Being a minority throughout most of my life, I do feel that some minorities and myself have unique experiences when we talk about being with the “majorities”. Obviously, throughout time and school, elementary, middle, and high school, I have had friends come and go from all races and ethnicities. Going to a predominately white high school and living in a white dominate area not far from Philadelphia, I grew up not knowing I was a minority. In many cases, I feel that I forgot my roots and origin when it came to ethnic background. All my close friends were all white or some white race.
It wasn’t until I date my first Asian girlfriend that I realized that how far away I strayed from my origins being an Asian in the “white land”. After dating her for quite some time, I met many other American born Koreans similar to my story, having growing up with white people. it was then I realized how comfortable I was with my own race and ethnicity. It was easier to communicate with them and just being able to understand each other better on a personal matter. This is not saying I suddenly became a racist and disliked other races.
Since I grew up hanging around white, black, and other races, coming to Penn State, I knew how to deal with situations where I came into different race or ethnic groups. Going out to parties, it didn’t bother me to meet new people of different races. I enjoy going to parties that are diverse in race. I do tend to go to parties with Asian people and in some cases, we don’t get allowed into some areas because they see this as something not “cool” and to be honest I don’t know the exact reason why. Also it is somewhat embarrassing for our school to not let a group of people in because they are of a certain race. Being rejected at the door because I came with a group of other Asians really shows how low and ignorant some people can be of our community, especially going to Penn State.
Back to the case, although I hang out with Asians more than I do with whites, blacks, etc. most of my friends are born here and are American no matter what we look like. That being said, going to parties with other Americans or any race of the matter is no problem. Although most people judge me for what I look like and ask if I speak English may make me feel uncomfortable with the stupidity of some people, but going to new places and meeting new people of other races was never a problem for me or any of my friends.

To be honest, I think it all has to do with the comfort level of the relationship. In different cases such as a one night stand compared to a serious long lasting relationship, I feel that the two people may not know each other to the point where both of them being pleased would be a huge deal. Also the point made in class may be true, when the partners both do think that it is right that it ends when the guy is done his part. Although the reason may be leaning to favor the male and may even be sexist, I do feel that the reasoning may make some sense. Coming from a non-sexist, it is impossible to have sex without the arousal of a man.
I don’t think I can represent all of the males in the world, let alone the ones in the class, but I feel like majority of the males in the class just don’t really care. It does sound wrong and selfish, but honestly, I do believe most males still have the stereotypical drive to reach their own satisfaction and achieve what they were trying to get and be finished. Of course there are those who do actually care for what their partner wants or needs and would like to please them with their sexual needs as well but I feel that they are more into the serious relationship compared to those who are more interested in the physical aspects of things.
I do also believe it depends on how comfortable the people are with one another. In many cases, if both people are comfortable with one another, then I feel that they would both want to satisfy their partners wants and needs whether it is for the relationship or for the sexual aspect in their relationship. I have been in a relationship for quite a while and I do remember initially when we weren’t as comfortable with each other, it was harder to know what exactly was the limit for each other us, but as we both got more comfortable and settled with each other, I wanted to know what was best for both of us, not just myself. And comparing my relationship with my other friends and their girlfriend or boyfriend, they also said the same thing about whose priorities come first. It turns out that it is not about who gets what first, it was somewhat understood that there limits until you are comfortable to explore more and how willing each person is ok to go.
Truth be told, some guys just don’t care whether the other person is pleased or not. Although it may sound inconsiderate and unfortunate for the other person, it does become the case.

All my life I thought I would love to stay local and live humbly where I grew up in a small town. A small suburb off of Philadelphia had all I needed and all I wanted. Local malls, stores, schools, anything I can ask for was needed and already offered where I lived. As I got older and more mature, I visited different locations with a high-energy feel such as New York City and cities and Japan to a laidback city like Los Angeles. Within my experience from traveling and experience the different cultures within the country and out of the country, I learned that I definitely wanted to broaden my horizon and views on where I wanted to live, as I became a working adult.
Going to New York City and parts of Japan, I was quite shocked how people are always rushing to get to where they wanted to be. I feel that rushing is often the case for the East Coast. Even here, I still feel rushed a bit to get to places I needed to be. I enjoyed the nightlife New York offered and the culture shock I experienced in Japan. Although people were rushed, I felt a certain upbeat tempo I always wanted but never got while I staying local at home.
On the contrary, my experience going to Los Angeles was quite laidback and relaxing. The people in LA were quite slow and somewhat fazed to the world. They walked with a lazy feel and I felt rushed to push them aside, but then I realized, they were all that way. They went with the flow and eased into their schedules. People were much nicer compared to the people on the East Coast, and the vibe given off from the people were just nonchalant. The weather was nothing but perfection. The mornings were cool, as it got warmer and sunnier throughout the days. I want to have the laidback nonchalant vibe given from the Californians.
The experience I’ve had going to different places made me want the perfect blend of the rush I felt in New York, and the relaxed vibe from California. Thinking about where this magical place would be, I feel like I would love to move to a place in Europe. Spain, Britain or even Germany would be an interest of mine. They all have big cities similar to New York that would satisfy my needs for the nightlife. I also would get the relaxed vibe because I know that Europeans are somewhat more laidback compared to Americans. The environment may give me a sudden culture shock, but I want to experience the difference and the unique lifestyle that will be offered.

