Coming into a race relations class with, luckily, the experience I have had in my life dealing with race relations at first seemed like a piece of cake. The day, about half way through our course, when we were mainly discussing admission processes and the more subtle forms of racism that tend to go unnoticed by most people was when I finally realized that as confident as I was in my powers of tolerance, I too still had racist tendencies. So it was nice to get knocked off my high horse for once, especially in a discussion where I felt almost impenetrable
My upbringing has always involved educating myself on different cultures and understanding different walks of life for the unique qualities, and similar qualities, they have relative to my culture. My parents, I still feel, did a wonderful job in shaping me to be a more worldly and open person. I would be the one to cringe and ask someone to use better, more descriptive words when discriminatory language was used. Hardly ever did racist jokes or comments get past me without a quick jab at the person to let them know that someone within their vicinity was not okay with this sort of conduct. I was pretty full of myself in terms of racial equality.
However, I realized that grouping people into 'us' and 'them' is almost human reflex. So not only is this reflex a part of me, unfortunately, but it is not just something that eventually goes away. Tolerance is a day to day job, and requires much thought to let yourself step outside of your comfort zone and see the world from a completely different perspective. I of course would not say that now I must go through rigorous training to get myself to what I thought I once was, but I do know now that there is still much work to be done.
Tolerance is important to the preservation of our species and our diversity. No culture is entirely correct, and just because certain aspects of my daily life might be 'normal' or typical in my society, it probably seems as foreign to other cultures as their practices do to me. The most important lesson to learn is that there is no such thing as 'normal' or 'us' or 'them' in regards to race and race relations. We live in a melting pot of all sorts of ways to go about enjoying the rest of your days with human companionship by your side, and not one individual way is right but certainly every walk of life has some benefits, some not so sweet parts, and so much that we all may be able to learn from if we take the time.

My initial response, basically a reflex, to answering who would I save if I could only choose between my mother, significant other or child was my child. A good point was raised when factoring in the age of the child, but that would not sway me to not choose to save my own child. I do not have a child, and I do not know what it feels like to mother a child but the relationship with my own mother tells me that the right thing to do is save my children. My mother then would not mind if she was risking her life to let me save my child, and her beloved grandchild. My husband (who seriously should know how to swim or else where did he live his whole life?) should probably be able to take care of himself. If he is unable, which he is in the description of this scenario, then honestly I do not know. He should have treaded water a lot better. I mean seriously, we have a child together. You would think my husband would have put in more a fighting effort.
Honestly though, the pain of losing my love ones would hopefully not trump my desire and will to raise my child. There is a sense of obligation I attribute to bringing a child into this world. I get very upset when I would hear of friends' whose parents did not play their parenting roles as strict as I my own would. These ill feelings were not stemming from jealousy, but pity that their parents did not seemingly take the role of parenting as seriously as my own did. My life definitely was not on a strict plan, but I do appreciate my parents for helping me grow to be the person I am today. For that, I respect and admire there actions, and I hope to mimic their judgements in the future with my own children.
So no matter what age my child is, I owe my child their survival. When I start a family, and by that I mean having children, then I will make sure to maintain their well being to the best of my abilities while transforming them into a good citizen of society. I hope that happens at least. However, all in all, I recognize my duty when bringing children into this world. The same way my husband and my mother would recognize that same duty, and they would respect my choice when I risk their lives to save my child. It may be futuristic thinking, but children are always our future. And if we work hard to try and develop their abilities so that one day the world may be better than the world we experience now, then we will be doing our society a favor. I rest my value in our kids.

