as corny as it may sound, i do think that my eyes have opened and that I have become a better person as a result of taking soc 119 this semester in many aspects but not all. I think that through attending every lecture i have clearly learned many lessons. It has been a great opportunity. I would like to first start off this response by expressing my excitement for this week's lecture, "the needy penis." Although each next class is described by sam as the best class so far, i think that this class may actually be the best one. I also thought that it was a little weird that sams best class is the one that his wife is teaching. Why doesn't she just teach the class then? Back to my original thought though, i think that I look at everything a little bit different as a result of the insight provided to me by this soc 119 class. I think i may have went through a race stage change at least a little bit as a result of this class and for that i am happy. I think that i may better understand certain groups of people and feel more comfortable around people that i do not know at all or that are not like me. I also feel that when race is brought up, i am no longer necessarily that quiet white guy that doesn't say anything. I am happy to be able to talk about race and gender and i feel comfortable when the topic is brought up. I don't want to keep repeating myself, but rather reiterate the point that i am trying to get across. I have stepped out of my box a lot recently for a number of reasons, soc 119 being a major factor. I think about more than just my only little world and what i have done my entire life. I think about things outside of just penn state university and my friends and family. I try to help out others outside of my realm that i may not know. This has been a major transformation for myself at least and i feel great about it. I was recently thinking about what i learned from this class and what i could take away from it. While i did learn a lot of new things and info, i think that i will take away a new perspective on things as well as a new attitude towards situation as compared to myself prior to soc. I'm excited to encounter new situations that i may not have wanted to before. I also think that for me it was a great choice to be able to take a class like this during my freshman year of college.

I agree with what sam is saying 100%. I think that from the Sandusky scandal i learned a lot about how stories become construed and the story is changed around completely. I learned that when we hear stories through the media the truth and the real story never actually come out. This was shown very clearly through ESPN's cover of the sandusky scandal and the coverage of the students reactions to these events. The riots by students were shown to be much more extreme than they actually were. It is easy not to question where a story is from when we are not immersed in it. The exercise we did in class demonstrates this. It is easy for a story to get warped into something completely different than how it originally started. Since childhood, I have been told not to believe every word that anyone tells me because you never know if they are telling the truth or not. Similar to the exercise in class, in elementary school we played a game called “whisper down the lane”. It has a very similar concept as the exercise in class, but a short story. The teacher will say a sentence and whisper that sentence to one of the kids in the class and so on and so forth until the last person has to retell the story. The translation of the teacher telling the story compared to the last student is going to be totally different because certain parts of the story are going to get completely altered. Personally, the one authority I do question is when someone tells a story they have heard by someone they are friends with. Not because I don't trust them, but purely because facts get lost in the process. It is very similar to gossip. Behind every lie there is a bit of truth that got lost on the way. Our memories store what they think is important. Sometimes we can retell a story and have an entirely new message come from it. Not on purpose but because we didn't value the parts of the story that the original teller of the story values. This is not something we control but rather something that just happens naturally. Stories are easily changed and this was shown easily through the sandusky scandal. The coverage on the news showed the riots to be out of control and extremely violent, but in reality it was only a small number of people who participated in any violent acts. The media coverage was easily warped to show Penn State in a bad light and broadcast all of the worst parts of the scandal to the nation. This resulted in everyone thinking these were real events because we are not prone to question the authority of the media. This most likely results from the amount of power and national coverage the media holds.

In response to the video, I agree with sam this could have possibly been the only class of the semester, although it actually couldn't have been. It made sense to me when he started talking about ethnocentrism and how its technically applicable to everyone in a given country or area. Ethnocentrism was described in class as judging other cultures solely by the standards and values of one's own cultures. Although many people may not agree with this at first, they may come to the realization that this is very true especially for Americans. Sam used an example that it is very odd that we drink cows milk regularly and think nothing of it because it it the norm here. We would not drink whales milk, or dog's milk, or even women's breast milk but since we do not do these things, we would find it weird if we see other cultures doing it. I thought that the video that Sam showed about the boys from Africa coming to America was a great illustration of this. They didn't understand our cultures or values whatsoever. One of the boys ate a butter packet and just didn't get why not to do that but if you are not brought up with that culture and experience it everyday, it will not make sense for you. I thought it was weird that the woman in the pool assumed that the boys were experiencing more "freedom" here in America but they answered yes just to be polite. Why in the world would they have less freedom just because they are from africa. It is an entire continent, filled with areas that are not horrible like the images of ones we see here. Looking back on this lecture I think that it was my favorite of the year thus far. I know that i keep saying that but I do just think they are getting better. This class really made me think. And not just during class, but in the past couple of days I have been wondering about the norms and ideals of our culture and what it would be like that if we were an outside looking in, how weird it would be to us. We are completely obsessed (myself included) with sports here. For the sports teams that I like, I follow the players, the coaches, and everything to do with the team like its a second religion. And how about colleges in the US, or at least the big ones... When I came to Penn State I feel like I joined a cult. And I'm damn proud of it. But in what other countries would it be normal to dress up like an idiot to support a football team or baseball team?

