If I were an illegal immigrant who came to the United States, I am not sure if I would help others. A part of me believes that I would, but another part does not. I think it would depend on who I was helping. Since someone would have had to help me across the border, I feel like it is only right if I pass that on. A lot of immigrants come here to avoid terrible situations in their home countries. They see America as a place full of opportunity and as a chance to start over. Since I would have received that opportunity, I feel like I should want to help others leave bad situations and begin a new life in the United States. Unless you are Native American, you trace your ancestry back to immigrants, whether they were legal or illegal. Immigrants are the people who invented things we use today, made life-changing discoveries, and helped shape the way we live our lives today. If we keep other immigrants out of our country, we could potentially be turning away a person who can make great contributions to society. We do not know who will be the next great President, or the next Albert Einstein. We have no way of knowing what contributions a person will make. If we do not give people a chance to prove themselves, then we are at fault. This is why I would want to help out other immigrants after I made it successfully into this country.
On the other hand, a lot of illegal immigrants become involved in drug crimes and wind up in our jails. I feel like it would be part of my duty as a person living here, even illegally, to prevent more of those types of people from coming into this country. Not all immigrants are bad, but some of them become major drug lords. They spend their time working second hand jobs and receive pay under the table. When the drug world is revealed to them, and they see the potential to earn thousands of dollars by helping drug dealers, that world is hard to turn down. When you receive cheap pay for working long hours, the opportunity to receive a humongous increase for doing little work, just selling drugs, is extremely hard to say no to. The immigrants who get involved in that world usually end up in our jails. Citizens pay tons of money in tax dollars to feed and clothe these people and keep our jails open. Our money would be going to criminals that should not even be in our country in the first place. I understand this view, but still think that everyone deserves a fair shot.

In my opinion, it is stupid that women in our society have to dress up while men get to wear normal clothes when they are going to the same event, such as a party or group gathering. Women have to been socialized to believe that they must wear a short skirt or dress with heels in order to look good. They have been taught that in order to look pretty or attractive, they must cover their faces in makeup, shave their legs, smell nice, and dress in a way that makes them seem “more appealing.” Even though I think it is stupid, I am guilty of giving in to the social norms. There is rarely a night that I go out when I am not wearing heels. I sometimes wear skirts or dresses, but most of the time I am in skinny jeans and a tank top. The tank tops I wear would be considered dressy, even if I were not completely dressed up. I never leave my apartment without some makeup on my face, even if it is just foundation or mascara. When I am going to a party on the weekend, I am usually semi-dressed up, and wearing heels or wedges. My makeup is heavier at nighttime, with bronzer, mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick. Even if it is a chill night and I am just going to play drinking games with a few close friends, I might be wearing sweatpants but I will still have makeup on.
My guy friends, on the other hand, never dress up. The equivalent to a skirt or dress for a woman would be a jacket and tie for a man. I have never seen my guy friends wearing a jacket and tie to a party. Boys usually wear jeans or kakis with a t-shirt or button down. I do think button downs are a little dressier, but only the guys who dress nice on a regular basis wear these. Boys never have to wear shoes that hurt their feet, or do their hair or makeup. I think it is crazy that this is how society has formed us. Girls are led to believe that they are less attractive for wearing more clothes and comfortable shoes, as opposed to wearing next to nothing and shoes that kill their feet and leave blisters. I don’t know why I give in to the peer pressure other than wanting to be noticed and look nice. Most girls compare themselves to their friends or other girls they see out, and it turns into a competition for the most attractive. No one likes to be a loser, so we continue to do these things that we may not like, even when guys don’t have to and most guys wouldn’t care if we stopped.

In my opinion, it is stupid that women in our society have to dress up while men get to wear normal clothes when they are going to the same event, such as a party or group gathering. Women have to been socialized to believe that they must wear a short skirt or dress with heels in order to look good. They have been taught that in order to look pretty or attractive, they must cover their faces in makeup, shave their legs, smell nice, and dress in a way that makes them seem “more appealing.” Even though I think it is stupid, I am guilty of giving in to the social norms. There is rarely a night that I go out when I am not wearing heels. I sometimes wear skirts or dresses, but most of the time I am in skinny jeans and a tank top. The tank tops I wear would be considered dressy, even if I were not completely dressed up. I never leave my apartment without some makeup on my face, even if it is just foundation or mascara. When I am going to a party on the weekend, I am usually semi-dressed up, and wearing heels or wedges. My makeup is heavier at nighttime, with bronzer, mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick. Even if it is a chill night and I am just going to play drinking games with a few close friends, I might be wearing sweatpants but I will still have makeup on.
My guy friends, on the other hand, never dress up. The equivalent to a skirt or dress for a woman would be a jacket and tie for a man. I have never seen my guy friends wearing a jacket and tie to a party. Boys usually wear jeans or kakis with a t-shirt or button down. I do think button downs are a little dressier, but only the guys who dress nice on a regular basis wear these. Boys never have to wear shoes that hurt their feet, or do their hair or makeup. I think it is crazy that this is how society has formed us. Girls are led to believe that they are less attractive for wearing more clothes and comfortable shoes, as opposed to wearing next to nothing and shoes that kill their feet and leave blisters. I don’t know why I give in to the peer pressure other than wanting to be noticed and look nice. Most girls compare themselves to their friends or other girls they see out, and it turns into a competition for the most attractive. No one likes to be a loser, so we continue to do these things that we may not like, even when guys don’t have to and most guys wouldn’t care if we stopped.

