So what really does keep us close to what we’re used to and in our little personal boxes? I think it’s the fear of the unknown. People that haven’t been experienced to things outside of their little box don’t know what is out there. They don’t understand how to interact with people or they don’t know what to expect from weird foods. I went to Costa Rica for my high school graduation trip with my family. Spanish is the language spoken there. Only my sister and I knew any Spanish and only a little at that. We had to get our own food sometimes so we had to go to the grocery store every once in a while. I had a ball going around and seeing the strange foods available for purchase. However, being with my parents, I didn’t interact with people. In the first place, I don’t really like asking people in stores questions even in the US. I’m not sure why that is but it is. I wouldn’t strike up a conversation with the natives working there unless I really needed to find something. At the register, I would say “Hola, como estás?” and then “Gracias” at the end to be polite. However, I wouldn’t really go beyond that. On the food side, I’m pretty open to trying new things. The most intriguing is different spices and vegetables. I’m not a huge fan of trying different meats. I’ve had alligator and eel and octopus, but I think those are the most exotic I’ve had so far. Eating something like snails or frogs would be nasty for me unless I wasn’t told beforehand. I feel like having mammals for food is less terrifying. It’s probably because they’re not something that I find weird or nasty like bugs or little critters like frogs. However, I know that there are countries that eat cats and dogs. That would never happen for me because they’re pets here. I have a bond with them so eating them would be like eating a part of my family or something. That is no good whatsoever. Basically, we stay in our boxes to stay close to what were comfortable with. Some people are more comfortable trying new things while others are less comfortable. It also comes from how you’re brought up and how picky a person is for food choices. I am one of the least picky people in my family. I am the most open to trying new things in general and liking them. If someone is given different kinds of food as they’re growing up the more likely they’ll be more adventurous at trying new food. The lesson of this class for me is experience everything you can.

When I am dressing for certain things, I think more based on the level of fashion. If I am going to class, I’m usually in a t-shirt with jeans, yoga pants, or sweatpants. I focus on the comfort not trying to specifically attract anyone. Although, I know there are men who adore girls in yoga pants. I haven’t really met a straight guy that doesn’t like a girl in yoga pants (unless they really shouldn’t be wearing them). When I am dressing for something more fashionable, like a party, I am dressing to seem attractive to any guy, but mostly for my boyfriend. I hate super high heels. They are uncomfortable. They give me blisters. And I can’t walk in them, so any other girl will be secretly laughing at me. I wear heels with a max of 2 inches with a thicker heel so I won’t break an ankle and walk normally. The clothes I wear are also trying to be more sensible. I want to be warm so I wear a jacket out. I don’t usually go to frat parties because it’s not fun for me when I have my friends to hang out with. When just going to hang with my friends, I can wear comfy things like my jeans and a t-shirt. By doing this, I have attained the guy standard almost. I get to wear comfortable clothes without freezing outside. Though the pants that I’m wearing, minus the sweatpants, still attract the male gaze. Yoga pants is the optimum example. My jeans are usually tight, but not enough to be uncomfortable and unattractive. I try to get most of my clothes based on comfort but with attractive qualities as well.

But the one person’s opinion matters the most: my boyfriend’s. I dress to be attractive to him because I enjoy the attention. For most of my life, I have disliked how I looked. I have never been gorgeous in the social sense. But after meeting him, I feel like I’m truly attractive. I have more self-confidence. I think that’s why girls dress the way they do. If they feel like girls feel better about themselves when they know they are attractive. However, too much self-confidence can turn a person cocky. It’s a delicate balance. Girls that dress like whores attract the horrible men. Girls who dress how they want and sensibly, gain the favor of the good guy. There are all sorts of levels of attractiveness when girls dress for the male gaze. Girls should really think about whom they want to attract, the douche bags or the good guys. I try to attract the good guys with my sensible but still flattering attire. I don’t want anyone to think I am anything different than what I am.

