This letter was extremely touching. You can tell by his vivid descriptions of his loneliness how much he aches to love someone else. It was a very sad but very moving letter, in my opinion. I doubt that many criminals contemplate this aspect of consequences when committing a serious crime. Lack of love, or lack of ability to even try to love, is a completely devastating thought. Imagine having all of that time, alone, to think about what could have been different and where they could be right now. Not only could they be doing something important, something that could have some kind of impact on the world, but they would have the opportunity to care for another person. Loving someone else and receiving that love in return cannot be replaced by any other feeling. Love is such a unique experience and I believe it has the power to change people inside and out.
I also believe that this feeling can be applied to other relationships as well. You don’t necessarily have to be in a romantic and sexual relationship with someone to feel the same powerful love that comes in other forms in other relationships. When you love a nephew, grandparent, friend, and care for them as deeply as you would a boyfriend or girlfriend I feel like you get the same out of it as you would in a sexual relationship. To love and look after someone else has the power to change who you are as a person; that’s how powerful it is.
I thought the most moving quote from this passage is when he says “I want to pluck out my eyes so not to see what little my life has been reduced to.” He would rather self-inflictingly go blind rather than to realize what he’s missing. It is incredibly sad to think about the amount of pain these people are enduring in a life without love. Maybe this alone, is what makes people go crazy while in prison. Not the sexual harassment, not the violence, not the living conditions, but the lack of ability to love. Maybe that’s the hardest part of all of it.
To think about the depression and hurt that these people feel, it is very understandable why the environment is as horrendous as it is. The bitterness and anger that must take over these people, ruins their lives. People who don’t have the ability to love go insane.

I could not believe this story when I read it. I was even more astonished by the date of the article. I assumed this was from years ago. But, alas, it was from just two days ago. It does not surprise me when people are ignorant about transgender people however, the fact that he was fired on the basis of something that had nothing to do with the ability of him to do his job is outrageous. It amazes me how much people can get away with in this country. Even though it is not a high paying job, it is his support system for him and his family. To fire him over having a sex change is nonsensical and ignorant of the world.
I hope that this case gets a lot of publicity and the support for Mr. Devoureau’s rights continues to grow. Because this is the first employment case in the country to take on the question of a transgender person’s sex, one might assume that the publicity for this would be huge but because of the nature of the argument, I’m almost positive it won’t. People are scared of the unknown and are quick to judge illegitimately because they are not used to it. They completely ignore the fact that this is a human rights issue, nothing more. Mr. Devoureau has the right to keep his job, no matter what surgeries he has endured.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this case. If Mr. Devoureau gains his employment back, there is a very great chance that he will experience even more prejudice at work than he had before, now that his secret has been revealed to the entire country. I think it is very brave of him to take this to court and publicize this abuse. He knows that his identity will be exposed but he is willing to do this for future cases that encounter this issue.
It is very interesting to me the amount of prejudice transgender people experience in their lives. In this day and age, with more and more people in support of the gay rights movement, people are still wary of the transgender issue. Although, I can see why some hesitate. Many transgender people keep their experience on the down low. Not too many people like to publicize that they have had a sex change. It is not celebrated in the way that gay rights are openly celebrated. So I can see how some people who have never thought about anyone having a sex change could be so blatantly prejudiced, but at the same time, its just not right.

I think this letter was very interesting to read, especially from the point of view of a man in prison. I think it was a very nice letter and he seems to have learned a great deal with his time there. Although I do agree with a majority of this letter, there are a few exceptions. “He is capable of admitting that he is wrong, even when he’s right, just to make his love feel good.” I don’t feel like a man should lie to his significant other. I feel like that’s just a nice way of shutting her up. I think an open and honest relationship would be healthier than just agreeing with whatever your wife says just because you think you are being a good person. Another line that I thought was a little off was the one where he says that a man is “a protector. A man will: keep his woman safe from what ever harms may come her way….” I don’t believe that in a healthy, mutual relationship that one should have to be a “protector.” They should support each other but in a way that is less demeaning. Other than that, I feel like the letter was very sweet and you can tell that he respects women much more than he did before he was in prison. One could argue that this letter is proof that the death penalty is maybe not the best answer. With all of that time in prison to contemplate life lessons, he seems to have changed completely. All that time alone to contemplate was obviously very beneficial for this man. When he talked about being a gentleman and realizing that women want more than just Chinese food and sex, I thought that was very insiteful because most men don’t realize that women are different and won’t necessarily want to do exactly what a man wants to do. The same goes for sex. Most men do not take the time to learn and understand how a woman’s body works and most women don’t have the courage to speak up and tell them this. Granted, there should be more communication on the woman’s part, but at the same time, most women have taken the time to understand how a man’s body works and strive to please them. It is rarely ever the other way around. For the most part, I think a lot of men could learn from this man’s letter and use the advice in their own lives to better their relationships.

