I found this letter extremely interesting. Even though assuming someone in jail would ever commit suicide is such a simple and obvious thing, I have never thought about it before now. I’m sure being stuck in jail would definitely make someone constantly think about killing themselves. If they are set to be in jail for the rest of their lives, they have nothing really to look forward to. They must live there everyday, sleeping, eating, and doing other little odd chores. I would go insane just from the boredum and being alone would just make me extremely depressed. The writer talked about what makes him go on. Is it hope, is it cowardice?
The idea that they need to come up with one single purpose even if it is small, it is what keeps him living everyday, one step at a time. I’m sure with nothing else to do, people always find something new to love, a new hobby, or a newly found belief. In some crazy way this almost seems like a carefree simple life. They don’t have to worry about anything except living, as long as they get over the fact that they might be in jail forever. It is so true that it is not the prisons job to give inmates things to do or goals in life. They committed the crime and they must face the consequences even if that means wasting life away in a room.
The suicide aspect of this letter reminds me of my own thoughts. I always wonder how anyone could ever come to kill themselves. To be honest I have had a pretty nice life, nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened to me. Maybe this is why I find suicide so ridiculous and selfish. As of now, I could never bring myself to committing suicide, but how can I say that if something horribly life changing happened that I wouldn’t. This article truly made me realize this because I have never been put in jail with the knowledge that this is all I have to live for. Without hope I can’t even imagine facing the life everyone in prison lives.

Reading this article brought up many different opinions. This man has transformed himself and lived his life as a male, but that was his choice and sometimes you must face repercutions. He has been accepted in all other forms of life and his birth certificate says he is male, yet I still feel that there are things that cannot be changed. If he had been fired just because he was being discriminated against for being transgendered I would think that was outrageous and completely unfair. Everyone should be given an equal chance, unless there is something else affecting this. Although, the job he had been hired for was strictly for males, so where do we draw the line? I wouldn’t even really consider this discrimination because the employer was just following the rules. Whose to say that Mr. Deverau couldn’t work there doing another job.
Another thing that made me wonder was when the article said he had an 18 year old son. When El’Jai still had women hormones and parts, did “she” birth a child? Or is the child adopted? If he had the child then technically this could constitute to him being female. Regardless I can understand how facing something like this could be painful because of not only the job loss, but the embarrassment. These are the flaws of our American society. How can be become more accepting and free if things like this are going to happen. At the same time there must be some rules and restrictions so things stay in line. Transgendered people must know things like this will occur in their lives before they go through a change. It is just unfortunate that they have to.
It made me wonder what it would be like to have to face these problems. I can’t even imagine because I have never had to go through something like that. To live with the fear that I might be fired just because of the way I think I should live my life. I can definitely feel empathetic for these people who must face this, hopefully some day things will change.

As I began to read this letter the first thing that came to my mind was, “wow this is really unrealistic I don’t know any guys like this but if you can find one let me know where he is”. At the end I then realized that the man who wrote it was saying these are the things he THINKS women wish men were. For most parts I would completely agree with him, but it is also ironic because most of these qualities most guys do not possess. It is even more ironic to me that he had to be placed in prison to realize all of these things. Now that he is in there for life will he ever even be able to come out and treat a woman he loves the way she has always dreamed of being treated? “Prince Charming” is obviously fake and unrealistic, no person could ever be perfect nor would I expect them to be, but reading that made me wish that some males had more of those characteristics. The man described in the letter is someone coming out of a fictional movie or television show. The men that women dream about and wish they could have.

When it said that he always had thought women only wanted sex and money, that was very very shocking to me. I thought it was obvious that most women want much more then that. It is obvious that everyone would rather have great sex and large amounts of money, but to me, that is definitely not the most important things in life or in a relationship. Sure they play a part, yet never make a final decision. I have never heard a man say that before and I didn’t think that is what they thought either. I wish that this man could educate every male in the world! I also wish that there was a female version of him who could tell me exactly what men want too. This makes me think that we must live our lives and experience things in order to actually learn how people want to be treated. Basically, we must learn from our mistakes.

