I do not think that we can put a blanket statement on bikinis and whether they mean a woman respects themselves or not. It is all very relative. Some women wear a bikini in order to attract men through selling what they think is their best feature: their bodies. That case shows disrespect for themselves because it shows that their confidence about everything else is low enough to leave only the option of their bodies to draw people in. Other women may simply just like the style bikinis and be proud of the body God gave them. I live at the beach during the summer and from my experience it is out of the norm to see girls my age wearing a full piece bathing suit. Bikinis are the typical style so I do not think that we are disrespecting ourselves because it is just what it socially acceptable. Again you could argue that it is only socially acceptable because “sex sells” and we have been brainwashed into those fashion trends. This a valid point if you look at the progression of female bathing suits over the years. I still however do not think that wearing a bikini is disrespecting myself, especially because so much depends on a person’s mindset and actions while in a bikini.

I see examples of different levels of self-respect all the time, especially in college. The girls that dress to reveal more skin receive more attention from guys. Now you can argue that it is the wrong attention of course, but it is still attention. Some girls dress that way simply because it is what they like to wear. Others may go out for the night dressed like that with a goal to “get a guy” and they know that a “hot” outfit will help them in that pursuit. I’ve actually tested this. One weekend I went out in a small skintight dress and the next night I went out with a more conservative outfit of skinny jeans and heels. The results of how many more people spoke to me the first night than the second night were startling. The attention I received the first night felt great at the time, but going home that night conscious of the social experiment made me feel disrespected. Just like you dress for the job you want, you should dress looking to attract the type of people that will respect you by you first respecting yourself. I totally see both sides of the argument from the cartoon, but I just think it is relative depending on a person’s society they grew up in and how they view themselves.

Unfortunately it is true if a black person kills a white person they are more likely to be judged instantly in the court of public opinion and later convicted. There are too many cases similar to Trayvon Martin that happen everyday.

But it is not fair to not look at the other side of the issue. Last week in the Philadelphia two young black men shot and killed each other. When a white person kills a black person, such as the case of Trayvon Martin, it grabs national attention. But in urban neighborhoods all over the nation people of the same race kill each other everyday and we are all silent. This has to change.

I’m extremely saddened by the Trayvon Martin case. At the same time though we all have to take a stance and stop killing each other. I can’t tell you how many times I watch the news at home and hear of a shooting or murder in Philly. It’s sickening. You would think that with all the issues surrounding racial tensions that we would not kill “one of our own.” We need to change this system but I don’t know how.

I think this is an interesting topic because a lot of it comes down to the economics of supply and demand. Like many other students at Penn State, I come from a predominately white area in the suburbs of Philadelphia. My town does not have hairdressers that specialize in cutting black and brown people’s hair. This boils down to the fact that there are not enough black people in my town to keep such a hairstylist in business. I guess the same thing happens in State College. It is a mostly white town and as much as we like to say that Penn State is diverse, it is a mostly white school. Many of my black friends go home to get their hair done every couple of weeks. I asked them if a black barber or hairdresser opened in State College if they would go. The overwhelming response was that they would not trust anyone in the middle of Pennsylvania to do their hair. Also, for most of my friends they had a relationship with their hairdressers since the time they were children and liked the process of going home to get their hair done. Maybe I’m wrong, but from what I have gathered from my black and brown friends and looking at my own hometown as an example, a hairdresser who specializes in cutting black and brown hair would not be likely to survive in State College. I agree that State College caters more to white people, but again I think that it mostly because white people make up the most of the demographics of the town so it would be difficult for certain types of businesses to survive. In neighborhoods that consist mostly of black and brown people it would be stupid to open a white hair salon. It is not intentional racism; it is just the result of economics of the market.

It is especially interesting for me to listen to other students’ views on religion because I grew up knowing people who mostly just believed what I did. I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to senior year in high school- 13 years. I do not think that I even knew a Jewish person other than an occasional girl on my soccer team. Coming to Penn State was great because I was able to learn much more about religion and the role, or even lack of a role, in people’s lives. Though I have been slacking in my typical Catholic “duties” of going to Church regularly in college, I still hold much if not all of the same belief system that I grew up with.

I believe that there is a God. There have been far too many instances in my live where I believed to see proof of a higher being’s existence. I’ve also seen the power of prayer. Call those occurrences coincidences if you want, but again I just find it hard to believe that there isn’t someone or something guiding us in some way. If you look at the human body alone and how complex it is, or even the vastness of the universe like Sam showed in class, I just think it is tough to argue against some kind of higher power.

As for creation verses evolution, I do not think that the two are necessarily mutually exclusive. I think that God created man, and that man evolved to the present state we are in now and will continue to evolve. I am in the school of thought that Adam and Eve was not a true story, but rather a way for our ancestors to better understand God without the science and technology that we have today. There are huge differences between the way in which God is depicted in the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. In the Old Testament, God was to be feared because of His greatness. Then in the New Testament, God was seen as more forgiving when Jesus came into the picture. I think that is why so much of what we believe simply comes back to faith. I am not a scientist and have never pretended to be, so if there is proof that man evolved then I am going to go with it. Some think there is a heaven, some do not, but again that’s up to the individual. I continue to develop my opinion of the God I was taught about since birth. I am grateful to have grown up in a family that taught me to respect other religions.

