If I found out my roommate was gay on the first day of school I would love to say I’d be totally okay with it, but in reality, I would feel a little bit uncomfortable. I am completely open-minded and non-judgmental. I think that people are born gay and it is just who they are. I would never jump to the conclusion that my gay roommate would be interested me because I think that is just ridiculous. It is basically assuming that every gay person likes everyone and it just doesn’t work that way. They have different types as well. I think I would just be a little worried about them maybe bringing another girl into the room. That would just make me feel a little weird, but I would be totally accepting of them. I would never request a new roommate or anything like that because it is not wrong for someone to be gay. Honestly, I would be happy that they told me in the beginning so I wouldn’t have to find out from other people or from walking in on her with another girl. To answer the second part of the question, I would feel a little more annoyed if they waited until half the year to tell me. I guess I just am a full believer in honesty, and I would be a little hurt if they didn’t tell me in the beginning. Even though I would feel like this, I would understand. It is not the easiest thing to come out to your roommate, especially when you just met them. Maybe they didn’t want their roommate to judge them or were afraid what they would think. All I know is that I have a lot of experience with this type of situation because I dated this guy who was also my best friend for 2 and a half years. He broke up with me by telling me he was gay and I was very hurt by it to say the least. I had no clue he was gay. It never crossed my mind as he was as far away from the gay stereotype as possible. I never would have suspected it. It took me a while, but I ended up understanding how hard it was for him to do just that. He was scared about how I would react and afraid of not only losing his girlfriend, but of losing his friend as well. So, coming back to the whole roommate thing, finding out later on would not be the ideal situation, but I would be just as supportive and understanding as if they had told me the first day of college. All in all, finding out my roommate was gay on the first day of school or in the middle of the year, would not be enough for me to freak out and demand a new roommate. I would accept it and accept them for who they are. As long as she is a good roommate to me I wouldn’t be bothered by it!

The SAT’s, in my opinion, are not based solely on intelligence. Instead, they have to a lot to do with income. Last week we were able to see this during one of Sam’s lectures as he showed us a chart. People with a higher income were doing very well on the SAT’s compared to those who weren’t as wealthy. My feelings behind this are that those with more money have more access to tutors, Sat prep courses, and are able to take it several times until their scores improve.
Personally, I grew up in an upper-middle class town outside of Philadelphia where it was normal for people to have tutors for the SAT’s. Our school offered programs to help, which not many schools will do if they are not in a higher income kind of area. Many people from my school took advantage of this. I actually did not take the SAT’s- I took the ACT’s, which are very similar. I took this test 3 different times, which many people with a lower income could not do since it costs a lot of money to take. The first time I took it, I did not do that great. Because of this, my parents set me up with a tutor. Not only was I fortunate enough to get tutored for the ACT’s, I was fortunate enough to get a private one. I set up hours with her once a week and my scores improved so much the second time I took it. I wanted to bring it up even more, so I had even more tutoring and got my scores up even higher.
I am not saying that SAT’s and ACT’s have nothing to do with intelligence. I think some people are just naturally good test takers and come from an educated family. I do think, though, that having more money will get you the better score and coming from a family where both parents went to college also plays a role. Honestly, I am from such a sheltered area, that I do not get to see many low-income families struggling to get their kid the help they need on a standardized test, let alone the money to get them into college. In that aspect, I feel bad because I know I am lucky. I am lucky to have had the tutoring I needed and the ability to take the test several times, but a lot of the success came from my end. I was the one who pushed myself to study. I was the one who spent the hours memorizing concepts. Yes, I had the money for a tutor and to buy prep books, but that doesn’t mean the score was just handed to me. I worked for the score I got. I hope that I will be able to give my children the same opportunity that I was given someday. Overall I do feel that, generally speaking, wealthier people do better on these tests and family background plays a big role.

So far I have been very intrigued by this sociology class, as it has brought things like race, culture, and poverty to my attention. In the last lecture we had, we discussed Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, and the problems they have been facing as a whole. I find it so amazing that we get to help them through The Haiti Project. It is an amazing opportunity for us to give back.
The website our class was given to look at allowed us to see some of the many projects being started in Haiti. It also gave us many links and resources to find information about a few of them. I watched many videos and one of them was about Yvrose. She hand makes sandals, women’s dresses, and eveningwear. It looks like an incredible amount of work is involved in the making of all of these things, as seen in the video. It is so sad to see that she does not have even one mannequin to show her work off for people to see and she does not have a finishing machine. She works in a very small space with only a few people. It is very sad to me, as all of the things she makes are so amazing and so well done. I want to help her! Just donating materials would help!
I also came across a video about Manouchka, a woman who makes personalized bracelets, hair clips, picture frames, and hair products. Looking at her work in the video, I see so much creativity. In America, I feel like her products would sell since they are very professional looking. I can’t believe she started this business by herself and I would love to help send her materials for her work.
I also watched a video about Monise Lamour Marcellus who makes floral arrangements, decorations, and wedding veils! Unlike some of the other businesses in the videos I watched, her business seems to be doing very well. She has two shops and they are thriving. She does, however, need more supplies so she can hire more people and expand the company.
Sonia, another woman who works in Haiti, makes bags, lunch boxes, small purses, luggage, and backpacks all of one sewing machine. She helps her whole family through this business, and I think a common theme here is materials. In every one of these videos, each women needs more supplies to expand and help their business run. I think that it is important for us to help them by sending them these materials, as these businesses are what keeping them and their families alive. It seems every one of these ladies put their heart and sole into all of the products they make. They work so hard on everything they create, but they need help from us. These videos really opened my eyes to the situation they have in Haiti. It is sad that I was not fully aware of the countries poverty until I saw these videos, but I am glad that I get to learn more about it now and hopefully help them out.

