As a black woman, I usually go to parties that are predominantly black. Needless to say, I’m not a regular attendee of “white” parties. I remember the first time I went to a party where it was predominantly white. I admit I felt a little awkward just because I wasn’t used to it, not to mention the fact that I was the only black girl there, let alone the fact that I’m 6’1 and I was wearing heels. I might as well have walked in with strobe lights attached to me. I watched my friends socialize with everyone and realized that it wasn’t “in my nature” to socialize at parties. I’ll explain what I mean by that in a little bit. Besides the sociable environment, I didn’t recognize any of the music. Afterwards, I was told that it was dub step. The friends I went with were Indian and Hispanic, a little more social than I was and able to blend in a lot more. I remember standing by the wall and just watching. I decided to leave after about 15 minutes of this.
The next day, I heard of a so called “black” party. Compared to the previous night, I had a lot more fun. I was able to dance and had a great time with my friends, this time that were predominantly black.
I realized, as you might have, why I wasn’t having fun at the white party vs. the black one. I like to dance. That’s basically it. When I go out, I like to dance with my friends. I don’t like to socialize because I like to dance. That’s why I mentioned earlier that it’s not in my nature. I don’t like to meet new people when I go out with my friends. If I do, the conversation lasts 30 minutes max and then I go back to dancing.
Another thing is that it is a stereotype that black girls or even black people in general, can really dance. I don’t think I’m the best dancer alive but I certainly know I’m not the worst. When I go out, I guess one could say that I like to show off my dancing skills. After all, doesn’t everyone want to show off? When I go to white parties, I want to dance and “show off” what I can do but I feel like people tend to judge you. I’m definitely more comfortable dancing and being myself at a predominantly black party where I know people will either admire or just walk by, where I feel that no one cares how you dance because we’re all dancing the same.
I can imagine some white people feel the same if the go to a predominantly black party. The lesser amount of a color there is at a party of another race, the more people are likely to point them out and watch their every move, maybe judging or admiring them. People who are down with the brown or fight with the white would probably have a different take on this.

I never really like to have sex talks in high school and I suppose because I put them off so much, I found this lecture a little uncomfortable but I did end up learning a lot. With that said, I honestly don’t know how to answer this question but I’ll give it a try. I’ve watched many movies and heard many accounts of how a woman isn’t satisfied after sex with her partner. In Sex and the City, there was an episode where Miranda didn’t know how to tell her partner that the sex was awful so she would fake an orgasm to make him feel better. I feel as if many girls do this. I’m not sure if it’s the same for guys though I highly doubt that it would be.
I think the main reason for girls faking an orgasm is just to save the feelings of their sexual partner. Also, no one wants to just lie in a bed all day having sex waiting to get to that climax moment where your orgasm may or may not happen (I could be wrong but I doubt it). Let’s face it; not all guys are properly equipped to give a girl an orgasm. Also, from the guys’ point of view, I feel like as soon as they get their orgasm, they’re fine. Not saying this applies to all guys but I’m sure some of them are like that. I guess that would account for why women restrain themselves from telling their partner that they are unhappy. There might be other ways to get around that.
In Sex and the City, Miranda told her partner and tried to teach him. That’s a little odd in my opinion but whatever works, I guess. I think another way would be to just avoid sex with that person. This would probably work for people who you have no attachment with; otherwise, if you’re in a relationship, I’d go with option number 1.
I do want to try to answer the second part of this question. No guy wants to hear that his performance is “low”. It damages his self-esteem. This ties into my first point of why women don’t tell their partners. I think some guys just believe themselves to be the best and one comment of their performance and they get defensive and make excuses (determinism) such as “I’m having an off day” or even go as far as to blame their partner as a defense mechanism. There are just certain phrases men don’t want to hear. Just as much as they don’t want a girl to ask, “Is it in yet?” they don’t want to hear that they can’t make a woman climax, after all, isn’t that a man’s job in bed? For these reasons and maybe more underlying ones, men refuse to ask their partner if they were satisfied.

