Just returning from Thanksgiving break has given me some idea of the perceptions people outside the Penn State community has on us as Penn State students. The perception is that we are self centered, ignorant, just looking for an excuse to party pricks who could care less about the victims of abuse. We are ridiculed and joked about for putting an 84 year old man on a pedestal and for having a pedophile on staff for so many years. I cannot even count the number of picture texts making fun of Penn State going so far as one with Michael Jackson in Penn State gear saying the gear makes him look creepy. Right now Penn State is reviled by many in the nation for not doing enough to get Sandusky away from children and charged with crimes. The interesting part right now is that Syracuse basketball is going through a similar situation and there are hardly any reports on it. People stand firmly by Jim Boeheim (the head basketball coach at Syracuse) who outright defended the accused coach. What stands out to me is that the media and the pundits were on a witch hunt to take down a legend in Joe Paterno and could really care less about a good coach in Boeheim. Now I am not defending Joe Paterno, I actually have mixed feelings (as I’m sure the majority of the Penn State community does). I think that Joe could and should have done more but I am also aware that he did what was required of him. However, the world is out to get Penn State because we are such a prestigious and powerful university and people love to knock down the people on top. As a student at Penn State I am a little worried about looking for jobs in the near future. Searching for jobs in Pennsylvania I do not think will be much of a problem because Pennsylvanians are more sympathetic to Penn Staters, however I think that trying to get a job outside of Pennsylvania with a Penn State degree will be much different now than before. Now the character issue pertaining to being a Penn State student will become much more prevalent in the job interviews than ever before. There will be questioning about what you thought about the allegations against Jerry Sandusky, the firing of Joe Paterno, the riot that ensued, and why Penn State students cared more about the firing of Joe Paterno more than the victims of Jerry Sandusky. The way we as Penn State students react and answer these questions are going to be decisive in whether or not we get jobs. I have an idea of the answers I would give to these questions but I cannot speak for everyone. My only hope is that we as students can do more good to shed light on what a great institution we have here at Penn State.

On the question of would the riots have happened without social media like twitter or facebook, I would say yes they would have. Obviously social media played a major role in spreading the word, with how easy it is now to twee and/ or update your status on facebook people are able to find things out very easily. Regardless of that I do think that people would have found out about the rioting with ease. There are still ways to get the word around without social media. I remember when we beat Ohio State in 08 I was getting texts from basically everyone that had my phone number telling me to come down and riot. It grew quickly and social media played little to no role in people finding about it. Facebook was there but everyone was drinking and partying so I doubt many people were on their computers checking whether or not people were going to riot. People knew the magnitude of the situation and were aware of the possibility of rioting following the game. Similarly with the situation of Joe Paterno being fired, everyone knew the possibility of rioting, because it happened the night before and because of the magnitude of Joe Pas stature here at Penn State the reaction to the news was not going to be good. There are many ways for people to find out about the riots. I know I found out about it because my apartment complex overlooks Beaver Ave and I saw swarms of people running to the streets. I am sure thats how many people found out, just looking outside to see people running down the streets. I also think that people were so aware of the likelihood of rioting that once then news came out about Joe Pa being fired people immediately went out to see if something was going to happen. I know some people I talked to said that they went to Old Main right away just to see if something was happening. These people had no contact with anyone besides texting friends telling them to come to Old Main. With the amount of people that were rioting it was very easy to see people if you lived downtown. Maybe for people who live on the outskirts of town social media played a major role in finding out about the events that occurred. However, last year I lived on the 800 block of West college avenue (the boonies) and I found out about the Osama Bin Ladin riots through text also. From the texts I referred to facebook and saw pictures then I proceeded to go down. So in conclusion I do think that social media played a major role in the riot, but I think that without social media the same thing would have happened.

. If I was in high school and I was offered 13/hr for work I would have been on that in a heartbeat (it would have beaten my measly 7.50/hr I was making coaching baseball). I think the problem with Americans now is that everyone is too proud to do these types of jobs that the illegal’s do. Nobody wants to put in the work, people need to understand that to advance in life you have to start somewhere. Not everyone is going to be a Mark Zuckerberg, some people need to accept what they have been given and work with it and try to improve themselves through the “hard work process” rather than the “who I know process”.

