This lifer obviously has a lot of self hatred. He cannot seem to come to grips with the fact that he will not be able to interact romantically with a woman for the rest of his life. This letter seems different from all of the others that I have read because the other authors seem to have reached some sort of personal epiphany during their years behind bars. Apparently, for this man, it seems as though he is still in the process of searching for his own groundbreaking moment. This letter also compels me to understand the bleakness of this man's situation. Most people will tell you that if they haven't already found love, they're searching for it. Love and companionship is a priority for most men and women between the ages of 25-45. It doesn't really seem fair that this man could make a mistake when he is young, say under the age of 21, and be punished for it as he matures in life. This letter makes me wonder if there couldn't be some sort of system where a prisoner could complete academic courses and complete a rehabilitation program in order to be released back into the outside world. Everyone desires some sort of soulmate to partner with, and it doesn't seem fair from a social standpoint that this man would be denied of that privilege. One thing I don't like about these stories is how they don't tell you what the person was imprisoned for. I think we all have a slightly skewed standpoint of these men when we only hear half of the story. What about the family members of the victim's that were harmed by these lifers? Maybe we should hear about how they have been robbed of someone very special in their life. I think these guys are all trying to be viewed in a positive light, but when you're in jail for life, there is clearly somewhere that you went very, very wrong. I would also like to know the context of the crime and the backgrounds of the offender. I think there is a big difference between a young male from a poor area robbing a store and accidentally killing someone and a privileged youth murdering somebody in cold blood, not out of necessity but rather out of sheer adrenaline rush.

This letter from a lifer named C. is extremely eye-opening. His words are almost completely contradictory to how popular media often portrays men. There are always the stereotypes that make us envision tall, strong, handsome men that use those features alone to satisfy the many women who oh-so-clearly adore them. This lifer realizes, albeit once he is already in prison, that to be a man means to show care and compassion towards women in a relationship. He doesn't need to put on a heavy emotionless shield that will deflect all attempts at affection and emotional support from the woman in his life. He can embrace the casual hugging and conversing rather than simply ordering a pizza and having sex. A relationship is so much more than sex, and true "men" understand this concept. They can share with their women, care about their women and, probably most importantly, they are not afraid to display affection for their women outside of the bedroom. The media also portrays women as beings that are only attracted to sex and money. They neglect to show women's emotional needs in fear of skewing their portrayal of men's needs. True women want to be able to feel a connection with their partner outside of just sex. They desire that long stroll on the beach at sunset, to do nothing more than just chat. They like their men to make them feel special, which becomes increasingly harder when channels like MTV broadcast music videos where women are simply cast as anonymous groupies in skimpy outfits. These portrayals do not make women feel special, they objectify them. One may be surprised to learn that women do not like being referred to as sluts and bitches. I can't imagine many young girls have aspirations of their Prince Charming to douse their bodies in champagne in front of a camera.

Inequality is an issue in America that many people tend to shy away from in discussion. There is a very real difference between the life of a young man born to a single, working-class mother in an urban city and the life of a young man born to a wealthy, married businessman in the suburbs. Both men may have similar intelligence levels and work ethics, but the fact of the matter is that the boy from an impoverished home will have to work much harder than someone from wealth in order to attain the same level of success. For instance, a student from a wealthy family may just have to attend his private school and earn decent grades in order to attend an institution such as Penn State. This student has many resources available to him in order to succeed: A strong family and school support system, transportation, few negative outside influences, and sadly, but most importantly, money. A student from the inner city may have to not only earn excellent grades in school, he may also have to work an outside job in order to afford a college education. He may have to look after siblings while his mother works double shifts in order to make ends meet, he may have to find and apply for his own scholarships, he may have to resist everyday temptations of drugs, sex, and crime.

