First of all I am very thankful to this man for sharing a part of his life and experiences with us specifically. When Sam and Laurie talked about their experience with lifers, I was a little surprised and didn’t understand anyone who wasn’t visiting family or friends would want to really do this but now it kind of intrigues me and this letter definitely changed my views. The idea of prisons, murderers, and life in prison without parole honestly frightens me a little bit, which I would assume is most people’s feelings. But reading this mans words and hearing Laurie and Sam’s stories have made me realize that these men are still people too and are actually changing their ways and becoming better citizens in jail than some people do who live on the “outside.” When I started reading this message from the inmate, I though he was writing from before he was in jail. When he talked about the compassion they showed for people they hated and the things the will do to help out their friends, my eyes were opened to a whole new idea of prisons. While I’m sure there are still a lot of people who are just as dangerous and awful as they were before, or even worse because of their anger about being in jail, there are compassionate and changed people. They are living their lives, making friends, sharing time and stories with people stuck in the same situation they are. For them to reach out to a man mourning the death of his son, even if they hate each other or giving up their phone time so another man can talk to his daughter is compassionate at its finest. I think a lot of people who roam the streets could learn a lot from the self realization of this man and his friends. I can’t imagine what it would be like to know I would never leave the confinement of prison or how I would approach the situation but I don’t know if I could be so compassionate and listen to people complain about the days when mine was just as bad. I don’t know if I could give up the one time I get to talk to someone I love on the phone so someone else can have more time with someone they love. I would like to say I could be as compassionate as these men and reach out to my fellow cellmates. I am very thankful for this eye opening experience and getting the chance to hear from one of these “changed” men. While I don’t agree with their previous lives and murdering at all, I wish them the best in their lives and am almost humbled by how much they can turn their lives around still know that there is no chance of life outside bars.

At first, I was not really sure if I was going to enjoy this lecture. When Sam said on Tuesday that he was going to talk about religion and Christianity and his wife told us he was going to raise the bar I was a little uncomfortable I guess. I don’t know if that is the right word for it. Don’t get me wrong, I really like talking about religion, especially other religions and learning about their beliefs, but from what Sam has said before in class I felt like I kind of knew his beliefs on Christianity and what he says can sometimes upset me. But after being in class and experiencing it I must say this class, and even this week, was the best week of class. The only thing I do want to say I disagree with is when Sam said that Christians are trying to take over the world because I don’t believe that is the case.
I really liked how Sam approached the issue. I liked that he made us think of ourselves as Arab Muslims. As hard as it was to stay in that character, I tried really hard so that I could get the most out of the experience. With the way the world is today, it makes it hard not to assume that we know how everyone else lives, and so does everyone else. I mean, we think we know what Arab Muslims are like or the Chinese, or people from third world countries because we see videos and read things that make us think we know how they live, but the Arab Muslims and Chinese and others learn things the same way we do and make the same assumptions. I really believe that you can’t make any assumptions about people until you visit their country and live their culture. And by that I don’t mean stay in a fancy resort in the Dominican Republic but really stay with the people of the country and live their lives for awhile. That is how you are truly going to get to know what life is like, culturally and religiously. I could understand where the Arab Muslims, as I sat pretending to be one, got their negative views of us. Those videos we watched and pictures we saw makes it seem like we are awful people and since we have a generally Christian population, Christianity is shown in a bad light too. Its like the saying, one bad egg ruins the whole bunch. Yes, there are bad people who do stupid things like those soldiers who tortured the Arabs. And there are bad Christians who don’t practice the religion correctly. But neither of these things makes all Americans or all Christians bad people. I think people need to put their selves in the seats of other people more often like we did in class and realize where they’re coming from.

