Before Tuesday’s lecture, I usually looked at illegal immigration as only bad. Sure I would make jokes to my father, who owns a nursery (tree farm), that he should hire Mexicans because they would be willing to work harder than me and for the same or cheaper wage. But then again, it was a joke, and I never meant it literally. The thing that really opened my eyes was to think about them as people, human beings. They didn’t choose where they were born and only want the best life possible for them and their families, and if that is by coming to America and finding a job, then that is what they will do. That is what anyone would do. I hate how sometimes we look at it as though they are “stealing” our jobs. Well if we would train harder in school, have better work ethics, or just be willing to work more, then they would not be “stealing” our jobs. They would just be competing with the rest of us. We see it as stealing because they are willing to work for less than we are! What makes us so righteous or proud that we can’t work for a lower wage? Also, many of these illegal immigrants are doing jobs that many Americans would shy away from.
They do these “gross” jobs to make money, which they usually send back home to their families. And after a while they plan to go back to their home country. That’s right, they do not plan on staying here.
Another point that Sam made that I had not thought about before was the social security and other taxes. Sam explained that since many illegal immigrants work under someone else’s or fake social security numbers, they have to pay all the taxes that legal citizens have to but without reaping any of the benefits. They pay in and do not get anything out. That’s great for us if you think about it, especially with the way social security is going now. Put that together with them doing the dirty jobs and they’re going to be leaving after maybe a few months or years, and illegal immigration doesn’t sound too terrible.
I think Tuesday’s lecture has changed my opinion from mostly against illegal immigration to neutral. I do not feel any strong hatred against them, but I can also see problems it creates in the society. I also realize that at one point my ancestors were illegal immigrants and had they not done what they did, I would not be here today. Realizing this makes one think about it in a whole new light.

I thought the telephone game was really interesting. I remember paying whisper down the alley in elementary school, which was similar in the fact, that one person whispered a phrase and at the end we compared the end phrase to the original one. Most of the time, it would change completely and we’d all get a good laugh out of it. However, the example we used in Thursday’s class had meaning behind it. There was an event where and African American student became a victim of racism and by the 6th person telling the story you had no idea how serious the original incident was. The last person thought the event took place at a huge school with no minorities, which if that were the case, the fight would not have started and there would be no problem. It was interesting how the first girl left out the offensive racial slur, as that was a crucial part of the story, showing how the whole thing began. I think this is similar to real life when we leave out specifics and then our words can be misinterpreted.
This simulation showed how gossip and other things spread, get twisted, and important details get lost. At the end, it came down to them getting in a scuffle, and someone throwing a book at a TV with no real substance as to why they did it. Had I heard this story, I would have no idea what was happening or why. It also makes sense that people would add details to or emphasize certain parts to make the story sound more interesting and take out parts that don’t. It also shows that people don’t necessarily want to change the story, or don’t change it on purpose, but that it still happens. There’s no way around it, unless the first witness to the experience or the person experiencing it writes it down and it gets spread that way. If it is by word of mouth, chances are the story will change.
Someone was saying how when a black person told the story, they made the situation sound worse than when the white person was saying it. It may have been, but I did not take notice to that fact. I think it may happen in real life more often because people wouldn’t want to make their own kind sound worse. But as for the way this game went, I think everyone told it “to the best of their ability” especially due to the fact that 700 people were watching and they were being rushed. I think we can all learn a lesson from this though, to make sure to get all the facts before we make judgment on something or assume something about someone.

At first when I heard the title of Tuesday’s lecture, as a Christian, I became a little offended. But boy did that attitude change as the lecture progressed. Sam wasn’t saying that all Christians were invading, just that we, America as a “Christian nation,” were invading the Middle East in quest of oil. Just oil. My view on the war definitely changed as I imagined being them, living my life of doing what I wanted, worshiping who I wanted, and just being myself in complete fear for my life. I feel so blessed living in the United States and being able to worship and learn about God without prosecution. I also enjoy the freedoms I have, such as being able to attend school, drive, and vote, which are just a few of the things women in some middle eastern countries cannot. We also saw how things in the media can be twisted and warped to make us feel hatred towards the other side. Seeing the videos and pictures they would be seeing makes me feel something about our country, like how could we do that to those innocent people? This makes me a little mad though too because that means all they are seeing are the rogue soldiers and random crazy acts of violence that even us Americans would frown upon and see as wrong. But then again we see the same thing in our media here about them. I now understand more why middle easterners feel hostility towards the United States. I really liked the way Sam had us imagine being in their shoes, something I have never really done before. Since I have only lived in America, I only see the American news, listen to what my parents tell me, and read the emails my American friends send me. Because of this, I have not really thought a lot about how the people living in the Middle East must feel towards us. I can only see how Middle Easterners living here react or feel. It is hard to imagine people coming to my home and destroying it and hurting my family all because of a natural resource that I have and that they want/need. After today’s class, however, I feel sympathy towards the millions of innocent lives that have been taken all because of oil.
On a side note, I do not agree with or believe that any of this war has been “a mission from God” or what God necessarily wants. It frustrates me when any type of religion is stereotyped as what the extremists do. For example when we see the Muslim extremists and conclude that all Muslims therefore must be terrorists or we see Christians burning the Quran and think all Christians must be like that. I feel that the most important thing is for people to discover the truth and search for the truth and not just take what they see in the media as truth.

