I have a difficult time understanding people who safely remain in their box. Life in the perimeters of a box seems plain boring to me. I seek adventure and novelty. However, I understand that most people are not like this. Most people have apprehension when it comes to trying something new. What stops them from this? Fear. Fear of the unknown. Sam brought up the issue of trying new foods. I LOVE ethnic food. I will pick obscure ethnic food over a burger and fries any day. Indonesian food? Egyptian cuisine? I love it all. However, if I was not raised with the mindset of always looking to try new things, I know I would not be this way. When I was younger, I had a very narrow mind when it came to food and trying new things in general. I would only eat pasta with butter sauce and bland steamed broccoli. I was PETRIFIED of red sauce, ham and cheese sandwiches, apple sauce...basically every normal food that every other kid liked, I was afraid of. This was not going to fly in my household. My mother has a passion for trying new food and discovering new “off the beaten track” cuisine. My mom quickly snapped me out of my pasta with butter sauce phase by forcing me to try absolutely everything at least three times. Low and behold, it worked. I now am the most adventurous eater out of all of my friends, and I would say more than most Americans. And boy am I glad that my mother enforced these adventurous eating habits on me, because I would be missing out on so many wonderful foods.
That is why I feel it is so sad when I am around my friends who are afraid to order anything on a menu besides mac and cheese or a burger. There are so many delicious foods out there to be discovered! But if they were not taught to WANT to try everything and anything when they were younger, than chances are they are not going to start now. Fear keeps many people from going out of their comfort zone. When my friends I are want to go out to eat, they suggest the all American corner room or Chiles. Why? Because these are places of familiarity. They know what is on the menu, and feel a sense of comfort by this. But me? My favorite restaurants in State College are Indian Pavillion and Cosi Thai. Over the past three years, I have encouraged my friends to try these ethnic restaurants with me. After some reluctance, they tried it...and they loved it! I feel that everyone can exit their safe little box if they are pushed to do so. Sadly, many people never receive that push. I couldn’t imagine how bland my life would be if my mother did not make sure to spice it up for me. Literally.

From a personal standpoint, I am a white female and I do not think it is difficult to approach/ get intimate with a person from a different race. However, I do know that my perspective on interracial dating/intimacy is rather unique compared to most people in our culture.
I am very open to interracial dating and intimacy because I grew up in an extremely diverse town. It was the norm for black guys to date white girls, white girls to date Indian guys, etc. The first boy I kissed was black. My first boyfriend was black. In my town, nobody looked at my interracial relationship as anything obscure or strange because it wasn’t. In fact, it made me especially attracted to black and hispanic guys.
However, my freshman year of high school I moved from my very diverse town to an all white town. I was the “new girl.” Not only was I tagged the “new girl,” but I quickly became the “new girl dating the black guy.” I immediately became very close to a guy named Jamal in my new school. Within 3 months of attending my new and unfamiliar high school, I was dating him. I was told that I have “jungle fever” by boys who teased me, and girls would make comments about my unique taste in guys. The comments were not necessarily mean or spiteful, but rather ignorant and blind.
As I got older and spent more time in my new white environment, I became less and less attracted to black and hispanic guys. I dated my first white guy at the end of my sophomore year. Since then, I have not dated another black guy. I guess my tastes in men subconsciously conformed to society’s norms. However, till this day I support and fully embrace interracial intimacy and dating. I would not be opposed to dating a black guy again, or even marrying one. However, generally speaking I am simply more attracted to other men of my own race.
My personal accounts with interracial dating prove that it is pressure from society that makes us afraid to date others of a different race. To directly answer the question posed in the video, white girls are afraid to get intimate with a black guy because it is the unknown. A majority of white girls have never been intimate with a black guy, so they are afraid to try something new. Fear of the unknown, paired with the pressures from society to date people who are like you help us understand why many white girls are afraid to talk to black guys, and visa versa. However, if societal norms were the same everywhere as the town that I grew up in, there would be no racial divider in dating and intimacy.