When I saw the stats about incarceration in america, that the population of people in jail for drug related charges is much higher for black people than white people. I was not surprised as I have heard things similar to this before. However, it still didn't make sense to me. So, I began to think about why the reason for this. At first, I thought that this happened because many inner cities are predominantly a black population. There is a lot of drug activity and drug crime in cities, thus black people have a higher exposure to crime and getting caught from crime. However, look at any college campus that is filled with well off white people. There may be just as high of a drug network and just as high an amount of drug use. But why, if use and distribution could technically be the same among both populations is it that the numbers of people in jail are so staggered? To answer this question, I would have to say that I really don't have any idea. It really does not make much sense to me. The only answer that I can manage to gather up is that maybe the story doesn't make sense. For law enforcement or the government or whoever the hell is in charge, it may make more sense to arrest people that are creating violence and crime and going no where in life, than people that are working on their degree and creating no violence. I also believe that there is a good deal of racism involved in the justice system. I think that it makes more sense to the greater law enforcement community and just the normal community that a black drug dealer strapped with a gun inside the city be sent to jail for dealing the same amount of drugs than a white college student with a spotless history. To me, it all ties back to racism in some way. If you think about it, how many people do you know that had a minor ticket or two completely erased from their record. Like an underage or something. Was that person privileged? And because of their clean record, what other things were they able to get out of? If a young black man gets a minor ticket, in my opinion I do not think it is likely he will easily be able to get that removed. How fair is that? Back to my original thought, I would just like to finish this response by saying that I think that the numbers of incarceration is a system of passive racism and segregation in todays world. It is way that society finds it acceptable to discriminate. Just look at the Trayvon Martin case. I don't know anything about the case and I'm sure no one really knows what exactly happens (the media sucks), but it seems a little wrong that nothing has happened in regards to prosecution of the man that killed martin.

I think that in the past week or two we have learned a lot. The six stages of racial identity or whatever they are called may be one of the most important things that i think we have learned. To be honest, i have no idea which stage i am at. I haven't given it a lot of thought. I am a white male and right now just thinking about it i am probably a stage 1. I am most likely in a similar situation to the guy that sam used for a demonstration that was in stage one. Back to the question from the video, i do not think that people start at stage 6. I can only really answer this question for myself, however, it doesn't make much sense to me that someone could start at stage six. It doesn't really strike me as possible that people could be very comfortable and understand other races and there views without going through the five other stages to get to that point. It is a process and the way that sam has described it is what makes the most sense to me. I wish there was some way of knowing or someone that could tell me what stage I am in because I really don't know if I am in a specific stage at this point in my life. I think that I am actually a mix of all six of the stages. I have friends of color right now and i have had for as long as i can remember. But i also notice other areas that could identify myself as being a part of the other stages as well. I have been able to notice in my life that there is an us and a them. That I am different from people of color and because of that i have had a completely different life experience. There has been times in my life where i did not understand that simply on the basis of skin color, an individual could have a very different path than if there skin were some other color for example. During times in my life I think that i have thought, why does that make sense? Why should someone be treated differently because of race and i think at those time i was in a very specific category. But i think that right now i still have feelings like that as well as other thoughts about it as well. I really do think that there are thoughts that i have that would categorize myself into each one of the stages simultaneously. Right now i do not exactly what the point of these stages are but i hope that in the near future I am able to obtain a better grasp of it.

