gdp's Comments

Race Relations Project : What might be the second step?

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 01:58:43 +0000

Education, Education, Education! As consumers we are very powerful and we become even more powerful as we grow in numbers. We grow in numbers by spreading the word or educating consumers. I believe there are many consumers who just do not really understand where and how their products are made. I also believe that once consumers have the knowledge, they will respond empathetically and chose to purchase products from companies whom conduct business in ethical ways. Once we have the knowledge we are more likely to purchase products that have the “Fair Trade” logo. As the businesses that participate in the Fair Trade program become more successful the more they will market the idea (which spreads the education – what an excellent idea for those of us who are majoring in Marketing). Hopefully, these businesses become more successful than those businesses that purchase their supplies through slave trade organizations. This will force these businesses to compete and change their ways. Secondly, as the consumers (United States tax payers) become more educated, taxpayers will begin to advocate more for public policies that demand businesses to operate ethically. This will likely spread like wildfire through the other nations. It will also serve as a strong warning to the slave trade organizations that if they do not change their ways, they will lose a lot of their profits making slavery a thing of the past. Education in nations where slavery is encouraged or supported is also important. This helps individual people to make wiser decisions. Hopefully with education, those who are tricked in to slavery will diminish – they will be wise to it and not allow themselves to be “tricked”. Unfortunately, as we read in “Disposable People” some people are born into slavery and sometimes they are kidnapped into slavery. It is these people who need help from us the consumers making slave made products less profitable. With the help of sociologists, counselors and humanitarian aid organizations we should be able to help with new ways of producing the same products in a more healthy way. I see at least two problems with this theory. First, for us as consumers it will be difficult to stick to our guns in buying all the products we need from Fair Trade participating manufactures and resist the temptation of buying what is cheap. Secondly, this all will take a lot of time and time is not something slaves have to give while we wise up. How many lives will be loss and/or destroyed before we solve a problem that has existed since the beginning of time.

Race Relations Project : What if we got rid of welfare?

Sat, 3 Apr 2010 00:21:06 +0000

We cannot shut down the welfare program all together. There are legitimate issues with children and families that must be addressed. The problem is that we have people on the welfare system who exploit it. They only work as hard as they need to in order to keep the free government handouts coming. As a young mother, I had to use the benefits of the welfare system. WIC, and medical assistance especially, but personally I did every thing I could to use the taxpayer money to get myself on my feet to where I could support myself independently. This is what the system is designed to do and this is what we want it to do. What we must do, is put policy in place that makes it harder to exploit the system. So that people use the help when they need it but use it responsibly. There are times people NEED welfare and there are time people abuse the system. It is the abuse that is killing us. Personally, I have no problem helping someone in dire straights … my problem is paying for people to be couch potatoes when they could be out there doing something to help themselves and their families!

Race Relations Project : Isn't a person's qualifications an issue?

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 19:52:31 +0000

In a totally fair world the most qualify candidate would be hired for a job, but this is not a fair world. You hear all the time, “It is not what you know it’s who you know”. An executive’s son, daughter, niece, etc. will almost always get the job before you do whether you are more qualified or not. Nepotism has been the name of the game for centuries and I do not see how you can change that. Like Sam says, each and every one of us would favor our own son or daughter over anyone and we would likely step on whom ever we need to in order to ensure the success of our child. In the medical field a person must be state licensed to be able to practice medicine. Let’s say my dad is a surgeon. I can go to the finest school to get my degree and pass my tests to become a doctor with mediocre grades. (He may have coached me the entire way through.) And let’s say you go to the same school, pass all your tests and have straight A’s and are totally excellent. I will still get the job before you … cause my daddy will see to it! You are likely to be the best candidate medically …. But I win. From the Affirmative Action side of the story, there is another little perk that was not discussed in class. You see … The businesses whom hire “minorities” and can prove that (let’s say) 20% of their workforce is “a” minority, they get little tax perks and incentives. Here is just one example of a “perk”. You and I are software engineers. You and I are competing for a state contract to develop some software. Your price and my price are exactly the same. I quote the same number of hours as you. You have a master’s degree and I do not even have a bachelor’s. I am female you are male … I will get the job. Head to head price wise we are the same … But affirmative action in some state bidding processes win every time! Who is the better candidate … probably you with more education? This is not right. It is not fair. Affirmative action does not help the right person get a job. Companies also get tax incentives for hiring a certain number of minorities. This make hiring black, brown, female, white female, veteran .. more attractive to the business.