For the record, I would like to preface that I do not believe that being gay is a choice. I believe you are born with your sexual orientation. However, it is the individuals choice whether they allow themselves to ACT on their sexual orientation. For instance, there are many people born gay that live in denial there entire lives. They will get married to a spouse of the opposite sex, have kids, and remain in the closet for eternity. It is their CHOICE to appear straight, but live a lie.
I would like to challenge those out there that believe homosexuality is purely based on choice. Because, what fires choice? Innate personal preference. For instance, I love spicy foods. My family does not, so I was not raised on spicy foods. I was born with a taste buds that can handle spicy foods, therefore, I CHOOSE to put hot sauce on my food. Which came first? My innate desire to eat spicy food. Similarly, gay people are born with the innate personal preference of liking significant others of the same sex. Therefore, they CHOOSE to listen to this innate desire.
Referring back to Sam’s question, I feel that people attribute homosexuality to choice as a method of justification. It is a scapegoat to explain societal deviation. For instance, Christian’s believe that homosexuality is a sin. One who commits a sin CHOOSES to commit the sin. Someone who steals was not born a thief, but CHOOSES to steal. Someone who commits adultery is not born a cheater, but CHOOSES to cheat. This similarly goes for gay people. Those who believe in these Christian values have an easier time explaining gay preferences by justifying it with choice. People are not born sinful, but choose to be sinful. Here is my question to Christians and others who believe this method of thought: If it was a commonly known fact that gays were born gay, would homosexuality still be considered a sin?
Veering away from the Christian perspective-- In class we mentioned that the most homophobic people are often times gay themselves. Often, these “in the closet” homophobes believe in the choice train of thought. I can take an educated guess, and assume that these homophobes attribute homosexuality to choice to deny the notion that they could have been born gay. It is a form of self denial. If gay people in denial of their homosexuality believe that choice is the what dictated a persons sexuality, then they can justify that they are not gay, because they are not choosing to be gay. As a whole, those who attribute choice to sexuality are looking for an easy shortcut to explain why people are deviant from societal norms.

Two summers ago, I traveled to Israel for 10 days on a program called Birthright. During these 10 days, my life was changed. Not only was my perspective of Israeli culture and the Middle Eastern conflict changed, but my view of the Israeli people. I had the very unique and special opportunity to spend my 10 days in Israel with 5 incredible Israeli natives. However, these Israeli natives were not just people born and raised in Israel. They were current Israeli soldiers, enrolled in the Israeli Army, and being sent across the border to fight in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. For those unfamiliar with Birthright, each trip, consisting of 40 Jewish-American young adults, is sent to Israel for free. The trip is intended to acquaint young Jewish people with Israeli culture, beyond what is seen on the television. The program assigns 5 Israeli soldiers to travel with a designated group throughout the 10 days. However, the only time these soldiers are in uniform is when the first day when they arrive, and on the last day when they leave. Other than that, they are just there to enjoy the trip with us. They are there to be our friends, and get a taste of American culture as we are getting a taste of Israeli culture.
During the course of these 10 quick days, I did not only get to know these foreign soldiers; I built incredibly strong friendships with them that have lasted us over two years now.
Before going to Israel, I let the media shape my idea of what Israeli soldiers were like. I knew that they were young, around my age group. But that’s the extent to which I thought I could ever relate to them. I thought they would be rigid, aggressive and stern. I was afraid of them. I did not know why. Probably because I knew that they killed people and were in constant battle the minute they turned 18. I am not exactly sure what kind of stereotype I had of them, I just assumed they would be very different from me. Scary. But within the first 2 minutes of meeting them, all of my fears quickly wilted away. As an introductory game, we all set in a big circle. We all went around and said our name, a fun fact, and our favorite thing to do in our free time. The first soldier stood up. With a heavy accent, he began “my name is Dor Matzafi. I am 19, I am obsessed with the television show Friends and want to marry Jennifer Aniston, and in my free time, I love to dance;” And then proceeded to bust out in his favorite dance move. Two years later, and he is one of my closest friends.
My contact with the Israeli soldiers made me realize that everybody is alike. Whether we come from different sides of the world, have different accents, different skin color, different paths in life...we are all people.We all just like to laugh, share stories, eat good food, dance, and of course, have fun.

