This letter was really touching to me, yet upsetting at the same time. I definitely believe that people can change and this man proves that in this letter he wrote. It’s upsetting to know that the person who got him or herself into trouble and thus went to prison may not be the same “person” who is there now. Everyone has made a mistake in his or her life that the truly regret, but given time the majority of us can go back to living our lives normally. Even when we know our lives will go on this feeling of regret can eat away at anyone. I can’t imagine how a “lifer” deals with regret knowing that his or her life will never be the same and that he or she will never truly be free. I can’t imagine how that would feel especially for the “lifers” who go through a transformation while being in prison. I think it’s great when do things such as community serves, or simply donate blood. I have been given the opportunity to hear some prisoners’ stories first hand. Unfortunately, some that were released were then again convicted of a crime that put them back in prison. It’s hard to tell when someone has truly changed and when they have not.
It’s very easy to not think compassionately about people who are in prison for life; after all they committed a crime horrible enough to place them in there. Hollywood and the media definitely don’t depict people in prison to be compassionate or “good people.” In essence, the reason why they are there is probably because they are neither or those things; at least that’s what I use to think. Initially reading this letter I felt really badly for the man because he appeared so “human.” It not very often that you can hear a first hand account of a “lifers” feelings in prison. But after I have been reflecting on this letter I feel happy for him and inmates that they can find peace among each other and hopefully with God. I really should be feeling badly for the prisoners who haven’t changed and are at conflict with themselves and others.
There is no reason in my mind that can justify letting someone out of prison for taking another persons life away, however I definitely do not believe in the death penalty. As this man has shown through his letter people in prison are still human and have the ability to change. The rational to kill them because they killed somebody is ridiculous. I think it’s more of a punishment to know that you are going to live the rest of your life in prison. I also think that everyone deserves the chance to reflect upon their actions and change their life, even if it’s their life in prison.

I completely agree with this video post and think that there is so much more to being a woman than simply looks. No matter what religion, race, or ethnicity we are, we all struggle with the same issues of being a woman. But for some reasons these biological and emotional similarities that we have aren’t enough to make us all equal. Some women are “better” than others because of the way they look. This ideal image is portrayed through Hollywood and celebrities who have the money, time and resources to perfect their image. Somehow this same exact image is what everyday average women are supposed to conform to. I think this is so unrealistic and only is completely shallow. Personally as a women I don’t like looking at celebrities all the time in magazines and on the internet. They portray an image that for most girls is unachievable, which then results in plastic surgery or some sort of eating disorder.
I have a close friend who struggles with her weight and gets very upset at herself because she is heavier than the women she sees in magazines. The idea she has that she is not beautiful because she isn’t size 2 is horrible. Whatever put this idea inside her head has also puts it in the minds of many other women and young girls. There are so many more important things in life that could be enjoyed instead of wasting energy and time on worrying about this kind of stuff. But over and over again and year after year the same cycle continues and at a higher rate and volume because of the infinite ways to access the media.
I thought that Lories play was very interesting especially in the approach she took to convey her message. It appeared rather funny when we were watching the opposite happen in the play then what happens in real life. It makes you think twice about what’s important to us and how ridiculous it looks to get worked up over something that you have no control over. I think a lot of people just think it’s the normal to get surgery on their bodies to enhance their features, but it’s not. Our culture has just become accustomed to it and that is why we see nothing wrong with it. This was just like the one girl in the play who thought there was nothing wrong with getting surgery on her body. She was so oblivious to the fact of it and even fought with her best friend and accused her of not being able to understand. But no matter what the issue is, pretty much every woman has an “issue” with her body. I don’t think it should be like this, I think that a woman is a woman and should be proud of whatever her body looks like.

I was completely surprised when I first heard this question and initially mad. But after I thought about it I think it’s a great question and takes a lot of nerve to ask. During class at times I do get a little bored of what Sam is talking about, but it’s really hard for me to understand how some people can just talk the entire class and not pay attention to anything he is saying. First of all it is disrespectful and second of all if you don’t like what he’s talking about or think his class is stupid then just leave. Sam is so passionate about what he teachers and it completely baffles me to think that someone couldn’t be affected by what he says. Sure some of the things Sam says are off the wall and completely out there but he does a great job and what he said he was going to do at the beginning of the semester, make us think. I have never taken a class anything like this before and think that it is the most meaningful one I have taken so far at Penn State. Sam challenges my beliefs all the time during class and sometimes pisses me off, especially about the religion stuff. But he makes me think. Think about my values and why I believe the things I believe.
I don’t understand how ignorant someone can be to not take anything Sam says into consideration. To not be affected by anything he says about all his experiences is childish. I’m not saying you have to agree with him or change your beliefs, but to just think about what he’s saying. Sam knows a lot about this stuff and has first hand experience with a lot of it. He’s seen parts of the world that we are never going to see or be able to envision in our minds. To complete ignore what he is saying and not be affected by it is unbelievable to me.
I know Sam isn’t trying to force his beliefs on us and if you think that then you do not understand his lectures the right way. It’s helpful how open he is about his stance on the issues. By doing this he can show his passion towards the subject and really try to connect with us. I think that the people who don’t like his class or don’t benefit from his class either don’t care anything about race relations and shouldn’t have singed up for the class or are still completely oblivious to the world around them. Sam’s not trying to change our opinions and if you listened for one second in class then you would know that because he explicitly said it. He’s trying to make us think and if you aren’t willing to think about what he says then you probably know he’s already right and you don’t want to be wrong.