Now I agree with many of the critics on the aspect of doing this work is better than sitting at home doing nothing. However, if an American had the choice of working out in the Alabama fields in the 110 degree weather for 13 dollars an hour or working inside a Walmart or some other low paying entry level job along those lines that pays less than 13/hr I would understand taking the lesser paying job because that work is extremely draining on the body for such little pay. The illegal immigrants are willing to take any job that would come their way because they have fewer opportunities than natural born Americans. I am sure if the illegal immigrants had the option of working inside the air conditioning over picking crops in the fields they would choose the air conditioning. Now the problem I find in Alabama is that after they kicked the illegal’s out (or they fled), the farmers couldn’t find people to work in the fields. What bothers me is that even if grown men or women don’t want the job because they feel they are above it, I’m surprised that high school kids or college kids aren’t willing to work for 13/hr.

On the question of why Americans don’t do the hard labor jobs that illegal immigrants do, it really has a variety of answers. Many critics of Americans say that it is that they are just lazy. For some people I would agree with that, but for many I would argue that it is knowing that for the work they are doing the pay they are receiving is not up to what they would expect. I know for me I worked for a landscaping crew two summers in a row, the first summer I was paid 12.50 dollars an hour, the next summer my pay increased to 13.50 dollars an hour. That was just for cutting grass, mulching, and doing odd jobs like trees and patios. A lot of these farmers are paying less than the 13.50 (which would be considered paying well) for work that is more difficult on the body.

It is obvious that this land was taken from the Native Americans first by the colonizing nations and then by the United States government itself. However, this land does now belong to the citizens of the United States. Time has now passed to the point of no return for what was done in the past. This land is our land because of the work and sacrifice that has been put into it. Modernization and development made this land our land. Farmers cultivating the land made this our land, soldiers dying in fields defending this land has made it our land, innovators developing cities, skyscrapers, railways, highways, and monuments made this our land. There has been so much work done over the years that has made this our land. Political philosopher John Locke that influenced our founding fathers so much, said that to make land your own you need to incorporate work and leave more land for others to put work into. Say what you will about the justification of whether or not this land was purchased or taken or what have you, you have to acknowledge the amount of work that this nation has put into this land. Our nation has much history that is not a history to be proud of

Race does not play an important role in my life so I don’t know how much my race affects the way I view the world. Granted I am a white man, I suppose if I were another race then my view of the world would be much different. However, I grew up in a very open household (even though as a kid my mom would not let us watch MTV, BET, or VH1 but we snuck it in regardless) were we had black friends over and our babysitter exposed us to the world of Hip Hop. So growing up I listened to the Bad Boy family, Outkast, Jay Z, Ginuwine, Boyz II Men, R Kelly and others. I never really saw this as the black culture even though in the music videos it was only black people. I know my parents didn’t really like us listening to that type of music (they listen to Country and Classic rock..even though my mom’s favorite musician is Prince), but they allowed us to and my mom even bought us rap cd’s. I think that this background and having had black friends my whole life has led me not to view the world as black or white or other. I am not naïve however; I obviously see the residual effects of our long history with racism. I know there are a lot of white people who maybe are not blatant racists but do have some racist ideologies, just as I know there are black people who are the same way. I know as a white man I am always going to be viewed by other races as privileged even though my Dad is a carpenter and my mom cleans houses. Regardless of all that though I don’t allow race to affect my everyday life; I don’t value one persons opinion over another based on race. I don’t exclude (consciously or subconsciously) exclude people from things I do based on race. I did not vote for Barrack Obama, not because I didn’t want a Black man in office, but because I disagreed and still do with his policies. He could have been any white man that spoke with the same eloquence, and had the same policies and I still would not have voted for him. The only time I could actually say race affects the way I view the world is (even though I am now contradicting what I wrote in a previous entry) when I see white basketball players dominating. I don’t necessarily want them to win, especially if they are playing the teams I root for, but I want them to do well because there are not many white basketball players in the College and Professional levels. That I can think of, that is the only time where my race affects the way I view the world.

