Growing up in different countries, cultures and types of people has made me really comfortable when it comes to race. I lived in South America for eleven years and when you party there you typically party with family members and friends, so dancing and socializing are very natural and usual things to do. When I moved to the US and started partying here, the first thing I noticed is the difference in music. The transition from salsa, bachata, merengue dancing to American dances (I honestly don’t even know what American dances are, grinding? Fist pumping?) was very difficult. When you go to a white party here in state college, all you see is people grinding and fist pumping, worst thing is that they usually don’t even do it right! Guys just creep behind the girl and move from side to side with no rhythm what so ever; it’s kind of pathetic to be honest. So pretty much the thing I look at the most before I go somewhere is the kind of music they’ll be playing. What I like the most about a Hispanic party is definitely the music because it’s just more fun and it is way more acceptable to ask a girl to dance Hispanic music then to ask to get behind her and move in creepy ways. I guess what matter the most is not really who is at the party but who is hosting it because they choose what music to play. The people at the party don’t really matter as much for me because I can be social with any race and it’s a lot of fun and a great way to pick up girls when you teach them to dance Hispanic music. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many Hispanic parties in State College even when you know a lot of Hispanics like in my case so I also often go to frats. Frat parties are obviously predominantly white and the music is much different. The environment and the music make it a lot harder for a guy to ask a girl out to dance so it becomes a slower process where you have to talk to her first and get her a beer maybe and play beer pong with her or something so socializing is a lot slower at frats. On the flip side however, usually when you go to frats you go with girls in order to get in so unless they’re like close friends it’s not awkward if you just dance with whoever you went to the party with.

I feel like sexism is still a big part of our society, you would think that after all this years there would be greater equality amongst sexes but that is simply not the case. Like Sam and his wife said, we are living in a male centered world; all we know about sex is seen from a male point of view. Boys grow up learning of sex as a rather aggressive act thanks to porn movies and other male-centered influences. It’s never really meaningful or passionate, just booming with lust and testosterone. I am currently much more likely to hear a guy say “Yo, I fucked that ho last night” than I am to hear him say “We passionately made love in the most romantic way possible” Sex has come to be described as meaningless and nonchalant. The saddest part about this is that most females have just come to accept the situation and learnt to deal with it. They have accepted the selfishness in a male-centered and focused on satisfying their male partners rather than being exigent and demanding mutual satisfaction. Today in class Sam showed us that about 70% of men experience an orgasm during sexual relations while women only experience orgasms about 35% of the time. Therefore, according to the statistics, the men are more predominantly satisfied and sex is more geared towards the men rather than the women. Furthermore, after sex, the men are obviously satisfied because of their ejaculation and in return, girls may fake their orgasms or feelings just to make the guy happy. Society has condition women to feel like their job is to please men and will fake an orgasm because they don’t want to hurt the guy’s feelings. As much as guys say that they wish girls were more open with them, guys would most likely be disappointed in their performance and feel emasculated. When it comes to the guy, if he sees the girl having an orgasm or at least pretends to, we would probably feel pleased with ourselves and don’t bother asking. Also if it is a one night kind of thing, guys won’t be too worried about satisfying this random girl because they don’t really care about their opinion and might not see them again after. However, when you have someone (not necessarily in a relationship) that you feel comfortable with, you really do have better communication with that person and probably care enough to make sure that she is happy and satisfied; after a while a guy could probably tell if she really is satisfied or not just because he knows her.

Well first of all, men are typically scared to approach women whenever they are not sober. I do not think it is solely a matter of race but rather one’s confidence that is required to approach any girl when sober. Guys don’t approach girls when they are sober just in general. Guys can deny it all they want if they want to but that is just how it is with most guys in this collegiate environment. Especially when girls walk around in groups. Now¬ if a white guy actually grew some and talked to a girl being sober, it would probably be a white girl simply because people feel most comfortable with their own race. Most people don’t accept this but it can clearly be seen just by looking at groups of people around campus. People tend to socialize with others people of the same culture. And especially for white guys who grew up in a place that is not too diverse, they’re going to have more trouble relating with a girl from a different race. This does not necessarily imply any type of racism because I think we can all agree there are beautiful girls in every race. I’m sure many white guys find many minority girls attractive so when there is alcohol involved we care much less about what other people think and other people do the same too so it makes it easier for guys to hit on girls and ask them to dance or whatever. Plus if you are trying to actually dance at a party, I think minority girls are clearly the better choice. It’s extremely unfortunate that alcohol would need to present in order for young people to talk to one another but it is common practice. Contrary to how the university publicizes this school to be and so interracial dating is not as common as it is in other places. I feel like all the groups in Penn State for specific races might be a good idea for people to get involved and share interests, but I feel like it’s a way of dividing races. It could also be that many white guys are attracted to white girls. I can’t really judge someone’s preferences. Every person has their own different taste and many white guys just happen to prefer white girls over minority girls. This is the same for every one and every race, we all have different tastes and are going to approach whoever we find attractive.

