I think there would be more outrage because the majority of Penn State students and alumni are Caucasian. In general, as we have learned in class so far and from experiences throughout my life, it is clear that people respond differently to actions depending on the color of the person’s skin. For example, we saw this in the video we watched in class with people (actors) of different races and genders “stealing” the bike. People reacted differently to each of them. What Sandusky did is something that, in our culture, is completely not tolerated and unjustified from the outside looking in, and even often for that person who does it. If Sandusky were black or Latino, it would probably be regarded even more as such a heinous thing to do. People then might have stronger hatred for the person who did that, more than we thought was even possible right now. However, people would be saying that “it does not matter because it is all about what he did not what color his skin is.” Everyone would probably be more politically correct, which as we learned is not always what people really think. _If Sandusky were black or Latino, I actually do not even know if he would have even lost the privilege to have keys and access to athletic buildings. For all we know, he could have been fired right then and not given another chance. Or, as some believe in attack to the administration, he could have not had this action overlooked. _When people discussed the scandal, the fact that it would be a black or Latino person in the headlines would have changed the extent to which people reacted to this. Furthermore, if Curley or Sholtz or McQuery or even Joe Paterno were a different race, they could have been the ones getting it worse than the person who was in Sandusky’s position. Joe Paterno probably got too much attention anyway relative to the coverage on Spanier or Sandusky but that’s another whole topic._Personally, I believe that it would not matter. Other people may see this as “political correctedness” that I said that, but I think that for the people who truly look at morals, right vs. wrong instead of those who are more affected by physical and racial differences. _The responses to the scandal would be so different in ways that are very difficult to imagine, for me at least since I grew up in a very mixed town, but I think there definitely would be more attention and certain people would make this a huge factor in the story. With or without even realizing it, we have all reacted a certain way at least in the slightest bit, because of Sandusky’s race.

The rest of the world has heard about the recent events at our school and, unfortunately, has changed the way they view Penn State as a whole. The media has not helped us here at Penn State because they have turned the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal into a story about us rioting, about Penn State students being “crazy” and radical, about how Penn State’s legacy, Joe Paterno’s legacy, etc. have been false and that we are all supporting the wrong thing. Little do most outsiders, and even the news reporters for that matter, know the true reasons for our riots and for our actions. Personally, I have made a huge effort to post articles and videos and other things on my Facebook so that I can show how we are united as a community and do want the best, most just consequences. I think that the way we have reacted has made us even closer as a Penn State community and it is sad that the outsiders are unable to see this because all they see is the same video of the news truck being flipped over. Of course I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions on this topic, but the way it is being publicized is hurting our reputation and not allowing for others to be able to form a true opinion on who is guilty, what this means for students and how and why student behaviors unfolded. If we do not even know the whole story and we are the ones in State College, it makes me angry that the people out of our bubble, who know far less and who have never experienced being a part of the “Penn State family”, are judging us so negatively. Also, they are judging the maybe 20 people being shown going crazy on television but not the other 44,980 who are not doing those things. The $22,000 we raised as a student body toward child abuse prevention has gotten far less attention than the kid standing on a lamp post in the road. That is not right. The few days after JoePa was fired, as I walked on campus I thought about how I had never seen so much spirit. As ashamed as we all were, I have never heard so many “We are” chants to tour groups, for example. I think the best thing to do is to talk with outsiders about this and show how we as a community are dealing with this, and how strong and loyal we are to our school. I know that when I go home for Thanksgiving break I am going to wear my Penn State sweatshirts and shirts and when people ask me about it, I am going to tell them the truth, which the media missed, and educate them about how Penn Staters really are. It is time they hear our side of it.

I think that there are multiple reasons for the difference in willingness to do labor between Americans and immigrants. Immigrants come to America for the “American Dream.” They come to be able to live in a land where there are places for them to work and they will pretty much take whatever type of employment they can, in order to make money and, in many cases, be able to support a family. Americans are aware of this and with an easier access to good public education, unlike that which immigrants are not always able to have access to, the Americans are at an advantage. They do not want to settle for less, or for a job that is known for being done by foreigners.
Last year, my economics professor said something that I found very interesting and then this year Sam touched upon it too. This is the proof that remaining unemployed and living on welfare will give you a net worth of more money. Where they could be working full time and getting paid minimum wage, the other option is to qualify to receive money from the government and not work and end up with more money than they would be making after taxes are taken out of their paychecks. Immigrants do not necessarily always have this option and with our troubled economy today, it is hard to be on welfare in the first place. But I think that there are Americans who know this, therefore they leave the immigrants the jobs that we now think of as “foreigners’ jobs”.
Many of these jobs are difficult, tedious and/or dangerous. Working long hours on your feet or in the sun or in harsh conditions is not appealing. Unless that is the only possible job that someone can get, they are going to try to find alternatives. Immigrants, however, are determined to make money no matter what the conditions are and they will do the work to get it done, to get paid and to support their family. Many of them also, because they are unable to legally apply for jobs, must work the long construction or gardening jobs, or whatever they can find, so that they do not get caught as illegal. Even with these jobs, however, it is necessary for the immigrant to at least be somewhat fluent in English so that they can communicate correctly, do the correct construction or gardening job and therefore, do well enough to be hired again by these people. To get a quick job like this with maybe a partner who speaks Spanish is much easier than learning enough English to get by in a job at a fast food restaurant or something else of that nature.