I am a white female, and I would date a black guy. There are many men of color that I find very physically attractive. I have never dated a black guy, but that is not because of their skin color. Most of my high school was black, but I was just friends with all of those guys. If I ever met a black guy and liked him for more than his looks, I would gladly date him. I don’t date people based solely on looks. I need to have a connection with them that goes deeper than friendship, and I have never felt that with any of my black guy friends. I want to date a guy who makes me laugh, knows me really well, has always been and always will be there for me, and is caring, trustworthy, and honest. I hate liars and cheaters, and I will not date someone without getting to know them and them getting to know me. I will not date someone I don’t have fun with. Relationships are hard work, but they should also be fun. I need a guy who will put just as much into our relationship as I am prepared to. A white guy or a black guy can provide these things. Race has no effect on a person’s personality. I am a friend with people based on their character, not on their color. I understand that dating a person who is a different race than I am would make things harder. There will always be people who didn’t understand, especially in the older generation. I have white girl friends that have dated black guys and they have gotten heat from it. First of all, some parents are not so accepting. I do not think their parents were racist, but they were worried for both of them because they knew how much harder their relationship was going to be. Second of all, most grandparents grew up in a culture where interracial dating was non-existent. If two people of different race dated in our grandparents generation they most likely would have to keep it hidden. It was looked down on, and the people in the relationship were judged. Finally, most of my friends who were in these relationships with black guys were harassed by black girls. The black girls were angry about these relationships because it seemed as though the white girls were “stealing their guys.” It is okay for them to date white guys, but they get mad at the white girls for dating the black guys. It doesn’t make sense, and the harassment that my friends endured ultimately led to the relationships ending. I would gladly date a black guy if he was the right person for me, but I am aware of how much harder it would be. I would not enter into the relationship lightly, and it would have to be something both of us really wanted and were dedicated to.

I grew up in Harrisburg and the high school I attended was located in the city. It was very diverse. We had a lot of white kids, but there were also black, Hispanic, and Asian students. Everything from the classrooms to the sports teams was very diverse. There was no real majority at my high school. My elementary and middle school was extremely white. There was not one student of color in my grade the entire time I went through school until high school. When I came to Penn State, I expected it to be more diverse like my high school because of how big it is. I attended summer session before my freshmen year, and that was mostly white. I assumed this was because not all the students were there yet and it would be different in the fall. When I returned for fall semester, I was shocked to see it was still mostly white. My classes with a couple hundred students in them still only had a handful of black or Hispanic students. I did notice that there was a pretty large Asian population of students, which adds to the diversity. It seems like most of the black students are only here because they are on sports teams. I think at a university as large as Penn State, there should be a more diverse population of students. They should try to implement programs that would make students of color feel more comfortable in attending our school, instead of feeling like they are the minority.
I also noticed how segregated the different races are. When you sit in the HUB, you can see that there is a clear segregation among the chairs. There is usually a group of white students, then a group of black students, and a group of Asian students all sitting away from the other groups. If you do see groups mixed, it is usually because those students are working on a project or something like that. I think that at this day in age there shouldn’t be this segregation among our generation.
Diversity at Penn State had no effect on my decision to come here for college. My father and brother are Penn State alumni, and my family has been Penn State football fans my entire life. I used to visit my brother when he attended Penn State and loved it immediately. It was my dream school, so when I got accepted I didn’t have to think about going anywhere else. I loved it because of the atmosphere, how large it was, the nice campus, and it is a great school. A degree from Penn State would help me go far in life. Diversity had no impact on my decision because it is not something I really care about. I like diversity and you can find it at all schools, it is just stronger at some.

