en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/6179606 Comments by gmp5119 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/04/18/voices-from-the-classroom-301/#IDComment624944077 We talked a little bit about the Boston bombings in our discussion group and for the blog I want to let my stream of consciousness take over and let my thoughts flow. I first want to take note that I made a correction to my first sentence before editing I had typed “Boston Bombings” both words with capital letters, I wrote this as if that was the name of Boston as if the two words belonged together on a headline. This happened not even one week ago and I am already trained to view Boston the way the media wants me to. It is no longer just Boston it is The Boston Bombings. This will have nothing to do with what I was previously going to write about and I really hope I can make this tie in to the original question but I have a lot on my mind and this is a good place to let it out. Today was a very emotional day for me. What pushed me over the edge and sent me into a flood of tears was this evening at my waterpolo team banquet. I was so sad because from the start of the dinner there was so much negative energy you could feel it in the entire restaurant. I had come to realize that my team was “cliquey” and gossiped about one another behind backs and tonight it really showed. Every girl on the team got an award they were all silly or at least were supposed to be silly but some of them were just mean. One of them in particular really made me re-evaluate our team what we stand for and our ethics. The award basically called the girl out as a slut and a group of girls all started giggling different from the rest of the team. They were giggling at their own inside joke about this girl and I cannot for the life of me let go of how rude that was. I saw the look on my teammates face when the girls began giggling more like cackling at her award and I felt her embarrassment. Had a group of girls done the same thing to me I would have felt awful. I hurt for my teammate. I know this is the definition of empathy a topic we talk about heavily in this class. I just can’t seem to grasp how we can be so mean to each other. All anyone ever wants to do is fit in. As humans it is our instinct to want to belong and to be part of a group. I don’t know why we have to make it so difficult on people to be part of our group. Why are we so quick to exclude people without even giving them a chance? It honestly bothers me how mean we can be to each other. On a larger scale and a way to tie this back into the original comment is that I do not understand how people can intentionally want to harm others. It makes me very sad. Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:35:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/04/18/voices-from-the-classroom-301/#IDComment624944077 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/04/09/voices-from-the-classroom-299/#IDComment619461785 I have had an orgasm. In fact I have had multiple orgasms. I have had multiple orgasms during one round of intercourse. Yes this is true. What is also true is that my partner and I had to work up to it. I did not orgasm the first time we had intercourse nor the second or the third. Building up to the point of orgasm took a long time and a lot of trust on my part. Sex is an intimate act with another person and to be able to find total release with another person means a lot of trust. Having an orgasm for the first time can be a very scary or embarrassing event. I cried the first time I had an orgasm and I had been in a relationship with the guy for a year. It was like Niagara Falls spilled out of me, I thought I peed on my boyfriend. Literally I said the word “yucky” over and over again. Needless to say I was afraid to have another one. I thought I had done something wrong. Looking back on the situation I can’t help but to laugh hysterically yet also question, why had I felt like I was yucky and had done something wrong? Where did I get the idea that having an orgasm was something to be ashamed of? Luckily I have overcome my fears of having orgasms however in response to the question I could not have an orgasm during a one night stand. It took a year for me to trust my boyfriend enough to orgasm with him. Although we were each other’s firsts so maybe it just took us a year to figure out how to have good sex. Another point to make taken from my own experience if I want to orgasm I tell my partner exactly what I want. Many girls are too shy or nervous or for whatever reason won’t tell a guy what she likes and then they wonder why it wasn’t any good. Guys are good at telling girls exactly what they want us girls can do the same thing. I think this is where my point about trust comes into play. If it were a one night stand I might not be so confident to tell the person what I want and how I want it. I also might not trust the person with helping me find my release. I want to find my orgasm with someone who will share the experience with me and not claim it for their own. If I had an orgasm with a guy on a one night stand and he takes my orgasm as if he’s the only guy who could make that happen, my pride would be hurt. I haven’t yet had a one night stand so my theories are a little biased but I think many would agree with my points. Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:24:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/04/09/voices-from-the-classroom-299/#IDComment619461785 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/04/05/voices-from-the-classroom-292/#IDComment614167711 The topic of porn and who searches what is a great topic. I think it gives spectacular insight into different cultures norms and taboos. The long way to go about answering the question of why a country which is looks up more of one type of porn than the other has much to do with whether they are a largely matriarchal society or patriarchal society. This is definitely not the only factor and I will elaborate on another train of thought later on but for now this will be the argument. There are certain regions in Africa, Asia, and the Americas which follow a matriarchy. This means that the lineage follows through the females. In these kinds of societies I would predict that lesbian and opposite sex porn would be more common or teen porn. I think teen porn would be more common because typically societies which follow a matriarch are indigenous people where they marry at a young age. Where as in a patriarchal society where the men are in charge I would expect maybe opposite sex to be more common with the exception of one indigenous patriarchal society I can’t remember the name of the tribe but for the boys to become men in the tribe they have to give the leader a blow job and basically swallow the semen and because he swallowed the semen of a man he is now a man. It sounds weird but I guess, but I’m in no position to judge. So for a society like that I think gay porn might have a higher look up rate. Aside from the matriarchy and patriarchy making a difference between most searched porn, I think in oppressed societies whatever has the most stigma attached to it will be the most searched. I would like to call this the “rebellious adolescent syndrome”. Good name right? It’s the same concept as when your mom tells you not to do something and because she told you not to do it, you automatically go do it. It doesn’t matter what the act is it’s the fact that she told you it was bad and not to do it that makes you want to do it. I think the same goes for countries that are told being gay is a sin worthy of death. The people do not know what it means to be gay yet they are being told that it is unacceptable. What can you expect? They have a natural combination of curiosity and rebellion. And that right there is my final answer in one statement-I think people in oppressed countries have a higher search rate for gay porn because they are curious and want the thrill of rebelling. Mon, 8 Apr 2013 03:31:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/04/05/voices-from-the-classroom-292/#IDComment614167711 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/28/voices-from-the-classroom-283/#IDComment608571968 The difference between helping foreign countries versus helping the Native Americans is the proximity. Native Americans live in the USA therefore they are viewed as having an equal opportunity. They (the Native Americans) do not have to live on the reservations. It is a choice. They choose to live in poverty on the reservations, they choose to take on the title of being lazy, and they choose to continue to practice their culture. Even though they clearly should stop practicing their culture and take advantage of their equal opportunity. They obviously have not received the memo that there is only one culture and one religion in this country and because they have chosen to ignore that they have not and will not be helped. I hope you’re catching my sarcasm. But truly I believe they are just viewed as another part of America’s projects. The Native American’s are easily swept under the rug. They are America’s skeleton in the closet, although they are still living. America does not want to confront its own problems. We do not want to help our own problems because that means we actually have problems. Part of the American culture is pretending as if you have no problems, Americans have no cares in the world except to make money. We have a very difficult time confronting our problems this goes for personal and national dilemmas. Maybe not all Americans are faced with the difficulty of confronting their problems but I would venture to say most are. It is easier to focus on someone else’s problems and “fix” their problems. Then stand back with a big fake smile and say “look at what I did, isn’t that nice of me” and expect a pat on the ass for “fixing” someone else’s problems. From there it turns into a domino effect, we fixed up that country so nicely let’s move right on over and fix another. I still have another one hundred words to write but I’m out of things to say. I really believe we neglect to help the Native Americans and help aid other countries because it is easier to fix someone else’s problems than it is to confront our own. This isn’t the only situation where we see something in our own country being neglected. We see neglect in America’s ghettos, we see it in our unemployment rate, and neglect is seen in the democratic system. It is time we step up and face our problems take them on head strong and develop a means to embrace the Native American culture. America should find a way to incorporate the Native Americans into this new culture in a meaningful way so they can grow and share the history of US soil. Mon, 1 Apr 2013 02:11:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/28/voices-from-the-classroom-283/#IDComment608571968 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603217146 . Sure the getting a job system is screwed up but there will always be some sort of barrier made up by the people on top of the mountain no matter what color their skin is. I say keep the connections based method and when it doesn’t work in my favor give me five minutes to complain about it and get over it. Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:47:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603217146 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603217037 So far this has been completely one sided coming from a white-middle class-female-college student, but I have to say the brown team does things pretty much the same way I do. One of my best friends from the brown team attends USC and is part of a black women’s honors society and basically what they do is attend career fairs and go on field trips and make connections for black people. The yellow team even has this too. At UC Davis they have a whole sorority of just Chinese girls and all they do is go around making connections. As long as the whole making connections method is working then why not continue with it. I don’t see why anyone should try and change the system now. Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:46:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603217037 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603216904 . I constantly seek situations where I am able to put myself out there and meet people and make meaningful connections such as attending career fairs and volunteering. I think it is amazing how far a little volunteering can get you. I also talk to a lot of people, this allows me to find out more information about them and generally people like it when you take a genuine interest in their life. Getting to know people being friendly with them and before you know it they’re handing you a business card. Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:46:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603216904 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603216743 I am a firm believer in making connections. That is what I have been taught my whole life; it is about who you know. It has been about who you know since the beginning of western civilization. Getting jobs based on who you know has worked well this far so why fix what isn’t broken, right? It’s not just the white team that engages in “making connections” or giving jobs based on whether you know the person or not it’s all people. Black, brown, yellow, red, and blue alike will give a job to someone they know over a “more qualified” person. The problem is the more qualified person is only a piece of paper to the employer. The more qualified person is a cover letter and a resume perfectly tailored to make the person seem more qualified. Even if the person truly is more qualified who’s to say they aren’t a complete jerk or someone you don’t want to spend 5 days out of the week with. I completely support the “it’s who you know” method and maybe that’s because so far it has worked in my favor. I don’t want to say it has worked in my favor without my effort though. Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:46:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/21/voices-from-the-classroom-276/#IDComment603216743 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/16/voices-from-the-classroom-271/#IDComment597325390 My pre-judgment on how I would answer this question was congested with my tunnel vision thought that the U.S. should not provide help. However after listening to the full question I immediately thought of the word altruism. Altruism is the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others (definition retrieved from dictionary.com). Delving off into the conversation of whether altruism exists or not I take the extreme side of believing it does not. Everyone has their own agenda and there will always be alternative motives for people to perform an act of kindness. I believe that people help other people to help themselves get ahead, which is very selfish and un-altruistic. Perhaps people do not set out with malicious intent to help others just so they can get ahead rather, there is that natural seed in every human being of competition. Life is a competition in every way imaginable, life is a competition, a survival of the fittest if you will and it is natural for us as humans to want to strive to be better than our neighbor. Life is natural selection, a competition to decipher the weak from the strong. Let me clarify my views on modern natural selection, it is now a competition between the haves and the have nots. The concept of altruism comes full circle in relation to the U.S. helping Haiti. A good question to ask ourselves as Americans, ‘why are we helping Haiti?’ I think the U.S. government is helping Haiti, not in an effort to help Haiti’s economy and build Haiti to be self sufficient but rather to push for the U.S. agenda of staying on top. On the outside the U.S. agenda shows that we are sending Haitian’s our rice because they were hit with a terrible storm leaving them with nothing. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that is great use of pathos by the U.S. government. On the inside though, the story is played out quite differently. The inside story the U.S. government is saying we have too much rice, in order to get rid of it we will pose to the U.S. citizens that the Haitian’s conditions are so extreme that they cannot sustain themselves. Now that the U.S. citizens believe Haiti needs their help they will then be in favor of U.S. government intervention, i.e. selling U.S. rice to Haiti at a low cost. While U.S. citizens think the Haitian’s want/need our help they are not aware that the U.S. government is forcing the Haitians to purchase the U.S. rice. Forcing the Haitians to purchase U.S. rice compromises the Haitian rice farmers business and shuts the local rice fields down. This is not fair to the Haitians and forcing them to buy U.S. rice does more harm than good in the long run. In regards to Haiti I think giving is more harmful than beneficial. Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:39:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/16/voices-from-the-classroom-271/#IDComment597325390 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/01/voices-from-the-classroom-263/#IDComment584245849 I wish I could outright say I do not fear death but the truth of the matter is I do. Maybe I do not exactly fear death itself but I fear things which can cause death. I am terribly afraid of spiders so afraid that if I see a spider in a room I will avoid the room for a whole day. It is almost ridiculous borderline annoying how afraid of spiders I am but the ultimate reason why I am afraid of spiders is because they can bight and kill me. I think everyone fears death in their own way. Even the daredevils who pull deadly stunts and claim not to fear death in someway fear it. I believe the reason they pull the stunts is because they are afraid of not being remembered after they die. I guess that is a depressing thought not being remembered after you die. The best way to be remembered is to either do something great or not die. For those who chose not to die may the force be with them. I mildly fear death because it is mysterious and a topic that is fairly taboo to discuss but I still want to die at some point. I do believe that I can wear out my welcome here on earth. I am also curious what will happen after I die. I want to know where I will go or what I will become. I do not believe in reincarnation it was not something I was taught while growing up but I am not opposed to it being real. What if it is real? I want to know what I will be in my next life. What if purgatory is real? I want to know how much time I owe for all of my sins. I find these things interesting and when I think about the after life I almost get excited for death to come (in a non-morbid way). Death is a part of life whether I fear it or not, it is inevitable and impossible to defy so why bother fear it? I am not about to go kill myself but when I am old and death is upon me I won't run away from it. This is difficult to discuss clearly because I don't think about it often. When I picture myself in different scenarios of death I have different thoughts. If I were held at gun point I would be afraid of death but if I were 80 and in the hospital I would not be afraid of death in fact I would probably welcome it. To answer the question, I am sometimes afraid of death. Mon, 4 Mar 2013 02:42:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/03/01/voices-from-the-classroom-263/#IDComment584245849 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578547645 If you don’t believe in God and he doesn’t exist you’re fine, but if you don’t believe in him and he does you go to hell. If you believe in God and he does not exist you’ve wasted your time, but if you believe in God and he does exist you go to heaven. So the best thing to do is just believe because if you believe and it turns out he doesn’t exist all you’ve done is wasted a few minutes of your life praying, which to me, is better than going to hell. Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:41:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578547645 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578547385 For example, when a person develops a mental illness such as schizophrenia, which is out of anyone’s control. Parents didn’t get pregnant wishing, hoping, and praying their child would someday develop schizophrenia, it’s something they cannot control and it’s scary. For those parents God serves many purposes. Maybe he serves as someone they can turn to for support and guidance or maybe they turn to God with blame and hatred, no matter what the situation they are still taking comfort in placing what they cannot control in a higher power. I don’t care what anyone says I choose to believe in God because it is comforting. On a side not however I took a religious studies class and we made a math problem out of whether to believe in God or not. Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:40:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578547385 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578547075 The way I am conveying my thoughts on this topic are a bit random and I may repeat myself but again I take comfort in knowing that there is something higher than myself. I think everyone takes some sort of comfort in knowing they can reach out to the spiritual world. And to be honest I think people who don’t take comfort in it are afraid of it. I could not imagine the world existing on its own, without some supernatural force creating or guiding it. We humans are really good at screwing things up especially when it comes to the environment. We over fish, we hydraulic fracture (fracking) too much, we cut down too many trees, we build too many parking lots, we burn too much coal. It’s hard for me to believe humans haven’t yet killed the earth without some sort of higher being/power help to keep it living. I take comfort in believing in God because it allows me to easily believe that I cannot control everything. Some things are out of my control and I have to let them dwell somewhere. Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:40:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578547075 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578546774 I am a Christian, a Lutheran to be exact. I attended a private Lutheran school from Pre-K to the eighth grade. The school had chapel every Wednesday, we had Bible as a study course, and my family and I attended church there every Sunday. Oh and did I mention I was actively involved in the youth group? I grew up being taught there is a God, Alpha Omega, Christ, Father, Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call -in my belief- “him.” To outright answer the question, I would continue to believe in God. Even if every news anchor, broad cast station in the entire world told me otherwise. I would choose to believe. Believing there is something greater and more powerful than me, greater and more powerful than the world comforts me. I take comfort in knowing at any moment in time I can pray to a higher power-God in my case- and thank him for everything I have and ask for guidance in my times of strife. Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:39:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/21/voices-from-the-classroom-257/#IDComment578546774 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/07/voices-from-the-classroom-243/#IDComment568194111 I would not join the military, unless I had to. I guess it is because I am still caught in a more traditional mind set. I am a woman and to me it is unfeminine to be in the military. I know times have changed but the way I was brought up showed men being in the military and women staying in school. When I think of the military superficially of course, I think of men. Honestly I would not want to spend every day surrounded by a bunch of men. I’m not a lesbian but I enjoy time with my girls and if I had to spend every day with more guys than girls I would get lonely. I also don’t think women in the military get treated the same way as women not in the military. I don’t know any of the true statistics on any of this, but when I imagine a woman in the military I don’t think of a young blossoming woman who wants to get married and have children. I recognize that all of this is completely biased but that’s the point of these blogs. For myself personally I want to get married and raise children if I am in the military I think the chances of that happening for me will be very slim. As far as war goes for the military, I don’t want to experience war. I don’t think I have the emotional capacity to handle combat. I know for a fact that if I were to get deployed to a combat zone and have to witness and experience war I would develop PTSD. I know I would not be able to have normal relationships after experiencing war and I would probably start abusing drugs so I wouldn’t have to think about it and the thought alone scares the crap out of me. I have many friends who have deployed and they aren’t the same when they return. How could they be? While I’ve been at school with my nose in a book during the week and drinking on the weekends, they’ve been getting shot at. The idea of getting shot at scares me, the idea of getting a bomb thrown at me scares me. So if I haven’t made myself clear joining the military scares me. I’m not afraid of the work outs they will make me do or the training. I am afraid of shooting a gun at someone with the intention of killing them and I am afraid of someone shooting a gun at me. I fear that joining the military would cause me to not get married or have children. Although I would not volunteer to be in the military if there was a draft, I would serve my time. Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:16:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/02/07/voices-from-the-classroom-243/#IDComment568194111 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-235/#IDComment562024652 My brother threatened a few times that he was going to kill himself. He was also extremely high. I remember distinctly, being irritated when he threatened me with it. I also told him he wasn’t going to really do it and if he was he would have killed himself by now. I wish I could talk about this in a more personal, caring, my big brother just threatened to kill himself way, but it wasn’t personal at all. He was too high to take it personally. Now if the situation were different had he not been high and said the things he said while sober, maybe I would have taken it personally. I think I would have asked questions like “why do you want to kill yourself?” or “what makes you feel like ending your life is the only way?” I don’t know why I would ask those questions though, maybe because I wouldn’t know what else to do in the moment. I’m not sure why I would have taken it personally either, it’s not like someone commits suicide to hurt someone else it’s a battle they are having with themselves not with me. I think I would ask why they wanted to kill themselves to feed my own curiosity. Suicide is a curious act. It’s mysterious in its own way. I mean one minute the person is alive and the next they’re not. Suicide is as simple as it is complicated. There are so many reasons a person would want to kill themselves. I hope that I am never confronted with a sober friend calling me wanting to commit suicide but if I am, I hope I remember it’s not about me. I hope I tell them that ill support their decision no matter what it is, no matter how hard it is. Sun, 3 Feb 2013 21:58:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-235/#IDComment562024652 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-235/#IDComment562024323 The question Sam asked addresses more than suicide but suicide is what hits closest to home for me. We seem to address the topic of suicide regularly in class this certainly is not the first time we have discussed it. I think it was very brave of Sam to share with the class his own story of his friend whose wedding he ended up being the bridesmaid at. Sam said that when his friend called and told him she wanted to kill herself he replied, “Go for it.” Who knows if that is how the conversation really went but that’s not the point. The point is that if a person wants to commit suicide and has the means to do it, they will do it. I don’t think Sam was too far off when he told his friend to go ahead and kill herself if she wanted