First off I want to say that I am so glad that I chose to take this class. I wasn’t going to, since it doesn’t satisfy any of my requirements but after hearing the great reviews about Sam I thought that it would be a good idea. This class completely opened up my mind about a lot of things, maybe even about more than just races and enthnicities. I enjoyed going to class and can honestly say that it was one of the only classes in my life so far that I actually looked forward to going to. I like how Sam, even though he obviously has his own opinions and views, many times talked about both sides of every argument. First he would talk about one view point on it, and he would turn the tables and make you think about it from a completely different perspective and viewpoint. That helped me open up my mind, and really think about the issues that we were talking about instead of just being focused on the viewpoint that Sam thinks is right. The one thing that really stands out in my mind when I think about soc 119, which related to the recent lecture is how I feel about Muslims. I didn’t realize that, or never really thought about, how I felt about them as a whole. I remember this past summer I was on a plane, connecting flight going from Poland to Germany, and I was traveling alone. Two Middle Eastern or Muslim (or so I assume) men were sitting next to me, and I cannot deny that I in fact did feel a bit uncomfortable. After taking this class, I realized, why do I group them together and think that they are all bad people and terrorists? It makes absolutely no sense. Then when I thought even more, I realized that I don’t know much about their culture at all. I used to date a Muslim boy back in high school, however he wasn’t middle eastern but instead from eastern Europe, Albania. And throughout our relationship, I just thought that I knew so much about his religion when in fact I know very little. I learned that I can’t do that anymore, and cannot just assume. We are all humans. Another thing that stands out in my head regarding races that I learned in this class is the part about Native Americans. I had no idea that this crisis was going on, with the extremely poor reservations. I did not even know that these type of reservations even existed. I learned that even though the world and this country is apparently “equal” it isn’t all that equal and that your skin color does effect many decisions and choices that you have to make in your life.

Being a part of this scandal, and actually living trough and experiencing many of the events that have been happening around campus regarding this scandal brought up many different emotions in me. Many of the emotions include disgust, confusion, anxiety, fear, and above all disappointment. But besides these emotions, its caused me to think about my life as a Penn Stater and my identity and how I feel about my affiliation with my school. Since I do actually identify with Penn State so strongly, it makes me think about how others will view me when I go back home and not at Penn State anymore, with others similar around me. From the riots, I have learned that violence and loudness will not solve any issues. The videos that I have looked at that the media caught of us were slightly embarrassing. I am all for rioting a bit, showing the community how we feel, but violence, such as tipping over media vans that are worth probably millions of dollars is not the answer. Because of those ten or fifteen extreme rioters, Penn state is looked at as if every person were exactly like them, which is not true. Same goes for the entire school and Sandusky. We are not Sandusky, we ARE Penn State. This also showed me the perfect example of an anarchy. The board of trustees fired Joe Paterno and extreme emotions were suddenly boiled inside of students. This caused people to go out and rage on the streets and give the media a chance to portray us as rape supporting animals. Therefore, from all this I would take back going to the riot and it showed me that sometimes even though you can be angry, you need to step back let things soak in and really think to yourself if the decisions you are about to make are necessary and appropriate. Looking back, people shouldn’t have rioted and we should have let the firing of Joe Paterno process in our minds before going out and being violent. And this goes for every situation that I am faced with in life. Instead of letting my anger take over me, I need to step back and think before letting my emotions rule and control me. In addition, this entire scandal showed me that you can never really judge anyone because many times you don’t understand until you are in their shoes. People who are not Penn Staters look at some of us with disgrace by the actions we pursued in regards to this scandal, but what we think is that they don’t understand how we feel about Joe Paterno, while we wouldn’t understand how others would feel about something else that we are not apart of. So in conclusion, I would like to get more involved with Penn State and promoting this amazing school and showing people what we are made of.

