The lecture Sam gave during class about the war was a real eye opener to me and my opinion on the subject. I never really had an opinion on the war before the class because I was ignorant to the subject because in my mind the subject on war is so deep that it’s hard to wrap my hear around it. I think the war is so beyond all of us that the government will do what they want, when they want, how they want. There is so much we don’t know that I believe that the government hides from us that if I put all my time and effort into the subject on war that it would make me more mad trying to figure it out then it doesn’t not even talking about it. No one in this country wanted to go to war but it was our decisions, the government doesn’t care about our opinion. The lecture just proved what I have been thinking right. We are at war to be selfish and fight for oil, not to save our country from 9/11 we are at war because we are selfish and it all makes sense to me now. Thats what they are hiding from us, the real reason why they are over there. Watching those videos that Sam showed in class were so disturbing, our troops going into another country like that and treating like the dirt they walk on like they did honestly makes me sick. We aren’t over there to make a difference to help their country to turn them all around, we are there to take over their land and take their oil, in the most disrespectful way a human being can. I think there are so many other ways we could go about getting oil from them and it sure is not humiliating them in their own country, running them off roads, running their cars over with our tanks, like who are we? Honestly who do we think we are? Do we think we are the superior to be able to do that to someone? I can’t wrap my head around why the government lets our own soldiers get away with this. I can’t believe a country that I am so proud to be apart of can treat other people they way I saw in the video. I think we need to get out of there country with our nasty weapons and machine tanks and get the oil we are after the right way. We are brought up to not bully as children but yet as very respected people holding respected jobs in this country they are doing exactly that, they are bulling other people in other countries. I am very disappointed in my country and I only hope someone does something that will change this awful way of getting what they want. I think we need to fight this as Americans and help others that our being hurt by our own people.

I think this question is so good to stop and think about as students and as a society. We don’t follow the rights that we were given as Americans. We forget that we have freedom of speech in the United States. We forget that we have are innocent until proven guilty in the United States. This crisis was handled all wrong on so many different levels, in my opinion. The board of trusties got ride of all the “important people” with no facts on the table, with no charges even being charged. Joe Paterno and President Spanier were not convicted with any charges, and still two weeks later and more details out are still not charged nor are they even held responsible for any acts of crime like Sandusky is. Our school jumped to conclusions way too fast and made such a harsh decision too soon. They should have waited everything out, they should have let more facts come out on the table, they should have called in Joe Paterno, let him speak to the media and tell his side, they should have let a trial date be announced before they jumped to conclusions and made the decision they did. It wasn’t fare to either of them, they are INNOCENT and they should not have been washed away that fast from a school that they both have put so much into for so many years. It just shows no matter how good you are to this world and no matter how much you give it will never be enough to some people and you over look something that you didn’t even know all the facts to and you can loose everything. It makes me sick to even think about, it makes me scared to go out in the real world and work, what if I overlook something in my future, something that I wasn’t even involved in, something I didn’t even know how bad it really was and have my WHOLE life taken from me. As much as Sandusky is in the wrong and we all know what he did and he will be taken down, at least I hope he is taken down by the WYHOLEINTIRE world for what he did to too many young children, he is even innocent as of right now. As a school we passed judgement too quickly on Joe Paterno and President Spanier, they should both be holding a position at Penn State University, unless the school is hiding something even greater, in that case then this whole thing is corrupt, and it disappoints me as a Penn State student that my role models are covering up a cover up. In my opinion everything was handled wrong and should have been handled completely differently.

I have learned so much during this whole scandal, not only as a student but as an intern for Penn State sports and being able to see the inside of this whole case. As a student and a public relations major I think this was an eye opener to all of us. The way the public relations department dealt with this case was so wrong on so many different levels. It makes me want to get out there and do something I thought I never wanted to do, crisis communication. I always wanted to do wedding planning when I graduated but this crisis changed my minds because I learned so much from my public relations professors on what should have been done it makes me want to go out there and do everything I can for my company so something like this never gets take n the wrong way like it did here at Penn State. I believe our school is suffering on a greater level because how things were dealt with. The public relations department could have saved this school from the negative media that just wants a good story and wants to bring us down. We are sitting in such a bad place right now because of the decisions that were made. On a personal level I learned that no matter who you are and how good you can do in this world, one wrong perception and your whole life can be changed. For a man that did so good for one university he was taken the wrong way by the media and was taken down. In my opinion our school did him wrong and I believe everyone is selfish and in reality it doesn’t matter how good you do in this world if someone misunderstands something. It makes me more afraid and aware of my surroundings. I am not one to get into other people’s business, I rather stay out of it and mutual in life, less drama that way, but I guess staying out of it is the bad thing to do and I will probably do everything I can to help others even if it doesn’t pertain to me and my life. This crisis has affected so many people in so many ways and it has taught me a lot, it will make me be more aware of my surroundings when I am in the work world. Life is like walking on eggshells you never know when it will all come crashing down. Even good people with amazing hearts come down too, people in my opinion who don’t deserve it and aren’t being heard right by the public. It makes me sad to think about it, however, it makes me more aware and maybe it might save me and my career one day. You learn from your mistakes and experiences and I sure learned a lot through this crisis.