I never thought that the census would be offensive to anyone because it is simply trying to record the count/racial population of America. This census is so important for our country and is important that everyone take part in it. I never knew that there was fine for not taking it. That just shows how much our country values it and how important it is for us. Just look at how much money we have spent on the census so far; millions and millions of dollars have been used to conduct this survey. I’m not say that this is not necessary it is just crazy to think that that much money needs to be spent on it.
It may sound naïve of me to say that, but because I am white it is very easy for me to check the “white” box and hand the census in. But to be someone of color or someone of a different race I can now see how confusing and offensive the census can be. A lot of people may not know how to fill out the census, which isn’t good for many reasons. They might check a racial box, which does not accurately account for the racial group that they are in, they may not take the census because of frustration or even because of offensive. I think that it is really hard to not offend anyone when talking about race because there are so many different races in America and everyone refers to them differently. Take the current example on the census, Negro. The government was torn in what to do since they said that the older black population would be confused if they did not see Negro as an option and would not check anything. That is a big problem and would affect the number critically. On the other hand, the younger black population found that offensive, which I can completely understand. The woman who was interviewed on CNN was really offended and surprised that they included Negro on the census rather than African American. I really don’t think that the government meant to offend anyone and I think that this was a hard decision for them to make to include this. My point is how can the government account for every race, in a practical way on the census, without offending anyone. I can’t think of how they might have written it on there so as to not offend anyone who was black, yet have the older generation and younger generation accounted for. Another thing which complicates the census is that a lot of people don’t know what racial group they are in, or are in more than one and don’t know how to account for that. For this reasons I think that the government should offer help for people to take it. This should be widely available and easy to access. Maybe by doing this the people who are confused won’t be anymore and the people who are offended could get some sort of explanation.
One comment that really stood out to me in the video was when a man said something along the lines, “ You can’t say that you don’t see color. By saying this you are not acknowledging that people of a different race have had a different experience in America and were treated differently. To not acknowledge them as people is racist.” I thought this was very powerful and extremely interesting.

I thought Laurie's monologue was very interesting. It was cool how she approached the issue of a society being dominated by men through the topic of periods. I had never really given either topic much thought let alone think about them side by side. Yes I understand that men are more dominate in some particular things over women, but to look at it at this small of a level is something new for me.

I completely agree with the points Sam has made in class regarding why our society is not more open to talking about women's periods. My initial reaction to why people don't talk about it was simply because it is kind of disgusting. In our society it just isn't appropriate to talk about "gross bloody things." But a period is completely different in the aspect that it is a natural bodily function, in which we have no control over and which is vital for birth. For this reason I don't understand why the topic is so hushed. I don't know if we will ever get past the disgust of thinking about it, particularly other women's, but men definitely need to get over their initial discomfort and disgust of the topic. First of all periods cause a lot of women a tremendous amount of pain, pain that I’m sure many men have never experienced. Second of all without women having periods it would be impossible to reproduce. I don't think many it's not like women choose to have their period and choose to go through pain every 28 days.

Unfortunately men will never understand what women go through when they are on their periods. And because of the general stereotype that women are weaker then men, it’s easy for them to say things, such as “just suck it up” or, “it can’t be that bad.” Men who say this obviously believe this stereotype and it is just an endless battle to argue with them about it.

I thought that Laurie’s closing statement to her monologue was very powerful. She said, “None of this matters to me if I have to pretend that I am not a woman.” I completely agree with this statement. If women have to adapt to a society run by men by pushing aside the qualities which make them unique as women in order to receive equal treatment, then it essentially isn’t equal treatment. Our society is slowly getting past the stereotypes of women and men which hold women down. Such as, “women can’t be good in math or science.” A lot of these stereotypes are drilled into our heads when we are really young and even effect the choices a lot of women make. It should not be like this. Men and women should be viewed and treated equally in every aspect including fundamental differences.

