I know that I have no personal or individual experience or relation to this topic being straight, but I would assume that coming out is probably a difficult process in the first place, no matter who your parents are. But I would think that it would be so much easier to come out to parents who are gay rather than parents who are gay. First of all, they know exactly what it is like to have to do the same thing, only for them it was probably even more difficult because their generation is less accepting and not as used to the idea as ours is. They would be able to help you along and maybe talk you through it. In movies or TV shows, parents who aren’t expecting it or have no idea how to deal with LGBT issues are usually confused and have no idea who to process what their kids just said to them when they come out. If one were to have gay parents, they probably could have already known that you were gay, and could maybe sense that you were struggling with the fact. And if one were struggling with the fact, gay parents would probably have a better knowledge base of people they could talk to or places they could go to get help or to feel a part of the LGBT community. It is definitely a generalization to say that gay parents would understand a lot better than straight parents, because there very well could be exceptions. I know of and have heard of parents who are very open minded and accepting of the fact that their son or daughter is gay. I feel like it is important for a parent to be like that, because it is something that they have no control over, nor can they change it, so being hostile toward their own child seems pointless to me. A reason I think that it would be harder to come out to your parents if they are straight is maybe because you have no idea how your parents would react or how they feel about the situation, because it isn’t a topic that has ever come up in discussion before. Parents could be a lot more accepting of the fact than one would know and they could be scared for no reason at all. On the other hand, when one knows that his or her parents are completely against it, for personal or religious reasons, that is definitely the hardest to deal with. It saddens me to hear stories of how people are so scared to come out to their parents or even friends. If you are able to be comfortable with it there is so much good that you can do for others struggling with the same thing.

Fear is something that we all experience at some point in our lives- with some it is every day, and some only in certain situations. I am definitely the type of person that gives into fear easily. There are so many factors that go into what makes us fear our everyday lives- such as the media, entertainment, our environment, and our parents. All of these factors contribute to the ways we view fear and how we can handle it. So many crime shows are on TV right now, and the reason why they are so successful is because people can really get into the topics that they are about. They always target murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, etc, yet Sam showed us that those are actually the least common crimes that are being committed in reality. The media obviously picks up on our fascination of fear, and interest in it, because the only stories we see being reported about in the news are what crimes are happening- rarely anything positive. Environment is a huge reason why people can be more fearful than others. We discussed this in my group especially. Depending on where we live can determine how cautious we are. For example, I live in a very small town, where major crimes are rare but have happened. Most things reported are robberies, and drug crime. However not even twenty minutes away from me is a city filled with recent crime breakouts. I know what areas I am more comfortable in than others. I think my parents are very affected by fear. My mom always worries about all of her kids, scared that something could happen while we are away. My dad is always overly cautious and makes sure every door in the house locked. That mindset has carried over with me. No matter what the statistics may be, people are going to fear how and what they want to fear. Here at school, where the most crime that is committed is alcohol related, most of us students don’t worry about crime at all. There are girls walking around downtown alone late at night, students not locking their dorm and apartment doors, people get drunk and destroy things. While I don’t think we should live our lives scared of what could happen all of the time, because there is a chance anything could happen, but I do think we need to just be careful. Something could happen in even the nicest of neighborhoods. It is relieving to know, however, that statistics of these crimes have gone down since the time when our parents were young, maybe that can give some people a sense of security. I know it made me feel a little bit better about our society these days.

The way women dress and how they and others view them in regards to respect is always a topic that people like to talk about it and always have different opinions. I personally do not have much knowledge about the muslim religion, culture, or customs. I just know that when it comes to the way we dress, it greatly differs. It is hard to say if a girl dresses a certain way, that it is because she respects herself enough that she is comfortable, or if it is because of the total opposite. Sometimes girls dress the way they do, that is looked down upon by others, because of their own personal self esteem, and it is the only way that they can feel good about themselves. While I feel that girls will dress the way that they want to and that is their own choice, it is really hard to sometimes not make a judgement about their character in certain situations. People love to throw the blame on the girl wearing something too revealing or sexy and immediately call her a whore. I have heard it all the time here, my friends have done it, and I have done it. But writing about this makes me think twice about what I say and think because it is not fair to that person that we don’t even know. While I am not one to wear overly revealing clothes maybe other girls that are more modest dressers than me and my friends are thinking wow she looks like a slut because of what she is wearing. It is all in what we are used to ourselves. I don’t think that is fair at all. Something that really bothers me is when people think that women are to blame for the negative attention and that people think girls like being called sluts and whores, or like being put into awful situations due to how guys perceive them dressed like that. For example, the widely known idea of people thinking “she wanted it because of how she looks” when a girl gets raped. That is completely rude and horrible to think. Women are going to continue to dress the way they want no matter what most people say. And if they respect themselves in the process, then what is really going to stop them from doing that? As long as our celebrities and the people we look up to keep dressing a certain way, so will the women in our society. There is a time and a place for every type of dress, so to me as long as it is appropriate for where you are, then dress how you want to dress.

