What is the end goal of all this? I feel there can be many answers to this question from a lot of different individuals. I personally think the end result of this class and all the discussions Sam talks about is for us to realize what other cultures and races see in their eyes. Of course during Sam’s class most of the things he does talks about I feel do not connect or relate to what he is trying to cover. However, when class is over and I walk to my car to go home I actually think about some things he talks about and I try to relate myself to the discussions. I feel this is what he wants to happen; just getting us to think about what he spends an hour and fifteen minutes preaching to us, is one step into the ‘end result.’ This is being aware of and knowing what other races and cultures go through in their everyday life. In our discussion groups I actually learn a lot more, mainly because there are less people and more discussions. If you are not in a discussion group I can understand how this class does not really hit home to you. I definitely recommend taking a race relations course or joining a group that has diversity talks. With more discussion and more questions I begin to become less ignorant of the other individual’s lives in my group. Our group may not be very diverse in race, but we are very diverse in our opinions and thoughts, and even our personal experiences. Therefore, when we get into our discussions they become heated and it becomes a little easier to understand where other people are coming from. I think the way Sam has made me think definitely benefits me in the long run. I may not realize this now, but somewhere in the near future I will get a job, well hopefully, and there will be a diverse group of individuals working with me. If I did not have any knowledge of other individual’s race or cultures then I would tend to be an outcast, or I would just be afraid to say anything. I would simply think if I did open my mouth I would be called a racist. However, with this class, it has made me think differently about other races and cultures. I now have a better understanding of what other individuals are going through. Yes we all are going to die at some point, but this should not be our end result. We should want to live our life to the fullest and I think the ‘fullest’ means to understand your peers. How they got here, where they came from, and their thoughts about themselves and yourself.

If we would just stop the welfare program all together there would definitely be major problems later in our society. Many people and their families would be struggling to get through each day… more than they already do. For most people it takes them a lot of courage to come out and say they need financial help. After they have the strength to ask for help the welfare program really does help them out. If we would take this beneficial program away then these people would be left out to dry. They would be in a very bad situation. However, I do not agree with getting rid of the welfare program all together, I am for improving this program. There are too many people out there that take this beneficial program for granted. The individuals who do have jobs, but get paid under the table do not report this money. This would then allow them to qualify for welfare. Each month when they get their money from the state they use it for ‘luxury’ things instead of their necessities. Although, this is just some of the people out there, the other side of this program is great! Welfare provides food stamps and money each month for families to get by. In addition, child care is provided for those who are qualified. Therefore, this program is allowing individuals to work even though they have to care for their children. This program also does encourage individuals to get back out there and get a job. I think that the best way to implement welfare is to encourage, and help, people to get on their feet and obtain jobs that can support their families. You know the saying, give a man a fish you have fed him a day, but teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime? I think that is a good way to look at welfare. Maybe give them a fish, or a few paychecks in this case, to help them out, but if you can teach them to fish, or earn their own paychecks, then they, along with society, will be better off in the long run. This is not something that can happen over night, nor is it something that can work for everyone, but I think that it should be a long term goal of the welfare program. It is so tough to say, because there are some people who are on welfare who I am sure hate the fact that they are on welfare, and would do anything to earn their own incomes and are truly trying to do so. But there are also people out there who are perfectly content with where they are. They have food, shelter and some money, so why would they need to go get a job? All in all, I think welfare is a necessity, and it is a good program that cannot be done away with, however, I feel that some sort of programs to get people back to work would be beneficial.

I think that it is kind of cool to think that someday I, a white person, will be a minority. It is normal for me, especially living in Centre County, to walk into a supermarket or the mall and see nothing but white people, and occasionally see a person of color in passing. And when someone does see a person of color in the area, if they look at all athletic, people just assume that they are an athlete.
Now obviously every area will be different, and when white people are the minority nationwide, I’m sure that there will still be places, like Centre County, where white people are still the majority, but there will definitely be more people or color than there are now. It will be different, not in a good way, not in a bad way, just different, when the day comes that I look around me and don’t see 98% white people. The question was asked, as a white person, do I feel threatened? I personally do not. I think that white people who are not as comfortable with people of color as I am may feel a little bit threatened. Racists and white supremacists will definitely feel threatened. In a way I am a little excited to see what it is like to see more people of color than white people. The tables will be turned and I think it should be interesting.
Will it be a complete turnaround from what it is now? Not really. People of color are the minority right now, but having less numbers alone is the only reason that they have been held back in the past, and in some instances still are at a disadvantage today. Society in the past had placed white people above people of color. In the future, when white people are in the minority, they will not be held back by the majority. Society has advanced to a point where that will not happen.
Another thing that I was thinking about are the positions of power. Right now, people in positions of power are not proportionate to society. Out of the 435 people in congress, 42 of them are minorities or women. Combined!!! 10% are woman or a minority. I do not know all of the statistics off the top of my head, but I know that our nation is not made up of 90% white men, but that is how we are represented? What about the day when we are 50% white, 50% people of color, will congress only be 80% white men? Or will we finally start to catch up and be represented proportionately to our population?
Am I worried or scared? Not really. Am I curious and intrigued? You bet, it will be interesting when I can call myself a minority.

