Throughout these lectures, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what patriotism meant, but my eyes did not truly open to this idea until our class today. Ian asked everyone how many people died in the World Trade Center attack and what year it occurred and of course everyone knew both of those answers, but then he switched subjects quickly and asked, “When did the earthquake occur?” In my head I asked myself, “What earthquake? Katrina?” Not only is Katrina not an earthquake, but all that ran through my head after that question were events that happened in American history, not one of the most significant natural disasters recorded yet. As soon as someone said something about Haiti I actually felt embarrassed by my thoughts, even though I was the only one to hear them.

One thing I was thinking about today was how fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate) we are to be able to go through our daily lives and not be affected by this one bit. I came to class today with an open mind about what was going on in Haiti in the hopes that I would be able to understand the situation better, but it was very hard. I feel like I can’t completely understand it because I have never been to Haiti and have never been in a situation anywhere close to this. What did bring the issue closer to me, however, was putting us into the hypothetical situation where an earthquake or other natural disaster hit Penn State.

One topic that emphasized the idea of constantly seeing through a lense was how we think and deal with natural disasters. For me it is easy to think hey, why isn’t anyone just getting all this rubble out of the way and rebuilding? The people in Haiti do not even have a stable government, let alone an organized infrastructure capable of dealing with the damage. If I were in that situation, I would probably be running around like a crazy person with a bunch of other crazy people who would have no idea what to do without the guidance of a government or other strong leader, I would definitely not be having practice, though.

This is not true in Haiti, however. While I know most Haitians are living in the worst conditions imaginable, they are still able to perform basic functions of business and entertainment. An image in class that really stuck with me was the picture of the women having choir practice outside of a church shattered to pieces in front of them. To me, that is so impressive that they do their best to make the most out of this dire situation and strive to overcome these incredible challenges. I greatly admire the hope and faith of the Haitian people.

This was such a powerful lecture for me. It was definitely very thought provoking. After class I could not stop talking about how interesting it was. The first thing that hit me like a ton of bricks was the question that if Sam handed me the microphone and asked me to tell the class everything I know about Muslim or Arab culture, how long would I actually be able to talk? I probably could talk for thirty seconds, if that. All I know is what I hear from occasional news headlines and I honestly did have the image in my head that all people from the Middle East are terrorists. But this mostly comes from me not finding out anything about what’s going outside of the United States.

One thing this lecture left me contemplating about was how we, as Americans, do not have to know anything about what is happening in Iraq. If I don’t go out of my way to read about what is happening online or in the newspaper, it doesn’t really seem to affect my daily life. On the other hand, my people are killing thousands of people in another country. People in Iraq and Afghanistan are living under such awful war torn conditions, and I cannot even begin to understand how they must feel. Putting us into the mindset of those people was really eye opening and makes so much more sense to me now.

Another thing I learned from this class was that most of these people are truly good people trying to do what is right for their families. The part about the soldiers hugging moms, saying goodbye to their little kids, and kissing their loved ones goodbye really got to me considering my younger brother just enlisted in the marines. I know my brother does not have a mean bone in his body and picturing him killing people whether they are innocent or guilty is so incredibly disturbing to me. He truly is good. He is fighting to protect our country, whatever the government’s motives are. Picturing the Iraqi citizens as people with families really sparked an understanding in my brain of how they feel and why they are acting the way they are.

It is strange to think about how scared we are of people from the Middle East after looking at how powerful we are. Almost fifty percent of the world’s military spending comes from the US alone. The next biggest chunk was just Europe which included 45 countries. Something else I was thinking about when we saw that video clip in class was that there were a decent amount of terrorist attacks listed over 20 years, but if we compared that to the amount of attacks the US military had committed in the past 20 years, that list would look like nothing. Overall, this was definitely one of the best lectures this year. I feel like I learned so much in one class period and my eyes have been opened for sure.

Right now I think Chinese is an important language for American students to learn. China has such a huge population and the amount of people living there will only continue to increase. Because of the huge population, it is very influential in the world today. Billions of people speak some form of Chinese and with so many people in China, a lot of business deals can be made between people in China and people in American businesses. China is a great marketplace for American goods. For these reasons, it makes sense that students would benefit from learning this language.

I understand how languages like German and French are being removed from high school curricula because those languages are only spoken among relatively small populations of people. Almost everyone that attends school in those countries knows how to speak English as well. Most business deals are also done in English among European and American countries. German and French are not really significant languages to know in order to communicate with a large amount of people. Languages like Chinese and Spanish, on the other hand, are relevant to students in the United States.

