The central issue around homosexuality in today’s society is understanding. Over the past two centuries, there has been a dramatic upswing of understanding homosexual behavior and how it comes about. Years ago it was simply thought of as a disease, or a choice and was even frowned upon in the legal sense. Those days are gone and our society has steadily gone in a more progressive understanding and acceptance of homosexuality and homosexuals in general. However, no person understands homosexuality, its struggles in the sense of how hard it might be to come out and what life is like better than a homosexual his or herself.
This leads me to my first point as to why I believe it would be substantially an easier process for somebody to come out to gay parents than if they were straight. Not only would they understand and know how there child was thinking and feeling, but the process would be all too familiar to them. When they came out society may or may not have been as understanding, sympathetic and knowledgable as we are now. Hence when they came out they might have gone through some struggles so they would no exactly what to do in dealing with their child and making the process for them be as easy as possible. The best way to learn how to tackle a task is through experience so I’m sure since they went through that experience, they would be able to ease their child through it.
If you take every point I just made above and apply it to straight parents, you would have the opposite. They may or may not make up the progressive, understanding component of society but they come from a conventional marriage and hence have no experience on how to ease a child through a situation like that. Since they have no experience with dealing with this, they would even be shocked if their child came out like that, which would most likely make the child nervous to come out or express their feelings. Also, you would have to consider how rough it would be in dealing with other relatives. While this generation is growing increasingly considerate and understanding, generations past are far from it. There are still people out there today that are just as bigoted as they were before the revolution of understanding came about. With no other gay relatives in the family or first hand experience with the matter, in the worst case scenario they might in fact shun the person for coming out.
The bottomline is that it is substantially easier to come out to gay parents since they went through it. My religious views do not dictate my thoughts on this matter that homosexuals are born this way and therefore should be accepted. Hopefully society will continue to grow on this issue so people wont feel such a struggle to come out knowing they would be accepted; rather than hoping.

I agree with the student who was posing the question in that the trayvon martin case was one hundred percent racially motivated. Between the derogatory terms in the emergency 9-11 call, to the mere occurance of the shooting in general for little reason, it is clear that this was very racially motivated. That day, Trayvon did not do anything wrong. I think about all the times I go to a convenience store when I’m home to get a snack so innocently and it is unfathomable to me that this poor kid was shot and killed in the midst of doing so. George Zimmerman is a racist (no need to elaborate with expletives) and should be definitely prosecuted in the commission of this brutal hate crime. I would not want this to happen to me so I could not even imagine being confronted like this merely on race like this boy was. I pray for his family and people who knew him.

With that being said, the question posed to us is how could this potentially not be considered a racially motivated attack? The answer to this is found in the fundamentals of the society we live in. Now days in the US our country is split on beliefs between the moderate minded people of the 21st century and the stark conservative “rednecks” of the other ideaology. These people still believe in the idealogy that all black people are up to no good just as shown in the youtube video with the muslim women being profiled and ejected from the gas station convenience store. Whether or not the ideaologys of these people are conscious or subconscious, people can be subconciosuly afraid of African American people. Hence because of this fear, Zimmerman and others may feel the need to take up arms and defend. HOWEVER, this is 100% wrong and racist and should no longer happen in this country. As Sam said, you cannot live life to the fullest if youre living in fear such as parents not letting their kids walk to school. Just as he said that, we can also not let fear cause us as a human race to do such horrible things. SO the bottom line could be that it is not racially motivated but rather fear motivated (which is indirectly racist as it is).

Overall our society needs to make a departure from these stark conservative beliefs. If we are so conservative and fear everything and everybody like the people involved in the trayvon martin case and the people in the youtube video on muslim women, we will not thrive as a society and it will ultimately be our downfall. Therefore it is up to us as the country’s youth to persevere through this and lead the charge in the elimination of this ideaology.

