I am very intriguied by inmates and I really hope that I get to visit with some in the future. This has actually come to my attention before Sam and Laurie brought it up in class. My friend jokingly posted a “write to an inmate” website on my facebook wall because he said I could “find a lover”. I was interested in checking the website out and I read some of the stories. Most, if not all, were extremely touching. These were real people that I was reading about. They have feelings and families and everything I have. But the what is different about them is that they are in prison for life and they are never coming out and will never experience the things that I will in my future. I couldn’t stop reading their stories and their mistakes. What I found very interesting was that not one of them said they regret what they did or they would change the wrong they did. That did not scare me or make me hate them, but it makes them seem stronger or a better person in a way. Murders and things are definitely not acceptable but when people accept their wrong doings and accept their fate it definitely makes them seem like a good person. They cannot take back what they have done but they are responsible enough to accept their punishment and deal with the consequences. I could not imagine living my life in a jail cell and living knowing what I had done to get myself into that position. I know that not every prisoner is like that but I do feel strongly that most of them are really not that bad. With this article, I actually feel bad for this prisoner whose son died. I don’t know how he is able to go on knowing that he will never see his son again. He was not able to see his son much since he was in prison and now he never will ever again. Prisoners still have feelings and I definitely feel sorry for him. There is nothing he can do and no family he can just run to and talk to and cry with. I think the website that I visited is very good. It is kind of creepy that you can talk to someone who commited a horrible crime but at the same time it gives them some one to talk to because they still deserve the right to talk to people. I have never written to a prisoner yet but I definitely think that it is something I will do in the future when I have time to make frequent emails to someone. Everyone deserves someone to talk to.

Why is this even a question? I feel that not allowing immigrants to receive health care is totally bizarre. If they came to this country legally then why would they not receive some type of health care just like everyone else? It would be extreme racism and disrespect if we did not allow immigrants to receive health care. They are people too and if they come to the United States they are most likely trying to receive better opportunities. I feel that this is kind of a stupid question and pretty immature. Denying health care to immigrants is a horrible idea to me.

I kind of swing both ways with this topic. I definitely think people should become legally become a citizen of the United States when they migrate here. But I do understand that sometimes there are people who just can’t afford to do that and they come to the United States for better opportunities. I think that if they are hard workers then they should be able to migrate here and not be scrutinized for it. After they make enough money to afford the legal part of it then they should get that done. There are always going to be people breaking that system but that’s just what happens.

Mandarin seems like such a hard language to learn. I do agree with Sam when he says that it would be beneficial to know in the future. Not many school offer it though, especially high schools. In my high school we only had the option of taking Spanish, French, and Latin. Adding Mandarin to the curriculum would totally be beneficial and probably a lot of fun. It would mix things up and probably help a lot of young adults in their future endeavors. Personally, I would want to learn Mandarin but I just do not have the time to do so.

Wow this was horrific and sad to watch. It blows my mind that suicide bombers are willing to kill themselves like that. It blows my mind that someone even has the guts to blow themselves up. Revenge is sweet, but killing yourself to do so is not. Her husband probably did not deserve to die, so it’s understandable that she felt some sort of way about his death, who wouldn’t? But trying to kill innocent people along with yourself is definitely not the way to go about getting revenge. I think suicide bombers are selfish individuals and I do not see through their perspective what so ever.

I definitely think men face the same things women do when compared to what society’s saying. I do think women have it a little bit harder, maybe that’s because I am a woman, but I think men also face the same things and have that idea that they need to look or act a certain way. I never really thought of it until now because this topic is usually about women. I asked a couple of my guy friends how they felt and they definitely all agreed and said that they feel like they need to conform to what society wants them to. Fitting in is something that everyone wants to accomplish. It’s just part of human nature to want to be like everyone else and not be the odd one out. The media definitely has had a major affect on what is “normal” and what is not. Women especially face this problem. Just go to a grocery store and go to the magazine isle. There are hundreds of magazines with skinny, tall, fit women. Of course when an average woman sees this they are going to critique themselves and feel some sort of way about it. Celebrities are a big factor too. Actors and actresses do come in all shapes and sizes but most of them are very thin and are very similar with their bodies. Modeling is another thing that’s horrible for the perception of the woman’s body. How is it that the anorexic skinny look looks good in their eyes? This just makes young girls and women strive to be like that which affects health amoung a number of different things. Men definitely have this to battle with too. I don’t think it’s as strong as women though. In ads and movies, most of the men that win over women’s hearts are the handsome, tall, built men. We see it over and over again. Of course there are going to be exceptions, but for the most part that is what we see. I think men do a good job at covering up ther insecuriteis more than women can though. This helps with the idea that maybe men don’t go through these emotions and insecurities. The desire to fit in is pretty much inevitable and probably will never go away no matter what anyone tries to change. I think the thing is with this, no matter men or women, people need to just accept who they are. No one is perfect, everyone has a flaw or something they do not like about themselves. That’s what makes us all human. When people stop worrying about their weight, or height, or hair color, or anything like that, then the people in the media will not matter.

