en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2442562 Comments by hipopotamo4 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/12/02/voices-from-the-classroom-89/#IDComment232007371 I don't think anyone would really pay attention to sacraficing state pattys day. Everyone would do whatever they feel like doing or maybe even create a new drinking holiday. I really donth think sacraficing state pattty's day is a good ideas. people would buy alcohol with the little resources they have. Not only do they hold their businesses with little resources, they do a good job and they perfect everything they do. Not only do they support their families with these jobs, they also hire people, who support their families with those jobs. They also pay their employees the amount of money that needs to be paid. It is amazing! I am really glad that we are doing these projects because not only we are helping these Haitians better their lives, we as a society are learning about the struggles other people have to go through and hopefully serve as a motivation for us. Working this project with my group will be very interesting. I think we have a great group. It is a very diverse group also; we have people from several different back rounds and who grew up in other countries. I am curious to see how being exposed to other communities will move them and I think we will have great ideas. Although we are not yet completely comfortable with each other, I think we will be able to work really well together and have a good project. When watching the videos I noticed that these Haitians were doing some great thing and they could be doing even better things if they had the resources to do it. After the earthquake a lot of Haitians los everything, it is good to see that they are bringing themselves back up and doing what is needed to be done to be able to go on with their lives. As many of the students in the classroom I do not know much about the current conditions in Haiti. Sacraficing state pattys day is not the solution to nay problem especially not here is state college, where people onlylike to drink I don't think anyone would really pay attention to sacraficing state pattys day. Everyone would do whatever they feel like doing or maybe even create a new drinking holiday. I really donth think sacraficing state pattty's day is a good ideas. people would buy alcohol with the little resources they have. I don't think anyone would really pay attention to sacraficing state pattys day. I don't think anyone would really pay attention to sacraficing state pattys day. Everyone would do whatever they feel like doing or maybe even create a new drinking holiday. Sat, 3 Dec 2011 06:18:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/12/02/voices-from-the-classroom-89/#IDComment232007371 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-77/#IDComment227380416 All this case about Penn State has been crazy, it has been in the media, it’s the only thing people have been talking about for weeks and students have yet to figure out how they feel about this whole mess. Every single person involved in this case has been a man, the person who did it, the person who saw, the people who heard, all the victims, every single one has been a male. But would it be different if the people involved were females? This is a question that I have been talking about with a lot of people. I was interested to see how people reacted to these questions. Like many of the people who replied to this question, I strongly believe that this case would be extremely different had it been a female who had been involved. have been resolved and over with a while ago had it been women who were involved. Although there are well known women at the university, none the like the people involved in this scandal. Sandusky and Joe Paterno are important people to this university. Had it been women, I don’t believe the media would have made us their main focus for weeks. If McQuerry, the person who saw this happen, had been a female, I’d like to think that she would have directly said something and helped the child right at the moment. But then I think that the odds of a woman going up to a man under that condition will be very intimidating and difficult. What I do know is that a women would have not let that slide, something would have been done immediately. She would have not waited until the day after to solve this problem; also I believe that she would have followed up as many times as necessary to make sure that something was done. And she would have insisted until she made sure that something was done about this situation. If the victims would have been girls they would have most likely spoken a lot earlier than the boys did. Also it would have probably been harder for Sandusky to commit these rapes against girls because people may have caught on quicker that he was going into a locker room with a little girl. And mothers would most likely not let their little girl stay over with a man. I am the one that believes that this world keeps going because of women. Women are strong and care, they make sure things are okay and right. Women have maternal instinct when it comes to children, they know when something is wrong and they know that something has to be done when it needs to be done. Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:34:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-77/#IDComment227380416 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220572161 Happy Valley, is definitely not so happy anymore. You walk around and all you hear about is this whole event that is happening. You see the news, we are everywhere. Every newspaper has Penn State in the front cover. These past days I have had such a mix of emotions, I have been confused about the events, angry at Sandusky, sad about this whole situation, worried about what will happen next and ashamed of the actions some students are taking, but something that I do know Is that I am grateful to be a Penn Stater. I know it is weird for me to be saying this now, when a lot of people are ashamed of what is going on. I have always been proud to be a Penn Stater, but I guess it was not until now that I realized how grateful I am to be here. Its not until you lose something or risk losing it that you realize how much meaning it really has to you. This place that I call my home has gone from being everything I love to, one of the saddest place to be in, within less than a week. I think that people can see, that I love this school and always will. However, I do not agree with the riots that the students are participating in. I think that this drags more negative attention to us, and at the time it is not what we need. To me it is absurd. I am one of the students who will participate in events that actually mean something, like the candle vigil. I hope that the same way that a lot of students went out to riot, they will go out to show their support to the victims, who at the time, are probably the ones who need it the most. I see people face book status, and I notice how big of a family we are. Yes there are people who riot, people who destroy downtown, people who get angry and do dumb things. But there are a lot of us who, dont participate in that, we unite in things that really matter. I think that a lot of us are upset with Joe Pa being fired, I am too, I do care about that. But some people are making that the main focus, and it should not be. There are victims, families and friends who are the ones who need support of the community. This is why I support vigils, blue outs, creating awareness. We as student body cannot do anything about what has happened and the bad decisions that some leaders made, but we can prove that we are not like them, that we care. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:56:05 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-73/#IDComment220572161 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/03/voices-from-the-classroom-66/#IDComment217132904 In the American society, Mexicans, (which are often times central or south Americans other than Mexicans, but are all put in the same box) are seen as the people who come to this country illegally to take the Americans jobs. One of the most common jobs for these “illegal” is working the fields. They are often times exploited, paid led than minimum wage and required to work ridicules hours. As seen in class, states like Arizona, whose officers are now allowed to request documentation, these “illegal” are no longer working the fields, making it impossible for the owners to find Americans to do the job for them. Yet we hear Americans complain about all the jobs these illegal are taking away from them. Jobs that when available to them, they don’t take. Leaving a lot of farmers struggling, this would lead to hurting the economy. Many of these illegal immigrants are seen as lazy people who come to take education and health Americans have to offer. In a way they do come for education and health but they also come for a job, and they work on whatever they can get. Not only do they support themselves they also support their families back in their home land. They will do whatever it takes to be able to give that support. No matter what the hours, the wage or the energy the job may entail. When it comes to the jobs Americans will have they won’t do that same amount of work, for that little amount of pay. Another factor is that a lot of Americans have an education which may allow them to get a better job with better benefits. In the corporate world not many latinos, or illegal are the ones leading it. Also Americans as they grow are thought that certain jobs are for certain people; unfortunately, this is one of those cases. No one is going to want to do a job that is stigmatized as a job for the illegal, the low class. In class Sam asked who would work in the farming industry for 10.50 an hour, the hands that were raised could be counted on one hand. I was one of them. 10.50 seemed like a good pay considering, that it is above low wage. But I was also thought that a job is a job, and as members of society we do what we have to do, to survive and get by. When watching the video in class the man exposed a lot of good points, these illegal build our economy, they work jobs, some pay taxes, they give more than what they take. They don’t take a lot from the Americans and they give us a great amount of things. Sat, 5 Nov 2011 03:57:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/03/voices-from-the-classroom-66/#IDComment217132904 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/26/living-in-the-world-of-spanglish/#IDComment213011452 The sentence that caught my eye the most what where it says "I had always spoke Spanglish, but a few years ago you were criticized for it, they told me I was lazy and couldn't express myself in English nor Spanish," this explains exactly how I feel. Upon arriving to the US, I was warned to stay away from spanglish because I would never fully develop my English, and I could eventually end up losing my Spanish. I find myself always on guard, making sure I only stick to one language. I correct my mom if she speaks spanglish, and I have a hard time communicating with people who speak a lot of spanglish because I don’t know in what language to communicate with them. I’m at a point where if I know that a person speaks English, I will talk to them in that language, just because often times I’ll talk to them in Spanish and they will reply to something completely different to what I said. After reading this article I realized that it is not uncommon to speak spanglish, but then again, I don’t know how I feel about that. After looking at the tables in the