In response to this week’s video, I feel that if Sandusky were Black or Latino, unfortunately the case would be worse. I honestly am not sure how because everything is pretty bad right now and he is white, or even an explanation as to why, but its just something that people would have taken into consideration and turned into something even bigger than it already is. No matter what, I think we can not overlook the problem at hand and say that because he was white, it is okay to do this, or if he was black or Latino it would not be. No matter the race of someone, what Sandusky did was wrong and disgusting and we can not base his actions off his race. His race is a small part of this entire pictures, but I think one thing to take into consideration if Sandusky were Black or Latino was that there would not have been as big of a cover up and the victims would have stepped forward a lot earlier and went to the police. Unfortunately someone’s race should not be the decision making decision to report actions such as Sandusky’s, however in our culture and our world today, that is how I feel it would have went down. I also feel that if Sandusky were Black or Latino we, as Penn State students, would have been able to separate ourselves from the scandal much more. The reason I say this, and it is a horrible thing to even think or suggest this, is because the majority of Penn State University students are white. We are the majority and not apart of the say Sandusky’s small minority so we would feel a greater sense of power and power over this situation. Because of this, I feel that the scandal would have been more separated from Penn State University and our students and our faculty as whole as well. The minority of our student body could not be a deciding factor of who we are as a university. We would not have to be going through this rebuilding stage as drastically if Sandusky were Black or Latino. Unfortunately I think the biggest problem does not have to do with race but the football program we have idolized since forever. I do believe if he was not apart of the Penn State University football program, the scandal would be a lot less drastic and less media attention in response. With that being said, if he were black or Latino and were still apart of the coaching staff at Penn State University, I believe it would still have no difference in the situation because he was still an icon for our football program and to our university as an entirety.

Throughout this past week with everything revolving the “Penn State Scandal,” with all the anger and sadness our Penn State University family has undergone, I think there is more than just the scandal itself, but the lessons that we can take from it. Obviously one lesson we can learn is… call the police AS SOON AS POSSIBLE if you witness anything bad happening. (don’t delay anything). And do not second guess if you are doing the right thing. You will do more help than hurt; people should keep that in mind. It is important to do the right thing because as we saw through this entire scandal, it can literally ruin everything. It can ruin your life, your reputation, your identity. Everything you every once knew, can and will be taken away from you, just like that. But that’s not really the real lesson. I think a good lesson to take away from this is to speak up. Don’t live in fear and don’t feel comfortable with the silence. If you or someone you know is a victim or just hurt in anyway, they should speak up and speak out to friends, parents, families, authorities, the community, the world. By keeping secrets deep down inside you, it is hurting you more and not helping anyone. By talking about issues such as the abused victims we can spread awareness and prevention throughout our communities and throughout the nation. I think that is a great lesson to walk away with from this scandal. Another lesson I learned is to stick together. We as a Penn State family are proof of everything we can do if we just act as one. Things such as THON, which we have done for years, look how far we have come since year one of THON. It is amazing what sticking together can do. We shouldn’t worry about what our friends from other schools, parents, or the media is saying about us especially now. Yeah it sucks, but look at all we have done spontaneously in this past week. Those pictures from the candle lighting pretty much say it all. And if someone doesn’t want to believe that, the football game Saturday just proved how strong WE ARE. Joining our Penn State family with holding hands to help start to mend this tragedy back together is what we really need, which I believe is an excellent lesson we can take with us. Which leads me into my next point which is, things happens but even through all the bad and hurt, we will get back to normal and we will be stronger and better than ever. Life goes on and I think that Is an extremely important thing to keep in the back of your mind through this entire tragedy.

WE ARE and always will be PENN STATE!

Even though Sam told us to eat the second piece of candy, I chose not to. I understand Sam’s reasoning behind being a “hypocrite” if I ate the first piece of candy but not the second because I would eventually eat chocolate again in my life, but in that moment it felt too wrong. Chocolate is something I seriously love to eat; it is one of my favorite foods. And I knew that obviously there were people doing labor getting coco beans somewhere in the world in order for us to eat this delicious treat, however I had no idea it was labor that was so harsh and brutal. The fact that some of these men have worked here for 5 years and never been paid a cent is saddening. Even more heartbreaking is that when they have tried to escape these horrible conditions of hot, heavy human labor, they are beaten to nearly death. And that is why I was not able to eat the second piece of chocolate. The thought of me eating the second piece chocolate means eating these men’s “flesh,” as the young man in the video described it, was pretty sickening. What got me also about this documentary video was that these men, work so hard, for so long, without pay or any reward. They are picking these coco beans for some unknown edible food called chocolate and yet they have never even tasted this delicious treat that we take for granted. You can walk into pretty much any store here in the United States and find some sort of candy bar. Think about all the chocolate one grocery store has out for purchase, not just think about that one store times all the stores in the country and that is ….(excuse the language, but) ” A shit load of chocolate”. “A shit load of chocolate” that, men have never tasted before, are working long ridiculous, hot hours without pay, that men are being slaved upon, that men are getting beaten for, all so us greedy, selfish Americans can enjoy a nice candy bar. With all of this information and sickening facts, there was no way I was able to eat that second piece of chocolate; defiantly not in that moment. I will admit, I have had chocolate since watching that video but it did make me think of the men who had slaved over making this for me somewhere in the world rather than just shoving in down my throat. This video was a very inspiring video for me that really opened my eyes. Sometimes us Americans think that nothing is every wrong in the world, or what other countries do does not effect us directly. But producing chocolate, something that us American’s treasure, does affect us. How it was made does affect us and we should be more conscious of what is happening around the world rather than just what is happening in our neck of the woods.