China has a population of about 1.3 billion people with whom Americans can do business. As the Chinese influence grows in the United States, it becomes more important to educate our youth about the people and the language. Spanish is another language that is completely relevant to students in the United States. So many people in America speak Spanish, and this population is also growing. New Mexico, California, Texas, and Florida have some cities where Spanish is more prevalent than English. With so many Spanish-speakers in our country, learning Spanish is beneficial to more professions than just people in business. Doctors, teachers, and even cashiers working at a restaurant could possibly have to deal with people who do not speak English.

With that being said, I do not believe learning Chinese is the only way to get ahead in the world today. China is large and influential, but it seems like it could just be a phase. English has become a world language and I do not really think that is going anywhere, but you never know because language is always changing. It is possible that in the future, China could become more powerful than the United States and Chinese will become a world language. It could be taught in addition to English or maybe Chinese will become the single most widely spoken language. Regardless, I believe that teaching a second language to students is important. I took four years of Spanish in high school and while I did not become fluent in the language, I did have a strong knowledge base that allowed me to communicate effectively with other Spanish speakers.

Sometimes reading these articles makes me feel like I am in the reversal stage of race relations. Sometimes it is hard to relate to these issues, because I never even glance at the other categories, I just always choose white. When thinking about it becomes overwhelming or confusing, I just get annoyed and stop thinking about it. I know there are people who this matters a lot to, and can’t stop thinking about it, but I struggle to understand that situation. I think like, why does it matter? I just do not get it because I have never had to deal with anything like that. Ever.
It makes me realize how easy white people have it with race issues sometimes. In class, I had a very eye opening experience when we were watching that doll video clip. After we saw it, Sam started talking about how early people of color notice race; whereas, white people can ignore it for so much of their lives. I found this very interesting.
In elementary school, I had very few experiences with people of color. In middle school, I had many more, but I really did not really understand the concept of race. In sixth grade, I listened to a lot of hip hop and dressed a certain way to match the music I listened to. I wanted to wear baggy pants and I slicked my hair back in tight buns like the Puerto Rican girls in my class as a result of being exposed to different ethnic groups in middle school. I am a white female, which is funny to picture. This lasted only one year as the split started to take place between white students and other ethnic groups.
Once I got to high school, this split was evident and various racial groups rarely intermixed, most accurately portrayed in the lunch room. Students of color usually only associated with white people if they were in classes together or on sports teams, but not outside of school. As an honors student, I hardly ever had classes with minorities even though white people made up only half of the whole school population.
Now that I’ve had this course, I feel like I wasted a lot of opportunities to get to know students of other cultures. In high school, it just didn’t happen, and it wasn’t hard for me to ignore at the time. I didn’t see the bigger picture, and didn’t feel the need to bridge the gap between the different ethnic groups, but now that I’ve had more exposure to this information, I wish we all would have tried to get to know each other better. Overall, I am just now beginning to learn more about what it means to be white. I am the fish in a really complicated body of water.

That would be really cool if the law passed to make a government run by Native Hawaiians. It is about time for our government to recognize them in a positive way. I just really hope they do not do what they have done in the past and give the natives barren, useless land (if that exists in Hawaii). I hope it is not land without any resources. If they are going to go through the motions and claim that they are returning land that was not theirs in the first place, it should be done the right way or the inequality will continue.

I learned from the article that Obama was born in Hawaii. While I agree that Native Hawaiians should not have been ignored for this long, I believe that having a president who was born there will improve the plight of these natives. I still do not really understand how Native Hawaiians have not received any compensation whereas many other Native American tribes have. I guess it really isn’t that hard considering I did not even realize that they were struggling either.

Seeing these people join together battling these injustices with a successful outlook on the situation is impressive to me. It is a good example of how far we have come as a nation. In my opinion, America does a decent job of dealing with race relations. Watching those videos of the soccer games in Europe demonstrates that at least we acknowledge race issues in America.

This class does a great job of opening my eyes to events going on in the world around me. Just learning and hearing stories makes me want to go out and explore the world myself. I am starting to realize more and more how easy it is to ignore race and other cultural problems as a white middle class American citizen. Growing up, I don’t think I ever heard about how bad Native Americans struggled and continue to struggle in America.

I have thought about Native Hawaiians once in my life until now. That was when I got a cool Hawaiian temporary armband tattoo from a business trip my dad went on. When I put them on, I thought I was so awesome. I put leis around my neck and played with a hula-hoop for hours pretending I was Hawaiian. I thought everyone had the life in Hawaii. The weather was gorgeous; the scenery was beautiful, how could anyone be unhappy on that island? But then I took Sociology 119 and that perfect image changed drastically. Reading this article made me realize how little I do know about global issues and how much more I have to learn about in the future.

