When I walk into a party that is predominately a different race or ethnicity, I feel a bit uncomfortable. I’m used to being at parties that are mostly white and mostly girls for that matter. I grew up in a predominantly white area. I’m not necessarily uncomfortable in a room full of racial and ethnic minorities, but it’s not something I’m used to. This doesn’t only apply to race though. I grew up in a Catholic grade school. When I switched school districts in high school, I moved to an area that was about 40-50% Jewish. I was absolutely floored when I was the religious minority (or at least that’s how it felt). I had never been around people that weren’t like me.
Fast-forward to now, I’m open to meeting all different types of people, but again I don’t want to feel like the minority in a group or at a party. I don’t mean that just in the sense of race, I mean that in any sense. I just want to fit in! In class, Sam asked if the white people would be willing to go to an “all brown and black” party if invited. My initial response was no. It wasn’t no because I didn’t want to be the only white person. One of the biggest reasons was because he made it sound like we wouldn’t know anyone there. I’m graduating in 2 weeks and at this point, I’m not looking for new friends. I want to spend time with my old ones before we don’t live 5 minutes away from each other anymore. If you had asked me this my sophomore year, I probably would have been excited to go! At this point in my college career, the answer is no. I don’t need new friends.
Going back to the idea of the party, if I had went with friends, I’d feel a bit more at ease. Honestly though, I’d feel a bit uncomfortable walking in. I might feel a bit out of place, but I’m sure that wouldn’t make me leave right away. Generally, I like meeting new people and that can be the half of the fun of a party. As long as its party I’m welcome at and it isn’t closed off into different talking circles where I’m unwelcome, I guess it would be fun to meet new people.
Overall, I just like to party. This is also my last blog. I have to admit that I couldn’t be happier to be finished with these. They are annoying and I always run out of things to say after I hit 200 words. I never felt strongly about any of the questions and always feel I have to bullshit my post. I can’t wait to graduate. Peace soc 119.

Currently, I’m in a somewhat of a serious relationship. Ironically, my last “random hookup” (which in reality really wasn’t all that random) was with my current boyfriend. In the past though, I have hooked-up with other guys and had one night stands. Usually I’m fairly drunk when it happens, so I have the cards stacked against me when it comes to having an orgasm.
I remember my last hookup before Alex was in the summer and I was completely shit-faced. I had just gotten back from the beach and had been in the sun all day. On top of it I was drinking jungle juice (I realize how naive I sound as I write this) which had apparently been made with Everclear. When the host first told me this, I laughed him off. Who the fuck puts that in their jungle juice. Was I in a rape house? Anyway, ended up drunker than I had been in a long time. I realized this after the fact when I drove home at 5 AM and realized how drunk I was once I started driving. I was obliterated. Getting back to the point of my story which was my hookup. I ended up having sex with a guy I had just met in a bathroom, like a classless whore. I remember it being quite a long session probably because he was almost as drunk as I was. At that point, I don’t think I cared about my orgasm because I know I was too drunk for it to happen. (I’m a BioBehavioral Health major, so I understand the physiology of sex and knew that I was SOL that night). When we were done, neither of us talked after. I actually think we went our separate ways and I realized I needed to get the fuck out of there and go sit alone in my room and soak in my shameful state.
I think the reason I didn’t tell this guy that I wasn’t satisfied, aside from the fact that I could barely form words, was that I was uncomfortable. It’s an intimate subject and I think we both knew that we had shared an intimate moment with a total stranger. I still have trouble telling my boyfriend what I do and don’t like. It’s so much easier to jump into sex than to sit down and be mature and talk about it.
Overall, I feel like sex and hookups are so glorified. Freshman year, I felt that I had to hookup with a different guy every weekend. It took a huge toll on my self-esteem and I ended up cutting guys out from my life my sophomore year. That wasn’t healthy either and since the beginning of my junior year, I felt torn between two extremes. I either had to be abstaining from boys or only hooking up with them. Anyway, I don’t know how to end this and don’t want to depress myself so I’ll just stop because I’ve reached my 450 word limit.