I always considered myself to be a very accepting, non-judgmental, non-appearance based person. When asked in class if I thought I was prejudiced, I consciously answered “No.” Well, twenty minutes into class I quickly discovered I have been living a lie. I am prejudiced. I try not to judge a book by its cover, but I do. It’s a subconscious response to judge a book by its cover. Now, I would never look at the first black guy shown in the video with the dreads, hat and headphones and say, “I don’t want to be friends with him because of the way he looks.” However, when compared to the white female that is shown after him, I might say that she looks more approachable. I compare this back to what was discussed in class. I am a white female. I find it more comfortable to approach another white female, than I do a black male. Now, this does not mean I do not want to talk to them, find out who they are, and what there story is. This just means I’d be more hesitant to do so.
I find it rather difficult to measure our prejudice by looking at these individuals in the video. It is easy to say that the first two black guys look more mean and tough than the white girl dressed in the cardigan. Someone who is looking for a racial explanation to this can attribute it to skin color, the way each individual is dressed, and the way they are sitting. But the first thing I noticed in making my judgement was each individuals facial expression. I noticed that interestingly, all of the black guys had a “What are you looking at me for” expression on their face. Meanwhile, the white girl and older white woman both had bashful smiles on their faces. Without knowing what skin color each individual is, by my description who sounds more approachable? The people who are frowning, or smiling? Obviously, the people who are smiling seem more friendly, nice, and approachable. Coincidentally, these people happen to be the white women, similar to myself. However, when I compare the white male with the other black males, the white male looks more approachable. I still attribute this to his facial expression. His eye and mouth expression look softer to me than the expressions of the black males. This makes me wonder; Was facial expressions part of the experiment? Or were their facial expressions naturally like this when filmed?
It is very difficult to not judge a book by its cover, partially due to latent prejudiced. Evidently, I would feel more easy to talk to another white woman similar to myself. I would then go to the white male, before I approach these black males. However, I truly believe that if the black males (at least one of them) were smiling, this would change my interpretation. So how about we do another experiment, with the white individuals frowning and the black individuals smiling? I feel these results would be very interesting.

Affirmative Action has effected my life, but not in the conventional way one would thinks it would. When the phrase “Affirmative Action” is used, it is traditionally associated with race. For instance, less privileged Black and Hispanic kids are bused into upper class white neighborhoods to receive a better education. Certain minorities are offered financial scholarships to enable them to attend higher education. There are many examples of how minorities benefit from traditional affirmative action. However, I also feel that affirmative action is partially used to diversify a given institution “because it should,” and to fit a quota. Whatever its motives, affirmative action is benefitting a minority group for the better. Or is it?
In a sense, I benefitted from affirmative action. If one were to look at me from an external perspective, they would ask “how in the world could you benefit from affirmative action?” I am a white, upper middle class citizen from a suburb of NYC. However, I believe that I did not benefit from affirmative action in the traditional sense. Not by means of my color of my skin, or my religious background, but because of my interests. I am a Broadcast Journalism major in Schreyer’s. Over eighty percent of Schreyer’s students have engineering or medical based majors. According to the statistics, my SAT scores were at the very bottom of the standard Schreyer’s acceptance score. I was also below average for my GPA. Granted, I went above and beyond with my extracurriculars in High School. Maybe I don’t give myself enough credit, but I attribute a large amount of why I got accepted to Schreyer’s because of my major. Schreyer’s had a quota of Communication’s majors to fit, and so I, “the minority, less privileged” applicant got accepted. This is ultimately the same concept as traditional affirmative action, isn’t it?
The way others view my acceptance into Schreyer’s is from an affirmative action standpoint. My friends joke around and say that if they were a communications major, they might get into Schreyer’s as well. People commonly think I was given my acceptance because my interests strike the minority pool of Schreyer’s applicants. In a sense, it is reverse discrimination. Why should I get in over a more eligible applicant, just because my major? (Now, of course I’m not complaining!! Just playing devils advocate...)
Applying my nontraditional experience of affirmative action makes me think: What are the true motives of affirmative action? Is it to truly help less privileged minorities in need? Or, is it to fill an institutions’ quota of diversity? Should we just entirely disregard the motives of affirmative action, if in the end it is doing a good thing? I feel that affirmative action is great in giving minorities an opportunity they wouldn’t have otherwise, but are others who are more deserving being skipped over in the process?