I think black and brown people are more expressive of their problems because of their history of oppression in the United States of America. Through out history, they have not had as much freedom as white people. Since America’s colonization white people have enslaved black and brown people based on the color of their skin. It has taken hundreds of years for them to escape their setbacks due to slavery. Now that they are finally free of slavery and prejudices, I think black and brown feel the need to express their newfound voice. Black and brown people feel the need to express themselves aggressively because they were oppressed for so long and they are finally freeing themselves. I think that they believe if they voice their problems more, then their problems will be considered more important to people of other colors. Black and brown people are a minority in the United States of America, so they have to work harder to voice themselves and be heard by the elite white. White people in this country haven’t been through nearly the amount of hardships that black and brown people have. We do not know what it means to be the minority, or how hard it is to do certain things because of something they can’t change. White people are born into better circumstances than most black and brown people, giving them more advantages in life and less issues to deal with. If we had the amount of setbacks that people of color do, we would have more problems to discuss, and it would seem as though we were voicing our problems more than black or brown people. Colored people voice their opinions so much because they feel that issues they are facing are not being resolved. They must fight to be seen as equals in this society, and I think that by voicing their issues they are trying to improve upon their lives and attempt to raise their status in society. White people may think black and brown people voice their opinions so much because they have not seen the hardships and do not feel the need to bring themselves up from years of being discriminated against. A lot of white people have issues of their own, but this has always been a society that is mostly run by whites. Nothing would get accomplished if everyone spent their time complaining about their problems. White people had to learn to deal with a problem and move on to keep order in society. Black and brown people also deal with their problems, but they deal with them in a different way. Voicing their issues may make them feel as though their problem is important to others. It is also a good way to receive advice from others about how to deal with the problem.

In the video we watched in class, one of the freed slaves was asked what he would say to the people who consume the cocoa. He said that he would not say kind words because those people are benefitting from his suffering, and that they were “eating my flesh.” That was such a powerful way to end the video because it really got across the message of slavery happening elsewhere in the world. It was a very thought-provoking statement, and I know it prevented all the people around me from eating their second piece of chocolate. I agree with that man’s statement that we are essentially eating their flesh to satisfy our chocolate cravings. Obviously, we are not literally eating human flesh. We are however benefitting from the horrible treatment that these slaves had to go through. They leave their homes for the promise of money, work long, hard days for months or years at a time, and never see one penny. These men are taken to a farm in the middle of nowhere, and treated like slaves. Their sole purpose was to harvest cocoa beans from the trees. If they tried to run away, they would have no idea where to go, and were usually caught and brutally beaten. If they were beaten to the point where they could not move, they were taken away and never seen again. These slaves undergo the most horrible and inhumane treatment that a person could endure – all for some chocolate.
Personally, I was very ignorant to the fact that slavery is still going on in our world. I had no idea, and had never even thought about who made the food I am eating or the clothes I wear. I said I agree with the man’s statement that we are “eating” his flesh because in a sense we are. If it weren’t for him and the thousands of slaves out there like him, we wouldn’t have a lot of the foods we do in our country. His suffering provides us with our candy bars and chocolate chips. HIS suffering. He has lost blood for cocoa, been beaten for cocoa, shed tears because of cocoa, sweated everyday until he was rescued – for cocoa. That is what we are eating; this man’s blood, sweat, and tears. As sad as the video was, I am glad Sam showed it to us in class. I’m positive I was not the only one who was ignorant to slavery issues in the world, and now no one in that classroom is. If we all do our part to help people like the slaves in that video, we could save a life. I’m not saying we go to their countries and lobby their representatives – although if someone did that, it would be amazing. I’m saying we should all spend the little extra money on Fair Trade products. I didn’t even know products like that existed, but now that I do I will always buy those. Not having the extra couple bucks to spend isn’t an excuse because if you were in that situation you would want everyone else all over the world to splurge a little bit for their chocolate chips if it meant your life could be saved.

I have lived a pretty good life. I’ve dealt with a lot of positive, but also some negative. All of my choices or my parents’ choices and the hands I was dealt have made me who I am today. I am from Harrisburg, which is where my mother grew up. My father is from New Jersey. They lived in Jersey after they were married, but because of a car accident they had to move so my mom could be near her doctors. Their decision to move determined where I grew up. My parents chose where to send me to school. I went to a Catholic elementary school and really liked it, so I chose to go to the Catholic high school. These schools had harder grading systems than the public schools in my area and were more academically competitive. This pushed me to try hard in school. I made the decision to care about my schoolwork and to compete with my classmates. I chose to study for exams and complete assignments on time, which helped me receive good scores on my SATs. All of these things combined allowed me to get into the schools that I chose to apply to, one of those being Penn State. When I was little my parents made the decision for me to dance, try gymnastics, but also to play sports. When I got a little older, I made the decision to focus solely on sports. I played soccer and basketball all through elementary school. I ran track for six years, and continued playing basketball throughout high school. My involvement in these activities also played a part in my getting into college, since extra-curriculars are included on an application. I was raised as a Catholic, so my parents decided my religion. Before my confirmation, I made the choice to remain Catholic because it reflected a lot of my beliefs. I enjoy doing things for other people, which pushed me into clubs like Christian Service Club and Pro-Life Club in high school. These additional activities helped me become a rounded student and benefitted my college applications.
Some things that are beyond my control also affected where I ended up today. My parents raised me the only way they knew how. I didn’t choose my parents or how I was raised. They shaped the person I am today by teaching me correct values, morals, and beliefs. They taught me what it means to be a good person. I didn’t choose my parents, but if I could’ve I would have chosen the same ones I got. I also believe in fate and destiny. I think I was destined to go to Penn State. My brother is three years older than me and he went here. I would come to State College and visit him on the weekends. If he didn’t go here, I never would have visited and I would not have fallen in love with Penn State. I probably would not have applied if he wasn’t here. I think I was destined to come here for school because of the way things have worked out. No one’s life is shaped only by their choices, or by what has been previously determined. It is a combination of both that make us who we are and allow us to live our lives.