Yes, as a Penn State student I believe that we are dealing with the loss of Joe Paterno with the five stages of grieving. The five stages are, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I can only speak for myself and what I observed this past week, however I believe that we have hit 4 out of the 5 stages so far. The first stage was denial, when we first found out that Joe might be fired we were all in denial that the “face” of our school can be fired just like that, especially after all that he has done for Penn State. I know for myself I sat there watching the news casters cover this story and all I kept thinking was “no this can’t be, no Joe Paterno at Penn State?” I sat in denial that this could all be coming true. Then when it was announced that Joe Paterno was officially fired I know I sat there and screamed at the TV, with such anger. Then everyone, so it seemed, ran out in anger and hit the streets for one of the biggest riots at Penn State. Witnessing the angry students first hand you could see the anger and hurt that was just announced by the board of trusties. Everyone was outraged with what just happened to our school, and only the people here could really understand why people were so angry. The outside world frowned upon the riot but Penn State isn’t near and dear to their heart like it is ours. The third step is bargaining, everyone at the game was screaming “one more game, one more game!!” If the school would have given Joe one more game then we as students would be able to sit with the fact that he has to go as a coach. They just wanted one more game and would bargain the status as a coach for one more game. The fourth step, depression, is what hit us all hard. The next day after the huge news and riot, the town of “Happy Valley” was not happy. The vibe in the air was just gloomy, sadness in peoples eyes as you walked by wearing Joe knows football shirts. The town was quite, gloomy, cold, if you didn’t feel the depression in the air then you really weren’t there. It was so hard to feel, and experience and there was no getting him back. The fifth stage, acceptance, hasn’t hit anyone yet. It might take a longer time to get to this stage, months, years whatever the time may be it will come but not for a while. People are too upset over this matter and won’t hit the acceptance stage for a while. At least for me I know as a true Penn Stater and being grown up on Joe Pa I won’t be able to accept what has happen to our school just this past week. I will come around but it will take me some time. This was a huge loss for a great school and I believe it shows how near and dear this school is to me by not running to the acceptance stage.

In my opinion immigrants bring good aspects to this country. When I first read this discussion the first thing that came to my mind was the selfish part of myself. When I first thought if immigrants should learn to speak the English language, I first thought in my head that of course they should learn my language why wouldn’t they? They are in my country, using my resources, on my land, all that came to mind was very selfish acts. I thought that my country should poor anymore money into unnecessary things like accommodating immigrants with signs in other languages, menus in other languages, etc. I felt like if immigrants wanted to come to my country that they need to learn my language, why should I go out of my way to learn theirs? I still feel in some circumstances that things should be kept Americanized to keep the roots of our country and not become so bilingual, however, I shouldn’t let myself be so selfish in thinking that once you are in “my” country you should only speak my language. I think immigrants come over here and work the hard labors jobs that they do for us, that we should make it a lil easier on them and make things a little more accommodating so that they will stay long helping us in ways that Americans won’t. Immigrants should learn our language eventually if they decide to stay in the U.S. that they should learn our language because they will probably getting their green card, or become a citizen and go to schools where the primary language is English and the higher you get in a company the more you have to interact with other U.S. citizens, so in my opinion it is the right thing to do as an immigrant coming into our country. I feel like this world is becoming so bilingual that in a few years this topic won’t even be talked about. So many people will be able to speak all different kinds of languages that one language won’t be heard of. It might help us in the future because the more you can interact with everyone around the world the more we can come together and almost become one. We won’t need translators in order to get a product in another country, you can just act on it asap, that it could potentially help your county in so many ways. I guess I go either way when it comes to this topic, I think we need to keep a base of the American culture and still speak our primary language, but it wouldn’t hurt if we knew more languages because it could only help us become better people and learn more about others and cultures around us.

However being at Penn State and being forced in a multicultural society, having neighbors that are of a different race, have kids in your class of a different race, it really has made me a more open person. I view the world differently now because we are more of a whole than whites and blacks. When I was younger I viewed the world in shut a closed minded way, not racist, just what I was drawn to as a white person, I feel like this goes for anyone, people of color or not. When I see black, Hispanic, Chines, whatever the race maybe I see multiple people the same race. I feel like it’s whatever is similar to your own selves; we as people are more drawn to it. It is almost like habit to go where you are most comfortable and for people that is someone of the same race.

