ever have to tan to get color. Its funny how everything that I have, I wanted the opposite at one point in my life. I used to want curly pretty hair and whiter skin. I feel like Asian people do not tan the same way as Caucasian people do. They get this bronze color that shimmers in the sun. We just get darker and the pigments don’t come out as nice. Every woman is beautiful in her own unique way.

First off, my first reaction to the “rape” game is that I found it funny. I’m kind of light-hearted. Like most games, I usually label it as a game. Nothing more. I think the game makers these days have to push the limit in order to sell games. If I had to opportunity to try this game, I would. My reaction would probably be the same. It was just for fun. That is just purely me being honest.

Now, going on to someone that takes this game seriously, I would take it differently. I mean to justify this game for a real rapist to allow him to release his real urge to rape is outrageous. I think they shouldn’t have mentioned that part because now there is a controversy among it.

Explain to me how this game is not as wrong as “Grand Theft Auto.” Is this game meant to allow people to release the urge to steal cars and beat people in the streets? Like I said before, it is just a game. Another good example are games that allow people to shoot other people and have the gory after math. It is as real as going to a war. Rape is real too.
I think there should just be a line that gamers can’t cross and that is acting upon the game like it was real.

I mean I could be contradicting myself but I am playing devil’s advocate. I’m sure you have to be a little sick-minded to create a game that allows people to graphically rape people. I’m sure you have also been sick-minded to create games that beat people and steal cars. Its all about people’s fantasy in the end and how they product these products to sell.

I wonder how well this game will sell now that it is in the mist of all this controversy. If anything, it will boost their sells secretly for all those sickos buying it. The Japanese aren’t the only game makers that have a sense of what is pushing the line of video games.
One can go against what I’m saying but it’s somewhat true.

I believe that if they are going to not release this game in the US, they are going to have to question all the other sexually contented and violent games they have out there already. There will always be people pushing the envelope in order to satisfy a gamer nation. People that write these blog responses stating that they wouldn’t be curious about the game are lying. If we had the game sampled during class, everyone would want to see what it was about. It gets people talking about what we allow in our society today.

I actually answered this question in class. I was the Asian American that picked the white Barbie doll over an Asian one. First off, I have to first say that during that time period, there weren’t any Asian influence or media circling around on children television. It was purely either white or black. I also grew up in the city where I learned at a young age how to be racist as a form of protection.

The story behind it is when I was a little girl; I used to ride my bike around the block in the City of Reading. The population in the area was changing from old white folks to Hispanic and African American people. I just remember the few times that I felt like they wanted me to hate them. For example, they would shout “ching chong ching” or push me off of my bike. I can remember that I learned to walk across the street if they were passing by me. I think it was a mixture of hatred and fear that I learned before I got out of the stage of playing with Barbie’s. I viewed them as ugly and the root of all-evil. I wouldn’t even think of buying a colored Barbie.

It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that they were people too. I had to reevaluate the type of people they were. It wasn’t just about black and white and what they looked like. It was the choice of character and ignorance that plagued my mind as a child. There was definitely a story behind my pick. I guess you can also place in consideration that most children will pick the white Barbie because they are more attractive to the eye. Barbie dolls aren’t real depictions of female humans.

Children have this effect where they base everything so honestly. They are prone to tell the truth for the most part about anything. Things have to change. They need to change fast. I wonder if children tested today would have the exact result of the one they had then. I mean we have popular young teenagers such as Hannah Montana and Selena Gomez in our media today. I am wondering about how much of an influence they have on today’s youth and their depiction of what is beautiful and what is bad.

There isn’t much more I can say about this subject besides just teaching our futures kids that culture and race are important to learn and distinguish what is good and bad through character, not color. I don’t feel bad about how I grew up because I have a better sense of good and bad and what it used to be like. I almost feel bad for those who don’t get to experience it in their own lives. It definitely taught me how to be a better person.

