Precious. I feel like my heart got bigger just after watching those videos. A friend of mine is in need of a heart transplant and the wait for a healthy organ and all those other complications are incredibly overwhelming. That man who helped the woman with kidney failure really is an angel on Earth. It makes me wonder why he helped her? I’d love to ask him. What inside you spurred you offer your organ to someone you hardly knew? Was it because it would make you feel good inside, or your primary goal was to help her? I do believe that inside each and every one of us we enjoy helping someone and seeing how our work benefitted them, but not to this length. Actually donating an organ is on a whole different level of service and humbleness. I’m trying to place myself in his shoes and offering a vital organ to a complete stranger is a foreign concept to me. I struggle with this and doubt that I would be able to do it. I guess it’s hard to truly know how you’d react when you’re not in the situation, but I’m certain it wouldn’t be an easy decision. I greatly admire his servant heart. It should be inspirational for us all.
Speaking of caring for others, today I saw a commercial on the TV by The Foundation for a Better Life that was uplifting. It was fairly stereotypical; a girl walked into what appeared to be a high school cafeteria and had no place to sit. She chose to sit at a table with a few other girls who looked inviting but they got up and left after she sat down. One casual observer noticed the girl sitting by herself and left her table of friends to sit with her. The message at the end of the video said “reaching out. Pass it on.” GREAT message. Simply taking time out of one’s day to pay attention to people and lend them your ear goes a long way. A friend of mine is a nursing major and while at work she was assigned a stubborn patient who just wanted to die and refused to take a bath or eat. She offered to give him a massage, which enabled him to open up and within 4 hours a transformation had taken place. He was up, clean, and combed his hair. He even wrote a poem and dedicated it to her (not in a creeper way, just in the appreciative way). We should all think about ourselves a little less and others a little more.
That last video with the young boy was one of the cutest things my eyes have seen in a while.

Precious. I feel like my heart got bigger just after watching those videos. A friend of mine is in need of a heart transplant and the wait for a healthy organ and all those other complications are incredibly overwhelming. That man who helped the woman with kidney failure really is an angel on Earth. It makes me wonder why he helped her? I’d love to ask him. What inside you spurred you offer your organ to someone you hardly knew? Was it because it would make you feel good inside, or your primary goal was to help her? I do believe that inside each and every one of us we enjoy helping someone and seeing how our work benefitted them, but not to this length. Actually donating an organ is on a whole different level of service and humbleness. I’m trying to place myself in his shoes and offering a vital organ to a complete stranger is a foreign concept to me. I struggle with this and doubt that I would be able to do it. I guess it’s hard to truly know how you’d react when you’re not in the situation, but I’m certain it wouldn’t be an easy decision. I greatly admire his servant heart. It should be inspirational for us all.
Speaking of caring for others, today I saw a commercial on the TV by The Foundation for a Better Life that was uplifting. It was fairly stereotypical; a girl walked into what appeared to be a high school cafeteria and had no place to sit. She chose to sit at a table with a few other girls who looked inviting but they got up and left after she sat down. One casual observer noticed the girl sitting by herself and left her table of friends to sit with her. The message at the end of the video said “reaching out. Pass it on.” GREAT message. Simply taking time out of one’s day to pay attention to people and lend them your ear goes a long way. A friend of mine is a nursing major and while at work she was assigned a stubborn patient who just wanted to die and refused to take a bath or eat. She offered to give him a massage, which enabled him to open up and within 4 hours a transformation had taken place. He was up, clean, and combed his hair. He even wrote a poem and dedicated it to her (not in a creeper way, just in the appreciative way). We should all think about ourselves a little less and others a little more.
That last video with the young boy was one of the cutest things my eyes have seen in a while.

