I was disappointed by the videos that Sam showed of the soldiers doing horrible things to the Iraqis because it is extremely disrespectful and a lot of the people that they are hurting and embarrassing are just normal citizens that have no business being detained. We as americans citizens put pride in our soldiers, and we try to show our support for them, but its hard to want to support people that are doing things to humiliate and harm others. What they did to these Iraqis in the video are against the muslim religion, and these poor men are ashamed of the actions that have been done to them. Its was so hard to watch the videos. When Sam told us to put ourselves in the shoes of the middle eastern people, it really hit home that the people that americans were bombing were innocent people, they are peoples dads, moms, brothers, sisters, neighbors, and thats so scary to think, like what if it was in american that this was happening and it was the other way around? I think that the war is selfish on our part, we are greedy, and its sad to see what we are doing to another country just because we want their oil. So many innocent people are drying in Iraq, obviously some not are innocent, but the amount that are is large, and it makes me upset to know that we are backing an army that does the things they do to innocent people. The Iraqis never asked us to come into their country and monopolize its oil industry or make them a democratic state so it is understandable for them to dislike us, especially if the videos we saw in class are being sent around the internet, because for them it could be their uncle, father, or brother up against a wall naked while american soldiers stand around him videotaping. The things the soldiers did in Abu Ghraib was absolutely horrific and it should have been shut down way before it was. There is an image of a female soldier holding a leash attached to a naked prisoner when you search abu ghraib on the internet. It just really is disheartening to know that lots of soldiers partook in the torture of innocent people and no one said anything to stop it, they just went along with it. I view of the american army has definitely changed after tuesdays lecture. I used to think of the american army has a place with high standards, good morals and integrity. I did not think that it was a place of disregard for other cultures and people who occupy the country we invade, but apparently it can very well be.

I think that if the scandal that happened at our school was revolving females that the whole situation would be entirely different. Currently, the scandal is so big because it revolves around our football program, and Joe Paterno. Who, is a figurehead at Penn State. Many people associate Penn State with Joe Paterno, and having him tied into this scandal makes it that much bigger. I think that it would still be on the news and that people would be disgusted by it, but i don’t think that it would be as huge if it was a female who committed the crimes. It wouldn’t be all over ESPN and other sport networks and websites because it wouldn’t have to do with our football program. I don't think that the riots would have occurred if the scandal was revolving females because the riot was mainly about Joe Paterno and the way he was fired. We don’t have a female that holds that powerful of a position at Penn State. I would hope that we would still have held the candle light vigil for the victims though, because as a school it was the respectful thing to do and the victims deserve it. The thing about this scandal is that there are so many victims involved it ridiculous. Usually people get caught after like two or three victims at most, but to have eight known victims already is outrageous. There is no reason that it should have even gotten to that point without being stopped if people were aware that something was going on. That makes it hard to tell if it were a female and she committed eights separate accounts of sexual assault if in the courts she would be treated differently. Normally I would say that if she was an attractive female she might get off easier than a male who committed the crimes. For example, I remember seeing an episode of E! True Hollywood Stories about female teachers who were sexual offenders and Debra Lafave was one of them. Her case is famous, she was a 23- year old middle school teacher from Temple Terrace, Florida. She was accused of having sexual intercourse with 14- year old, the teacher who was recently married pled guilty and was only charged with three years of house arrest and seven years probation, and was forced to register as a sexual offender. She never had to go to jail for her wrong doings. If she had committed sexual assaults on 8 different victims, I wonder how long she would have had to do time in jail for them. I can only imagine and hope that Jerry Sandusky, if found guilty, will be in jail for a long long time.

I’m not really sure, but I think that without social media and other forms of news I don’t think that the riots would have happened. I also don’t think that people would view Pennsylvania State University the way they do now. We wouldn’t have to try as hard to rebuild our reputation as we do now. The media definitely blew this whole situation out of proportion. They have absolutely no idea how we as students feel and they turned this whole terrible situation with Sandunsky into a crazy media frenzy. The thing about the media is though that people that just read the headlines in the newspapers and on hear part of the stories they talk about think that this Joe Paterno was responsible for what happened. I was talking to my friends from home about it and they were saying that Joe Paterno was the one who molested the children. I was so upset that they even thought that, I immediately corrected them, I would have hated for them to tell other people that was what happened here at Penn State. I think that the riot in part was due to the fact that the media would NOT stop talking about Joe Paterno and questioning whether his legacy would be tainted with this disgusting situation. An 84 year old man doesn’t need this much stress. People were also extremely upset that they fired him over the phone after all he did for our school over the years. He has helped so many children, donated more money than just about anyone that ever attend penn state. He basically built up our football team into something huge, that everyone across the country knows about. I really think that they fired him because he is seen as a figure head to our school, and the board of trustees believed that firing him would make it look like Penn State is doing something to fix the corrupt actions taken place by Sandunksy. The reason we rioted was not because were obnoxious drunk college kids like the media portrays us to be. Its because we believed that Joe Paterno should not have been fired the way he was. They should have let him finish out the season, or at least coach this saturdays game. The board of trustees should have waited to gather more information on the case before they fired Joe Paterno. The media brought such bad light to Penn State, the flipping of the new caster van was stupid, that obvious, but they made it sound like we were just extremely reckless when in fact the crowd was chanting f*** the media before they flipped the truck as a way to retaliate against the way the media skewed the situation and made it sound like Joe Pa was the bad guy in the situation.

