I really, really enjoyed reading this letter, writer by an inmate from a prison. This is by far one of my favorite blogs so far. This letter definitely got me to think. I really liked reading things in a lifer’s perspective, and viewing life in a lifer’s lens. I can honestly say that my whole way of thinking about prisoners completely took a 180 spin. I have always thought that people in prison are usually grouchy, bad tempered, rude, ruthless, and cunning. Boy, was I wrong! I have never taken into consideration or have never taken the time to realize that even murderers, thieves, especially lifers are people too. They are human just like us. Until now, I realized that those kind of people having feelings too and have kind hearts and gentle souls deep down inside them. It was really touching, yet encouraging reading the part where the two prisoners interact, one really hurt, one consoling, while they were both enemies, who really dislike each other. It just shows how much love and compassion any human being has, whether it be a prisoner, cranky old people, etc. The fact that the prisoner who lost his son was crying, really touched my heart. It just shows how there’s humanity, civilization, sympathy, and kindness in the world of prison. The fact that the inmate said that the act of compassion “seemed perfectly natural to us” made me think wow, these people are basically sentenced life in prison, and they don’t even feel a sense of bitterness. I think we all should feel privileged being outside of prison. Lots of times, we take things for granted, get easily angry and ticked off about the littlest things, when we should treasure every second of our lives. We take life for granted when we’re granted with a lot of freedom- a lot more freedom that the lifers at least. Perhaps our lens are cloudy, and their lens are clearer. Ironic?

Though we could be sympathetic after reading this wonderfully written letter, it would also be fair to pose some questions at the prisoners- why would they ever decide to murder, steal, or practice fraud. Yes, anyone and everyone have problems of their own. There are different resolutions for different dilemmas. Why would they resolve issues by murdering? Don’t they think that it’s a little over the board just to kill someone to resolve an issue, and that it would risk their whole life trapped in prison? I guess to answer the question, everyone makes mistakes- big or small. No matter what kind of person you are; what your history is; what your beliefs are, everyone is different, but everyone has one thing in common- a sense of compassion.

Today's lecture was definitely an eye opener for me. As a Christian, I feel really upset and appalled when Sam Richards basically said that all Christians are murderers, thieves, and that they are evil. Being Christian and being called a Christian are two totally different things. Being called a Christian is just a label and not necessarily being a Christian. While being a Christian is when one truly holds Christian values and not abusing God's love. The Lord is "the truth, the way, and the life." He sacrificed his only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. He offers us Eternal Life and love forever. Wouldn’t anyone agree that He is a one loving God? I feel like these Christian politics are all so caught up in power, that they forgot what Christianity is all about. We, Christians are supposed to display God's love, by doing random acts of kindness, sharing the good news, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. Though the politicians might claim that they feel like God is calling them to declare a Crusades, maybe they are just claiming that; maybe they are really just corrupt people who are so caught up with power and are playing the role, God? Other than feeling disgusted after being forced to be in the same category as the “Crusaders” like George Bush, I really enjoyed the lecture. I really liked how Sam made us think. In class today, we basically were put in the Arabs’ shoes and saw things the way they saw things. It never occurred to me how evil and corrupt the United States actually is, which really disgusted me. In my recitation today, I learned that we actually don’t know what everything is going on in the government. There are a lot of secrets that we don’t have a clue about, which further proves my point that the United States is indeed a corrupt country. Regarding the war in Iraq, it will definitely take quite a while for the troops to come back. This is because we have destroyed a lot of things over there in the Middle East and if we just leave the country like that, fingers would be pointed at the United States, saying that we didn’t clean up after ourselves and just left a huge mess. The United States is recognized as the “world police” might be a negative thing, it is also a positive thing because if none of the countries step up to the plate, things would get out of hand in this world. It also shows that the United States has the balls to do things, no matter what other countries think, the United States will do anything to try to help, or “benefit” its own country.

On Thursday's class, we discussed about slavery. Our professor made us eat some chocolatey goodness. It was so sweet and tasty until we watched the cocoa and slavery video. I feel like Sam told us to eat the second piece of Hershey's chocolate, so that we can actually feel bad, and actually feel the pain, and also the hard work the slaves were putting into harvesting cocoa. If you think about it, for those who did not consume the second piece of chocolate, they are actually wasting many slaves' hard work. I think it is better for us to not waste it and just enjoy and appreciate what they have done for us, rather than just throwing away their hard work. However, but then again, the slaves feel like we would be "eating [their] flesh" if we ate the chocolate. The video we watched in class was very shocking, I never realized that probably parts of things we own are probably made by slaves. It was very appalling see that people were being treated inhumanely, and how they got manipulated into not getting paid after slaving over something for only their masters' profits. The slaves were not paid one penny. If a slave ran away, he would get caught easily, and would get beaten up really badly.

I recently completed my 2010 Census last week. I am so glad that I do not have to face any confusion completing the Census, because all I had to check off was “Chinese.” However, I was kind of surprised how the government didn’t include the term “Taiwanese” since the US government is leaning towards the idea that Taiwan is not part of China. So maybe the government made an error on the Census form.

The video was very interesting to watch because I got the opportunity to hear what colored people had to say about number 9 on the US Census form. I also completely agree with Sam Richard’s opinions regarding the racial categories indicated on the Census form. The government is only trying to make everyone “happy” by including all the races as they could, so that the people filling out the form will not feel “confused” as to where they fit it. Obviously, it is quite impossible to make everyone happy. For instance, older black Americans consider themselves “Negroes” so this term is included on the Census form; however, newer generations of the colored people would put themselves down as “African Americans.” And also, according to one of the interviewee, it is very offensive how the government included the term “negro” on the Census forms because the term “Negro” associates with the word “slave.” If the government spent millions of dollars into the testing survey, why didn’t they include the term “Taiwanese?” Wouldn’t the Taiwanese people feel offended since they’re ethnicity wasn’t listed on the form, rather they’d have to mark the “Other Asian” category and write out “Taiwanese?” Is it not important enough or something? Perhaps the government made a mistake and forgot to include the term “Taiwanese” because I feel like the government fully recognizes that Taiwan is its own country, and not part of China.

