It’s hard to say what I would do if I were a victim that was silenced because I’ve never been in any sort of situation like that. It’s hard to imagine myself in a victim’s shoes. I could say that I’d speak up immediately and tell authorities if I was being violated; however, in reality it takes a lot of courage to speak out about things like that. Whether its embarrassment or fear, speaking about those things is super hard. I feel that at times, when people are victims to sexual assault, they have so much trouble coping with it and speaking out that they almost try to convince themselves that what happened to them was okay. It’s becomes easier to just try and forget about it then it would be to actually speak out and tell someone. With this recent scandal that has been going on, I am honestly shocked that not one of the victims mentioned in the case had ever spoken out before. You would think that at least one of them would have said something to someone. I cannot believe that none of the victim’s parents never knew about it or said anything. When the scandal came out I immediately was like “oh my god if that was happening to me I would for sure have told someone”, but it’s easier said than done. It’s surprising because it really goes to show that many victims in cases like this never tell anyone their stories and keep it to themselves, internally suffering. It’s really such a shame the amount of people who are victims that never feel that they can speak out or tell anyone. I read an interesting article today comparing the Sandusky case to the recent case at Syracuse concerning the basketball coach. I feel that people are not lashing out about the Syracuse case nearly as much as they did about the Penn State Scandal and I’m wondering why. The article mentioned that one of the victims in the Syracuse case had called the wife of the man who was doing the abusing, and told her about what was happening to him and the wife said she had known about everything that her husband was doing. Why is this information coming out now? Why didn’t this man’s wife tell someone or stop her husband from what he was doing? It is so sickening, and to think that the victim in this case had spoken out and nothing was done about it is absolutely horrible. Sometimes victims hesitate to speak out because they may feel that nothing will be done if they speak out and this reaffirms that thought. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the poor victims.

I believe that the world’s view of Penn State as a University and the students that attend school here has literally taken a 180 degree turn with recent events being broadcasted throughout the news and media. Everyone at this school is deeply saddened by the recent scandal and even more so saddened by the backlash from the public that is not only directed at the individuals involved in the case but harshly directed at the students. I completely understand that some who don’t go to Penn State could view our student body as idiotic because of the unnecessary riots; however, I have seen countless statuses on Facebook and comments on twitter attacking our student body that are completely uncalled for: statuses such as “F YOU PENNSTATE” and “WE ARE....child molesters”. It’s so hurtful to see people saying these things. People are acting as if we, the students of Penn State, have had something to do with this whole scandal. It’s very disheartening to see so many people seem happy to see Penn State fall. It’s like they’re happy that Penn State no longer has such a good reputation and see our name get flushed down the toilet. The recent events are being blown up to such a large scale that even big name sponsors of THON have been pulling out their donations because they don’t want to be associated with anything Penn State. Also, I’ve heard other students say that they know people whose potential internships and job offers have been revoked due to the recent scandal. That’s probably the most heartbreaking part about this whole thing. The students are not only disappointed in the University for the actions that have taken place, but now they have to deal with their own futures being potentially ruined due to the actions of a few individuals. Now I’m not saying that I would want to work for a company that wouldn’t want me because I attended Penn State. In all honesty, I would be disgusted if someone that I was going to potentially work for had revoked my opportunity due to recent actions because that is completely wrong to take it out on the students. I could understand if my opportunity was revoked because I was the idiot who knocked over the news van or threw rocks at a reporter because those actions are wrong but taking this out on innocent students just trying to graduate and get a job is wrong. Despite all of the criticism from outsiders, I hope that as a student body we can eventually rebuild the trust, moral integrity, and image of Penn State that we all know and love and show the world what our Penn State family is truly about.

I do not believe that the amount of money one has should define their happiness. I do not think that money determines whether you are happy or not but it plays a role for sure. People always try and make a point that they can be happy without money. You could have all the money in the world and still be an unhappy person. I am fortunate to have a home and enough money to go through school and to buy the things that I want, but on any given day I could be unhappy. The issue with money and happiness is that a sense of greed is instilled upon our culture. Our world has become so focused on money that it’s almost inevitable to not let it affect you or your happiness. Anyone could be happy with a simple bed to sleep in but it gets to the point where people begin to compare themselves to others and the amount of things and money others have. People look up to those who are famous and filthy rich and wish to have the same things as they do so they become unhappy with their situation. It’s hard not to compare yourself and your own financial situation to others. Sometimes you hear people say that they have met homeless people who are the happiest people in the world and that may be true but at the same time you can’t tell me that these homeless people wouldn’t be that much happier if they had a home or a place to sleep at night. I feel that anyone can find happiness in their current situation, but having money and being able to the buy the things you want or need can enhance your happiness. You can learn to be happy with what you have, but you’re always left wanting more. Sometimes people use money with the exact purpose of achieving happiness. For example, retail therapy shows that people can find happiness simply from buying something and having the money to be able to do so. It’s instant gratification that you get when you can buy something that you want. Money produces temporary happiness. But it’s sort of crazy to think about how the entire world revolves around money. Everyone goes to school in order to become educated so they can get a job and make money. People go to work every single day, usually not because they want to but because they want money. Everything costs money. In order to stay healthy, it costs money. In order to eat, it costs money. So pretty much you need money to survive and if you don’t have money to do so then you probably aren’t happy.