As an Asian-American student, I feel as though that our society under represents Asian people, not only in our classroom alone. If you look at famous celebrities, there aren’t many to look up. There aren’t many Asian role models in the United States.

It takes me back to the video we watched in class today about the little colored people that picked the white doll to play with. I can easily understand why they would because there aren’t any to look up to.

In terms of how the class doesn’t really emphasize on Asian students as much, I feel like Sam doesn’t always have time to touch base on every type of ethnicity. We are bundled up as colored people (brown). I can understand how he tries to relate to us as much as possible in terms of black and white and the issues in between.

Since I am an Asian American student, I can easily tell the difference between those that were born here and those who are born in their native country. Asian Americans definitely grow up differently from the natives. I have traditional Vietnamese parents that speak broken English. You would think I would grow up traditionally more Vietnamese but that’s not usually the case. Like many Americans, I grew up watching Barney and Rugrats. I played all American Sports like softball and basketball. I engaged with American friends and went to school with them my whole life.

Asian Americans that are born here dress differently. They walk differently and behave differently. Things that seem normal to the native Asian can be somewhat odd to the modern day American. For example, Vietnamese people eat chicken fetus and its perfectly normal. Most Americans would cringe at the idea of eating baby chickens.

But it goes the same with me going back to Vietnam. Although I’m full Vietnamese, I stuck out like a sore thumb in my Native country. They called me a tourist. They can tell by the way we dress and carry ourselves. But ironically, It’s how the sun effects our skin compared to those who have endured it for years over there. Many of them work in the fields or the market place so they are constantly in the sun from dust to dawn. For example, my face turned bright red being in that weather for the day. I’m not used to 100 degrees and up everyday.

So yes, it’s easy for me to tell if a student is Asian American or just Native Asian because I am the poster child of Asian American. I used to consider myself as white but I’ve learned over the years that its doesn’t reflect back in the mirror. If I were put in a room with a bunch of Asian people, I could tell easily if there were born in America.

When I first read hear about this article on Perez Hilton's page, I wondered what has come to the world. What century is it? I feel like people are not free to be themselves anymore. I feel like the gay community is continuously being beat and battered by our society. Its terrible enough that gay people cannot get married in most states, now they are taking away memories.

I feel bad for this girl because everyone is going to hate her. They are going to hate her because of her sexual orientation and her fashion choices. They are going to hate her because she wants to take a stand for her rights. They are going to hate her because they are canceling an important even in a high school student’s life. She’s going to look back at the fact that her own school that she has gone to for four years, tried to sabotage her prom. This girl has some courage to stand up to a whole school.

Everyone remembers his or her prom night, whether it was good or bad. They remember what they wore and how to styled their hair. It would be terrible to take that from someone who has waited to attend his or her senior prom. Why is it always Mississippi in the mist of these types of issues? Do all he conservative/sexist people gather in the same area so they can rule to their opinions? Obviously. I mean if it was that big of a deal, they should of only asked her privately to not attend, not cancel the whole prom. Either way, the school now has a bad reputation and a bunch of angry senior students and parents.

This issue has gained a lot of publicity and media over the last two weeks. I’m hoping that the school board will reconsider for the sake of gay couples everywhere. Its one more step for mankind. Also, I hope they reconsider so that girl doesn’t get a torch to her house or some other violent attack. This is also rise awareness among other people in surrounding areas. This school will lose a lot of credibility and hopefully students if they do not change their act. People need to get with the times!

If I were in her class, I’d probably feel bad for her. I’d probably blame the system. We were just get a different venue for prom. I’m sure they gave her different options like getting her date to go with a boy, and be “unofficial” dates at prom. The problem is that she wants to wear a tux. I hope the best for her and her situation with the school board. There are going to be many angry people if something isn’t done soon.

I find it very odd that there is not more of a mix of race and culture on “The Bachelor”. Out of 25 female contestants, twenty-three are Caucasian, one is Asian and one is Hispanic. With a more diverse America now than ever, shouldn’t we expect more diversity on a dating reality TV show like this as well?