Race Relations Project : Is anyone else getting this stuff?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:36:22 +0000

I can so relate to many statements made by Laurie Mulvey in her book. I am, by nature, I believe a friendly openhearted person. I really do not care what color or sexuality you are. I just want to be friends with everyone. As a white person, I will smile at you (all) as you walk by. I do see the returned exchange from you wondering whether my smile is genuine. I work in retail part-time and I run across all cultures, especially in this town. And all look at me and wonder, “Is she smiling because she is required to? Is she smiling because she is patronizing me?” I see those type responses that wonder whether I truly care. The answer is that I do. I have already gone through (and at times still) feeling guilt. The only way I can correct the wrong done is to reach out and genuinely love all. I am by no means saying though that I know how to communicate totally with you without offending you. I don’t think I have enough practice yet. I smile with sincerity, but not one of you have stopped and said hello. I say hello to you in the store, but it goes over your head without acknowledgement really. Oh, you will be polite and maybe give me a half smile back … but no one yet has stopped and said hello. What does it take to start open communication? Are we both too afraid? Too shy? I cant believe that … is there something else?

Race Relations Project : What happens to multiracial people?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:21:01 +0000

You cannot possibly, in a lesson, refer to every possible racial identity that exists when teaching a race relations class. It would take all class to get out all possible scenarios to appeal to an audience of over 300 at a University like Penn State. You must be able to apply what you are learning to your own situation … translate if you will. It is not a matter of excluding once race. This person does have an excellent question, how do you apply it when you are half this and half that? You are your own person and it is up to you to decide where you personally are in reference to racial questions. The point of the lesson was to identify with the different race identity stages. The lesson covered the awakening and revisioning stages, understand what they are and hopefully eventually identify where you are personally are in your own racial journey. It is up to each individual no matter what their background or heritage is, to decide where you are in these stages. My guess is that it applies whether you are black, white, or part white/part Hispanic. It is meant to help you decide where you are now and where you want to be in the end … and how to work toward that goal. Hopefully, now matter what your race is that is what you are here to hear and learn. It may just be a grade you are trying to get. Recently, I watch the new Star Trek movie again; yes I am a “trekkie” (if that is how you spell it). In the new Star Trek movie you see Spock struggle with his being part human part Vulcan. If you are a “Trekkie” you see Spock in the original version grow more human over time but never loses his Vulcan roots totally. It is almost like he becomes the best of both worlds. He possesses the “good” of both cultures. It is interesting how this whole thing transpires and addresses interracial relations. In Star Trek it happens all the time only it happens with people from different planets … how is that so different. I guess that is what I like most of the whole Star Trek series. Yes, it is science fiction, but when you consider when the original Star Trek series first aired on television, in 1966, it was beyond it’s time with respect to racial relations. I don’t think many people looked at it in this way, but I do. With respect to being part of two cultures, you must take the best of both worlds and be yourself. You learn in this class about racial relations and it applies to all races and not just black and white or brown. It is just that those are most common maybe.

Race Relations Project : This Is Getting to Be Too Much

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:38:54 +0000

I too think that it does not matter whether a white person or person of color hung the noose. Either would be despicable behavior. However, I do feel that if a white person was found to be responsible for this that there would be a lot more yelling and screaming and more civil rights leaders would be plastered all over out tv sets. It would have been the civil rights leaders that were being interviewed in place of the two people they had. I love the fact that the host”ess” felt as though she was really going to get down to the bottom of this whole issue. Like those two people are really able to discuss how a white person feels about the noose. How does it feel for people of color to automatically assume that it was a white person that hung it in the first place?

Race Relations Project : The World is Full of Surprises

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:29:47 +0000

I agree. I have never met an African Jew and did not know that this existed, but I guess I am not sure why I never considered the possibility. People in that time were wanderers. However, it does make me wonder about a couple of things. First, if we only know Jews to be white then does this mean there was some sort of interracial marriages going on back then? What this why seven men fled the Holy Land? Could it be that they fled because interracial marriages were not tolerated and they left to start their own land in which this would be tolerated? Were these seven men excommunicated of banned from the culture all together? Did these seven men just leave the Holy Land voluntarily to seek a better land? I don’t know the oral belief uses the word “FLED”. Why did they flee? Just curious.