I found it very fascinating to look into how exactly the image we portray comes off to other people, and most importantly other cultures. Of course, I highly doubt that the girls who spoke at the front of the room were implying that all those who dress did not respect themselves, but they did bring up a great point that the way someone dresses could distract from the personality they intend on showing people. Granted, I personally feel that the way I dress is an expression of myself. So I guess if someone did not get the entire picture of my personality through conversation, then my borderline vagabond look could shed some light. However, the main purpose of my dress code is to make me feel comfortable.
How my look comes off to others though could be completely different. I think that is then a bad interpretation of people, and allowing for yourself to get set up for, "Don't judge a book by its cover". Certainly, to be taken more seriously one should follow all formal guidelines of dress code say when going to an interview or our own career fair. But why would we not want to dress that way on the regular? What would keep us back from showing off our most presentable selves? Perhaps it is the freedom of it, and perhaps I am comfortable enough with myself and how I dress to not allow what others might feel to get in the way of how I feel.
My self respect stems from my actions and my character. I gauge my pride in myself off of my accomplishments, and draw a more direct link between what I do and how I feel about myself. My dress code can be looked at more as a fun hobby, a rather expensive hobby but still something that gives me joy. I have always experienced freedom in the way I dress, from my public schools to the less strict society that I live in, freedom of expression was always prevalent. Only once have I found a loss in freedom in my dress, when I attended a private school for six months, and I still found myself searching for ways to differentiate my outfit. So all in all, I believe that the perhaps more promiscuous or open way that our culture dresses does not necessarily stem from a lack of self respect. Instead, I think that we put value on many other aspects of our culture, and perhaps more or less value than other important facets, but that is what makes our culture different than many others. Maybe to each is their own, but in my perfect world- I appreciate my freedom of expression, while admiring those who do not find a need for the materials that I covet so dearly.

Having the ability to laugh more things off would enable all of us to living more cohesively with everyone. However, being passive in certain situations may have more repercussions than benefits. In my classes, I have stressed the importance of tolerance, and although Sam Richards may respond to many of my own comments in racially agitated situations as 'politically correct', I would instead consider it to be polite. No one would have to laugh anything off, or ignore a person or comment, if things were not said in the first place. I think it is of utmost importance to teach kindness and tolerance as the standing foundation to ridding ourselves of racially ignorant remarks.
No amount of education can eradicate a problem unfortunately. So when faced with a situation where someone says something racially ignorant, which usually never affects me, I still get angry. Why? Because the other person sounds like an idiot. So maybe I am more upset with the fact that I may have actively chosen to hang out with someone who may form opinions based off of little facts, but what it actually boils down to is that I am upset with that person for feeling that way. Granted, no one on earth is a completely tolerant person, especially not myself- but, becoming tolerant is a virtue that I value heavily. Peace on Earth or whatever you would like to call it, I am striving for a world where we all may coexist. When people threaten the vulnerable web of which we are all a part of, I get pretty testy.
The worse is when people implement derogatory words in place of normal everyday words. Instead of people having 'friends' anymore, we have 'niggas'. Apparently it is "totally fine" for me to even type that word since it is with an -as instead of -ers. To me, that is completely horse crud. Whichever way you end that word, it still reflects hate. I am not black, and I still hate that word, because it separates people and belittles others, whether it was the user's intentions or not. The same goes for a whole hoard of words- gay, fag, bitch, slut, jihad, etc.
Granted it may be sort of funny when you call your guy friends bitches, which totally does not apply to them. However, more and more frequently I find that people are no longer seeing the value of their words. Not everyone has the ability to just laugh things off, and words can hurt our future worse than actions. If we persist to allow others to be intolerant and ignorant, even when they do not realize, then we are still allowing a detrimental problem to progress.

The rights to property are consistently heavily disputed. From the war on the Gaza Strip to the numerous colonizations throughout the world, I think it is safe to say that the division and handing out of land brings about more bad than good. However, how do we cope with our previous mistakes? It would be easier to glorify our country for the achievements rather than the senseless killing and simply let time heal all wounds, but unfortunately genocide and forced colonization seems to impervious to time.
Handing over the property rights of our country would be irrational, although some may disagree with that. However, we must recognize the injustices done, otherwise the turmoil will still stand the test of time. So to altogether answer the question directly, I guess I would share the seat.
It is very difficult to define how in fact I would share the seat. Honestly, the reservations are clearly an awful endeavor. There still remains inequality, with white people always coming out on top. Now I am not going to beat my own self up about this, I am white and I am just as proud of who I am no matter what sociopaths in the past have done, but I do wish to honor those who have been brought up against the odds. Programs such as affirmative action assist minorities in our country in a fair way, especially when one considers nepotism's influence in admissions. However, this program has clearly not made strong enough strides and other measures must be considered. Now, I mentioned the Gaza Strip before because that is an extremely powerful example of what happens when you just up and decide to take someones land from them. So although long ago we did the same to the Native Americans, if our government turned around and said, "Sorry everyone, but this land is not actually yours. We are giving it back to the Native Americans," then you can only imagine the severity of the dispute that would follow. So how do we share the seat?
At this point, the only decent and least controversial idea I can think of would be aid. Simple, supportive aid. We have learned in class about the horrible conditions those who live in reservations are in. The critical condition of the poor as well as the heightened alcoholism and suicide count should not be occurring on our own land when we live so comfortably. Now this idea will come at odds with others who may believe that people are in the situation their in on their own accord, but I think this class has clearly taught us that that is not true. It is our duty as citizens to help out other citizens, so let us all share the seat.