Thank GOD this question came up. Usually I hate all the blog posts and have nothing of value to add to the conversation. A friend of mine who is gay actually happened to be in class with me during this lecture and he found it very interesting as well. We ended up having a conversation about this later on in the week. I’m very lucky to have a friend who is an open with his sexuality as he is and is knowledgeable about topics within the LGBTA community.
My friend, Ryan, has known he was gay from a VERY young age. There are pictures of him popping his hip out from elementary school and he says he remembers picking fights with boys so that he could tackle them. He’s a sneaky one, that Ryan. He was lucky enough to grow up in an area where people are not outwardly homophobic. Even still, Ryan wasn’t extremely open with his sexuality until he came to Penn State. Ryan’s high school had a nigh number of gays and lesbians, so he never felt out of place and felt that he could talk about his sexuality and always had support as he figured out his new “identity”, if you will. I have other friends who are also gay, but not as fortunate as Ryan was in that they didn’t have as much support or feel as comfortable and accepted as he did while “coming out”. I’ve seen first-hand how someone can be affected by being “in the closet” about such a big aspect of their identity, as well as heard many stories from Ryan over the past three years. It makes sense to me, that in an area where homosexuality is not widely accepted or openly talked about, men and women can become self-conscious and closeted about their sexuality. Because of this, many closeted gays and lesbians can repress their sexuality, in an effort to become more accepted. It makes sense that someone repressing their sexuality, especially when they’re “different” would turn to porn.
In the porn industry, there are so many fetishes, categories and genres, nothing is “weird”. This may be a reason so many closeted gays and lesbians put such high stakes in watching porn. In countries or cities where these people feel repressed, porn is their sanctuary and a place they can go to see “people like them”. Another reason gay porn searches are so high in certain countries is that it may be taboo. Whether people are simply curious to what gay porn has to offer or they’re incredibly turned on by the thought of doing something wrong (watching gay porn as opposed to straight porn), it makes gay porn more attractive.
Overall, I think it’s interesting that certain countries have a higher interest in gay porn, but not all that surprising when you think about it more in-depth.

Sam’s lecture on empathy was one that I saw prior to attending class. I had seen his TED talk last year and was very interested at the time. By now, I don’t think I have any empathy left simply because Sam is so irritating, overbearing, and belittling with his words. He talks to the class like we’re idiots most of the time.
I’m a BioBehavioral Health major, so I’ve covered the income and quality of life disparities between different ethnic and racial groups for the past four years. I am fairly familiar with the multitude of reasons that combine to affect these things. When Sam comes into class with these ideas, he isn’t really blowing my mind. I took this class expecting to be blown away, and I’m underwhelmed to put it gently. One of the reason’s I don’t enjoy coming to Sam’s class anymore is because of this. Add too it the fact that he promises that “this class is going to be one of the best of the semester” EVERY SINGLE CLASS, his over use of “bro” “dude” and “man”, as well as the way he stands in silence for a solid 30 seconds every time he wants to emphasize how “serious” whatever garbage he’s about to unload on us is. In addition, Sam only listens to people’s opinions when they’re relevant to the point he’s trying to make. It is so frustrating to me. In the beginning of the semester, Sam promised he wouldn’t push his opinion on us, but I feel like he does it every single time. I lost whatever respect I had for him in the first place. It is because I don’t respect or like his ways of teaching and communicating anymore that I no longer pay attention in class.
So, getting back to the initial question, which was whether or not I could emphasize with other people. The answer is yes. I’ve always been a very empathetic person and I’ve always been able to stop and think about where another person is coming from. It is because of this that I’ve always been a very good mediator and the person many of my friends turn to for advice. I was like this before I enrolled in Soc 119 and I don’t need it to stay this way. I won’t say that this class hasn’t presented me with completely useless information or that I’ve learned nothing since January, because that would be a lie. I guess I mostly am turned off from the topic now because Sam’s style of communication is so offensive to me.
I can emphasize with those in the Occupy movement and I can also emphasize with those in the 1%. There is good and bad in everyone and sometimes people have to get the short end of the stick in order for others to come out on top.