I thought this was a good question because I see it all the time. We all know minority men to be a little more forward regardless of what color a female is, intoxicated or not. However, white people seem to be a little more “ballsy” when they are intoxicated. It would be wrong of me to just apply this to just white men. All over the board, people tend to speak their minds a lot more when they are drunk. As the popular cliché states, “drunk words are sober thoughts.”
Let’s start off with why white men are more likely to approach a minority woman. I think one of the reasons for this is because minority women might seem intimidating or unapproachable. As a minority woman, I can personally attest to this. I have heard that I look intimidating as well as seen my look the same. Another reason might be a result of society’s confinement. By this I mean that we have this idea that races have to stick together. Beyond that, we perceive pairs of the same type together. For example, we would find it extremely weird if we saw a cat and a dog reproducing. Granted, it’s not that serious but whenever you go out or just walk around, you’re likely to see 4/5 couples of the same race together, sometime that’s all you see. We grew up this way. Most of us grew up with parents of the same race so we model our lives after that. With the exception of those who grew up with parents of different races, it might be easier for us to approach someone of another race. It has a stigma attached to it. We wouldn’t look twice if we saw a couple of the same race but once we see an interracial couple, things change. We can’t help but make a remark. I think this is because some of us just aren’t used to it. As much as we are accepting of other races, we still struggle a little with this aspect of it in our personal and social lives.
I’ve been to plenty of parties where white people tend to be the minority. I’ve witnessed firsthand that white guys will gravitate towards the white girls even when there are a total of 5 in the entire party. Some, who I can clearly see are drunk from their presence, will slowly try to approach a female of color. I once saw this guy working up the courage to dance with this one black girl. I found it hilarious because to me, his mannerisms seemed as if he was trying to approach a wild animal.
Besides white men, as I stated earlier, everyone seems to have an extra set of balls whenever they are intoxicated. Personally, I don’t drink. I do, however, like to observe the happenings of drunken people. Especially with my friends, they’ll say things that they would never have dreamed of saying if they were sober. So it’s a little unfair to say one group is more “ballsy” because at the end of the day, if you drink, we’re all likely to do things that we wouldn’t do otherwise if we were sober.

I never really thought about this but it seems like a very controversial topic. As you are already aware, the U.S. spends extensive amounts of money on foreign policy and war in other countries yet the people living here are struggling. The government constantly tries to help others while there are people here living in the gutters or living under circumstances disastrous to health. Let’s consider the Native Americans as we did in class. They make a little over one thousand dollar a year. I never really knew this but now that I do, I think there should be greater contributions to helping these people.
Personally, I believe the U.S. tries to build itself up. Take the following scenario: Someone goes through a billion problems in their lives but tries to help other people through advice etc. when they themselves aren’t stable enough to put forth help. This isn’t the best analogy but it relates to the problem at hand. I think the government does this so as to strengthen their own self-image. I think they put forth this self-image to attract tourists and in some way by helping other countries they help themselves. I’m not an expert on government funds to assist needy countries but that’s just what I believe.
Everything starts at home. Let’s not forget that this is “red land.” The U.S. stole land from the Native Americans and hasn’t done anything to help them recover. Instead they are living in wastelands and suffering. We discussed in class the other day, the fact that many Native American youths kill themselves because living conditions are so bad. The U.S. needs to help them first. Who knows, maybe helping them will help the economy. We’ll have more jobs being created in order to help sustain and improve their living conditions. This could have many promising and positive effects on this country.
I understand that people outside of this country are struggling. I don’t curse at the U.S. government for trying to help other countries but there should be a line as to how much gets distributed outside of the country versus inside the country. Granted we have programs such as welfare and other benefits but that can only get someone so far. I’m not saying we should increase welfare either. I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” What I mean by this is that we should help them by putting schools close by so the children can learn and make a difference in their community. I think once we start to help our own by dealing with our own internal problems, we can truly help others outside of this country.

