I really enjoyed the lecture on Haiti and I found this video clip really eye opening. I feel so blinded and oblivious to everything going on in the world because of course I am busy with myself. The pictures that were shown in class and the rows and rows of tents seen in the video really blew me away. The fact that these people can just create something completely new, a new town, a new way of life, is truly resilient. I mean these people have a new “tent town” on an old golf course. Everything in their life was taken from them, everything. They though are still able to create a small nail salon and an entertainment business. I mean after everything these people have been through they really have nothing left to lose. They are just trying to make a living. These children have no school, these people have no businesses, rubble is everywhere, and your government is destroyed. What really hurt me was in the video when they said that these people would probably live in these tent towns for years to come. Years. Years of these people’s lives were destroyed because of one thing. Imagining hoping for the day when things could be as they were. These Haitian people did not fret. They know what has happened and have decided to deal with it and continue to live as normal as they can. My sister is traveling to Haiti next week and I am nervous and excited for her. I feel as if it will be a trip that will forever change your life. I feel like it is one place where you can never see as much pain, hurt, devastation, resilience, hope, and worship in one place. There is so much I want to do to help, but as said in class, there is only so much one can do. There economy is in dire need of reconstruction and I only wish these companies helping out, would contribute to that in order to get these people on their feet rather than other things. I just wish more people in America would take a look into what is really happening in Haiti. Everyone just sees it as a disaster and moves on, but no one every just even takes time to realize what these people are going through. I feel like just trying to understand it is something no one here does. I just keep imaging something like this happening in my home, or here in state college, and I cry because I would feel so lost. I cannot imagine what these people are going through. I pray for them and hope that I can do something to contribute.

I actually think this is a great question because I think we always focus on how women are viewed through media and society but really never discuss the issues that men have to go through. I think men have just as a hard time conforming to society as women. Most men want to be “fit” or “athletic” and “smart” and “funny”. They just like women see celebrities and movie stars that have all these traits and get the beautiful women. I mean how many of us who have watched jersey shore noticed that it takes Pauly D longer to get ready than most girls? Men really do care about their appearance and how they are portrayed towards other men and women. I mean most girls want to date a guy who is well kept and someone who they are attracted too. I mean we see commercials for men’s weight loss pills, hair transplants, and male enhancement pills. I think it is completely similar to women that men feel pressured to look or act a certain way. I also feel though that it is not as noticeable because men try to use the “tough” guy stereotype to hide it. I mean if you find out your man is using male enhancement pills, aren’t you going to be a little thrown off? I also think that men have more of a hard time on the relationship aspect of being the “perfect guy”. Men have to conform to the set standards that the media and movies put into young girls minds on how the perfect man should act and date. I mean we believe that every time a man breaks your heart we get chocolate and flowers, we believe that they should occasionally surprise us with something special, we believe diamonds are a girls best friend, and we believe that the perfect man should do all of these things. I mean in reality most guys feel pressured to become the perfect man stereotype. One male friend of mine could never get a date; he just never “conformed” to the ideal of the perfect man and finally when he found a girlfriend he didn’t do the “standard dating ideals” but he did his own thing. This then led to the girl asking questions such as “why do you never take me out to dinner?”, and always telling me , “He never buys me normal gifts, or does anything cute for me”. I think that all in all though, we are ourselves worst enemy. I mean yes, the media puts ideas and images into our heads, but really everyone is fighting against that battle. None of us are really perfect and it takes our own image of ourselves to realize that we have to be comfortable in our own skin, even though it is never easy.

I am not really and avid video game player but I do have many guy friends who have the video game obsession. I am personally not a fan of video games because I believe that they really do no good to society. This particular video game leaves me completely speechless and disgusted. How anyone could think that a rape game could be fun, I have no idea. People are extremely disturbed today. Personally, as a woman, I feel completely degraded. As woman who wishes to be respected and have her body respected this game completely makes woman out to be useless and pieces of meat for pleasure. One of my very good friends was raped and I personally know and saw the affects that rape can have on a woman. Let me say, it is something that is not pretty and I would never wish it upon anyone. To have this game be something where rape is no nonchalant and used for fun and pleasure makes me sick. It creates horrible ideas of children and adults that sex can be done whether someone wants to have sex with you or not. It promotes rape rather then teaching someone that it is only right to have sex with a person you love and care about. I mean what adult would want to see their child playing this awful game? I hope none. The thing is though, it is not only this video game that promotes and creates bad ideas for children. Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, also promote violence, theft, and guns. Another problem is that video games are also becoming even more realistic in graphics and people. Children get sucked into a different world and sometimes I feel as if they can get confused on what is wrong/right and real/fake. We must realize that as children grow and develop these things do have an influence on the person they will become. Something else that really disturbed me about the CNN news video was that young girl who did not seem to feel anything as a woman about the rape game. We are becoming a numb society. Nothing ever affects us anymore. We feel as if unless it happens to us, it is really not a big deal. This is something that really does scare me. I mean as a woman how could you not feel offended or even disturbed by the fact that a helpless woman is getting raped out of her control, for fun? The only problem with promoting this video game on the news is that fact that now people, gross disgusting people, are going to search it up on the internet and see what it is all about. So more people are going to try to play it, and it then again is leading bad ideas into homes. The government really needs to get a hold of the video game industry and what they put out there for people to view.

