I have to admit that I do have preconceived notions about all prisoners in general. I mean, why are they in prison to begin with, let alone this one a lifer? My personal opinion is that these are bad people that did bad things, thus they are in prison for a reason. However, I do think people can change, in this case, realizing their faults, and trying to make the best out of an extremely negative experience in prison, with no hope for release. I guess when you are in that situation, you have a decision to make. Since you're not going anywhere, you can remain the person you were when you committed a crime, or you can change to become a productive member of (a secluded) society. It's great that this man, along with other fellow prisoners, give blood, write letters, donate money and share their compassion with others. Those are all honorable acts and should be recognized for their positive impact somewhere along the line. However, it makes me wonder, if these people never committed murder or other such acts that ended them up in prison, would they ever be doing these things to help others later in life? A large part of me doesn't think so.

I agree with this student's posting, and I think its really important to put some of these natural disasters and nation wide devastation in context. 300,000 people is a huge number, yet, I don't think too many people know that that many people died in Haiti. I sure didn't, before our guest speaker told us in class on Tuesday. I don't think that people are ignorant to this fact because they don't care, rather I think it can be attributed to the fact that because we don't see it and Haiti is not being pushed in our faces everyday, we don't react as fast. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil; it's practically the same context. The media coverage of Haiti has slowed down recently and as a result, it seems like things are being handled well and Haiti is regaining stability. Unfortunately, from what we learned on Tuesday, this is not the case, although hopes for the nation seem high. We have seen this happen in America with Hurricane Katrina too. It's a hard concept to bring back home, but it helps to hear personal stories about the real situation, accompanied by the statistics, to put everything in perspective again and try to make a difference in any way we can.

It's really crazy to see how Haitians are now living life after the devastating quake, 3 months later. From my little understanding of how economically depressed Haiti was before the quake, it doesn't seem that their people are living in conditions that are much different. I feel as if the main difference between Haiti pre-quake and the Haiti post-quake is now, there is a greater lack of direction, of any sort. With almost all infrastructure collapsing, any structure surrounding routines and organization within the nation collapsed at the same time. From this video, what I find most shocking of all, is the fact that the people of Haiti are coming to terms about how their life has changed, and actually are coping with it. The tent cities are becoming locations where economic development has started to spur. I was in disbelief to see how the one woman recovered some of her spa equipment and is now running her old business right out of her tent- and has real customers that are supporting her! In the midst of all the disaster, devastation, and destruction, to see Haitian women getting pedicures is really telling that these people are truly resilient. If the earthquake in Haiti instead happened in America, people would be spending the little money they had to rebuild their home s and reconstruct their lives to regain a sense of normality and probably not spending it on spa treatments. People are trying to earn a living my offering basic services, that might have been taken for granted before the quake struck. For example, the video showed the one man charging a small fee for a cell phone for charging, or to watch a movie. People spend their days to dig up valuables that are buried in the earthquake ruins, try to salvage whatever they can in order to find a way to profit off of it in the tent camp. Because people are living without so many of the staple necessities they had before, it seems like the tent cities are communities in which everyone is willing to help and share with each other, while simultaneously trying to conduct business.
I do give a lot of credit to these people, and admire them for trying to make the best out of the absolute worst that has happened to them. I really do think this is the beginning of a promising future for Haiti. Although there is much work to be done there, building a sense of community and economic stability is the start of a bright future. It’s enlightening to think that while their buildings and homes collapsed and hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, the Haitian entrepreneurial spirit never died.

First off, Christianity isn't the largest religion in the world- Islam is. I happen to disagree with this post completely- it is not a "ridiculous statement". Sam's lecture today opened up a whole other perspective to me about the War in the Middle East. In your post, you are saying that you "understand" why people think Christians want to take over the world because there are many different types of Christianity and it is such a widespread religion. However, thats a completely different argument than what Sam was saying today. He was trying to get our class to understand, as a group of Americans, what the Arab Muslim people must think of the Christian American Invaders coming into their country, trying to rob their resources, and convert their people. It's not about how large and dominant a religion is, it is about wanting control by conversion- the conversion of Iraqui controlled oil to American controlled oil. I think you are missing the point here, no one is saying Christianity is wrong, rather Sam is trying to point out the strong correlation of Christian-American influence on the War in the Middle East.