I think that when people speak another language around me I do feel uncomfortable a bit but mostly it is when I am around strangers who speak in another language that I feel the most uncomfortable. I think the man thing that makes me feel uncomfortable with them speaking a different language around me is because I always feel like they are talking about me. It’s like the classic nail salon example. When your sitting in a nail salon for over an hour getting your nails done, and even though they know how to speak English and just choose to speak Chinese or Japanese, it makes you feel like they are just talking about how gross your nails are, or that you will never find a boyfriend or something. It always makes me more nervous than uncomfortable.
I think the reason why not only myself, but other people of my generation feel this way because when we hear a different language aside from English, it is automatically instinct to think it is abnormal, strange or just out of the ordinary, just because we are used to predominately hearing English. I think another reason aside from, it’s the norm, and we don’t want anyone talking behind our backs, is because we don’t understand what they are saying, so it is frustrating. Even when you think about someone who has just a heavy accent even when they are speaking English and when you try and communicate and you can’t understand what they are saying, it is frustrating. Language is a very personal, fulfilling and great tool to utilize but when you don’t have the tools to speak another language, understand someone, or communicate with them, it serves as more barriers than helpfulness. I think whoever we are, whatever race we are, whatever culture we are from, we always feel a little biased towards whatever are; we feel that our kind is superior to other races and cultures. So when we hear a different language we immedantly feel resistant to them just because we are uncomfortable and it is something we are not familiar with.
Language- something that seem so small in every day life really is a big deal. I always thought about studying abroad and the one place I always wanted to travel to was to Italy. But I would never be able to be awhile from home for an entire semester, in a different culture where they don’t speak English for that long. I would become way to frustrated. And that is why I always say if I were to ever study abroad for a long period of time I would go somewhere where everyone spoke English just because it would make my time in another country’s culture that much more easy for me.

I do not think hanging out with people of a different race makes them a poser. If anything I think it just makes them less of their actual race, which I guess could be a good thing or a bad thing. For example, I grew up in a primarily white area so everyone in my high school was pretty much white. But the few blacks friends and students at our school, we wouldn’t even think twice about them being black because they are the like “white black.” In other works they don’t act black so they are like white black kids. For example one of my best friends in high school was black but if we were talking about who was black at our school and someone were to say that he was, the normal response would be, “he doesn’t count.” I don’t think by hanging out with white people makes them a poser. A person’s friends are their friends, no matter what. There is no avoiding that, and if you were to label someone for hanging out in a different racial group, that would just be discriminating. I think they can hang out with whoever they want to and are probably just more comfortable around those group of people, not even by bringing race into the picture. I think if anything it just the minority conforming to the majority and wanting to fit in. Also I would probably just think that the people who is a different race than everyone else in his or her group of friends were just nice and friendly as opposed to being a “poser.” Which technically if you were to look up what the definition of what a poser was, I guess it is someone who tries to be someone they are not, but when I personally think of the word poser I think of it as a negative slur and slanged word that I particularly wouldn’t call anyone just because I do not like the word. So honestly I would just consider the minority person as a outgoing and nice person, nothing negative. I think this question and my response proves how far along we have come as a society and a culture and how we are just coming to terms with racial inequality and trying to put it to rest. Sometimes I think we all think of race as the basis for all problems or differences in the world, instead of just letting things be as they are and not interpreting every since person by how they talk, act, walk, and who they hang out with. It really shouldn’t be a question of if that person is a poser or not, it should be a question of, why do they feel more comfortable with someone of a different race? I think that would be an interesting discussion.