After watching the video again I felt it still as disturbing as the first time I saw it. It is sad and frustrating to watch these young black girls only want to play with the white doll. I was even more horrified by the fact that the one girl even felt like the white doll was good and the black doll was bad, and in fact recognized that she even looked like the black doll. Does that mean that she thinks of herself as inherently bad? Where do these young girls get these ideas? Is it in the media or is it from family members? Yes, I do understand that most of the media today does portray white women in a brighter light, but I also feel like the media is trying to show young girls that everyone is beautiful in their own unique way. But, it obviously is not working. So how are the families these young girls and boys grow up around influencing their beliefs? Do these mothers or fathers tell their young children they are not pretty enough or do not have the right features or hair? I would like to think that no one would say those things to their child, but I feel as if some of these beliefs must be present in the homes they live in or the neighborhoods they grow up in. I would like to know the children’s social and economic background from the research taken and see how that may play into consideration. When I was growing up I played with many black and white Barbie dolls, more inherently white because I am white but I was never discriminated to play with the black dolls. I must say though that I never once had an Asian Barbie to play with as a young girl. I do think that the dolls that girls are presented with do make a difference in their futures. If young black girls are more exposed to pretty white dolls and then exposed to that on television and in the media they will obviously believe that that is the way they need to look. This really frustrates me in the sense that I do not want any young girl to think that they are no good, or “bad”. They should be proud of their color and not feel any regret about it at all. The faces that these children made in the video really left me speechless. Some were even so quick to pick the white doll it amazed me. They did not even think or second-guess themselves, which again is what scares me. So how can we change this? What can we do to make this not continue? Because really I do not understand the explainations.

I love my period. I am on my period. I talk about my period. I think the whole topic of menstruating in class got off to a good start with him relating to how guys will never know what it feels like to be a girl just like white people will never understand what it is like to be of color. Personally, I think guys really do not understand what happens to a girl when she is on her period. I know for my boyfriend I tell him everything. I think in the beginning of our relationship he was kind of uncomfortable with the topic but he is growing much better with talking about the subject. Boys I think do not really understand how many things and emotions a girl can go through. I know I get really emotional and cranky and my boyfriend, although does not understand, he is still tries his best. Even when it comes to other people knowing I have my period I am not embarrassed. A period happens to every girl and I really think that other people also really do not care if they know I am on my period. I mean I am not going to shout out, “HEY IM ON MY PERIOD!”, but I mean if something on or near the topic I am not afraid to mention it or talk about. I mean when it comes to my guy friends I also always am open, and they also get really uncomfortable on the subject. I think if men were taught to not think of a period as a gross thing but as something that is beautiful and needed to accept at a younger age they wouldn’t feel so awkward about it. I think having a period is really awesome and a really beautiful thing because I am able to have a child. Now, I believe that when Sam starting talking about how he wants his wife to leave it in the toilet that that was taking it a bit to far. I mean really, I do not think he needed to tell a 700-person class that information. I also think that me, personally, if my husband talked about my period in class I would not get upset, but I think it also depends on the context. Some of the stuff Sam talked about was a little personal to his wife and I feel like he should respect her privacy in that sense. But also I mean, he said that she knows what he talks about, and if she understands how he is and accepts it, then its not much of a matter. I just believe the topic of a period should be less uncomfortable because it is obvious that it happens to all girls and its beautiful. What’s the big problem?

