The entire in class discussion about the lifers in prison has made me think a lot. The way Sam and Laurie talk about it made me skeptical at first and so I thought more about what they said as well as the way they tend to think. I also wondered if their experiences would have been different had the lifer been convicted of a crime which directly affected their families. I’ve never talked to a lifer so I can only compare Sam’s thoughts to how I think I would feel. Also I’m sure that each inmate is different and therefore some would come off as more regretful than others. This was the first hurdle I had to get past as I thought further into the issue. When Sam said that, I made the unconscious assumption that he was talking about all lifers and had a really hard time believing him.
This was until just recently when I thought he’s probably only talking about a handful of lifers he’s met over the years. This is not to say that there aren’t lifers everywhere who would give off this impression, but I have to assume that this is the exception not the rule because it’s the only way I can wrap my mind around the subject for further thought. This blog was very one of the most interesting I’ve read so far this year and consequently provoked more thought than the others. The beginning of the scene reminded me for some reason if people sitting on the bleachers of a local, smaller sporting event. Having been to countless high school sporting events, this image was vivid in my mind when he revealed that all these events took place in prison. It is in some ways relieving to see some of the lifers are able to move beyond their past to live what’s left of their life.
The compassion shown between the two inmates who hated each other is something we see multiple times on a daily basis, but I’ve never thought about events like this taking place in prison. It’s an interesting look into prison inmates and paints an entirely different picture of them. It’s really hard for me to move past the fact that these men and women have killed innocent people, to think they are decent respectable people but I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject trying to understand more fully what Sam means. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to comprehend the way Sam feels about these men, and it’s kind of scary to think about but I’m not sure if I really want to feel the same way as him. It is one thing to see an inmate as an entirely different person as the one who murdered in his past, but it seems even more difficult to actually see decency in these people.

Whether or not they stick, programs such as these are almost always worth at least giving a shot. If in a few years Chinese is not a relatively important language to know there’s really no downside to those students who learned it years ago. This is especially true because China is sending teachers at very low cost to American schools to teach our students. So not only are the schools getting another teacher for their staff at a very low cost, but they are getting some of the best teachers possible for the subject. Having a native speaking language teacher can be very helpful for the students learning of the language. Not only will they have a nearly perfect accent, but they know phrases and sayings which will helps students to speak a more natural form of the language. Just like English, Chinese I’m sure has special exceptions to rules and uncountable slang terms.
It’s sometimes funny to hear none native English speakers try to make their point just as I’m sure I would sound funny if I ever go to Spain trying to speak what little Spanish I’ve retained. There are many words I learned which are simply not used by native speakers and have been replaced by other slang terms. With a native speaking teacher it would be easier to ignore these words and expressions taught in the book which are rarely used in actual practice. Knowing these sayings will not only help the students to speak the language, but also to understand others.
The deal truly is too good to pass up. Any qualified teacher at such a low cost would certainly be beneficial to any school, but to bring in such an expert in the language at the same low cost is like a goldmine. I hope that in the next couple decades we realize that all this Chinese education was well worth this effort, but like I said earlier worst comes to worst more of our population will have a small understanding of the Chinese language. The only downside to teaching students Chinese is that they will not be able to learn a different language in school, unless they really want to, but there is no way to predict which language will be most prevalent in the next few decades.
Personally I am very happy that I learned as much Spanish that I have, and would rather know Spanish than Chinese, but giving students the both options is very important. For those who wish to pursue some kind of business career, knowing Chinese may prove to be very helpful for them in the future. For others who wish to travel around Central America, live in Spain, of simply live in a predominately Spanish area, Spanish is the obvious choice. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter what language a student learns as long as they learn a language.

Before Sam started the video when he was just talking about it, I thought he was exaggerating the truth as he sometimes does. I didn’t think it was possible for a video about children choosing between two dolls could be so disturbing. Also I did not fully believe that children actually got the impression that white people were in some way superior to other races, but this video makes it extremely difficult to argue that point. Watching the struggle and pain in the children’s eyes as they picked the baby that looked like it would be the “good” child was excruciating. It is not fair for them to have that picture painted for them at such a young age when they do not even fully understand any race issues. The most important part of the video is the children’s age. I cannot imagine how these children got these ideas but I’m sure they will have a very hard time dealing with these ideas once they start to understand them.
I wondered for some time which doll I would have chosen. Based on the statistics it is almost a certainty that I would pick the white doll, but I wish there was some way I could go back and be a part of the study without knowing the results. Even more interesting and challenging was the question of which doll looks like the bad doll. I thought even more about which one I would choose if any. I would hope that I would look at the two dolls and say they both look nice, but there is no way for me to remember my thoughts when I was that young.
It is really hard for me to wrap my head around the children choosing the black doll as the one that looks bad. They were identical dolls, except for color obviously, but most of the children quickly identified the black doll as the bad one. It’s well known and somewhat accepted that white perceived as a pure color whereas black is perceived as evil but I never really thought about it in terms of skin color. When we see princesses in movies wearing white and the villains wearing black it is easy to expect that connection to be made, but it is troubling that it extends to skin color as well.
I hope this study is done again sometime in the future and the results are dramatically different. It is not crazy to think it would be possible in the near future as children are unbiased. If we can eliminate the things that make children believe black is evil it is possible that in only one generation those results could be completely different.