If I was offered a handout by a friend or family member, I would more than likely take it. If I needed a job and someone who I knew and trusted was offering me one, why would I turn that down? I would do the same thing for a friend or family member, given that they were qualified enough to fulfill the position. It’s an extra added layer of insurance. When you hire someone new for the position who was a shot in the dark, you’re more nervous about their performance than a friend/family member that you’re familiar with and you know their work ethic, past experience, etc.. With a familiar face in the position, you also feel more comfortable.
For example, I’m on the executive board of a special interest THON organization and I’ve seen similar things happen in the past. Every year, members who were on the exec board the previous year are always chosen to be on the board again if they apply. This is because the executive chair knows these people, has worked with them before and knows what they’d be getting themselves into if they are chosen again. These people are a sure thing and an added piece of mind when choosing a brand new team. It is a scary thing to create a new exec board because the blame is on you if these people fail and hinder the success of your organization.
There are other leadership positions within the organization I’m in where I have seen nepotism. I can understand why some people are more apt to pick their friends for a position. Sometimes people look fantastic on paper and are great at interviews, and then fail to fulfill their duties. I have seen nepotism fail, on the other hand. The Administrative Assistant of our organization two years ago chose two other girls who she knew, from past experience and from personal interaction with these people, would be great at their jobs. These two girls applied, in part, because they knew they would get the position. Because they lacked that passion and didn’t feel pride in their job (because they were essentially handed it), their performance was lackluster and the organization suffered from it. In this instance, choosing your friends ultimately screwed us big time.
Nepotism could go either way in my opinion. I think it’s a problem when under-qualified people end up getting the job because it causes the entire company to suffer and is unfair to those who are deserving of a job. At this point in time, I have no idea what I want to do with my life anymore, so all this talk about affirmative action and nepotism is giving me pits in my stomach. THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH SOC 119!!!

Sam has got to be fucking kidding me with his questions and the “points” he tries to make during lecture. This is a seven-hundred person class with more boys in it than girls. I don’t know about 90% of the people in this damn class. Going further, Sam did what he always does and goes off on a tangent which causes about half the class to dose off. It is getting increasingly difficult to pay attention in this class every day. I’ll admit that when my friend texted me to tell me she wasn’t coming to class that day, I left my headphones in and began watching a Louis CK standup video on YouTube. I knew Sam was going to present nothing of worth to me, so I didn’t even bother. Most of the people around me seem to share the same sentiment. Nobody cares anymore—the shock value is gone and Sam is boring us all to tears. To sum up, no one was listening to Sam when he asked his question.

Another reason I’m sure most of the girls didn’t raise their hand was because—and this seems to be something Sam can’t comprehend—most of us WEREN’T ON OUR FUCKING PERIODS!!! I don’t have my period right now, therefore I didn’t raise my hand. I’m pretty sure he thought that every single girl should have raised their hand. I would have gladly raised my hand if I had, in fact, been “bleeding”, but I wasn’t. Depending on my mood in that class, sometimes I just don’t care about anything and won’t raise my hand because I want the discussion to end. Most people probably kept their hand down as well because they didn’t want to be marched to the front of the room and forced to talk about something. Sam always picks volunteers. Not everyone is comfortable doing that.

I’m currently in a women’s health class where we talk about things like this all the time. It’s a class of about 75 girls and we speak pretty freely about menstrual health. It’s a class with girls in my major and we’re all pretty friendly and familiar with each other. Our teacher does a fabulous job at making us all feel comfortable opening up about any personal problems or issues we have and is great at facilitating an open conversation about things such as these. Sam does not do this. People feel uncomfortable all the time in this class and because of its size, many people don’t feel comfortable speaking up. Our silence doesn’t mean we aren’t free. Sam needs to shut the fuck up and stop acting like he knows everything. This class is becoming more and more infuriating.