When I am inside the United States I describe myself as Scottish or German. My grandparents on my father’s side are from Paisley, Scotland and I have been there twice. When I go there, it seems stupid to describe myself as Scottish since I don’t live there, and my relatives who do clearly have more of a claim to being Scottish than I do. They were born and raised in Scotland, and are marrying other people from Scotland and beginning their own Scottish families. My only reason for saying Scottish is because sixty-some years ago my Grandma and Grandpa lived there until they were twenty. I was not born or raised there, and have only been there for a total of two weeks in my entire life. To them, I am American. I was born and raised in America, go to school in America, and have an “American” accent when I travel. The last time I went to Scotland was two years ago with my sister for my cousin’s wedding. We were meeting his fiancé for the first time, and she was so excited because she “never met a real American before.” We were being introduced as the Americans before we had a chance to introduce ourselves. Once people find out we’re Americans, then they begin to ask what part of the country we are from. So the more people from other countries get to know us, the more specifically we are described. I go from being the American to the Pennsylvanian, but only to my close relatives. If I am meeting people outside the family they are only worried about me being an American. I am asked to say a range of words because my “American accent sounds funny.” I find it nice that I can identify with my whole country, and not just the people I associate with at school.
I also identify with German because of my mothers side of the family. My grandparents are not from Germany, but their ancestry is mainly German. I have never been to Germany, but if I were to go I would describe myself as an American for the same reasons I don’t describe myself as Scottish when I go to Scotland. I could describe myself as Scottish in Germany, or as German in Scotland, but I think they would identify as American because that is my accent and culture.
Things would get complicated if I were to go to a country in South America. I couldn’t describe myself as American because technically they are American, also. I would have to say I am a Pennsylvanian or I am from the United States. This would all be much simpler if we could just describe ourselves as people because we are all human beings and all stem from the same ancestry if we were to trace our lineage back far enough.

The Confederate Flag, to me, represents a person who is stuck in a mindset that has long since passed. People who associate with the confederate flag believe that the Civil War did not end the right way. These are the people who continue to harbor racist views and prejudices against anyone who thinks different from them. They are the ones who think "the South will rise again" and that we will go back to the ways of slavery and oppression. I think if we could get rid of these narrow-minded people, racism would be gone forever. The "red-neck" culture does not have to associated with the flag at all. Red-necks can be people who drive pick-up trucks, like to hunt, live in the country, associate with their relatives, and have little to do with the outside world and industry. People who paste this flag on their trucks give all red-necks a bad name because now they are all being associated with the racism of one idiot. I think the confederate flag should be outlawed because of its association with negative views in history. How do you think a black person feels when they see that sign in the world today? They are reminded of the terrible slavery and fighting that their ancestors may have had to experience. The funny thing is, a lot of black slaves REPRESENTED the South and that flag! These uneducated people who still wave that flag around don't realize that, and think that the flag is a way for them to be outwardly racist towards anyone who disagrees, but in reality the black people were the ones holding that flag up during the war.
Today I don't think that flag is just racist against black people. Anyone who displays it, whether they are in the North or South, believe in white power. That flag is for stubborn people who think their way is the only way. Those types of people will never try to understand any other viewpoint, and definitely will never try to accept someone that they view as different. They want white people to be the elite race and have power over all others. This includes blacks, indians, asians, hispanics, and even whites who disagree. What they don't understand is how the American population has changed since the time of the war. We are all so racially mixed now that it would be almost impossible to seperate people based on their races. If they have any black or asian in them, are they considered that race? Or can they still be white? There is nowhere to draw the line because race today isn't as easy as black or white, and these stupid human beings who want the United States to lose hundreds of years of racial acceptance need to realize and accept that.