I remember going to China one summer with my sisters and brothers. It occurred to me that every time we were walking down the streets, the Chinese civilians would always talk about us behind our backs and pointing out the “Americans”. Just as a side note, being an “American” has many stereotypes, such as- rich and snobby. Even as minorities in the United States, my siblings and I also feel like minorities in China. We really didn’t understand why people were making a big deal out of it. We would be seen as more Chinese than Americans in the United States, but more Americans than Chinese in China. I thought this was interesting. However, even though I’m a “minority” in both countries, I feel more comfortable being a minority in the United States, because I am more comfortable with the American culture, language, and habits.

This is true, when the rude sophomoric comments were came from both the white people and the colored people, more people reacted to the rude comments the white people made. I think this is because white people are in a way known to be more "politically correct" and that they are supposed to be more reserved with their comments because they are in this race relations class. I feel like we are being more lenient towards the colored people because of what happened in the past with their ancestors. Perhaps, the comments like "rich, undeserving, and handed everything" have an underlying meaning. Maybe, whoever made the comment actually thinks that white people do have it better and that he/she would have it more easy if he/she were to be white. Anyways, the cause of white people sitting back, listening to the minorities, and thinking before opening their mouths might be because they don't want "loud reactions" from the race table, or even want to be thought of as being rude and racist.

This is actually not very surprising just because how Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister always displays skinny and beautiful female models and really toned male models with six packs in their ads. I remember going to the new Hollister store in SOHO, NYC and seeing mostly caucasians workers and models. The guys would be wearing a button down shirt unbuttoned showing off their six packs, and the girls would be wearing something similar to guys, something revealing and showing off their bodies. These stores are geared towards teenagers and the younger generations. They want people to feel that by wearing their clothes, people will feel sexy and beautiful too. So because Hani was wearing a head scarf, she was immediately fired by the corporate, because it did not comply with the looks policy. I feel like these cultural differences places some pressure on Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, because they want to maintain a certain look and a certain feel when costumers walk into their stores. This is definitely very immature especially because America is supposed to be all about freedom, and Abercrombie & Fitch is totally not complying with the country's moto. Maybe Abercrombie & Fitch should be "fired" for not complying.

When looking for colleges, students obviously want to stay at a safe environment. However, after seeing this video, "looks can be deceiving." A lot of the universities like to advertise that their university is greatly diverse and show that their university has a friendly and welcoming environment. I find this very deceiving for minorities because racism, prejudice, and discrimination will always exist and will not completely disappear. I find it very appalling to see how a student would spend his time and energy to hurt others by displaying a noose at the university library. This behavior is very immature and childish. I think serious measures should be taken by the administrative in order to prevent something like this to happen again. A solution to help ensure a safe environment, is by offering classes similar to Soc 119, because this way people can open up and speak their minds and also try to understand different viewpoints about different people. People are just really ignorant and need to be more mindful and understanding. But also keep in mind, racism is very hard to fully relinquish not only from this society but also other societies.

This is quite an interesting post. I never really realized how "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" was filled with predominately caucasion people. I think this might also have to do with the bacholor's or the bachelorette's preference, since they are the ones looking for their future soul mates. At the same time, I am not really surprised because most people would prefer to date someone with similar culture and race. Personally, as an Asian American, I would want to date or get married to another Asian America, more specifically Chinese. However, when I recently told my parents that I was dating a someone Chinese who speaks Canto, my parents were not really fond of it. They'd rather have me dating someone Chinese who speaks Mandarin. This is because the cultural differences between Cantonese people and the Mandarin people and also the negative stereotypes about Cantonese people. I thought that this was very ridiculous in a sense that people could be so picky about minuscule things like that, because ultimately people who speak Cantonese, and people who speak Mandarin are both Chinese.

This video was very moving. I feel that people are always making a big deal out of things, probably because of insecurities or maybe because they feel uncomfortable about certain situations, like same- sex marriage. Marriage is ultimately a vow between two people who truly love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together. Marriage is just something written on paper saying that these two people love each other "till death due [them] apart." There should not be a law on who should be marrying who and who should no be marrying who. It's just not fair for homosexuals, especially since it's really not their fault for liking the person who is the same gender.

America was known to be the land of opportunities and most importantly freedom. I don't think the US is holding up to its bargain, if there are stupid laws like the one pertaining to gay marriage. It is just ridiculous, and inappropriate on how the government needs to basically have a say in which who should love whom. There are probably plenty of gay couples out there who are a lot happier than straight couples. So, I really don't think the US should have a law on marriage, because it is just bogus.

I find this post very interesting and I find the article very amusing. First of, when you say that a "few straight women who wished that they had a Roxxxy to take over the bedroom chores when the begging got ugly," this just proves my theory that a lot of men are horny creatures, not to bash on them or anything. I think the invention of Roxxxy is indeed a very innovative and intelligent, yet quite sad. Having a robot take over the "bedroom chores" might be a positive thing, but it's kind of sad because it shows that people have no self control and are selfish because of instant gratification. It is also sad, how we humans are willing to spend a whopping $7000 in order to rely on robots to satisfy our sex lives or to just have a companion. People should just spend more time on trying to build a relationship with someone, rather than spending so much money on a robot, that does not even have real feelings.