When people speak a different language around me, there are definitely times when I think about it and get kind of annoyed by it, but there are also other times when I think that we are in America, and I should not have an opinion because everyone “has a right to be here”, to be politically correct. I know that it is not “right” to think this, but there are times when for example, I have been in an elevator and there are people all around me speaking other languages. I had never thought anything of it until one time when my father, who is not a racist person, said to me when people got out of the elevator, “Why don’t they just speak English? That is one of my biggest pet peeves. They come here, and in big groups they just speak their language.” When he first said this to me I remember saying, “Dad! They have just as much right as anyone.” But the more I think about it, there are definitely times I can see where he is coming from. Personally, I enjoy traveling to foreign countries a lot. When I am there, if I know the language I try to speak it. If not, I usually make an effort to learn at least a few common phrases and I always try to learn about the culture so that I can live in the culture for the time I am there. I think that by showing that you are trying, it looks good and foreigners respect that more than when you just talk in English and not acknowledge their lifestyle.
I also think there is a difference between whether or not the people speaking a different language are just visiting or if they are living here. If they are living in the United States but close themselves off to solely people of their own culture/ people who speak their own language, I think that is annoying and not right because they came to America and should be a part of the “American” culture. Even though it is good to keep aspects of their own culture and even though the United States is a “melting pot,” I think they should make an effort to adapt. I know that at least I would make an effort.
Some people in our culture make jokes about this. For example, the people at the nail places where I live (and I think in a bunch of areas on the east coast) always speak Vietnamese. While I do not really care that they speak this, it bothers me when they are talking for the entire time and I can’t understand anything they say. It makes me annoyed sometimes when they just go on and on and on and I am sitting there listening to that and they barely say anything to me. I just think that there are times when it is not as appropriate, however I know that when I am in foreign countries people probably think the same about me sometimes.

I do not believe that just because you are one race, if you hang out with mostly people of a different race that you are a poser. I think that we were (or most of us at least) were brought up we learn to accept anyone. Typically though, the reality is that if someone saw a white person who was always with a group of black people, for example, they would probably call him some name and stereotype him as someone who “thinks he is black”. I, personally, have no problem with this person hanging out with all people from another race and I would categorize him this way. However, I know that people often do this. If the people who do not know this person and look at him from the outside, without putting him /herself in his shoes, yes, maybe it could look like this from someone’s perspective. But there are reasons why this person is hanging out with the people he chose. Some of these reasons he may not even be aware of, but the positive benefits of these friendships outweigh the negative encounters he may have with people not in this group. These reasons are the invisible strings, the factors and forces that affect us in ways we do not know (or sometimes may be able to recognize). To be completely honest, this person is probably more in-tune with himself and what he wants as opposed to the people stereotyping him, who may not be branching out to people of different races. Or another example is a kid, Ethan, from my hometown, right outside of Boston. Ethan is white and he is friends with mostly people of different races. In high school, people would joke around all the time with him and talk to him in a certain way or say certain things to him, but they never meant it in a harmful way, just in a joking kind of way. Ethan tried not to ever let this bother him. While I am sure he got annoyed with it, he kept doing what he wanted to do and hanging out with the people he enjoyed being with. That takes a lot but good for him because if he did not spend time with these friends, the other people left would be those who said stuff to him. And why he would want these people to be the prominent ones in his life rather than his actual friends would be a mystery to everyone. Ethan is one example of someone who was smart enough to be able to move past the race issue and issues of people stereotyping him and/or calling him names, etc., even in a joking way sometimes, and focus on those who truly matter to him.