We often hear about how Native Americans were treated horribly during our expansion across the United States. Many people think we do should give Native Americans more rights, and should give them reparations for the inhumane treatment of them three hundred years ago. The treatment of Native Americans was horrid, but most people living in the United States at least know something about the events that occurred between settlers and Native Americans. In contrast, very few Americans know much if anything about the settlement of Hawaii. The treatment was not as violent as it was with the Native Americans, but we still just took the land they had been living on for generations and made it our own.
I completely disagree with Jamie Story saying that the government’s role is not to make up for past wrongs. Not only should that be an objective of the government, but to actually say something like that to a group of clearly wronged people is ridiculous. The government should aim for fairness is all situations, and just because he wasn’t around when the land was actually taken, that does not mean we have no obligation to try to help these people.
It sometimes scares me to see politicians say things like this because if they are comfortable saying things like that in public, what are they doing behind closed doors? I know a government cannot operate by trying to be nice all the time, but when possible I think we should try to simply be fair even if it means giving up a couple things. Giving Native Hawaiians some of their land back would certainly be an inconvenience for the State government of Hawaii as well as cost them significant tax earnings, but we really should never have had the land in the first place, and never should have received taxes from them.
I really hope Hawaiians get some of their land back and are someday able to govern themselves at least to some extent. It’s impossible to say, but I’m sure they would still want to be a productive and successful part of the United States. Not only do they deserve to have their land back, it is just the right thing to do. The United States is one of the most powerful nations in the world and yet we still can’t manage the thought of losing a small piece of land to those who rightly deserve it. I’m sure sharing or redistributing the land would be much more complicated than just drawing a line in the sand, no pun intended, but we have to start somewhere. It’s unacceptable how we treated both Native Americans and Native Hawaiians, and I hope that someday we can begin to repay them for all the wrongs we have done to them.

I have also noticed that when white people write rude comments there seems to be more of an uproar than when black people make similar comments. I think this has a lot to do with white people not wanting to be looked at as racist. If white people make a big deal out of something a black person says, people may think the person is racist and that they only made a big deal out of the comment because the person was black. As Sam has said many times, the last thing a white person wants is to be thought of as racist. On the other hand, when white people make questionable comments, both white and black people can object more because the consequences are not nearly as severe. Black people would not be thought to be racist for calling out a white person for rude comments, and white people cannot be racist against other white people. This all comes from white people being afraid to call out people of other races for saying rude or racist things.
It’s very difficult for white people to call out people of other races and not be seen at least somewhat racist. I’m not sure why this is the case but I can’t remember a time when this was not how it was. I think it would be a very helpful step in eliminating racism if all races could call out all other races without fear of being thought of as a racist. Now this is not to say that anyone should be allowed to say anything they want with no consequences, but people shouldn’t be scared to say things they honestly believe to be true.
It just becomes more apparent that white people are afraid to call out black people when there are so many students in a room, but this is something that happens very often for white people. I went to a largely black high school and I every day I saw white people being accused of racism because they said something to a black person for being rude. However when a white person did something even slightly questionable it seemed like the black person was able to say whatever they wanted about the situation without anyone even thinking about them being racist. I feel that both white and black people should be able to quietly call each other out to resolve discrepancies without either even thinking about race in the process. I hope that someday everyone will be able to do just this, but I feel there is a long road until we reach that. To start, I hope all races work together to make progress slowly over a long period of time until race is no longer an issue when people have disagreements.