When the movie was first played in class, I initially did not think about the race factor within it. I laughed at parts, just as most others in the class. As the video went on, I realized that the reporter was actually targeting a certain group of students- Asian international students who weren’t very Americanized, and did not know a whole lot about their school’s football program. So I guess you could look at it from both of those perspectives. Whether it is that you thought that it was intended to be racist against Asians specifically, or if it was meant to target those who didn’t know anything about football. While the white guy in class who made a statement could have maybe worded what he meant differently, he had somewhat of a point. There are so many other videos out there like that, and unfortunately that is what people in our society find funny. I did feel for the Asian girl in our class who spoke up about it, because she was really offended and you could tell that it was kind of embarrassing for her, at least that is what I got from it. In that case, I felt badly for laughing at it. However, when the Asian guy said that he was not offended, it seemed to be fine in that case, just because he is Asian. It seemed clear to me that the white guy was getting called out just for the fact that he is white, but no one wanted to react to the Asian guy who thought it wasn’t offensive. I think this was because they had different things to say about it. The white guy said the video was funny, and that this is what American comedy was like. The Asian guy simply said he didn’t think that the reporter was trying to be racist, or trying to make fun of the Asian accent- just that he was showing international students who had no idea about their football team or program and USC. I don’t really know or can’t say whether I think the “white” guy in class was right for saying what he did, he was just voicing his opinion. And so was everyone else who said what they thought about it. I do think he was kind of being attacked though. It goes to show that Sam is right when he says that everyone typically wants to avoid talking about race to more or less stay out of trouble. Then we have people in class who voice their opinions and want to have a conversation but get shut down because wasn’t the safe thing to say. Mixing comedy with racism is usual in our society today, and it is hard to see where someone will cross the line.

I think I can relate to the person asking this question a lot. I also grew up in a pretty small town that was a mostly white community. There would be some diversity here and there because the surrounding town and city had a larger black and brown population, and sometimes they would move to my town. I went to a small catholic school, where most of the students were white; however, with the little diversity that existed, it didn’t really faze me at all. One of my closest friends while in that school was a black guy a year older than me. We rode the bus home together every day, talked on the phone, kind of shared everything together. I considered him one of my best friends. I believe that experience helped shape how I view matters of race when I become older and went to the public high school. I would say I could consider myself in “Stage 2” because while I am comfortable with people of a different race, I know that I certainly do not know everything, and try to be correct if addressing something having to do with another race- mostly because I am just the type of person who doesn’t want to offend anyone, not necessarily just someone of another race than mine. When I got to high school, there was a lot more diversity there, yet even still being not as diverse as most other schools. There seemed to be a great deal of separation, because most of the black and brown people tended to have a different way of behaving and a belief that maybe they were expected to act in a stereotypical way. This is where I began to see a distance between myself and people of a different race, simply because they acted as if they didn’t want anything to do with me, and that I couldn’t really relate to them. This time in my life, however, also started shaping me into a different stage that Sam was talking about. I don’t know if anyone else feels the same way, but while being at a stage 2 type place in my life, I also felt that I am also in the stage where you get angry at the people who are so racist for reason. Most of the crime in my community tended to be committed by minorities, so the way a lot of white people, parents especially, viewed them was not the greatest. And because of this I witnessed a lot of racist comments and jokes from friends, peers, family, etc. This upset me because I was smart enough to know that even though there is a group that isn’t representing the whole in the best way that it could, it isn’t okay to just make your judgments based off of that. Now that I am at Penn State, I am even more comfortable with the diversity, and my group of friends is more diverse than it ever has been.