In my opinion, Penn State students reacted in the way that I predicted they would. The patriotism and pride that Penn State has is enormous. Every day I walk down the street and see almost every person with some type of Penn State gear on. Even people that don’t attend Penn State, such as some of my friends from home, have Penn State attire of some sort. We are a huge school and when something as big as this scandal occurs, it is expected that there will be outrage this big. The things that I saw at this riot were unreal. It really shows how much people care about not only Joe Paterno, but Penn State in general. It kind of makes me happy in some way that I go to this great amazing school. Like Sam said in class: Penn State isn’t JUST Penn State. It’s bigger than that. I see Penn State as my home away from home, and it only feels weird when I’m actually home in my hometown because I am not here. The events of this past week have been unbelievable and it is mind boggling that something this big can just blow up so quickly in such a short period of time. Last week, everything was pretty much perfect, and all in one day everything comes crumbling down. Penn State football had one of the cleanest slates in all of college football across the nation, and now the tables have turned. Things turned so bad so quick, and all of a sudden all of twitter and facebook are talking about Penn Staters and obviously most are negative comments. It breaks my heart that this school which had a spectacular reputation just a few days ago can be turned around so quick because of some pervert. My acquaintances from home have been posting very negative things about Penn State, and saying that it must “suck to be a Penn Stater.” Also, the media did an awful job portraying us, which is also understandable. Watching some of the clips that were on television about the riots Wednesday night, it is no wonder that people are thinking that Penn Staters are crazy and that in some way we support child molestation. Obviously this is not true, and no one understands what Joe Paterno means to this university. So it may seem as if we are being ignorant and unreasonable but it is just that others aren’t part of this community and simply do not understand. However I do believe that some of the acts that occurred during the riot were completely uncalled for. The tipping of the news van and the street lights was horrible. It is embarrassing and disappointing for me as a Penn State student to know that these are my peers who are acting in this violent manner and therefore letting the media and everyone across the country portray us in this way. It is understandable that these events will lead people to have strong opinions of us, and I just hope that this all can begin to go in a better direction and hopefully we can turn this around and show the world what Penn State truly stands for and redeem ourselves.

I don’t necessarily think that it’s just Americans that don’t want to do the hard labor jobs, it’s really anyone. I’m assuming that by hard labor he means construction, interior and exterior painting, landscaping, etc. I know many white Americans that are involved in those types of jobs. My parents and I are immigrants in this country and my father is currently a painting business owner and does decorative painting on the inside and outside of homes. However, it was a long road to where he is now. We came to this country and had basically nothing. My dad owned a shoe store back in Poland, so he had some type of knowledge about the business world, but it didn’t end up working out for him so we moved. He got involved in a painting company when we first got here. It was pretty much the easiest thing that he could have done. He didn’t speak English, but soon realized he had some sort of talent in the painting area and decided to stick with it. It wasn’t until many years later that he started his own company. So from that, I conclude that these hard labor jobs are open to everyone, but the reason why many immigrants do it is because it’s the easiest to get involved with without knowing the language and being new here. Many other Americans go to college and earn degrees, so of course they will not go out and landscape people’s homes. People that have degrees spend so much money on their education and put years of their lives to studying so they can get a white collar job and not have to do hard labor work for the rest of their lives. Lots of hard labor ruins health, and makes people work physically for a long time, and many times with low pay. If you are an immigrant but work hard at what you do, you can succeed and better your life, like my dad did. He worked very long hours at first, to the point where I used to see my dad very little, since he left before I was up for school and came home very late evening. Finally, after years of hard work and determination, he gained the respect from his first boss, and went through so much to where he is now and now he supports a family of four just by himself; my mom is currently not employed. This just shows how if you do put your mind to it, you can work your way up in America and be who you want to be and make the money you want to make. Maybe the reason why so many Mexicans are still in those low paying, physical jobs is because they don’t work hard enough to get out of them, or start their own businesses or do something else completely. I understand that success stories don’t happen to everyone, but they do happen.

This is kind of an ironic question to begin with since the United States is a huge melting pot filled with thousands of different cultures, races, and religions. Immigration is what created this country, so how can one say that they don’t like immigrants living here? Also what does it exactly mean to be an “American?” If you’re not an immigrant then that means that someone in your family, whether it was parents or grandparents or even someone two hundred years ago that immigrated here for a better life. If they had not immigrated here, chances are you wouldn’t be here either. I may be a little biased on this topic though because I’m an immigrant myself. My parents decided to move to America from Poland when I was six for more economic opportunity. However, I can see why people do get frustrated with immigrants, especially illegal ones. Many illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes yearly, however still have their kids attend public schools, which is unfair to the citizens and permanent residents obviously. Maybe people are concerned that illegal immigrants are taking away jobs, since they will work for extremely low wages as long as they are employed, leaving other citizens with less job opportunity. Another reason why people can get frustrated with illegal immigrants is because many are still very accustomed to their culture from their native country and don’t conform to American norms. Many don’t know the language and struggle to communicate with others, and can make employees frustrated and make their jobs a bit harder while trying to understand what the immigrants are saying. If immigrants don’t directly affect you in your daily life, there is no reason from not liking them. Without them, America would essentially not exist. It also makes it more interesting and different than any other country in the world that we have so many cultures around us on a normal basis. It allows us to learn about other cultures, while people that live in other countries rarely are surrounded by people of different races, unless it’s in a large city. I find it very easy to get along with people of different cultures, and I generally really like to. My friends that still live in Poland wouldn’t know how to act around certain people of color, or people that don’t speak Polish, while I have the experience of it. MY grandma in Poland doesn’t understand many cultures because she is not surrounded by them, while I go to school and attend class and live with very different people on a daily basis, so therefore I learn about what its like to be from where they are. People also need to understand that many immigrants do come from poor conditions, and are desperate for any type of better life. If America can offer that opportunity, why keep people out? We should welcome them, and try to enrich our diversity.