Race Relations Project : Prom or No Prom: Just Don't Let the Queer Students Dance Together

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:15:38 +0000

You are right to think this is crazy and you are right to question what century these people live in and I totally agree with you. I really do not know what more to say about this topic that is acceptable. What I want to say is this … From living down south at different points in my life, I have felt like people living in the south are a strange breed (at least to me). They come across as devout Christians who live and die by the Bible to an extreme that is viewed as FORCEFUL. When I lived down there I felt like I was fighting the Civil War because many white people still treat people of color horribly. If I felt like I was fighting the Civil War then they are certainly not even close to the century that is learning to be tolerant of same sex relationships. Because of their extreme “Bible Belt” beliefs, there is no way on this earth that they would tolerate a gay or lesbian couples attend a prom in their community. They would rather see this girl suffer. They would rather let this girl face what could turn out to be a dangerous situation without any sort of protection for her safety. Meaning, what will the other kids in her school do to this poor girl because now their prom is cancelled. Will they torture her verbally? Will they cause any sort of physical harm to this girl? Can the ACLU help protect her for the remaining days left in school? They would rather force this girl to see her sinful ways and repent! I have a relative in my family who is a “devout Christian” and she goes as far as refuses to watch Harry Potter (because of witchcraft) or even watch American Idol because of Ellen Degeneres (whom she calls Ellen Degenerate). She will leave the room even if a commercial comes on about either of these topics. As far as I am concerned they are nothing but cultist hypocrites! Based on what I know about the Bible … they are just wrong to FORCE Christianity down the throats of nonbelievers. Why do Christians lump gay and lesbians in with nonbelievers … maybe they are believers? While they are called to spread the Word of Christ, it is not their calling to FORCE it on others. This does not save these people. For a Christian to enter into the gates of heaven, they must TRULY believe in Christ. FORCED Christianity doesn’t work. The responsibility of judgment does not fall on Christians … this is a job for Christ. I would like to know how many sins these people have committed in the last hour. Now here is why I am not allowed to say what I have just said. I am stereotyping people in the south to be “Bible Belt” extreme Christians. I am stereotyping all Christians to be against Gay and Lesbian behavior. I am assuming that Mississippi residents are part of this “Bible Belt” stereotype. And this makes me as wrong as the people who cancelled the prom. As wrong as the community that is not backing up and protecting this girl. Maybe I am wrong and there is a different reason all-together why this community has so much hate to treat another person in this way. I am just making an educated guess based on my living experience down in the south. But I am just not allowed to say this … am I?

Race Relations Project : Native Americans: Question Two

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:26:39 +0000

Every citizen of the United States shares in the responsibly to help those in need. Some of our tax dollars (albeit, not enough) goes to helping those who are in need of a lift. We share in the blame in how Native Americans are treated. We make the laws of the country, we hire people to enforce those laws, we vote for people who lead this nation and we are members of this society that need to fix this problem. The issue is that there is a racial group in our society that is currently suffering discrimination and abuse and it is up to us to stand up for their rights. Every citizen who is eligible to vote in this country shares in the responsibility of the treatment of Native Americans or any other race whom is discriminated against!

Race Relations Project : Inequality Class: Comment

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:57:19 +0000

I think that all of the racial groups have members of their “team” whom have dug huge holes for themselves. It is not the racial group itself that are in the hole, it’s the individual members. They do not represent your race as a whole. White “team” members have dug holes for themselves as well. My uncle spent many years in federal prison for drug trafficking. It seems to me that you and your family are climbing out of a hole of your own. (You said you have family members that have been in and out of jail.) You are digging yourselves out … you are here. You are here getting an education that will take you much farther in life and put yourself (and your family) in a better situation. So it is not impossible to dig out; it may be hard, but not impossible, because you are doing it!