Putting yourself into a situation where you have to judge what your own country has done is a very thought provoking thing. Americans know that there is this strong dislike of Arab Muslims from the threat of terrorism. However, what they don’t know is how they are viewed from the Arab Muslim direction. This opinion that Muslims are terrorist killers comes from the few terrible people out there that only make up a small fraction of Muslims. So when switching the situation around we already kind of know how to think. There are these crazy soldiers prowling the streets of my home with a gun at all times. These soldiers come from a country that is a majority Christian. Therefore, Christians must be crazy killers. It’s the same comparison that we make to Muslims so we can’t say that they are making an incorrect assumption. This especially is compounded by the horrid videos that apparently travel around in cyber world. I was abhorred to see American soldiers doing crazy, over the top things like squishing a taxi driver’s car because they took some wood. It’s not good when there are so many other good people honestly trying to help the situation and not being recognized at all.

On top of this, we are constantly occupying places like Iraq and Afghanistan. These Arab Muslims do not have a military presence in America whatsoever and we still have this view of them. It must be even worse because the Christian invader soldiers are always there. It’s a constant reminder that we’re taking away what they own as well as killing friends, family, and neighbors.

Putting myself in their place was a better way of thinking about the situation because it brought about empathy. You can never make a crucial decision about something separate from yourself without personalizing the situation. Thinking about how were taking their resources, killing people, and overall occupying their land pretty much makes me understand why they could think Christians were bent on killing people. It’s upsetting that stereotypes and the few radicals can so define a group. People like to focus on the negative things. I’m not sure why, but that’s just how it is. And once these initial thoughts on a group engrain themselves, it’s hard to undo them. So basically, Arab Muslims have a right to dislike Christians just as much as American Christians have a right to dislike Arab Muslims.

I would like to shift this thinking that contact with people who are gay or lesbian allows someone to be more comfortable with the concept of being attracted to the same gender. So I have a lot of people close to me who are homosexuals, both lesbian and gay. My aunt and teammate are both lesbians. My roommate and two of my good friends from high school are gays as well. With my aunt it was interesting because I grew up with her not really understanding the fact that I had another aunt that was always with her. I didn’t even realize that they were lesbian partners. When my parents actually told me that my aunt was lesbian, I was just like, “Oh, that explains a lot.” It really didn’t faze me too much because it was already a normal occurrence. I loved my aunt and I loved my other aunt so it was really no big deal. I never had the thought, “Ew when she hugs me does she think me attractive or anything?” Basically, I summed it up with this thought: it’s like hugging an uncle if you’re a straight person. They don’t think anything of it. My aunt is a very successful person as a pro golfer that is director of Vail Golf Club. They are both very happy. And I wouldn’t change anything about either of them. Being lesbian to me is no issue in that regard. It’s just the way they are.

However, my teammate on my color guard team came out this year. I’m completely fine with it except for one thing: she’s kinda touchy. That is the one thing that weirds me out. If I know a girl is attracted to me and she acts on it, I get a little more freaked out. Really, I get more unnerved with homosexuals when they are kissing or doing more sexual things than just normal little stuff, like cuddling on the couch or holding hands. It just unnerves me slightly when two guys or girls are making out where I can see it. I can’t entirely explain it. As my roommate is gay and has a guy, I see them quite often. I came out into the living room cuddling on the couch, no big deal. I know they do stuff in my roommate’s room, but that doesn’t really matter. It’s behind closed doors. I don’t want to get into anybody’s business.

One of the things I have also realized with knowing these people, is that they have the exact same relationship as a straight person. There’s affection, fighting, sexual relations, bad breakups, and all that comes with that. It’s all the same. Knowing these people have made me understand the homosexual life a little more. That is why I am wholly not homophobic (except if they’re kissing in front of me). I will still be their friend and love them the same.

First off, one of my friends was raped last year. I understand the fear that she went through wondering whether she was pregnant or not. She took every precaution after the fact, even going to the length of drinking special tea every day. All she wanted was to not miss her next period. I do not anyone to have to face that uncertainty about such an important thing. Especially since it would ruin her college experience.

