I don’t think that it would ever be remotely possible to cancel State Patty’s Day. As Sam said in class, State Patty’s is an incredible feat in and of itself. How many other colleges or, let alone, organization can create their own nationally (and at times internationally) recognized holiday. State Patty's Day, the controversial student-created drinking holiday at Penn State, shows no signs of slowing, despite efforts to reign in binge drinking and big crowds by enlisting the help of community volunteers. Buses from varying schools, like Temple and West Virginia (just to name a few), are chartered to arrive just before the holiday festivities start. In past years several bars closed their doors Saturday due to harsh criticism of the event from the community. The state Liquor Control Board closed stores at 6 p.m., four hours early, in hopes to restrict some of the ensuing chaos. But regardless lines at open bars pile down blocks, and parties are packed. How on earth would you be able to get an entire campus, plus branch campus, and thousands of students from entirely different universities to give up a holiday such as this? Its just become too big. Even the university is starting to realize it, taking measures they never have before in the past. This spring will be the first year that the university will not hold tours to prospective students on the student-created holiday. According to a State College Police Department report issued over the summer, State Patty’s Day 2011 saw 234 arrests and cost the State College Police Department $18,700 and the borough’s Public Works Department $15,441. As much as canceling our student-created holiday would show how truly sorry we are for what has happened on our campus, almost a sacrifice for the student body in a way. I just don’t think that its in anyway plausible. As Sam said in class, the media is more than likely going to catch wind of State Patty’s (more than they have in the past) and its not going to shine a good light on our campus. Chances are this year, State Patty’s is going to flood the news networks, and make us look pretty terrible, if not probably than we already did after the riots. I don’t think there’s much we can do about it other than to try and uphold some honor and tradition in what we do as students under the scrutiny of the media for every action we do or do not take. Sacrificing State Patty’s Day holiday would certainly be one way for us to get rid of the poor image that the media has shown the nation that we are, but its just not a plausible idea.

All of us have been able to take away life lessons, both individually as well as a community. I know that as an Elementary Major, issues like these will more than likely arise in my career. And that this highlights the importance of intervention as well as following up to make sure the proper repercussions and reports are made. Many individuals claim How on earth could Joe Paterno, the legendary coach at Penn State, not have been so outraged at the allegations of child abuse by his colleague Jerry Sandusky that he would have raged to the University to do something and followed up aggressively, or reported it to not just the University, but the local police? No one but the individuals involved know the truth of the situation. The rest of us know nothing. And because we know nothing: assumptions like these need to stop. Until all the information has come to light you need to be ready to change your opinion at a moments notice, as new facts come to light. This is something that I have taken away from the experience. Yes, it is okay to make a opinion based on the limit information that is provided. But you need to be ready for any new facts that arise to change your opinion. I don't know much detail other than the grand jury report. None of us do, really. Getting inside someone else's mind is almost impossible. It's also easy, from the outside, to say what should have happened, with an implied sense of certainty of "that's what we would have done" if we'd been in that someone's shoes. All we can do is try and prevent things like these from happening again. And as an Elementary Ed Major that is another huge lesson that I am going to take away from this experience. I will also go forward, conscious of the fact the media spins everything for the best story potentially possible. I don't know Joe Paterno on a personal level. But I'm a huge fan of Penn State football

Many individuals around the world have suddenly felt the need to question and even hate Penn State (the university as a whole), because of the actions or “inactions” of a few men. But what these individuals, who judge our school entirely based on this, do not know is that we are more than Sandusky, Spanier, Schultz, and Curley. We are even more than Joe Paterno. We are individuals who total 42,000 at just one campus. We are together a sea of blue and white. Being a Penn State student means a lot of things. It's eating at the Creamery, and cringing at the Willard Preacher. It means studying on the HUB lawn and belting out Hey Baby… It means tailgating with the best. It’s THON. It means bragging rights and everlasting pride. It's becoming a part of a place that becomes a part of you. A few selfish and disgusting individuals will not tarnish me or my university. And I wish the media and other individuals would quit being ignorant and lumping us altogether. Even my Aunt has shown support against Penn State, as did my Uncle. They took to Facebook to show their stance, this greatly upset me as they are my family. But at this time it is clear that the only support we CAN count on is our Penn State family. Together we are Penn State. Together we can over come this. Outsiders are equally impressionable by the slanted view of the media, so I wish they would stop trying to treat the student body as naïve. And we certainly don’t appreciate their condescension. We are all still extraordinarily ignorant for the situation at hand. We do not know the details. None of us do. I pray for the victims. I wish that the media showed the riots were for them too. If the “outsiders” were here they’d hear our chants. Don’t they dare think we've forgotten about the victims. I’m certainly not going to defend what Paterno did or didn’t do, but Sandusky is the one who the media and everyone’s true disgust should be pointed at. The victims are what matter. And our student body is just pissed that Joe Pa headlines newspapers now and not Sandusky for the events that occurred. We’re pissed he got fired, yet Curly is still on our payroll. We're rioting because we don't like the way this is being handled. In hindsight could they have done more, yes. Even Paterno himself has admitted that he could’ve handled it better. But no one has any idea what the lawyers and other university officials told him to do. Everyone is focused on Joe. He DID NOT commit the crime. Sandusky did. And I would hope that people would stop judging our University off the actions of this one sick man.