to. I may have even asked what’s stopping her. Sun, 3 Feb 2013 21:57:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-235/#IDComment562024323 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/23/voices-from-the-classroom-232/#IDComment555767482 The posed question was, “Is atheism such a bad thing?” Honestly I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this question. I also believe that not too many people –including Atheists- don't know what exactly atheism is. I grew up a baptized Lutheran and went to a Lutheran private school for all of elementary and junior high school, so naturally when I hear atheism it is like the word coincides with devil. Like in Harry Potter not mentioning the name Voldemort, atheism is this untouched word for reserved for those who don’t believe in God. As a little kid that’s just unimaginable, what do you mean they don’t believe in God? Who do they pray to? What happens when something bad happens to them or their family who takes care of them? These are questions we asked as kids when the topic of atheism somehow came up. From a child’s perspective having no one there to protect you is a scary thought. That is what I grew up being taught and that is what I grew up knowing. Then in the 7th grade a girl named Christin was enrolled. Chrisitn was..wild. She was an anarchist, a lesbian, and a clamed Atheist (attending a private Lutheran school). There were only 31 students in the class and most of us had been there since kindergarten so this new girl was like some foreign barbaric creature to us. I’m almost positive none of us knew what atheism was but we sure as hell knew it was bad. None of exactly understood the concept of being gay either but she sure as hell changed that. At the time I didn’t want to be Christin’s friend she was too outlandish and extreme, she challenged everything I had known and everything I was being taught. It was uncomfortable and I didn’t like what she stood for. If you were to meet me now, you would never guess that’s how I used to think about those topics. Looking back on it now I appreciate Christin challenging not only me but the whole school. She showed us that there was so much more to people, even the world that we had never been exposed to at the private school. I’m not trying to say private schools are bad places, I loved my school and appreciate the education I got from it and I still choose to be a Lutheran, but had Christin not come and shaken things maybe I wouldn’t be so open minded now. So to answer the original question, atheism is not a bad thing. It’s not what I would choose to believe, I take comfort in knowing there is something higher than myself but that isn’t to say someone else has to feel that way as well. Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:23:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/23/voices-from-the-classroom-232/#IDComment555767482 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/16/voices-from-the-classroom-227/#IDComment549527770 When people ask me what my race is I am never too sure on how to answer. Do I respond simply that I am white? Do I say I am German? But wait German is my ethnicity not my race. And to second that I practice more Vietnamese traditions than German traditions so would my ethnicity be Vietnamese or German? Race brings up so many questions for people and it is an extremely complicated and exaggerated concept. I think people commonly use race, ethnicity, and even stereotypes interchangeably. There is a difference between a person’s race, their culture and the stereotype/s given to them. I also don’t think it’s fair to make fun of a person if they don’t fit in to the stereotype given to their race. Just so we’re all clear not all black people have big noses, not all white girls have flat butts, not all Asian’s are bad drivers, and not all Native Americans are lazy. The list can go on we all know this, but the point is we shouldn’t give someone a hard time because they are not the stereotype. I don’t mean to lecture anyone on the idea that we talk about race in terms of stereotypes, I’m guilty of doing it as well. Awareness is the best way to combat mixing up stereotypes and race. When addressing race and/or stereotypes if we could somehow be in the here and now, it would be easier to see how we merge them together. I grew up in Sacramento, California which is a commuter city for San Francisco and other bay area cities. Because Sacramento is so inexpensive and the closest port town we have a lot of ethnic minorities. However because there are so many of them, they aren’t the minority. Do I still have to group them as ethnic minorities if I the white girl am the minority? My high school was primarily made up of Asian and Black kids. I literally had classes where I was the only white person. My main group of friends consisted of all Asians. In high school I didn’t have a race my friends all called me Asian. I only looked white. I ate like my Asian friends, I dressed like them, and I even went to a Vietnamese temple a couple times. I didn’t understand what they were saying but I associated myself with the Asian race. When asked what race means to me, I have to answer that it is whatever I associate myself with. As for others if a black person associates themselves with the white culture why can’t their race be white? Why do we have to classify people by their skin color? I know I have asked more questions than given statements. Over all race to me is a complex subject and I almost cringe when I have to defend how I think about it. Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:31:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2013/01/16/voices-from-the-classroom-227/#IDComment549527770