I personally do not think that Illegal immigrants are a huge issue that we should be concerned about. I feel that Illegal immigrants should be allowed to come to the United States because in my opinion their benefits outweigh the problems that they may cause. I feel that illegal immigrants are important because they are willing to work hard for wages much less than the typical American would be paid and most of the time they are fulfilling less desirable jobs that Americans would not take. Whatever the job may be, it has to be done and these people are coming to the United States willing to work hard and do whatever they can so they can have a better life. If Americans aren’t willing to do these jobs, then who is supposed to do it? However, an issue with allowing illegal immigrants to come to into the United States is that while most illegal immigrants come to the United States with good intentions, it is impossible to know whether these people coming here are actually here to work and to get a better life or if these people coming over might possibly be terrorists, spies, or have the intention of harming our country. I think that the U.S. government puts way too much effort and money into catching illegal immigrants and companies who hire them when they could be allocating this effort towards far more pressing issues. I do not believe that an illegal immigrant should have to be deported unless they are actually doing harm in some way. I can understand if an immigrant had committed a crime or is a suspected terrorist but sending innocent and hardworking people back to the place where they escaped is wrong. If they are coming here with good intentions and willing to work then I don’t see the problem with allowing them to stay here. I have actually experienced working with illegal immigrants before. During high school, I worked as a waitress at a local pizza shop in my town. The shop was owned by an Italian man and his brother and nephew worked there as well. The other 3 guys that worked at the pizza shop as cooks were all illegal immigrants from Guatemala. After a while working there, I got to know these 3 guys and they were actually the most hard working and deserving people I have ever met. They felt comfortable enough to tell me their stories about how they came to the United States illegally. The owner of the shop had brought them over from Guatemala to help them escape. He paid them good wages; however, these guys worked 6 days a week, from 10 in the morning until 11 at night. They only got one day off and they never once complained about how much they worked. I could not believe how hardworking they were and it sort of changed my perspective on the whole illegal immigration situation towards being in favor of allowing it.

I think that this question is very interesting. It seems as though he’s implying that women dress slutty yet they want to be treated with respect. I, personally, do not think that the way I dress should have any impact on the way someone treats me. Unless I am wearing something completely inappropriate, I do not think that what I wear should define the respect I get from other people, nor do I expect it to. I do not go out at night in a short dress and heels expecting to find a boyfriend or a respectable guy. I also don’t go out at night wearing a dress and heels to send the message that I’m “down to f***”. Unless I’m going out in lingerie or a straight up bra, I don’t understand what would give such a message. Why do guys think that we’re dressing slutty yet expecting respect? A lot of guys here at Penn State are not looking for anything serious and go out every single night with the mind set and mission of getting with as many girls as they possibly can. For guys, getting with as many girls as possible seems to make them cooler amongst their friends; while on the other hand, if a girl goes around getting with a million guys then she’s considered a slut. In my opinion, the guys today are partly to blame for all these girls trying to “dress to impress” with their miniskirts and high heels. In all honesty, a guy cannot truthfully say that at a party he’d choose a girl in sweatpants and sneakers over a girl in a small dress and heels. I’m not saying that this is what girls should wear to grab a guy’s attention, but that’s essentially what the guys go after. It all goes back to how the world is man-centered. We could turn this question around and say why do guys dress a certain way and expect to be treated another way? Guys around here dress fairly casual with jeans and comfortable shoes and they expect to get tons of attention from girls. And the girls give them this attention that they seek because they are constantly longing to be complimented and liked. If it wasn’t a man-centered world, girls would expect guys to be dressed nicely and then they could give them their attention. However, it is not and never will be a woman-centered world because this is the way it has always been. In the generation we’ve grown up in, there has been such emphasis on “what to do to grab a guy’s attention” or “how to make yourself look hot”. It’s inevitable that girls today will want to get dressed up and look good when they go out.