I have never been one to keep up with political issues over the years, even now that I am able to vote. My view on war has always been a somewhat simple one- that I do not like it at all, but apparently it “has” to happen. What we’ve been talking about in the lectures this week about war and about empathy have really made me think deeper into the topic. I would definitely consider myself an empathetic person, so while I hadn’t thought about the feelings of Muslim people or the Iraqi natives, after being provoked to think about it I easily understood where Sam was coming from when he said that it is so important to realize. Having the veterans in our class there to share their views and experiences I think really helped the class see it in a different light. Regarding the number of people a life is worth- that is really such a tough idea to grasp and think about. I wouldn’t be able to answer that question really, because to me a life lost is a life lost. But when Sam said well what about your friend, brother, relative, etc., I could kind of make something of that. My younger brother was sitting right next to me in class when this question was posed to the class, and all I could think was well of course I would want my brother to survive over another person, as terrible as that sounds. I have three brothers, a bunch of cousins, close friends, who if they were hurt or killed in the war, I am sure it would not take long for my view to change from empathetic to bitter. Thankfully, I don’t have anyone that close to me in Iraq right now, so I have no idea what that feels like. War is such a hard concept for people to be open minded about- because they are either personally effected by it, or aren’t educated about it. I feel like not being educated is probably the worst thing that could happen, because that leaves you to make really stupid decisions to say terrible things that you maybe don’t even understand. I feel like if there are veterans like the ones in our class who, after actually being there and having first hand experience, can be open minded, then we should be able to as well. I think the girl, Marissa, who spoke to us gave the class a really positive outlook on something that is portrayed so negatively. And how the other veteran shared his story of how he went through so much over there, showed that even if you have a negative view on something, you can change that if you get the help to. War discussions usually don’t get me very interested, but I’d say they were definitely a good idea for our class.

Before taking this class I felt as though I had a handle on my beliefs about race, gender, etc. Now that I am in it, I still think the same thing, but I have definitely learned a lot in the past few months. I’ve heard that there are a number of students who think that Sam goes on these rants and makes people try to think the same thing that he does, and yeah he gets into some deep shit. I see that more as passion honestly, and I think he just wants us to feel something at all finally about these issues. I think the biggest thing that sticks out to me is how Sam says that the only way to get over issues of race and discrimination is by talking about it- and this is the first time that I realized that we actually will do anything to avoid the topic so we don’t seem racist or ignorant. The class before break when he opened it up to basically any question, by the end people were asking different questions that seemed kind of ridiculous, but at the same time I’m sure everyone was wondering the same thing. No one would just walk up to a person of a different race out of the blue and ask “why are you different for this reason?” I would consider myself comfortable with anyone of any race or ethnicity, always being more nonjudgmental than a lot of those in my family and those around me growing up. But in saying this I can definitely admit that I don’t know much at all about other cultures. Another aspect that Sam tries to make very clear to us in class is that so much of this is biological and it is extremely important that we understand that. When people look to the answers of why something is they go straight to the stereotype for an explanation. That is something that pisses me off so much- anyone will go to a stereotype to build their mindset on something instead of learning the facts or just getting to know someone. When it comes to our affirmative action discussions- that actually upsets me. I think it is unacceptable that race or ethnicity has so much to do with the hiring process. After graduating, I really hope to get a job. I also understand that the fact that I am white may be on my side. However, the major I’m studying could lead me to someday be in a human resources or employment relations position. From what we are learning in this class about these hiring processes, and about discrimination makes me hope that things will be different in that respect. Like Sam said, it’s going to take so much for a change to actually happen, and I am hoping that day comes before my future children have to deal with it.

Before Tuesday’s class, this was a topic that I never even thought twice about, and after it had been brought up, I would have never thought of all of the different factors that could possibly go into someone being better at a sport than another person. I am definitely also in denial that race is the only component that can give someone an advantage in something such as sports, like we discussed in class Tuesday. I think that it can be noted that different races do have some differences physically, like Sam was trying to display in class by having 2 girls of different races come to the front while he compared torso and leg lengths between the girls. And while these differences could give someone a leg up in a certain sport over another person, I believe that it will be the one who works and practices the hardest that will be overall more successful in what they are trying to do. From class and discussion this week, it is obvious to conclude that aspects such as where you grow up, support from friends/family, and your economic status play huge roles in who would be better at something. In my discussion we brought up a point, however, that with some sports economic status may not really play as much of a role as some of the other factors do. In sports like basketball and football, there are always opportunities in the school systems to play on a team, usually being free. Also, having a basketball court to practice on or having a field to a pick up game on is very available in almost all areas, no matter what the economic status is. And in areas that are not so great, there are often youth centers that provide kids to have a place to come and develop their athletic skills. I really do believe also that your location is key when it comes to other types of sports. I’d consider myself somewhat middle class, and there are a range of economic statuses that attend my school district- however, my high school doesn’t have a lacrosse team. Even though there are students that could afford to train for it and buy the equipment, the opportunity just isn’t there for those interested. So in asking what we can do when it really only comes down to being about race? Try to educate people to not just think in that narrow minded type of way. If everyone were to only think about issues in terms solely based on race, we’d all be in trouble. It is extremely important to make sure to take all outlying factors into consideration when trying to determine something- that is the only way to come to a true, rational explanation of things.

