So before today’s lecture, I must say I was always very quick to judge illegal immigration. For as long as I can remember, I have viewed illegal immigration as a negative thing. I guess I have grown up with the mentality that those people “don’t belong here.” Do I think that it is fair that there are people who are here illegally when others have gone through the legal process? No, but after the lecture Sam gave today, my views regarding illegal immigration have definitely changed a bit. Most people that are illegal immigrants really did not make the ultimate decision to do so. There were a few people who raised their hands today in class that said they were illegal immigrants or related to someone who was an illegal immigrant. When Sam asked them, how they or their family members got here, their answer was “I don’t know.” And look at Eric’s story that was shared in class today. He admitted how him and his mother came over from Mexico to this country illegally. Although it happened when he was at a very young age, he said he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He ultimately did not make the choice to come over to this country. Instead, his family made the decision for him because of the amount of opportunities America had to offer. One of the things that I learned today is that not everyone who is an illegal immigrant made the choice to do so on their own. In addition, I guess I never really realized how hard that illegal immigrants work once they get into this country. Sam talked about illegal immigrants who are landscapers who work for maybe $2 an hour if most. I’ve seen how hard landscapers work, in the hot sun for endless hours. These people come over here to work to support their family, and most citizens who have a higher paying job certainly don’t do as much work as they do. And now that I think more about it, in high school I worked at a local restaurant and most of the employees who worked in the kitchen were illegal immigrants and they worked harder than anyone else in that whole entire restaurant. Plus, they did all the dirty work including dishes. And despite the over time shifts and extra hours they worked, the sad thing is that they probably got paid the least out of all of the workers. I think one thing that many people do not realize is how lucky we are to live in this country. All of these illegal immigrants come over to the United States because they come in search of a better life, looking for more opportunities, no matter how much the workload is. I can say now that I do feel a bit more educated about not only illegal immigrants but also immigrants in general.

Today in class we talked about the idea of affirmative action and nepotism. Nepotism was defined as the practice of which people of power give positions in jobs or organizations to their friends and family members instead of other, well-qualified individuals. And although most people do not like to admit it, or may not even realize, most people have been directly prioritized because of nepotism or they know somebody who has. And as unfair as the concept of nepotism seems and while I hate to admit it, I do not think that I would try to not benefit from nepotism given the situation presented. If the opportunity is there, of course I am going to take it. A few weeks ago, Sam talked about how success nowadays is not measured by how hard an individual works, but instead about who you know. I speak for myself when I say that I am here in college and yeah while I am working hard, I am also looking to be very successful in terms of a job once I graduate, and if that means getting a job based off of who I know, then I will definitely take it. I am an education major here at Penn State and as a result, I am looking to spend this summer working with kids in some way or another to gain experience whether it be as a camp counselor or just a volunteer at a day care. Well needless to say, over spring break my dad talked to one of his clients who happens to be an elementary school teacher in the next town over. He told her I was interested in working with kids, and being a teacher in the school she knows some people, and I now have my name in the system for the job. The same thing happened to my friend who is a nursing major. Her next-door neighbor at home is a nurse at a pediatrician’s office, and when my friend inquired about possibly interning there for the summer her neighbor talked to some people and “hooked her up” with the internship. Again, it is all about connections, however it took me a while though to reach this conclusion. I always thought hard work is what brought people a good job and successful life. But now especially in college, I see nepotism present and I see most people using it to their advantage. And to be perfectly honest, I do not really see nepotism as being a bad thing. I know certainly for me, if I know someone who tells me they have some sort of connection for getting me a job once I graduate, then I am definitely taking them up on that offer!