I really don’t think that its fair that big businesses and corporations run foreign policies on things like immigration. Although, I do some what understand where they are coming from in some respect. It makes sense that they want cheap labor or need people to work at jobs that americans won’t do. We won’t by their products if they are too expensive because they have to pay americans more to do the work. We as consumers, demand cheaper prices, and as a result big businesses and corporations are forced to look outside of the american labor force to find the work. On a different note, I watched a documentary recently that was about the American food companies, and how much the food production process has drastically changed over the years. We used to produce food naturally, with independent farmers growing and selling their own products to people living around them. Once fast food chains started popping up around the country and over processed frozen food started filling our supermarkets, those once independent farmers were bought out by corporations because we as Americans have a need to have things fast and cheap and available to us when ever we want them. So these farmers are pressured to produce massive amounts of food using harmful chemicals and an assembly line style of work. Jobs that used to be proudly held by americans have been abandoned, and because the people working them need no skills people are completely replaceable to these corporations. Then they are forced to find labor with new illegal immigrants because they are willing to do the work. Many of these illegal immigrants are put in horrendous working conditions, one of the examples in the documentary was a meat shop in North Carolina where the workers were exposed to diseases due to the raw meat which they continuously had to cut every day. Also, in the documentary it talked about how the North Carolina police had a deal with the companies in which the immigrants worked where after a certain period of time the police would be given their home addresses and the illegal immigrants would be rounded up and deported. Which to me is completely mind boggling. I don’t understand how anybody could be willing to hire people and then just throw them under the bus and have them deported when they don’t want them any more, and then they go out and hire new illegal immigrant. I really wish that corporations had no say in immigration. I don’t think its right for them to be able to say who gets into this country just because they want to make a larger profit. Its such a double edge sword type of issue though.

I think that a lot of my friends from home are in the same stage as I am, but here at school my friends are in all different stages. My friends from home and I came from a very diverse high school, so most of them are at least in stage three of the race acceptance chart. They are accepting of other races and aren’t necessarily what I would consider racist, but they do find racist, stereotypical jokes and videos funny, but they would laugh and then say something like “oh thats messed up.” I guess we all feel guilty, about race inequality. There is race disparity between the races at my high school, people generally hangout with people from their same race group, although there are some people that hangout with everybody. I don’t think that my friends pushed me into stage three, I think it was more my family. My mom came from New York and have a very diverse group of friends. Most of them were of color, so I think I picked up pretty quickly that there were differences and inequalities between different races. I felt bad for being so lucky with what I had. My dad was the first white guy that my mom dated, I always wondered what my life would have been like had my mom married someone of color, and I think that’s what pushed me into different stages. When I came to school I encountered a girl that had never even met a jewish person before. I couldn’t even believe how she could have never encountered someone of the jewish religion, because where I came from back home there were tons of jewish people. I had gone to multiple bat mitzvahs, I had even gone to purim. When I came to Penn State I could not believe the amount of white kids that attended here. I was in shock, I remember telling my mom that it was so much less diverse than back home. My high school was filled with indian kids, and in all my small classes there has been maybe one indian kid. It truly shocked me to find the amount of white kids. I never could imagine growing up in a predominantly white area like State College. I feel like I’ve experienced so much more being able to attend school with people of all races. My friend that didn’t know any jewish people lived in an area of Pennsylvania that was predominantly white. She says that Penn State is the most diverse place she has ever been. Looking around our Soc class yesterday she was saying that the room might have been the most diversity she’s ever seen in one place. Penn State has definitely pushed her into a different stage, and I think it has made me more comfortable within the stage I am currently in, and hopefully it will eventually push me into the next stage.