Absolutely. All the cultural pressures that we put on the expectations of what it is to be a “man” or “woman” are faced by everyone. The expectations are brought to light when the little boy who only wants to play with the girls at recess rather than rough sports with the boys, and when the girl who hates wearing bras; it’s just that we (girls and boys) face different expectations or societal pressures. Men are supposed to be manly and not express their emotions while females are supposed to be mild mannered. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the pressures that the other gender faces simply because we’re imposing the expectations and not receiving them.

The good thing about this lecture is that it showed a different perspective. It opened our eyes to the other side and what they see and experience. It’s important to be able to understand the other party involved in a conflict in order to find eventually find peace. And because of that, the lecture on the “Christian Invaders” was beneficial. However I think he missed a few points. How exactly do people form judgments against others from a different culture? How do we Americans construct these stereotypes against those from the Middle East, and how do Middle Easterners form the judgments against us? By word of mouth, personal interactions and experiences, and the media. These are the 3 points that weren’t discussed as deeply as they should have been.
Due to the level of trust that exists amongst family members and friends, their opinions have a powerful sway on an individual’s judgment. This is true in nearly every situation, especially if you’ve never experienced what they’re talking about and are relying on their experiences to form your own conclusions. So naturally, the gentlemen whose car was run over would have negative emotions towards the immature American soldiers who ran over their car. Most likely their friends and family members feel the same way. And for the people whose kids were given the candy by the kind American soldiers maybe have warm feelings towards the “Christian invaders.” Perhaps their friends and family members feel the way same way as well. If you rely on the information given to you by those you know, you’re only going to see one side of the argument.
A noteworthy influence on the minds of the people is that of the media. Yes, the media in America is different than the media in the Middle East, but I believe there is still an impact. The media has a powerful role in the way people view other cultures because not every Iraqi or Afghanistan citizen is going to come in contact with an American soldier and vice versa. If you don’t get your information from those you know or personal experiences the next logical place to look is the media. In this realm, you can find whatever information fits best to you; 9/11 didn’t actually happen, Barack Obama is a terrorist … the list goes on. This is the danger and beauty in the media as it exists today; but the potential for propaganda is the worst. We experienced propaganda right before we decided to go to war. The media all over the nation sided with Bush and convinced many Americans that going to war was the right thing to do. Propaganda is powerful. So while I agree with Sam’s purpose of opening our minds to what they see, I think it’s important to keep propaganda into account (on BOTH sides).

The issue of slavery is very difficult to grasp because of its enormity. And with any issue of this size it’s hard to encourage people to take action because the extent of the problem is numbing. People feel incompetent to create a movement, and individuals become anonymous in the masses and feel powerless. In order for anyone to see significant change in the slave trade I do think the first step is to acknowledge that slavery exists. I think many people are still in denial about the existence of slavery – we were taught in history class that slavery was this awful trade that existed in the beginning stages of America but we ended that. And with the help of Martin Luther King Jr., blacks were able to receive all their rights. Unfortunately our classes forgot to mention to us that slavery still exists and on a more global level than before. As a side note, I think it’s natural for humans to want to believe the best in situations rather than the worst. So obviously we would ignore those crazy people who contradict those history lessons.
Back to step one for a second. Think about it, if we all made an oath to spread the reality of slavery to our clubs, friends, families, work places, and homes that’s a pretty significant amount of people whose eyes would be opened. And in all those people if there are a few who feel inspired to join organizations to actively fight slavery, great! Knowledge is a great tool though, very effective to starting movements.
As for step two, I think it should be interpreted as a personal calling. One of the easiest things to do would be to only purchase the free trade products that we talked about in class. Other options would be to join movements that are already invested in ending slavery. Groups like USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops – not quite slavery but very close to it), IJM (International Justice Mission), Free the Slaves and a bunch of other groups. The three ways to join them would be with your money, time, or talents. Clearly one’s involvement in these organizations is dependent on their time and how much they can give to help a movement like this. And if you feel led to, why not start a movement yourself? Who knows what your future is meant to be and if there’s a strong desire in you to end the injustice, maybe your voice is the voices that needs to be heard to bring and end to slavery.
Keep in mind that every little thing counts. “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (James Baldwin).