Growing up in a relatively large city with much diversity, I was exposed to many different races and cultures from a young age. This was not always the case however, because I was born in Poland and resided there until I was six years old, which was when my parents decided to immigrate to America for greater economic opportunity. I remember my kindergarten days in Poland, and obviously being surrounded by people of the same race, culture and ethnicity as me. I never questioned it. It was simply just the way it was, everyone spoke the same language and everyone looked pretty much the same. But I also remember knowing from a young age that there were dark skinned people in the world, just not where I was. It was mostly my grandmother who used to tell me about this, when I watched movies from America or other countries and would ask about the dark skinned people. I can’t say I remember exactly what my grandma would say, but I know that they were never perceived as “bad” people, just different. So when we moved to America, we lived in a pretty ghetto neighborhood and I had black and brown neighbors all around me. I had a Polish guy friend who was a bit older than me that I would play with until I learned to speak English and there was a black boy, very dark skinned from the pictures that are still in my photo albums, who would always tag along, and we would play. My parents never gave me any trouble about it; it was never talked about. He was my friend and that was it; which is extremely surprising to me. All throughout elementary school, most of my closest friends were of color, which was also very normal. As I grew older, I did become more attracted to the white groups of friends, and everyone kind of grew apart, and that’s the way it just was. I do think however that this happens a lot, especially in very diverse places. You seem to have a lot of friends of color at a young age, and then in middle school and high school everyone tries to stick to their own. Therefore, I think I’m somewhere at stage 4. I accept and like people of color. My parents are I think very similar to me. They accept them and think we are all equal and do not treat them differently from other individuals, but still insist that I marry a white, Catholic man and so on. When it comes to my older relatives, the “super Polaks” I would say are at lower stages than I. They don’t really interfere with people of color and decide what they want about them in their own little circles. My parents and I, being younger and more in touch with the community are not like this, and treat everyone equally as they deserve.

America is a huge melting pot pull of so many different races, cultures, ethnicities from all over the world. It is so different from other countries in this way and therefore Americans go through life a bit differently than a person from, for example, Poland. In Poland, people are surrounded by other people that look very much like themselves. Pretty much, setting aside large cities, people are white, practice the same religion, and speak the same language. Obviously not many racism problems can go on there. So in Poland, when people are talking about another person they can’t just say “oh, that Asian kid in my class” or “that black girl in my class.” You need to be more specific since obviously most people in Poland are white. So therefore, you would say something like “that tall brunette girl that wore a red shirt the other day” or something along those lines. In America it is totally different since so many people look so different and sometimes when talking about something you want the person to know exact details of the story you are telling. So when we refer to something, people feel the need to say they’re skin color or ethnicity. It is completely normal and natural for us to think this way and I feel like everyone does it all the time without realizing it. Many times, it’s very necessary to do this, and makes whatever you are talking about just easier to understand, but in other instances it does not matter. Like Sam said in class, if someone were to be talking about how they were walking across the street and a car swirled in their direction and almost hit them, they should say something like “and someone lost control of their car and almost ran me over,” instead of “and an Asian woman almost ran me over and killed me.” I completely agree that this makes absolutely no difference at all. But actually, if you think about it, I have heard some weird thing where Asians are stereotyped to be bad drivers for some reason, so maybe using Asian woman is a bad example. It should not matter what race the person is, the point is some idiot almost killed you. I feel like I catch myself doing this a lot, when it is completely unnecessary and does not my point any clearer or my story easier to understand. The only time people should out the person race is if you’re trying to identify the person or some type of specific situation. Before Thursday’s lecture I never really thought about this, but now that I do I realize that I should watch myself and the adjectives that I use in my dialogues with others.

I don’t think that it is race that determines your probably to use illicit drugs at all. After going to Thursday’s class and seeing all the actual statistics of the different races who use drugs, white people came out to have the higher percentage. What completely blew my mind was that even though a higher percentage of white people and even American Indians use drugs, more minorities, such as blacks and Hispanics are in prison. It basically says that minorities have a higher chance of getting caught. However I do not agree that police tries to target them purposefully. Like Sam said in class, no one really can say that it is racism, unless there are two people of different colors doing the same exact drug deal next to each other and seeing who gets arrested. I think that black people abuse alcohol way less than blacks, but it isn’t because of their skin color but because of the culture and environment they are raised in and/or people they surround themselves with. I grew up in a very wealthy county, and was surrounded by extremely privileged kids and families basically my entire life. The next town over from me is one of the wealthiest areas in the United States. However, I definitely saw both worlds in my city. While there is a very rich part, there are many ghettos and poor areas with kids, who are usually minorities, who don’t have much. I had some friends from all over the area, some were white wealthy spoiled kids and others weren’t so lucky. I saw a lot of extreme drug use with my wealthy friends. Almost all have used hard drugs, because they have the money to spend on them, and think that their money makes them invincible. I’m not saying that drug use didn’t exist in the poor areas, but it just seemed really different to me and seemed as though drugs were way more of a necessity at a party for my rich friends rather than the less fortunate. The wealthy family kids always look so glamorous and “good” from the outside, but it’s not to say they don’t use and sell drugs. It’s sad that our society is somehow geared toward the idea that minorities are the drug dealers. It isn’t about skin color at all, it’s whom you surround yourself with, your life experiences or how/where you are raised. Many times I believe it is the neighborhood you live in because that is the place most people identity as home and therefore a certain way they should act. Everyone chooses for themselves to use drugs or not, and how to live their lives. To some, drugs are very appetizing, while to others unappetizing. It’s all about the kind of person you are, not your skin color.