This is getting outrageous. I mean, there are some pretty bad video games out there but this is an all time low. What were the game creators thinking? Well I guess I can answer that, they weren’t. To begin with, I’m not saying all video games are bad, I actually enjoy a good game of Super Mario anything or some sports action. But these games where you have to kill real people to win are a little out of hand and giving kids the wrong idea. It’s not just on video game systems either. I volunteer with big brothers, big sisters and my “little” brother is twelve. When we play on the computers he finds the most violent games for free online. Of course we don’t let them play them but it just shows how easily kids can be submitted to violence.
To get back on subject though, this game is ridiculous. What type of society wants a leisure activity to include brutalizing and raping women? First of all, it is just morally wrong. Even if some people argue that the game may help potential rapists get it “out of their system” it could also have the opposite affect. It could give them more pleasure in it and give them new ideas and practice. Whoever created this must not be a parent. What parent in their right mind would create a game geared towards a son who would be the player or a daughter who would be the victim? I can’t even see why a parent would let their child play such a game. The second point I would like to make is that the game is highly sexist. The point is to rape WOMEN. In the clip we saw, the mission, if that’s what you want to call it, was to rape the girl on the screen, her sister, and mother. I don’t think the game was giving you the choice on the main menu, “would you rather rape a woman or a man?” From an economical stand point alone that was a bad choice because then you’re only marketing sick men, not sick women. A final point I would like to make is that I can’t imagine how the idea of this game must make women who have been sexually assaulted and raped feel. To make that terror and awful experience you went through “just a game” must be unbelievably hard. If I went through something so traumatic and then turn around and see people leisurely playing a game where they attacked women would be maddening and bring back floods of memories.
Luckily the game was taken off the shelves but it has opened up societies eyes to a whole new demon in the gaming market. I think people need to relax with the terrorizing video games and enjoy a nice round of Mariokart!

As Sam said this video was one of the most shocking videos we have watched in class. The majority of my shock didn’t even come from the fact that the children picked the white doll as the one they wanted to play with (although that was pretty shocking). It was when the young, probably about five years old, black girl chose the white doll as the nice doll. And it only got worse when she chose the black doll as the mean doll. I was amazed and sad. How, at such a young age, a child can make such a decision. It just shows that there is something seriously wrong with our society and the way we present different races. Where did these children learn to think that white dolls are prettier and nicer than the black dolls? Some of these children are still not in school so they couldn’t have learned it in a dominantly white school so it must be either in their homes and communities or through the media. I must say movies and television do present a primarily white cast. While it has come a long way from when my generation was young, I think it still has a long way to go. Disney’s first five princesses – Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Ariel - were white. It wasn’t until 1992 when Aladdin was released that there was a different race princess with Jasmine, then again in 1998 with Mulan representing the China population. They have finally gotten with the times and just this past year introduced a black princess. Television is also introducing more diversity through Dora the Explorer and The Little Einstein’s. Maybe with these new representations we will have more black children choosing the black doll as the strong, nice, beautiful doll.
This video also made me think back to my childhood and playing with dolls. While I will say I had majority white dolls, I can remember one story that will forever stick in my mind. I was probably about five when I got my first American Girl doll (a collection of dolls that represent different time periods in history). I started with the Bitty Baby which came in a variety of races. Right away I wanted the “Hispanish” one. While I may not have been able to pronounce it, I knew she was the cute baby doll I wanted. Sam mentioned that a very slim amount of white children would ever pick any doll but the white one and if they did it was probably because they grew up and a minority neighborhood. This also was not the case for me as I live and a very white community. This class really makes me think about the decisions I make and have made in my life.

First of all, I think it is great that Laurie is so open and willing to talk about her menstrual cycle and feelings about it in public. I don’t have a problem talking about it either and when I am with my girl friends it comes up, mostly when one of us is on our periods. I don’t think that it is something that many guys need to hear about though. I know I don’t like to be made to feel uncomfortable in conversations so I don’t see it as my place to make other people feel uncomfortable in conversation. Like Sam said, it is a natural occurrence like being hungry and your hair growing but so is going to the bathroom and that’s not something I share with other people either. While talking to one of my guy friends who is also in the class, we were trying to think of something we could kind of compare it to. The only thing we could think of was masturbating. I would really prefer that he keeps that, and the rest of his sex life for that matter, to himself. Going back to the growing hair and hunger, they are both things both men and women experience. When we have something in common, it makes it a lot easier to talk about. I prefer talking to girls about menstruating because they can relate to what it’s like and the feelings I’m having, guys can’t.
Another small issue I have with this speech is when she calls her period a suffer. Trust me, I understand what cramps are like and how awful and tired periods can make you feel. But I know some people who would take the pain and the fatigue to have a period. I know girls who have health conditions that prevent them from having their periods at all or who have an unnatural cycle and don’t know what is causing it or if they will ever be regular. What gets me through it sometimes is knowing that because I go through this natural occurrence every month, I will be able to one day have children. One of the most important things to me for my life is to have a family. Children are a big part of my life and having my own is something I can’t imagine my life without. By having a period every month I it reassures me of my dream. I don’t think it’s fair for people to complain about something that provides such miracles. Even if you don’t want to have children, there are so many people who would kill for those five days a month.