I wasn’t really sure about the difference between unfairness and inequality. I thought they were and could be the same thing. However, upon talking to my roommate and a couple of my other friends I was a little more enlightened.
First of all, according to Merriam Webster dictionary, unfairness is defined as “marked by injustice, partiality or deception.” It further goes on to say that it is “not equitable in business dealings.” I thought this was a pretty simple definition, straightforward even. After all, we grew up screaming “That’s not fair.” only to get caught by the infamous phrase “life isn’t fair.” I then decided to look up the definition on of inequality in the same dictionary. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, inequality is defined as “the property of being unequal or uneven.” This was a little tougher. I thought these were the same things. However, I then realized that they take on different personas, so to speak.
Unfairness can be about anything from person to person such as my brother getting more leniency or getting an extra cookie because he’s a boy when I got denied even after I asked for one first. Inequality is more. It ranges from anything about race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Inequality can be about not getting a job because you’re a person of color whereas unfairness can be related to getting a job because you are friends with the person hiring.
I do think that they can be intertwined like most concepts. Inequality can be just as unfair and unfairness can be about being unequal. I don’t believe that it’s either or. If you think about it, inequality is being unfair to people with certain differences. Take the example I mentioned earlier about not getting a job. That’s unfair to the people of color. It is also unequal. In class we learned that white people with criminal records are more likely to be hired than a black person without a criminal record. I feel as if this is both unequal and unfair. It is unfair because, the black job applicant didn’t do anything wrong. They could have the same credentials, live in the same town, same personalities and wear the same clothes except the white guy committed a crime. Why does he deserve to get the job more than the black guy without a record? It displays inequality because the black guy is being judged because of his color. We also learned that resumes with white names are more likely to get a response than resumes with black or brown names. This is another example of being unfair and unequal. Why does Bob deserve to get a callback over Shaniqua? Shaniqua could be just as talented as and even more suited for the job than Bob. It is unfair for him to get the response as well as unequal because of Shaniqua being a person of color and a woman.

As a girl, I think it is awkward for women to talk about their periods because it is a private matter. I was on my period, or bleeding as Sam put it, when Sam asked this question. I put my hand slightly up, not enough for everyone to see it but enough to know that I am participating.
I think other girls in the class might have been on their period as well but it gets awkward to talk about that stuff in front of so many people, where about half the group is males. The thing is, since birth, we are taught by our parents, and society as a whole, to carry ourselves as per our gender. Boys should be tough; they are the boss. They shouldn’t cry over petty things because that is “what girls do.” They shouldn’t “allow” a girl to get the best of them. Girls on the other hand are taught the complete opposite. We have to wear dresses a majority of the time. We must sit like this, talk like that, behave like this; so many extra rules. Above all, we have to behave in a ladylike manner.
Growing up like this, we learn to stick to our sides. It is an alliance; boys against girls. Now, tending to this ladylike requirement, we should keep certain things private. A lady shouldn’t say things in public that degrade her stature. A few of these things happens to be when a woman relieves herself, by performing a “number 1 or number 2”, or when a woman is on her period.
It isn’t so bad when a woman is going to the bathroom to urinate. That’s fine because we all do it. However, when a woman goes to defecate, it suddenly changes things. I have a friend who last year asked my roommate if she was going to shower after she went to the bathroom to defecate. She asked him if that is what he does and he said no. He looked on her with scorn. Take another example; a family friend told us that her husband was in complete denial that women did such things.
As for menstruation, periods, bleeding, Aunt Flow, T.O.M (Time of the Month) or whatever you want to call it, everyone knows that women do it but the lack of mention makes it fade away in a sense. You don’t think about it, it doesn’t bother you. As for women, we can’t run away from it. It’s like a uterus punch every month. You know it’s coming but you can’t run away from it. Then you have to put up this facade for about a week every month because you don’t want anyone but your closest friends to know that you wish you could rip out your insides just to make the pain go away. I mean, realistically, who would just walk up to a guy friend and say, “I am profusely bleeding from my vagina.” No matter how you put it, that’s how they’re going to hear it. I tried this once with one of my guy friends. I uttered those exact words. I believe I scarred him a little. It definitely takes balls to put it out there. That’s why I was hesitant in class. I wouldn’t want anybody except my close friends to see because I didn’t want to be seen as “impure” for a week. Bottom line, I think if you care what people think, the privacy settings on your life go up tenfold. If not, then you would be there raising your hands with the rest of the girls in class. I like to think I’m the former, but every now and again I hit a crossroads of the two.

