It is mind blowing! We think that these things are things of the past, but they are not. It is crazy. However, I don’t think it is our society today. It is society of all time. Society is always going to have a crack government, always have kids who disrespect adults, always have a shit economy, always have prejudices, and always be effed up. It is only when we are old and have grandkids that we think that in our day society were perfect. That’s why we always forget that this sort of sad news is a sad but true reality. I have to mention that I am so glad that this is my last blog woohoo!

Well, what the hell are they going to do when the get into the real world and they realize that the white man rules it and they don’t know how to act around them. In addition all us white people don’t get a cushy special environment freshman year. It is segregation and just because administrators have an excuse or reason, does not make it ok. Back to the original question, what does it say about our society that schools are more segregated today than in the 1970s? Well it reflects how are society is pretending to be what it is not. We are pretending to be welcoming colorblind people, who are progressing. When in reality we are taking steps back according to this fact, we are digressing. I feel like there are a lot of facts like this that when people hear they are surprised by the realities of present. For example earlier this year when we learned that there is more slavery in the world today then there were back during the time of the civil war.

It makes me sad to think that schools are more segregated now than before. It is hard because I really don’t think people realize this sad fact and if they do they figure there is nothing they can do about it. I guess the problem stems from the fact that “racism” is supposedly finished and taken care of on paper. On paper is the key part, society and in action is a different story. Our excuses for segregation now are sub conscious racism. For example think about the penny packer building in east halls. Majority of the students who live in penny packer are of African American decent, what the hell is with that? Are you trying to tell me that was done on accident? This is where the segregation comes into play; people say that penny packer is like this because it provides a more welcoming environment for minorities who are not used to a lack of diversity.

It definitely is bias and not based on qualifications but then again what are more important qualifications or connections? It is not like it is a big secret, everyone tells you: connection are key, it is all about the people you know. If you don’t know anyone use your qualifications to get as far as you can to get to know people. I think it is more logical to rely on your connections to get you places then it is to rely on your race, gender, or disability. There really is no way to make the world a fair place and playing field of opportunities. Competition prevents it. I challenge anyone to think of a better solution to leveling the playing field then affirmative action and nepotism. Although they are different neither of them are wrong. I personally just think that nepotism is more useful. Therefore, to all you affirmative action haters, get educated and learn what affirmative action is, because then you will realize that it is the only solution to a hopeless issue. If they disagree, they should come up with a better solution themselves.

I don’t think anyone really does. My understanding of it is this: because of your race gender or disability, you are more encouraged to apply to certain things or are considered in a running because of your race. There is no personal connection to the “action” it is all merely based on appearance. I am not saying that affirmative action or nepotism is necessarily a good or bad thing I am just pointing out the differences. Nepotism you have that personal connection, your mom’s boss, your uncles friend, you grandfathers business, someone knows you somehow and is helping you out because of it. Affirmative action no one knows anyone. It is all based on race, gender, and disabilities, people are not helping people out because they have a personal connection, they are helping them out to give everyone a fair opportunity. That is what nepotism doesn’t provide. It doesn’t give everyone a fair opportunity.

I think nepotism is a tough subject and I would typically say that it is a great and useful concept. It is especially interesting, however, to look at nepotism in the affirmative action angle. I would and do jump at any chance to use my network of people to my advantage and I honestly think that most people would feel the same way. I am a communications arts and sciences major and am therefore fascinated by personal connections and relationships. I would therefore see nepotism as a slightly different concept from affirmative action. However I can honestly admit I don’t know much about the logistics of affirmative action.

I really liked the christian invaders class. I definitely came into class very skeptically. As a christian I was a little scared about what Sam was going to talk about. However, I was totally taken aback by what the lecture was actually about. I usually consider myself a relatively open minded person and I tend to (most often obviously wrongly) think i have a pretty good perspective of different worldly views. I was taken aback by this new perspective, I never really thought about muslims that way. I had a similar experience as this when I was younger and I attended german (language) immersion camp. They created a situation that really opened you mind to a new perspective of WWII, I really go to learn how the Germans felt during WWII. I really like this lecture and to answer the original question I do have a new perspective on terrorism. Not that I agree with any form of violence but I definitely see their point of view. If I was living in the middle east I would most likely hate america. This makes me angry at the US government because I know that I haven’t done anything to be hated by these people. I feel like i sub consciously think I have this prejudice towards middle easterns but this lecture changed my view. I now have an understanding of how we view them is very skewed but also how they view us is very skewed. It makes me wonder if the problem of oil is so clear to us why isn’t it clear to politicians who do things like this for a living. Essentially it is a politicians job to protect america, so why put our life in jeopardy by using controversial oil. The one thing that confused me about this lecture is why muslims hate christians. Because from my understanding of islam they accept Christians and jews. The most important aspect of islam is the five pillars, and the most important pillar is to love and proclaim publicly your love for allah aka god. They accept christians and jews because they worship the same god. therefore by attacking Christians they are attacking their own brothers and sisters. The koran even address and excepts christians and jews so technically they are going against their religion by declaring jihad on Christians. Another one of my classes suggested that religion is only a problem because of globalization. If you think about it, that makes sense. Globalization makes people realize they are poor, makes people want and need oil, and ruins a once peaceful and prosperous economy. This movie is called the Economics of Happiness and I highly suggest it to everyone to watch, it is very interesting.