Over The course of the past 14 season’s of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette“, the bachelor and bachelorette has always been Caucasian. This could be the reason for the lack of diversity of the contestants. Though interracial dating is a pretty acceptable thing now, most people are still more attracted to people that have a similar background and upbringing as their own. Casting the lead as someone other than white could open the door for contestants with more diversity. More people of different races will possibly want to send in applications for this show. More applications will hopefully mean more diversity in casting.

The lack of diversity on “The Bachelor” can be contributed to the viewing demographic. Watching the show’s “After the Final Rose” reunion show, I noticed that most of the audience at the taping were white females. In fact, I don’t remember seeing anyone in the audience that wasn’t a white female. With that observation, I believe most likely that the people tuning in to the show weekly are mostly Caucasian females. With that being the case, ABC would want to find women that their viewing audience can identify with. Viewers are usually more often likely to watch a show when there is a character that they can identify with. I know I do, I often root for the smallest player in sports and the Asian contestant on Jeopardy.

It seems like dating shows that have an African American (Flavor Flav, Ray J.) or Asian American (Tila Tequila) as the main bachelor or bachelorette are these really trashy, reality cable shows. Though these shows can be highly entertaining at times, unfortunately; the entertainment comes from these contestants being complete disasters. These shows usually shed a negative light on the participants. Physical fights, over the top promiscuity, and alcohol abuse is often shown on these shows. These shows do have a more diverse cast of contestants than that of “The Bachelor’s”.

A dating show that positively highlights an African American, Hispanic American, or Asian American is long due. The bachelor or bachelorette seems to always be a successful, educated, attractive, and well spoken Caucasian. The contestants of the show are usually also successful and attractive people as well. I think it is time that the show has someone of diversity take center stage and hopefully help certain viewers shed some stereotypes of race.

I think people today are more concerned about themselves. They are more concerned with what is going on today in his/her life or his/her future. It could be the fact that people feel that they are not directly involved in this genocide. I don’t think that people don’t care about the history of the Native Americans but I think people don’t know much about it. There aren’t any spear-headed campaigns or classes teaching younger children/young adults about the history of how the United States came about.
To be honest, most people won’t lose any sleep over this issue. I think media has done a great job hiding the issues of the Native Americans and made it the “past.” They make it seem that it’s not a problem now but how the white man came to power. When people put events in the past, no one really looks at the event as seriously as it were to be the in the present. I personally never really thought about Native Americans and I never questioned why I didn’t run into them more often. I feel like I almost forgot the race in general until Thanksgiving rolled around. Even then, I had a distorted view on what Native Americans were.
I remember a white male student explaining about the genocide of Native Americans was more of a “survival of the fittest.” In order for our nation to be a democracy, we had to get to take over the land of others. We had to take their land so we can advance in our lives. The whole question of “What happens to the Native Americans?” doesn’t come in effect. They call the United States “the land of the free.” Well, the land wasn’t really free without stepping on other people.
There isn’t much light shed on their issue. The Native Americans are now forced to live in poverty-stricken reservations that seem to revolve around self-destructive behavior. The Native American women have a higher risk of getting sexually abused and the men are more prone to become alcoholics or commit suicide according to the poles among other race ethnicities. They have suffered for so long but it seems like our society just brushes them off. If I really look into what really happened, I do feel bad. I feel bad about what they been through and how they are treated now. But I’m not going to look at the issue from the past but try to look at the issue in a sense of what we can do about it.
I think in order to understand them more; we could educate others by having more historical classes for younger students and High School students. They should use the public school district to their advantage and get their story out. Native Americans are trapped in a situation where they feel that they will be in poverty forever. This reminds me of the movie “District 9.” What happen were aliens landed in the USA and the US felt that they wanted to help these creatures. They piled these creatures in a “reservation” where they were barricaded and had houses made of cardboard and such. They mistreated them and try to destroy their way to get home. I feel like these Native Americans have no home to go.

