My family’s religion is the Presbyterian religion. Presbyterians believe that there only exists one God and he is in charge of the universe. Presbyterians also believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible, and salvation (being saved from your sins by God). I don’t classify myself in any religion. I simply believe in God. Based off of my beliefs, experiences, and opinions, God is love. He is caring, unselfish, omnipotent, omniscient, and transcendent. I believe that God stands for love, unity, and peace. So, do I believe that God supports the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc? Of course not.

I believe that religion is man-made. It is a way for us to feel connected to God, to make sense of what we know of God. Religion brings people with the same beliefs together and creates a sense of community on this earth- which is why there are more than a handful of religions in the world. I don’t believe that you need to follow a specific religion to have God’s support. God believes in and cares for all humans. He takes us for who we are, good or bad. But, all of us are sinners and anything negative that we do towards ourselves or one another, God is against. God supports us, but not our negative actions.

Wars usually stem from a want of power, money, land, or natural resources. It is almost rare for leaders waging war to be specific about their reasons. They usually try to lure the public into agreeing with their decision by using persuasion. They can persuade the public by relating their culture, beliefs (which includes religion), and values with that of the public. Unfortunately, the leader’s religion is mostly always seen at the center of violence or war and what happens is that it gives the leader’s religion a bad name and the God their religion stands for. Outsiders assume that the act of going to war or getting violent goes with one’s beliefs and way of life which they automatically link to their religion. War also stems from people’s moral beliefs. The leader waging war thinks that going to war is the right thing to do while the people/country they are attacking feels the opposite way. War is the cause of greediness, selfishness, and animosity.

God does not support war because it’s violent and it doesn’t bring peace. If it does, it brings it in a way that always involves death. There is no positivity to war because one side always loses and both sides always lose lives.

Almost all of the Penn State population has been shaken up by the Jerry Sandusky scandal. I think it has caused a lot of us to reevaluate our lives and our beliefs. Personally, this scandal has taught me a lot about myself and what I need to work on. What struck me the most throughout all of this is the Thursday’s class we had after Joe Paterno’s firing. Laurie was in class and made an eye-opening statement. She mentioned how the way the Penn State’s population is feeling about this scandal is similar to how the Middle Eastern population feels on a regular basis. That no matter what we do, people from the outside (non-penn-staters, non-middle-easterns) have a negative image of us and we constantly have to defend ourselves and our image. That one person’s action does not define us, but unfortunately outsiders look at us as a whole and associate us with Jerry Sandusky’s actions just like the world associates the Middle East with terrorism and danger.

Her statement had a great impact on me. I have found that I cannot and most people cannot rely on the media. I think it is necessary for the media to be there to inform us on news around the world. But, I think that people should use their own judgments and beliefs to form their own opinions on the news. Like what we’ve seen with the media in regards to Penn State, a lot of things they address are false or altered. I recently watched an ESPN news report on the Sandusky scandal. The reporter outlined the entire scandal but left out the most important part: Joe Paterno went to his officials (Curley and Shultz) to report what McQueary had told him. Because of this, a lot of people, non-penn-staters, watching it assumed that Joe Paterno did not take any actions to stop Sandusky.

I’ve always known that a lot of issues in the world are known by a select group of individuals and kept hidden from the rest of the world’s population. But, experiencing it firsthand has been very humbling for me and has caused me to take a step back to see how I can grow from this. First, I need to become more aware of the issues that surround the world’s population like sexual abuse, terrorism, poverty, etc. Second, I need to have conversations about these issues. Sexual abuse and the effects of poverty and terrorism are something that people experience on a regular basis and by addressing it, we bring awareness to it. Third, I need to stand up for what I believe in. Protesting against what is wrong and for what is right always makes a difference and has the potential to bring change.

I think money can bring happiness, but I don’t believe that money equals happiness.

Money provides financial security for people. The world today is dictated by money. Almost everything we do requires money. We need it to purchase the things we want or need and we also need it to get an education. Money can give us a sense of security and although we can buy a lot of things with the money we have, we cannot buy our feelings. Money can satisfy us but it does not determine our happiness.

Happiness comes from within. It stems from your faith, values, beliefs, morals, culture, education, and environment. It stems from how you perceive the world and how you view yourself. I think the one thing that can equal happiness is a person’s self-worth. A happy person is one who is at peace with themselves. A person who is at peace with themselves is a person who is self-assured. I think this type of person understands that materialistic things bought with money can be satisfying for a short amount of time while searching for and finding eternal peace can bring life-long happiness.