After what Sam said in class about dying, I don’t know that I’m necessarily afraid to die. I’m not going to pretend I’m OK with dying tomorrow—hell fucking no. I have an exciting life to finish out until I’m at least 82 and I die peacefully in my sleep and come back in spirit form to watch my funeral. (There had better be tears, dammit!!) I don’t think anyone is excited about dying…except Sam, but he has his reasons. I think people are afraid of dying because they don’t know what happens next. After what Sam said, it sounds kinda fun to die, as weird as that sounds. When I pass on, it’s gonna be one giant party with all my friends and relatives who have died before me.
I’m not quite sure how to finish out this answer and I’m also not totally sure that anyone reads these posts. Four-hundred and fifty words is so much more than I realized. I struggle though these things every damn week. Getting back on track, I’m not as afraid to die as I was before last week’s lecture. I’m afraid that dying will hurt. I don’t want to be shot or stabbed because that would obviously be incredibly painful. I’m actually not really sure what I think, but I do have some lingering thoughts from the lecture that I wish Sam knew…or at least could comment on. When we die, do we go in in person form? What will I look like? If I got shot in the head and that’s how I died, would I go to the after-world with a gaping hole in my head? That’s not cool, I want to look good for the rest of eternity. Will I be a floating mass without a face? How will people know if it’s really me? Will I be old Brittany or young Brittany? I dyed my hair, so will I be blonde or brunette? This class leaves me restless and I’m not liking it one bit.
I’m worried that people will miss me when I’m gone. It’s so painful to lose someone you love—especially when they die slowly of something like cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease. I lost my grandmothers to both those things and it was heart-breaking to watch them slowly fade into death.
I hope that when I die, I feel that I lived a good life. I also hope I die before my husband because I don’t want to go through that heartbreak. If I could just die with all my friends and family at the same time, that would be fabulous. Nobody is sad and we all get to go to heaven at the same time. Sounds like a sweet deal.

I think that people who are using skin whitening cream are doing so for completely aesthetic purposes. I like to lay out and get a tan during the summer. It’s not because I want to be black or look Hispanic, that’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. I get so mad when people say that as a counter-argument. I like to be tan because I look damn good when I have a tan—everyone does. The reason so many girls go tanning is because (1) it gives them a glow (2) having some color covers up skin imperfections (3) everything looks better when you have a sunny glow (makeup, outfits, etc.).
Personally, I would never use skin-whitening cream. As the one Korean girl in class mentioned, some Asian countries view very light skin as beautiful. That is why they cover themselves up with their clothes and use umbrellas on sunny days. They probably also use skin whitening cream as well. I doubt they are trying to be white. I know that in many Asian countries, women are more desirable when they are dainty and pure. Having extremely light skin makes a woman look more dainty and virginal which is probably why they are more prone to wanting light skin.
Another example of using the skin whitening creams for aesthetics is for women of color. I had never heard about skin-lightening creams until my friend Janet mentioned them. She is a first generation American and both of her parents were 100% African. She was explaining to me how some women she knew in Africa used them for beauty purposes. I asked her if she ever considered using them and her response was something along the lines of “If I was so dark that you couldn’t see my facial features, I might”. I kind of agree with her. I put this in the same category as getting cosmetic surgery. If I was extremely pale to the point where you could see my veins through my skin or so dark that all you could see was my eyes, I might consider something like this.
I don’t mean this to say that all women of color should bleach their skin and try to be white, not at all—that would be stupid. I’m jealous of darker women often times in regards to skin color because they can wear more dramatic make-up than I can. I love to wear bold lipsticks and eye colors, but every time I wear it, I see another girl darker than me looking way better in it. In the summer, I get SOO jealous of my friends who are Italian or Hispanic/Latina because they’re always so much hotter than I am.
To sum it up, I doubt anyone is using these creams to be “white”, but if they are, that’s sad.

