I thought the telephone exercise was very interesting and reaffirmed what I already knew that was going to happen. I knew what to expect and they did it exactly. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the majority of the story was somewhat consistent throughout the game. It wasn’t until like the fourth or fifth person that story got really messed up and that could be due to the time constraint because we were getting close to the end of class. Like mentioned by the other students, I liked how it wasn’t just a phrase or word but a whole story that had to be told repeatedly. It helped demonstrate to even greater degree how distorted a message becomes after being told so many times. Everyone put their own spin on the story and at some point, the story was told completely out of order. I wish our world today was conducted with more face to face interaction and communication. Number one, I love to meet new people and talk to people and I know it is done most effectively through face to face communication. Number two, if a person had personable and communication skills, they would set them apart from other people too. I believe the story became so distorted each time because each person interpreted it differently. People focused on some parts of the story rather than others. For instance, one of the participants paid attention to the name of the main character and or the “African American studies” but another student couldn’t remember that information and remembered the book going through the TV. I think the first girl messed up the telling the story and that messed up how the rest of the storytellers told it, and that is how it is in life in some circumstances. If you are doing something that details matter and they are overlooked that messes other things up. I think I could have told the story much better than she did. I understood the theory and intentions of the game, but I did not understand what that had to do with the class. I wish he would have tied it to the lesson. Even the other activities that we did, did not have relevance to what was being taught, well at least in my opinion they did not. I was so excited to have a guest speaker but I was let down by his presentation but it had the potential to be a good lesson. It just didn’t deliver. In closing, I was not shocked by the results of the telephone game. Everything that happened was expected. It occurs everyday and in everything that we do. I just hope I am more cautious when it is my turn to retell the story!

I am still so totally confused about this war that we are fighting. I do not know how to feel or what to think. I do not know if we are really right or wrong. What I do know now is that after pretending that I was a Muslim woman and putting myself in her shoes, I view the war differently than I did before the exercise. I am glad that Sam made us do that and that he even chose to teach this lesson. It is something very important that needs to be talked about and discussed and especially from the angle that it was presented to us during class. Because we Americans never experienced a war on our homeland, we do not have a full and accurate account of what it is like for the people, and even now, I was only imagining what it was like to live in a war zone.

I am still so totally confused about this war that we are fighting. I do not know how to feel or what to think. I do not know if we are really right or wrong. What I do know now is that after pretending that I was a Muslim woman and putting myself in her shoes, I view the war differently than I did before the exercise. I am glad that Sam made us do that and that he even chose to teach this lesson. It is something very important that needs to be talked about and discussed and especially from the angle that it was presented to us during class. Because we Americans never experienced a war on our homeland, we do not have a full and accurate account of what it is like for the people, and even now, I was only imagining what it was like to live in a war zone. It still is not an accurate portrayal. What I am trying to say is that, I feel so awful for the innocent people and children and families that are victims of this war whether it is to combat the extremist or really for oil. Regardless, those people and those countries will never be the same again. In addition, I also feel awful for the victims of 9/11, the single act that started this 10 year bloodshed. No one should die or live under anyone of these circumstances, and I do not even know where to begin to fix the problem or who to talk to about this. Even as I am writing this response, I am thinking about the little boy who is walking down the street now without parents because they were killed indirectly. I am also thinking about the group of young men that were shown in the video stealing wood and how the U.S. tank was driven over the car to stop them. That was so totally unnecessary in more ways than one. I mean like why? We are supposed to be there to bring peace to the country, help the people and government, and catch the bad guys. Although what the men were doing was wrong and the soldiers intervened to prevent them from stealing, the car did not have to be demolished. My heart goes out to the U.S. people as well as the Muslim people who have fallen victim to the violence. So, with all that being said, what’s next? How much longer will the U.S. be on foreign soil for whatever the case may be? I am not saying one side is right and the other side is wrong, I am just saying something has got to give and it has got to give soon.

I am studying a different language and plan to work with the language for my job. I’m studying Spanish and would like to get a job using the language to help Spanish speakers and English speakers effectively communicate amongst one another. I feel like I have an edge on other people who are not bilingual and I am pretty sure that I will definitely if not guaranteed to get a job. However, that is not the only reason I am studying Spanish and interested in the language. I plan on teaching my children Spanish, English, and a third language, which will probably be some form of Chinese, while they are young. In closing, I am excited about the mixing of the cultures and languages. I think it is a beautiful thing.

. I am especially waiting for the day to come when it will be okay to practice and proclaim a religion that is different and won’t be judged. So once again, yes I would learn another language in order to work a certain job. It goes with the territory. When you accept the job, you accept everything that goes along with it. In fact, you would be foolish to take a job that utilizes another language that is not your native and not expect to have to learn it. Even for the employer, I think it is a good thing to have someone who speaks a different language because they even help expand their market to the people of the other language. They could offer advice or bring new talent and skills to the work force.

Yes, I definitely would learn another language for a job. We are living in a world today where it is almost vital to learn another language and if not now, the time will come when everyone will be speaking more than one language and if you don’t you will be in the minority. In my opinion though, it is a beautiful thing and I know not everyone in the world would agree with me but I enjoy new people and the culture, language, way of life and style that they all bring. I am waiting for the day to come when we will be able to live in a world and workforce where it will be okay to have a pigment that is a little different than just black or white because at the end of the day we all do have the same color and components underneath the skin color. I am waiting for the day to come when we will live in a world and workforce where it will be okay to have a little accent when you speak English or Spanish.