I have thought about this topic several times in my life, mostly because I am not one of those girls who gets all dolled up and spends hours doing her hair, makeup, and picking out what to wear to go out on the weekends. I always laugh on the inside when I see my own gender go through all this trouble and for what? So that drunken guys will think they’re pretty? To me, I’d rather go out looking like I normally do and see who likes me for who I am. But that’s just me. I remember one time my ex and I walked along Beaver Ave. trying to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat late one weekend night, and I was dressed in sweats. It’s funny how people look at you differently if you’re not all dressed up. I got weird stares like “what is she thinking,” etc. Or one time when I was taking the bus back to my dorm: I had on sweats and had a backpack and these three drunk girls got on the bus and one was asking me where I was going. When I told her, she was so confused as to why I wasn’t going out partying. I laughed again.
The sad thing is this is brainwashed into us at a very young age. I remember watching TV shows about college students and even there, the girls were all dressed up and the guys maybe had a button down on, maybe. How are we supposed to break the mold if it’s surrounding us and so many people are following it? Honestly, I don’t think it’s possible. For as long as there are universities and there are frats and there are parties and clubs, girls will continue to wear short skirts, heals, and tanks in the dead of winter and not think twice about it.
For me, to be honest, the only times I really get dressed up are for weddings, banquets, or other special occasions. I hate wasting the time, especially if the guys aren’t going to get dressed up. I’m not saying I never go out without makeup on, I just don’t go crazy, and I would most definitely take a jacket if it were freezing out. I don’t know what girls are thinking with that one. I’d like to see a world where guys get all dressed up and fancy and the girls are wearing jeans and a t-shirt. What a surprise that would be! Hmmm… now that I’m thinking about it, that would be a cool themed party, where you’re only allowed in if the guys are dressed up and the girls aren’t. Too bad the only way that would happen in this society is if girls planned it. I believe there is no way guys would ever plan a party where girls were not the ones getting dressed up.

Sure why not? As long as they fill the other things on my “check-list”. The reason I have not to this date is mainly because up until this point, I haven’t met nearly as many black guys as white guys. Being from a predominately white area, the majority of the people I will meet will be white. There were I think two black people in my grade, one was female, and the other male. Both were in band with me and both were pretty close friends. I never thought about dating the boy, but that had nothing to do with the reason he was black. I also didn’t date 99% of my white guy friends. Right now, I’m just getting out of a relationship, so I’m not really looking and I’m more waiting for God to place someone in my life. The highest thing on my list currently is that he loves wants to seek for God and wants to grow and help me grow in our faith together. I don’t care if he’s white, black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or Asian, as long as he loves God. Now obviously other things play a role, like likes and dislikes, but race wouldn’t really matter. The hardest part for me, I believe, would be bringing them home to my grandparents, who are a very Pennsylvania Dutch and a bit conservative. But in the end, I would hope they would learn to love him just like I do. My parents however would probably be fine with it.
(As a side note: my grandparents needed a stay at home type caregiver for a period of time after they had both been in the hospital, and so we went to an agency that does that type of stuff. The company was mostly comprised of black women who would cook, clean, etc. for people like my grandparents. Over the course of probably a month they had 2! They had the first for a little while and tried everything they could to get rid of her and finally my mom called the company and she left. So we tried another lady, thinking maybe it was just personal. The next lady came and the same thing happened. I met this girl, and she was very nice, very funny, and did her job very well. But again, my grandparents couldn’t stand her. Not only did this upset me, because of the way they were acting, but it also made me wonder what would happen if I was dating or would marry a black man? Luckily it’s my grandparents and not parents, so their thoughts wouldn’t affect my decision to do it or not.)
I kind of think it would be neat to date outside of my “racial” category (white). Not only would it be fun to learn about another culture, but also it would be a cool story to be able to share with people. It would also, assuming I will have kids, be a great way for them to be exposed to diversity and differences early on.

