I have honestly taken so much from this class. There were so many racial issues in the world and within myself that I had not realized or faced. I think that the best thing for me honestly was not just the lectures but the discussion groups. My discussion group was filled with so many different types of people from different backgrounds and opinions on other things. I learned so much and battled a lot of stereotypes that I previously had. Our facilitators really gave us a great place to feel like we can say and do anything and learn so much from eachother. I had the toughest time trying to understand Mohammed who is from Kuwait, especially around the whole issue of 9/11. I realized after the entire semester that I had unintentionally had a certain image of the middle east and people from that region because of what I had gone through when I was younger on 9/11. It was an issue that really stuck with me. I learned to be more open and hang out with people that aren’t just white. The people that I sit with in lecture are the most racially diverse and so different from me. I sit with a girl from Saudi Arabia, a boy from Africa, a white kid from Maryland, and this coolest chick you’ll ever meet that dyes her hair like 5 different colors. I would never picture myself sitting with so many different people in a class before. When there are black kids at the parties I go to I always find myself talking to them, not because I’m “seeking out” a black kid to talk to but I feel like I had a lot to speak to them about and we had a lot more in common than I would’ve realized in September. I really appreciate how much this class has made me grow as a person. When I go home I really realize how much I have changed because all of my home friends are just like how I used to be. I just hope that going home doesn’t have me revert back to how I used to act, instead just help me enlighten my friends and hopefully diversify our group a little more. I wish that every class at Penn State could be more like this, a learning experience that actually matters in REAL life. Everyone I talk to I tell to take Soc 119. And I really hope that I get to hang out with my discussion lab outside of the classroom next semester. Also, the “needy penis” lecture was possibly the most hilarious lecture I have ever been in in my life, it should be divided up to 2 classes.

I don’t generally try to dress like a huge slut when I go out but obviously I dress more revealing when I’m going to a bar or a party than I do when I’m going to class. So if I meet a guy when I’m out I’m going to assume I’m attracting a different type of guy, not necessarily someone that has great values or anything he’s probably just initially attracted to me because of the clothing that I’m wearing. If I meet a guy in class and we talk normally and he still is interested in me despite the fact that I roll into class in ugg boots and juicy pants a lot of the time he’s probably going to be a nicer guy. I don’t really know if that’s fair to say tho, just because you’re meeting a guy when you’re dressed a certain way doesn’t mean that he does not share the same values as you. I feel as though there has to be an initial attraction for someone to want to speak to you, and covering up a lot, or dressing down a lot because you don’t want to attract a “mans gaze” will do anything for you. I just don’t think that most guys are thinking, “Hey she might have a really awesome personality let me go hit on her.” Sure, guys will talk to you, but if you’re really not giving much thought into your appearance at all not as many guys will and you wouldn’t spark a conversation with a guy because of an initial attraction. If you dress really slutty majority of the time you probably aren’t going to attract the greatest of guys. But I like to think that the way I dress attracts guys with normal values. I don’t think the way that I dress attracts huge scumbags or anything. It’s kind of frustrating tho that the same doesn’t go for how guys dress. Guys can literally wear what ever they feel comfortable in that night and it doesn’t mean they attract any type of girl. If a girl wants to get attention from a guy on the weekend they wear heels, dresses, skirts, etc. All a guy has to do is throw on a pair of jeans and shower. A lot of girls really like to get dressed up, but it’s almost like we’ve been conditioned to like that because we know if we wear heels and get dressed up that we will attract more guys than if we didn’t. After this whole lecture I don’t know if I should continue dressing how I am or if I should dress more conservatively? I don’t want to shield off guys because I’m intentionally dressing conservation all to prove a point. A lot of people in college aren’t really living by their values anyway, I think once we get into the real world it will be more of a test.