Race Relations Project : Native Americans: Question Five

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:35:02 +0000

First and foremost I do not believe we should feel bad in the sense that we take on the responsibility of our forefathers. However, we need to take to heart that many of our Native American friends are hurting (as well as others). For now, while in school you need to utilize the opportunities that have been given to you to their fullest extent. While doing so, respect all nationalities and all cultures. Once you have graduated and obtained your highly successful job, remember those in need of our help. What it all comes down to is that we make choices. You can choose to support the cause financially. You can choose to raise support for this cause through awareness. You can choose to use your knowledge to help others. You can volunteer your time. Of course, some may choose not to help at all. There are many ways to help once you are in a position to do so and when you are not in a position to do so, you do what you can do. Become the best person you can be morally, spiritually and try to put racial discrimination where it belongs … in the garbage can! Speak for those who can’t speak for themselves. This is how we honor memories of those who have suffered by, living our lives in the light of the atrocities that have occurred. This goes for all people no mater where you are from, what color your skin is, or what your heritage is. We all need to learn a little respect for all cultures. Until we learn to respect all living creatures (something our Native American friends can give us lessons on) we will have discrimination of some kind. Hopefully, as the numbers of people are educated on such issues increase, discrimination will decrease. In time, with every passing generation this notion of supremacy will disappear? Or will it ever disappear? Think about the number of people, for example, that are in our class. 300+? They have now been exposed to some of these issues and have a better grasp on reality. We will all go on, hopefully, in to our successful careers and settle down with children of our own. What will you teach them? Will you raise the next generation to be more compassionate to the issues of discrimination? My guess is that we all will. How many others has Sam taught? How many other schools offer courses similar to this? I believe there are many. Those MANY will raise a better generation of people, because that is what responsible parents do. I know my parents wanted life to be better for me than it was for them. They made sacrifices in order to give me better opportunities they did not have.

Race Relations Project : Men and Women. Hmm...Are We Really This Different?

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:22:47 +0000

SAM! I know you are trying to get us to think, but I can see a wide variety of comments coming on this one! LOL and blush! blush! “If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just ask a woman whose been “co-habitating” (read: sharing a bed) with a man for 15-20 years. The ensuing conversation will be amusing and you’ll learn some things along the way.” Ok, I can’t resist but to answer this question from one female perspective whom has been married (“co-habitating”) for 19 years and 3 kids later … While I have been married for 19 years our relationship began in our adolescence (several years before we were married). At that time in our lives I would say that our intimacy and sexual needs were in perfect alignment, thus the result of children! After all there are biological factors and forces out of our control that are raging inside programming us to do just that! However; then came childbirth! Directly following childbirth when you (the female) might average a few 2 to 3 hour naps at one time because your infant needs to nurse every 4 hours for about the first 6 months of their life, you are physically exhausted, not feeling very sexy with your excess birth weight, muscles not quite the same, and differences in your body that you are not quite use to yet is one example of a time a female would say BRING ON ROXXXY! My experience has been that this is one time when my significant other found me the most attractive. The enthusiasm he feels as a new father and the beauty involved in the mother child bonding process is a beautiful time for him. Here is an example of a time when our intimacy and sexual needs are not so perfectly aligned. Some females might say that he just needs to be patient and just understand, but how fair is that to him? Here too, I need to encourage development of Roxxxy so she cleans and cooks too!

Race Relations Project : Animals vs. Humans vs. Welfare Cheats

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:24:35 +0000

To generalize that ALL welfare recipients are "animals" is bad and hopefully if statements like this continue from this guy he will be voted out of his job. What comes around goes around. HOWEVER, I will say this. Those people out there whom are knowingly fraudulently exploiting the system are "animals". They are sucking up the resources from someone else who may be in real need of the very assistance that they are stealing. That is barbaric and as a taxpayer it really ticks me off! I, myself have had to utilize programs like medical assistance and "WIC" at one point in my life (due to forces and factors out of my control). It was extremely helpful and I do believe that these programs are desperately needed. But I used it for what it was intended for and that was to pick me up and improve my situation! Because of that help I was able to get myself to a position that I no longer needed the assistance and now am responsibly paying the taxes to continue these very programs.

The welfare abusers are what scares me the most about the idea of universal health coverage in this country. Currently, we have a system in place that is able to be penetrated by these animals and that is our own fault! We set up the system - we should have figured out by now how to prevent them from capitalizing. If we can't set up a system that is bullet proof from these animals what makes us think we are capable of setting up a universal (MUCH MUCH LARGER) health care system?