I grew up in a country where skin bleaching is a big issue. As of late, one of our most popular musical artistes has bleached his skin. Since most people admire this man, more people have been bleaching their skin than before. This seems to be a rising trend, not only in my country but in countries around the world. As to the case of why people use skin bleaching cream, I believe that a majority of the reason is racially based. The idea of being white comes with a sense of power and superiority. Many people believe that they will have an advantage over someone else because of how light their skin is. I think with that also comes the idea that if “I’m white, I won’t be excluded.” Nobody wants to feel the effects of racism so they develop this mentality that if I am lighter, i.e. “become white,” I won’t have to deal with it.
We could also trace this to the years of slavery. It’s no surprise that if you were a light skinned slave, you would be given better treatment than if you were a dark skinned slave. We learned about this in history class as well as saw it in most, if not all, movies on slavery, Django being the latest addition. Now if you saw Django, you are aware of the travesty outside of the house relative to those inside the house. For one, they didn’t have to work in the blistering heat of the sun and they got jobs that were not as difficult as those out in the field. You don’t have to see Django to know that this was a common thing.
We even discriminate within our own races. Well, I can only speak for people who are black. On various social networks we find statements such as TEAM DARK SKIN or TEAM LIGHT SKIN. Some black guys even tend to gravitate towards females who are light skinned or red boned/ yellow boned as they like to call it. It makes women feel inferior and turn to skin bleaching as an easy “solution” to the problem. This isn’t just a guy thing either. Women make other people feel inferior because of the darkness of their complexion..
The idea is that as you need to climb the social ladder and the way society sees this (people that bleach in particular) is that white people are at the top of the ladder and the darker your skin, unfortunately the lower your status.
I think as for the guy’s side, they might face the same problem as wanting to climb that social ladder and the internal discrimination problem. Or they might feel that they look prettier in a lighter complexion.
I don’t think people are going to stop this mentality anytime soon. I think it will take something drastic such as someone at the top to fall in order for people to understand how drastic this is. My personal opinion is that you need to feel comfortable in your own skin and if people treat you different because of your skin color, you definitely don’t need those people in your life.

It’s going to take a little more than just waking up to the news to find out that no god existed for me to change my views. If you think about it, although not news wide, that’s how atheists became atheists. If I listened to everything the news broadcasted, I’d be one strange person. Nostradamus predicted the world to end, Mayans predicted the world to end, and if I listened to them, well, I should be dead by now to save myself the trouble of waiting for that untimely death. Think about it, if you knew you had 30 minutes to die, would you just wait or just do it to get it over with? But I digress. What I’m trying to say is that even if it was broadcasted on all major news stations, I still would remain faithful to my God. I stand by my set of beliefs and no worldwide news story or public notice will change that.
Everyone has the right to believe in what they want to believe in. There is a lot of gods out there being worshipped by people of different people. All these gods may or may not exist but who is to say that they do or do not. What force can tell us that no god exists and wouldn't this force in some sense be considered a god by some people in the world. I might be delving into this question more than I should but who has the right to tell someone that there god is wrong when we might not be sure if ours is right? If you were standing on the outskirts, would you tell someone of your religion that their god is wrong?
I have enough faith in my God to believe in him regardless of what people might say. Not only is the fact that I grew up with these teachings, but I believe deep down that there much to life than meets the eye. There are many things on this planet that we cannot explain. We can’t see the air but we know it’s there. We breathe it. We need it to live. What proved that air was air before human beings knew what it was? How was the Earth created? You might resort to the Big Bang theory. That’s fine. But what created the elements? Where did these things that created the elements come from? And so on. There are many things that science explains and there are many things that it cannot. That’s where faith comes in. I think it’s OK to believe in both. Why does the scene have to be black and white when a beautiful mixture of grey can be created? I do believe in greater and I doubt anything will change that.