I can not believe that things like this are still an issue. I mean it hasn’t been that long since I went to prom but this wasn’t an issue when I was in high school. You were welcome to take whoever you wanted and dress in anything (within reason of course) but a girl could wear a tuxedo if she wanted to. Another thing that was popular in my high school was going to dances with a group of friends. Girls would buy couple tickets because it was much cheaper than buying single tickets for everyone. I think both years I went to prom there were at least two lesbian couples who went. Not only did they go to the dance together, but we have a grand march where couples are announced and walk down a catwalk type runway in our auditorium, and they participated in that as well. I think very highly of these girls for feeling comfortable enough to show their love to the whole community and I don’t think the school should have a say in who people love. It is sad that these girls have to be made ashamed of their lifestyle by the school, community, and student body. It is hard enough to go through high school with all the ridicule you take for being different but bringing your differences to public light and being “blamed” for a high school tradition to be cancelled, is so much worse. I’m sure the majority of students didn’t take the news that their prom was cancelled well and they probably took it out on Constance. Another article I read about this issue had a quote from another student who said something like that either way someone was going to get disappointed, either the student body or Constance. I thought it was very big of her to realize that Constance had feelings too and that she, as well as the other straight kids, weren’t the only people being affected. I think it is really sad and unfortunate that a school finds the need to ruin a long time high school tradition such as prom because they disagree with a couple’s lifestyle. I’m sure they don’t agree with everything the straight couples do but just because it can’t be physically seen it is alright. If they think allowing a homosexual couple to go to prom together is going to make them look bad, not allowing them is probably going to look worse. Especially when it became national news in a nation of many different opinions, they are going to get a lot of grief from different individuals and groups who support the LGBT community.

I am not really sure I understand why this is even a question, as it seems from what I’ve read while scanning the other replies is the general consensus. I do not think partying is limited to only white people, all races party. It may seem like white students at Penn State party more because there are just more white people but if you went to a school where white people were the great majority people would still party. The fraternities throw a lot of themed parties and they are also commonly white. I will say I have been to my fair share of themed parties and never has one been against a race. I’ve been to anything but clothes parties, wild west, 90s, CEOs and corporate hoes, bright and tight, and even the famous Jersey Shore. I would have to say that would be the closest to a “racial party” but I don’t see it as making fun of Italians, it’s dressing like the people from really popular show.
Face it, especially at Penn State, people like, no not just like, love to party. Students will find any reason to go out any night of the week but routinely seem to focus on Thursday to Saturday. As long as people are responsible, there isn’t a problem with students trying to have a little fun. Obviously adding to the fun is getting to be someone other than yourself. It’s the same idea as dressing up for Halloween past the age of like twelve when it stops being acceptable to go trick or treating. People like to get the opportunity to dress up and be funny for a night with their friends. It is the perfect opportunity to wear those ridiculous shoes you had to have or uncommon shirt that you had no idea where to wear. I personally enjoy planning the outfits and even going out and buying some new accessories to really make an outfit. I’m sure if you ask anyone here who has ever been to a theme party their motives, they would give you some of the same reasons I did. I do not think anyone would ever say that their reason for having a Jersey Shore party was to exploit Italians or even having a ghetto party was to make fun of blacks, blacks aren’t the only people who live in the ghetto. If you wanted to go that far, wouldn’t that make a CEO and corporate hoes party against women? I don’t think so, it’s all just fun!
I think before you make these assumptions, you should take a chance and experience a theme party for yourself. It’s a fun time with friends and it makes for some great pictures!

I want to start off by saying that I have grown up in a home where I have always felt comfortable with homosexuality and have many friends who are gay. While I believe that they deserve all the rights straight people have, this brought an argument that I had never thought of before. That the government is okay with just tearing this family apart astonishes me. With the divorce rates so high in the United States, you would think seeing two parent families would be a blessing but instead the police come and handcuff this woman in front of her children. I can understand the laws about immigration and that they weren’t fulfilled in this situation but there must be a way for homosexual couples to gain citizenship in the same way straight couples do. If a straight, American citizen wants to marry someone from another country, that person is allowed to become a citizen. Without the option of marriage, gay couples can not gain citizenship in this way, even if they have children. That just doesn’t add up to me. This situation definitely brings up two very controversial topics and laws that are going back and forth throughout the years. Immigration laws are very particular and for good reason, there has to be some way to regulate the amount of people and who is coming into the country. But they must find a way to not break up families in the process. Laws in support of the LGBT are also few and far between. It is not a view that is universally accepted yet and that places more of a burden on gay couples, especially ones who are trying to raise a family. As I said, I am very supportive of homosexual marriages, but also I am very supportive of homosexual parents having children. I don’t see any reason why two people who are very much in love should not be allowed to adopt children. I can definitely say that there are many straight parents out there that are a lot less suitable to have children then gay people. There must be a way to fix these laws so that parents who want to be together to raise their children can be. This is a very solid argument for legalizing gay marriage that I had never thought of before. I don’t see how anyone could think ripping a family apart is the solution to anything or the right thing to do in this situation. If the mother is able to provide everything necessary to become a legal American citizen, she should be able to do so, so that she can get back to her family and providing for her twin boys.

