I read this letter more as a poem than a letter, I think this was beautifully written. Being in prison, he had time to think about so much, and being able to write these thoughts down, and having so much time to think of them and do so, results in some beautiful pieces. Even though this was beautiful, it was written for a sad reason; I can’t imagine living in a jail cell for the rest of my life, and this letter shows that he just once simple things that we all take for granted every day. All he wants is to touch someone, and feel loved again. He admits he’s in for his own reasons, but longing for this wanting of something else is a terrible thing to wait for, and he’s not even waiting for it, he can’t wait for it; because he’ll never get out, he’s in prison until he dies -- this is a sad thing to think about.

I'm not sure what is more disturbing about this article, the fact that he was discriminated against because he was transgendered, or the fact that he was discriminated against because he was a woman. Even though El’Jai labeled himself as a man, and has always felt this way, I think it’s so strange that he was fired for the reason he was. I didn’t realize jobs could be gender specific. The job that El’Jai had was only allowed to be done by male; I find strange. I understand that the job was watching guys urinate, but even so, it was a kind of nursing job, it was for medical reasons.

I also find it a little strange that someone would ask another person if he/she had undergone the operations to change. This is nobody’s business but the persons own, being fired for not answering this is absurd. The workplace and people’s private life are, and should be completely different places. I do not think asking someone such a question is really acceptable for anyone to ask at anytime. Maybe if El’Jai and his boss were a little closer, it would be different, but again, I do not think gender is reason to fire someone from a job, especially such a low paying a job/a part-time job.

Also, as the article mentioned, in New Jersey it is illegal to discriminate against someone in the workplace based on their gender, and this was created in 2006, and this seemed to have happened recently (the article says April 10th).

After reading a few comments, I can see that most people pretty much all have the same opinion as each other, this entire scenario is ridiculous, and Mr. Devoureau should not have been discriminated against in the work place. I’m glad that he’s taking this to court, and he should have, even though the job is such a pissy job, that’s not the problem here, it’s that discrimination in the US, both in the workplace and not is still a problem, it’s kind of annoying, and it doesn’t get anyone anywhere.

I feel like there’s always going to be inequality; or at least some form of it. People grow up taught one thing by their parents, and sometimes act in a similar way. Because of the way I dress, cars drive by me walking (with my friends) and yell “faggot” and other terms. The people that do this are probably always going to be like this, and aren’t going to learn how to cope with that there are gay people, and that people do indeed dress differently. Not everyone has to shop at the same stores. This reminds me of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss animation I remember as a child - the Star-bellied star bellied Sneetches. The story starts out with a group of creatures (sneetches) whom some have green stars on their stomachs, and some do not. The ones with the stars are discriminatory towards the others. Then another character appears, and has a rather awesome looking machine (in my opinion), that can take the starless sneetches, and give them stars. Well the previous Star-bellied sneetches don’t like this, so they want to change, so they all remove their stars. This continues, both types of sneetches alternating between machines, and in the end, all the sneetches become mixed together, and you can’t tell one from another, some have no stars, some have one star, some have two stars, and so they learn to live together. This is a good story to teach kids about how people are different, and that’s ok. Unfortunately, as I said previous, I can’t imagine this type of discrimination towards any type of people will ever disappear. About using this inequality in leadership ways, of course people are going to due it. No one wants to run for president, and then vote for the other person. When trying yo get ahead in anything, people will do whatever it takes to win. In America, winning seems to be everything to people. Competition is so important here, and being better at something, whether it be a physical thing or even being better looking is what people want, and I don’t think this will go away anytime soon.

Being gay myself, I can kind of relate to this video. I’m not married (yet), nor do I have kids (yet), but I definitely want to do both. When I came out to my mom, I remember one of the things I specifically made sure to tell her was that I want to have kids/raise kids. She thought this was great, but she wasn’t to thrilled to hear the news, and still today I don’t think she’s to happy about it; but, I’m not going to change; it’s who I am. I feel like I will be a good parent. I don’t understand why people would even ever think about a same-sex couple wouldn’t make a good parent; even when I was young, this never occurred to me. I mean, I have two parents, 1 male, 1 female and they’re both equally as good to me as the other is. Sure they do things differently, but nonetheless, they’re both good parents. My parents are also divorced; a divorced, straight couple - huh. Saying that a same-sex couple can’t be good parents, is kind of like saying that a single parent can’t be a good parent. Maybe there is no mother involved, but what about kids whose mothers die, and are raised by one parent, their father? Does that mean that he’s a bad parent because there’s no female involved? I remember when I was young I heard my mother say something about kids need a mother because they need someone to love them, and women are seen as more nurturing and caring as men. Of course I think the opposite of this, there are many very gentle, caring, loving, and even feminine men, and some of these men are even gay. The same goes with women, there are both straight and lesbian women that are more masculine. Sometimes, the straight women are more masculine than their husbands. Zach is a really good speaker, he got his point across, and there’s a possibility, based on the way he talked, he may have scared a few people into changing their minds about same-sex parenting.