Learning about actual history has always been intriguing to me. I wish we could see more of what actually happened in our history textbooks. No wonder so many students think history is so boring because we never learn anything even remotely stimulating. Human brains are so complex; yet, textbook writers continue to present information in ways that promote disinterest. People experience so many emotions on a daily basis and I think that if we brought those emotions into the classroom and rewrote the history books, we would have less guilt and more understanding.

When I got to college and got to learn history by what really happened, I felt gypped. I was so interested in learning when I got to see the big picture. I actually became frustrated because it seemed so unfair to leave out such important parts of history. Focusing history around white people as the heroes does not do anything to improve race relations. If textbook writers would describe white people’s mistakes, it would support the idea that white people are human too and everyone makes mistakes. Once we admit to our wrongs, then we can move forward in the world of race relations.

Acknowledging the mistakes that were made would help our nation move beyond the injustices that have existed for hundreds of years. By continuing to write one-sided textbooks, we are refusing to recognize that these injustices did take place. It perpetuates white people’s ignorance of racial issues. We talked in class about how easy it is for white people to avoid race issues because they are mostly surrounded by other white people. I am one of those people. I used to be so annoyed by affirmative action because I thought we were far beyond racism in this country. When I got to college and started learning from teachers who presented the whole story, I realized how wrong I was. Growing up in an all-white family at an all-white elementary school in an all-white neighborhood, I did not really have the opportunity to interact with other black or brown people or learn about their struggles. Now that I do know more about these issues, I would really like to be a part of the change and I doubt I am the only one.

Another reason to change the textbooks would be to reach out to school-age children. A lot of what I learned about race came from what my parents told me. My dad was born in 1955 and was alive during the Civil Rights Movement so you can imagine what I learned about race. By teaching students about race issues in school, we can effectively inform them without bias.

Changing the history textbooks would improve race relations by increasing awareness of factual past events and would provide the foundation for us to move forward as a nation in the world of race relations.

This guy, Don “Moose” Lewis, is feeding into the classic southern racism that still exists today. It is hard to believe that after all we have accomplished with racism in the United States, someone is presenting this idea seriously. Being a good basketball player does not have to do with the color of a person’s skin. There are good black basketball players and good white basketball players. Some people argue that black people are taller, and that makes them better. Throughout the NBA there are good basketball players that are very tall, but there are still others that compete on the same level, but are several inches shorter.

This guy says that white guys need a slower paced game where players can play a traditional game of basketball. I find it hard to believe that highly regulated NBA games are non-traditional. If anything, a slower paced all white league would be non-traditional. If there is going to be an all white league, there might as well be a league for every “race” in the United States. Just because a basketball player is black does not mean he is good at the sport. There are many black or brown players who I am sure would appreciate a slower paced game as well.

Another reason for this team was to protect the “fundamentally sound” white players from black players on other professional teams who supposedly carry guns and attack fans in the stands. How is it possible that only black people are responsible for these actions? Would making an all white basketball team truly eliminate this problem? I doubt it. And what if this league for some reason drew black fans to watch it. Would he also eliminate black fans from attending the games as well?

Everything from the name to the reasoning behind creating this team seems totally illogical. AABA instead of ABBA. Is this a coincidence? I do not think so. Aside from the name, does Don “Moose” Lewis really think people are going to watch this game? People hardly watch women’s sports because they are so much slower than men’s sports. How is he going to make people actually watch a bunch of white guys play a slow game of basketball? I hardly believe there is a market out there for this kind of game.

Lewis wants to give white guys the opportunity to earn a living playing basketball. He believes that they do not receive a fair opportunity to compete in the NBA. Is this another form of affirmative action for white people? Does Lewis think white people do not have enough privileges already? To make this team is to reverse the years of hard work in bridging the gaps among the people of our nation.

Before taking this class, I was one of those people that were totally annoyed by affirmative action. I did not understand why my dad had to work twice as hard as before to be able to put me through college when other black students were getting full rides on the basis of skin color. To me it seemed like it was reverse discrimination. I thought we were beyond that problem by now in the United States, but the more I learn in Sociology 119, the more I’m starting to realize that everyone in this country is far from equal. I am beginning to realize more and more that so many of our lives are impacted by the family and circumstances we were born into.

Speaking of circumstances, the video of we watched in class today about a Native American reservation really surprised me. I didn’t know what these reservations consisted of before. When we read the statistics in class about Native American employment, I honestly thought the unemployment was so high because they were living off the land and did not necessarily need jobs. I was surprised to see all of them dressed in jeans and normal clothes in the video. I feel like the only time I have ever learned about Native Americans in class was in elementary school when they showed them dressed like Pocahontas characters in books and movies. This goes to show you how much I know about this culture.