Just my opinion and I have no problem calling these people animals because that is what they are!

Race Relations Project : Why Is the Conversation Always About Black and White People?

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:45:36 +0000

I do agree that racial discussion do end up with black vs. white and I also agree that is probably because it is what we able to relate to. However, I also believe that we end with black vs. white because this is what is mostly taught in schools. How many times in elementary school, middle school and high school do we study the Civil War and Slavery. It is almost beaten into our heads over and over and over again. It is further perpetuated every year as we celebrate Black history month. (Don't take this to me that I don't think we should have a Black History Month .... but where is White History Month?) Now let me ask, how often did you study the Native American Tribes? Is this why we can not even name more that 4 or 5 tribes and where is Native American History Month? How about Latino Month? Where is Arab month? To me it almost seems like we are over correcting or trying to make up for past transgressions. Where I do disagree with the above post is that discussions will ALWAYS end up with Black vs. White. I guess I am a little more optimistic about race relations. Our society really has come a long way with race relations. Sure there is always room for improvement, but I believe that eventually we will be able to see beyond black and white. With each generation, we get better education about other cultures and other people of the world and with knowledge comes the solution. For example, my husband spent several years in middle school in Georgia. There he witnessed "Salt and Pepper Fights" after school 30 years ago. Now though, as we are raising our own children, we have instilled in them that racial discrimination is flat out unacceptable. This spreads quickly with every generation born. Eventually, it will not be black vs white as those whom are racists die off and more racially tolerant generations are born. I have hope that we will learn to live with one another peacefully.

Race Relations Project : Swinging Past the Other End of the Ideological Spectrum on the Way to the Intellectual Gray

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:14:25 +0000

I guess my question or thought that I would like to kick out is, how much freedom of choice do we really have? Or maybe another way to phrase that very same question might be … How much of our lives are based on factors and forces outside of our control? Do we really have any other choice but to be in the middle? Freedom comes with many strings attached to it and forces and factors outside of our control shape those strings. Confusing circle! Is freedom just an illusion? Biologically, one force out of our control is our genetic makeup. Think for a minute about how much our DNA dictates who and what we are. We can’t choose or change this information. Once we are born we will grow eventually into adults. The only freedom we might see here is in the quality of the person we become, but even that quality is determined by society. What does it mean to be a good or bad citizen and who decides what good or bad is? I am not sure that I see freedom there. The quality of the neighborhood, teachers, playground, family, community, the list goes on and on, that we grow up in is out of our control. Our moral values are based on all of these factors as well. What ever we will become will be whether we choose to agree or disagree with these factors but we cannot change the influence that these decisions had on us. So where is our freedom here? The only thing we may have freedom in is where we choose to live as adults. So, with respect to the school issue, parents have the ability to choose to live somewhere else where their children would receive a better education. One political issue addressing this very problem is the school voucher program where some believe we should give parents the ability to choose what school their children attend. I have my own personal experience with this. My father decided, while I was in middle school, that he was not happy with the education I was receiving. With this obstacle in his path, he decided to move me to a better school system. It was not easy. It required him to find a different job and we did end up living in an area we probably could not afford, but he was determined to make it work. We lived there until I graduated high school and then he moved again. However, the end result was that I was able to graduate from a school that was in the top 10% in the nation. It hurt financially so rather that working just one job he worked two in order to provide a decent education for me. I guess the lesson I got from this is that you do what you must do in order to accomplish successful result you desire. But … why was he so determined that my education was worth the struggle? Maybe because he saw similar data (presented by sociological research) that Sam has presented with the income levels. The social trend or data he saw might have been the direct correlation of education with salary. My father did not go to college. He felt the effects of a lack of education. I can remember him being very frustrated that college graduates were hired right out of college at a higher salary than his and he was with this company for 20 years.