My entire life I grew up in a predominately white neighborhood in New Jersey just about 25 minutes outside New York City. The county I lived in was Bergen County. I highly doubt that many of you outside of New Jersey had seen the recent joke map of each county’s stereotyped but my area was known as “Christie Country” in reference to the fact that the vast majority of people inhabiting the area were either white and catholic or white and jewish. My area was highly conservative and narrow minded. The center of all of those stereotypes was my town, most fondly known as a top one percent town, with people being mostly all white and not really knowing anything else outside of it.
The stereotype was easily evident in my high school. Widely known as the Laguna Beach of the east coast, people zoomed around in cars that parents bought for them and wore expensive name brand clothing. Out of the fifteen hundred students, I would say about maybe 10 were African American; including 3 of them being from Rev Run’s kids from the TV show Run’s House and another one of them being rapper Ja Rule’s daughter. So when somebody saw a black person, being from this bizarre place I was from, people sometimes did not quite know how to act and would be surprised. Because of this sheltered, conservative environement, it was impossible not to see color when presented to you.
Despite my background I experienced quite a different experience at Penn State. I choose this school over various catholic schools because I embraced some place where there was diversity and I can experience different people other than those in Bergen County (aka “Christie Country”). Upon my arrival I pledged a fraternity my first semester. In this fraternity there is a rather racially and ethnically diverse group of people. In the beginning I might have seen color and race a little bit but after getting so close to these kids, it is the last thing I think about when I am hanging out or doing things with them. Like the person who wrote the blog question, because I had an open mind, I no longer see things the way I used to and now have best friends who are Black, Asian, Spanish or anything without even giving them the thought. I can see I am not the only one who experiences this but instead one of very many as one of my brothers was called down to do the example when Sam put up the Asian guy who was his friend and said that he did not even see color. He was from the same type of town I was and just further proved the point that if you go into and see things with an open mind, sooner or later you will see that it does not matter what color people are but that we are all the same and can all get along together great. Even if you are from “Christie Country”.

The discussion about war in class made me truly think about war in a different light than I ever had previously. I used to only think of the enemy as subhuman that we should gain an advantage in any way possible to attain our freedom. However the discussion opened my eyes to the idea of empathy especially in this war time situation. This war is different because it appears our primary concern is not freedom but for resources, and the nation we are fighting is not all hostile towards us. I could not imagine what it must be like from the good people's perspective having another country's troops invade even for help only to run their cars off the road for not going fast enough or destroying their livelihood in response to stealing lumber. Sam's video and discussion put myself in shoes I could not previously have thought to be in and allow me to feel bad for those people and wish better for them. The poor behavior by US troops needs to stop because not only is it cruel, but is embarassing and is not what our nation stands for. However with that being said, my opinion has changed in that regard, but we are still fighting for freedom and response to terroristic attacks and threats so our forces still have to maintain their strong and powerful prescence until their is an appropriate time to leave.

Sam’s Soc 119 class is not your typical lecture hall. A typical lecture hall has you in and out within that fifty minutes or hour and fifteen minutes with pages full of notes and a numb mind in which everything you just heard simply went in one ear and out the other. Dr. Richards’ class has a polar opposite effect in which I feel like every day I leave class I am deeply pondering one topic or another. When pressed with the task of determining one thing that stuck out to me or that I would want to learn more about, I found it nearly impossible to narrow it down to just one topic so here are a couple examples.
The first example is one of which really took me out of my comfort zone. Contrary to my Jewish last name, I grew up in a highly religious roman catholic household (from my Italian mother’s side). Growing up in this environment I was preached since the time I was little about Noah’s Ark and the theory of creationism as being the one and only true. As a matter of fact when Sam put up that statistic about how as education goes up, belief in creationism goes down, I was so offended I walked out of class along with several others. However with that being said, after thinking about it, it was interesting to hear that so many other people have contrasting viewpoints. I still believe in what I believe in but I now understand the basis in which these theories come from and comprehend its plausibility. I feel like a lecture which brings that out in people is extremely positive because we all come from different backgrounds and can at times be narrowminded. Hence it is interesting to study and understand the perspectives of others.
The second example comes from the lecture in which it was debated if being from a certain race predetermined you to be better or worse at certain sports. Growing up it was true that all of the African American athletes on my wrestling team were the fastest. I was good friends with them so when I would ask why they were so fast they would jokingly say that they had “that extra bone in their foot”. As naïve as I might have been back then, I was not naïve to believe such an assertion however I always wondered why that was. So when Sam gave biological explanations for this, it was truly an eye opener. He did not go as far to say that was the sole reason why but rather highlighted that “middle ground” which is a common theme in his lectures with socioeconomic themes being responsible too. Overall I’m looking forward to having my brain be provoked with more thoughts and am glad I remembered to do this blog and submit it at exactly midnight on this Friday of Spring Break.