I personally thought the information about the opposite sex was more intriguing than anything else. All of the information and statistics about women’s bodies I have already known for years. And when it is your own body, you pretty much know these things before anyone tells you them. It was a very interesting lecture to me because I have been with both sexes and sex is extremely different with each. In my experience, sex has been pretty much the same experience as Sam’s sister. It was very rare that I encountered a guy who actually understood/ cared how a woman’s body worked. In fact, there were many times where I could consider the experience to be almost painful and even torturous. I can relate to what they were saying about not speaking up about these things. I used to hate hooking up for this soul fact. And speaking up just makes things awkward because most of the time I knew that they didn’t care anyway. I started off thinking I was the one that was doing something wrong, or maybe my body just doesn’t work like that. As I got older, however, men started to get a little better at sex, and alcohol definitely helped me sit through it all.
It is very interesting to me that a woman will get talked about behind her back or made fun of to her face for not knowing how to “please” a man and that rarely happens the other way around. I have heard girls say things about penis size when they are mad at them, but it is never casual conversation about males not being able to make sex truly pleasurable. I remember a girl back in high school who gracefully gained the name chomper because someone said that she used her teeth during oral sex. If a girl ever spoke up to a man like that they would be so offended and I think that is why girls very rarely speak up. The men definitely have the control on this one. My first sexual experience with a woman was very different from this. There was much more communication between the two of us. This was extremely new to me, no one ever asked me what I prefer, for instance. It was also much easier because being a woman, I know exactly how a woman’s body works. Communication, however, is still necessary because every woman is a little bit different.

I felt like Zach Wahls’ speech was extremely moving. He was very well spoken and to the point. The movement for equal rights for homosexuals needs more people like Zach Wahls to insight change in our government. Many times, people are put off by gay activism because it can be very flashy and in your face. Although gay pride is a very important aspect of coming out and getting the message out, I feel like sometimes it can bring the movement a step backwards because of this. To insight change people, especially those who are so adamant about gay rights issues, you need to try coming from a different place. There are a lot more people who can easily understand and listen to people like Zach Wahls. They would be much less likely to take seriously a man in drag waving a rainbow flag in the local gay parade.
Gay parenting has always been an issue that has interested me. I find it fascinating that people actually think that the sexual orientation of parents would have any kind of negative effect on their children. I think that if anything, it would have a very positive effect because they would be starting off their lives with a very open mind. And studies show that same-sex couples tend to fight less often because they can understand better emotional cues and handle arguments in a more proficient manner. So having parents who teach their children through their lifestyle alone to be open-minded along with less fighting in the household will probably bode better for them as growing parts of the community.
I feel like the show Modern Family proves that a healthy gay marriage is just as good as any straight marriage. They go through many of the same problems as straight couples do but they also love their child just as much as any straight couple would. Many times orphanages would rather have children adopted by a single parent or a broken home then have them in the care of a homosexual couple. That is very sad to me. I don’t understand how growing up on one person’s income, without either a male or female figure in their lives, is better than having two of the same sex. I will never understand that rationale.
As a bisexual woman, I know that if I were to end up with a woman, we would have to face a lot of prejudice regarding gay marriage, adoption and many other things that others wouldn’t have to be bothered with. It is not fair that there is such prejudice about gay marriage especially because it is mostly on the basis of religion, when this government has promised separation of church and state.