We always want to make it seem as though everyone in America is born on an even playing field, after all we are the land of opportunity. The fact of the matter, though, is that unavoidable circumstances end up giving some people a much easier path to success and prosperity than others. If my father makes a six figure salary and has assured me of financial security before I even leave for college, my comfort level and motivation to make my own name will obviously be different than someone who grew up without a father and no financial security blanket.

I believe that religion is very much being pushed out of many countries as we progress deeper in finding new forms of technology. As humans discover new information, they don't have to rely on information from a religion that was founded thousands of years ago. Religion used to be all people had for questions about all aspects of life, but humanity and science is pushing us in a direction where we don't have to look towards some divine soul or creator to answer those questions. Religion has definitely regressed in a major fashion in America since our country's founding. The very documents that make up the constitutions of America state that religion and state must remain two seperate entities. This was a major revolution at the time, as many countries had religion deeply rooted into their laws and constitutions. As we have moved further in history, we see that all public schools are pushing out religion in order to remain as secular as possible. I can envision a time in the future where religion is a very miniscule aspect of many people's lives in America. The fact that many European countries are now moving towards the "unaffiliated" majority is surprising to me, given that Europe historically is a land rich with religious heritage. In a relatively short time we have seen many historically religious societies turning towards secularism and turning to scientists for answers rather than God. We used to have to rely on God to envision what lied outside our planet. Nowadays we have telescopes orbiting the Earth that can show us millions and galaxies outside our own. We now understand exactly what the moon is, and what we're capable of accomplishing now technologically, and what we're working on accomplishing in the future. Recent scientific advancements are literally pushing religion out the window, as many of my own friends would classify themselves as one religion or another, but only "because that's what my parents were." Our generation doesn't seem to have as much connection to religion as our parents do, and I can only imagine that trend will continue until religion just doesn't have that much impact in our lives.

This blog entry is very unique and is my favorite entry from the Getting Life section. When I read the first few sentences, my first assumption was that this blog was going to focus on racial prejudice and tension, as well as involve many racial stereotypes for Latino-Americans in this country. What I came to find was that this man, known as J.V.G., has come to show how he can relate to people either through his ethnic backgrounds, or in spite of them. He tells of a dinner with his girlfriend's parents, who I assume to be white after hearing the father refer to J.V.G. as a "spic." Despite the father's first assumptions about J.V.G., he is able to charm her parents with his good table manners and unbiased personality. It is hard to comprehend how someone that seems this outgoing and accepting of others is in prison for life, but it just makes me realize that even great people can make a mistake or two along the path of life. Maybe J.V.G. made one or two mistakes, however severe they were, and that cost him the freedom to live outside of the four walls he is currently being held in.

This article is very interesting because it describes the process of this particular inmate attempting to locate where he went wrong in life. Immediately he directs the attention to those closest to him, to his father, and to the Vietnam War. These are all usually influences that most people blame for affecting a person's life. As soon as he accused his father of turning him into the man he has become, he starts defending him. His father was always active in his life from the age of 4 onward, and always provided him with every advantage.

The words, "This is my son, and I love him, and I will do my best to make sure that he has everything that he needs and most of what he wants" are very powerful, and they reinforce the idea that the father did everything he could do to provide for his son.

The author grew up in an urban Philadelphia neighborhood, where drugs and violence were every direction he looked. He tries to figure out if those influences were responsible for shaping him into a life-sentence criminal, and realizes that they are both just excuses. He has seen his peers use their aggression to become wealthy boxers by dedicating hours in the gym, and he has seen many prosperous and successful people overcome drug dependency.

The author comes to the conclusion that his dishonesty in regards to his sexual promiscuity is to blame for his current predicament. I wish that the author could have revealed why he is in prison for a life sentence, because then it would have been easier to draw connections between his sexual deviance and his crime. The tone of the latter half of the letter is very somber and remorseful. The author clearly feels a lot of guilt about lying to his parents. He was perceived as an honest, truthful son. He appeared to be a young man in good standing, but his alternate image was one of sexual conduct and lust. By sneaking out of his window at night to meet up with young women, the author began a pattern of dishonesty that may have been a factor in his crime.