Ever since I could understand the concept of college, I knew I would be going. There is not one person in my family who has not attended college. Additionally, I always knew I would be going away to college. When I was younger, I thought that college meant the same for everybody. After high school, everyone leaves home and goes away to college. Not doing well in school was not an option for me. Or at least, that is how I felt. My mom would always say to me; “Casie, don’t you want to get an A on your homework so you can get into any college that you want?” That is the mindset that I grew up with. When my childhood best friend wanted to play after school, my mom would say, “not until you are done with your homework. Then you can play all you want.” Meanwhile, I would get mad at my mother and not understand why my best friend could play right after school, and I could not.
Currently, my childhood best friend is at a community college, and I am in the Schreyer Honors College here at Penn State. Some would attribute this to determinism. I was predetermined to be born into a family that raised me with a strict work ethic and a value for education, while my best friend was predetermined to attend community college. Or, one could look at these outcome as free will. I have studies my whole life to get A’s on tests, while she has made minimal effort and breezed through her classes with a C+.
However, I do not attribute my success here at Penn State to one or another. Both factors play a role into where I am today. Determinism lent me to be born into a supportive, caring, success-driven family. However, I have used my free will to choose to work hard in school to earn where I am today. I could have been born into the same family and rebelled against my parents rigid rules. But, I used my family values as a foundation to get me where I am.
Looking at free will or determinism in relation to my life as black or white seems ridiculous to me. For instance, I believe that I was accepted into Schreyer’s because of my hard work. In high school, I lead a fundraiser for a woman’s shelter that raised $13,000. It was the biggest fundraiser an independent student has ever initiated in my high school’s history. I believe this is what made me stand out in application; thanks to free will. However, I was not accepted into the University of Maryland, which has a much high acceptance rate than the honors program here at Penn State. My free will got me into Schreyer’s, but determinism kept me from going to the University of Maryland. I do believe that my hard work led me to “where I was supposed to be,” because I truly could not imagine myself happier at any other school.

I was not surprised to learn that Asians and whites had the highest household income, while blacks and Hispanics had the lowest. I would attribute this to the neighborhood in which a demographic gravitates towards. For example, Paterson, NJ is a highly populated African American area. It is notoriously recognized in New Jersey as “ghetto.” This means that the crime rate is high, and the household income is low, reinforcing the statistics shown in class. Paterson has poor education because of low funding, which directly correlates with low household income. It is hard for an African American individual growing up in Paterson to rise above their poverty-struck community because they don’t have the tools readily available for them to succeed, like funds for a college degree. I was shocked to learn that the high school in Paterson has its own child day care center, for teen mothers to drop their kids off while they are in school. This also directly correlates with low household income rates. Because it is so common for teen pregnancies in the black community, women have no choice but to not get a higher education because they are strapped down by a child.
The town that I grew up in was extremely diverse. My town was 40% black, 20% Hispanics, and the rest is divided among Whites, Asians and Indians. There were “black neighborhoods,” and “white neighborhoods.” The black neighborhoods consisted of predominantly black and Hispanic families. This was recognized as the poorer side of town. In the white neighborhoods, there were many Jewish families and Asians. This was recognized as the cleaner, safer richer side of town. It is very interesting to look at my old town as an example of the statistics shown in class. The fact that in one town, with one high school, one main street, one super market, etc., can be so segregated by ethnicity and income is sad and bewildering. This example also makes me rethink my proposed idea that income directly correlates with education. The black and Hispanic people in my town are getting the same education as the white and Asian people in my town. Then why is it that there is still such an economic segregation?
Part of me thinks that it is a cultural difference in values. If we examine pop culture, hip hop music always refers to being a part of the ghetto, being “tough,” and struggling in poor neighborhoods. Hip hop music suggests that having a low income and living in the ghetto is “cool” and socially accepted among the minority demographic. On the other end of the spectrum, Asians are notorious for emphasizing education, which directly correlates with household income. Here is my closing thought: If hip hop music and minority culture started focusing on education, would black/Hispanic household income rise?