Personally, I think that the world needs inequality sometimes. Many think that those who are wealthy have earned their wealth, but sometimes this isn’t the case. I respect those who have earned it for themselves and also donate to causes that benefit from this money. It is also unfortunate when there are people who do not have a lot of money, but try really hard to get a proper education and make something of themselves, yet they can’t because of the money issue holding them back. The poor give our economy and society a balance. It is unfortunate that some of those people are stuck in the end of the spectrum their whole lives though. It is true that some work harder then others, but that is how society works. There are lazy people in the world and others who are the complete opposite. I agree that people who are born into money or cheat the system ruin the way the world works. If these people didn’t exist or they weren’t able to cheat the system, I wonder how things would be? It’s funny how people hold leadership positions and are considered in charge, yet they aren’t really. It’s frustrating to us, the regular people because we work for and elect these leaders, but they aren’t really the ones in charge because they are being manipulated by others who we may not agree with.
Reading some of the other blog posts, the ones that stood out to me were the ones that told the exact truth. Yes, wealth is unequal, the world is unequal, this is life. Life is unfair and nothing is ever going to be equal that’s just how it is and how it will always be. The fact that the wealthy are able to manipulate the powerful is ironic. Yeah we all think its absurd and unfair, but if we were in that position wouldn’t we do the same thing. If we had the power because of money to make the things we wanted to happen happen then wouldn’t we? I consider myself a fair person who would never do this, but if I had money who knows what I would do.

The topic of managing crowds instantly reminded me of on of the articles we read in our Intersections book. It talked about how in dyer situations, people usually act calmly and responsibly. This is ironic because most of the conception is that people with act crazily and irrationally to help themselves from danger. Unfortunately, in the case of natural disasters or nuclear explosions, where there are evacuation plans, the public can not really control what is going on because they must follow the plan assigned. This is scary because like it says in the article, they recently found out that two plans from two separate areas had their residents all driving across one tiny bridge in two different directions. This would obviously cause some problems for the people and the evacuation plan.
Thinking about rely on others that you don’t know when a entire crowd of people is brought together to help each other really does frighten me. Not only is it hard to rely on strangers, but I always assume that people will act in only their own best interest. The article posted mainly talks about the issue in Japan with the earthquake and tsunami, which caused a nuclear disaster. I live only about fifteen minutes away from a nuclear power plant in Limerick, PA. Obviously we do not have many natural disasters but anything could happen and cause a problem to arise. I never thought about evacuation processes and how I would have to react if I was in the same situation. It is also crazy to think about how in Japan most people were injured or died trying to escape, then were killed by the disasters themselves. It makes you wonder if they had had a better plan of action would the end result have turned out differently? Could they have prevented the nuclear problem? I can’t decide if the invisible strings we have attached to us would help or harm working with others. In some ways I think it would encourage us because we are expected to do so and we could gain more from it, on the other hand many people rush to help only themselves if they are thinking of how they could die.

The first thing that came to my mind when reading this article was shock. I was shocked to find out that not only do only four other countries besides the United States put juviniles away in jail for life, but that Pennsylvania was the leading state in total of juviniles. The thing is, where do we draw the line? Yes I think that it is crazy and usually wrong to put people who can’t even mad decisions for themselves in jail, but what do we do if they have killed someone. If we don’t put them away now whose to say that they won’t commit worse crimes in the future. There are many studies that show certain parts of the brain are the last to developed and could definitely alter the decision making process. Although, when I think back to myself even at age 10 I know I could never bring myself to commit a crime especially murder of any form. It blows my mind that these so called children could ever do so. This shows that the way that children are brought up and where they live can have an impact of their actions. Another fact that really stood out to me was the point that these children can’t drink, vote, gamble, or even drive in some cases, and yet they are being sentenced for life. We make law to protect these same people because they are not as developed and do not have the same mental compacity , it’s very ironic. Even reading the letter, written by a lifer who was sentenced as a child, helped me believe that these people should be given a second chance. He or she seems to have gotten hold of their life and regret what they did so long ago. The fact that we are using so much money to feed and house these inmates makes me think that the United States should really reconsider a lot of these sentences and how they deal with it from now on. We could be saving so much more money to be spent on things we really need.

From everything I’ve ever seen or heard, I would say winning the lottery can be a real problem. People who aren’t used to having money do not know how to handle it or manage it. They go out and buy large houses and fancy cars, after a year all their winnings have been spent. It really made sense to me when I think about how every part of society has its own rules and regulations, and if you are not used to it you don’t follow these imaginary rules. Without following the rules you are likely to fail. The differences between the poor and extremely wealthy are like living in two different worlds, the people don’t know how to act when they are switched worlds. The majority of people who play and win the lottery are people who are considered poor, and when they win their world is changed completely.
The story in the article is really depressing. The woman tried her best to deal with the money and save it for regular use, but her family couldn’t handle it and got in the way. The fact that these people were so money crazy they were going to threaten her blows my mind. The statistic they found that money can make people happier, but only to a certain point where they feel comfortable. If someone has so much money they don’t know what to do with it will stress them out and make their lives almost worse. It also shocked that when you are the wealthier friend, your friends always come to you for help or money assistance and it strains your relationship even if it’s subconscious. Once you have gained something so much you become very fearful you will lose it. Opposed to before when you were content with what you had but it wasn’t overwhelming or anything that seemed special to you unlike winning the lottery. I really liked the last quote of the article where it says “happy isn’t the right word to describe it”. Winning a lot of money is definitely a relief and something exciting, but it doesn’t make people happier. Just like the saying money can’t buy you happiness.