I think it’s awesome that a woman got the head coaching position of a football team, a position which is extremely dominated by men. She’s determined and loves the sport and obviously deserves the position. I really like how she handled herself during the interview when she was asked questions like, “ As a woman, did you have to work harder to earn the position of head coach?” When she answered questions similar to this one she made it apparent that she didn’t focus her attention on others and their expectations of her as a woman; rather, she focused on her own expectations and goals, which ultimately lead to her success.
I personally don’t see what the big difference is between a woman coaching a team or a man coaching a team. As long as he or she is highly qualified then it shouldn’t matter. Based on this I could speculate why men rather than women dominate the coaching positions of football. It seems that men have a significantly higher interest in the sport, which would lead to them coaching more. Or maybe men are naturally “better” at the sport. For these two reasons I am “OK” with the idea that coaching football is dominated by men. But when facing reality this is not the case and thus I think it is unfair. Men are obviously given more opportunities to play the sport because it is socially accepted as a male sport. It is also apparent that women are discriminated against as football coaches. Just reading the comments of other people its clear that men either do not respect women as coaches or would have a difficult time playing under one. For these reasons it is completely unjust that men dominate coaching football.
I was extremely happy when I heard in the interview that the woman said her players are very respectful of her as a coach. For high school boys I find this very surprising because I don’t expect them to be very mature and to openly accept a woman as their coach and to respect her is wonderful.
I can understand at some level why it would be more problematic to have a woman as a head coach of a male football team. My only understanding of this comes from my own experiences in high school sports. I ran on the track team and the head coach of the boys and girls team was a woman. She earned very little respect in her position by the boys, compared to some of the other assistant coaches who were male. I don’t know if it was because of her personality or what but it was very apparent.
Maybe on average women aren’t as suitable as men to coach football, but this shouldn’t determine the lack of success of an individual women who is best suited for the position.

It’s hard to believe that companies like Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister can discriminate against people, yet be successful businesses. This is outright religious discrimination and I hope that when people see this they stop shopping there. I use to shop there in high school, but now I have realized that the clothes are made cheaply and they stand for people who are fake. As a girl, I am definitely into fashion and love shopping. I not against paying money for a name brand shirt or shoes, but I am against paying for a company that stands for so many bad things. I know that Abercrombie has a certain “look” and I understand that they want that look displayed in their store, but that has nothing to do with religion or race. What’s the difference if you dress someone who is white in their clothes then if you dress someone who is black in their clothes? There is no difference we are both human beings and to think that such a large company would do something so childish disgusts me.
What really upsets me and doesn’t make sense to me is that they hired her knowing that she was going to wear the scarf on her head, and then later they decided they wanted to fire her. I think it was understandable to ask her to wear certain colors, as they do with the other employees, but to fire her when she was obeying what she was told to do, is absurd. It’s even more upsetting that corporate fired her; the head of the company, which represents all of Abercrombie. I would have thought that something like this would have happened at the branch level, and then taken to corporate to have them say that it’s ok if she wears it.
I’ve heard of Abercrombie having magazines with pron in them, and whether that is true or not I don’t know. With this said, along with religious discrimination and race discrimination, it’s hard to believe that anyone still shops there. I also thinks it’s horrible how they target teens and middle school people with the image of being super skinny and wearing clothing that is tight, short and has holes in them. I remember asking my mom to buy me clothing from there because I thought it was “cool.” I feel badly now asking her to pay a ridiculous amount of money for clothing that looked slutty and was cheap. I hope that this incident makes people think twice about buying clothing from there or from other brands that stand for similar things. A company that targets people in this way and discriminates in ANY way should not be in business. It seems that Abercrombie influences young people in a powerful way since so many people buy their clothing and it’s sad that they send out a poor and disgusting message.