I’ve actually seen this movie of the conjoined twins before. One of my friends showed it to me. However, it never ceases to amaze me. I feel like many people do not know that there are people in the world that actually live like this. Like the mom said in the video, she didn’t want to publicize it and the girls didn’t want to go on talk shows so not many people are aware of their story. I cannot imagine what it is like to live life like that, conjoined to your own sister. This is an interesting video to apply to the freedom vs. determinism debate because these two girls clearly don’t have their own freedom. Due to something that happened during their birth (determinism), these girls have no individual freedom what so ever. It’s so crazy to think about the fact that they can never make a choice on their own because the other twin will always be involved with their choices no matter what. When it comes to making a decision on a daily basis, how do they even decide what they’re going to do when each twin has different opinions, wants, and needs? They must have to mutually come to a decision because they obviously can’t do two separate things. These girls do not have the opportunity to choose where each of them want to go to college because they cannot go different places. They have to choose the same career path because clearly they can’t be two places at once. Their dating life is a whole other obstacle. How are they ever going to date someone or get married? Will they have one husband or two? How will they ever have intimate relations with their partner? These girls probably face so many obstacles on a daily basis. Not even just physical obstacles but social obstacles as well. They probably have to deal with so many people staring at them on daily basis just because they are different. As a mother, I don’t know if I could let my child go through that. It would be heart wrenching to watch these girls struggle with every little task in life. I feel that their mother did the best thing she could possibly do. She kept a lot of information private and didn’t expose everything to the world. And she’s right; she doesn’t owe the world an explanation. These girls can never have privacy since they are conjoined and they surely don’t need the entire world taking their privacy from them. It’s so sad to think that these girls can never have a special moment all to themselves. Determinism has shaped these girls lives and diminished their freedom forever.

If it were the first day of school at Penn State and my new roommate were to tell me that they were gay, I would feel a little uncomfortable about it straight off the bat. I’ve met tons of gay people throughout the last couple years but I’ve never been in situation where I have to live with someone who is gay. My ex-boyfriend actually had an older brother who was gay and a younger sister who was lesbian so I’d be over his house hanging out and his sister would have her girlfriend over or his brother would have his boyfriend over. At first, I felt a little weird about it but I got used to it so quickly and I never thought anything of it. I never looked at his brother or sister differently because it didn’t faze me that they were gay. I would go on family vacations with his family and sometimes I would share a room with his sister because his parents obviously didn’t want us to share a room. I felt a little weird about it but I never thought that she would like try hit on me or anything. However, if I actually had to live with another girl that I knew was lesbian, it may be a little weird. I would definitely feel awkward if my roommate were to have a girlfriend and she would sleepover in our room. I also would probably feel awkward changing in front of my roommate if she was lesbian. Other than that, I think I’d be fine with it because it’s not like you and your roommate share a bed or anything. However, you never know how you would actually react to a situation until you are faced with the actual situation yourself. If my current roommate were to tell me that they were lesbian after living with them for all this time, I would be extremely shocked. My roommate and I lived together last year and we still live together this year and we are best friends. If she were to one day tell me that she was lesbian, I would definitely feel uncomfortable about it and I would be surprised that I never noticed any signs. I would probably think of all the times that I’ve changed in front of her or slept in the same bed as her and stuff. But if you lived with someone for a whole year, I feel like you would at least see some red flags and have a little idea that they are gay so it wouldn’t be as shocking when they told you. If my current roommate were gay, I would be okay with it but it would definitely put some awkward tension in our relationship just because I’m already so close to her and not knowing that she was lesbian is kind of a big deal.

In the world today, I feel that an attractive woman can be so easily misconstrued as innocent just because being beautiful is thought of as “good”. After watching the bike theft video in class, it further confirmed my beliefs that an attractive woman can get away with so much. This “innocence” that women portray may be due to the fact that male figures have always been viewed as the “stronger” gender. Therefore, people are led to believe that because men are viewed as stronger than women, that a woman isn’t capable of committing any violent or criminal acts. Clearly, from the videos we watched in class, you can see that an attractive woman can actually get away with theft and even get help from random strangers while stealing. As crazy as this may sound, this actually happens every day in the world. I am a strong believer that women can get away with a lot more than men can. For example, I’ve heard so many stories of women crying their way out of speeding tickets or flirting with authority figures to get out of trouble. However, if it was a man getting pulled over for speeding and he cried to the police officer, I highly doubt that would go over well.