Our society in America has came an extraordinary long way in its views on the right/wrong of racial discrimination. It was not too long ago that black and white people were drinking out of separate water fountains and sitting on opposite sections on the bus. While legislation has prohibited and virtually outlawed this type of discrimination, it still exists on a far less extreme circumstance today. However the problem is not how far we have come but instead that it even is still out there at all. Thankfully the general consensus recognizes this is an issue and wants to change. It was not always this way and for decades nobody even recognized this was an issue accept for the minority groups of people who were in fact being wrongfully discriminated. By recognizing it and calling for the need for a change is huge and is the first step in making our nation discrimination-free but there is still a long way to go.
The first way I believe racial discrimination can end once and for all, would be through the media. The media in this day and age is extremely powerful and can shape the way people think. In terms of African Americans, the media needs to stop glorifying and associating them with the gangster, hip-hop culture. By doing this they create the image that all blacks are “hood” which in turn breeds racism and stereotypes. The same can be said of Asian men being weak or puny and Hispanics being purely Mexican.
The second way I believe racial discrimination in this nation can be brought down once and for all is through the elimination of affirmative action. I understand this is a harsh, politically motivated assertion however while the motives behind it are good I believe it breeds hostility. When white students get rejected for college in favor of less qualified minorities, it breeds a climate of hostility and resentment. The whole idea in ending discrimination is to produce a world where everyone is equal. Affirmative action may make up for past indiscretions but it does not put everyone in an equal light and therefore is part of the problem.
I’m not saying that with these two steps that discrimination will be eliminated or even come close to be. These are mere examples or “steps” in the ever so long staircase to end it once and for all. It is not going to be the efforts of one racial or ethnic group but it must be a communal effort with everyone. The only way that everyone will all be seen in an equal light is to join together. It is not about who did what to who or when they did it. It is about bringing this to an end once and for all.

The question that Sam has put forth poses the challenge to attribute why certain races accelerate at certain sports better than others. It is commonly known and easily apparent that in sports like hockey and basketball are dominated by members of a certain race. However in other sports like football it is tougher to define the line. In my opinion, it is not as much about genetic backgrounds inherent upon race as it is socioeconomic background and geographic location.
My first example focuses primarily how geographic location effects skill set in sports. Hockey is known as a largely dominated “white person’s” sport. While this assertion may be true as evidenced upon the leagues racial proportion, I would tend to believe it is a “cold climate person’s” sport above all things including race. The areas of the world that acclerate in hockey are ones that are bitterly cold for big parts of the year including Canada, Eastern Europe and, (some parts) of the United States. This is because they have access to rinks indoor and outdoor with a pleothora of hockey programs and exposure. These climates are also demographically more Caucasian. It would be just as rare to hear of a hockey player from Western Europe, Asia, Arizona, or even any urban area in the United States. Therefore as far as hockey is concerned, it most definitely has the most to do with geographic location as opposed to racial background in how certain races accelerate in sports.
As far as basketball is concerned, it is known that African-Americans tend to develop into better basketball players in the professional ranks than Caucasian athletes. Once again this is easily tracable to both geographic location and socioeconomics. Our country’s urban areas are demographically dominated by African-Americans. In these urban areas there is less exposure to other sports and less athletic facilities but one thing that remains a constant fixture on many streets is a basketball hoop of some form. These neighborhoods are also less well off as far as socioeconomics are concerned therefore basketball is a cheap, easy sport to be able to pick up, play, and occupy time. Since this is the primary activity, these urban kids practice all the time and become extremely proficient at it. More so than any other type of socioeconomic or geographic area. Hence the African-American proficiency in the sport has more to do with their geographic location, then simply their racial background.
Baseball has similar tendencies to both hockey and basketball. Although there are a lot of black people in the major leagues today, the majority of them are not African-American but instead from areas in south America where they have a lot of exposure. People who live in the suburbs and rural areas have a lot more access to fields and facilities than urban areas. So when it comes down to it that is the reason for the split in baseball, not race.
In conclusion being from a certain race is not the reason you are good at sports. It is instead the circumstances in which you are from as evidenced above.