Yes, we are all the same being women- we have the same parts in the same places and share many similarities regarding features, feelings, and views on certain issues. However, being that women come in many shapes and sizes, it has become increasingly more popular to want whatever you don't naturally have. Logically, this is the most direct cause of womens' eating disorders, plastic surgery, or frivolous spending of money to keep up with certain styles of fashion or other applicable trends. We can't help being at a constant exposure to magazines with "perfect people" on the covers- perfect hair, perfect bodies, perfect clothes- everything. I agree that it is disgraceful to feel such a strong urge to want to be like these people we see in the media, however I can not help myself but wanting to do the same thing. For me, being a woman is trying to find the right balance between who we are, and who we want to be, without having to resort to drastic measures.

Being female also, I agree in the fact that I do not think that men feel they need to conform to society as much as women do. However, I wouldn't be too quick to negate the fact that men do not conform to society. To better refine this theory, I would feel more comfortable saying that men do not conform in the same ways that women do. Most women strictly follow trends surrounding fashion, beauty, diets, parties, TV shows, etc. Even though men aren't typically the gender to try and conform to things in popular culture, I do believe that men conform in their own ways, to fit in with the male, "macho" culture. Let's take fraternities for example. Most frat guys want to wear the same types of clothes- i.e. stereotypical "preppy frats" will wear vineyard vines clothing, loafers, and khaki pants. If not stereotyping a specific frat, we can just go with the simple fact that most frat guys will all have lettered sweatshirts, wear hats, and drink all day whenever they have the chance. Even though we don't think of this type of conformity as the "norm" when comparing it to the type of conformity women take part in, it fits the qualifications none the less.
It is a stereotype in itself to think that men everywhere have an interest in sports. This is just another example of the male gender trying to "fit in" with other males. In some cases, certain males who don't like a certain sport, or even sports in general, will not pass up an opportunity to go to the bar and watch the game or even go to the game if they are invited to do so with a group of guys. For example, my friend is a huge football and baseball fan, but is really not interested in hockey. On a few occasions, he was invited to go to the Philadelphia Flyer's games with a few of his friends from school and he went anyway, just because it was an opportunity to do some "male bonding". To me, this sounds like conformity.
In general, I don't think its true that males don't conform. They absolutely are "guilty" of it, it just is a different type of assimilation to society than women are "guilty" of. I think women are found conforming to society and popular culture more often just because the types of things they assimilate to are on the surface (and the fact that women generally like to gossip and talk about everything they are doing to keep up with the latest trends). To me, this is just looking at one other of the millions of reasons males and females differ.

Ew, ew, and ew. Is this actually real? Honestly, I never thought anything like this would ever reach the public. Of course, I am sure this idea has simmered in the minds of some individuals and talked about out loud here and there, but to actually produce and play a video game such as this is something that I would never think would happen. How has this video game even gone public in today's modern society? How is the Japanese government not taking a stronger stand about banning this game from the market? I admit to not knowing too much about Japanese culture and the video gaming industry, but I do not see how this form of entertainment can be accepted by any culture. Its degrading, repulsive, and horrifying. These types of interactive video gaming programs easily can easily become the latest and greatest trends as the American culture has seen before with Nintendo 64, Playstation, and now the Wii. If these types of video games that exemplify images of raping women become trendy in the United States, how will our culture and view towards women be affected? I believe that if these video games catch on to various people, like they are doing now through the internet, our society can be in serious trouble- adding to the variety of social problems we already have.
I am really trying to understand the good in these gaming programs, and I just can't. Because I can't think of any practical answer, all I can think were just a number of questions that keep running through my mind when I watched that video such as, What kind of sick-o thought of this disgusting idea of raping women via a TV or computer screen? Who are they marketing this product to? Other perverted people? Are all Japanese people perverted? I wonder if this a common occurrence in Japan? If so, does the government not see this as a problem? What is being done about this tragedy? I honestly don't know what to think at this point. This form of a degrading entertainment is beyond me.
I have to admit, I am speaking only from one side. For someone like me, a woman, who has no interest nor experience with video games, it is natural and predictable for me to react this way. I am completely uneducated about the video gaming industry, and as much as it pains me to say it, there may be other incentives in which I am unaware of, of how a rape video game was introduced to the Japanese marketplace. However, having said that, I am still taken way aback by the release of this game onto the internet, and the exposure it is getting internationally via the internet. I am scared to see this game overcome some of its obstacles and be released in stores nearby.