Thinking back on my high school years I never made friends with people outside my own race. It wasn’t because I was racist; I had no problem with people from other races. It was more of was I was drawn to and it just so happen to be people from my own race. When I would go home my whole neighborhood was and still all white families, I remember when my neighbor’s daughter brought a “black boy” to a neighborhood party and it being a huge deal and it being the talk of the party. My family always said they would disapprove if I ever brought a person of color home, not so much my parents; it is more of my grandparents. They were brought up in that awful time period when blacks were slaves and have never really changed their view on them, even though society is completely different now. I feel like this is the way with a lot of white grandparents, it was just the time period they were unfortunately brought up in and at their age there really is not changing minds, at least for my hard headed grandparents. So for me it isn’t that I am a racist it is that I am ignorant to a better look on things. I was brought up with a closed mind and it reflects who I am friends with.

My race makes me view the world differently than a person of color or a person from another race. Being brought up white, in an all-white community I can see how my race can shape me a certain way. I was brought up catholic, went to a private school, where there were no minorities. My first encounter with a different race was when I went to a public school for the first time; it was very diverse to me. I couldn’t believe how much different it was from the school I previously attended, which was just across the street.

Racial labels aren’t used anymore then they have been used in the past. I don’t think using racial labels is a bad thing and shouldn’t be looked at negatively. In my opinion I feel like racial labels today is just like we use gender labels. We used to use gender terms for women because women weren’t seen as much as men were in the work society. For example we would say I went to see my doctor today and automatically assumed a male figure because women weren’t doctor’s back then. So when we use racial labels its just like when we use gender labels or anything else with that matter. To me it isn’t racist to use racial labels, to me it’s part of a story that we are telling. Racial labels are also assumed in this society, in the United States the majority is white, so when we aren’t talking about a white male or a white female we feel the need to make the story clearer and specify whom we are talking about, whether that be a black, Hispanic or any other race. When the United States becomes more any other race than white Americans we will stop using the racial labels. I am a victim of racial labels and half the time, I will admit, I don’t recall using them. However, I am far from racist. I have so many friends that are all different races. Honestly it was how I was brought up and the people I was brought up around. I was brought up in a all white family with white neighbors and went to a high school where the majority was white. Therefore, when I was telling a story about a certain topic and the person wasn’t white I used racial labels to make the story more clear and not in a bad way by any means. It what we are used to being around, it is what we are use to hearing, and it will probably be the way we speak for either a very long time or till the United States become less of a white society. It is fascinating to me that people look at racial labels as a bad thing, it really is not a bad thing and should not be looked at as bad! People need to realize that its apart of a story, and like any story we make stories very detailed. It’s time that people stop taking offense to racial labels as a bad thing and think of it being apart of a story. I will try and watch my words when I talk about other people and realize that racial labels do offend people, even though though they should not offend anyone and should realize that people don’t mean it bad in any way possible.

I think that society has made it very difficult for women to be comparable in their own skin. They look at models and movie stars and see these women who are all made up, with their hair done perfectly, a pound of makeup on their faces, tanner the better, and wear clothes that you can barely breath in. For example, the other day when I was getting my nails done, also something girls have to do to be sexier, I was reading Cosmo and on the front cover was a picture of Kim Kardashian with her hair and makeup perfectly done and her in this sexy little dress that looked like if she moved an inch it would show things that shouldn’t be seen. It wasn’t practical is a girl off the street decided to wear it because she would be able to walk a step down the street before it would ride up on her. However, this is what girls see in the magazines and know that guys drool over it so they think in order for them to get that guy they have to dress that way themselves. I think that women should try so hard and they will find a guy that likes them truly for them, not because of what they were wearing that night. I feel as if a woman were to just be themselves bad things that happen during a night out wouldn’t probably happen as much because men would respect them more in an outfit that was either more them and their everyday life or more conservative. Women complain that they can’t keep a guy for more than that one night stand and don’t really stop to think why. You dressing in tight clothing and high heels puts in the their brain as “she wants to have sex” and that is how you are then looked at for the rest of the night. When I see a mature guy or even a college guy really looking for a girlfriend to take home to mom, he is not looking for the stereotypical college girl that is dressed in tight clothing and high heels, he usually goes for the girl next store, the girl that knows how to dress down, be confident about it and still look good. That is the problem in our society, guys dress the way they want because we let them do it and get away with it. If girls started dressing the way they wanted men wouldn’t really notice and would probably like it better. Women need to realize they did this to themselves and because every women follows thats what men expect when they go out. If we changed it we there would be nothing they could do about it and honestly it would probably give women more respect in the end.