Women dress a certain way and expect to be treated differently, for people to have different reactions and responses to them and see them in a different way. Everyone sees himself differently, too, and may or may not do a good job presenting themselves who they really are. This means that others really need to think about why people are doing certain things, the invisible factors and forces that weigh down on them and may “determine” what they do. This is partly why girls in this culture, the Penn State culture, or the college culture, or even the U.S. culture tend do dress in short skirts and shirts and in the fashion of “going out”, whatever that means to them in their culture and outlook. While they get dressed to go out they are conforming to those around them and fit the certain “look” that they believe they need to fit. Even if a girl hates wearing heels, for example, she still probably will. Maybe she is the kind of girl wears them to look good to herself but looks down upon those who wear them only for the purpose of “fitting in”. While people who know her well know this, others may in turn assume that she is one of those kinds of kinds of girls she does not like. This all ties in to the idea that she knows how she wants to be treated (the way that those who know her well treat her) and she expects to be treated this way. But when people see her who do not know her, they create these assumptions and may treat her differently; therefore, she may be dressing one way and expecting to be treated another way, a thought only according to the people who do not know her because it really is not a different way, it just seems like it to outsiders.
Girls may sometimes think (because of the invisible strings, factors and forces) that if they conform into the “look” of the group or culture, she will blend in and be treated how they ideally see it. If she sees someone else doing something and be treated a certain way, it is not guaranteed that she will luck out as much as the other person and be treated the way that the girl (who maybe wore a certain style or outfit before) was. They will expect something different from what everyone else expects them to be wanting or expecting.
It is often difficult for girls to realize in the first place, that there is a difference between how they see themselves and their encounters, and how others, especially guys, see them. This can create confusion and frustration for girls, if/when they are treated differently from how they wanted to be.

I think that this video is very interesting. Besides realizing how incredible these two girls are to be able to work together and live this lifestyle, it also gives me another way of looking at the “freedom v. determinism” concept. Everything they do is determined already. They seem to have very different ideas of what they like doing, what they want to do in the future, etc. However, they obviously can not do all of this and therefore, their lives are more determined than some of ours. While they are still able to make choices, they can never really do anything “free” meaning that they can never do anything 100% themselves. There are reasons people do everything they do (these are the factors and forces affecting us at each given moment) but for them, I am assuming that they have even more daily routines that are predetermined of how they go about doing them. Not only are they not free to do everything they probably each would like to do, they are not free to just spend time alone. There is a constant sense of having to not necessarily entertain someone, but having to be around someone. If there is something bothering one of them, the other I am sure already knows why, but even if she did not know the reason, there is no way the other one could just be alone. They are not able to have time to themselves, and when they are annoyed with each other or want the other to stop dawning on something that makes them upset, for example, there is no way out… for either of them.
Another huge factor in their freedom/determinism is the fact that because they are conjoined, people from the outside are going to look at them, treat them and react to them differently than they would otherwise. What this means that they are going to be more determined to do certain things (people most likely react in similar ways and treat them similar ways) and they probably have mannerisms and things that they tell people that are the same each time. When all of the factors are affecting them as they interact with other people, they are even less “free”, from a sociological standpoint. In addition, when one of these girls wants to do something, the other “has” to do it too, or they could just decide to argue about it. But more times than not, if they are good to each other, they will each have to do things that they do not want to do. This means that they are determined to do these things, because they do not have the free choice to walk away.

Here at Penn State, as well as all over, it definitely seems as though females “sacrifice their comfort” when going out much more than guys do. However, I believe that there are reasons for why this is, and of these reasons show how our culture has built on itself/transformed.
Like me, there are many females who actually enjoy the process of getting ready. While this brings a whole new set of sociologic ideas and explanations with it, I, along with many others, think it is fun to get ready. Does this mean I should sacrifice my comfort? No. However in our culture, the Penn State one or most others, there are an infinite number of invisible strings, factors and forces that direct why we do this. Girls usually use their bodies too when trying to attract guys, and feel as though with all the competition among other girls, wearing next to nothing is the way to show it off. By practicing this over and over every weekend every year, by people putting pictures on Facebook and then relating this to the competitive nature our culture, this idea is reinforced in our (girls’) minds and we continue to build on it. I think a big part of this is that girls often are competitive with other girls. Girls are vicious sometimes, and I think that being able to fit this “look” and by “looking good”, even if guys think it is crazy that girls go out wearing next to nothing in the freezing cold winter, gives the girl a sense of satisfaction, increased self esteem and confidence. For guys, it is no question why they don’t wear short skirts tight dresses. The look that many girls like to see in a guy is jeans and a nice shirt. While guys like this in a girl too, the difference comes from everyone around us. I go out in jeans once in a while but when I do I see girls in heels and dresses all around me. Sometimes I wish I was wearing something like that because when you feel as though you look good, you feel much better about yourself; and not that I wouldn’t feel comfortable in jeans going out, but I would compare myself to them and then think (competitively like a girl) without being able to control it. Other times, I would probably laugh and say how stupid she is or how “slutty” she is, even though I have done the same thing. Seeing everyone around you wearing a style makes us believe that this is how it is “supposed to be,” even though clearly we all still know better than this. Guys do no need to worry about that as much at all. Guys are “supposed” to be chill and laid back, therefore it does not fit in with them to be obsessing over getting dressed and sacrificing their comfort. There are millions of factors and forces affecting this topic, and these that I wrote about are just some of the reasons.