When I was younger, I went to a small, private Catholic grade school. Religion was a huge focus, as most of our holy sacraments were completed during this time. I considered myself fairly religious when I was younger because it was all I knew and all of my friends were the same way. As I got older, I began to question my religious beliefs as I met more people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. I thought this was normal, so I had no problem bringing it up with my teachers (respectfully). One instance I remember in particular was in 7th/8th grade: we had a “flour baby” project where we were expected to “raise a child” (a bag of flour) for a week and write a report at the end. One of the topics covered in the report was Baptism and religious beliefs for your child. I specifically remember writing that I would not “force” a religion on my child. I wrote that I would bring my child up as a Christian , but let them explore other religions and have them decide what they believed to be true. There are so many different religions within Christianity, all with such minor differences, that I figured my child should be given the opportunity to decide which was the best fit for them. (A side note: at the time, I only knew of Christianity and Judaism. Judaism was always framed as “wrong” and “old fashioned”.) To me (even at age 12), religious and spiritual beliefs are such a personal thing that often defines and shapes a person. I wanted my hypothetical child to be able to be proud of and feel strongly about their religious beliefs. I did not want them to be wishy-washy and eventually apathetic about what they believed in.
When I handed in my report, my teachers were furious. They destroyed my paper with spiteful, condescending and angry comments that compared my line of thought to a carnival game where I was haphazardly choosing a religion. I was so offended that I threw in the towel on religion altogether.
Getting back to the question, I’ve been so iffy about religion since then that I feel I would be the same person either way. Personally, I believe in karma and the power of The Secret. Not that it is the sole reason for my actions, but I try my hardest to help others and “pay it forward”. I try to be a moral, good person with other’s best intentions in mind. Technically, those are all the Ten Commandments, but I don’t see it as a rule to live my life by. I’ve been against the whole idea of organized religion for some time now, so I feel that any news either way wouldn’t drastically change who I am as a person.

I think this depends on who you are talking to and what conflicts you are talking about Yes, I would say our generation is increasingly more open-minded than the next on most issues. I think less and less people are for mindless killing in other countries because we are becoming more and more globally aware. We don’t just see people in other countries as “evil” simply because we are at war with them or because we don’t know much about them. At the same time however, I don’t know how many people of our generation are willing to go that far out of their comfort zone to try and mend broken fences in a foreign land. I think we have good intentions, but often don’t follow through on things that aren’t right in front of our face. One example is the whole Kony campaign from last year. I’ll admit that I was completely on board at first—almost everyone was. But then it just died. We all realized in order to make a change, we would have to step into a complicated web of political agendas, when all we really wanted was to help a person in need. We wanted a simple fix that did not exist. Most countries with conflict are in a web so complex and intricate, that most of us shy away because it’s just too much effort. It may sound bad, but we have to think of ourselves before we jump into another person’s problems. Most of us aren’t able to drop everything and board a plane to another country at the drop of a hat.
On a more positive note, I do believe that because we are becoming more and more tolerant as time goes on, we will start to treat all people with respect. I believe this has to start in baby steps and it has to start at home. I really think America has so many damn problems that we shouldn’t be anywhere else. We’re a nation divided on EVERYTHING. That is so fucking stupid and stressful. I don’t know how the hell we even get any laws or bills passed here. I’m going off on a tangent, but I still am so frustrated by our government. Overall, we need to open our minds and get to know people who are different than we are, it is how we see different races, etc as people and not aliens. As Sam said in class, empathy is the first step, I do believe that we are all becoming more and more empathetic as time goes on. So I guess overall, I think that yes, our generation has the potential to make some major changes, but at the same time I’m afraid that half the people our age have their heads up their own asses and Instagram accounts.