I find it highly interesting that Americans do not want to do the same hard labor that undocumented immigrants are willing to. Many Americans live under minimum wage or have no jobs at all, yet they have the same opportunity as the undocumented immigrants to take these hard labor jobs. For many of the illegal immigrants they have the drive and motivation to do any job necessary and sometimes multiple jobs at once to feed their families. They clearly risked quite a bit and went through a lot of hardships and troubles to come into this country illegally. And many of them had family as their motivators for coming here in the first place. Whereas Americans have the support of the government programs to make sure that their children are being fed. The illegal immigrants do not have this luxury and instead take any job (hard labor included) to make ends meet. Similarly, I think a lot of it has to do with mentality. I feel that many Americans would say that hard labor was “beneath them” or that “they could do better”. Which in actuality is rather ironic, because every immigrant/pilgrim (all of our ancestors) started out as hard laborers. They worked on farms, in factories, because those were the jobs that existed. We all, all Americans, have a trace of hard laborers in their family. So why are we so ashamed as a culture to take jobs that consist of and require hard labor? Why do we feel that we are so above it all now? In my area back home, we have a downtown are similar to that of State College. But we also have rural farmlands. My best friend from back home was a strawberry picker over summer. That was her job, she had few complaints. But she often got teased by our peers (who worked in venues like Starbucks or Forever21). They would tease her asking if she wore overalls and a straw hat. Our culture which developed from a rural background has suddenly become ashamed of its past, ridiculing those who work hard for their pay. Now that’s not say that everyone to some degree works hard for his or her pay, but it’s in a different way. Our culture used to pride itself on hard work, individuals who worked on farms were respected and held a great deal of pride. Where as now, individuals refuse to “suck up their pride”. Americans that are struggling to put food on the table and clothes on their family’s backs are not always willing to “give in” and “suck up their pride”. Our nations spends a lot of time debating and complaining about how undocumented immigrants taking away jobs from Americans but Americans are not willing to take those jobs anyway.

To be honest I was completely surprised as Sam interviewed the individuals around me and they exclaimed that they would be afraid and scared if whites were to become the minority. I sat there wishing he would take two steps to his left and ask me. I knew my answer right away: “I would embrace it”. I have two main thoughts on it. One, what difference does it make, and why on earth would you be afraid of that. Seriously though if your neighbor was Black, Hispanic, or Asian instead of white, does it really make a difference? And two, even if whites were to become the minority, the change would be gradual and more than likely the demographic wouldn't change. A white populated area would most likely stay white populated. The same way that there are districts and areas where many social minorities such as Asians and Hispanics gather and live. For instance Monterey Park in California has a 43.7 percent Chinese American population. When areas segregate themselves by race or culture it tends to stay that way, with only small outside variations. The way races are currently dispersed around the country would probably remain the same or at least very similar, with slight changes over time. What I don't understand is why anyone is really all that "concerned". Or even better: “scared”. I get it, everyone is afraid of change. But in this case that’s just an excuse. Its flat out bull. I personally think my hometown could use the diversity if there was an influx of other races. My area was primarily white, with a decent percentage of Hispanics, a small percentage of Asians, and an even smaller percentage of Blacks. A more integrated community would help teach individuals from a young age that we are all humans, with no true differences from each other (aside from culture and slight physical variations). I wish that my town was more diverse. Most educators view a diverse student body as an important educational resource that enhances the environment for learning. Personally I feel that the presence of racially underrepresented students contributes to the total educational environment and particularly to the education of white students. Especially of the white students who lead very sheltered lives, with little experience of diversity. Diversity Digest once released an article titled “Who Benefits from Racial Diversity in Higher Education?” that answered the question using research from several studies done on this topic. According to the article, “Socializing with someone of a different racial group or discussing racial issues contributes to the student's academic development, satisfaction with college, level of cultural awareness, and commitment to promoting racial understanding.” I think that SOC119 really follows along in this structure, and I’d hope that from taking this course that students would learn to embrace any changes in the diversity of our country rather than fear them.