At the end of every class lately (or at least since it has been nice out), Sam has been saying that "this lecture will be the best one of the year'" or "this next one is my favorite class." And for the most part the lectures have been pretty interesting however not all the best of the year. But, I think that this class was my favorite of the year so far. I thought that it was great that he was able to bring those three war veterans up to the front of the room to compare their experiences and give us all some insight on what it is actually like over there. When the man that suffered a brain injury in the war was speaking about how he could not be around muslims when he came back to the US hit me kind of hard. I can only imagine how he viewed those that are muslims over in iraq and afghanistan if he flipped out around people that are muslim in the US. It also hit me hard when he said that his best friend died in his arms all because of this war. And why did that man die? Because of OIL. Another valuable piece of information that I took away from that class was that to be a sociologist you must have empathy for other people. This means that you must be able to put yourself in the shoes of others and understand what their situation is like and why they are or could be acting a certain way. I know for sure that I would certainly fight back if someone was threatening to kill my family or damage my well-being. When Sam showed that video about the US soldiers destroying that mans car just because he stole a couple of palates of wood to make fire, I felt terrible. Then once that clip was over it stated that the man was a taxi driver and that was the only way that he was able to support his family. Are you kidding me!!! What kind of assholes are we for destroying the income of a family simple over fire wood that we probably didn't really need that bad!? While there are many that are trying to kill us there are many that are trying to just stay safe and make a living. I am torn between thinking like this and the type of mindset that a soldier must possess as well. As a soldier, you must understand that anyone, of any age, gender, appearance, literally anyone can pick up a gun and kill you in a second and that is why i think that there is no right way to think about it or mindset to have. However, i also do not feel that destroying that mans car or running that truck off the road with a tank was right at all.

I think that for me the biggest thing that I've thought about in regards to soc 119 (the lectures, the videos, and the discussions) was just the entire race picture and idea. I find it so weird/interesting what exactly it means for every single person to live their life like just because of the way that they look. I think that an example in lecture that made me think the most was the example that sam used about when a white person and a black person apply for the same exact job and have the same exact everything (qualifications). I'm not sure what exactly the statistics were that he used but i just find it so intriguing (not sure if thats the correct word) that advantages and disadvantages certain people will be faced with just on the color of their skin or their overall appearance. People can work just as hard as each other and 9 out of 10 times a particular group or type of person could have the advantage just on the basis of appearance. Another thing that stuck out to me was the significance of connections (having them) among certain people and what a perk it can be and is. While some people may be completely unqualified or never even be looked at for a particular position, just because of one single connection, they could get a very high ranking job. I think that this is both a great thing about the world for people, as well as myself, but it may also be a huge con to the hardworking with little connections. I think that this fact promotes people to be outgoing and meet as many people that they can in order to have both a happier life and a more successful life. I think that it shows those people that just sit around and keep to themselves and only do their work and thats it to, in a sense, not be like that anymore. In my opinion and from what i know almost all very successful and powerful companies were created by men and women that were able to make connections and sustain those relationships throughout the entire process. Last, i think that when reading the chapters when reviewing for the test I found some interesting and useful passages that I have given a good deal of thought recently. I think that the stereotypes created about groups of people happen but almost all of them are actually very untrue. The book stated that within one single conversation with a person that you think may be harmful or mean just because of a stereotype, that that stereotype is literally completely eliminated. It is a weird idea to me that almost every single person on the earth (actually every single one) is judged just because of principles and idea that were falsely created about people on the basis of physical looks or things like religious belief.

When thinking about the common stereotypes spoken about asians, the ones that I can think of are mostly positive. Actually no, i think the ones that i have heard are negative in majority but i will start by talking about the positive ones. They have high income, they are good at math type things. In general, when people are making assumptions about asians they are that asian people are ALL smart. This may not be the case though. I think the reason that this stereotype exists is because in America the asian people that we see are the ones that are in fact very smart and successful and thus were able to make it to the US and get a good job. Those that are not smart or were not successful in their educational and career path are either in a small percentage in the US or they did not actually make it to the US. While I could be wrong, i do not think that those working their lives away in factories are deemed as very book "smart." I think another reason that a large amount of asian people are smart is because of the socioeconomic situation that they are faced with. Similar to people that grow up in the ghettos that turn to sports such as basketball to get out, i think that in order to be successful in life as well as in society, asian people turn to educational success to escape poverty and have a happy life. Another stereotype that is brought up about asians is that they are unathletic. Why else would people come to this conclusion unless there are only a handful of certain asian athletes in sports like basketball. I know that i can only think of two (jeremy lin and yao ming). Does football even have any asian players? There are none that I know of. I think that this relates back to the socioeconomic thing that i was just talking about. Asian people do not put a lot of emphasis on sports like basketball or football so obviously they would not be good at them. It takes years of experience to make it into a professional sports league. However, i think that there is also a big genetic factor that plays into the fact that asian people in general may not be good at sports. The average height of an asian person is no where near 6 foot. Nearly every single football and basketball player in the NBA and NFL is over 6 foot so that is an obvious disadvantage. I think that assuming that people of asian decent are very good at math and bad at sports is definitely racism on some level some could be more than others though.