Prom is something every little girl dreams. Girls think about the perfect dress, the perfect hair, and having the perfect date. So what is so wrong if the girls perfect date happens to be another girl? This situation really upsets me because I do not believe that your sexuality should stop a high school prom. First off, this young girl is very brave to be open about her sexuality especially in high school. Many lesbian girls would not be as willing or open to share that during the years of great judgment from your peers. I think though this also shows how much the world is changing and adapting with the times. Many people are open and accepting to gay and lesbian couples, well besides this school. A senior prom is the time of the school year when the senior class gets to celebrate and share together all their memories and wonderful times in high school. Now, because this school board cannot accept a young lesbian girl for her sexuality, everyone gets punished. To make it worse, the girl even said that all her classmates are going to blame her. So this girl, open about who she is, tries to live up her dream prom, only to get turned down, and then her whole class goes against her? What is this school showing these students? They are providing a horrible example of how people should act and how we should be accepting of adversity. Now I went to catholic school for 13 years and I remember specifically asking many of my teachers that if I wanted to bring another girl to prom with me would that be okay? Now, I am not lesbian, but another horrible rule at my school was that you had to have a date for prom. (Which is also completely unfair because 1. We had a limited selection of boys 2. Many girls did not get asked by boys so then they were unable to go) But I was thinking that maybe me and one of my best girlfriends could go together as a girls night instead of bringing along a boy, so it wasn’t even in a sexual way. My teachers immediately said no and told me not to talk about because I should no that it would never happen. Now I understand I went to catholic school and it doesn’t really flow with them. But in catholic school I they also taught that there is nothing wrong with being gay or lesbian as long as you don’t act upon it. (Whatever that shit means) But what I am trying to say is, it is never right to look down or discourage someone who is just trying to live their life. I would say that I admire this girl more than anything because she not only is confident in who she is, but also stands up for herself and is helping many other gay and lesbian couples in the world.

As a lover of horrible dramatic television the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are personal favorites of my viewing pleasure. I have pretty much watched every season consistently since it first aired. It has often been brought to my attention that there is an extreme lack of diversity in the men and women that are picked to go on the show. Almost in every season I feel as if there is one or two racially diverse contestants at the beginning of the show, but after the first episode they get eliminated immediately. Now, I agree that they should probably increase the diversity from one or two people to more like 8-10, but I also feel like it’s a dating show, and by bad luck the main man or woman were not just attracted to the diverse contestants. Now on the other hand I believe that ABC should probably try to diversify the main bachelor or bachelorette because ever since its aired it has been predominately white cast. I have also noticed that many of the people on the show come from wealthy or middle class living. Perhaps ABC is viewing to a specific audience, which I am guessing is obviously white women. I would love to see if there was any difference in ratings if they did have a diverse bachelor or bachelorette. I feel as if I would still continually watch it regardless of the races on the show because it’s the drama that I love. Therefore, maybe it’s the dramatic people that keep getting chosen to be on the show. I feel as if producers base their pickings on contestants on who can bring the most viewers to watch. I mean, I Love New York, a show on VH1 was based around a middle class black women, and let me tell you that she brought the drama. So does ABC try to keep the drama to small little white girls? I also think its funny that they also never have anyone who is fat, or unpolished (mostly every girl or guy wears nice clothing and can be presentable), they also never have anyone who is disabled or physically impaired in some way. What does this say about ABC? I mean every girl pretty much has white teeth, and decent body, and a face that even if not attractive can be fixed with make up. So I guess this can then not only become offensive to diverse people but also to white people. I also think though sometimes people overlook that although many of these people’s skin colors might not be black or brown that they could have many different backgrounds or heritages. I am not trying to find an excuse for ABC because I believe they are really lacking in showing real reality TV.

When someone is in need, we are likely to help, right? Or so we would like to think. But from class, we see that when a Muslim woman walks into a bakery and gets discriminated against and asked to leave, there was not many people to lend a helping hand. What would I do? Well I would speak up. I have many friends who are Muslim and the fact that a man could be discriminatory towards her because of that hits home with me. I have seen that discrimination first hand of my Muslim friend getting called rude sayings and being judged. I spoke up to these ignorant people, but let me tell you, it’s not easy. People can be very opinionated and when you as a bystander witness these situations, and sometimes it can get intense and scary. I, like some others, am not a friend of confrontation. I like to keep to myself but I believe when something really does need to be said, you should not hold back. I understand where the student who said that “it’s not his place” to speak up is coming from. But how would you feel if people stood there and watched you get ridiculed? I know that when I am in times of need, it is nice to have a little back up. I know Sam talked about a lot of things that go on behind our backs and that just because we do not see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. But in this situation, it was happening and completely visible to everyone in the store. That I believe is when you can judge someone’s character, when it is right in front of you. I believe that people could say, well it does not involve me, but the thing is it does. Because a person is there and viewing discrimination, it does involve them. I know that the sad thing is, although this was just many actors, it does happen in real life. People are judged everyday from what they wear to what they look like. I know when my sister worked for Abercrombie and Fitch, she witnessed them to not hiring girls who were not pretty enough or not skinny enough. I mean really, have you ever been into an American Eagle or Abercrombie and see an overweight girl working? Not very often I say. That is just wrong. People could be perfectly qualified for the position but they just are not skinny enough. I sometimes cannot comprehend the fact that other people can be so rude and ignorant. I do not understand where it comes from, or why these people have no heart or feelings? We all are human, so why must others think they are more powerful?