I think that the United States government prefers to help poor countries rather than Native Americans who are also and potentially even more in need, simply because it would ruin the country’s image as a powerful, caring nation. We have all seen the emotional commercials full with shocking images and tragic background music about people in underdeveloped nations living in immense poverty. Many of these places are helplessly poor due to many reasons like corruption, weak central governments, civil wars, unending political conflicts, etc. None of these caused by Americans. So when Americans go and help these people in need, they are suddenly seen as saviors. In the other hand, poverty amongst Native Americans WAS caused by invasions of Americans in their land. With the government in control of the media in this country, they are going to make sure not to show any sign of poverty in Native American tribes because then people would eventually become aware of the reasons behind their poverty. I also like to think of the Native Americans as a very independent and proud culture who would not just receive financial aid. Instead, we could help them by consuming their goods and services.
When providing foreign aid, there are also a lot of more advantages than when helping Native Americans. Some examples include military aid, increased trades, and more efficient international business relations. When it comes to domestic allocations, however, undoubtedly there are a lot of things that we can reform. Some of those examples include infrastructure, education, healthcare, and, of course, Federal aid and subsidies. By putting more money into these programs, we can see a positive outcome that is beneficial for our country. It all comes down to what is more important to the government at the time. Being the wealthiest, most powerful nation, the government often prioritizes international relations in order to become allied and in every country’s good side rather than focusing on local issues. Most people fail to realize that these international bonds are needed for the United States to stay on top. Although helping a group of people in our country is very efficient and productive, the government has to do what is necessary to stay ahead of the competition. However, I still think that Native Americans living in the same place as us should not be neglected because they would affect our economy in a positive way. And when billions of dollars are given out on aid to needy countries, why not take some of that money and help people in our country…

In regards to affirmative action, since everyone seems to think it’s so bad and negative, I would like to point out some of the positive aspects of it. First of all, affirmative action was designed to give minorities an advantage in certain situations like jobs, scholarships, etc. This might not be commonly seen, but everyone could potentially be a minority. My school, Reading High School, consisted mainly of Hispanic people and white people were definitely a minority. Our soccer team was full of Hispanics and two white guys, these two white guys were very capable and competitive but I’m sure that their ethnicity gave them a little advantage for making it into the team. Affirmative action is also a thing in other places outside the United States, in Colombia for example, people who come from the United States usually get special treatment because many people idolize Americans. My point with this is that affirmative action is not necessarily a racial thing and could affect everyone. When Sam asked how many of us had gotten some sort of affirmative action thanks to family members, a great number of us raised our hands. Although, this might seem unfair to people who didn’t get the job, it is important to point out some of the advantages when hiring someone in your family. My roommate’s family for example, owns a Colombian restaurant in Lancaster, PA. Working in your family’s business will make you more conscious of your workplace, it will make you more productive since it is your family who you are working for, and you want to make them as much money as possible. Also, it is easier for employers to control their workers schedule if that worker is in their family; they will be comfortable with them as well and would make them aware of any problems better than if the worker was not part of the family. In my roommate’s example, his parents were more aware of his schedule than they would be if he wasn’t part of the family, they would also underpay him and he would not complain simply because he was working for his family and the money they made would indirectly go to him anyway. This same example brings me to my next point. It is no secret that people feel more comfortable with people of their own race, and in a Hispanic restaurant, an employer is going to be more likely to hire a Hispanic person just because they would be more familiar with the environment and feel more content which would lead to greater productivity. Affirmative action might seem unfair and immoral to most, but it is important to notice the positive aspects of it as well.