Last Thursday in class, Sam and Laurie presented a lecture called, “The Needy Penis.” One of the topics that was discussed was the difference between men and women in going out attire and in reality, the truth of it is there is a HUGE difference between the ways girls and guys dress on the weekends. Guys can easily hop out of the shower, throw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt or polo, sneakers and be ready in twenty minutes. Their outfit is simple, but completely acceptable. Girls on the other hand feel the need to go all out. On weekends, you see girls stumbling along downtown right here in State College in their high heels, short skirts, short dresses, revealing tops, face full of make-up, etc. I mean I’m not going to lie; I have been in the situation where I have gone out here on the weekends at Penn State and have worn a short skirt with heels or a tight dress. Do I necessarily want to do that? No, not at all. Personally, I would rather put on jeans and a nice looking shirt, and be comfortable. And as far as heels go, they absolutely kill my feet, but I wear them anyway. Why? Because when all of my friends want to go out and want to dress up, I feel obligated to. I would rather not be the one out of the group who looks sloppy. And to be completely honest, I probably go through about three different outfits before I decide on which one to wear for the night because I want to look presentable. As much of a difference as there is in going out attire between girls and boys, there is just as much of a difference between high school and college. At high school parties, it would be perfectly normal to wear whatever you wore to school that day. You didn’t have to dress up to sit in a basement and hang with friends. Yet when you think about it in college, you go to frats a lot of the times, you are in the basement, and every single girl is dressed up. It would be almost completely unacceptable for a girl to show up to a frat in something like sweats. I told my discussion group today how my best friend, who goes to a different school, was out one night and afterwards once she was back in her dorm realized she forgot something so her and her friend went back to the frat they were at in their sweatpants. She told me how every single guy came up to her and was like “Are you serious? Are you really here in sweats right now?” She thought it was hilarious, but now that I think about it it’s really true. Women have this certain standard in society that when they are out they need to look nice whether it is because what their friends are doing or because they want to impress someone.

Last Thursday in class, Sam and Laurie presented a lecture called, “The Needy Penis.” One of the topics that was discussed was the difference between men and women in going out attire and in reality, the truth of it is there is a HUGE difference between the ways girls and guys dress on the weekends. Guys can easily hop out of the shower, throw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt or polo, sneakers and be ready in twenty minutes. Their outfit is simple, but completely acceptable. Girls on the other hand feel the need to go all out. On weekends, you see girls stumbling along downtown right here in State College in their high heels, short skirts, short dresses, revealing tops, face full of make-up, etc. I mean I’m not going to lie; I have been in the situation where I have gone out here on the weekends at Penn State and have worn a short skirt with heels or a tight dress. Do I necessarily want to do that? No, not at all. Personally, I would rather put on jeans and a nice looking shirt, and be comfortable. And as far as heels go, they absolutely kill my feet, but I wear them anyway. Why? Because when all of my friends want to go out and want to dress up, I feel obligated to. I would rather not be the one out of the group who looks sloppy. And to be completely honest, I probably go through about three different outfits before I decide on which one to wear for the night because I want to look presentable. As much of a difference as there is in going out attire between girls and boys, there is just as much of a difference between high school and college. At high school parties, it would be perfectly normal to wear whatever you wore to school that day. You didn’t have to dress up to sit in a basement and hang with friends. Yet when you think about it in college, you go to frats a lot of the times, you are in the basement, and every single girl is dressed up. It would be almost completely unacceptable for a girl to show up to a frat in something like sweats. I told my discussion group today how my best friend, who goes to a different school, was out one night and afterwards once she was back in her dorm realized she forgot something so her and her friend went back to the frat they were at in their sweatpants. She told me how every single guy came up to her and was like “Are you serious? Are you really here in sweats right now?” She thought it was hilarious, but now that I think about it it’s really true. Women have this certain standard in society that when they are out they need to look nice whether it is because what their friends are doing or because they want to impress someone.

I am very glad that this question has been asked. I think that every person has been in a situation at least once in their life where they have been surrounded by people who are speaking a different language. On a campus as big and as diverse as Penn State, it is pretty much normal to see and hear two or more people engaged in dialogue of different language. Now in situations like these, many people may feel uncomfortable. However, most people probably would never admit to it. I must say though, I myself have found myself in a few situations where people have been speaking a different language and I have in fact felt uncomfortable. The best example I can give for this takes place at home whenever I go to get a manicure or pedicure. At the nail salon I go to, most of the employees are Korean, but they can speak English extremely well. However they also speak Korean, and as anyone can guess English and Korean are nothing alike. I can recall that whenever I am actually getting my toes or nails painted, the employees are always there speaking Korean to one another. Now like I said, the salon I go to they can also speak English, but they choose to speak Korean. When they start speaking in Korean, not going to lie it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. It does not make me feel uncomfortable because I cannot understand it, but instead it makes me feel uncomfortable because I feel as if they are talking about me negatively in their different language. Ultimately though, I think it depends on the situation if someone feels comfortable or not around people speaking in a different language. In the nail salon situation, yes I did feel uncomfortable. However, other situations I have not. For example, in my extended family my uncle is Hispanic and he and my cousins can speak fluent Spanish. When we’re at their house for holidays and their side of the family is there, all they do is talk in Spanish, which never seems to bother me. It does not make me feel uncomfortable by any means. Maybe it is because I know them on a more personal level than the ladies at the nail salon, but them speaking in a different language has no effect on me. I know it is just a way that they can communicate with each other. And in my uncle’s case, Spanish was his first language so it is a lot easier for him to speak. Overall, I think being comfortable or not you are when people are speaking a different language greatly depends on the situation you are in.