I think we use racial labels because sometimes it is necessary. Sometimes the only way to describe the one black person in the room when you don’t know their name is by saying “the black kid.” We use them all the time from everything as specific as “the black kid” “the Mexican” “the Korean girl” “the Indian” to saying something more surpressed such as “the kid who wears the thing on his head.” By saying these words and putting these “labels” on them, we are just using descriptive words and trying to be as specific as possible without any confusion. For instance if I was talking about a girl in my class and all I could tell you was that she had blue eyes….. if I was the other person in this conversation I would be like “sweettttt sooooo many people have blue eyes. Probably at least half of the class has blue eyes.” Now I could get a lot more specific by saying the white girl with blue eyes or the black girl with blue eyes. It really narrows down the potential number of people I could be possibly talking about. Although I do thing these racial labels are very helpful and handy in certain situations, I also think that with this in mind, we need to remember to use them in a positive light and not with a negative undertone to them. This is why Sam was saying we should avoid to use them in certain situations. When a racial label is put upon the stereotype, which just isn’t true all the time, that’s why these racial labels become bad. I think that at this point in our culture and how our society is today, I feel like we use these racial labels more than ever. I feel like we use them even when we are not. Look at any comedy skit, anything from celebrities mouths or even sometimes politicians or just any of the people around you and you can see the use of these racial labels in full force. I mean it is pretty hard not to make a joke about the Mexican mowing the lawn or the all-star black athlete who can dunk the ball. Although currently right now I would say we think as the term “racial labels” as being racist or rude, or just something mean that shouldn’t be used, I feel that we are beginning to turn a corner with how we view the meaning of “racial labels.” Because as I described above racial labels really aren’t bad, and they are more descriptive and helpful than they are hurtful most of the time. I feel like more sooner than later everyone will be on the boat with that idea and we will “racial labels” as beneficial in “certain situations.”

I think this is a very interesting question. I think girls dress the way they do because they want to grab someone’s attention. Most girls that I know would not think they would be able to grab a man’s attention if they were wearing sweats and a sweatshirt for example. So girls dress up to grab a guy’s attention. But I think they only dress that way for that purpose. Once they grab the man’s attention they want to be treated as the question states “a different way than they dress.” They want respect, and everything else that goes along with that. Basically you could think of the way they dress as a “hook” – a way to drawn your attention and get you interested. But the real meat everything and who that girl is isn’t in what she is wearing, but the person she is in the inside. Another reason I believe girls dress the way they dress is because it is the college norm. Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t they? I know as a girl, I feel that if I were to just wear jeans I would be an outsider and wouldn’t feel as sexy or hot that night because of all the little girls around me in their cute dresses and skirts or whatever. It is part of the college culture to dress up all cute, wear your “fratet” to the party, freeze our butts off until we get some drinks in our body so we are actually somewhat warm. So its not just to grab a guys attention but it is also just part of the place we are right now in our lives – at penn state. Another thing to bring into account is…. Isn’t this what guys actually want to see? Won’t guys go after the hot dressing girl in a tight small dresses as opposed to girls in the jeans just looking like they are about to go to class. I think we also dress the way we dress going out at night because that is what we believe the guys want to see, and nevertheless what they are expecting to see. That may sound very low and stereotypical, but isn’t that the truth. If any guy told me I could actually wear $1 old navy flipflops, sweats and a t-shirt to a party I would say they are lying. They want to see the girls in these skimpy outfits because if they can why wouldn’t they. Being at college is the one time we can actually just dress completely however we want to because we don’t have to see parents or adult figures, so why not take the opportunity to do just that, because that’s what everyone else is doing and what we think will draw in a guy’s attention.

Okay, so I have a lot to say about this topic, without saying anything at all. Everyone knows as a freshmen, when you go to a frat you wear the sexiest outfit, highest heels and …. You get the picture. But why do we do this all if we are so uncomfortable all the time, complaining about how our heels hurt and so on. Women defiantly wear these “short shirks’ and “high heels” because they feel that is what is going to have the opposite sex become attracted to you… and honestly outside of school, everyone is looking for that one mate, or person they could potentially spend the rest of their life with?! So girls sacrifice their comfort by wearing clothes and dresses because one, that is what is expected of them at the college level, and two, it is what they have to do in order to “survive” in the party, college, frat life that is offered not only at Penn state but so many other universities. Men have a different expectation than women. I feel that if a guy were to go to a party in sweats and a t shirt nothing would really matter or change the opinion in the girl…but if a girl would ever do that, they probably wouldn’t be shown the time of day because they “didn’t look good”. There is defiantly different expectations for men and women and I feel that men have more harsh expectations as well as punishments for their clothing options or behavioral options. As I was looking at other comments about this topic and how some people think it is solely a choice for women to wear these outfits, it truly is not. Some sororities and club sport teams actually have a dress code with the notion that you have to wear heels or you have to wear a skirt, or you have to wear a dress… even with these requirements, most girls obey these rules without even being told to do so, because they believe this is what guys truly want. Honestly I can not say what guys want but from everything I have heard…. These statements are true. Girls want to show off their bodies and all in all want to find that potential mate they are supposed to find and spend the rest of their lives with them. They feel that although this may not be appropriate it is what is expected of the female gender so why not just follow the trend? They want to show off their bodies to earn the guy? Who wouldn’t?
The only thing that gets me thinking is about the guy perspective. IS this what they wanted? Am I just a random hook up? All questions that would be answered by this question.