I completely agree with her observation. There is often a double standard for what would be considered offensive if a white person said it and how the same statement would be accepted if a black person said it. I can think of two fairly recent examples of this concept.

One example happened last week when my friends got together the other night and somehow we all broke into rapping “Gold Digger” by Kanye West together. Once we got to the “n” word some people stopped singing because one of our black friends was there. The friend laughed and said, “Why didn’t you say that word because I am here. We all know you would’ve said it if I wasn’t here, so it’s almost worse that you stopped!” It was so true and a perfect example of what happens all the time. Why would we stop if we knew our friend would not have been offended? We did not want to be judged.

Another example I remember happened in high school. I went to a high school that was predominately white. My friends and I would always ask our black friend to hang out with us on the weekend and he response was always, “Nah I’m hanging out with my black friends this weekend.” We were fine with that but always tried nonetheless. Imagine if I said “Oh I want to hang out with my white friends this weekend.” I would be looked at as a racist. It is a very interesting double standard.

I think a lot of this is because of white guilt and also has to deal with America’s obsession with being politically correct. Some of my friends from Sweden pointed out to me last semester that Americans constantly try to be politically correct and therefore, messages we try to convey often get watered down. I know that personally go out of my way not to offend people, which isn’t typically a bad thing but sometimes the strength of my message is definitely weakened. My black friends on the other hand of course do not want to offend people either but they seem more concerned about being honest and getting their points across. I do not know how we can change this double standard of “political correctness” or ability to share opinions without offending other races until the system of white supremacy is broken.

One thing I learned though this scandal is the role that pride plays in people’s ability to make decisions. So many Penn Stater’s had a difficult time finding a balance between blindly supporting Penn State because of their pride or becoming completely disgusted with the university and shutting out. Pride in itself is very interesting. For example, you can be proud of your children yet at the same time be grossly disappointed in a decision that they made. That is why I think a lot of people had a difficult time trying to digest the details of Penn State’s involvement with the scandal. Many “couldn’t believe” that Penn State could be involved with such a tragedy. I think the real issue is they did not want to believe. This same issue even relates to our own country. I am proud to be an American, but I disagree with a lot of things that our government does. Just because I am proud does not mean I just go along with everything even if I fundamentally disagree. That does not make me “un-American.” In the same vein, just because someone is not battling against “Penn State haters” on Facebook does not mean they are not Penn State proud. I still do not know how to react to Paterno’s involvement or lack thereof in the Sandusky scandal because none of us have the whole story. For all we know he did call and check up. Then again for all we know he did not. Extreme pride tells us we should jump and support Paterno but, rationale tells me to wait until the true story unfolds. Judging from his character do I think Joe Paterno would have been involved in a situation like this? No. Today there were countless stories to attest to Joe’s character. I was especially hearing Jay tell the story today about when Joe was able to come up with a plan to get a Jewish boy accepted into a school after someone voted no, claiming that Joe himself was the one who voted no in the first place. Joe’s life seemed to follow the saying, “stand up for what is right even if you are the only one standing.” Did that saying still apply in the Sandusky scandal? Again, who knows. In fairness to everyone involved and whose lives changed as a result of the alleged actions, I cannot jump onto anyone’s side without knowing the details. That’s the funny thing about pride- everyone reacts to it differently.

The American Dream is the idea that if you work hard and become a functioning member of society, then you will enjoy the freedoms of living in America and the financial comfort to support yourself and potentially a family.

Unfortunately I think that the idea of the American dream has faded in the past thirty years. In my opinion, many Americans today do not have the same work ethic as past generations. I listen to stories of my great-grandparents and grandparents struggling to make their place in society as Irish American immigrants. They had a chip on their shoulder that gave them an edge and work ethic that I think many third generation Americans lack. The troubles in Ireland were fresh in their minds and the American Dream was a promise of a better life they intended to achieve. I think that immigrants today experience the same struggles and value the idea of American way of life more than American citizens.

I think a lot of this has to do with our current governmental programs that do not provide incentives to work. Sam gave a great example in class when he spoke about major farms in Alabama firing Mexican workers in order to give Americans the farmhand jobs. Though the job paid $10.50 per hour, which is well over minimum wage, the farm owners were not able to fill the positions with Americans. Many would rather sit on a couch receiving welfare actively working. There is clearly a problem with the system!

For the past six summers, I have worked in a restaurant at the South Jersey shore. My boss typically hires foreign exchange students to work doing prep work and washing dishes- job he typically has difficulty filling. It is incredible to note the differences in work ethic between the foreign workers and my American coworkers. The foreigners usually have three jobs and therefore never get a day off. Still, they constantly ask my boss for more hours. They quickly get their work done, and take pride in their finished product. My American coworkers have the “just get it done” or “eh good enough” mentality and do not take pride in their work at all. Yes, most of my American coworkers are college and high school students just looking to make a little extra cash and not to earn a living. But, at the same time there is a huge difference in attitude, which I think is a synecdoche for the attitudes for citizens of this country as a whole.