I definitely feel if men did go through menstrual cycles tampons and other feminine products would not be free. Think of all the other things men and women share that are not free, like shoes, clothing, deodorant, toothpaste, etc. Barely anything in this world is free so yes, definitely no free tampons in the world. Also, I feel men are not totally aware of everything that goes on in the women’s body simply because they do not have those issues going on in their bodies. What they do know is that women get moody and hungry and have cramps during each month. They do not know the pain we go through, just like we do not know the pain they go through when they are kicked in the balls…ouch? I guess! When we, women, learned about our menstrual cycles we were in elementary school in a separated room from the boys, right? So this is when the separation of the material started. The boys learned about their bodies while we learned about ours. I remember when I got my period I told my dad first and he immediately said to call my mother. Was it that he wanted nothing to do with what was going on in his daughter’s life or was it just simply because he was not educated well enough on the subject? When my brother found out I got my period he was so grossed out and did not ever want to talk about it. Maybe this was because he knew is little sister was growing up? No. He probably just felt this was because he just knew of a period as meaning bleeding from my body. Even when I was in junior high and had to use the restroom for my menstrual cycle issues I would be embarrassed to bring a tampon to the restroom. I was afraid that the boys would see and make fun of me. Although as I got older and realized menstrual cycles are part of a women’s body and everyone knows about it. This is not just a secret only women know about. I am not sure if I really want men to be educated with this subject. I mean I guess it would help in single parent homes when the mother is not in the picture, so the girl would have someone to talk to about her issues and not feel uncomfortable. But this is a women’s issue and this is her body going through these changes, not the man. As long as the women knows what her body is going through and how to keep everything clean and in good working order I think this should be good enough.

I am really glad you stepped up and asked this question. After I left class that day I was left wondering the same thing. It seemed when white individuals would say a rude remark it would be shocking and you would hear “OH NO! He didn’t just say that!’ But when a black individual would say something rude it would just be funny. No one would get yelled at or ridiculed. This situation reminds me of what Sam said in class today about if you (a white person) are at the race table and you say something that may be taken as racism to a black person and the black person questions you, you just agree with them and apologize. You do not try to explain what you meant to say, because you will simply get buried in your own words. I am trying to relate this back to the laughter. I feel we, white people, just laugh when rude things were said about us because if we did try to defend ourselves we would be getting nowhere but being called a racist. This situation also can be related to black individuals are always thinking white people are out to get them, or white people simply do not like them. In my opinion, black people turn everything around that white people say into something that may seem like racism. After my talks in my recitation I am slightly changing my views on this, but I still feel for the most part this is true. Just like black people would say, not every black person is a ‘thug,’ not every white person is racist. Yes there are some racists out there, but there are also some black people that are ‘thugs.’ Everyone in this world is not going to change and there will always be racists out there. For example, the twin girls we saw today in class. Their parent’s religion is white supremacy; therefore, they pass it along to their racist children. I am sure this pattern will continue has their children have children and so on and so on. However, no matter how much some people do not want to admit it, our society has come a long, long way. I feel everyone should be happy to be in the position they are in now. Obviously everyone can complain about something in their lives, but there is also always something that could be worse in your life. Appreciate what you have and where you family is today. Do not think you are better than anyone else, because you are not. Everyone is equal, it is just going to take time for everyone, or the majority of people to realize this.