Lesbians are more socially accepted in our society today. If anything, women are cheered on when they are lesbians. Female sexuality in general is more relaxed. Women are more sensual and are more prone to showing their emotions than just keeping it inside. Gay men in our society are split in terms of acceptance. I feel like it depends on the area of where you live. Men tend to prance around and act like they are strong emotionless humans. When gay men are publically emotional or “girly,” feel like some straight guys feel uncomfortable and insecure. I have heard many times that straight men fear being hit on by a gay man. I would just like to reiterate that if a gay man hits on you (straight dude), it means you look good. It shouldn’t be a factor in treating people as people.
It’s sad that I have to look at where the gay men or women live to prove acceptance. It’s sad that they must go to the West coast to gather and feel free. In a conservative mindset, gay men are less accepted of their lifestyle because men are known to be manly men that are aggressive. I’m not stating that all men are girly and aren’t aggressive, but they can be more feminine than some real woman. Gay men are in ahead in the fashion world. They become great creative designers and have better taste than most people. They are constantly being challenged by others because of their sexual orientation. What if people want only gays in the fashion world? They seem to have more credibility than some straight people. What would our society be like?
I agreed with Sam’s statement that we would have a population problem if we everyone was straight. We need gay people so we can’t overpopulate a crowded world. I read in the newspaper about how gay men get killed for their sexuality and it isn’t going to ever go away. Gay woman rarely get killed for their sexuality, especially in the United States. I think our society always have conservative people that go by the Bible and say that gay people are wrong in general, whether they are lesbian or gay.
In conclusion, I feel like people will always hate other people for one thing or anything, whether it is religion, race, sexual orientation, and many others. People tend to make up excuses to not like one another, especially if you don’t think the same way. People tend to hang around people or befriend them if they have the same views and opinion on how our society should be run. Lesbians (girls) will always be more acceptable in our society than gay men because of the double standard rule.

I have never really thought of the idea that maybe one day, someone would be the last to speak a language that existed many centuries ago. I never thought that the ways we communicate could be so important and I feel like I have taken it for granted. We come from a world where technology is becoming more advance faster, where old communication channels are being challenged. For example, social networks that include Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and many more make it much easier to type what we want than actually say what we want. We tend to hide behind this new knowledge of technological advances.
It would be a devastation to be the last of your tribe. Your culture, language, and live history are perishing when you do. I wonder what it would be like if the English language one day disappeared. I wonder if it is ever possible. The world we once knew would be diminished without anyone actually knowing what to think of it. I guess many languages are slowly disappearing as dominant languages are taking over the world. In fifty odd years, most people will be speaking English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese soon. It would be sad if my cultural language were to disappear.
I grew up talking to my parents in Vietnamese and slowly develop a sense of pride in speaking it. I was once told that I speak at a first grade level where my sentences are short and simple. I would like to one day expand upon my language in order to sound more intelligent and be able to understand my parents better. It’s hard having a language barrier to begin with.
The idea of a language being past down from generations is intriguing. I wonder how the woman communicated with the other people since there were so many surrounding her. I think the language could have made it to another generation but no one took the initiative to preserve it. She wouldn’t have had a lonely life then. She would have a better purpose in her culture. I mean, I’m sure it took her tribe many years or even a century to develop her language. It’s hard to imagine losing what’s left of it and not being to re teach it to anyone else.
In conclusion, it’s a sad story but what are words anyways. They are made up sounds that have made up meanings. These meanings become sentences that involve grammar. It’s a long process. It just takes too long to spread it from generation to generation. I’m not saying that this particular language doesn’t matter. I ‘m just reiterating the fact that languages come and go through history. It even dates back to the ancient pyramids times. It’s a nature occurrence when preservation isn’t achieved.