I have poor family members who wish they had more money to buy their everyday needs or stop the struggles they face on a regular basis. But, they are the happiest people I have ever come across. Because of the fact that they have never been rich in their lives and have always had to struggle for money, they never let that influence the way they view themselves or their surroundings. They focus on being the best version of themselves and maintaining a positive attitude no matter what. They are strong, confident, and they don’t let money be the source of their joy. I also have rich family members that have more than enough money and they never have to worry about being able to afford anything. Yet, their lives are filled with misery and self-loathing because they associate money with everything. They let money influence the way they feel about themselves which effects their emotions.

I think the best place to be is in the middle of these two. I think it’s great to have financial security, to work hard and achieve the things you want to in life. I love to travel and every time I make money, I think of different ways I can use it to explore the world. It’s nice to have money to do the things you wish to do in life, but I constantly remind myself that money is not the cause of happiness. I focus on loving myself because that is when I find my inner-peace.

Does it make me feel uncomfortable when people are speaking a different language around me? It absolutely does not. Language is used for us to communicate with one another and express ourselves. Language is also a huge part of someone’s culture. My first language is French so I am bilingual in French and English. When I was first learning to speak English, I remember being very frustrated (with myself) for not understanding what people were saying around me. I pushed myself to understand the language. But, I never put the blame on English speakers, expected English speakers to speak French with me just so I could understand what they were saying, or got upset when people spoke English around me.

I remember a couple of years ago, my sister and I were speaking in French next to someone. The person we were seating next to got really offended and asked us to stop speaking in French and said that “In America, we speak in English.” I remember being really shocked and offended that this person had the audacity to say such a thing. The above question made me analyze this incident and I’ve come up with a conclusion as to why people feel uncomfortable when they hear a different language being spoken around them. I believe that people’s discomfort stems from jealousy. Most people who are monolingual are envious of people who are bilingual or multilingual. I believe that when they hear someone who speaks a different language than they do; they become envious and wish that they could understand what the other person(s) is saying. In the incident I described, the person seating next to my sister and I was obviously feeling uncomfortable, self-conscious, and assumed that we were talking about them. They eventually became very frustrated so they rudely told us to speak in English so that they could go back to feeling comfortable by knowing what was being said around them.

I think it’s impossible for the United States to give back what it has taken from the Indigenous people. Land was the number one thing that was taken from Native Americans. Decades have passed since then. The United States has always had an increasing population (baby boomers, immigrants, etc.) and most of the land in the United States is occupied with farms, cities, houses, attractions, etc. If we were to give back this land, everyone who does not identify as Native American would be left with nothing. I am an immigrant in the United States and although I sympathize with the hardships of the Indigenous people, I don’t think it is my responsibility to give back what was taken from them. We cannot give back what was taken from the Indigenous people but we can help them establish themselves in today’s society.

I believe that most of the issues regarding Native Americans should be resolved by the United States government. Indigenous people are usually the most defenseless people in their country because of their lack of resources. The government can provide better living conditions for Native Americans by building new and improve housing for them. Reservations tend to be really filthy with a lot of health hazards…The government can also provide more job opportunities –around reservations or in towns nearby- for current generation. More importantly, the government can also provide better schools for present and future generations. If Native Americans receive a better education, they can attend good colleges and get higher paying jobs to improve their living conditions. This other solution may not work as well, but if indigenous people are willing, they can be taken out of their reservations to live elsewhere. Like it was mentioned in class, this can cause a problem because the United States does not handle assimilation well.

If Indigenous people are not willing to leave their reservations, the United States government should help them improve their environment. The U.S. government could give them funds to rebuild or improve their houses and education themselves.

I thought I was on stage one until professor Richards did the Tale of the Two Legged Amphibians presentation for people of color. I now know that I am on stage five leaning towards stage six. Most of my childhood and pre-teen years were spent on stage one until a couple of incidents occurred where I was discriminated against because of my race. These incidents pushed me into stage two where I realized there was an “us” and “them” in society according to some people.

According to lecture, stage three is when people of color see white people as irrelevant. People of color in stage three are only focused on their race and culture and stay isolated in this stage with other members of their race. Stage four is when people of color start to disintegrate from just hanging out with each other and begin to see their own bigotry.

Even though I have been discriminated against because of my race, I have never gone through stage three or four. I went from stage two to stage five. I think it’s due mostly to my environment. Most of my family members are very open-minded and diverse so most people in my family are on stage five or six and sometimes one. I am constantly in a positive and open-minded environment. At Penn State, I find myself around people who are positive and unbiased. I am at peace around these types of environments.