I think it is great! This class has opened my eyes to the importance of diversity in peoples’ lives and if the whites are no longer majority, then perhaps it would be harder to run away from diversity. Also I think it would strengthen the culture of white people and maybe even instill a sense of pride that is lacking. I am not talking about white racist pride, but the pride that other cultures have in their own culture. I look forward to the day when America is in all honesty the big melting pot that it claims to be.

If we’re concerned about people getting offended then we need to attach a disclaimer onto nearly every statement. It seems as though people interpret things differently, due to their diverse backgrounds, and consequently get fired up if they feel offended. The people who are conducted the research for the census should, I would assume, have a good grasp on what words people will/will not find offensive. If negro is one of them then right on the census there should be an explanation as to why that word is included. This would clear up any miscommunications and misconstrued meanings that could be inferred.

I think the class tends to make these issues black and white when they aren’t. Sam’s recent comments about how you should identify with the ethnicity you feel closest too seems to be an appropriate thing to say, but why not be both? Why not consider yourself white AND Puerto Rican. I realize it’s almost like an identity crisis, not being able to feel strongly towards one side of the ethnicity/race chain. So why put yourself in that position which makes you feel like you need to “choose” which side to be on. Obviously, if you feel like you can connect more with Hispanics because of the culture you were raised in, then consider yourself a Hispanic. But if you feel torn and believe that aspects of both cultures resonate with you, let them resonate. Be part of both cultures, don’t fight it. It’s not a bad thing to connect more with Hispanics in some cultural areas and white in others. It seems as though the reason for the confusion is because of soc 119 and how Sam makes the distinction between white and black and brown people so clear when it isn’t. He did admit that the distinction isn’t as obvious as he’s making it but for the sake of his lecture and topics discussed it class it makes it easier.
Seems like the best way to tackle this issue is to think more on this topic and ask yourself if you’ve discovered this (this sort of racial identity crisis) throughout your life or just in this class? If it is the former, then try and think back to the experiences that invoked these emotions within you and try and pinpoint why you felt that way.
Multiracial people must feel ostracized by society. There are many situations that encourage multiracial people to feel excluded from the masses; for instance, in all the forms that are filled out in which you bubble in your race. There is usually an option for “other,” but still it is another way to say “you don’t belong.” I recently met an Australian studying abroad at Penn State for the semester who was born in South Africa, lived there till he was ten and then moved to Australia. He has literally split his life in half in two different countries. He confessed to me that while he is in the United States he feels Australian, but once he’s back in Australia he feels South African. Not only would this be hard to handle because of feeling confused about his racial identity but also the feeling of not belonging anywhere. That feeling of not belonging is the issue many multiracial people face, or so it seems.

This class does focus a lot on the blacks vs. white battle. Perhaps the reason for this is due to the long history white Americans have had with Africans and slavery and rights for blacks. What do I think of Asians? Eh, I suppose I don’t think much about it. Honestly, it seems like a forgotten race, or the race that will take over the world (or that’s the way it’s presented in my business classes). I’d like for us to talk about Asians and other ethnicities; I do think that with the lessons of the different stages of awakening and so forth will be enlightening. That it will shine light on other ethnicities and their struggle of identity in America.

I think this discussion that has been going on about bleeding has been right on (by Sam) and that people in the class are overreacting. Menstruation is NATURAL. I don’t understand why it’s disgusting. I don’t understand why it’s pushed under the rug and we’re not encouraged to talk about it. I’m not saying that I desire to talk about my period 24-7 but the freedom to talk about it in public would be ideal. The freedom to say what I want about it and not feel uncomfortable or that I was crossing lines would be optimal. However, I think our society is one that is closed and not open to discussion of private issues and periods is an issue that happens to have that label.