Wow, this story is messed up. I can’t believe a school board has the power to cancel a prom simply because a lesbian couple would like to attend. When Ms. McMillen told the media that, "A bunch of kids at school are really going to hate me for this," I can definitely see where she is coming from and this would suck! High school is a tough place when everyone is against you and high school proms are one of the most memorable activities of high school. To be the person responsible for the banning of the high school prom and taking that memory away from the other students must be a terrible hardship for her. However, I would hope she had some students, teachers, or other parents other than her father, to back her up. This is a serious issue and I feel high school proms should not be banned because of this issue. I remember my high school proms, they were pretty basic. Not many rules different from regularly attending school. I wonder if Ms. McMilen and her partner attend the same school and why this issue never came up before. If the school board will not let these two girls attend the prom together why are they allowed to attend the high school together? I think this is the most stupid decision ever. The part where Ms. McMillen is not even allowed to wear a tuxedo blew my mind. Who cares what you wear? High school is all about new experiences. So live a little and if they want to wear a tuxedo let them do it. They have clothes on! Another quote from this article rubbed me the wrong way; “Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Fulton also reserved the right to ask Ms McMillen and her girlfriend to leave if it made any other students feel uncomfortable,” the ACLU said. So if I would attend this prom wearing a funky hat, or something to this matter, and all the students were looking at me weird and I did make them feel uncomfortable they would ask me to leave? At my high school many of the girls went to the prom with another girl…just as friends, but still. Where do we draw the line? I just cannot believe this is even an issue in today’s society. I feel like this is something that would happen twenty years ago, not today. Sadly, issues like these do happen still and it makes me wonder what else is going on today that I do not know about. I do not know, I must be naïve, but I felt like our society has made many drastic steps in the right direction, but I guess we are not to the equal stages of race, religion, and sexual orientation yet.

Eh….this subject just makes me roll my eyes. I understand other races go through a lot more battles in their lives than I do…I am white by the way. But our society has come an extremely far way with equality. I do not want to come off as rude or heartless, but when a Black person says well white people automatically see me as…..fill in the blank, it makes me believe that they are racist against white people. Sure some white people may view Isaac that way, but definitely not all. Black people categorize White people…so it makes me mad when the table is always turned our way. I get offended when I hear these remarks being made, because I personally am not racist in anyway. I could care less about what color you are. If you are a genuinely nice person I will be nice to you. However, if you so happen to be Black and rude I am not going to like you. So do not try to turn that into me being racist. If you are Black and nice then yes I would have nothing against you. I feel everyone should stop worrying about what others think about them and live life for you…not for others. If you are happy in your skin then be happy. Why do you care if someone thinks you’re a ‘thug?’ If you care that much then change the way you dress. You may obviously be exploiting yourself this way. Sometimes I try to dress a little ‘punky,’ because I want people to see that I have a little ‘edge’ to myself. Now if I wanted to portray myself as a slut then I would prance around in short skirts and four inch heels, but I do not do that. Therefore, I do not get the stereotype as a slut. I would not get all bent out of shape if someone called me a punk, but if someone called me a slut while I was wearing baggy jeans and a hoodie then I would have to question that stereotype and try to figure out how that was made up. This always goes back to psychology, the Labeling Theory…
I like when Isaac mentioned people would think he is an athlete because he is black. For the most part when I see a tall, bigger, black male yes I do try to figure out in my head what sport he plays, I also do this with white males. When looking at Isaac that particular question would not cross my mind. If I asked Isaac what he thought when he looks at a seven foot white male, I bet he would assume he played basketball. I would.

I have heard about these ‘dolls’ before. It seems like an alright idea to me. I mean for someone who has trouble talking with girls or even meeting a girl this is a great opportunity for someone of this nature. I definately would not recomend using these dolls as the only form of companionship. This society is already turning to the computer for many forms of communication, I do not think that just having a doll to talk to is going to help become more vocal. Dropping seven thousand dollars on one doll can be a lot of money when in reality you can spend seven thousand dollars on a real, live girl. For seven thousand dollars you could probably buy an engagement ring and pay for all of the dates leading up to buying that ring. Some people may think that these dolls are a weird invention, but if you cannot get a date, or are just too nervous to talk to a girl, they are beneficial.

On the other hand, I can completely understand when people say this idea of these dolls is creepy. I feel that one needs other human contact, real human contact, to keep their physical, psychological and emotional needs met. If this were to really catch on, reproduction would suddenly come to a stop. There would be no more new babies left in the world to keep the population going. If this would ever happen, it would be very sad. I do not see these dolls doing this to our society however.