I thought the video we watched in class on Thursday was very interesting. Sadly, I understand that discrimination happens on a daily basis, but I could never image something like this. It made me angry to watch the video and to see the people who actually agreed with the man behind the counter. I wish we could have seen more of their reactions when ABC tried to interview them afterwards. The reasons the one man gave for supporting the baker weren’t even real reasons. That is why he couldn’t stand there and defend his position. In my mind and I know in many others, these people will always baffle me. He claimed that the woman was not “American.” By saying that he is going against everything our country is built off of. America is about accepting all cultures, religions, and ethnicities and not being one uniform group. I wonder if he would have reacted the same way if this situation were set up with someone of a difference race. Say someone who was black, asian or mexican. I wonder if the “statistics” on that would have been different from what we saw.
I really connected with the girl, who was with her Muslim friend, who stood up for the Muslim woman. To think about people that I am very close to facing discrimination on that sort of level and it is unsettling to me. No one should ever be treated differently simply because of the way they look. I thought it was interesting how the cashier was going to serve the other Muslim woman in the store just because she wasn’t “dressed Muslim.” When he did that it proved that people are just basing judgments off appearance. What makes the woman who is “dressed Muslim” different from the one who is not?
I wanted to comment about the person who spoke up and class and said that they wouldn’t necessarily say something because it wouldn’t be in their place. I have to agree with this person. Everyone does not react the same way to certain situations. I think it would be ideal to speak up and voice your opinion about the issue, but isn’t putting what you bought down and walking out of the store a statement? I know that I would have done that and made sure people didn’t go there and knew what it stood for. I do not agree with the people who are saying that not saying anything is not having an opinion. I think it simply means just not voicing your opinion. You can make a statement by being in complete disgust and walking out. It is very easy for other people to pick up on your body language and actions. People who disagree with this probably disagree with the statement, “actions speak louder than words.” With all of this said I am by no means trying to say that we shouldn’t speak up but I don’t think that the people who speak with their actions should keep being bashed.

I completely agree with the points this person made about gay marriage. As a Catholic I do not support gay marriage and all of the reasons for why I feel this way originate from my religion. Marriage is defined in the bible as being between a man and a woman. Therefore placing the title of “marriage” on two gay people is inaccurate and going against the bible. Homosexuality is considered a sin in the bible regardless of whether it is a “choice” or not. Sam made an interesting point in the lecture when he brought up the idea that we are all psychically attracted to the same sex. With this being said many would argue that homosexuality is not a choice. Regardless of if this is true or not, people do not have to act on their feelings. For instance the actions of someone who is born mentally ill are not justified just because of their mental illness. If they commit a crime it is still considered a crime and is not “OK” because they felt that way. I believe the same applies to someone who is homosexual. If they believe they are born a homosexual that does not give them the right to act on their feelings. If we are going to accept the actions of someone who believes they are born a homosexual then we should also accept the actions of someone who is born mentally ill. For instance if someone who is born mentally ill kills someone because that is what they felt they needed to do (just like someone who is born a homosexual feels that they need to act on their feelings and get with someone of the same sex) then we should accept both of these and not be hypercritical towards what we choose to accept. With this being said you probably think that I am against homosexual rights. I am not denying that homosexuality does not exist but I am arguing that just because it may exist DOES NOT mean it is right to act on your feelings. I think that people who openly admit that they are gay should have rights because I think that everyone should be treated equally. I do not think that someone who practices being gay should have rights because it is a sin. Thanks to Sam’s lecture he made this point very clear.
I find it interesting how people try to defend homosexuality by saying things such as, “ our culture is ever-changing, adapting and evolving.” How do your words really compare to those written in the bible? Where in the bible does it acknowledge that when times change and the world evolves that the words in the bible should no longer apply? Just because more people accept homosexuality as being “OK” does not make it right.

I agree with a lot of the points made in previous responses. Race relation conversations are undoubtedly going to end up on the topic of black and white. This is because of the horrific events in our history, which occurred between black and white people. Events such as slavery should not be forgotten or pushed aside because at one point it was very real and the black people who suffered should not be forgotten. Because these events cannot be forgotten by either race they are still prevalent in our society and separate us today from one and other. They separate us in a way from understanding one and other to the treatment of one and other. As a white person there is no way that I can understand or put myself in the shoes of someone black who has been racially discriminated against. No matter how badly I try to understand how it feels in reality I can't understand the horrible feelings that come from it. It’s upsetting to know that there are very few differences in our complex genetic makeup, but something so simple as a physical characteristic can make us feel so differently from each other. After reading someone’s blog entry about his or her experiences with discrimination its hurtful to see how prevalent the black and white issue still is. For someone who is white to tell someone who is black that they aren’t going to make it to college is absurd! It’s because of people like that, that the issue of black and white still is present today even though it should have ended a long time ago. You think that as smart as we are this issue would finally come to an end and people would see that there is no superior race. After all we are all Americans living in America, yet people who are black are addressed as African American, but people who are from Ireland who are American are rarely addressed as Irish American. What does this say about us? Is that because we are so caught up on the outer appearance of people and their skin color? I wonder how that makes someone who is black feel. Does it bother you that people are making an effort to distinguish you as African American and not just American?
It’s frustrating that discrimination still exists because there are many people who believe that there should be absolutely no differential treatment between people simply because of their skin color. Yet there are messed up people who don’t feel this way and feel the need to discriminate based on color. People like that are the people who should be discriminated against because there is no excuse or justification to segregate someone based off their color.