I dont think that certain races being good at sports necessarily has anything to do with biological differences between each race. However I do think there are a few valid reasons that certain races are in majority better at certain sports. For example, the nba is largely dominated by black people for a number of reasons, however, i think that one reason stands out. Many black children and youth grow up in inner cities, or areas of poverty, or grow up with families that do not have a lot of money or have problems otherwise. Im not saying that this doesnt happen with white families. For all i know it could be more common. But back to the main idea. When children, youth, or teenagers experience problems such as the ones listed earlier, they need an escape. And furthermore, a route towards happiness past their childhood and high school days. This route, is in fact sports. It has been illustrated by countless athletes. Much of the fab five from the state of michigan grew up with poor childhoods. In inner cities, the public school systems are thought to be pretty subpar for the most part. Kids must look to athletic scholarships as opposed to academic ones even though they very well could be just as smart as those in higher class private schools. And to get past this and get out of the bad environment, they turned to sports. Young black kids see someone that had almost the exact same story as them and they want to end up just like that. So, they idolize that person and set goals to become that person because they can see that happening for them. An academic scholarship may seem a little bit out of reach because there are not role models with that situation for them to look up to. Thus, they turn to sports for that reason and the fact that sports are just fricken fun. Another sport that is most dominated by a single race is baseball. Many baseball players grew up with the sport, putting into it a large amount of time, money, and family/community support around them. This may prove the fact that only those that grew up with a good childhood were able to become successful in baseball. There are exceptions to this rule but it often follows this trend. Many do not know this but two styles of wrestling are DOMINATED by the russians traditionally. Greco-roman and freestyle wrestling are dominated by this region of the world because they grow up with it as a part of their life. On the other hand, there could be physical differences between certain races. Obviously there are, we all look different, but maybe inside as well. Why is it that stereotypically black people can jump higher than white people? Why are certain people more agile or faster than others. Why is it that jeremy lin is one of the very few people of asian decent to become a strong player in the nba?

In regards to the shaman (or however it is spelled), i reaally did not know what to think when sam strarted talking about it. I knew it that it would be an exciting story because he started it off by asking if he was aloud to swear, and they always end up good. I honestly have never heard of a "shaman" before sam started talking about it but the way he explained it started to make a lot more sense, i think. So, when sam was talking about how the shaman are able to get to another wolrd or life force and speak to it i was very skepticle. It just sounded like something that some drugged out person thinks about when they are on acid or something... And then he started talking about how that is one of the ways that they are able to talk to the extternal life forces. They do acid (or some other hallucinagen i think he said) and in a way it they are able to use that as the "key" to get to the gateway of the next world. So at this point i was still kinda thinking, "what are you talking about right now sam?" Then he went on to explain his story about when he was traveling, he got a high ankle sprain, he went to a shaman, and the shaman went into the woods or the back of his house and got some sort of healing cream to cure the injury. Next, the shaman started twisting his ankle in all sorts of different, painful ways and sam himself did not think it would help. Then sam described that when he woke up very early the next morning it was completely back to normal. I was still very skepticle about this. But then sam mentioned that he talked to a handful of different shaman and they all said the same thing when asked about what it looked like or what they were talking to when they spoke to the plants and they all saw the same thing: a double helix, which is exactly what DNA looks like. This is where is started to believe that they were actually healing people. How could they have all said the same thing and how would they have known in the first place what DNA looks like from where they are from? Sam went on to explain that they were going down to the very microscopic basic level of humans and figuring out what was wrong with these people and then finding the necessary ailments to help them. I just thought it was an extremely interesting, but somehow true in a way type of story.