There have been numerous times so far this semester where Sam has talked about very, very, very powerful topics. I am sure I am not the only one who has felt uncomfortable or simply blown away by some of the things that Sam discusses. And if you were to take some of the conversation topics anywhere outside of our 100 Thomas classroom, many and most people would be utterly disturbed. There have been a lot of times this semester where Sam has prepared for a very intense and often debatable topic by showing some sort of comedy video. I think the main reason that Sam decides to show clips of comedians before having a serious discussion about race is to simply lighten the mood in the classroom. Think about it, he said today that there are 720 people enrolled in our course. I am almost willing to bet that it would be very unreasonable to even find maybe 10 of those 720 that can honestly say they feel comfortable talking about race. By showing a comedy video, it is easy to get the class to sit back, laugh, and relax. Additionally, it is almost as if comedians can say something without being considered out of place or racist. They are able to successfully talk about a serious issue while being funny at the same time. Comedy is a great way to talk about a sensitive issue because it is presented in a way that people can handle. In class, we have watched videos of Comedians Dave Chappell and Chris Rock which both of the topics they have talked about have both led into a more serious subject matter. Even today for example, we watched a quick comedian act of Chris Rock who talked about the idea of same-sex marriage. Again like race, this is a topic that is often debated about and may be awkward for many people to talk about. However, Chris Rock managed to present the issue through comedy, which took a more sensitive approach, yet still got the point across. It is easy to see when Sam plays these types of videos in class, that they are not only entertaining to watch but people are also sitting there laughing. People of all different skin colors and people from all different cultures can sit there together and laugh about it. It can be tough to break the ice on topics about race and race relations. It certainly is not easy to do in our class either, and I think that is why Sam decides to use comedy as an approach. Today, there are comedians of all different cultures and races and they are all able to get an audience laughing and relaxed, even when talking about an intense issue. And after all, laughter surely is the best medicine.

I have to be honest when I say I never really knew much about what white privilege was before taking this class. I did not really think that people would be considered privileged based on their skin color. I always had the mentality that people accomplished what they did because of how hard they worked, or didn’t work. However, after sitting through many of Sam’s lectures I now have a completely better understanding of it. Before the first exam, Sam put a few videos online for us to take a look at. One of the videos we had to watch was of speaker Tim Wise, who talked about the idea of white privilege. He talked about how a long time ago there was really no such thing as a white race. For example, he said that Europeans never referred to themselves as being white. It is funny because I feel like now today a lot of Europeans do consider themselves to be white. In the video, he talks about how there was very little difference between African indentured servants and white indentured servants. However, the elite of the Virginia colony somehow convinced the white indentured servants that they were superior and their skin color was more important. And it seems ever since then, whites have been seen as the superior race. Even thinking back to the one class about people applying for jobs, I can see white privilege present. The people with the more “white” sounding names were more likely to get hired. The same goes for the whites that were arrested and served jail time. They were still more likely to get hired for the job then someone of a different skin color. Although most companies and employers would never admit to this, it does happen. Another perfect example takes place in an airport. It is extremely rare to see white people ever get stopped by security for an extra screening or an additional search. Most of the time, the people being stopped are of a different race. Although I did not know it before, because of this class I am able to see white privilege happening more and more. There are so many incidences and cases where skin color determines an outcome. Personally, I cannot say that I have ever had an experience where my white skin has privileged me. But, I have to say it is pretty sad that people still think of their skin color as a privilege. Whether it is in terms of applying for a job or just in an every day situation, every person should be treated exactly the same. It does not matter what color someone’s skin is. People do not choose their skin color and therefore, we should not let their skin color choose what privileges they have or do not have.