I think moving to a place like this, and having to learn to live with this would be very interesting. The video said that it gets as little as 5 hours of sunlight a day, I think there’s even places that get less. One guy mentioned he feels depressed, I think this is a given since everything would be so dark. But I love seeing city lights at night, and the way Helsinki deals with it with so many different colours of light as well as different ways to display the light is so interesting. I think it would be beautiful to see.

It hadn’t occurred to me that people actually get sick from dealing with this. This has been going on for so many years, that they’ve developed ways to display light in a beautiful and unique way, and the therapeutics lights are a very interesting way to keep people cheery. I’m surprised that overtime the people of Helsinki actually haven’t adapted the short daylight time, and have blocked the depression/sickness out of them throughout the many generations of people.

This is one example of how people can’t effect certain things in their life. In America, people get confused with a simple time change that happens twice a year; people forget to change the clocks, and some alarms (iPhones) sometimes don’t even work. Learning the way of this would take some getting used too, but I definitely think it would be a super interesting experience. I feel like the location of Helsinki might also have to do with some of the reason people get depressed during these “dark times.” Many people prefer the warmth of the spring, and seeing the flowers and the sun shine, and the cold sometimes is just too much. There’s a reason why when the Dementors from Harry Potter show up, everything in the vicinity gets cold. I personally like the snow, and sometimes the snow is a beautiful thing, but I guess having to deal with the snow more than we do here in Pennsylvania, and having more cold months would be a huge difference, and cause many to get sick, as seen in the video.

Videos such as this are the reason we tell our kids not to talk to strangers. Americans just aren’t very trustworthy people, not that I see anyway. I feel like many other countries (mainly European) probably treat their kids differently, I’m not sure if this is true, but it’s just my opinion based on how European governments are set up. Same with Japan, having one of the lowest crime rates, I feel like many younger aged kids walk alone all the time. The man in this video was just stupid, it was daylight, and I don’t understand how he thought he could get away with just taking a child like that. Sure, from the angle the video was, it may have appeared that the child was walking alone, but not only was it almost noon, he was also with someone. I feel like kidnapping actually takes place less in cities (well, depends on the location), and more in suburban locations. Parents would think that their kids would be safer in suburban places, but people probably realize this, and go to said locations for this reason. Cities have much more people, and so If one were to try and take a child, there would be a greater chance of someone seeing the child being taken.

Americans are paranoid. This is why we tell our children these things; we see one happening on the News, and everyone queefs. For example, possibly a bad example, but after 9/11, we all heard about how airport security was. What was the likeliness that something like that would happen again in such a short time. If more attacks were going to happen, they would have all happened most likely within a few hours of the attacks that happened. This tightened security went on for years, and even today, although it has loosened up a bit, it can still be pretty tight not only in the US, but also other countries.

I don’t know if we should tell our kids that it’s actually ok to talk to strangers, but it would be smart to tell them to watch who they talk to. I do however agree to talk to a stranger if one is in need. However, my mother told me that if I needed too, to talk to a mother with kids if ever in need.

Oh look! It's a Russell Brand impostor (with looser pants)! Look at those hips swing, so graceful. Just kidding, I have actually seen this guy before on the Graham Norton Show, and I found him hilarious. The message that I initially got when listening to this song, is that, well, the person we’re dating isn’t the only one. Sure at the time he/she may seem absolutely perfect to us; but don’t we think that for all the people we date? I’ve only dated one person ever, my current boyfriend, and I know he’s not perfect, but I’m (for the most part) happy with him. Of course, I could always break up with him, and search for someone else, but he hans’t done anything wrong, and he also puts up with me, which I feel like could be hard to do. We always talk about marriage, and I of course do picture it, but I’m not sure if it will work out - of course I’d love it too, but everyday I’m dreading our future break up.

I read a comment by ajd5443 commenting on the guys appearance; of course he looks strange, but he is a comedian. I feel like his look goes along with his act, although at the same time, I do feel like he’s comfortable with the way he looks, and he’s fine with whatever.

I love how this song is completely different than all the other love songs out there that are mainstream. Basically saying what all the other comments are saying, and that we as humans dread being alone, we actually aren’t made to be alone - we’d go crazy. But the mainstream love songs are about how they want to stay together forever, or break up songs are about how I’m over you, and I can move on, I don’t need you; but in actuality, this isn’t true. There’s a quote that I love, I’m not sure who said it, but I’ve seen it on many places; it’s something like “Either we’ll always love someone, or we never did.” I find this quote to be so true, and I think that once couples break up, they should still care for the other person. My parents having divorced years ago, I still hate to see them not talk to each other; I just don’t understand it.