Coming from a rural farming area of Pennsylvania, I could probably count the number of “minorities” or non-white people in my school on my two hands. I graduated with two black people and two Asians (who were twins), so granted, most of my friends from high school were black. For me, coming to Penn State, the diversity was a big difference. I was not used to seeing groups of different ethnicities hanging out together or just a wide variety of different ethnic backgrounds. I really enjoy it though. My French class, fall semester, was my first experience with a very racially diverse class. About half were white and half weren’t, but none of that mattered or affected the way any of us learned. We all accepted that we needed to learn French and none of us felt like we knew it well at all, so I think that bound us together. The racial diversity at Penn State, however, did not play any role in my choosing to attend Penn State. I never really thought about the fact that there would be much more diversity here than in high school, but it didn’t affect me either. The thought never actually crossed my mind until this class. All I knew was that my parents went there, my brother goes there, and that it was a good school and offered a lot of the things I was looking for in a university. I think the fact that I didn’t worry about the diversity level could possibly be because I am white. I enjoyed not having to worry, especially since I had other things to worry about such as the Honors College, and scholarship applications and interviews.
I wish there were more opportunities for small (diverse) group discussions where people would be open to discuss topics such as race. I think the hardest part is that unless you and the people you interact with are a) racially diverse and b) open to talk about it, you’re not going to hear a lot of first hand accounts of what it is like to be from a different culture/ethnicity. Discussion groups like those we have in class or World In Conversation Project, I feel, are really beneficial and should be offered more often than they currently are.
I think this topic is really interesting because Penn State looks completely different for each person. Had I come from a very culturally and ethnically diverse high school, Penn State would seem extremely white to me. But I don’t and so to me it’s diverse. I wonder why the percentage of white students at Penn State is so high though? Is it because more white people apply and the percentage reflects the application/acceptance rate? Or is it because the school randomly accepts more white people?

What I feel is not guilt, however, I do feel fortunate. God blessed me when he sent me to Earth with a providing and caring family as well as with all of the material things I will need to survive and plus some. I think that the “plus some” is not something for me to feel guilty about, but something I should use to help all of God’s children. As a Christian, I believe that we are to care for and help everyone, not just Christians or good people, but everyone. One way I see to do this is to use my gifts both spiritual and physical to help all people meet their physical and spiritual needs. It’s sad however when I look around the world at people who attack others, hoard material things, and just care about themselves when millions, even billions of people go to bed hungry at night. I don’t know how we can change this. In an earlier post I wrote about a passage in a book I read, which talked about how maybe in 50 or 100 years from now, people will look back on our time and question how we (Christians) could be so greedy when there are so many of God’s children suffering in the world. It may be how we look at slavery today. There were plenty of Christians who owned slaves and thought there was nothing wrong with it, just as people now living in huge houses with lots of cars think there’s nothing wrong with that. Who knows, maybe in the future people will not be able to imagine how anyone could live like that. I just pray this “future” happens sooner than later. So back to guilt, maybe I do feel a little guilty or feel like I’m doing something wrong when I go out and buy that extra snack or shirt that I don’t need instead of using it someway to help my brothers and sisters. I feel guilt for the crimes our ancestors did and for anyone who harms someone else. The thing is, slavery still exists, and up until the video Sam showed, many people didn’t know this. Our awareness of world poverty and slavery needs to be the first thing to change before we can begin to change the world. The fact that we don’t know things like this still happens just proves our ignorance. It’s like when you hear someone say they are poor because they can’t buy the latest fashions, but they still have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over their head meaning they are richer than most people “on the earth”. We need not compare ourselves with our neighbors but with the world.

Especially since 9/11, people in the United States are more racist towards Muslims or even Arabs than towards Black people. I also think they are two different types of racism and may not even be able to be compared to each other. I’m not sure about many of the racism against blacks, but from what I have experienced the main stereotypical and racist comments towards blacks is they are all loud and commit petty crimes, but nothing too serious as far as people being afraid to hire, talk to, or interact with. On the other hand the major discrimination towards Muslims is that they are terrorists. This is due, in large part, to today’s media and how we are portraying Muslims. One place we can see this unequal-ness in racism is in the airport and on airplanes. From what I have heard, people don’t turn their head or ask questions or feel uneasy when a black person gets on the plane or sits next to them. But when a Muslim, or someone who looks Muslim enters the plane, stares are sure to follow. This would be hard for us to understand, if the media hadn’t put so much negative emphasis on Muslims and Arabs. If we would look at the percentages, I’m sure we would see a similar comparison of extremist Christians and extremist Muslims, but you don’t see people staring when someone with a cross around their neck enter the plane, do you?
Going to the video we watched in class, how do you think the people in the store would have reacted if the person were black instead of Muslim? Personally, I think more people would have stood up for them, and said that it was wrong of the owner not to hire or serve the black person. I think white Americans have definitely changed their view on blacks and consider them to be just as American as they are. However, as we saw in the video, some customers (people) said way to go to the guy behind the counter for not serving the Muslim lady, because they believed she could not be American and that she was a terrorist. Because of the media, sadly, I feel as if white Americans don’t see Muslims as Americans or to be as American as they are. But how do we change this? I think the easiest way would be for the media to help emphasize that the terrorists were extremist and only extremists and that a majority of Muslims condemn the acts that they have committed, the same way Christians condemn the acts fellow Christian extremists do.
From a Christian standpoint, if everyone assumed that all Christians, me included, thought and acted like those members of the Westboro Baptist Church, I would be pretty upset and sad. If they would get to know me, they would know that I am nothing like that. But this is what we are doing with Muslims and it needs to stop.