Like I mentioned earlier, I feel that the price, more than what the dolls will give off, will shy people away from purchasing these dolls. Therefore, if the dolls were cheaper, sadly, more people would purchase these sex dolls, and in this case it is a shame that real women cannot meet the standard needs of a man. But is this really what this means? Does buying these dolls mean women are not satisfying enough, or does it mean that men are afraid they will not be good enough to satisfy their woman? Do they feel that they need more help or practice? Is that why they buy the doll?

These dolls, also, are completely different from other sex dolls or sex toys. Many people buy toys or dolls, but they do not talk, or feel, or look like a real human being. For better or for worse, these dolls take sex toys to a completely different level. I think if my significant other bought one of these dolls I would be offended. I would feel like I was not fulfilling him sexually enough. For him to go out and spend seven thousand dollars on something that I could be doing for free is appalling.

I guess I never really thought about how things such as languages can just disappear. This is sad, if you think about it… all the years certain languages were used, probably the only language of some, has just vanished. It is tough to realize that individuals sometimes have no one to talk to but themselves, simply because there is no one else to share their language with. Much like Johnny Hill Jr. stated in the BBC News article: "I have to talk to myself," he explains resignedly. "There's nobody left to talk to, all the elders have passed on, so I talk to myself... that's just how it is." I feel this type of language vanishing is going to keep happening, due to the way our society is these days. More people are focusing on television, computer chatting, and cell phones to communicate to one another. People barely read books anymore or sit down and hold intelligent conversation with say, their parents. I cannot tell you the last time I completely read a book…for fun. There are just so many more things to be doing; however, these things are making us take advantage of more and more things.

I feel like every country is trying to and is learning English. If the English language keeps spreading like this, then maybe one day there will only be one language in the world…English. This could be due to all the ways of communication, like computers, cell phones, and television. Years and years ago, like our grandparents generation, individuals would usually only talk to people around them geographically. All these people would speak the same language, so there was really no need to try to learn another language. Nowadays with all the country to country business there seems to be a relevant reason to learn the corresponding languages, but this is usually English. I would think if everyone spoke English this would be an awesome thing, but after reading this article and listening to the video clip I realized how upsetting this could be to many individuals.

I would never think a language could just disappear. It makes me wonder why individuals would not try to teach other people their language, but then again if my parents spoke a different language and they tried to teach it to me I would probably not be very interested in learning it. This happens because, like I mentioned before, these days we take advantage of so many good things in life. Years ago learning a new and different language would be an exciting and life changing event to participate in. This is exactly what Johnny Hill Jr. mentions in the BBC News article: "Trouble is," he sighs, "they say they want to learn it, but when it comes time to do the work, nobody comes around."

At the end of this BBC news article it states that when politicians say,” ‘But we're doing this for you', that just makes it worse. In fact, that seems to be what makes them angriest of all,” it reminds me of when we were younger. When my parents would tell me not to do something, to eat my veggies, or “I’m just doing what is best for you,” I would do the opposite just out of spite. This kind of relates to this message from the article. People do not like to be told what to do and I can also see how they would think they are being talked to as a child.

As time goes on I feel more individuals are going to become independent voters. That is if they realize that Republicans and Democrats just bicker back and forth, in hopes that they will win an argument that does not necessarily do any good for them. The fact that they won an argument makes them satisfied. So often every single democrat in the house or senate votes one way, while the republicans vote the opposite way. A lot of time the congressmen do not think for themselves anymore, they simply do what the party tells them or would like them to do. For example before the Massachusetts election there were 60 democrats and 40 republicans in the senate. There were times when the vote would be 60 to 40 and every senator would vote along their party lines. You cannot tell me that they always agree with what they are voting for, but because they are a part of that party they do so.

In today’s world people want everything right and they want it now. Obama may have a good plan and may someday be able to make a dent in this world, but this kind of work does not happen in a short amount of time. Obama was so incredibly popular when he was elected, but now that the economy is still in shambles they have to blame someone and that someone is the president. I think this is unfair, I mean I want the economy to be good again, but no matter who is president no one is going to be able to turn it around in one year. It takes time, patience, and help from everyone.

I feel that people need to set their pride aside and focus on getting everything better for themselves and for their future families. This includes voters not being stubborn, but just voting for what is truly going to help them in the future. This also includes congressmen, they need to also stop being stubborn and work together in situations to make this economy the best it can be. Finally, President Obama needs to work with both sides and work with everyone to make this country a better place.