I absolutely agree that people say these types of comments all the time. Nobody thinks twice when it’s just, as Sam put it, a guy on a bar stool but people pay attention to what political people, celebrities, and anyone in the spotlight says. Especially someone like Andre Bauer who is looking to run for higher office, people are going to pay attention.
I think it is totally disrespectful to call people animals. We actually had a guest speaker in one of my classes today that spoke about child poverty and in relation, the welfare system. I learned a lot I didn’t know about welfare and that I think a lot of people, especially ones who bash the system, don’t know. There are many requirements to even be considered for the system because help is not universally available to all poor people. People who want to attain welfare must make between four hundred and eight hundred dollars a month and have at least one child. So right there is Sam’s point that the welfare is really going to the children, or it is hoped it is. The checks that these people are receiving is only three hundred to seven hundred dollars, so for people who think people on welfare are lazy they aren’t. Why would they quit their job, even if they’re only making minimum wage, for three hundred dollars? And this isn’t based on how many members there are in the family. People on welfare must report to their case workers that they’re spending twenty hours a week looking for a better job or higher education. This is outside of their job and taking care of their children. In this way, the welfare system is emphasizing work and employment skills, not laziness. Finally, if the participants haven’t begun to work again (if they have been laid off) within two years of receiving benefits, they are cut off and you may only remain in the system for five years TOTAL LIFETIME. These people don’t get that much time to get back on their feet. The only change that might be made in my eyes is for the social workers to do a better job of monitoring what the money is spent on so that they’re sure the money isn’t getting wasted on unnecessary things.
I think the current welfare system is on the right tract to helping families out who need it and are trying to turn their lives around, especially for the children. These children are the future and 40% of children are in low-income households in the United States. These kids need help to live a productive life and a positive future. On a minimum wage job there is no way a parent is going to be able to pull their family out of poverty without a little help.

“Nobody will EVER hear these words spoken…ever again.” Those words really hit me hard. To imagine the words that we say every day and don’t even think twice about could some day disappear, is unbelievable. It really makes you realize how much we take language for granite. We don’t realize that something that comes so simple to us, and I don’t just mean people who speak English but any major language of the world – Spanish, Chinese, French, the list goes on and on – could someday not exist for our multiple great great grandchildren. The idea that the 7000 plus languages in the world will be cut in half in sixty or so years makes it seem that eventually the world is going to get to a universal language. So many people would be thrilled with this idea because I know many people who hate when people don’t understand them. But sometimes people don’t realize the history and culture that goes behind the language. Languages carry so much of the traditions of the native speakers that losing them would be like losing a piece of the world’s culture.
I don’t understand why the language was never passed down to one of Boa Sr’s friends or children. You would think that she would want to pass down the language along with the history and culture that goes along with it. As her child or friend, I would be honored and privileged to learn a language that means so much to someone so close to me. I also think it would be really cool to be one of the only people who spoke the language, as long as either other people learned it as well or I also spoke another language so I was able to communicate with others. This is a big lesson in that we need to continue to pass our heritage down to our children, even if you’ve moved from your home culture. This has been a big topic in my adoption class about international and interracial adoptions. It is the responsibility of the adoptive parents to be sure they are integrating the child’s culture and history into their lives. It is important for them to know their heritage and where they are from so they have a sense of identity. It is also a great chance for the adoptive parents and if the adoptive child has any siblings, to learn about a whole other culture and traditions that they can introduce to their lives to become more well rounded. It is also important for children, not only adoptees, to be able to carry on the traditions of their ethnicity. It seems that these traditions often get lost when people are settling in a different country than their country of origin.