Also, I have traveled a lot in my life and have lived in a few different places and most of these places were drastically different than the other. Because of my family, environment, and experiences, I’ve learned to embrace all types of races, cultures, beliefs, etc. I think it’s important to be open-minded in life. I love getting to know people who share a different viewpoint than my own or a different culture than my own. I learn a lot about myself and the world through those types of relationships. For as long as I can remember, my friends have been diverse or different than me. I don’t let race affect my judgment of a person and I don’t feed into racial stereotypes. It’s important to know who you are and to embrace your culture or heritage but I don’t think people should be consumed in it. I’m not saying that someone should go out and befriend someone that is different than they are just to be considered “diverse.” I’m just saying that we ought to be open-minded, because it brings positivity, diversity, and a sense of wholeness into someone’s life.

Because of the diversity present in the United States, I will make a generalization about the U.S. population in order to answer this question. I believe that society (including all races) is stuck between stage one and three.

In stage one, the Pre-Awakening stage, a person is rarely – if ever- focused on race and usually identifies with their ethnicity (Aboriginal, Native American, etc.) instead of their race (black, white, etc.). I’ve encountered a lot of people, including myself, who are stuck on this stage. Most of us choose not to focus on race. We focus instead on other attributes like personality and values. We have an open heart and mind towards everyone we encounter. Personally, I’ve noticed that I rarely pay attention to race and I usually identify myself as African instead of Black. I wouldn’t consider myself ignorant on race issues, but I choose not to pay too much attention to it or let it dictate my life. There are times when I am forced to take notice. When people generalize a particular race, feed into racial stereotypes, or use discrimination towards a person with a different race than their own, I tend to get annoyed or upset. Stage two doesn’t really pertain to me; I am usually at stage one and occasional jump from this stage to stage three.

In stage two, the Awakening stage, a person starts differentiating between “us” and “them.” People in this stage start thinking about their race and their culture. According to lecture, a person in this stage can follow one of these three paths: avoid racial issues to avoid risks, deny racial inequality, or seek a deeper understanding of racial issues. This stage is portrayed a lot in the media. An example would be the way the black race and the white race are mostly portrayed in movies; the black male is usually the bad guy, con-artist, or thug and the white male is the hero. The black female is usually the loud and expressive best-friend while the white female is the down-to-earth, reasonable lead character. Aside from this, there are a lot of events that happen in our society that divides the black race and the white race. One example of this is the 2008 elections with President Barack Obama. Before, during, and still today, people have a hard time accepting the fact that he is mixed. A lot of people regard him as being black – one of “us” or “them”- instead of being black and white. There are also assumptions that he won the elections because the black community really wanted one of “their” own to lead the nation. Situations like these two examples can cause a person to lean towards or be in stage three.

In stage three, the Revisioning stage, a person begins to address racial issues and racism and also begins to get upset at members of their own race or other races. According to lecture, people in stage three notice things they hadn’t paid attention to in the previous two stages. People in this stage start to take a stand. I rarely find myself in this stage and I think the same goes for society. If I see racial discrimination going on, I tend to feel very uneasy and I try to address it. I believe that most of society is not in this stage because society is fearful; fearful of being wrong, fearful of getting attacked, etc. society stays in stage one or two or floats between stage one and three.

Why do women dress a certain way and sacrifice their comfort while guys dress comfortably?

Females are very self-conscious. We tend to care a little too much about what other people think. As a female, I am harsh on myself and the way I look which sometimes causes me to judge other females by the way they look. It all stems from insecurities. All women struggle with this. If a woman denies this, she is lying. We all have flaws that we wish we could fix. Instead of embracing these flaws, we compare ourselves with each other – hoping that they’re not as bad as the next girl’s.

Women constantly want to be noticed, to be looked at, to be the sexiest. Most of us crave that attention, because it makes us feel good about ourselves. I haven’t met one girl who doesn’t like knowing that, despite her flaws, people think she looks beautiful. As relative as this word is, most women tend to associate it with physical appearances. So we try to dress a certain way which makes us stand out or look just as good -if not better than- other females. We want members of the opposite sex to notice us, because it makes us feel beautiful. We rely on magazines like Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Elle to teach us how to dress to impress, how to do our make-up so that our eyes are a little more sexier than the average girl, what heels to wear to accentuate our legs, and the right clothes to buy to boost our confidence and bring out our inner Angelina Jolie. We look on TV to see what the latest trends are or dress like other females we think look beautiful.