If I was a different race I do not think it would change my usage of illicit drugs. Just because I was a different race, I don’t think it would influence me to be more pro or against drugs more or less. What I could see happening is the environment I grew up in and the “factors and forces that influence us” that Sam talked about in class on Tuesday making a difference. Those factors or forces, such as where I lived and people I grew up around would make me into a different person than the person I am today; hence changing my perspective on using drugs or not. I think race isn’t the major reason in this but the environment and upbringings of children. It has to do with culture factors as well. In lecture, Sam said how Native American’s seemed to have high drug uses as well besides white people, but what about their traditions and culture of smoking and being with nature – culture has a lot to do with drugs and the spiritual journey that Native Americans value at ceremonies for instance. Therefore because of these listed reasons above I could possibly be getting more into drugs but not because of what race I was. For instance, If I lived smack in the middle of Philadelphia in a ghetto, dangerous, violent neighborhood maybe using or even selling drugs would be different; maybe it would even be the norm to get by. But for instance now, I grew up in a upper middle class working, primarily white, suburban area where drugs were just not something we or heard about as much. Of course drugs were there, I am not naïve to think they weren’t, but it was never like “that was the thing everyone was doing” kind of outlook on using drugs. I thought it was an interesting discussion and lection on Tuesday however how there are parallels between drug use and race. In class surprisingly whites actually use most drugs. Where I would have thought that Blacks would pronominally be using more. As Sam would probably say, ‘whites have it so good, why are they using them?’ (I agree) . Why do us as whites want to do illicit drugs. Look at the facts, we can hand in identical resumes with a black and pretty much know we are going to get the job. I mean we could even get a job over Blacks if we had a criminal history on our file. It is just interesting to think about. But for this question, I guess it will be something that I will never actually know if I would do more drugs if I was a different race because I am not planning to change my race at any time during my life.

So I watched a few videos of entrepreneurs and one that just really stuck in my mind was the video of Madame Lamour. Madame Lamour was the woman who used both real and fake flowers to make bouquets for special occasions. One special occasion she took part in that was brought up a lot was weddings. She not only makes flower bouquets but she also makes other things for the wedding’s such as the bride’s veils. When we think of American weddings we think of this big, grand, lavish weddings or I think of the TV show “say yes to the dress.” What probably left the lasting impression for me on this video was that when we think of underdeveloped or under deprived places, such as Haiti, the first thing I would think of would not be these glamorous, grand weddings. If fact, if I did not see this video of Madame Lamour I would have thought a wedding in Haiti would consist of every day clothes, nothing out of the ordinary and maybe just a few flowers they were able to find in the yard that morning. (sorry if that is mean or naïve to say) But what amazes me is that Madame Lamour actually has special orders coming in for her product just like any place in the United States who is providing merchandise for a wedding. This just shows that if some small bouquets in the united states can make out with their small businesses, why can’t she? Why can’t she even do this outside of Haiti but in other countries around her and maybe, even, one day bring her business to the United States, as the girl in the video mentioned. Even if she wouldn’t come to the United States, why not video chat once the internet is available or have a website people could place orders at? Cause I think that would be awesome. I think she could be even bigger than she thinks if she just had the space available to her (which she didn’t mention), which would offer more skilled workers (such as herself and current staff, who to me sound – awesome at everything they do since they are fast, efficient and detailed oriented workers) and with the bigger flow of income hopefully she would be able to buy materials in bulk. (which she actually asked for). I think this is a matter of more than just getting materials in bulk. Her products are so beautiful and she really is like a mini wedding planner, taking special orders and meeting with the bride – why can’t she expand herself? And not just with Madame Lamour but with the rest of the entrepreneur’s videos I watched, I think it is just so sad. You can tell how hard they work to start a business that truly does mean something to them but since their environmental supplies and their lack of modernization won’t allow for growth, their businesses suffer. I think at points these people seem more dedicated to their business than people in the united states are about some of their own jobs. So good for these entrepreneurs to taking a risk and starting a business – they should deserve just a little more than what they have. This project will be a good learning experience, even if we don't directly help Haiti, maybe just as citizens of the United States, maybe we will appreciate everything that is readily available to us.