Times in America are changing. Gone are the days where English is the primary, universal language that everybody learns in favor for a split between English and Spanish. Illegal immigration is a separate issue and even taking it out as a factor, I believe it would be highly recommended for people in the United States to start learning Spanish.
When I was in grammar school, I split it with Spanish in my grammar school years and then I got tired of it so I started taking French merely to change it up. I pursued French briefly in college and would be able to hold conversation should I go abroad there. However, no disrespect to the French culture but in the situation my country is in, if I could go back in time I would definitely take Spanish. I believe this would be an advantage not only in the business world but in my country as well. From the time I was younger, I would visit my grandparents in Key Biscayne, Florida which is a small island off of a causeway from the city of Miami. On that island mostly everyone from all classes spoke Spanish and it is prominent in that area in general. The way it looks, eventually the nation will have a similar split so having Spanish as a language would be incredibly useful.
I’ve had the privilege of leaving the country several times to destinations of different language such as Mexico, France, Italy, and Switzerland. While they are all distinctly unique cultures and completely different experiences, one thing that remained constant was that most people could communicate English in a somewhat fluent manner. Whether they liked it or not, sometime in their country’s history they recognized the United States’ and the English language’s rise to prominence and while it is totally different than any of their languages, they learned it to accommodate us and increase their business profits when we came to town.
I am in total opposition of illegal immigration and I believe that it is illegal for a reason and that anybody who comes here illegal should not be able to stay. Regardless though, Spanish is gaining prominence in our nation and it is imperative we wise up similarly to the other countries and learn it for our own social and economic benefits.
There are even more benefits to learning Spanish than purely economics. I believe that it can benefit our country from a race relations standpoint as well. If more people learn Spanish and embrace the culture than there would be less hostility and ill will to the Hispanic community as referenced in last weeks blog about the intolerant mayor. I know for a fact that this has had similar effects in France who once were intolerant to Americans in their country because now that they learned our language and can communicate with us, there is no longer that stereotypical snottiness (or at least in my personal experiences). Overall its time Americans learn Spanish because it can only be to our benefit.

Upon hearing the East Haven’s mayor’s comments I was nothing short of flabbergasted. The fact that people in such a high position of power can be so ignorant is not only upsetting but also disappointing. I firmly believe that mayor’s term should be terminated immediately. With the Hispanic community in the United States constantly growing, plenty of legal citizens could be looking to relocate to that city and contribute to the economy in a positive way but instead this mayor may well have alienated them. Whether ignorant racists like it or not, the Latino community (legally that is) contributes extremely positive to our economy and society. Hence if the East Haven officials want to avoid this public relations nightmare, he should definitely be expelled from office.

Now granted we have already established the ignorance of the mayor’s comments, the far greater issue this article undertones is the treatment of illegal immigrants in this country. My personal stance is that illegal immigration is illegal for a reason and if you come to this country illegally you should not be able to stay. Period. However what needs to change is the circumstances in which we regulate this. The article states that there were several incidents of police brutality and racial profiling. Granted the city (and for arguments sake, the entire country) may be frustrated with this problem, the culture needs to change in which we regulate it. Perhaps there should be harsher penalties for the legal citizens who hire these people and harbor them within their companies. Not only would this discourage the hiring of illegal immigrants but also motivate citizens to take a more prominent role in preventing illegal immigration. I feel like this would be exponentially more effective then the current systems of uncoordinated raids of storefronts and residential areas and would quell the growing problem of brutality and violence (not only against illegals but mistaken illegals who are in fact US citizens. As Professor Richards states in his commentary on this article, while they might be illegal, they certainly should not be classified as scum or animals because no innocent human should have to bare those horrific stereotypes and hurtful generalizations. The bottomline is that the culture of our country needs to change in regards to this issue and it starts with East Haven cleaning house with this ignorant, racist of a mayor because in order for change to occur, it starts with those in positions of power. The point is that elected officials, such as mayors have a tremendous influence on the thoughts and ideas of the people in the community. The last thing anyplace in this country needs is for people to follow the example of this moron.

My family's present circumstances are far different than they once were. We are nowspread out through suburbs in New York and New Jersey, living with far easier opportunities then he and the rest of my ancestors had. Because of that, in response to the American dream losing its value, I would say it has. The American dream is at the fore-thought of people’s minds when they don’t have it but once they have been in America for generations upon generations, they begin to take what we have for granted. Hence this is also why non US citizens embrace this idea more than current ones do. The kid who grew up in the nice American suburbs with the near guarantee of being able to pursue a college education will not be thinking nearly as much about the American Dream than the kid who’s freedoms are deprived in a socialist country, starving for the opportunity to get what so many of us, including myself have unconsciously begun to take for granted.