My reactions to the lectures with Sam and the lecture with Jasiri X and his partner were quite opposing. First of all, I feel like Sam and Jasiri X talked about similar things in two completely different ways. One was the typical lecture in which Sam gave us the view of the problem on the other side, the Native American side. And I feel as if Jasiri X gave us his view and thoughts on not only Native Americans, but also people who are minority. He also spoke of the situations with “Occupy” and where our money was actually going.
First the lecture with Jasiri X was somewhat awkward. I felt that when we were introduced to him, he was supposed to have a huge influence over the audience. I felt that we were suppose to know who he was and see him in a higher standard as well. This affected my outlook on his work because I have never heard of him and was expecting everyone to be going off and, in a way, praising his word. His music was good and what he wrote about was independent to what we hear in our social media today. I did like the fact that he wrote about uncommon and unique conflicts within our society now. His song about the boy who was shot and killed for what was thought as theft for skittles did make me think about the conflict with racial profiling in our society. My reaction to his lecture was somewhat confused. I understood most of the lecture and what he was saying with the whole aspect to the racial problems we face, but I honestly have no idea what was the “Occupy” part until I did further research for myself.
The lecture was Sam was a bit of the same with every lecture. It was hard to listen to as he eased into the lecture but the more and more he talked about the Native Americans, the more interested I got within the subject. I always knew the wrongs this country did to the Natives here living in peace, but I honestly didn’t know how severe and how unfair the situation was. The government may have seemed that they fixed the problem with the natives, but the more I look and learn about the “reservations”, the more sick I feel about how unfair they are being treated. They do not only hold the highest poverty rate, but they also hold the highest suicidal rate in our country. We as a society always say, including myself, that we should do more to help the Natives to this country and worry less about people internationally, but honestly, are we doing enough?

Sadly, I would say our culture has gone to the point that names are the base of judgment. I personally feel that there is a very fine line defining the difference between racism and nationalism. And in this question, I feel that situations like this is the conclusion of BOTH nationalism and racism formed together to cause an even higher problem. I feel that some of the time can be due to someone being racist and judging a certain ethnic group based upon one name. Saying this I also do think it can be nationalism on the other as well. People can also judge someone strictly upon having a foreign name as well. If I were to be recruiting people and compared a group of candidates and had people with typical American names such as John, Mike, or Chris compared to those with names such as Mohamed, Latisha, or Kang, I would automatically have a small feeling that the non-typical named candidates may be foreign. This may also be something that recruiters are trained to see. With all honesty, I feel that it would make it harder for people with foreign names to get a job, not because of hatred or a negative feeling, just because they may be see to hurt the company not being native to the country. Especially if the company is a company brought up in America, the American company can see foreign workers to be a flaw in helping the company. In the hypothetical situation in which the county has many connections internationally with many companies outside of America, then I feel that the name prejudices would decrease a lot. Since the company must have connections with foreign companies, then I feel it would be a benefit to have foreign people within the country to help associate with work outside of the company.
There will always be companies that are just plane and simply racist. One example is that restaurant in Philadelphia that post signs up saying you must speak English to order a meal. Would you think that the place is going to hire foreign people, let alone an American with a foreign name? Being Asian, and having an American name, I feel that I do have more opportunities compared to those with foreign names and may even be American as well. It is more or less accepted that typical American companies or stores prefer to have another “American”.
There is also the side where the situation can be due to nationalism. Although there is a fine line between the 2 hypothetical situations, since a name sounds American, you would assume that the person is American, and like I said before, racism may be put in with this occasion where people are judged strictly based on there appearance and maybe even there name.