I mentioned this story in my small group but it is very similar to the story that Sam shared about his friend that had the daughter who came home crying from school. I was in eighth grade at an all white Christian middle school. The school was great and everyone was friends with everyone. I don’t know if there wasn’t racism or if I was just young and naïve. Nonetheless, it was school and everyone was my friend. It was almost the end of the period and we finished the lesson early so we all had free time. My teacher brought his little daughter, who was about four or five, to class too. All of us girls decided to draw on the chalkboard and Karly, the little girl, decided to draw with us too. When we finished drawing, one of the girls, who was white, put out her hand to Karly to indicate “give me a five.” Karly did and so the next girl did the same thing, and Karly went down the line doing it to all of them. Then, it was my turn, and I put my hand out and asked for a “five.” Karly looked at me while shaking her head and said, “Go wash your hands. They’re dirty.” Everyone that heard turned and looked at me for my reaction, but I didn’t know how to react. I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and put on a fake smile.
I know the little girl didn’t mean to offend me or say it intentionally but how was I supposed to react? To this day I remember this incident like it was yesterday As if I didn’t know already, that was another time I became fully aware of my black sin as well as the rest of the class. I was so embarrassed and upset at the same time. The difference between then and now is that now I use it as a lesson to inform other colored and non-colored people and children of my experience and how to react and not react to situations like that.
I will always remember that experience not because I felt so humiliated but because it reminds me that it is my job to help inform people of the different races. I’m not mad at the little girl because she was little and didn’t know but it also showed that she didn’t have experience with other people besides her own race. I’ve seen here since then and she is grown up now and I’ve never brought the situation up to her and I’m pretty sure she is more familiar with other colors now. I just wonder how someone else would have reacted in that situation.

I mentioned this story in my small group but it is very similar to the story that Sam shared about his friend that had the daughter who came home crying from school. I was in eighth grade at an all white Christian middle school. The school was great and everyone was friends with everyone. I don’t know if there wasn’t racism or if I was just young and naïve. Nonetheless, it was school and everyone was my friend. It was almost the end of the period and we finished the lesson early so we all had free time. My teacher brought his little daughter, who was about four or five, to class too. All of us girls decided to draw on the chalkboard and Karly, the little girl, decided to draw with us too. When we finished drawing, one of the girls, who was white, put out her hand to Karly to indicate “give me a five.” Karly did and so the next girl did the same thing, and Karly went down the line doing it to all of them. Then, it was my turn, and I put my hand out and asked for a “five.” Karly looked at me while shaking her head and said, “Go wash your hands. They’re dirty.” Everyone that heard turned and looked at me for my reaction, but I didn’t know how to react. I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and put on a fake smile.

It’s obvious that homosexuals are becoming a lot more open and accepting of their sexuality, and for some, it is a problem. To me, however, it is not uncomfortable nor is it a problem. It is definitely just another way of life. The relationship between two people of the same sex has no effect or burden on the people against it. It is not them in the relationships, it is no money out of their pocket, nor do they have to wake up to it each morning. Therefore, I do not understand what the problem; however, I think it may be that we are afraid of the unknown. It’s something new to all of us and we don’t like it.
As for the case of Zack Wahls, that was a very compelling story. It really had me start thinking. If I were to meet Zack on the street, I would have never thought that he came from homosexual parents. To me that is just amazing and shows that he is just as normal as you and me. There are so many children in orphanages, abusive families, or the system that need to be loved and cared for and I am pretty sure some of them wouldn’t care what their parents looked like as long as they were loved and cared for. I believe the child should have a say if they prefer not to live in those conditions. I think there are also some flaws to the system as well because I’m sure there could be psychological problems as well.
I also don’t believe that the government should tell people who they fall in love with or not. If you love someone, than you love someone. I grew up with the idea that marriage is for a man and women and I personally am not attracted to people of the same sex, but I think that the time we live in now has changed and a lot more things are acceptable today. When someone tells me that they are gay or a lesbian, I do not tell them that they are wrong or going to hell or try and even convince them. That is their personal choice. At the end of the day, they will have to answer for their decisions. In addition, who am I to tell them that they are wrong when I have problems and do things that aren’t “morally correct” either? If it makes you happy, then go for it.
In closing, I think that we are all humans and we are all different. We all like similar things and different things. There are so many other and bigger problems in the world than to tell someone who they can or can’t love.

To most people, my feelings toward the poor white society are almost non-existent. Poverty is mostly always associated with African-Americans since we are the race that always speaks on that topic. Learning that almost half of the poverty rate is contributed by white people has really been an eye-opening experience to me. Going back in time, America was built by the white society; bringing slaves and so forth. So, I always wondered when did the poor white society initially start and how did it start? Caucasians have every opportunity to succeed in the United States. They have created all the laws and governed this land from the beginning. I look at it this way, there will always be poverty but white people should not make up 48% of the poverty population. Thus, I would be more willing to help blacks or colored people in poverty because I can relate to their struggle. Racism still does exist in the United States and who’s to say that it didn’t affect certain people in poverty. Regardless of origin or color, we are all people and people make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes can take years to fix or recover from.