I am pro-choice towards abortion. I think that a woman has the right to control her own body. It is her choice and her choice alone if she wants to spend nine months carrying a child and then taking care of it. The husband most definitely has a say in the end decision, but in a rape case a husband may not even exist.

It is easy to say things about people you don’t know or are of a group that you don’t like. So it makes sense that when a difficult decision comes around about something it really is best to personalize it and show empathy. It amazes me on how many policies are made without this important step. It seems obvious to me that people have the right to do what they want with their own bodies. Everyone should have the ability to make that choice and have his or her options available. Choices should not have to be forced based on a politician’s decision.

If my sister was raped and was found to be pregnant, I know for a fact that I would tell her to get an abortion. She is a sophomore in college, and a child is the worst thing for her for studying. Schooling is very important in my family. None of us have jobs during school because we’re supposed to be fully immersed in school and getting the experiences we need. That’s what I would explain to her. There are more important things in life than to take care of a child that occurred by rape.

Another thing I thought of was that it would be really awkward to try to explain to the child (when he or she was older) who his or her father was. That would be the most horrible conversation ever. People can think about that the child has a life before being born and has its own rights, somehow, but people also need to think about the future of that child and how that knowledge would affect them.

It is easy enough to judge a person based on how he or she looks. We can say we don’t judge a person by the first glance that we take, but it is nearly impossible. People make decisions based on their first glance because it could help them make a split decision. If someone looks threatening, people would try to stay farther away and avoid a potentially dangerous situation. If someone looks inviting and non-threatening, people would naturally go closer or listen more. What differs from person to person is how they view threatening or pleasant. For me, as a white person, I am naturally more comfortable around other white people coming from a predominately white town. I am the least comfortable with black people just because I haven’t been around them much. My experiences have been both good and bad, but I naturally just turn away, sadly. So out of these people in the video I find the first, second, fourth, and last guy quite threatening. Not only because of the base original aversion of being black, but also because none of them are smiling, maybe even frowning, and they are hiding their faces. All of them have either a hat or are looking slightly askew from the camera. These facial expressions are quite unnerving. They look uninterested and tough. And they’re guys as well. The combination of all of these, to a white girl, is quite worrying. The one white guy has a base appearance of people I usually hang out with. So even though he isn’t smiling, I can look beyond it. He is still less approachable than the two girls. They are both smiling and being pleasant. Naturally, they are much more approachable just because of this. The hair flip of the last woman was kind of funny as well. She is more of a mother looking woman so she would be the most approachable out of the entire group. People are more comfortable with the types of people that they are used to. The same skin color, the same area, the same intelligence level all combine to make a person more likable. Threatening countenances are an immediate put off no matter the race. Other aspects of a person that can affect my initial judgment include dress, earrings, level of attractiveness, and tattoos. If the dress is baggy and unkempt, it’s a negative. If they’re put together, I am fine with it. If a guy has a bunch of earrings, or just ear piercings, I don’t really approve. I actually don’t trust really good-looking people right off the bat. I have had too many encounters with unpleasant people who are good-looking. I personally am kind of average, but it seems, in general, the majority of good-looking people (that I have encountered) think they are better than everyone else and act kind of horribly toward other people. Really, this is based on experience, like everyone’s opinions are. This is how most people make their judgments: experience.