I love traveling, I haven’t been to many of the places I’d love to go, but I have been more places than a lot of people that I know. In 2008, I went to Europe (Greece, Italy, France respectively) for three weeks. I loved Italy and France, Greece wasn’t the greatest, but of course I wouldn’t mind going back. Venice, Rome, and Paris were my favorite; I feel like Paris was my absolute out-of-country location I’ve been too, but unfortunately, I was only there for two days - while not being there was a disappointment, being there for such a short time was a disappointment. I’d love to go back to Paris anytime I could, and spend much more time there, while there I did a lot, even in the short amount of time I was there. In the U.S. I’ve been to a few states, Texas is the furthest West/South I’ve gone, and Massachusetts being the furthest North. I haven’t been to the more common countries that American tend to travel to (Canada, Mexico, England), but would love to go. Like I said, I love traveling, and if I had money, and wasn’t a college student, there’s dozens of places I’d love to visit. This being said, I feel like money is the main issue as to why Americans don’t travel.

I also joke with my mom, saying things like “When are you going to take us there [country]?” and she usually responds with “When are you going to take me?” The last time she’s been out of the U.S. Was 23 years ago, right after my older sister was born, my whole family travelled to the Bahamas. Every year my grandparents have paid for the whole family to go on a trip, but for the last almost 20 years, we’ve gone to the same place: Sandbridge, Virginia. I’m not complaining about getting out of Pennsylvania, but after going to the same place for so many years, I’d love to go somewhere else. My grandparents also go to Florida every year, and several times they have taken trips including cruises in the U.S and traveling around Europe. Then again, my grandparents are retired, so they can do what they want. My mother however, just seems to work and work and work; this is what the article was saying, I feel like most Americans just don’t think they can afford to travel. Of course traveling would be a great experience, but I just think Americans are really uptight, and don’t like change. My mother does go on vacation every year, but it’s always to the same locations, Virginia, Maine, and New Jersey. Not exactly the classiest places - but I guess we all can’t be interesting.

This is a comical video, and I think the time period it appears to be filmed in, makes it even funnier. Things like this happen everyday, but we don’t notice them. Once we finally do notice we do such things, we tend to act a little awkward, because one is now aware that he/she is doing it. Just walking around campus, everyone always seems to look at each other, and sometimes someone looks at another a little too long, causing the casual head nod, we’re all familiar with. A lot of the time, you may not even know the person that just “head-nodded” at you. It’s just a reaction. While sitting at a table alone and waiting for someone, one doesn’t want to look like a creeper, so what do we do? Text and read labels on drinks and other items. Do the ingredients in water really interest you? No, but you don’t want to look like a loser, and one naturally finds something to do to pass the time, or look busy. I’ve gotten many texts from my aunt at times things like “trying to look busy” and “talk to me, at _____ [sporting event].”

A lot of people dress similar on campus, we’re all familiar with the default female outfit. Leggings, Uggs, and Penn State apparel; all tied together with their hair pulled back and put in a ponytail. This appearance gives that “I just want to be comfortable” look, when we all really know that you didn’t even try to look nice, you probably got up at 7:45 for your 8am class, and threw on your outfit from 3 days ago. But when one even attempts to look nice, people always ask “oh, why are you dressed up today?” Why is this even asked? One should respond with, “well, I didn’t want to look like you.” This is also very common for guys, and when a male even attempts to look nice, he’s labeled as gay. A lot of female and males wear the same brand of clothing, American Eagle, Hollister, and Abercrombie. I feel like these are the default clothing labels for people our age, our friends wear them, we just want to fit in. But when one tries to stand out, he/she gets ridiculed.

This happening is just absurd. The child getting ahold of such a weapon was a mistake. As he said, he saw it in the vehicle in which he was driven to school in. He was interested in it, and picked it up. The child had absolute no intention of harming anyone, he probably saw guns such as this on television shows, and may have toy guns. The idea of even having a 5-year-old as a suspect is completely ridiculous. As most of the responses I’ve seen responding to this article, it is not the kids fault, it is the parents fault. What could even happen to the child if he happens to get arrested? I didn’t realize anyone so young could get in trouble, I feel like he didn’t know any better. Was the gun on safety? I doubt even if it wasn’t, the child wouldn’t even have been able to hurt anyone, but again, I’m sure he had no intention of doing so, he was just interested in the gun, probably thought it was some sort of toy.

I feel like this was made a bigger deal than it needed to be. The teacher, who probably knows how he acts best, should think and explain about how he acts in class. This could have a responsible impact on what would happen. But even so, children at this usually are not even bad enough to even want to kill someone. The kid should be allowed to go back to school, it is odd that he was taken out in the first place. I feel like the whole thing was an accident. I also think that the parents should have to take a gun safety course, mostly the father, as well as the child having to speak to someone about gun safety, and why it is a dangerous thing to have, the child must not have known any better, which is why he picked up the weapon in the first place. Again, I find the consequences that were placed on the child ridiculous, he is too young to know what he did wrong, the parents should be blamed in this case.