This is an awesome question that I think a lot of people have been asking of themselves and others this entire semester. A lot of the time when I'm sitting in class, I constantly ask myself, "What am I doing here? This is so boring and a waste of time". A part of me thinks this because it's true, but a larger part is thinking it because it is my last class of the day after 4 hours of class beforehand. The fact of the matter is, this is an interesting class and it has taught me a lot- I just hate physically sitting in the class. Most topics are culturally taboo, and I don't think I could have had some of the discussions about race and ethnic relations anywhere else in my life, except for in this classroom. If Sam taught me one thing this semester (so far), it would be insight on to what other races are thinking you are thinking. For example, I am white and don't have too much interaction with other races, especially black people (and yes, I now say "black people" more openly and don't feel obligated to say "African-American" to be politically correct). While I am always striving to be politically correct, or conscious of the words that I am saying in front of different people not to be offensive, I have realized that no one really appreciates it (well, at least not in this setting). If I am asked to state my opinion or explain how I really feel about something, I shouldn't have to hold myself back and take time to think of appropriate wording about some things. No matter what race we all are, we have gone through some stages of racial identity, and feel certain ways about certain issues involving race. If the opportunity presents itself to voice an opinion, then we should be able to express ourselves freely using vocabulary that demonstrates how we feel individually, not how we think others want us to express ourselves.

Before watching this video and hearing Sam lecture a little on the 2010 Census, I never knew how little I was educated on the subject. From watching the CNN video, I realized that I was not alone. Race in itself is a very confusing topic, and the composition of America today is making an individual's race harder and harder to identify. More of the population of the United States today is multi-racial, multi-cultural, and people are composed of many different ethnicities (hence America being a "melting pot").
I agree with Sam was he was explaining that the Census department is not a bunch of idiots, this is their job to study how people identify racially/ethnically/culturally. Because the Census has to be able to communicate with literally every single person living in the United States, they must list everything and anything that people will potentially classify themselves as, even if that unfortunately has to offend many people of ethnic and cultural groups along the way. As Sam was explaining, older generations of African Americans and black people will generally think of themselves as Negros in terms of how they think the government or other white people will see them. The problem is that younger generations of people today do not understand that, just like I didn't understand that when I first came across this blog post. Although I am white, if I were to be black or African-American, for example, and I saw the term Negro on the Census sheet, I would 100% be offended. It would only be until after reading an article such as this or becoming more educated on how the Census is formed, the resources and research that are put into its composition, would I realize that the term is not meant to be an offensive or derogatory marker of identification to my race. Unfortunately, not everyone in the United States has taken a course on Race and Ethnic Relations, and is unaware that any this logic exists behind every question on the Census.
I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have more of the US population educated on the Census. Although it comes out every ten years, there is a lot of work, money (about $400 billion), and time that has gone into making it as accurate, understandable, and flexible as possible to communicate with every type of person living in this country. If more of our nation was educated on the processes behind collecting Census data and the logic associated with the types of questions it asks, more people of ethnic, racial, and religious groups would understand when terminology such as "negro" are being listed as a type of race, thus repressing anger and controversy.

I am not so sure I agree with this. Like the article said, it will not be long until the majority of Americans, meaning whites, becoming the minority. However, I feel that the effects of this change in demography will not be felt by everyone everywhere, and it will be geographically concentrated to areas in which minority communities are most populated- such as urban areas, major cities, and their suburbs. I do not think that the white race is dying out, rather that other races in the United States are just growing at slightly higher rate than whites. I have already begun to witness this when I am home. I live in New Jersey in a suburb outside Philadelphia. When I go to my local mall, I already feel like the minority. There are Hispanic families everywhere, and many blacks as well. However, when we are all living in State College for 8 months out of the year, which we all know is a dominant white area, we can often forget that many areas of the country could be so diverse.