While I do not think that race necessarily is the only thing that affects whether or not someone uses drugs, as I have learned in class and in soc001 last year, race is one of the invisible factors that influences people’s decisions. Depending on the circumstance and the situations they are in, people will do a drug or not do a drug in order to prove something or keep things how they should be. What I mean is that if they feel as though their role in a situation or every other person of their race is doing a drug, for example, then they should too. This is something that the person may not even think about while they are going to do it; it can be a subconscious or a conscious decision with rationale that they are aware of or even that they are not aware that they are contemplating. This is their choice, whether to do drugs or not, but the whole thing comes down to free will and determinism. Yes, it would be unfair to say that just because you are a certain race you would do drugs or you would steer your life in a certain direction or generalizations like that. but race, as well as socioeconomic class, setting, past experiences and other factors, do play a large part in whether or not a person decides to do something.
Being in college, or even for people around my age who are not in college, it is not hard to get a drug if one is determined to find it. If that is what the media that the specific person is watching or reading or listening to has been advertizing, maybe that would be another factor that shapes the person’s decision to do drugs. Maybe it is the person’s favorite celebrity who happened to be on camera high or drunk or something, and this made it seem more appealing. Maybe the person is not involved in many things and is bored, so they turn to drugs. These are all factors that would influence him or her, but ultimately, maybe the bored student who does not do homework would turn to something other than drugs to entertain them. Or maybe not. All of these ideas and factors and forces merge together and shape us. Therefore, it is a mix of free will and determinism and millions of “invisible strings”, rather than just race, that plays a part in whether a person does this.
Just because someone is a certain race does not mean that they will or will not do something, in this case a drug. However, race is one factor that shapes a person, and whether they are in the minority or majority or somewhere in the middle, their race influences their decision. Whatever the situation is, race is among the many things that impacts them.

When I first watched some of the videos, I was very impressed with the Haitian people in them. I have had experience visiting very poor countries and helping out with various aspects of their lives such as building a school, teaching English to children, etc. But when I first saw these videos, I was actually very impressed with the people in them. Clorene had a great start with the bags and shirts, and I think what Sam was saying about adding pockets and kind of modifying the bag to be more useful for us/our culture (for example adding pockets for cell phones) would be a great idea for her. This would allow her to appeal to many more people, instead of just those who want a bag with sequence designs. In addition, even though her and her sister’s products are both kind of expensive, I think that this is not too big of a deal because Sam, and we all, can help her out. Her sister, Anaes, is selling her bags in an area where there are many designer stores, so I think that Sam is helping bring many ideas to them to succeed as much as they can. I think that the idea for this project is great and I am excited to begin thinking about ways to help them. Clearly many of these people do not have money for an education, but I definitely think that we can help them expand their businesses, find new resources for new/cheaper materials and provide them with feedback that will help them with decisions that will get them the most revenue. All of these people are hard workers and deserve success. It is hard though, as they are all competing to make their business thrive more than the next person, yet it is awesome that they also seem like they want to help each other. Figaro Louis and the other who have to travel long and far every week also really impressed me. It made me think about how difficult and how much of a burden that must be to spend an entire day out of your week, when you could be making money, just traveling to get resources. It would be great to help her find easier and faster and cheaper ways to do this.
I have worked with people in poor countries before, and the amount that they appreciate our help is unexplainable. All of these videos and stories have definitely made me so excited to continue helping others and I am proud that hundreds of us are going to work with them and help their businesses and improve their lives. Looking at this project from a completely outside view, it is amazing that at one school, this one class has the potential to mach such and incredible and life changing impact. To be able to say that hundreds of students in your soc119 class at Penn State worked with some of the entrepreneurs in Haiti provides such a sense of satisfaction and pride.