One thing that should be imperative in schooling is teaching students how to decode the media. Bias is found most everywhere, which unfortunately skews the truth. This affects practically all news sources so, as readers, we are responsible to dig deeper after we discover any news or sources. Some people trust certain news sources since they are applicable to their likes and dislikes. This selectivity creates one sided opinions on the current events. However, it is quite difficult for me to read through a Fox website to gain information from the other side, but it is still necessary. Fox might not be the optimal choice for opponent literature, but there are all sorts of news sites that are not even just from the U.S. who document what is going on in our country. Now, other countries will have a more colorful view of our wonderful red, white and blue antics sometimes but again, that is still important to know. It is good to look from the outside in on situations, although the reason other countries do report on our news is because we are tied to just about everyone.
There are a lot of politics, and especially spawning form our War in the Middle East. I capitalize 'war' with the intention to illuminate the fact that this is a heavy time that will resonate with the world long after it ends. Secrets from this war pose the biggest threat to the truth, and our government does have power to withhold information from the citizens if, of course, it is reasonable and safer to do so. It is all about safety, but the connotation of safe begins to take on a broader meaning when we find out a lot of misleading information and a whole bunch of secrets. Unfortunately, the government does not seem to be concerned with what is reasonable. Instead, a goal of higher severity has been driving this war for a long time. Since the war started out as a cover-up for oil, I am not sure how we can bounce back to make the news about the war credible again. For now, a reader must put in their time to research articles, videos, or channels, otherwise you are leaving yourself open to be wrongfully influenced by someone who merely preaches their opinion.
Good news sources are CNN who has a team of political contributes from both the republican party and the democratic party. A news source that shows another country's view may be BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, but they have before been criticized for being more left wing. Just trying to look out for you all. Make sure your conquest for truth in these difficult times stays level-headed, and never settle.

I would hope that our society is coming to a turning point in regard to sexual orientation, and with the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, we should be inviting pictures such as this into our homes through our news and what not to celebrate these achievements. No matter what specific genders are involved, the story of a marine separated by their love by war and fighting for their country should cause any person to sympathize. That is the beauty of seeing everyone as equals, you get to clear up your air of perception and enjoy exactly what everyone else is enjoying.
Now, I personally am not offended by the leg wrap in this picture. Leading back to the idea of sympathy, anyone can imagine the amount of longing and excitement one would feel to see their beloved. Anything done in this fit of passion and reunion should not be too stringently judged, this only takes away from the magic contained in the photo. What I would appreciate is if people would focus more so on the benefits that arise from photos such as these leaking to the internet. Instead of gearing up for what people may say and preparing for the worse, we should be rejoicing and celebrating the fact that our country has come to the point where this acts of love are justly declared equal. Granted, no one in the programming made any less than ideal remarks, but their manner seemed to be solely addressing any bad reactions on the matter.
It is of course a great stride in the battle against intolerance and inequality to have the general public 'accept' photos and other images depicting lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual and transgendered people. However, we are still missing the fact that the general public must also recognize these actions as just the same as their own. The love a gay couple have for each other is just as true and unchanging as love shared by two straight people. We are no longer stuck in archaic times where the world is completely flat and most of our beliefs have credible basis from people who to talk to flaming objects. Thankfully, our society should be intelligent enough to realize and accept the differences that occur in humans just as they are different from everyone else.
Unfortunately, most of my tolerance has been used up for the touching homecoming photo that I cannot seem to find more for the highly robotic photo of Newt Gringich. Honestly, I am just happy that there is someone out there that would love a man like Newt Gringich. These photos produce so much hope for our futures- tolerance, equality, and no matter what someone out there will probably love you, at least more than anyone loves Newt Gringich.