Back in high school, I feel like the word "poser" was used much more frequently. Since I have come to Penn State I have yet to hear anyone label another individual a poser for hanging out with a crowd that wasn't designated as their own. The community I came from was primarily white, middle class families. When it came to school we had Black students, Asian students, and Hispanic students. My district housed alot of other students Hispanic students, because of our ESL program. Now I'm not saying every student who was ESL was Hispanic, many of our ESL students were also from India and various other countries. I've never heard the phrase poser used for any of these students trying to fit into our stereotypical suburban white community called "posers" except for the black students. I remember being on the bus in middle school and hearing a white student call a black student an "Oreo". I had no idea at the time why cookies were insulting. Until later I found it was a reference of "being black on the outside and white on the inside". Later on the term "Uh-oh Oreo" came around for a white person who acted black. I personally don't believe in the label of poser. Sure there are some kids who act that way as a joke, but they're just being idiots. Once you find you niche of friends it shouldn't matter what shade of skin they are, just that you feel comfortable around them. To be told your only "posing" as someone of the friend group can be pretty hurtful. Everyone just wants to belong somewhere, be it to a group of friends or to a culture. Friendships are usually formed based on commonalities and I don't see why race would be there primary thing someone was judging a friendship on. The individuals who toss out the label "poser" are just ignorant and most likely a little insecure. Either they're jealous or uncomfortable around the situation of mixed races. Which brings me to one of my starting points, since I have come to Penn State I have yet to hear the phrase "poser". I find that really interesting, because from where I come from Penn State is a diverse community. And it makes me wonder if because PSU is so diverse that intermingled races are accepted as the norm and thus "posers" no longer exist, and instead we're all just one community.

In some ways I think everyone's race has had an effect on one way or another they view the world. We have all experienced or maybe even witnessed an event in which race, be it your own or another person's has changed a situation. Take for instance September 11th, the fact that I am white changes the way I viewed the situation and its aftermath. If I was on a plane sitting next to a man that was middle eastern, I would feel slightly cautious. If I talked to him and got to know him than the stereotype would fall to the way side. However if he avoided conversation or was just acting shady in general I would be more skeptical and hesitant. I don't think if I was middle eastern myself I would have as many of these preconceived notions. On that note though, if the individual I was sitting next to on a plane was acting shady, but was white, I would still feel the same hesitations.
As a white woman, I really have not experienced a whole lot of racism. And the sort that I did was very minor. I did track in highschool. I made it to both Leagues and District level meets. Our school districts and the ones included in our league we very diverse. And typically black women dominated on the track and field. I threw discus and javelin, and when at these meets I was viewed as this little white girl who "couldn't possibly be competition" because I was: 1) white and 2) short. That is much more of a stereotype and assumption than flat out racism.
I have always viewed the world as just full of people. Yes, I was aware that we all came from various backgrounds and cultures. But that we were all people nonetheless. We all have emotions, people who care about us, and stories to tell. I don't think that my being white had much of an influence on that. I know many people of different races than my own, who view this in a similar manner. I feel a lot of it has to do with personal beliefs, previous interactions, and the environment we're in.
I do recognize that I am much more fortunate in my socioeconomic standing, but there are plenty of races in my neighborhood with the same amount of income. And that many more individuals and races, have a much more difficult time of things, especially if they are freshly immigrated. I know I was blind to a lot of things, but mostly I feel that this had to do with my environment. I know I was very fortunate to have had some of my teachers in school who have pointed out a lot of injustices and differences in cultures that made me more self aware, as well as aware and curious of the world around me. For that I am grateful.