Race Relations Project : Negroes of the World Please Step Forward

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 03:40:57 +0000

In my opinion generation after generation is getting better and better at accepting differences; however, we still need to accommodate the “old school” by keeping “negro” there because there are still black people living that identify themselves as “negro”. I see the question why do we need the racial demographics in the census. One reason this information is needed is to evaluate the effectiveness of federal programs that work to ensure the civil rights of all ethnic groups. For example, we would have no way of knowing if women are being paid at rates similar to men or if black people are receive similar salaries as white. As we see in class this is not equal just yet. There are biological and social reasons to track demographics in this country. Whether it is for medical purposes or educational issues we need to know in order to get the right federal and/or state programs helping those who need it the most and have it designed in a way that is best suited for the targeted ethnic group.

Race Relations Project : Voters and Their "Senseless" Stories

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 03:16:47 +0000

I have often wondered how our country would run if our nation’s stay-at-home moms were in political control and making decisions. Or even a stay-at-home dad, whose numbers are on the rise, would be similar. To live off one income in this country is extremely difficult. The first thing a mom or dad has to do is cut all the unnecessary spending. This is not popular with the kids who want to spend, spend, spend; however, it must be done in order to keep the family out of financial ruin! This is not republican or democrat based. It is survival and when it comes to the family income it is more like a dictatorship! Not fair. The kids lobby for more money constantly, but parents can’t give in if they don’t have the money to give. Not that I am saying we need to go to a dictatorship. I just think we need people leading the country that are not politicians. We need everyday people who are use to scraping to get by making decisions because they are the ones who know how to make things work. Maybe then we can stop pointing fingers and solve problems … or am I dreaming?

Race Relations Project : Avatar and the White Man's Burden

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 02:43:22 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me how the simplest ideas are twisted and turned into a racial conversation. This is nothing but a bunch of drama. Maybe the better way of looking at the White Messiah fable storyline is by putting on your historical goggles. Historically speaking, what other nationality has gone into a foreign land and taken over all of its inhabitants? The Persians, Macedonian, Roman and Great Britain empires took over the world. All of these nationalities have marched in and ruffled the tail feathers of natives. “Ruffle the tail feathers” I know is an understatement, but you get the idea. From the racial perspective what is the tally here 2 brown and 2 white nationalities? (Would the Macedonians be considered light brown or are they white as well?) At any rate, Great Britain had the most expansive empire ever and therefore the most influential and most recent to strong arm their way into the world. It just so happens that they happen to be white. The drama involved in all of this conquering makes a nice storyline for the movie industry and as a result they have made millions and billions of dollars. It works. Is it realistic to have a black messiah? I am not sure there is an historic example to draw from on this or the movie industry would have already exploited it to make more millions. There is absolutely nothing racial about it … it is more historical. Movies such as “Dances With Wolves” and “The Last Samurai” are movies many of us can identify with and see it happening. Would it have had the same effect if Kevin Costner and Tom Cruise were black actors? No. It doesn’t fit either story line. I have not seen Avatar nor am I likely to go see it. I have family members whom have seen it and loved the movie and were really impressed with the special effects. My understanding was all the native characters were blue. If anything I guess I am more offended by the depiction on the big bad US military and how it portrays my country than what color the hero is. I don’t think it portrays a very honorable role for our military or our nation. Maybe though it reflects what people around the world (and some in our own country) feel about our nation and this would be sad. “No, the Avatar melancholy I feel stems from the film's brutal aspect, in particular its view of Americans. Contrary to his stated desire to unite us all in planetary love, Cameron has created a movie that could set back international relations by a couple of light years or so.” Says Peter Howell, Movie Columnist for Star.com.

Race Relations Project : Last Name Begins with "F"

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 02:21:04 +0000

Roshi

Race Relations Project : Racism Looks Pretty Mild on This Side of the Atlantic

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:16:46 +0000

You would think that the "old" world would be wiser than the new, but this is just simply not the case. As I read some of the responses on this topic, I notice that many of us are angry. I see anger from the African American community because these racist comments hurt them. However, I also see anger in the White community. As a member of the White community, I can only speak for myself, I often find myself angry when I see African Americans (or any other race) treated like this. Here is a lesson to us all (including those in the "old" world) and maybe we can at least find comfort momentarily in our own little community. Where did the cheer "WE ARE ... PENN STATE" originate? Here is a link to a video that explains the origin. (I don't know how to put a video in my comments like Sam does, so my response requires a second click.) It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe it will for you too! http://www.personal.psu.edu/ald120/blogs/eiche/20...