I can’t imagine my life resembling anything close to the way it is now had I grown up on a reservation. From that video, it looked like a trailer park in the middle of nowhere. I know that local property taxes support local schools so I can’t imagine what kind of education these students are receiving. It certainly does not seem like an education that would prepare them to study at the collegiate level.

Where we were born and who our family or ancestors are absolutely influence our success. This article about the Haitian businesswoman was definitely impressive. Seeing how much that woman does with such limited resources, she would definitely be successful had she been born in a country like the United States. She has that clever, out of the box thinking that is so valuable in the world today. In the news broadcast, I heard that she only has a fifth grade education. That really shocked me. I work with elementary school children three or four times a week and to think that she can run her own business with the education of a fifth grader is truly amazing. This story gives meaning to the idea that circumstances dictate our success in life.

Although I have never heard anything about this before, it does not surprise me. Sex has always been a kind-of taboo subject throughout history, but it is something that plays a significant role in the lives of almost every human being. It seems like sex is something that is almost too good to be true. It brings pleasure to everyone, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. Not even humans, but animals as well. Maybe we are just so worried about trying to control those feelings that occur so often, that we try to establish commandments and moral judgments against that “too good to be true” pleasure. Sexual innuendos were probably invented in attempt to hide one’s own obvious sexual desires. These innuendos appear in many places that seem unlikely such as fairy tales, literature, Disney movies, and even the Bible. It is funny. It is entertaining. It is life and almost everyone does it.

Reading this article made me laugh, because I started to think about how often I used to read things, especially in high school, and find sexual innuendos. In English class, we read a book about war, and of course there was a section about how the soldiers snuck across the river to meet up with some local women, but the book never came out and said the soldiers had sex with the girls; the book used non-sexual language to inexplicitly mention sexual occurrences. The Canterbury Tales were also full of sex. Other than English class, sex existed in our history textbooks as well. Most of us hate history lectures, but when we were talking about King Henry VIII in high school, and how he had six wives, everyone actually paid attention for once.

I am still wondering, though, why is this so funny and entertaining to us? Is it because we are discouraged from expressing our true feelings about sex? We are never supposed to talk about it out loud in many situations. I know I could not help laughing out loud when I read about how the word testimony came about. Not only did I laugh at it, but I had to tell my friends as well.

Back to the instances of sex in the Bible, it is no surprise that the four Gospel writers included these innuendos. With a book that ultimately tells people how to live their lives, it seems like they would have to find a way to relate to the people. It would have to be able to hold people’s attention. I am not sure if I could force myself to read thousands of pages of scripture if it was dry and did not seem to pertain to me. What better way to relate to the people than include hidden messages about an experience that affects almost every human being.

When I first read this post, I already began to formulate my ideas about how language is always changing and how we should not be upset about it, but after reading the accompanying article, I definitely changed my mind. In one of my linguistics classes, we discussed how languages evolve and how differently people react to these changes. Some grammar mavens strongly disagree with certain changes and desperately hold on to specific rules and/or pronunciations. Other linguists accept and embrace the changes. When I first read this post, I immediately assumed that this article was written from the perspective of an anti-change grammar maven seemingly stuck in the past. After reading the article and watching the clips, I realized that this situation is much more than a simple rule change or pronunciation change, an entire language has disappeared.

Never before have I considered the amount of culture that exists within a language. I knew that a lot of words and phrases could not be translated literally from one language to the next, but I did not realize that many words for certain things did not even exist in other languages. I found it interesting that a Native American tribe in Alaska has a word for 99 different sea ice formations; whereas, in English, we simply refer to those formations as either glaciers or icebergs.

I didn’t even know this language existed, let alone the fact that up to 7,000 more languages are in danger of disappearing within the next 50 years. This article was eye-opening in that I never really thought about how many different languages there actually are in the world. Learning about other cultures’ ideas and beliefs fascinates me. This article was upsetting because so many of those cultural ideas were never written down; they were passed on only by oral tradition. Not only do these languages pass down stories, but they also pass on a vast amount of environmental wisdom. We have so much to learn from people who spend their lives so deeply in tune with nature. I wish there was a way to learn more from these languages before they become extinct.

Another aspect of this article that interested me was the idea that there can be one single “last speaker” of a language. At first, I was very confused. I wondered how there could only be one speaker of a language left, because that one speaker had to be able to communicate with at least one other person, but then I realized that those speakers had become bilingual. I was sad to learn that although the children wanted to learn the language and keep the traditions alive, it was a lot of work and eventually, they stopped trying. I hope that in the future, we will be able to learn more about these cultures, and prevent these valuable cultural traditions from disappearing from this planet forever.