Well, to be honest I cannot say personally that I think his lighter skin gets him ahead in society or not. However, I am going to have to say that in most cases I truly believe individuals with lighter skin benefit more from the lighter skin color and ultimately get ahead in society because of it. Although he has African American roots, when it comes down to it his skin color is rather light and would definitely seem to benefit him in certain situations. This is especially the case in work situations and for job interviews. In one class a few weeks ago, Sam talked about how if you are white, then you are more likely to get hired for a job than a black person. It does not matter if the applicants came from the same exact backgrounds, with exactly the same exact qualifications. But how could they choose one applicant over another if the past experiences and resumes of the applicants are identical? As nice as it would be to say you couldn’t easily choose one over another, the truth of the matter is that it happens. The person with the lighter skin is more likely to pull ahead and receive that phone call back. Another example comes from purchasing homes and receiving mortgages for a house. Blacks and other minorities are twice as likely as whites to be denied a mortgage loan. Every time the person with the lighter skin interviewed for the same job as a black person, they were more likely to be hired for the job. When it comes down to it, it seems that the lighter someone’s skin is, the easier it becomes for him or her to identify more closely with white people. It really is a shame that this is how our society comes off as. The one article in Shadowboxing with Race, was about a young girl who was both Latino and Black. The girl’s skin was a little darker than others around her. To her white grandparents, she was viewed more negatively because of her darker skin. To her other grandparents, she was viewed as beautiful because she had that part of her with lighter skin then they had. Even if a person has lighter skin or not, it really should not make a difference. According to the statistics shown in class, we all share 99.9% of the same genes. We are not all that different from one another, and it is about time that people start realizing that. Over the years, our society has come a long way with discrimination and race. Things have certainly gotten a lot better than they were before, but unfortunately we still have a long way to go.

I have to say I completely agree that when we see a person that is from another country we view them as a completely different in a variety of aspects. I think part of the problem is too often we assume things. We assume that because people may come from a different country that they do not know how to live in this country. We assume that based on their looks if they do not look like the “typical American” then they are completely different then us. The one video shown in class, even though it was an experiment, showed how Muslims are sometimes discriminated in terms of business because by looks it appears they are not from this country. Even though someone may come from another country or wear a certain piece of clothing, it does not mean that they are any different then us. But the problem is, that most people do not realize that, and in some cases they don’t want to accept that others are nearly the same as us. And it all comes down to the lack of knowledge. People do not know enough about each other’s cultures and lifestyles. I’ll admit myself that I am guilty of it too. I cannot honestly say that I know much about cultures that are different from mine. For example, in class on Tuesday Sam brought up five Muslim students to speak to our class. Automatically, I assumed that the one girl, Sally, was an international student. By first glance, I was at fault for assuming. Just because she was wearing a hijab, does not mean she is not a true American. To my surprise, she was born and raised in Pittsburgh and she is just as much an American as I am. Another one of the students said that they are just as similar as us: they check facebook, they go to classes, and they hang out with friends. But the problem is that in the past is that I, like many other students, have not been educated enough about different cultures that people come from. Because of the lack of knowledge, I feel like people are afraid to step outside their comfort zone and interact with someone who may be different then them. The one person that spoke said that coming to Penn State as a Muslim student provided a more accepting atmosphere, and I couldn’t agree more. When I came here in the fall, I met people of all different cultures and all different religions. And I have to say I was very curious to learn about what their traditions are and where they come from, because I honestly had no idea. As people learn more and more about different cultures, I feel like people stop assuming and it becomes easier to accept others as being the same.

The other day on one of the slides, Sam asked the class what their opinion was on achieving success. The three options included success being based merely off of hard work, success being based off of the people you know, or the combination of the two together. Automatically, I choose as success being based off of hard work. After all, that was the mentality I have been taught for after all these years. I was always told, "It's not how many hours you put in that count, it’s what you put into the hours," and “It’s hard work that pays off in end.” And sure there’s always the people who say, “Nope, it’s all about who you know,” but that was never how I thought of it. After years of playing sports, I was always given the impression that by working hard I could earn a starting spot, and that was exactly what I did. To me, my hard work made me successful. Even as a freshman here at Penn State, I know that I am here because I worked hard and succeeded. I worked hard for four years in high school by taking challenging courses, studied hard to get good grades, worked to get decent SAT scores, participated in extracurricular activities, and with all that I was able to attend Penn State. All these reasons and experiences I had made me part of the 71% of high school graduates who believed that success was mostly a result of hard work. However, even though I’m still in my first year and I’ve only been here since August, I can see how knowing people will have an influence on success. My one friend who is a junior here just picked up an internship unexpectedly at the beginning of the semester. He had no plans of doing it initially, and I asked him how he got it, and because his father is a Penn State alumni, he knew people with businesses in the area. It’s almost funny how much of an influence those connections can be. Because when it comes down to it, internships will look good on resumes, and a strong resume will bring job opportunities, which ultimately brings success. I guess as people become more educated and realize they want success in their life, they will do anything they can to try to find a way to get there, even if it means simply knowing someone. I think you realize as you get older, and as you become closer to the “real world” you witness these types of experiences and ways that people get by that success becomes more realistic when people can pull some strings for you. It’s easier for me to say even now, I am becoming that typical college kid who is starting to incorporate both hard work and connections into success.