Homosexuality is something that our culture has been growing with over the past years. Today I feel like gays and lesbians are becoming more intertwined in our culture rather then them being looked at harshly and judged. I don’t know if I necessary think lesbians are more accepted then gays though for myself. I kind of feel like me being a women, that I lean toward accepting gays more then lesbian. I mean I have no problem with either but I just feel it’s sometimes easier. I say this because I think the fact that me being a woman who likes men, its different for me to see women with women when I don’t necessarily see that for myself. Not being a man, I see no problem with guy and guy relationships. I also though feel like society in a whole is really opening up to gays and lesbians. I mean Ellen Degeneres is an openly gay woman who one of the most successful talk show hosts besides Oprah. She is extremely popular and has a large fan base from young girls to even men. Also on television there are many gay actors/actresses and there was also the ever-popular show Queen Eye for the Straight guy. I think sometimes people might believe that lesbians are more accepted because of the fact that men might be harsher to other men. Men like to be more “macho” in the sense. While women can be more accepting to lesbians and gays, while men have a harder time opening up with their sexuality. Also men seem to have this weird obsession with girl on girl action. Being in college I have walked into men boys dorms or apartments and have seen the two girls kissing poster. I have yet to see a picture of two boys kissing in any girl’s room or apartment I have been too. I believe also though that many people just are not open about their sexuality at all. Everyone is so scared about what others will think like their parents, friends, and family. Although I know that I am straight I feel like I too would have a very difficult time with wondering if people will accept me. That is why I don’t feel like it is right to judge someone because they like men or women more. It’s a matter that they are people, they are human, and they have rights and feelings just like you. I think it is terrible that people can criticize and harass people for something that I feel is out of their control. People always say to each other you can’t control whom you fall in love with and with that you can’t control if it’s a boy or a girl.

Language is universal. It awakens the soul and it is hard to think of a life without it. Imagine the language you speak now, it slowly gets over taken and soon to be forever lost. In 50 years, the language you speak, think, write, and communicate in could be merely a memory. I find these thoughts pretty scary. It saddens me to know though that it is happening. We are losing languages, an essential part to human interaction. If you think about how many languages we have now, and then think about how many we have lost, it is mind blowing. It amazes me to think about how many different ways we can come up with sayings and meanings for everything in life. It is even more amazing that there is still so many more ways to create a language even if you think all the ideas have been used. I feel like in today’s culture, a lot of people are very nonchalant about the fact that this lady was the last to speak this tribal language. I believe that a lot of Americans think the whole world should just speak English and forget about every other language. But it’s not just about language; the language people speak is their culture. It relates to their way of life. When you lose a language you lose a culture, a group of people’s sense of pride and foundation. I personally think it’s beautiful when people of different languages interact, even if they have no idea what each other are saying. When I was in Germany, I had a wonderful experience of being exposed to people from all over the world for World Youth Day. Although I was unable to speak any of the foreign languages, I still tried to interact and managed to somehow communicate with these people. Hearing all those different languages is like music to my ears, and then listening the to video I think about how that language will never be heard again. Language is also more then just words. It has so much meaning in everything it does. It can be sarcastic, moody, and happy; it can be intellectual or silly; it has endless possibilities. I really hope that people start looking at the deeper meaning of things. Today many people are so busy doing this and that that they only want to scratch the surface of things and never really want to look deep into anything. I hope people look deep into cultures, their culture, and others culture and discover the beauty of them. The beauty of their language and its meaning. Without language where would we be? Well I personally don’t want to find out, so I hope we can stop these languages from dying and keeping the unique beauty of everyone’s cultures alive.