I had this exact question in mind when Sam told us to eat the second piece of chocolate. After watching that video and learning about what goes on, I felt that it wasn’t right for me to eat the second piece of chocolate at that time. I felt that it was kind of rude for people to go ahead and eat the second piece after seeing such horrendous footage of what takes place. But I also thought about it and could see where people were coming from if they ate the second piece of chocolate. When Sam told us to eat the second piece of chocolate, I didn’t eat it because I didn’t want to seem rude. But secretly, I really wanted to eat it because I know that I will not stop eating chocolate. I just felt that eating the chocolate again made me feel guilty knowing that some one is going through such hard times to get this for us. But I also realized that not eating the piece of chocolate isn’t going to help or make the situation worse for the slaves. I mean personally, I love the stuff and I can’t stop eating it even after seeing the video. It’s just not realistic for me to stop eating cocoa because it is in a lot of products that I and many others consume. But now that I am aware of this issue, I will definitely make sure that the chocolate and cocoa products I buy are Fair Trade marked. I think that is a good first step that I can take to make a difference and recognize the problem. Aam5141 made a good point though. They talked about how the slaves were blaming the consumers who don’t know what’s going on in the cocoa producing business. I totally agree. I can understand where the slaves are coming from, but if the consumers around the world do not know that there are slaves working to get the cocoa then how is it our fault that we eat it? I’m curious as to why slave owners are allowed to have slaves and treat them so cruelly. If countries are aware of what’s going on in these other countries then how is this type of slavery being allowed? It blows my mind that no one is stepping in. I think this is something that needs to change because it is disgusting that people around the world know of this problem yet it continues on. I’m definitely interested in learning more about this topic and many others that are similar. I want to become more aware of what is happening in this world and where our products are really coming from. It’s definitely eye-opening.

Haha this made me laugh. That’s pretty awesome that you’re doing your part in boycotting things made in sweatshops. I don’t think that the first step of getting rid of slavery in sweatshops is to stop buying clothes though. It’s totally not realistic. I don’t think people are just going to stop buying clothes and stop wearing clothes. Maybe as consumers we should start taking a look at where our clothes are coming from. I think that would be a good first step. Checking labels and only purchasing clothes not made in sweatshops is a good start to help solve this problem.

I definitely think that Sam has opened my eyes to new ideas. I was totally unaware of some of the things going on in the world and this country today. Some of the things Sam talks about have made me think differently about issues. I feel more comfortable with the race topic and I feel a lot more educated about it. I’m very surprised that you don’t seem to be phased by anything we learned. I understand that you don’t have to agree with him, but I feel that you have had to learn something that you didn’t know about this semester.

I am actually very interested in what’s to come down the road. Before reading this article I had no idea about the racial and ethnic population of the United States could see a shift. I can’t say I am surprised though. With more and more immigration happening, it’s definitely inevitable that more minority births are going to be occurring. Eventually if whites so become the minority, I am dying to know what this country will be like. If I had to guess, I do not think anything will change. I think that white people will still be seen as “on top” by people of different ethnicities. Although I feel that way, I also think that if black or brown or Asian people became the majority then maybe racism in this country will finally come to an end. Because what it all boils down to is skin color. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, a person is a person. I definitely think that there are some people who will be absolutely appalled, especially the older generation, that would think of white becoming the minority as the end of the world. But really is it a big deal? Recently we have been seeing more and more interracial marriages which have led to mixing races and less purely white children being born. I think that this is wonderful. I think my generation is more adapted and open to new cultures and ethnicities that it really won’t be such an issue in our future. Now if this was happening in this day and age or even 20 years back then there would definitely be some sort of uproar. I’m actually quite open and even excited to see this happen. I find different ethnicities intriguing and I love to learn about different cultures. I think it would be beneficial to our society to have new things to learn about and new relationships to form with things that we are not so much familiar with. I definitely cannot wait to see what is going to happen when and if whites become the minority of the United States. I’m wondering though if today’s minorities will somehow try and “strike back” against the white people because of what has happened to minorities years back. That is the only thing that I am some what scared of. I could understand how they would feel, but as a white person who was brought up not judging people by what they look like and having a family who supports minorities, I just hope that nothing like that happens. I can’t wait to see what the future holds and I hope I’m not the only white person who is actually really interested and excited about this idea.