I never thought that being gay was a choice, I don’t know why but that option never crossed my mind. My cousin is gay and my best friend since I was 14 is also gay. I’ve never discussed it with my cousin because he hasn’t said anything to our family about it yet but I’ve discussed it with my best friend several times. He says that it definitely was not a decision and that, much like the boy in our class, he used to wish that he wasn’t gay. Now, he’s happy with himself and doesn’t wish that he wasn’t because that is just who he is and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m not straight because I chose to be straight that’s just how I am I’m attracted to the opposite sex. Both my best friend and I attended a catholic school, I only did for high school and he did his entire life. So, a lot of my friends have a different view on homosexuality, mainly my guy friends. Majority of my guy friends think that being gay is 100% a choice, they don’t understand it and they don’t try to. In a way they’re homophobic, some more than others. To be honest my ex-boyfriend had a few bad experiences with gay kids and that’s what pushes him away from it, but he’s not mean to anyone solely because they’re gay. One time my best friend and I were in the city and two gay men walked passed us holding hands, and my friend was like stunned at what he saw, granted he was drunk, but still its New York City, nothing should surprised you there and not even that two men holding hands is not a big deal. Sometimes I try and talk to them about it and tell them that it’s definitely not a choice and that they’re being a little ridiculous but we end up just agreeing to disagree. I think that if you’re the type of person, specifically a guy, that is closed off to homosexuality and have a skewed view of it the only thing that will change your mind is if someone in your family or close group of friends admits they’re gay. Because until it affects someone you really care about you’re not going to look at it from his or her point of view or get to hear from him or her what it is like. I think this is what happened to my Dad, my dad’s attitude and views are very similar to that of my friends because they were all raised pretty much the same and have the same cultural background and values. My dad found out when he was younger that his uncle was gay after he had passed away. And I think my dad knew that my cousin was gay from when he was younger. Since there are people that are or were in my dad’s close family that were gay I believe he is more accepting of it. I think that people that believe being homosexual is a choice find comfort in that fact. It makes them feel better saying it is a choice because they believe that if it is a choice that the people they surround themselves with and people in their family would never choose that for their life. Being gay leads to a very tough life with a lot of criticism and I don’t think that anyone would intentionally choose that life for themselves.

Before I begin I just wanted to say that I am pro-life. I am mainly pro-life due to my religious background and the fact that I attended a Catholic High school. While in this high school I learned the developmental steps of a baby growing and when the fetus begins to feel pain, have a heartbeat, move, etc. So if I were to become pregnant at a time in my life that I felt as though I could not handle the responsibility I personally would not get an abortion because of these facts that I know. That being said, rape would be one of the only exceptions for me, personally. Though I am lucky enough to have never experienced it, rape is one of the most traumatic experiences for a person to go through. If the girl were to end up pregnant I would 100% support her decision to get an abortion, I would just hope and plead that it would be before a certain week so that it isn’t hurting the baby or the baby is not aware of what is happening. I think that getting an abortion as soon as you realize that you are pregnant with the rapist’s child would be the best decision emotionally. An even better option would to be to get Plan B as soon as you can before the 72-hour grace period is up. Regardless that I am pro-life I think it would be tougher on the mother and the potential child to deal with such heartache. I don’t know if I would be able to keep a child that was the result of a rape, I feel as though it would just be a constant reminder. What’s even worse than the mother dealing with the pain would be the child knowing that they were a result of a horrible experience for their mother. If the mother does decide to keep it because she does not believe in abortion seeking out an adoptive family might even be a better option, a family that does not only see them as a result of a rape. I think that IF there were to be a law against abortion, there should definitely be a leniency when it comes to women that are raped. There is no way you can force a woman to have a child that is the result of rape because everyone handles experiences differently. One woman may be able to deal with that fact in a mature way and put it behind her and raise the child with love. While another woman may not be able to do that at all and is very negative and terrible towards the child, whom does not deserve that because they did not choose to be on this Earth as a result of rape. Although I don’t believe I would ever chose abortion for myself unless I was raped I don’t think that the government should ever have control of that decision for any woman. We should not push our beliefs onto people. Mainly people that are against abortion are so because of their religious affiliation and as Americans we all have different religious beliefs and attitudes towards things, which makes us different. Implementing a law that forces every woman to abide by the beliefs of one group of individuals I un-American.