article, as generations go by there is an increase of spanglish, and an increase of English, but the Spanish decreases, and I wonder if that would have been different if parents has forced their children to solely speak Spanish at home. Something mentioned in the article that I just recently realized I do a lot was add “so” to a full sentence in Spanish. I try to avoid it but it just comes naturally. As for my Spanish I also feel like I am losing some of it. Over breaks, when I go home, I cannot use spanglish because my friends do not know any English. Often times I find it hard to explain myself because I want to say something in English but I know that they won’t understand. These are just some of the reasons why my experiences had lead me to not like the term and use of “spanglish” . I do feel that the article put an important point out there. In the US many people know spanglish, so being fluent in spanglish would not be a problem. It is easier to explain something, or to even communicate. It does add to biculturalism and it is good that “spanglish speaking people” are being acknowledged in the media. Although I may not find it beneficial, in the US it is. Hopefully people will recognize that it is important to use both languages and be aware that although spanglish is acceptable, it is still important to take the time to learn both languages well. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:32:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/26/living-in-the-world-of-spanglish/#IDComment213011452 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210584210 I think that people who hang out with people outside of their race should not be considered posers. There is a lot of factors that influence the people who we choose to hang out with and why. When I think of poser I think of people who try to ask as something they are not. I don’t think that because you hang out with people outside of your race should be considered a poser because often times they maintain their individuality. Often times it is easy to know where a person is from simple by the way they dress. For example people from Philly or new your dress really different than the people from Lancaster or state college. People from Miami and Texas also dress differently. If there is a white girl or boy raised in Philly it might mean that they will dress to the style used there, not necessarily that they are trying to dress that way because that is how their black and brown friends dress. People also talk a certain way because of the region they are from. So I think that where you are from will greatly influence how you act, and who you will hang out with. During a summer program I met a girl who lives in the inner city. It is pretty obvious that she did based on a whole bunch of things, one of them being that she had no white friends at all. During the program she hung out with me the whole time, since I was the only Latina and minority in the group everyone gave her a hard time saying that she was trying to be one of us. She would really get bothered by it. Often times she had to explain that, the way she acted and dressed was due to the fact that it was the only thing she knew. She was the minority in her high school. In this case, as Sam would say, other factors and forces out of her control, shaped her to be the way she was. I don’t see why this should be considered as being a poser. Same happens when a person of the minority grows up in a predominantly white area, most of his/her friends are white and they receive an education at a predominantly white school. They often get told by the minorities in their communities, colleges, or wherever that they are not embracing their culture. Or I have also heard them be called Oreos. Personally I think that it’s rude to judge people because they don’t act how everyone else thinks they should act. So I don’t agree with the fact that they are being seen as poser when in reality they are not. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:12:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/20/voices-from-the-classroom-51/#IDComment210584210 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/12/consider-the-issue-of-freedom-vs-determinism/#IDComment207505082 Unlike many people who wrote on this blog, I had never seen, or heard of these two lovely young ladies. I think it is amazing that they decided to participate in the documentary. As they said it is a way of educating the world, to whom they are. Their case, just like most of our life, has a lot of free will and determinism. I think their case has a lot of determinism. The fact that they are conjoined twins, and share a circulatory system, which means they can’t be separated, definitely makes it determinism for them. The fact that their mom, chose to continue with the pregnancy is free will. She was determined to have conjoined twins but she made the decision to continue with the pregnancy. They also have a lot of free will. The family chose to go to school, as opposed to homeschooling, they chose to have a life as close to normal as possible. They chose to have a documentary, to get a license, go to college and a whole bunch of other decision they are making. However, I think some of those decisions will be made for them, for example. In college, they have to study the same mayor, unless something is figured out in the classes, but then, how do they take test, do them each have to take one or can it be a team effort. When they get married, have kids, who will be considered the birthmother, I’m sure there is biology to that, so that will be determined for them. On another note, I admire these girls, for living their life normally, I loved the video of the girls in school, it seems like everyone there has accepted them, has gotten used to the fact that that is who they are. I find this amazing. I also liked the part of the video where they are getting their license. I was so shocked when I heard that they were driving. For some reason I had never thought of that as something they would be able to do. Comes to show how ignorant I am in many things, and how unexposed to diverse cultures I am. This video opened my mind to so many things. Freedom and determinism come to play every day of our lives. Personally, it is something I don’t really think about. But when forced to think about it I realize how important it is and how much it really affects us as individuals. In the same way it surrounds me it surrounds them, only they may have some factors already determined for them. But they have the choice to go through with what is proposed of move on and find another option. Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:49:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/12/consider-the-issue-of-freedom-vs-determinism/#IDComment207505082 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-36/#IDComment204608834 Why do women dress a certain way and expect to be treated another? This is a really good question, and it is really controversial. I have so many mixed feelings about this topic. I honestly can’t really decide where I stand in my point of view about this question. What I am sure of is that everyone male and female should be treated with respect no matter how they dress. Just because a girl dresses a certain way does not mean that it is an open invitation for you to disrespect her. I often hear guys say that girls are looking for something to happen to them if they dress that way. And I just think that no one likes to be disrespected, but then I wonder why is it that most of these girls knowing the type of attention they are going to get continue to dress that way. I really think some of them want the attention, others are simply too drunk to care, but I am pretty sure most of them are not drunk when they get dressed. I don’t think too badly about the way they dress when it is warm out. It shocks me every time I see that no matter how cold it is, girls will wear those short dresses and heels, and honestly I don’t think it is necessary to put yourself through that. Part of me wants to think that’s the fashion, the style that is going on. Sure seems like it because almost every girl wears the same outfit. But during the winter, that is not what you see on TV, in magazines, or at stores. So, I don’t get why they do dress that way. Personally, I do not dress that way, neither will I dress that way. I do believe that the respect you get, not only from guys, but from everyone else, has a lot to do with the way you dress. It’s like when you go to an interview, you dress to give off a good impression. Same for a party, you can give an impression with the way you dress; only it may or may not be a good one. I see tons of girls who get plenty of guy’s attention and they do not dress that way. They, many times get a different type of attention, they are more respected, yet acknowledged. I have heard by many guys that they can tell by the way a girl dress who is worth a try and who is just a one night stand. I also think that the respect the girl get also has to do with alcohol. If a guy is sober, I really don’t think that he would disrespect a girl no matter how she is dressed. But when alcohol comes in play, everyone, both guys and girls, lose their senses and judgment Sat, 8 Oct 2011 02:20:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-36/#IDComment204608834 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-18/#IDComment201588719 When I first saw the video of the bicycle, I expected it to be one where everyone flipped out because a black male was stealing a bicycle. This would not really surprise me because, that is what it presented in the news and in the movies. The black guy is always the one to steal, or be violent, or get in any kind of trouble. This sucks, because it is not true. Media has a lot of influence on what or how people think about other races or cultures. They set a certain stereotype to a certain race. And normally no matter what the source of media is a certain race will have the same stereotype. In the video, when a white guy was stealing a bike, no one really seemed to be paying attention to what was occurring. They would seem to just bypass him. He clearly stated that the bike was not his, so he is clearly stealing it. Yet no one did much. When the black guy seemed to be stealing the bike most people had to comment on is, ask him or at least recognize the fact that he was stealing the bike. When the female was stealing the bike, I did not quite expect the reaction of the men to be that drastic, to the level of helping her steal the bike seems a bit too much. I did not expect them to call the cops or anything; I did think they would allow her to get away with it, but I did not think they would actually help her with it. I do think that they would have helped her if she had said she lost her key, but if I am not mistaken they all made it pretty clear that it was not their bike. At first I thought that if this experiment would have been done using the same people every time, to see how they reacted, it would determine if they did have a certain ideal about a specific race. But then I figured they would catch on to it pretty quickly. However, as Sam Richards always says, there are factors and forces out of our control that shape our ideals or opinions. The bicycle video was filmed in the same place, this probably means that most of the people will have similar ideals within the same community. And yes I do recognize that some people are different but I do think that where you grew up influences how you perceive different people. For example a person that is raised in New York or Philly will be more exposed to diverse communities than a person