I do not think that theme parties are thrown mostly by white people, and I definitely do not agree with most of them being at the expense of black people. Penn State is a mostly white campus so chances are white people host more theme parties simply because there are many more white people here than students of color. I’m not sure what you mean when you say that many of these parties are making fun of racial stereotypes towards black people. I’ve heard of many different types of theme parties, but most of the parties that come to my mind are based on professions more than race. Golf pros and Tennis ho’s, CEO’s and office ho’s, traffic light parties, and jersey shore parties are all very popular themes that I hear about quite often. Not only do these not have anything to do with black people, only jersey shore parties are based on a race (Italian).
Everyone likes to dress up, just look at Halloween, and theme parties are just another way for students to have fun dressing up in crazy outfits with their friends. Wearing crazy clothes is one of the easiest ice breakers at a party and I think this causes many students hosting parties to decide on a theme and have people dress up accordingly. Theme parties tend to be more fun for this reason. If everyone is dressed up in different ways it is much easier to start a conversation and therefore easier to make friends.
Also, after the first half hour or so at a theme party no one really cares about what anyone is wearing anymore. Since everyone is dressed in a very similar fashion, people tend to get used to all the outfits and it becomes normal to see a guy in golf attire or a girl dressed as a secretary. It really doesn’t matter what theme the host picks because since everyone will be dressed the same way and have fun seeing others dressed as ridiculous as them. Also choosing a theme for a party allows people to dress up as crazy as they want because there will almost always be someone dressed up crazier. Because everyone is trying to be very clever with what they wear, it makes the party more interesting for the attendants. It’s more fun to see people dressed like the crazy people on the jersey shore or as gold pros then to just see everyone in jeans and a T-shirt. People being dressed in funny ways also encourage more fun conversations between friends because there are a lot of interesting outfits to talk about. I think theme parties are so popular because of the social reasons, easier to make conversation, and that it really doesn’t have anything to do with race.

This woman ran a remarkable business even before the earthquake. I can’t possibly imagine having all my capital destroyed so unexpectedly with no possible means of recovering it. And then to add even more obstacles, losing the capital caused a debt which would have caused many people to pick up and run. Not Yvrose though. She has been facing adversity running this business from the beginning and if I had a guess, I’d say she probably saw this tragedy and immediately began thinking of ways to get back on her feet. Through persistence and brilliant thinking, she was able to find a way to keep her business alive while helping many people survive during such a tough time. I can’t imagine how successful she would be if she had any of the resources I, and many of my friends, are blessed with.
I sometimes wonder how I would manage in situations similar to Yvrose’s. I’d like to think that I would do whatever was necessary to keep my business afloat, but under such duress I don’t know if I’d be able to continue operations. She has more guts and drive than most if not all CEO’s of companies today, and for this reason it’s hard for me to say with any certainty that I’d be able to pull off something like this also. That being said, I admire her for what she is doing, and hope that someday I am able to do something that is even close to as amazing as what she is doing right now.
Although most people will never be presented with the kinds of circumstances Yvrose faces every day, we can take many important lessons and ideas from the way she runs her business. For one, when her back was against the wall and there was nowhere to go, she persisted. When many would have simply seen the earthquake as too great an obstacle to overcome, she continued forward. This is not always the right thing to do, but to even consider moving forward instead of simply accepting defeat is a great start. This was Yvrose’s first step. When it seemed like there was no option but defeat, she amazed everyone by not running from this problem, but instead charging full steam ahead towards it. This is the lesson businesses should take away from this situation. When it seems there is nothing that can be done, be sure to evaluate all possibilities no matter how crazy they may seem. If this one person can operate a successful business with this many obstacles, what’s stopping businesses with thousands of employees and virtually unlimited resources from doing things that would help even more people. I know people start businesses to make a profit, but if this woman can both make a profit and help thousands of suffering people, why can’t all businesses.

It is very odd that lesbians seem to be accepted more than gay men. There are many possible reasons for this, but to pin point the exact reason would be extremely difficult. I think the primary reason for lesbians being accepted more than gay men is that in general people are nicer to females than they are to males. This would make it seem that people were more accepting of lesbians because they simply do not talk about it as much. It seems that women especially would be less likely to call out other women for their sexual preferences. Men on the other hand constantly force each other to talk about sex and women, and are often encouraged to make jokes at the expense of others. “Guys” routinely use the phrase, “That’s so gay,” to describe things they do not like. This could be a part of the answer to your question. People are subject to hearing the phrase, “That’s so gay” on a daily basis being associated with negative things. While I doubt anyone realizes at the time, I’m sure that to at least a very small degree, this makes people associate gay with negative things.
Although many people in society may look differently at gay men and women, when it comes to marriage and laws pertaining to adoption, most people feel the same. I understand that some people hold that marriage is reserved for one man and one woman, but I do not see any reason that two friends or partners should not be able to get the same benefits as a married couple. If two people see it in their best financial interest to live together and make the decision to spend a significant portion of their lives together, why not give them benefits similar to that of two married people.
I think that for the most part people being more accepting of lesbians is mostly an illusion. Even the word lesbian is not used as often as the word gay, and therefore it seems that gay men are the target of more criticism than lesbian women. In addition, men are often attracted to two lesbian women, so men rarely say anything bad about two women together. On the contrary, straight men are brutal to gay men, sometimes to their face without even realizing it. I, and I’m sure many others, have gay friends who they didn’t know were gay for some time. Although he threw the term gay around just like others, I hope I never said anything that offended him. I’m sure there were plenty of times he was uncomfortable about the topics of conversation. He probably had a harder time being a gay man than a lesbian girl may have had because of the vulgar conversations he was often apart of.