This more subtle form of discrimination sheds new light on affirmative action. There is an apparent necessity for us to set up regulations within the acceptance process in both education and businesses. Fortunately, I do honestly think we have come a long way in terms of tolerance, but by helping to spread awareness of these more subtle forms of discrimination, we can work to put an end to them. Unfortunately, what I cannot deny is that before this class, I also felt slightly resentful towards affirmative action since I thought it was a bonus system for people just due to their race. Now I can tell that there are other factors affecting minorities that must be accounted for as well. No longer would I consider this program a 'bonus system', and I am happy to see the program in a more progressive light.
One of the other resounding parts of Sam's lecture was his depiction of generalizing people. He described how a person may cultivate feelings against a certain race due to bad experiences. He then pointed out that had all the people involved been of the same race, probably none of them would even think twice about it. Personally, I am nervous that people may also be more prone to generalizing in these circumstances since they involve resentful feelings like anger or fear. These generalizations would then allow someone to harbor their feelings, paving the way for future discrimination. And I would say that any person is susceptible, no matter what their race.
We are a developing society though. Our goal should be to strive for tolerance and a respect for the interdependent web that we are all a part of. So after being presented with these facts, my personal goal is to arm myself with this awareness in future decisions and work to spread it to others. And as I stated before, this provides me with better footing when considering affirmative action and other programs already instilled.
Here is a great example, my roommate just said that if a bunch of black boys came into our apartment, then she would feel uncomfortable. What is even better is the fact that she took this same class last year. Sorry Sam, but I guess it did not work. But it is these exact situations where I like to take it upon myself to talk with her about this and why it can be a feeling that inhibits you from meeting new people and realizing you could be totally wrong about another person. We have seen in previous classes that not every person of a certain race are cut from exactly the same cloth. We are all different within each of our nationalities, and we all have to live in this world so we might as well try to make it a bit easier for everyone.

This semester has had my head swirling in all sorts of directions when discussing matters such as the creation and the sustainability of the universe. However, I am an atheist. My background in science has led me to believe that the safest proclamation you may make about the universe is that there is no higher power running it, but it is simply the mystical physics and chemistry that drives our lives everyday.
Stephen Hawking, whose name needs no further explanation, also does not believe in the existence of God. His idea of this driving life force that has given us billions of stars and an expanding universe whose size blows our minds is all due to the Big Bang. Since I get such a rush explaining in, of course in layman's terms, I will be happy to get sidetracked from a sociological talk and bridge more over to a talk about black holes. Because in the end we all are just beautifully configured matter, so we might as well enjoy the theorized science behind our beauty. Going back, the Big Bang is easiest to describe as an all consuming black hole. Our whole universe, yes the whole thing, was deeply compressed into a infinitesimally small size. Just think about the density! A whole universe of mass over basically no volume.
Now everyone wonders, "Well there had to be a beginning, right? So what started the Big Bang huh?" to which a scientist would reply with the idea that if you throw a clock down a black hole, a hole of a massive compression of matter, then slowly time slows down. Until time eventually, stops.
This means, there's a chance there was no beginning. Wild, I know. So this life force that we are referring to began with a slight irritation in this densely packed matter. Think about the fact that atoms vibrate, so at one point a vibration exploded this mass into a White Hole. White holes have matter and light escaping. From this massive white hole our universe gained velocity, spreading its edges for billions and trillions and zillions of years. This is our life force, the exploded expansion and future contraction of our universe.
To me, this is beautiful. It's like how our world used to operate before humanity's pollution and greed of the earth's resources wrecked its ability to sustain itself. Our world recycled itself, no need for our green bins. The universe may do just that. It recylces it's high potential energy, by using this energy with full force, then one day when the acceleration of our expanding universe hits zero and starts to reverse.. We will start receding, and start the whole process over again.

Personally, in a world where everything may be questioned and my point of view is constantly changing, I can not rule out other ways to unlock my mind. Just merely thinking about my dreams, and the amount of imagination that runs rampant just while I sleep proves to me that my consciousness holds more creativity and power than I probably ever realized. Let us all be more mindful of different cultures and not rule out anything that may be abnormal to our way of live, because you never know what you may learn.