Not going to college was never an option for me. My parents went and they expected me to as well. They never once asked me if I wanted to go or not because it was just assumed that I would. I don’t know the exact percentage, but I am pretty certain that at least 98% of students from my graduating high school class ended up going to college. I live in a high-end middle class county, so most parents have the money to send their children to college and have college educations themselves. I really didn’t have another option, nor did I want one. College was always the destination for me. Everything I did in elementary school, middle school, and high school would lead me to college, which was my ultimate goal.
Choosing the college I wanted to attend was a whole other story. All of high school I dreamed of going to University of Maryland. It was the perfect school for me on paper. It was a great school academically and had a lot of diversity, a high Jewish percentage, a great location, and beautiful campus. It was everything I wanted until I stayed there the summer before my senior year of high school. I decided to take a sociology class, ironically enough and I earned three credits for it towards college. While I made some great friends and took a great class, those three weeks were what made me realize that I needed a school that didn’t just fit me on paper. I needed to go to a school that I fit into; one that I could see myself at for the next 4 years of my life. After that summer my parents had to literally drag me to visit Penn State. I had it in my head that I would never go there because about 20 people from my school go there every year. I felt like everyone that went there was white and from Pennsylvania. Once I got there though, I realized why people loved it and that it was very diverse. It was amazing. What stood out to me then and what will always stand out to me now is the school spirit this college has. It is breathtaking to see so many people on a campus with so much love and passion for their school. Maryland was perfect for me on paper but stepping onto that campus, I didn’t feel what I felt when I stepped onto this one. When I walk around Penn State, I always feel pride in the people, in the school, in everything. I can’t believe I am privileged enough to go to school here and to be a part of the Penn State family. That is what Penn State is honestly; 40,000 kids that are one big happy family. There is so much spirit here, so much diversity, so many nice people, that Penn State feels like a second home to me now. I love it here and I can’t wait for these amazing next few years!

Regarding the first part of the question, I do not think you choose your gender. You are born with body parts that make you a boy or a girl. It is biological and has to do with chromosomes and hormones and a lot of other aspects. Physically, you are a boy or a girl but I think mentally, you can be either. There are many transgender people out there, and these are people that feel they we born in the wrong body. For example, a girl who is physically a girl might mentally be a boy. I don’t think this is a choice though. Similarly, I do not think you choose your sexuality. People don’t just wake up in the morning one day and decide that they want to like boys or girls. It doesn’t work that way. Also, I don’t believe people would choose being gay over being straight just because it is very hard to be in that situation. Being gay means having to deal with others stereotyping you and judging you. I know this because one of my best friends is gay. We actually dated for two and a half years. Clearly, at the time, I did not know he was gay and I’m not sure he did either. Today, he tells me he kind of always knew, but he wanted to make sure. I ended up being in a situation that no one wants to be in. I had a breakup but I couldn’t let him deal with all of this on his own. He used to tell me that he wished for so long that he wasn’t gay because it would make things so much easier. This went on for a few years where he went through depression and a ton of stress. One day, very recently, though he realized that you have to love yourself for whomever you are. If he was gay, he would have to accept that and learn to be happy. By no means do I think he would have chosen to like guys over girls, as it would have saved him from a lot of hardship. I fully believe you are born liking boys or girls. I think it takes someone who is gay many years to fully grasp it. Sometimes it takes decades. Just because they do not know they are gay yet though, does not mean that they are choosing it. They can try to deny it all they want but they cannot change it. They were born that way. I don’t understand how a person can think someone chose to be gay or chose to be a boy or girl. You are hat you are when you are born. It is as simple as that. Transgender people chose to be a boy or a girl mentally, but when it all comes down to it, I think they are what they were born as. I think it is a chemical thing, where it is just how you are born. Gender is the same. You do not choose either.

Interracial dating seems to always be a very controversial issue. I honestly do not have a problem with it, but my grandparents do. I guess it is simply because their generation is more racist than ours. In fact, not only do they want me to date someone that is white, they want me to date someone that is white and Jewish. I always seem to argue with them about this stuff and it is because I simply don’t feel you can control whom you fall in love with. Yes, I am more attracted to white men, but I wouldn’t be that surprised if I ended up with someone outside of my race. I have always been interested in people and different cultures, but I can see why people are eerie about it. Honestly, dating someone of a different race than me is not an issue but marriage could be. It would be hard because my family has many customs and traditions and I want to marry someone ideally who has the same values and culture as I do. It probably would be hard for a child growing up coming from interracial parents as well. As much as I like to think people are not racist and cruel to other cultures not of their own, I feel like there is always going to be someone that looks down at those of different races.

I personally have never dated someone outside of my race, but I have dated someone outside of my religion. Even that was hard for my parents to take because we are Jewish and I guess the whole idea around our religion is to keep it alive. The only way to do that is to marry someone that is also Jewish. I believe that it is important to date whoever you are attracted to, but I do not think I am nearly as attracted to people of other races than I am to white people. I wish this wasn’t the case, but it is the truth.

However, I actually find it very comforting to see people of different races together because I think it shows how much our society has changed for the better. Who would have thought like 80 years ago that we could walk in the street and see an Asian woman holding a black man’s hand, or a white woman holding an Asian man’s hand? I certainly wouldn’t have thought so. It makes me really happy to see different culture’s mixing as it shows such an improvement in our society. I really wish my grandparents could get out of this mindset that people of different races shouldn’t date. It’s like they frown down upon those of a different skin color. I understand because they are from a completely different generation, but it is frustrating for me to explain to them that you can’t help who you fall in love with and that everyone is equal no matter their skin color. I really hope people continue to date other races other than of their own, and maybe I will someday as well.