I feel like my views and concerns regarding religion have changed as I’ve grown up. I attended a small Catholic school for ten years, K4 up until eighth grade. I attended this type of school because that is what my parents decided they wanted for me. My mother also went to a catholic grade school, and her parents felt that it was important that my brothers and I did the same, even offering to help pay for tuition. Growing up in that type of atmosphere, we were taught the Catholic faith and I was impressionable and believed what I was told. I easily believed in it too, and it didn’t feel like the religion was being forced upon me, it seemed natural because everyone in my family was Catholic and all of my peers were learning the same thing. There were times in grade school, once we became old enough to start forming our own ideas on what Catholicism really meant to us, there would be some of my fellow students who would challenge what we were learning about in religion class. Maybe it was because I never thought twice about it, but I never really tried to think outside what I was learning and accepted to believe as true. Once I decided to go to a public high school, and got out of the “catholic school bubble” , I started to see what it was like to be different and on the outside of things. I met people and made friends with people who believed in different things or nothing at all, and at that point it didn’t really matter to me at all. Sam asks what we would do if someone didn’t believe in our religious beliefs, and they didn’t even try to understand it? Well, honestly, at this point it wouldn’t really bother me. People are going to believe what they want, and people are really stubborn I’ve learned. Why try and force a possible idea upon someone when they would probably shoot it down anyways. Sure, it would be respectful for someone to try and see where you’re coming from, but respect is hard to find. For me personally, religion is kind of hanging on by a string. I’ve become pretty detached from common beliefs of my religion, because I have found myself going against some moral of it almost every day. If someone tried to tell me something different than what I was taught now, I’d be more than open to listening to what they had to say. At this point in society, its hard to convince people of such a traditional viewpoint on how the world, us as a human race, the guidelines we should live by, were all created. It wouldn’t surprise me that someone would be closed off from learning something new.

Do white people try to avoid talking about race? I think it depends on the person and what their experiences have been like throughout their life. If someone grew up in a diverse area and has a diverse group of friends, then maybe they would have an easier time talking about race. I feel like you can’t really say “I know what you have been through” or “I understand where you’re coming from” unless you are actually of a certain race. However, if you spend the time with people of a different race, you are more knowledgeable and can have educated, rational conversations regarding the topic. This brings me to the reason why I think most white people avoid talking about race. I’m sure that there are white people who have questions or want to discuss race and all of the issues that arise from it, but there are a number of things holding them back. For one, they probably feel awkward just bringing it up. They could also be curious, but at the same time have no idea what they are talking about and don’t want to offend someone of a different race by saying the wrong thing. Another thing could be that some people of different races are more open to talk about race than others. In another case, maybe someone was brought up not to even talk about it at all- they learned from their parents, family, teachers, etc. that race was a topic to not bring up or challenge; therefore, a white person wouldn’t even think twice about asking a peer of a different race to talk about their differences or what they go through. I think that white people should not avoid talking about race by any means. I feel like if “we” felt more open about talking about it then we could understand a lot better and not make ignorant comments that are sometimes made. If everyone of any race is able to freely (not judgmentally) talk about their race and the race of others, then a lot of misunderstandings and issues could be easily avoided. When sitting in our lecture, and Sam was asking these thought provoking questions, a lot of us were probably shocked that he even went there with some of the things he was saying- but it didn’t personally hit us (I’m assuming in a lot of cases). But in my discussion group, a black girl described her feelings while the lecture was going on, and explained what it meant to her. Me, being one of the people that, while it was thought provoking, it didn’t hit me- and hearing how she felt really put it all together. She was more than open about her race and what it meant to her. With the rest of my group being prominently white, I think it was an eye opener for us, and some of the people were able to ask some educated questions and learn from the answers.