I have other sociology classes that talk a lot about the welfare system. In my own personal opinion I think our current welfare system could use some revamping and policy changes, but I do not think we should abolish it completely. Currently in most states in America, people on the welfare system have certain requirements they need to meet in order to receive public assistance. For example, people on welfare without jobs much meet an hourly weekly requirement of job searched in order to obtain full benefits and most other people in the system are on a two to three year time limit to get themselves off of welfare. I think that if we got rid of the whole welfare system as it is now, our country would experience a very high increase in poverty levels and our class differences would be so much greater than they are today. The poorest of the poor people would be on the streets and we'd have to worry about controlling the consequences of that. At the same time, people with higher incomes and those at the top of the wealth ladder would have even more money because they wouldn't be paying into AFDC programs or other types of welfare programs. I think the state of our economy would get worse and people would suffer greatly without welfare. I feel the same about affirmative action, I don't think we should abolish it at all, I realize that it is also a program that could use some tweeking but it gives many people many advantages they may not otherwise have and reaches to put them equal with more privileged people. I can see where Sam is coming from with what he was talking about in class yesterday but he failed to realize that some of the people that benefit from the affirmative action programs are actually under privileged and unable to receive the same benefits as white people. Sometimes they have many more obstacles to over come in their lives, schools may not be as good as a white person’s school and access to better education was unattainable until affirmative action came about. It’s a lot like welfare, without it there would be a lot of people on the street without an education and without jobs. Affirmative action and welfare actually go hand in hand, because wit out affirmative action a lot of minorities would be uneducated and more would be on welfare, the whole goal of welfare is to get people and education, even it is just a GED, and find them a place in the workforce. With the affirmative action program people that might normally be on the welfare path get a chance to receive a higher education and lead a different life.

So this is what we were trying to tell you in class. That we don't mind hearing about bleeding or talking about it, but we don't have to get so graphic about it. Not every girl needs to tell the class how heavy or light her flow is. What it looks like after she's gone to the bathroom or nasty stuff like that. People have imaginations and thing like that can be left to the imagination.
Laurie speaks a heavy truth in her reading, that women do go through a lot once a month, but in order for us to be treated equal sometimes, we have to forget we're women, which isn't fair. Because frankly, without us men would never have been born nor would they be able to survive. So I think we should be demanding more respect from men, because DAMN IT! WE'RE THE ONE'S "BLEEDING" HERE!

On the other hand, the way Laurie went about talking about bleeding was much better. She put it in a story we can all relate to and comprehend without being fed too much personal information about her or the pleasure you get out of looking at a toilet full of bloody water. Trust me, i'm a girl and speaking on behalf of most girls, we all know how grossed out some people, mainly guys, get as soon as you say the word "period". I personally don't mind talking about it, because Sam is right, it is a very natural thing and without menstration, people wouldnt be able to be born on this planet. In fact, when i'm with my girlfriends or family memebers, I have no problem talking about it. Even when I am with my boyfriend I don't mind telling him about it because he's not easily grossed out. However, I don't feel the need to go into graphic detail.

Ok Sam, we all get that the subject of a womans period should be talked about and discussed, and that men should be more educated and less grossed out by it. I get that, we get that, and I see the point you are trying to make. However, the way in which you went about it in class, and the way Laurie is presenting it here in her story, are two completely different ways to go about it. In class Sam, you were a bit graphic and frankly, not all of us need to know that your wife bleeds heavily every month, or the sick pleasure you get out of look at the art in the toilet. It's not that we don't want to hear about a woman's menstration and the suffering she goes through for one week out of every month. We just don't want to talk about it in the way that you were in Tuesday's class.

It's an act of discrimintation for a school to prohibit certain couples from attending or dressing a certain way. If we as a society are supposed to start moving foward in our every day lives and getting rid of discrimintation and inequality, don't you think LGBT issues would be a great place to start. Educating young people about these types of issues would be great too. Many young people at this age have already seen gay or lesbian couples, they might have also already experienced some type of sexual confusion within themselves, so why not let them explore or at least educate them? What kind of punishment did the students have to face for wanting to attend their school prom with another person of the same sex? Or attending the prom in an attire that was different from the social norm? Is it acceptable to tell today's youth what and what is not acceptable of them or is it better to let them live their own lives and let them feel free to make their own decisions and choices?

A high school prom is a very memorable time for most people in their young lives and a lot of students look foward too it. I highly doubt that many students were offended by the lesbian couple of the fact that they were wearing suits instead of gowns. Sexuality is still a very taboo subject in today's society and I understand the religious aspect behind it for many people. But at the same time just because you don't agree with homosexuality doesnt mean you have to condone to it either. You can disagree with it and choose to turn the other cheek towards it. I fully support gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, trans-gender couples because they arent doing anything that interferes with my own life or everyday activities. Nor do I think that they would interfere with a high school prom.

I think its really terrible that they would cancel a prom for all students just because one lesbian couple wanted to attend under their own personal conditions. We are in the 21st century today and it is not uncommon for couples to be gay, lesbian or bisexual in anyway. I relaize that high school age might seem a bit early for a young person to know exactly what their sexual orientation is but I also think that that age is a good time to explore and question ones own sexuality if need be. There were plenty of people and couple in my high school whom attended prom together or girls wore tuxedos instead of a traditional prom gown. Sure, they might have been looked at differently or been talked about by other student and parents within the faculty but nonetheless, it doesnt mean a whole entire prom occasion should have been cancelled because of it.

Sam also brought up a good point about having different reactions when we are in different social groups. Why do we only have certain reactions with certain groups of friends? Do we only laugh at racist jokes when we're with our racist friends and then when we're with a group of culturally diverse friends do we act as though racist jokes offend us and stick up for our other friends of different ethnicities. Why do we act differently in different social groups?

When do we know when or when it is not our place to stop and injustice? Should it always be our place? What if a black man saw a white woman slap her young child? Does he have a "place" to say something to her? Or does he just keep walking because he has a fear that if he were to correct this woman he would be racially discriminated against in some other type of way? So there is so much gray area when deciding when to protect eachother as American's. But isn't it our duty to protect one another, stick up for each other, and help those in need? Isn't that what the morals of this country were based on? I wonder if other countries face the same injustices that we do here in the United States? And when did we as American's become so selfish and only focus on ourselves?

There have been many cases in my personal experience that I have either been the one with toilet paper stuck on my shoe, or have seen it happen to other girls, and I have either always been stopped or stopped the other person. However, before our discussion in class I never thought race could play a role in this process. However, what if a white man saw a black women getting beat up by a black man? Would he stop the incident and try to help the black woman? Or would he keep on walking and say, "it's not my place"?