It’s great that in our discussion groups we are encouraged not to hold anything back and to say whatever we are feeling, but this article shows that in reality everyone has to be careful what they say. While his remarks were completely out of line, he was speaking his mind and unfortunately offended many people. I’m sure his comments, although harsh, were not intended to offend anyone.
People must live their lives with this filter on what we say. It is very unfortunate that we must do this, but many people are very sensitive to certain issues therefore we don’t talk about them to avoid offending them. This seems to be the main topic of the class as Sam and out section leaders are always talking about speaking our minds and not holding back. The discussion group has been amazing so far. Everyone seems to be speaking freely about a variety of issues and no one to my knowledge has been offended so far. I’m talking about this because I wish the world worked the same way as our group. I wish everyone could talk freely and openly about controversial issues so they can be resolved. The world wastes so much time and energy arguing about the proper way to address those of a different race when we could so easily come together and decide. Obviously this isn’t a logical or feasible solution to the problem, but when I see strangers in a discussion group come together to talk about these issues, I wonder why it’s so hard for everyone else.
Sam makes a great point when he says it’s something that people sometimes think but can never say out loud in public. There are some comments that will offend everyone all the time and this is one of them. Bauer completely dissociated those people from the rest of humanity, and completely embarrassed them. I’m sure Bauer is embarrassed himself as he should be, but that doesn’t excuse such a huge slip.
Andre Bauer’s comments were completely inappropriate, and would be under any circumstances, but it will be interesting how long it takes for such comments to be a thing of the past. I sincerely hope there comes a day when people can learn to come together to figure out all of our differences. It’s impressive to see how far we have come as a civilization, but scary to think about how much farther we could be if it weren’t for some pointless fighting amongst ourselves. I hope in a future discussion we can talk about why we are able to speak so freely around one another and yet many people have such a hard time doing so around others.

It’s great that in our discussion groups we are encouraged not to hold anything back and to say whatever we are feeling, but this article shows that in reality everyone has to be careful what they say. While his remarks were completely out of line, he was speaking his mind and unfortunately offended many people. I’m sure his comments, although harsh, were not intended to offend anyone.
People must live their lives with this filter on what we say. It is very unfortunate that we must do this, but many people are very sensitive to certain issues therefore we don’t talk about them to avoid offending them. This seems to be the main topic of the class as Sam and out section leaders are always talking about speaking our minds and not holding back. The discussion group has been amazing so far. Everyone seems to be speaking freely about a variety of issues and no one to my knowledge has been offended so far. I’m talking about this because I wish the world worked the same way as our group. I wish everyone could talk freely and openly about controversial issues so they can be resolved. The world wastes so much time and energy arguing about the proper way to address those of a different race when we could so easily come together and decide. Obviously this isn’t a logical or feasible solution to the problem, but when I see strangers in a discussion group come together to talk about these issues, I wonder why it’s so hard for everyone else.
Sam makes a great point when he says it’s something that people sometimes think but can never say out loud in public. There are some comments that will offend everyone all the time and this is one of them. Bauer completely dissociated those people from the rest of humanity, and completely embarrassed them. I’m sure Bauer is embarrassed himself as he should be, but that doesn’t excuse such a huge slip.
Andre Bauer’s comments were completely inappropriate, and would be under any circumstances, but it will be interesting how long it takes for such comments to be a thing of the past. I sincerely hope there comes a day when people can learn to come together to figure out all of our differences. It’s impressive to see how far we have come as a civilization, but scary to think about how much farther we could be if it weren’t for some pointless fighting amongst ourselves. I hope in a future discussion we can talk about why we are able to speak so freely around one another and yet many people have such a hard time doing so around others.