I think it saddens us all when we hear about or think about slavery and poverty in other countries. When we see things like the video we saw today in class or hear things like we talked about, it’s easy for us to look at our lives and think, “wow, I don’t need all of the things I have, I’m going to give to xyz charity, or stop eating chocolate,” but in a couple of days or maybe even hours most of us forget about that and go buy a latté. I think part of the reason this happens is because we, as Americans, are continually only comparing ourselves to other Americans, when Americans, like Sam said, are the top 97% of the world. Even if you are the poorest American, you most likely still have it better off than the best in some countries. We forget this fact, however, and go back to thinking about ourselves. I know I do this all the time. I look at friends whose parents make a lot more money and can afford more and better material things, and look at myself and think I have very little. If only I would compare myself to those living on $2 a day. To them, I am the richest person. As a Christian, I am taught to help the poor, widows, and orphans, and when I look at my life, I realize while I’m doing that, I’m not doing it to the fullest. There are times when I’ll go buy things I don’t need or time spent on things, when I could be using them to help out my poor brothers and sisters. In the book Radical, David Platt addresses this issue. He says, “we look back on slave-owning churchgoers on 150 years ago and ask, ‘How could they have treated their fellow human beings that way?’ I wonder if followers of Christ 150 years from now will look back at Christians in America today and ask, ‘How could they live in such big houses? How could they drive such nice cars and wear such nice clothes? How could they live in such affluence while thousands of children were dying because they didn’t have food and water? How could they go on with their lives as though the billions of poor didn’t even exist?’” Wow is what I thought when I read this. We look back now and say slavery was a bad thing, but at the time, people thought it was right. He suggests that perhaps in the future, people will look at us and say the same thing, because we now see nothing wrong with owning a big house or having nice clothes. It makes you think right? I think one way to ‘change’ the poverty issue is education. We are ignorant to the poverty around the world, and as the one kid in class said today, how far can we use that card? I hope that someday we won’t be allowed to use that card because the poverty and slavery will be common knowledge and not just something that the elite educated ones know.

I feel like a huge part of the reason I came to Penn State was because of outside influences. Both of my parents attended Penn State and my brother is a senior here now. Had they attended Ohio State or Michigan State, I would probably be there and hate Penn State instead. But I grew up coming to Penn State football games and loving Penn State. When I started applying to schools, I only applied to one other school besides Penn State, but once I got my acceptance letter, I knew this is where I would be coming. My free will and the choices I made, however played a huge part in me getting into the Schreyer Honor’s College here at Penn State. I had to work extremely hard in high school to achieve high grades. Not only that, but I had to achieve high grades on top of many extra curricular activities. I was in several bands, youth group, 4-H, and debate (to name a few) throughout middle and high school. All of the things I had the choice to participate in or not. Sure my mom was a leader in 4-H, but she didn’t force me to be a part of it or to attend many local, state, and national events, she just opened up the option. Sure my parents took me to church since I was a young child, but I didn’t have to go once I was in high school or be a part of the youth group, they just opened the door. My brother took a different approach, in high school he didn’t attend church or youth group or just hang out at church nearly as much as I did, he did less 4-H events than me, he dropped out of band, but he did things I didn’t do. He played baseball and basketball and was involved in different clubs. This is why I truly think our “fate” is a mixture of both. The reason I was able to do any of the activities I did in my life were because of my surroundings. The things I did were presented to me. Free will comes in to play when I decide to take advantage of them and participate in different things or to sit back and not; to study hard for a test or to watch tv. Sure my parents would have been upset had I not done anything in high school, and they encouraged me in everything I participated in, but I still had the option not to. Since I’ve come to Penn State, I feel like free will has started to outweigh determinism just a little. I no longer have my parents watching over my shoulder in everything that I do. However, they remain in the back of my head telling me right from wrong. I have chosen, in a school where many of the students drink, to not drink. Even though my surrounding tells me that is what is the norm, I have the choice to not do so. As far as paying for college goes, I am blessed that my parents are able pay for my brother and I to live and have food. I spent countless hours filling out scholarship applications and in the end paid off, after receiving several thousand dollars from different scholarships. We have also taken out many loans, which hopefully I will find a job once graduation and be able to pay all of them off. So yea, I am lucky in a way, I do not have to work 1, 2 or more jobs while being a full time student, but that is because of the factors in my life (providing parents), choices I have made (scholarships), and choices I hope to make in the future (jobs).