During the class discussion, Sam talked about the taboos within our culture and society today. Menstruation, masturbating, and other examples were used to describe that as a society, we do have “Dos” and “Don’ts” that still exist today. It was slightly funny to see how the women reacted in the classroom. It did seem that it was hard to admit if they were on their period or not, but I don’t blame those who didn’t share that information. I thought if I were asked such a question I would be able to answer the question immediately but when he switched it around and asked the men who has been masturbating, my reaction was basically the same as the women in the class. I looked around to see who actually answered the question with an obvious yes but then decided to lay low since there were a few women around me. In this case, I would never admit to such a question, but if I were in a room with just men, I feel the question isn’t too hard to answer. We all know we do it, it’s a natural thing, just like menstruating but we still hide the fact that it is not a thing to talk about.
Another taboo I see in society going along with the awkward masturbating question is porn. Honestly, moving into Penn State, I was a bit worried about the level of privacy I was going to get living with a new roommate. Porn is seen to be on a different scale of weirdness. I’m positive that I am not the only one who has watched porn or even talked about porn, but no matter how comfortable you are with your friends, it is something to avoid talking about. I feel to avoid the awkwardness that comes from the word; we just need to accept that most people watch porn and accept that we all have a little perverseness dwelling in ourselves.
Another topic that is hard to talk about amongst people is eating disorders. I know that when Sam asked the clicker question, some answered honestly, but some still couldn’t admit their true answer maybe due to that the topic is still taboo. I know that my friend suffers from a eating disorder and she doesn’t think anything of it. If eating disorders were not seen to be such a topic of taboo, I feel that less people would suffer from it.
The last topic I feel that will never be seen to be able to talk about is rape. I feel this topic will always dwell under the covers. It is so hard to talk about it and I completely understand why. Not only are people ashamed or scared, they are probably scared for life. Such a thing can ruin ones thought about the world and why would you ever talk about it unless you are comfortable to let others know and need comfort.

Using skin whitening crème is shockingly more popular than most people think. It is used among all different cultures and ethnicities among the world. In some cultures, it can be frowned upon, or seen to be strange, but in many other places in the world, the skin whitening cream is actually used by a dominant number of people.
As to the reason “why” people want to use skin whitening cream can have many answers or opinions. Being of Asian decent, I know that people in Korea and Japan want to represent being higher in status, thus they use the cream to represent wealth or having a job which doesn’t require being in harsh labor outside, which typically doesn’t have such high expectations. Having pale skin represents having a job usually higher and more sophisticated or well paid in many countries. Not only do people use skin cream or other skin whitening product, people would do mostly anything to avoid the sun. As seen in class, people use umbrellas in broad daylight, extra layers, or even that rather strange body suit presented on the overhead in lecture.
In our culture today, I do feel that Caucasian people do have the most representation of people beautiful. In many magazines, most models are white, or have a “lighter” skin tone. As we know, if people see this to be beautiful or attractive, people are going to try to get that kind of complexion. This also leads to other countries to have lighter skinned people represent beauty.
In older generations, I know these kinds of products weren’t used. Saying this, I feel that “beauty” changed to more than just appearance, but also in the ridiculousness that being “Caucasian” is beautiful. I see that “western” cultures are being more adaptive among the world and if the western world is doing something, then the rest of the world sees that as the norm. I feel that is another reason why the western appearance of having pale skin is being spread around the world. People shockingly have eye surgery to have more of a western looking eye.
In conclusion, some people may have their own opinion on why they use these kinds of skin whitening creams or products but I feel it is because our image of beauty as a society has changed so much to the point that it is no longer unique but rather it is shown to be more like one ethnicity, which happens to be Caucasian. Yet, I do find it strange that the dominant Caucasian population found it more attractive to be darker than the average. Most tan and want to make it seem like they are out more in the sun. Will the dominant population see that being darker is more beautiful in the future?