Honestly this class did make me slightly uncomfortable. I consider myself to be an open person when it comes to topics of discussion so I was taken a back by my own uncomfortableness. Upon reflection there are several possibilities to why I might have felt uncomfortable. First of all I am a freshman. I am still getting used to the fact that teachers can say fuck and shit in class and get away with it. I feel like for debatable reasoning topics of sex and gender roles are a taboo topic in society, and especially high schools schools. I feel like how I was raised in school made me very uncomfortable with the blunt and forwardness of Sam today. I was pretty comfortable with the entire talk until he got to the part where he reenacted the intro to a porn scene ( for all you who weren’t there: no sex part). I was very uncomfortable when he brought the facilitator, Santana, into the mix. I feel like it was just awkward. I wouldn’t say I was necessarily offended but it was definitely awkward. The second reason I felt a tiny bit uncomfortable is because I am a christian and we are all about modesty,virginity, and all that jazz. Therefore I felt a little out of place. Right after class I actually went to a bible study and I was talking about the lecture with one of my friends and she asked me what the main point about the class was. It made me realize while initially I came out of the class impressed and happy with the lecture, that I really wasn’t sure what the entire message was. I feel like the humor of the lecture distracted both me and Sam from actually getting a point across. I feel like there was so much that wanted to be said that it was hard for Sam and Laurie to say everything they wanted. This class definitely didn’t leave a lasting impact like Sam and Laurie claimed it would. I was reading the tweets on twitter about the class and I got the vibe that I was not the only one who felt this way. When summarizing what exactly we learned in class today it was difficult for me to say. I feel like for future reference when doing this lecture in later years, I would recommend having one person talk. I feel like Sam and Laurie over lapped and were not exactly on the same page the whole time. While it was nice to have both points of view it made it hard to follow two peoples trains of thought. I would not stop doing this lecture I would just organize it better next time.

Would I ever date a black guy? Well not to be shallow but it really depends on whether or not I find him attractive. Therefore I think the proper question is whether or not i find black men attractive. I often find certain black men attractive however I find that I am definitely more critical of their attractiveness when they are black. However, like any man if I find out something about their personality that I like I find them substantially more attractive. For example in choir there was a man named Charlie when I initially met him, his presence didn’t cross my radar. However, the moment he started to sing I found him a hundred percent more attractive. Regardless of his color his singing made me woozy. I think every girl has the possibility of liking a black man. Like Will Smith says in the movie Hitch (in a matter of words) “every man has a chance with a women its just a matter of sweeping her off her feet.” The one thing black men have to look out for is that sometimes I can be creeped out by the straight forwardness of a black mans advances. I think that the more willing society is to accept an interracial couple the more frequently you will find that white women will openly like black men. I would be interested to see how interracial couples are respected in other countries. I wonder if america is more advanced or if countries in europe and such are more accepting. I wonder if dating a black man is one of those things that is easy to say on paper but difficult to put to action. it is easy to say “I will do it” but when approached with the actual situation you freeze. I think an opportunity like that would really open my eyes to the true racism that I probably have. I am definitely in denial of some of my racism but I feel like racism is in everyone. I think it is inevitable and that denying it is a straight out lie. Think about it people judge others regardless of race. Therefore denying that your racist is essentially denying that you do not judge people. I don’t think there is a single girl in the world who hasn’t compared them self to another person. I think that is our natural way of deciding who we like. That could possibly be why racism exists. I really think the question of whether or not I would date a black man is not a question of race, but a question of my judgements. I am not a shallow person by no means I am just honest with myself.

Another idea to help preserve scarce resources is by educating people, especially the poor, about birth control. The more knowledge people have about birth control and the more readily provided it is, the less birth rates will rise. I think that if people are made aware of how more children bring more consequences there will be less of a need and want for them to have children. I think after they have this knowledge that a easily accessible abundance of birth control should be available. Subsequently, the less births the smaller population will grow and therefore there will be less resources need for a influx of people. Like I said before, all of these ideas are easy to write on paper, but the application of them is more difficult. However, I think the knowledge of possible solutions is the first building block to helping make these ideas become a reality.