Now for the second portion of this question, I believe that certain races are unfairly seen as more innocent as others. From the video you can tell that the black boy was certainly questioned a lot more than the white boy was. I’ve actually seen a video very similar to this one before that portrayed the same thing. Instead of stealing a bike, it was 3 white boys vandalizing and jumping on a car in a park. Several people walked right by and some people stopped them and asked what they were doing but no one really did anything about it. However, there were a couple of black teenagers sleeping in a car nearby, and 2 different people called the cops saying the black teenagers looked like they were about to rob someone. I was actually shocked. I think that black people are viewed as more violent and criminal simply because of stereotypes of “the hood” and bad areas where people grow up which is completely unfair. I also don’t think it’s fair that white people are seen as innocent compared to Muslim people simply because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There have been many incidences of white people involved in bombings and such; however, they are not looked at any differently. But in the case of Muslims, most people look at all of them as terrorists simply because of one incident. I would be interested to see an Asian person or a Hispanic person in the bike theft video and see what would happen and how people would react in those situations.

Watching some of the videos on the world in conversation website about the entrepreneurs in Haiti made me really excited to be able to take part in this project. I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to take this sociology class and be a part of something that truly matters. For most classes in college you will have papers to write and projects to complete; however, this project is unique in the sense that it is presenting us students with real-life issues and asking us to do something about it. It really opened my eyes to watch these people working so hard and trying to make it in a struggling country. These people are not only working to support themselves but they are creating potential jobs for others because they need more people to help with their businesses. From the videos I watched, it seemed as though one of the most common struggles was the issue of obtaining materials. One of the first entrepreneur videos that I watched was Madame Lamour’s video about her floral arrangements. She has such a talent but struggles to obtain materials in bulk so she is limited on how much she can make. If she could somehow get more materials, she would be able to produce a lot more. Perhaps having materials shipped in bulk from the United States could be an option, but she does not speak English so it is hard for her to communicate. Also, she needs a marketing strategy in order to expand her business. Another video that I watched was Euclid’s clothing designs. She is an amazing artist who paints from her imagination straight onto clothing. I found it interesting when she said that her main customers were people who worked in banks and the government because here in the United States, the typical office wear is much different. In another video, a woman named Figaro explains her pastry business. She spoke about the issue of transporting the pastries because sometimes it costs more money to transport them than it does to even make them. I really enjoyed the videos of Figaro because I got an up close look of how her business is but also an inside look at the living conditions in her home. All of these people have so much talent and skill, they just need some help to expand their businesses and make them more productive. Also, they are in need of some more technology and things to make their business more efficient and organized. I am so amazed that these people already do so well with their businesses despite all of the things they are lacking which we are so used to having here in the United States. I cannot wait to see which entrepreneur my discussion group gets paired up with and I’m excited to start brainstorming ideas on how to help these people. I hope to really make an impact with this project and help these people get what they need.

There are many reasons that I chose to continue my education here at Penn State University. What originally sparked my interest in coming to college here was actually because of my best friend’s older brother. When we were sophomores in high school, he was starting his freshmen year here at Penn State. I would come up with her and her family to visit him about twice a year. Her family would throw these amazing tailgates and I got a taste of the Penn State football experience early on. Every time I would come up to visit I grew to love this place more and more. To me, it just felt like the perfect college experience. The geographic location also played a large role in my decision. Penn state is only 3 hours away from where I live at home so it wasn't too far away yet it's not so close that I can go home all the time, which I like. I really enjoy being on my own and independent and I feel like if I went to a school closer to where I live at home, then I’d go home more often and wouldn't have the same experience that I'm getting here at Penn State.

Back home, I attended a large high school in which I graduated with 800 other kids. My high school also had a lot of school spirit and an awesome football team as well and Penn State is known for both of these things. The school spirit and pride that Penn State has could make anyone fall in love with the school. Granted, Penn State has over 40,000 kids; however, I knew for sure that I wanted to go to a big university because I always love meeting new people. At smaller colleges, you get to know everyone pretty quickly and then sooner or later everyone knows each other. I feel like here at Penn State every day is an adventure because there’s always someone new to meet. It’s such a diverse campus with an interesting mix of people and there are endless opportunities.

Another reason why I chose Penn State is because the business school here is awesome. I knew that I definitely wanted to do something in business and not only does the business school at Penn State have a great reputation but it’s beautiful as well.

Back to the whole reputation thing, Penn State is widely known as a great academic school. Despite all of the party school rankings, it is still known as one of the best universities in Pennsylvania. When people ask me where I go to college and I reply with "Penn State", they respond by saying "Really? Wow! Main campus? “. People are usually surprised when I say I go to main campus. I guess it is sort of a social status kind of thing because it is actually pretty tough to get into Main Campus. It's nice to hear the reactions of others being so surprised and impressed when I tell them where I go to school.