After discussing the woman at Ohio State University who chose to keep her facial hair, I realized something about myself and society. It frightened me that it has never even crossed my mind to keep my facial/ body hair. When I was in sixth grade I started shaving my legs. It was never a question of “if” I will shave my legs. It was more of a question of “when.” My friends and I all started shaving our legs around the same time, making it a social norm for sixth graders. Now, I am aware that this is a rather early time to have started shaving my legs. However, it seemed normal at the time. This just reinstates the ideal that social norms defies what is normal in our realm of perspective.
With that said, I don’t know if I necessarily agree that men are communicating a certain underlying message about women needing to shave their legs and other hairy areas. Men are merely following social norms. They have grown up with the idea that woman have to shave their legs/underarms etc., and so now that is what we in society see as normal. What is not normal is deemed “unattractive.” So if a man grew up with a mother who was opposed to shaving, there is a large chance that he would feel comfortable having a girlfriend who does not shave. Ultimately, I believe that there is no underlying message when men want their girlfriend to shave. Like Americans see it as rude to eat food with our fingers, men see it as unattractive for women to let their natural hair grow freely.
Women have certain expectations for men too that could be looked at as us communicating a certain message to them. For instance, we expect men to pay for us on a date. But really, why should men have to pay any more than women? Wouldn’t it be more fair and socially just for a man and a woman to split the check? But that is just not the social norms. It is not that I thoroughly believe that a man should be able to financially support my meal. It is that I have grown up with this ideal. Just like men have grown up with the ideal that woman should shave their legs.
I understand how not letting our “all natural” beauty shine by having to suppress our hair can be interpreted as sexist with an underlying societal message. For the record, I fully support and respect women who choose to go against social norms and let their natural hair freely grow. However, I don’t want a man who has a beard down to his chest either. I expect a man to groom his facial hair, so why is it unfair to have women shave their legs?

I feel that it is almost nearly impossible to not “judge a book by its cover.” Based on our clicker activity in class, it is inevitable that everybody does it. We have trained our minds to identify certain characteristics with certain ethnicity. Curly, brown hair with big noses are presumably Jewish people. Slanted eyes, milky skin and straight, jet black hair are Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese people. Course black hair and dark skin are African American people. The list goes on. Based on our guesses in class, we way too often over emphasize the relevance of these characteristics with ones ethnicity. The activity in class definitely made myself, as well as the others I was sitting around, way more aware of prematurely assuming peoples ethnicity.

But here is my question to you. Is it really unavoidable? Whether we are aware of it or not, our minds will always associate familiar characteristics with the presumable group it belongs to. However, now that we are made wary of prematurely assuming others ethnicity, we can be more proactive in FINDING OUT another’s ethnicity before assuming it.

As discussed in class, it is (usually) not offensive to ask another what their ethnicity is. As Sam said, people of color will always be asked “what they are.” It is something that will happen to them their entire life. However, for some reason many white people get apprehensive when asking a person of color what ethnicity they are. It is seen as some unspoken, taboo thing to bring up. But let’s be honest. We all have eyes, and we can all tell when someone looks different from us. When someone asks someone else of a different ethnicity what their ethnicity is, it should not be insulting! Rather, it is inquisitive. And not to mention, a great conversation starter.

I am Jewish. However, my entire life people have guessed I am anything but Jewish. People commonly guess I am Italian, Latina, Middle Eastern, Greek...you name it! But I am never offended when they ask what my ethnicity is. Nor are Latino people offended when I ask them if they are Cuban, when in actuality they are Puerto Rican. From my experience, people actually like talking about their background. This relates back to last weeks conversation. The only way to become comfortable around people who are different from you, is to talk about it. Now that we have been made aware that there are West African people, Indonesian people, Somalian people, etc., and not just Black people, Asian people and Filipino people etc.), we can be more aware of the various different people of the world around us.

The moral of the story? Don’t assume someones ethnicity based on superficial stereotype... Just ask! You might even make a friend out of it.