The video we watched on Thursday confirmed by belief that people can say one thing and do something completely opposite. When it comes to race, there’s an engrained belief in many white people that black people are not to be trusted. There could be a couple reasons for this. First, it could be the fact that people think that black people are somehow lower than them. This most likely resulted from slavery. Black people were the lowest of the low back then, and now there’s still an underlying feeling that white people are superior. Second, we are very susceptible to what we see on the news. News stations are ridiculous with reporting crimes. They do this because of the fact that people can’t get enough of hearing about crazy things other people did or who was shot the night before. I would watch the news at home while eating breakfast and half of what was reported was shootings, stabbings, or some other crime. It gets worse because the people who are shown committing these crimes are black most of the time. This leads to the association that black people are more likely to commit crimes. And, in truth, there is no difference in the number of crimes committed between white and black people. Actually, it has seemed lately, based on what is reported, that white people are committing the more heinous crimes, such as the shooting in the Colorado movie theater. So basically what this is doing is brainwashing us to think that black people are more dangerous and more likely to commit crimes than white people. Lastly, black people are on the lowest rung when it comes to social class. They have the least income of any other race in the United States. This leads to more prejudice by the higher classes. If people in lower classes need something, it’s much harder for them to get it because they just don’t have the money. This makes people afraid that they will become thieves and just take what they need. In all cultures, it is most likely that the lowest class will create social unrest. This is because they have a hard time making a living. These factors all come together to create a subconscious feeling that black people shouldn’t be trusted. We can say all we want about how were not racist but that underlying feeling will always be there. I try to be as open as possible, but I can’t seem to shake the slight uncomfortableness that I have toward black people. I didn’t grow up around many, and even most of the black people that I knew at my high school were slightly unlikable. It’s an overall recipe for disaster for black people, and I wish it would change. However, that change is hard because of this engrained belief.

So how did I end up at Penn State and what decisions and/or factors lead to that decision? Basically, my decision to come to Penn State was a three year process approximately. It started with my decision to become a mechanical engineer. My choice to become an ME was pretty straight forward. In my sophomore year of high school, I took part in this series of seminars about architecture and civil engineering. You see, I am very good at both the math and science needed for engineering, but I am also an artist. I have been good at drawing and painting pretty much all my life, relatively speaking. Throughout this series, I discovered that I really did not want to focus on things that didn’t move. Buildings and bridges and such seemed interesting but it wasn’t really what I wanted to focus on. I like figuring out how things move and are put together. Some factors that could have shaped me to this thinking was that for one, my mom is an ME; two, I loved playing with K’Nex when I was little (my favorite thing to make were cars and other things with wheels); and three, I found an interest in robotics in eighth grade. But it was only my situation that gave me these opportunities. I grew up in a stable family that is reasonably well off, not rich by any means, but we can afford a few more expensive things in life. I went to a fabulous school district that gave me many different options to explore what I wanted to.

With this major in mind, I knew how to narrow my options for the school to go to. I knew right off the bat that I didn’t want to stay in Rochester. Even though there are great schools such as the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester, I wanted to get out of the area. Secondly, I wanted to go to a great engineering school. That automatically took out all of the SUNY schools. That left Cornell and RPI in New York. I applied to Cornell knowing I really wasn’t going to go there, but didn’t apply to RPI at all. The other schools I applied to were Penn State, Lehigh University, University of Maryland, and Virginia Tech. I got accepted to all 6 of the schools I applied to. This happened because I applied myself during high school and got good grades. I participated in varsity sports so I had extracurricular activities. I liked Maryland and Virginia Tech, but they were a little too far away from home, so they got knocked off the list. So it was between Lehigh and Penn State. They are both great schools, but one thing set them apart: their pride. At Lehigh, they have school pride but not like Penn State. I stayed here for a weekend and when I went home I told my mom, “I am going to Penn State.”

My decision to come to Penn State relied on the experiences that I had. If I didn’t have the opportunities that were offered to me I have no idea where I would be at right now. I think that free will and determinism are wholly intertwined. Determinism shapes your free will. The experiences that you accumulate lead to your thoughts on how to handle a situation. No one can lean either way. Everyone has the right to make their own decisions. However, no one should ever be judged on how they choose to execute their free will because their choice was the coalescence of all their experiences from their past. People can only go so far in life based on their situation. Determinism starts you on the path to a decision, but free will leads to you actually making that decision.