Unfortunately, not only do we tend to associate the word beautiful with physical appearances, we also associate it with confidence. If we don’t look good or dress the part, we feel self-conscious about ourselves – especially when we see the girl seating next to us wearing the latest trends and looking “confident.” The majority of women rely on the approval of others to feel good about themselves and we tend to associate physical appearances with confidence when in fact it is not the case. I try to remind myself that my wardrobe does not define me. But, I do have a yearly subscription to Cosmopolitan and Harper Bazaar. No matter how hard I try not to, I spend more than twenty minutes picking out an outfit in the morning, and I still get that ego boost when someone tells me I look beautiful – which leads me to one conclusion: Women dress a certain way to get attention. All of us have the option to dress comfortably. Some of us choose not to.

I don’t believe in any stereotypes, because they are just that –“stereotypes.” To stereotype is to characterize members of a group; something we have all experienced. Being a black female, there are a lot of stereotypes that are associated with my race and my gender. Some of the stereotypes associated with being a black female are promiscuity, “ghetto”, loud, rude, unsophisticated, aggressive, etc. I don’t fit any of these descriptions neither does my black female friends. Because of the fact that I can be judged on based on some of these stereotypes, I rarely -if ever- pay attention to stereotypes. Here are two that I find foolish:

“All Asians are good at Math.” I can’t even believe the amount of pressure that is put on Asians when people assume that because they are Asian they must be good at Math. Being Asian is not a prerequisite for being good at Math and vice versa. In fact, I believe it has nothing to do with it. I know Asians, male or female, that are good at math, but I’ve also met Asians who are not good at math. I think it all comes down to one’s own work ethics and skills. A lot of Asians I’ve encountered work really hard in school to make the most out of their college experience... Just like almost all Africans, African-Americans, and Caucasians that I know.

“Middle-Eastern people are terrorists.” After September 11th, the world has been downright cruel to Middle-Eastern people. Some peoples’ attitudes, especially in the United States, towards Middle-Eastern people are rude, mean, and disrespectful. I’ve heard a lot of negative comments and stereotypes about people from the Middle-East, but the one that is constantly thrown around is the terrorist stereotype. You hear it everywhere, at school, in books, or even in movies. For example, in the movie Flight plan when Jodie Foster’s character loses her daughter on the plane. She immediately accuses the Middle-Eastern guys on the plane of kidnapping her daughter and of being plane hijackers. *spoiler alert* She later finds out that they were never involved with the incident. They were simply passengers on the plane. I think it’s sad how people have characterized an entire section of the world with violence and terrorism. Yes, these things occur in the Middle-East. But, most people from there are victims of numerous regime attacks and political injustice. Being Middle-Eastern does not make you a terrorist nor does it mean that you are dangerous or mad at the world. There is violence all over the world and in some places more than others. We live in a violent world and instead of pointing fingers at who we think we should blame, we ought to figure out how to end this violence and create world peace.

I fully support the Haiti Project. Most of us aren’t able to physically go there so this is a great way for us to help out. I found it fascinating that a lot of these entrepreneurs were women. That is not common in the United States and a lot of other countries. I think women in Haiti know how tough their living conditions are and instead of relying on their husbands or other people to help them out, they take the initiative by becoming independent or becoming entrepreneurs. This is one of the great life lessons I will take away from this project.
The video that struck me the most was the Euclid’s Business video. I was very impressed with her determination and the fact that she’s using her artistic skills. In most underdeveloped countries, art or anything of the sort is looked down on. Most people struggle to make a living or to eat on a regular basis so these types of jobs (artists, musicians, etc.) are sometimes considered a waste of time. I also think it’s beautiful to see the support Euclid gets from her husband. He helps her out as much as he can even though he is preoccupied with other things like his second job as a security guard. I think Euclid is a great fashion designer especially since all of her stuff is hand made. She is very creative with her designs and relates them to her culture, environment, or other things that surround her. I think her collections are unique and nicely inspired. Unfortunately, she needs more fabrics, paints, and other designing tools that she cannot afford. I am definitely up for helping Euclid. She is using her skills and her passion in doing what she loves – being a fashion designer.
Another video that caught my attention was the Yvrose Noncent Video. Yvrose Noncent owns her own production business where she makes shoes and clothing. She designs all of her sandals. But, she has very few people working for her and they hand make each of the sandals. I think the fact that she makes shoes and designs evening wear is a great idea. A lot of Haitians can afford buying shoes from her to get to and from places. If she gets more resources and funding, she will be able to hire more people to work for her which will help other Haitians who are jobless.
Euclid, Yvrose, Anaes, and Clorene are among the hundreds of people who need our help in Haiti. I saw a few of them on the videos posted for the Haiti Project. Even though I know there’s a long way to go to help out Haiti, I am thankful that I am given the opportunity to help out as much I can.