This video proves that people have a deep inner desire to be accepted by those around them. Any action, even if it is one they would normally perform when alone, will seem odd when it stands alone. In this case, facing the elevator wall was deemed socially acceptable by the individuals because all the other guys did it first. As people, we don't necessarily think about all these social cues. When we observe something, I believe that there are certain subconscious instincts that take over and mimic what we visualize. They say that the sincerest form of flattery is imitation, and in that case I would say that we are all imitating something all the time. We never really dress in a way that society has never seen before (unless your name's Gaga), and we never really act in a way that society has not seen before. Originality is ideological, but never really practical. We can say that we try to innovate, but all we ever really do is come up with our best imitation that differs JUST enough so that we can pass it off as an original idea.

When I see a lot of people doing something the same way, I seem to think that this is the way society wants this specific action to be performed. Small groups of people have the potential to represent all of society's impressions if given the proper place and setting, as seen in the elevator video. I myself can confirm that when I went to my summer job on the first day, I monitored the more experienced employees to see when they would use bathroom breaks, when they would eat lunch, how much work they would accomplish and at what rate. These cues helped define myself in the workplace as I eventually conformed to the same behavior. It would have seemed odd to all the other workers if I just began taking breaks that did not line up with everyone else's breaks, or if I worked at an alarmingly fast or slow rate. Anything that would interrupt the general flow in the workplace could have drastic implications, such as either upsetting or motivating the other workers to do better or do worse.

This story just goes to show how sensitive our society has gotten when we are holding a five year old child as a suspect for something that would have just been brushed under the rug 20 years ago. This boy cannot begin to understand the implications of carrying a loaded gun into a school, and thus should not be denied an education until the police “investigation” is over, something that could last months. The stepfather is entirely to blame, but the school should not hold the boy responsible for making a spur-of-the-moment mistake. If you have ever spent any time around young boys, you know that they are very interested in everything and are prone to getting themselves into some innocent trouble here and there. This boy has probably never heard of Columbine or the Virginia Tech shootings, so he really can't grasp the magnitude of what he has done. The father is responsible for leaving a loaded gun where a small child can access it, and even then the father never should have been unaware that his gun was missing after he dropped the boy off at school. Punishment should definitely be levied against the father, but the boy just deserves a talking-to and then should be allowed to return to school. It is not fair to punish someone so young for a spontaneous mistake, regardless of the danger it put everyone in. It does seem like law enforcement and politicians love to blow up a story about how “they” were the ones to stop a potential school shooting before anyone got hurt. That is ridiculous. The boy essentially never even knew he was doing anything wrong, and the teacher was the one to notice the gun on the ground. Now thanks to local and national media, this boy will become the posterchild for gun control problems all across the nation. That is a reputation that no five year old should ever have to bear. I hope that the officials in charge of this mess can put their own egos aside and realize the damage they are causing to this boy's development. This type of spotlight can scar any young child, and I just hope that this boy is strong enough to deal with the backlash he'll receive for this one mistake.

This letter is very interesting because it provides insight into the life of someone who lives a life most of us will never experience. As free men and women, we really do take for granted many of the liberties and freedoms that this country entitles us to, while this man is incarcerated for life and cannot choose to eat what he pleases or walk wherever he wants, and I personally cannot begin to comprehend how I would try and maintain a level of individuality if I had these types of freedoms stripped from me. I love being able to attend a school where I can wake up when I want to, take the classes I want to, and associate with the people I choose to hang out with. I would never want somebody else to dictate those freedoms for me. Even though I acknowledge these freedoms, I never really take the time out of my day to truly appreciate them, probably because I have never had them stripped from me. The saying "you don't know what you got til it's gone" is very applicable because this prisoner is feeling the consequences of his actions and just now is realizing how good life really is.

soc 001