Why does no one want to identify him or herself as rich? I think it’s the reputation people automatically get when they tell people that they are well off. It’s because of stereotyping. People like to judge other people based on what they know, and just as likely don’t know, about someone. The being rich stereotype means that you are snooty, not caring, and you expect to get anything you want. No one wants to be judged like this right off the bat.

Not a single person raised their hand in class on Thursday. I think there were three parts to this. One was that people didn’t want to be the only one raising their hand. Second was the judgment portion. And finally, they didn’t want to be singled out in conversation. In a class of 700, we each get some amount of anonymity. We can raise our hands and no one will mind who it is. That person will be added to the group that answered a certain question. This idea is fine until you have an answer that is completely different than everyone else’s. Even though only the people sitting around you will see your face, that is still about 50 people. Your sense of anonymity is gone. Those people now know something about you that is different than everyone else in the room. And people hate this feeling of being singled out. So they won’t raise their hand if no one else is.

The judgment portion I will expand on a little more. I think one of the worst judgments people make of people who are rich is that they don’t have to work because they have so much money. That is not true the majority of the time. People who are rich still have jobs. The only thing they don’t have to worry about is having to budget their money just to get by. A portion of the judgment comes from jealousy I think as well. Rich people can pretty much do whatever they want whenever they want because they have money at their disposal. Everyone wants to have this privilege. But most people don’t have that much money.

The last part is that people didn’t want to be singled out in conversation. This comes into play especially because it’s a touchy topic in the USA. We wanted to know the “rich” person perspective. No one wants to give that perspective because, no matter which way you spin it, there will be someone who jumps down your throat. This may be out loud or even in someone’s head.

It’s a combination of these things that made no one fess up to being rich. There are probably many other reasons as well. Being rich in America just is not the same as being rich in another country.

I would like to talk about two things that were mentioned in class this week. The first is “what is normal” and the choice for women to shave their legs. So this week I had an almost really bad moment. I was talking with my roommate, who is gay, about this new guy that he knows through gymnastics. He was telling me that he and the other guys were trying to figure out if the new guy played for their team or not. I actually hadn’t really thought of the fact that most gymnast guys were gay so I continued to chat with him about it. He was saying that the new guy didn’t act very gay whatsoever. So I was about to say that he was acting too “normal,” but I caught myself at the last second and changed the word to straight. I was assuming that “normal” was straight in my world. We all know that there really isn’t such a thing as “normal.” That word implies that there is a base line for how we act. However, there is no way to have a “normal” way of acting because there are so many different cultures just between different friend groups. Right now, “normal” in terms of sexual orientation may lean more toward straight people. But with homosexuality becoming more and more apparent, you can’t say that being straight is “normal.”

So the other thing I wanted to say was in regard to women shaving their legs and why we choose to do so. Girls want to feel attractive. No matter what girl you talk to, there is always the underlying question: “Does this guy think I’m attractive?” What makes a person attractive is hard to define but there are a couple universal traits. The one that pertains to girls shaving their legs is hygiene. Part of the attractiveness of a girl is their physical looks. Part of what makes you look good is how clean you are. This is where the hygiene comes into play. Someone who has straight white teeth, clean shiny hair, and clear skin is going to be more attractive than someone with slightly yellowed teeth, greasy frizzy hair, and acne. This is all connected to hygiene. What constitutes good hygiene also depends on the culture. In the United States, shaving your legs is considered to be more hygienic. I’m not sure how that came to be, but it is how it is. I’ve known since before I started dating my boyfriend that he really doesn’t mind girls that don’t shave. He says it’s “natural” to have hair so it’s fine by him. I wholeheartedly believe that he does think this because he’s a fuzzy guy himself. He has the ability to grow a fantastic beard, and he’s proud of it. I still shave despite of his belief just because it makes me feel cleaner and more attractive. It’s nice to have smooth legs with yoga or sweat pants because you can actually feel the texture. Things are softer and more comfortable. So I choose to shave because I feel cleaner, more comfortable, and more attractive.