I don’t really agree with the statement that women are not free because they don’t openly discuss their period. It’s more about them not feeling comfortable about the topic and honestly, who can blame them? I was raised with my sister who is only a year older than me and since we had a pretty close relationship, I am quite familiar with the subject and don’t see it as a bad thing; however, many guys out there didn’t have the same experiences growing up and are very ignorant about the matter. Humans are naturally judgmental towards things they’re unfamiliar with, so many of these guys are very critical. They see menstruation as a negative thing rather than as a natural, inevitable process. And of course the term “bleeding” that Sam used didn’t help much. I don’t think anyone is really comfortable with the word bleeding, therefore we don’t really see it in a positive way, thus making it a bad word to use when referring to menstruating.

First of all, I really admire the brave girls who actually raised their hands because that is a very significant step in order to stop the ignorance in this society. I believe that in order for our society to truly have equality, we must become familiar with menstruation, especially for guys. I definitely agree with the girl that said that a lot of the unfamiliarity with menstruation comes from the media, like the example she gave about pads commercials using blue liquids. If anything, media should be using its power to reduce the awkwardness towards the subject. I also agree with the girl that said that one the main reasons why girls wouldn’t raise their hands was because they felt comfortable around guys. Being a male college student, it is easy to notice the social awkwardness between genders. Personally, I think that there is still a lot of sexism present in our society. You can clearly see the discrimination towards women when they get judged for ‘hooking up’ with multiple guys while a guy would probably embrace it and even be proud of it. We will never overcome this type of social awkwardness if there’s still sexism and inequality around. Even with all the discrimination in society, I still stick to my argument that women are free to make decisions. They were free to raise their hands when Sam asked the question and they were free to refuse. However, I believe that society has to become more comfortable with topics like these that are taboos.

The lecture about death and the ‘afterlife’ did not really shake my faith in any significant way because I usually like to be skeptic about topics like these. I see religious beliefs as irrational and have been against religion for a while now. Most people I know are Christian and believe in an afterlife and describe their spirits going to a wonderful place in ‘heaven’ which is supposed to be in the sky somewhere, being interviewed by ‘God’ or whoever before going through the gates to this so called heaven where they will live happily ever after with their deceased relatives. However, the must behave well during the time they’re alive in order to have access to this magical place. Otherwise, they would go to a terrifying place called hell full of fire where they are sent to live an eternity full of pain and suffering. This to me just seems like a fairy tale and a way to control people’s conduct; however, I am no one to judge their faith and beliefs just because I am against them. Personally, I have no idea what to believe of what is after life; but I prefer not knowing than believing in fairy tales and irrational beliefs. I was very pleased with the facts that Sam showed us because I greatly admire people who take the time to investigate and experiment things like these rather than judging or simply following other’s beliefs. However, the facts presented were very dull and not very convincing so I decided to take the skeptical side which is probably the goal Sam had. For the most part, we were told that only ten to fifteen percent of the people interviewed actually witnessed something. I don’t think it was coincidence that the participants’ witnessed similar moments after dying since hundreds of people participated in this experiment. However, nothing is known about these people. Were the ten to fifteen percent all from the same religion? Were they bad or good during their lives? What were their beliefs before they died? The lecture might have left a lot of us with even more questions than before, but that is what life is about and I am sure that is what the Sam was trying to make us realize. This was a very important lecture not so much because it changed my faith in any way but rather because it motivated me and many others to research and find out things for ourselves rather than following what others say. Perhaps topics like these are not very clear now but there should definitely be more effort towards research in this area.

Overpopulation has been an issue since the beginning of time. Our global population is at almost seven billion and there are 218,000 more mouths to feed each day. Some of the problems that result from overpopulation are the exhaustion of resources, the acceleration of environmental pollution, and global warming. However the question here is what would the impact of overpopulation be in certain regions of the world? Underdeveloped regions of the world with high birth rates like China, Africa, and India might be the main contributors to the total population. However, they are not responsible for consuming or wasting more energy than developed countries that usually have a much lower population density. The United States, for instance, accounts for only five percent of the total world population; yet it consumes and wastes more than any other country. This makes overpopulation in the U.S. a more severe issue than it would be in any other country due to its unregulated population growth. This causes threats to the sustaining capacity of the earth and aggravates global warming.
The issue with overpopulation in the US arrives with the differences in consumption and waste. Americans have a relatively high life expectancy, and live in a country responsible for some of the highest per-capita emissions in the world. The US consumes 24 percent of total world’s energy and 25 percent of the world’s total fossil fuels. The US is also responsible for producing 72 percent of the world’s total hazardous waste. On average, one American consumes as much energy as thirteen Chinese, thirty one Indians, and 370 Ethiopians. What makes the US the main culprit for harm to the planet due to overpopulation is the amount of pollution compared to other countries. Average American is responsible for 20.18 tons of carbon dioxide per year; alarming number when compared to other populous countries. China, for instance, has four times the population of the US but emits less than a fifth (3.62 tons of carbon dioxide per person per year). Also, India with a population close to four times the US’s only emits 1.05 tons of carbon dioxide per person per year. These differences in pollutant emissions make the US more responsible for the effects of overpopulation than the originally accused undeveloped nations.
When appointing the issue of overpopulation it is simply unfair to blame the underdeveloped regions of the world for the harms to the world climate. Instead, the focus should be on more developed nations like the United States that account for more consumption and waste than other more populous countries.
I got the facts from an essay I wrote myself for my English 15 class last semester.