I can’t say that I have ever really experienced “white guilt” because I have never really felt I have done anything racist to merit “white guilt”. Obviously I feel bad about the past transgressions of the white race when it comes to slavery and segregation but as I myself have never partaken in these atrocities I do not personally feel guilty about them. I cannot help that I was born white, just like a black man or woman cannot help that they were born black, so I won’t apologize for it. Now, in saying that, I don’t flaunt my “whiteness” like it is a free pass in life nor do I feel being white merits free passes. I would never do something that would benefit white people solely for them being white. I didn’t even vote for Peyton Hillis (the rare white running back in the NFL) for the Madden cover, I voted for Mike Vick (one because he was absolutely the most dynamic player in the NFL last year and two because I am an Eagles fan). Granted that is just a minor aspect in life but it was in fact a hot topic for racial issues in the sports world, where many people felt that Peyton Hillis was voted for the cover only because he was white. I don’t claim to be at any particular white level, because I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that level system but I would say I am somewhere between level 4 and 6 without level 5. I am friends with black people, in fact 2 out of 6 of my close group of friends are black. When at home the 6 of us typically go everywhere together and we rarely have to defend our friendship. In fact I would say the only time I personally have had trouble with race was when I went to a party with one of my friends where I was the only white guy. Walking in I got the typical stares from everyone but after a couple songs and drinks it wasn’t even a big deal. My family shouldn’t feel white guilt, when I was in 6th grade my brothers best friend’s (who is black) house burnt down. During the time his family was without a home, my parents offered our house to him. He ended up staying with us for about 6 months while the rest of his family moved to Harrisburg with their family. Growing up in my household this was nothing out of the ordinary, we constantly had black and Hispanic friends over for dinner or to play video games, basketball or football. I have never felt guilty about being white and my friends of color have never made me feel guilty about being white.

The question of women centered porn (not the male centered lesbian porn) is one worth looking in to. I highly doubt that women centered porn would bring about male on male fantasies that would relate to the male centered girl on girl porn. From class we learned that porn as it is now is centered around the male’s pleasure, when the man climaxes the scene is over, typically with the woman feigning pleasure (hopefully for men’s sake this is not always true). After conducting many hours of research to see if what we learned in class is true, I have concluded that what we have learned in class is in fact true. Porn is fast paced with both partners talking dirty or making loud noises in a variety of positions. Hardly realistic to anyone who has had a sexual experience before, women in real life don’t just get naked and hop on so to speak. It typically takes time and romance before a woman will give their body to their partner( unless alcohol is involved, then who knows what would take place). As a man I don’t pretend to understand what a woman thinks or feels but if I were to imagine a women centered porn industry I would think of it more along the lines of soft core porn. In soft core porn there is typically more of a plot then just the pizza delivery guy getting sex in exchange for money. I think the sex scenes would be much longer(which most men wouldn’t be opposed to) and there would be much more foreplay (not the foreplay already in porn such as cunnilingus and fellatio but rather kissing and touching). I would think there also wouldn’t be as much anal sex as in the porn industry today. I’m sure there are women that enjoy anal sex but I think most women would be opposed to it. The taglines on the porn site pages would also be different, rather than “blonde sluts take deep anal fucking” or “students pussy is like silk” (actual taglines I looked up) they would be more along the lines of “couple has passionate sex after candle-lit dinner” or “two friends share their love passionately”. Contrary to some people who may think that women centered porn wouldn’t include actual sex, I think that there would be as much sex but it would be done in a more respectable manner. As a man I may be wrong on this, but I believe that women enjoy porn just as much as men. Porn is a great way to open many relationships sex life that may be dull; women’s centered porn may be able to open up the dull relationships more because women might be more willing to act out these porn fantasies rather than the one’s in the typical male fantasy universe.

While watching the bike thieves video, I found it very humorous how blatantly the people were with stealing the bikes and yet there wasn’t much disturbance from the people in the park(except for the black thief). I found it even more funny how men offered to help the woman steal the bike, especially the husband of the woman who was going to report her as a bike thief. Now for the question of are people racist because the black thief was the only one to get the police called on him? I don’t necessarily think that these people were racist, I think that some of the people would have done the same for the white thief (especially the old man at the end who looked like he was going to fight the black thief). The only flaw with this experiment is that it doesn’t show the same people going after the different thieves. If the same people had bypassed the white thief and then tried to stop the black thief, it would be much easier to say that there is a racist mentality towards criminals. For the woman there is an obvious discrepancy between her and the men. Where both men were questioned about stealing the bicycle, the woman stealing the bike was offered help on many occasions. So there is obviously a sexist view on criminality; the common thought is women aren’t criminals. The fact that these people had so many tools to get the bike lock off and that they were blatantly saying that they were stealing the bike shows that more people should have stopped the thieves or called the police. I find it pretty ridiculous that not many people called the cops on the white thief when he said things like “It’s not your bike is it?” or “It’s been here for weeks”. When the black thief said the same things the people questioning him became irate and demanded he leave or the police would be called. Now if I were in this situation I really don’t know what I would do. I know that I would treat everyone the same (except maybe the pretty girl). For me it would really depend on the mood I was in and if I was in a rush or not. I would like to think that if I were walking by and asked if the bike was theirs and they said something smart like “its not yours is it” I would do something about it. I know I wouldn’t like a smart mouth remark like that, and I would probably get upset and do something about it. On a side note I would probably help the girl and try to get her number!