raised in the middle of no where PA. Sat, 1 Oct 2011 03:15:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-18/#IDComment201588719 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197679283 Watching these videos really made me think about how much we can limit ourselves. Sometimes I hear people, friends, family, whomever, saying that they can’t do this, or can’t do that because they don’t have resources or the money or the time. Now that I think about it, I tend to do it a lot also. Yet, there are these entrepreneurs that do amazing things with the little resources they have. Not only do they hold their businesses with little resources, they do a good job and they perfect everything they do. Not only do they support their families with these jobs, they also hire people, who support their families with those jobs. They also pay their employees the amount of money that needs to be paid. It is amazing! I am really glad that we are doing these projects because not only we are helping these Haitians better their lives, we as a society are learning about the struggles other people have to go through and hopefully serve as a motivation for us. Working this project with my group will be very interesting. I think we have a great group. It is a very diverse group also; we have people from several different back rounds and who grew up in other countries. I am curious to see how being exposed to other communities will move them and I think we will have great ideas. Although we are not yet completely comfortable with each other, I think we will be able to work really well together and have a good project. When watching the videos I noticed that these Haitians were doing some great thing and they could be doing even better things if they had the resources to do it. After the earthquake a lot of Haitians los everything, it is good to see that they are bringing themselves back up and doing what is needed to be done to be able to go on with their lives. As many of the students in the classroom I do not know much about the current conditions in Haiti. I do not know if they are still receiving help or how much progress has been accomplished. Through this project I really want to get to know more about Haiti. For example, we saw all these great things these entrepreneurs are doing, but I wonder who buy these shirts, purses, sandals, are they things that are accessible to all the Haitians, or is it something that only a few get to afford. If so, what is being done for those who cannot afford the things these entrepreneurs have to offer? These videos really gave me a different view on my actions and how I never really do anything because of a fear of failure Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:30:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment197679283 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-9/#IDComment193299052 In class Sam gave an interesting fact about SAT scores. It was that SAT scores rise as income rises. I would have to agree with this statement. SAT’s require a certain amount of preparation to be able to do well in them. Without this preparation it will be really hard to get the score desired or required to get into the University of Preference. Preparation for these SAT’s is received in several ways, preparation in school, preparation via private tutoring, study sessions, or any other form of studying. If a family has a higher income they most likely live in a good area where public schools prepare a person better for this exam. The higher the income it is more likely for a parent to enroll their child in a private school, where the student will possibly better prepare for the Exam. Essentially, a parent with a higher income will also be able to pay for tutoring or other prep courses that tend to be pretty expensive. Basically, the more money the family has, more opportunities to be better prepared, the higher your scores will be. This isn’t to say that students with lower income can’t do well on the SAT’s they might need a bit more help, study more on their own, seek help form a teacher, or maybe encourage their school to hold free test preps as after school programs. In my school that was an option, and a lot of us took the opportunity and managed to do pretty well on the exam. In my opinion, another factor that determines how well you do on the SAT’s is the motivation and support you receive from your parents, teachers, friends, family, etc. The students within a higher income family more than likely will have parents who went to college, and these children probably have drilled in their head that they need to do well, focus and study. College is basically a given for them. However, students with lower income may receive that same motivation from the people closest to them, regardless of whether or not their parents have received college education. I have tons of friends who are first generation college students and say that they made it because the support of those closest to them. Another factor also tied to income is the university the student is considering to apply to. Students of higher income families will probably apply to Universities that are bigger, better known, ect. While some students with lower income will probably apply to community colleges, technical schools, colleges closer to home, etc. Depending on the type of college/university is the score required on the SAT, if it is needed. That will also make students want to study less or more. To conclude, income has a lot to do with the scores on the SAT. Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:40:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-9/#IDComment193299052 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/07/questions-from-the-classroom-2/#IDComment191695642 Classifications are everywhere and are used for every little thing. There are so many “boxed” we can check of as to what or whom we are. It sometimes becomes overwhelming, especially if you can’t find one specific box to be put in. one can be considered of a certain race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. Personally, I classify myself in many ways. I am Latina, even more specific, Puerto Rican. I am a Roman Catholic. I am a sister, a daughter, a friend, a Penn Stater. I am so many things that it would be hard to describe them all. But every single one of these classifications makes me the person I am, and I am great full for every single one of them. Some of these classifications I was born with. I had no option, for example my race, my ethnicity, my social economic status and my gender. All of these were decided by the family I was born into, the place I was born in. Would I be the same person had I been born into a different family? Who knows? I have no intention of finding out. Some of these classifications I chose. I chose my sexual orientation, I chose the school I wanted to go to, I chose my major. There are so many things that I decided I wanted to be. And yes these things may have been influenced by my family, where I grew up, the school I attended, or the people I hung out with, but in the end, it was my decision. I decided I wanted to become someone; I wanted to in a way change the world. Over the Summer I did a summer program, we had an activity where we had to write on these goggles all the words that described us, walk around the class room and let other group members see them. Then we immediately had a discussion on what we had just done. One of the common denominators in the conversation was the fact that these classifications lead to a lot of stereotyping that we as individuals cannot avoid or change. I don’t think of it that way. When asked how do I classify myself I say the things I want people to know about me, the thinks that tell people how I want them to see me. Yes there are stereotypes, but, I don’t follow most of them, other than the fact that I’m really loud (Puerto Ricans tend to be known for that). I choose who I want to be, and what category I want to be in. I also believe that we all have the choice to change the stereotypes and the categories we want or don’t want to be put in. Fri, 9 Sep 2011 23:36:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/07/questions-from-the-classroom-2/#IDComment191695642 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/01/why-do-you-follow-any-religion-at-all/#IDComment189153863 Why did I choose my religion? At first I heard the question, and I started to think, did I really get to choose my religion, or is it something that was already predetermined for me? In my family my mom grew up as a catholic, and my dad grew up as a Pentecostal, but when it came time to have kids, they decided what religion my brother and I would be raised as. So, they decided we would be catholic. I guess technically they chose my religion for me. We got baptized, went to Sunday school, and to mass every Sunday. We were altar servers, Sunday school teachers, and organized many events for the children of the church. But as my brother and I grew older, we started making our own decision whether we wanted to continue in the religion or not. My brother decided to steer away from, not only the religion but his beliefs. To be honest I do not know what he believes in or what he identifies himself with. I decided to stay, not only as a Christian but as a catholic. So, the question for me would be, why did I choose to stay in my religion. It is not any easy question to answer; I do not know the reason for many things I do in my life. In the beginning I did it because that’s what we did, but now I do it because that is who I am. I was a really active member among our youth, I had great experiences, met people that changed my life. I know that I am where I am today because all of the blessings I have been given, as simple as that. I am a strong believer. When I got to college I found it harder to go to church, not only because I didn’t have time but also because I was tired, but that has not changed my beliefs one bit. I went through a phase where I did not want to be catholic, I started going to another church, of another religion, I liked it, but it was not the same. It didn’t get to me, I felt empty. That’s when I realized that I had steered away from a huge part of my life. My religion shaped me into the person I am today, and I am grateful for that. I have learned about many other religions not only Christian religions and I strongly believe that the religion should not matter, personally I think it is important to believe in something greater than yourself. It keeps us human and it keeps us humble. In a way, it makes the world a better place. Fri, 2 Sep 2011 22:02:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/01/why-do-you-follow-any-religion-at-all/#IDComment189153863 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/if-prison-has-taken-anything-away-from-me/#IDComment144998959 Reading this blog was a very different experience for me that reading the other blog written by the lifers. Normally, the blogs bring a message of hope and change. These lifers had found their own freedom and life within the prison cell. They seemed to have accepted the fact that they are in for an entire life, they might as well make the best of it. In this blog, however, the person writing it does not seem to be living life. He seems to be very hurt by the fact that he is alone. I wonder how long he has been in jail for. I remember Sam and his wife saying that most of the lifers do not get used to the idea that they are in jail until they have been in for a long time. He also seems perturbed by the fact that he is alone without the company of a woman to hug, love, confide, and have as a friend. He does not seem to think of being in jail as something that has taken his freedom, he seems more worried about the fact that he has lost the ability to love and be loved. He has lost the ability to have a parson to call his own. I think more than anything he needs to feel loved. It is probably something hard for him to find in jail. This also makes me wonder how his life was out of jail. Did he grow up in a loving family? Was he in a relationship before going into jail? Who was that special person that made him want to have someone to love? The end is very sad. I think he feels like he has no right to be loved, because he did this to himself. I believe that no one should ever feel that they do not have the right to be loved. Reading this makes me feel really sad and I hope that in a future this person can reach a point of understanding and learn to cope with what he has to face in jail. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:58:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/if-prison-has-taken-anything-away-from-me/#IDComment144998959 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment141933718 What type of relationships do they see in their parents or brothers or cousins or friends? What culture where they raised in? See, some people might argue that, the men described here were the old days, that these were our great-grandparents, grandparents, or maybe our own parents. To me it is not the case, I see my cousins and my brother and I am proud of whom they have become and the type of relationships they have. Another thing is that there is a reason why men feel like they need to be that way, maybe they have been rejected for who they are, and maybe that is what they learned at home. I have heard one to many guy say, we are like this because that is what you (women) look for. It is sad that they feel this way because it is not the case for all of us. 2/2 Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:55:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment141933718 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment141933663 Funny I decide to read this post today, but I am really glad I did. This is what happened, last night I was talking about this with one of my really close friend. I was telling her how I felt that relationships are mainly based on sex and money, and how I somehow wish we could go back to a society with what some people call “fairytale” relationships. She told me that there are many factors that influence as to why people take relationships the way they do, but that she thinks it has a lot to do with the culture you are raised in. Some people are probably reading this and thinking that it is impossible for this type of relationship to occur. See for me they are not fairytales they are a reality. Men do not get as much credit as they deserve. Men are perfectly capable of doing everything described here and much more. Some men, as a matter of fact do, others simple choose not to. I see people’s comments saying that these types of men do not exist, and I wonder what makes them think that. What men have they dated that lead them to believe that these men do not exist? 1/2 Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:55:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment141933663 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment141019769 “War is not about Sound, it is about Silence; the silence of humanity” To me, this is a very powerful statement. And it is true, every time I think of war, I think of huge, colorful explosions, dust, loud planes, gunshots, people screaming, kids crying, ambulances (I do not know why this but it pops into my head), etc. But I never think of the silence that comes from a war, or at least until now I didn’t. For those people (people who live in countries with war) their voices are silenced, unheard of; we do not hear what they are going through, their struggles. She is right; we only hear one side of the war, the side that is convenient for us to hear. No one likes to seem like the bad guy, the one that is killing. Death is scary, for everyone, the people living in war, the people fighting in war, and many of us who only see it on the news. She says something that touched me, “The fear of losing the eye in me”, like dying from inside out. We only see the men side of war, but the other side that we do not see is the women side. This reminds me of the “needy penis” where we get the men’s view of things. She told stories of women who kept life alive during war, who sung, played music, worked hospitals. These women keep life alive during war but are not included at the negotiating table, to “end” a war. Although this all seems as a men’s war, there are men who are not fighting, who decide to not kill, these man are also silenced. No matter what they do their voice will not be heard. Sometime we are selfish, stressed, worried, in a bad mood or just do not want to talk, but these silenced women and children dance and sing during a war, they live their life. I do think the world would be a better place if there was equality. Women have so much power, but are silenced every day. Let them be heard, and there will be a difference in this world. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 15:13:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment141019769 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment139249472 “Inequalities” is such a strong word with so much meaning behind it. I got curious to see what came up on the internet about inequalities. Mathematically, it is a statement about the relative size or order of two objects; it also means an unfair, not equal state. No matter what the definition they both seem to go perfectly with the message the author is trying to get across. For me, the first thing that popped in my head when I heard the word inequalities was rich and poor. Apparently many of us thought the same thing. I think it is impossible to stop the inequalities in the world, the rich get richer, and while the poor may not always get poorer, it is hard for them to go up the social pyramid. I do not know how I feel about all these inequalities; I have mixed feelings about it. I do not agree with the obvious differences between both of them but I do know that I could not imagine a world without it. It does not cease to amaze me how easy it is for the rich to climb up the social ladder, yet it is hardly unheard of for the poor to do so. Along with having money come a lot of benefits and power. For some reason one of the first things that pops into my head is politics. Why does it seem that the people with most money are those with the most power, and the ones that make the important decisions? These decisions only seem to benefit them and not the rest of the population. As I read others peoples comments, I notice that they mentioned that they did not have a problem when people who deserved to be rich made a lot of money, but they did mind that a person who “cheated” their ways would become rich. I also noticed that they always said that their parents deserved to have what they have, they earned it. This is completely understandable, but what I wonder is if the people who “cheated” the system also think the same way. At no point am I saying that their parents don’t deserve what they have, but who are we to say who deserves what, the people cheating the system most likely are not open about it, then who are we to know they are. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 01:15:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment139249472 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/07/who-am-i/#IDComment137623247 My first reaction to this blog was not a good one. Reading the first two words and seeing speck in it did not please me at all. Speck seems to be such a disrespectful word. Maybe, if I had read this last semester I would have been indifferent because I had no idea what a speck was. I never know there were so many names to refer to Latinos. After being called one a few times, I decided to ask what it meant. Which I was clearly not pleased with. I automatically thought this blog would be about racism, stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice of some type. Then as I read the letter from a lifer I realized that it had nothing to do with any of these things, it had to do with identity, family, and belonging, which now that I read through it again, makes sense because of the title. Who am I? I really liked the fact that the author told stories about interactions he has had with different people and how these interaction made him have a special relationship to another culture. I had never thought of this before. Maybe we have invisible strings that guide us to a certain place at a certain time, and join us to a special person. Maybe the person is not special; maybe there is really no purpose in our interactions other than the 5 minutes of entertainment. Who knows? I believe there is a lot of power in the last paragraph, “I am a citizen of the world”. This to me has a lot of meaning, because sometimes we do not see it in that way. We often go by the world without knowing how powerful we truly are, simple things we do everyday can shape many factors in our lives and many factors in the life of other. Many times I ask myself, Who am I? it is not the easiest question to understand, but now I have a different way of looking at it. I really enjoyed this author’s work, it was simple and straight to the point, but it got his opinion across, and that is important. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:04:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/07/who-am-i/#IDComment137623247 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135949687 Today, we had a very interesting class. Sam Richards spoke about lifers and their stories. I learned that in Pennsylvania, life meant life, there is no escaping it. Sam’s wife also mentioned that if one of those lifers would have committed that same crime across the border he would have not gotten a life sentences. Shocking how this is true. What make a crime much worse in one place than in the other? What is it about that state that thinks certain crimes should be more or less punished? Sam also gave us a brief overview of this lifer’s story in class. This brought up a whole bunch of emotions. I could not believe that a 14 year old could receive such a harsh punishment. That is insane; I personally believe that there is something wrong with this case. Reading this person story was amazing. The fact that he feels he deserves to be in prison for life does not seize to amaze me. He was 14, although he did know what was going on, and he might have been able to do something about it, there are a wide range of reasons as to why he didn’t. Many people react many different ways to different situations. Some people scream, cry, laugh or even shut down. I cannot even imagine this 14 year old reaction to a person being killed. He could have felt as if his life was in threat. This just seems so wrong to me. This person could have been the next president, or the person to find a cure for cancer, but instead he is serving a life in prison for a crime he did not commit. If we want to get to the economics of the situation, the government is paying a lot of money to keep a person in jail that does not deserve to be in jail. Maybe giving him help would have been cheaper and more productive for the person. This kid could have been through various physiological situations, many struggles, giving him help would have helped him a lot more than putting him in jail. Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:12:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135949687