I believe the biggest issue related to homosexuality and coming out of the closet is lack of confidence. Confidence is the key to everything you do in life and if you are confident about your sexuality, it will get better. Society often portrays gay males as weak and insecure and would expect them to act cowardly when faced with confrontation. If they were to act more brave and mature in order to change society’s opinions on them, they wouldn’t suffer so much criticism. For example, the big black guy that spoke out to the class said there were some gay guys in their acapella group who were very uncomfortable with the homosexuality topic and pointed at the guy that was very thin and had a really soft voice, who in my opinion was the ‘most gay’ out of the group. He also said there were other guys in his group who were very comfortable and raised his hand; his confidence was more than clear as he spoke loudly and seemed very open about everything. Another example is the guy who told the black student that he was hot, he later said that the gay lifestyle was quite ‘fabulous’. I then thought of the first guy who was uncomfortable with the topic saying how he had a very miserable life because the fear of coming out. It became clear to me that the more confident you are about your sexuality, the better your life will be because you are able to deal with your problems in a better way. My opinion was shared with my roommate who was seating next to me. We both said to each other how obvious it was that the first guy was homosexual because of the way he acted and talked which clearly signed lack of confidence.
Perhaps confidence is very important in dealing with homosexuality, but like Sam said, coming out is very a difficult and stressful process so how can you be confident when it seems like the whole world is against you? You must remember that the world is not going to change for you and homophobes will remain homophobes. There will always be people opposing homosexuality for whatever reasons but you must stay strong and deal with it. Life is unfair. When people start to understand that concept, confidence will come in naturally. The earlier you start to understand more about yourself and what your sexual inclinations are, the better off you are. The impression people get from you will improve and judgments won’t be as bad.

I believe that the more important aspects of race are appearance and personality. Most people including myself judge a person’s race according to their skin color. If their skin is dark, they’re just black. If they have light skin, they’re just white; and everyone else in between is considered brown. However, this judgment can be very misleading, especially for ‘brown’ people. I am Hispanic, born and raised in Colombia but I have light skin, sometimes in the summer I am even lighter than some white people, yet I would never consider my race to be white. Colombia, and most of Latin America, is very diverse in skin, eye and hair color. Some people in Colombia are darker than coal, and others are white as snow. My great-grandfather and my grandfather both had green eyes and my family is mainly white. When I was little my hair and eyes were a lot lighter and I looked like a white baby. There are many Hispanic and other ‘brown’ people in the same situation so I believe that appearance is an important part of race but it can be misleading and often plain incorrect. When I ask people to guess my race I’ve heard everything from Puerto Rican to Italian to Romanian…
Personality is also a very important part of race because society has linked certain actions and behaviors to particular races. Everyone who gets to know me soon finds out my personality and would never consider me white, despite the color of my skin. I like to say I act very Hispanic, I like to listen and dance to Hispanic music, I like to cook Hispanic food and I even still have an accent. If a person hangs out with a lot of people in a certain race, their personalities are probably going to change. For example my roommate is Colombian as well but he has lived in a white neighborhood his whole life and is considered ‘whitewashed’. The music he listens to is different and in general the way he acts and interacts with other people is much different. However, he is much darker than I am and most people know he is Hispanic. Most people wouldn’t be aware of our different upbringings, customs, and habits unless they talked to us. Both aspects of race are equally important. Just because one person looks a particular way does not necessarily mean that they will behave in a certain manner. And the way that a person acts may be based on race (in terms of customs, upbringing, etc.) may be true, but sometimes the personality of a person depends solely on the people they were raised around and the behavior they’ve observed throughout their lives.