I found it really interesting that this “lifer” came to the realization that the reasoning behind what he had done had a much deeper meaning then what was just on the surface. Hearing that he had a steady family life, with a father who was always there for him and who loved him dearly, really shocked me because it makes me wonder why he was driven to make such bad decisions. Usually actions that put someone in jail for life are caused my poor family lives. He speaks about being surrounded by good, strong people who were leading him on a positive life path. What could have gone wrong?
He speaks about growing up in the ghetto of Philadelphia driving him to violence. This makes sense but it’s weird to me for him to have gotten into such bad things with a great family at home. It is also really ironic and strange to think that with just one different choice, could have prevented this all. If the invisible strings attached to him were just a little bit looser, who knows if this crime could have been stopped.
The letter makes it seem like the lifer had an addiction to sex. It kind of shocked me to hear something like this could lead to putting someone in jail for life. It is almost as if this led to more things in his life that took him down a bad path. This letter is a perfect example of personal troubles versus public issues. His personal trouble became a public issue because his decisions began to effect not just himself, but those in the public. Is it possible that because he was held back and sheltered all his life that he rebelled against that and got involved sexually? He may have been socialized causing a invisible string to form, leading him to do what he did. I found the last line very interesting when he says, “I realize that there are no do—overs but if there was one thing that I would change, it would be to keep myself pure until my wedding day.” It’s funny how ones actions can change a persons though process forever once they look back on it.

I found this video clip very interesting because I had never heard of such a thing before viewing it. To me, polyandry just seems like polygamy because the practices are similar, just differing in wives and husbands. Even so these practices are extremely odd to me because it is not how the western society we will in operates. If it was found that someone living in the United States had more than one husband or wife not only would it be shocking and taboo, but they would face legal action.
I wonder if having more than one spouse would be more wide spread and less of horrible thing to do if people weren’t controlled by the invisible strings attached to them. Like the video explains, it would be more practical to have more adults in a household. It would provide more income coming into the family and also there would be a lot more help around the house. This being said, I still feel that it is very strange and marriage should be only between two people. Isn’t marriage supposed to be based on the love you have for someone? How can you be in love with various people. It shows how polyandry mostly exsists for its practicality in cultures that except such a thing.
Polyandry occurs most often in Asia or the Middle East such a places like China. The point was made that in the past it was a rule that Chinese families could only have one child and men were the better option. This obviously led to a population willed with more males than females. This makes it hard for males to find wives, so it has led to a larger amount of people practicing polyandry. In my opinion this is not an ideal solution to the problem, but I guess men are desperate to find a partner. It makes me wonder if polyandry and polyhgamy will spread and grow or shrink and eventually die out. I also wonder if a phenomenon like this would start to grow in western cultures and even spread to America culture?

In the letter the person who committed the crime talks about the shame he brought upon his own family. Most often we only consider how the victim’s family and friends must deal with the pain of their loss. It really made me think about how the other side must also face pain and embarrassment. I was shocked to find out that the person who wrote the letter committed the crime of murder at only age fifteen. At this point in time a person is just growing from childhood to teenage years, not even close to being an adult. It shows how much change the world is going through. How did a person so young bring him or herself to kill another human being?

I really respect the victim’s family for being able to face the person who killed someone they loved. The fact that they could forgive them must make the victim’s relatives really strong people. It is also almost nice to hear that the criminal experience guilt and remorse for his/her actions. I think that this shocked me so much because the only time I have ever been exposed to someone who has committed a crime is the people I see on television shows. On these television shows the people who kill others always seem to never feel truly bad for what they have done. The person explains how they wanted to face the hurt and anger they caused, be fully responsible for their actions. I wonder if this makes the culprit a good person? Did they only commit a crime because they were too young to understand what actions they were making? Maybe its just because they have been in prison for thirty six years. It makes me wonder how long it took them to actually feel bad for what they had done, also how long it took for them to fully recover, fully forgive themselves. The title, “The other side of Life”, explains exactly what I took this letter to be. It exposed the points of view that the public does not get to see and never really think about.