Technically I consider myself to be of hispanic dissent. My mom is Puerto Rican, and my dad is Italian. I identify myself with my moms origin because we follow a lot of the Puerto Rican cultural ideals. Most people at first glance just consider me to be Italian, since I look more like my dad. They associate me with the white race, they just think i’m tanner than most people. I’ve lived my life connected to both cultures I view the world a little differently then most “white” people, because I also have family that is hispanic. I don’t know if my race necessarily shapes the way I view the world, or if its the ideals my parents instilled in me. I was fortunate enough to live in a nice neighborhood in New Jersey, and go to one of the best public schools in our area. My mom who grew up in a poorer area of New York always taught me and my sister not to discriminate. Obviously we knew the difference between skin color, but it wasn’t until we were older did we see the discrepancy between the races. In my high school it was predominantly white and indian, all of the friends I grew up with were white, or asian. Most of the black kids in the high school came from trailer parks that surrounded the area. They were known for selling drugs, and being “thug.” Obviously, not all the the black kids that went to my high school were like this, but like the conformation bias, the few that were categorized the whole black community at the my school. My friends would make racist jokes, thinking that they were so cool, because they were the majority. I always hated and felt uncomfortable in social situations where racism was present. I remember in my math class sophomore year one the kids had a lot of trouble keeping up in class. The teacher would meet with him almost every class, in class in made tons of disruptions, I like to think it was not because he was a troubled kid, but because he was frustrated with his situation. He ended up dropping the class and joined “ace,” the place in our school for kids that can’t handle regular class. They hand in packets at the end of the week so that they can still graduate with a high school diploma. I feel bad for the kids that have to go through this vicious cycle. Its unfair, and if it wasn’t for their skin color and the history between the races things could be a lot different for them. I wish everyone reserved the right to have the same opportunities that I have, but from going to a high school that was very split racially, I know that for different races its hard to break through the barrier and continue with their education and make something great out of their lives.

I think its really unfair that girls get super dressed up to go out at night and boys just wear jeans and a t-shirt. Its unfair that girls are held to a higher standard when it come to getting ready to go out. There hair has to be nicely done, their makeup perfect, and their outfits need to be cute. I think it comes in part that girls judge each other too harshly. There is more pressure for girls to dress and look like what they see in the media than for guys. Guys literally just have to walk out of the shower, put on their clothes and they are good to go. Girls can’t even wear the same outfit twice in a semester. No one ever says anything about the way guys are dressed, but girls always make comments about each others outfits and identifies people with them.
When my mom came up last year for parents weekend, she was walking around on a friday night and she realized that it was strange that guys and girls dress so differently. She saw a boy and a drunken girl walking together. The girl rushing to keep up with him, tripping in her heals, as he dragged her along in his jeans and t-shirt with sneakers. My mom was appalled, she was really shocked that the girl would be wearing such nice heels struggling to walk in them and he just chilled in his sneakers. Girls sacrifice their comfort to look good for guys. Its embarrassing though, when girls get drunk and they are wearing heels. So many girls loose their balance while attempting to walk home at night. There is nothing worse than a drunk girl flopping on the floor trying to get up after falling. It also stinks when girls get tired of wearing heels at the end of the night and want to take them off to walk home. The ground is so disgusting and its a tell tale sign to the cops that girls are drunk. Girls shouldn’t have to dress up really nicely to go out. it’s uncomfortable and it kills your feet. I’d love to see one day where they could just go out with their hair up in jeans and a t-shirt. It would be nice if the judgement died down. There is really no need for it. It sucks that there is so much pressure for girls to be perfect. Guys and other girls expect them to look their best when they go out, because it fits into the “male fantasy.” It shows that there is still a separation between men and women and that our wold is a dominantly still run by men.