Before I saw the video Sam showed us in class, I was hesitant to go to Iran. Who wouldn’t be? With all the bad publicity, the media portrays Iran as a constant war zone. CNN is, or used to be, filled with clips of negativity about what Iran was. After seeing, the video, I would like to travel to Iran. I don’t know if it’s anywhere in my near future but it does seem like a nice place to go.
Also, after seeing the video, it got me thinking that people probably look at Penn State like that, but on a lesser scale of course. With the child abuse scandal, the media tends to portray Penn State as evil with pictures on the internet of a Pedophile Bear, also known as the Pedo-bear, where the Nittany Lion should be. It got me thinking that parents might be less willing to send their children to Penn State because they think it’s a bad place for their children to go.
Similarly, people on a whole think it’s bad to go to Iran. I was inspired by the video because it opened my eyes. The people there are like the students here. They can’t help that the acts of a few have tarnished their image and even if they try to repair the damage, one more bad thing will happen that pushes them two steps back.
It also strengthened the notion that the media tends to hover over what people want to hear. If you had a close family member who got killed in the war or if you heard that the troops were fighting to protect you, why would you want to hear good news about the opposition? In this way, the media plays on people’s emotions because negative news sell better than positive news. I have never seen a commercial that said advertised Iran as a good getaway like Jamaica, Bahamas, or other vacation destinations.
Of the video that Sam showed us, the scenery looked beautiful and the night life, even more so. I like going out with my friends and having fun and that’s exactly the type of image I got from the video. After seeing that video, I would like to experience the night life there.
I’m not saying, I’m just going to go all willy nilly after seeing that video but I am saying that it did open up my eyes and made me think that maybe I was ignorant in my previous views. Of course, I would still be cautious but I would give it a try. Maybe, it would turn out better than expected. After seeing that video, I believe it is great to have an open mind

I think the thing with guys is that they have this physique to live up to. It’s easy for girls to say that to each other because we expect whoever is saying it, most likely our friends, to be saying it as a compliment. Guys take the defensive strategy because they feel like the person in question might be coming on to them and it puts them in an uncomfortable position. They expect that any other guy giving a compliment, other than nice shirt, hat, etc., would mean that he has an ulterior motive. It makes them feel weak in a sense, I believe. Contrasting this with girls, we are seen as emotional and embodied with all these feelings. We just naturally compliment each other on whatever it may be. Society is so used to this that it makes no difference what we mean by our compliments.
Personally, I compliment my friends on what they wear all the time. First semester with my roommate, I don’t think a day went by that I didn’t compliment her on something she was wearing. Now, we’ve gotten as close as to me just telling her how beautiful she is. I don’t mean it any more than just to tell her that she is beautiful. She also compliments strangers when we go out. If we like something, we tell that person we like it. That’s it, no attachments just the simple fact that we like it.
Because this is such a weird thing in “boy world,” they are more on guard about it. I can go up to my guy friends and say you look nice or you smell good but if they say it to each other, it suddenly becomes a thing. It’s not just among guys. Society as a whole finds it weird when guys compliment each other, for the same reason they’d find it strange that two straight guy friends are walking down the street holding hands, skipping; they term it as gay. Two girls doing the same? “Oh they’re probably just really good friends.” I’m guilty of this. If I heard one guy say to another that he looks so good in that outfit, I’d become a little suspicious. I have nothing against people that are gay but this isn’t a regular occurrence so of course it would raise some questions.
I have a straight male friend that likes to push the boundaries. He’ll do some strange things towards his guy friends just to get a rise out of them. He blew kisses at my other friend because said friend was uncomfortable around guys that were gay. He just wanted to see what would happen but bottom line is that it was still weird. He also said that some athlete looked really good in his uniform. This brings around suspicions.
I just think it all comes down to the fact of what society terms as ok and not ok/ “normal”. It’s ok for girls to hug girls, compliment them or even kiss them on the cheek but as soon as a guy does it, he’s weird or “gay”. I think that’s why guys stick to the basic compliments such as “nice shirt.” It shows no type of emotion and still keeps their masculinity in check.