Being a newfound Christian, I do believe in God. At the same time, I would not consider myself a radical Christian or a non-believer at all. I grew up taught that there was a God but at the same time, my traditional Asian ancestry has brought new ways to think of life as well. I agree with some and disagree with some thoughts and lessons given by my church. Saying this, I do believe that if I were informed that there was not a God or a higher being, my life would face a dramatic shock. In times of hardship or low points in my life, I do believe that God will come to help. Even at times of great uplifting, I feel as though it was a gift from God. If I were to lose that one object to rely on when all hope is lost, I feel I would feel a lot worse than ever in my life. I would have nobody to look for or something to support me at my downfall. Of course my family will always be there for me, but I do feel that I need to rely on God for some things I cannot speak about to my family. I also do seek guidance from God so I do feel as if I wouldn’t be given a proper outlook on life and decide to pleasure myself over anyone or anything in my life. With my beliefs in God and my religion, I do not do some things, and with what I learned from church, I do believe that some things are the right things to do. Given that the situation is that there is no God in this world, I feel as if I would rebel against whatever is right or wrong. My morals would completely change for what ever is best for myself. I may become greedier in a sense that I would only look out for myself and show no care for anything else.
In another sense, I feel I would understand how some things work and not be confused as to how God influences many lives. I feel like there would be a scientific reason for anything in the universe. I feel that the world will be taken over by science and the thoughts of reasoning. In my opinion, faith would not exist, which may cause an immense amount of problematic situations to occur.
In another sense, there would be no such thing as a religious war. Even now in the Middle East, the war would have a different purpose or may not even exist at all. Although this may be a good thing, I feel many other problems will rise if the world has nothing to look forward to after death.

Talking to Maziard truly opened my eyes to see how ignorant I was. I feel like I always had a open eye to culture and somewhat a good idea about how life was in different places but talking to Maziard really made me understand how ignorant I was to cultures around the world. I always had the stereotypical vision that Iran was a dry desert like area that was infested with military, war, and common crime occurring. When I saw how life truly was in Iran, I was shocked and immediately interested to see how wrong I was about the typical Iranian culture. As he said Iranian were actually afraid of Americans, I was shocked. My initial impression was that American always had a chip on there back about seeing a middle eastern. I deeply feel that we are insecure and feel not as ease as we approach a middle eastern, but to hear that they feel the same way to us is very interesting. It was also another shock to see how he agreed to the fact that he had a slight fear or idea of him being shot in America. If we actually think about it, our gun control is seen to be a small issue, but it was quite a shock to hear that Iranians don’t like guns at all. Also the culture over in Iran seems to be a lot more welcoming than we know.
I feel as though we are someone being controlled to see what we want to see here in America. Many define ourselves to be the “best” country compared to others, but how much knowledge do we actually know about. We only see war scenes and terrorists with weapons, or mass shootings. Obviously we are going to get the wrong idea if that is all we see. It was actually nice to see and hear the other side of the story for once. Initially, I thought he was going to say the stereotypical answers such as “We don’t like Americans” or “Americans should be afraid”, but the more I heard him speak, I feel like we had the complete opposite idea of how Iranians think of us. Maziard welcomed us, befriended us, and showed us how some Iranians thought about Americans. He even said he wanted to visit and or move here if he liked it. As we watch the news and see the soldiers we lost because of terrorists or other war-like actions, I see how we get our point of view to dislike or have a wrong image of whom Iranians actually are. Once again, it was really nice to see and speak to an actual Iranian. He was the first Iranian and certainly not the last I would like to talk to in the future.

When being asked, “Would you join the military” many pros and cons enter my mind to influence my response. Having a two grandfathers who have served in the Korean and Vietnam War, and a cousin serving in the military now, I have heard stories of why the military is good and how to military needs to be better. From hearing their point of view on military, I would say I wouldn’t mind joining or considering joining the military or ROTC program here. Being physically fit and encountering physical obstacles and challenges are only a part of the training at the military, and I wouldn’t mind the level of intensity I would encounter. I feel like I would learn to be more discipline for what I have and for myself. The emotional aspect of military does give me second thoughts about joining, but I feel like most of the trainees grow accustom to it and learn from there superiors. Also knowing the purpose behind joining may also help my decision. Knowing that I have a part in keeping my family safe and trying to defend the lives of the country I grew up to love would motivate my decision as well.
The benefits of joining the army are another aspect I think about while answering the question. I know that most of my housing and education would be paid off and I would not have to encounter with any loans or debt coming out of school or receiving more education. The pay isn’t as high compared to other occupations, but it is enough to have a comfortable living seeing how the government is taking care of most necessities. Another benefit is being stationed in a foreign country. I personally would enjoy living in another environment I have never faced or inhabited. Of course there are going to be difficulties while living in another country, but I feel the experience of living somewhere new would benefit and help seek comfort in the experience of military. Also talking to both of my grandfathers, they both said that they learned to love with what they took from joining and leaving the military. Not only were the benefits good, they both said they learned how to enjoy and how important family, discipline, life, etc. are for one individual. Seeing how my family is native to having a military background, I feel like I wouldn’t mind facing the obstacles and difficulties during the military experience. I would make a difference not only for my family, but also for all the family in this country, and I would be motivated to fight for what I love. I would be honored and bring honor to my family knowing that they would be proud of my decision in joining the military.