I thought the way the pedestrians reacted to the bike thief set up was a good
representation on a smaller scale of how corrupt our world is today. Even
though we say we are not racist, we have been programmed at such a young age to
pick up on differences between races. Subconsciously, the people walking by the
bike crime stopped for the black boy trying to steal it because they associated
black people with crime and bad things. They didn't really confront the white
boy who was trying to steal the bike, but as soon as it was a black boy people
were eager to get the cops involved in the situation. They thought they were
being heroes. It's almost as though there is still a hatred between the races,
and there really is no need. The only difference between us is our skin color.
Skin color doesn't make us more likely to do crime, but it associates us with
certain stereotypes. The statistics that Mr. Richards showed us in class about
certain races and their drug usage and the amount of people in those races who
get busted for them, makes the point that skin color associates people with
crime extremely evident. More white people do drugs than black people but a
higher percentage of black people get caught. We hate to admit that were
racist, even our judicial system and police force are corrupt with racism. No
matter how much we try to deny it, there will always be racism. We even treat
people differently depending on their gender. When the female tried to steal
the bike men were hypnotized by her, and couldn't look away. They got off their
bikes to help her. One man's wife said something to him about thinking that the
girl was trying to steal the bike and the man road right past his wife to hit
on the girl. Many of the men that road past stopped and tried to help the girl.
They assisted her in committing a crime even though she blatantly told them
that she was attempting to steal the bike. The women that walked past her
questioned what she was doing. Many of them stopped and asked, some of them
wanted to call the cops on her. It was funny to see the difference in the way
that the men and women reacted to the female trying to steal the bike. I feel
like if I had encountered the three thieves ideally I would have questioned all
of them. I want to say that I would have stopped and asked what each of them
were doing but I actually don't know if I would have. I don't know if I would
have been too intimidated to go up to the guys and ask what they were doing,
but I don't think I would have been intimidated to ask the girl. Ideally I
would hope that I would call the authorities on all three. I think that's the
least judgmental way of going about the situation since they were all
committing the crime, but I honestly have no idea. I don't know for sure,
because I've never been placed in that type of situation.

When I think of Haiti, I think of the horrific earthquake that hit there in 2010. I remember seeing pictures and videos of disheveled people roaming around the soot covered streets, searching for family members and friends. People trying to rebuild houses and find new places to live. I think that its really cool to see that some Haitians have (and or trying to) overcome their previous circumstances by trying to become successful entrepreneurs. I thought that it was really awesome to see that Clorene and her sister Anaes were both making bags and items for people to buy. I also thought it was nice of them to ask for help to make their businesses stronger. Clorene’s shirts were well made and it would be so nice if there was a way that we could somehow help her to micro finance in order to be able to get materials for cheaper so that she could produce more shirts in bulk. Also, improving her screen printing would help her business out tremendously. It stinks that they don’t have the ability right now to have the latest technology, although it makes their products more unique because everything is handmade. Anese’s bags are really interesting because they are all hand painted with different patterns. She just needs to get paint that will last through the wash and she can get for cheaper. Being able to mass produce the bags would make her business so much more productive. I thought Madame Lamours floral business was interesting. She looks like she is in dire need of help. The room in which they were making the floral arrangements was less than acceptable. It also didn’t look like they had many different flowers to choose from. If there was a way to put her business online, or in the Haitian newspaper maybe they would be able to ship the flower arrangements all across Haiti. Her business would be booming. She would need to get a larger array of flowers but I think that if she had a stronger income it would not be much of a problem. I really think that the Haiti Project is a great idea. It is evident that these people need our help, their businesses can not survive without it. We need to bring their businesses up to United States standards. Like Sam said, theses people who work for Clorene, Anaes, and Madame Lamours all work to support their families. If the Haiti project could help theses businesses to expand then it would help create jobs for people all around Haiti. Then more people would be able to support their families with stable jobs and hopefully the poverty level would decrease and more people would be able to live fulfilling lives.

For me, going to college was not a choice. The thought of going to college was something my parents had instilled in me at a very young age. Both my parents grew up in New York City and went to community colleges. My mom worked hard to pay for her own education, she worked at a hospital during the day and attend classes at night. When her and my dad were married they planned wisely, and saved money to put my older sister and I through school. My sister attended a small private college near our house, her one complain was that there was no school spirit. I don’t think my choice was based on race, i think i choose to attend penn state because of its large school spirit. My parents wanted me to go to school near my home, but because a large majority of my high school went to Rutgers University I really didn’t want to go there and it was the only large state school near my house. Once I found out I was accepted into Smeal as a freshman my parents and I agreed that Pennsylvania State University was the school that I should attend. My parents want me to graduate school with a business degree from one of the top public business schools in the nation. Also, because the alumni association is so strong it is easier to graduate with a job lined up. I guess I could say that I choose Penn State because of it’s social status. My parents want me and my sister to have more opportunities than they did, and their parents did. My moms side of the family is from Puerto Rico. My grandma was one of eleven children, her and her father were the first ones from their family to travel from Puerto Rico to the United States. They got jobs here and then brought the rest of their family over to the states. They lived in New York City, in an area where people didn’t have a lot of money. My grandma worked hard to make money to support my mom and her sister as a single mom. She tried to give her daughters the best life she could. My mom did the same for me and my sister, working hard to get an education so that we could have better choices and a better childhood. I want to do the same for my children, by getting a degree at Penn State, hopefully I will be able to provide for my children even better than my parents provided for me and my sister. Although, i am extremely grateful for everything they’ve done and I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.