I honestly don’t think that I find him unapproachable. I grew up in a very diverse area and attended school with almost every type of race and skin color. I decide if someone is unapproachable more by the way they hold themselves. He doesn’t look like a bad person or mean or anything like that by the way he presents himself at all. He seems like a chill down to earth guy. I get that impression mainly from the way he dresses and his body language. If he was walking around looking angry or very intimidating I would most likely find him unapproachable, but not because of the color of his skin. What you wear and how you wear it is huge with first impressions. A good example of this, that I don’t think was ever really discussed, was the video with the stolen bikes. In the video where they compared a white kid and a black kid “stealing” a bike they said that they were dressed the same. I personally did not see it that way at all. The black kid’s clothes were really baggy and his hat was angled differently and he was also wearing an earring. Not that his clothing makes him a bad person but mostly baggy clothing is not perceived well. The white kid had tighter clothes on, if he was wearing baggy clothes and all that it may have made a difference. This is mainly because in rap videos and things of that nature where the person labels themself as a “bad ass” they tend to be wearing baggy jeans, etc. This is not only targeted towards black people either, Eminem is a great example of this. With all of this being said I think that his style really comes into play as why I wouldn’t find him unapproachable. Sam mentioned in class about his hair, and I think it makes him look more laid back than anything. He also always wears the headphones around his neck, which makes him seem pretty cool. When deciding whether someone is approachable or not the atmosphere is also a huge factor. If I were to see him at a party, I’d find him approachable. But if I were to see him somewhere pretty sketchy or seeming like he was doing something odd… then I would not find him approachable. There are just so many factors that people do not even realize when they are deciding to approach someone or not. It all just processes in your head pretty quickly. I don’t look at people and think in my head “Hm, is this person approachable?” The judgement just happens. It’s not a good or a bad thing I think that’s just how life is and people do not intentionally do it.

Just like many people our age my biggest personal decision was to transfer to Penn State last year. I think that it was evenly both determinism and free will. When I was in high school I didn’t make much an effort at my schoolwork and ended up not getting good enough grades to go to a college that I wanted to. Instead I ended up going to a community college for two years. Going to community college was not free will, I made the option of not doing my school work and ended up there because of my own decisions. I hated being there because all of my friends went away to school. At first I didn’t realize that I ended up there because of my own faults. My first semester I did not do well at all because I did not want to go to class or make any effort at all. After my Dad saw my first semester grades he told me that I had to get at least a 3.0 the next semester or he would stop paying for school, that was the somewhat invisible force that shaped my path to Penn State. From that point on I did really well in school and was on Dean’s List almost every semester and worked really hard to get into a school that I wanted to go to. When it was time to apply to schools I actually did not have Penn State down as an option, my Dad was the one who told me to apply; I really wanted to go to the University of Maryland. I ended up getting into every single school I applied to, including Penn State. I went to visit Maryland and loved the school, the next week I went to visit Penn State even though I did not want to. I ended up loving the campus and the positive energy. I was torn between UMD and PSU. So, I called an advisor from both schools about my future plans and when I would be able to graduate. Penn State had an overall much better plan for me, my advisor told me that I would definitely graduate in two years. The advisor at UMD told me that I could graduate in at least three years. When I sat down and compared the two Penn State was the obvious choice. I was already set with a roommate and everything for Maryland and had my heart set on it for nearly a year. I really did not want anything to do with PSU and wouldn’t have applied if my dad didn’t tell me to. I feel as though it was my determinism that allowed me to get into Penn State but it was outside force that I ended up here.

A lot of the comments on the New York Daily News article are positive and supportive of Belpreet Kaur and how she stands by her faith and does not mind explaining to people why she has facial hair. Although I’ve seen a good amount of comments with people saying things based around the fact that this is America and that she, and other people that do not do things of America’s social norm, should change the way they are to make others happy. I saw a comment that said, “Maybe she’s in the wrong country”. I thought that comment was absolutely absurd and makes Americans look ignorant. America is supposed to be a melting pot; there are so many different religions and races here because it’s more of an immigrant country. The only people that are not immigrants to this country are Native Americans, so this person saying that she should change her ways or go to another country is so ridiculous. The accepted social norm is not the only way of the world, and if everyone were the same life would be incredibly boring. It’s cool to learn from Belpreet’s religion, even if it is something I personally would not do, it is interesting to hear her reasoning and makes me think twice before I judge someone for being different than me. I think it’s great that people are supporting her tho and giving their own things that they do that are not considered the social norm and how her story inspires them. One comment arguing her beliefs sort of made a valid point as bad as I feel about saying this. The person leaving the comment said that clipping your nails and cutting your hair or shaving your hair are generally the same thing. They continued to say that if she clips her nails she should be able to shave her face because it is doing the same general thing. And the commenter continues to say that if Belpreet says her body is sacred but then says she doesn’t care about it because her personality is what matters. The last point I think the person commenting is missing Belpreets point. Her point is that she does not care about what other people think about her beautiful her body is or how unattractive it is, the beauty is not what matters its how good of a person that she is. She believes her body is how God made it and she does not want to change that. But then someone else mentions that she is wearing glasses which is supplementing God’s work, which I guess is the same thought as clipping her nails. She needs to clip her nails and wear glasses to get through every day life, you do not need to shave your face in order to do that.