In my opinion, most of the time girls dress like that to try to counterbalance their insecurities. They'll sacrifice their comfort in order to play up an "attribute". The odd factor with this though is that women will dress provocatively (often for attention) but then become upset when men, or other women, try to define them why the way they are dressing. People often judge one another on appearance and by dressing in this manner, women often earn themselves the title of a "hoe" or "slut". Women, time and time again dress in this way, they'll wear their feet raw just to make their legs look a few inches longer. The lengths women go to primp are also rather extensive. I feel like women often feel the need to primp and dress uncomfortably to impress men, mostly has to do with the media's influence. You don't see back up dancers in yoga pants and a tshirt, they're in barely-there skintight dresses or booty shorts, and heels. These women are idolized by our culture, and most women want to find a way to find that sort of attention (that is if they find men drooling over their bodies flattering). Men, I feel, do have a similar pressure to look attractive to the opposite sex. However, their clothing is not uncomfortable, most women find a man dressed in jeans and tshirt sexy. To women, its not as much about the clothes they wear; in part its appearance (grease stains aren't so hot) but its also about personality. The pressure on women to "dress the part" is a factor that men feel on a lesser scale. And because many women want to feel sexy when they go out and "sexy" is defined as mini skirts, thigh high boots and pushup bras by the media. That's why women go out in this manner. Personally, I feel sexiest when I'm comfortable. But I can rock a pair of jeans with heels, I can wear what I want and feel happy in the skin I'm in. I don't understand how other girls can go around literally tripping down the sidewalk and still feel sexy. If you don't feel comfortable your not going to come off confident or sexy, your going to come across just as you are: uncomfortable. And that's not flattering on anybody.

I don't think that race plays a huge part in whether or not someone does a certain drug in particular. Instead, I think it has more to do with availability. For instance I grew up in a school district with three separate high schools. Each high school was known for a different drug. My school was designated the pot school, our sister school was designated with piils, and the third was cocaine. Even though we all lived within a few miles of each other, each area had different things readily available. In part it had to do with location, it was in someways a small scale version of our country's drug use, suburb vs inner city. Though it was never race based in the district, it had more to do with location. I believe this mirrors our nation. You can find white meth addicts down the streets of Philly, as well as Black and Hispanic ones. You won't find as many meth addicts in my suburb town however. It based on location, and availability in that location.

To be honest when this project was first presented I wasn't sure quite how one person or a group of us was going to be able to really improve these entrepreneurs lives. Yes, I understand the whole "it only takes one person to make a difference" concept, and in many ways I find that true. However, until watching these videos I didn't quite grasp the concept of how the simple things, like one new up-to-date sewing machine could cause revolutionary changes in a business like both that of Clorene and Sonia. When the cameras showed us the products that Sonia had hand crafted first, I was astounded to find out that she was able to be so creative with a sewing machine from my great-grandmother's generation. Many sewing machines like that have become decorations in houses, or are collecting dust in museums. So I find it incredible that these women are so talented to use these machines in new ways not thought of 50-60 years ago. Similarly, Clorene uses a silk screen method, in the U.S. silk screening has become more of an art. Yet, Clorene uses this talent and skill to produce a living for her family. Many of these entrepreneurs their supplies stored in various ways, the most common seemed to be trash bags. I couldn't imagine how frustrating not knowing where exactly which colored supply is where, without having to dump out the entire bag. I feel in some cases, such as Yvrose and Madame Lamar, that their businesses might benefit from a better method of organization. No time would be wasted locating a particular material. Perhaps clear storage container (you know the cheap kind from Target). Also, Yvrose needs a better method of displaying as well as storing her evening wear (and various creations). As the video went over some of the clothes hanging so we could see her talents, many of the clothes were highly wrinkled. She could benefit from a hanging stand or mannequin. These would display her clothes proudly and keep them wrinkle free. I also love the idea of the micro-financing the things they need, though a large part of me wishes we could fundraise and donate what the entrepreneurs need. Because they work so hard, and I wish we could give them a head start. I like that the project is staying as far away as possible from strictly monetary donations. In this way, we can be sure that the entrepreneurs get exactly what they need, and that nothing get allocated inappropriately by any individual or organization involved in the process. I can't wait to hear what my other group members were thinking. And I'm excited to be able to make a difference in some way in one of the entrepreneur's lives.