When I first read the background of Haiti while trying to learn more about the project, I was surprised that Haiti is the poorest country on the Western Hemisphere. Living in the United States, studying at Penn State basically living a perfect life can lead many to forget about the devastations in Haiti in 2010. The earthquake took the lives of millions of people and made many homeless and injured. It is so easy to forget, because it was over a year ago and I think this project is a great way to earn awareness and actually “do something” for these striving people. After watching the videos of the entrepreneurs I am inspired to get at least a bit involved and try to help out any way I can. I thought that every single one of those people are super talented and deserve for their businesses to flourish and expand. It seemed as though most of them are in need of supplies, workers and marketing ideas. My advice would be to either to do fundraisers and raise money for supplies for these people, or actually buy supplies and send them over, or think of marketing for each company. I think that Figaro’s video of the woman who makes pastries opened up my eyes a lot. Even though pastries aren’t a real important issue, and there are way more companies and communities that need more help, it just shocked me when she told us that she has to transport these pastries on foot. She is in need of some type of transportation. She walks 30 minutes each day to drop her kids off at school then 15 minutes to where she makes her products. She has orders that she needs to take across town that take her the entire day to transport, and it shocked me that she walks the entire way, knowing Haiti has tropical weather. She also needs a mixer but doesn’t have the money for that either. I feel like we can help this woman, and try to find her workers that will have to be trained. However I felt that the peanuts, insulated lunch bags, and tote bags just need some marketing along with supplies, but with that being said I just think that the other community projects are more important. The hospital project is extremely important. People come in for surgery or any sickness and do not have sterile gowns to wear, but have to be in their clothes that are probably not as clean and safe, especially when recovering from surgery. Also, patients don’t receive meals, their families have to bring them food (if they can even afford that), and what about the ones that can’t? They are left with no food and probably are not getting better with their body starving. This is a project that is definitely worth looking into and will benefit the community greatly.

Free will goes along the lines of people’s choices and that whatever they decide in life will determine what kind of life you will live and in what conditions. Determinism describes the belief that the family and social rank you come from determines the opportunities you will have in your life.
I truly believe that both things come into play, however I do lean more towards free will. When we compared SAT scores in class, all the people with larger incomes scored higher than the people with lower incomes. Even though I believe this, and see how income does affect people, I do think that free will is a major factor in this type of thing. If it truly were that determinism shapes these students’ SAT scores, then in one high school, most people should be scoring around the same percentage. My suburban high school, for example, was very diverse, and almost half of the population was black. The school is a very decent public school in the area and offered many free tutors and after school classes about the SAT’s. I actually even went to a few even though I met with a private tutor at home five or six times before actually taking them. The free courses at my school were very helpful and taught me many strategies that I still remember to this day, regarding math, grammar, etc. This is where free will comes into play. I chose to go to those free courses when I felt after school, even though I wanted to do other things with my friends instead. Everyone who scored low on their SAT’s should have went to the courses and probably would have been helped to get them up. I understand that every person is different, and it’s impossible for everyone to score the same way, but the low scores that come out of the SAT’s shouldn’t have happened because the FREE resources were in fact given and provided to whoever felt like going. It is those people’s fault for not coming and for not being concerned about the test. If your family cannot afford to buy you a tutor, or sign you up to those super expensive courses outside of school then you should have taken advantage of what our high school provided! However, I do also understand that people that come from low-income families also have many other things to worry about besides their SAT scores. Many of course have jobs to go to, or help their family out at home right after school, therefore making it impossible to come to the after school tutor sessions. I think it would be helpful to not compare people from different areas and different high schools, but look at one in particular and compare those scores, and look at the resources that the school gave to all their students. Therefore, those low-income people should have no type of excuses that the rich people can afford expensive courses and they cant. I felt as though the after school courses helped a lot, and even though maybe they don’t go into such detail as the costly courses do, they at least help a bit. This is my take on it.

Klaudia Olbrys