Although there are a few factors in my race that make it difficult to date outside my race, I would never let that influence my decision if I were to be with someone of a different race then my own. The factors that effect me are mainly involving my parents and extended family, not really much else. My parents grew up in fairly mixed-race communities, however, they tended to only interact with those of the same race and religion. They did not really go outside of that group of people. They really only hung around white roman catholics in the area. They never tried to cross that bridge or go out of their comfort zone to learn of other peoples’ cultures and/or beliefs. They just never exposed themselves to that growing up. As a result, they have had very few encounters of those of another race. They are not as politically correct as they should be, and I grew up with them being very lax about racial jokes and racial slurs.
I remember my little sister had a huge crush on the star of the play that she was in recently. We told this to my grandmother and when she went to see the play she noticed that he was Japanese. She turned to us and said, “Oh she likes an Asian? That’s hilarious!” Once my sisters and I started bringing around people of different races, you could tell my parents were somewhat uncomfortable around them. It was our generation that sort of brought new experiences, new cultures, and new outlooks on life into my family, especially those of different sexualities than they were used to being around.
My hope is that the more exposure they get, the less prejudiced they will be. I remember growing up and my dad saying how interracial relationships were just a bad idea and their children would probably have a lot of problems. I don’t remember what exactly his reasoning was on that one, but I remember him being very adamant about it. The first time I brought my best friend home, he was literally the first homosexual they had ever met. All of these things were new experiences for them and I can’t really blame them for being racist earlier on in life since they had never been exposed to anything other than their own culture and beliefs. Now my parents are much more open about homosexuality as they are about their daughters dating people of a different race. It is nice to see that we have had a positive impact on my parents and I’m glad that they have become more open-minded.

I too was stunned that so many people in powerful positions have not gotten the message about the “r” word and have used it so freely despite its negative connotation. It was always a well-known rule in my house growing up that the word “retard” was inappropriate and offensive. My younger brother, Teddy, suffers from autism so this word is especially offensive in my household. I believe that with any prejudice, people feel like they are free to say whatever as long as no one who it would specifically offend is around. The reason why this does not always work is because you do not always know who is listening. A perfect example of this happened about 5 years ago at my brother’s basketball game. Because of Teddy’s situation, the coaches and referees give him special rules regarding dribbling and shooting. He is not as good as the other kids so no one usually put up a fight about him being permitted to play on the team. As I was sitting on the bleachers with my dad, the man in front of us leaned over to his wife and said, “I just don’t understand why they let the retarded kid on the team, my son should be learning how to play right and not have to deal with this kid and special rules.”
This was a very difficult thing for my father and I to overhear and I could see that he was silently debating whether or not to address the situation. Not only does Teddy get teased constantly at school by the kids in his grade, but now a full-grown man is mocking my brother without a hint of sympathy for maybe what he goes through as a child with autism. After hearing this remark my dad pretended not to notice as I looked over at him astonished. As hard as I tried to hold back from saying something, I could not sit by and let someone get away with that. I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “If you have a problem with my brother, you can speak to him about it.” He apologized to my dad and I and then turned back around.
The “r-word” is the same as the “n-word” or the “f-word” in that it may have been used regularly at one point, but now that they are words that are viewed as offensive, should be taken out of the every day vocabulary. Although it has taken a while, the n-word and “fag” are very rarely said these days. It is possible to change the way people talk, although it will take time. Once people recognize the severity of the effect of words like these, it is less likely they will use it on a regular basis. Like I said, you never know who is listening or who you might offend so you might as well not say it at all.

I would say that the racism against Muslim people has certainly increased over the past few years, however I would not say that it has become more of a problem than the racism against black people. I think in our society, racism against black people has been around a very long time and has gotten somewhat better but we are nowhere near where we need to be regarding acceptance. The racism against Muslims, however, is a fairly new problem stemming from 9-11 and ignorant people in the United States perpetuating this throughout our culture. So I do not think that one is more of a problem than the other, they are equally horrible in my eyes and very much something that needs work.
Racism against blacks is an issue that does not have an easy fix. It is hard to correct decades of racism being passed down, whether it was subconsciously or not. As Sam said in class, some people do not even realize that they are being racist; it is just in their subconscious to act discriminately towards blacks. This happens prominently in the hiring system as we talked about. Many people are denied jobs and a chance at a livelihood all because their name “sounds black.” That in itself is very disturbing. The fact that professionals would judge someone and deny them a job all because of the name they were given. Never mind the resume, names are apparently what’s important when working a job.
As for Muslims, racism had existed against them prior to 9-11, but it really became prevalent during Bush’s presidency at the start of the “war on terrorism.” People’s ignorance about the war and who was involved was terrifically embarrassing, especially when we started seeing the ignorance turn into hatred. Even now, ten years later, we still see this prevalent today. People being told to leave public places, being spit on or accosted just walking down the street. Imagine being an American citizen and having to watch your back constantly just because people don’t take the time to understand. Most people don’t care to understand just because they enjoy looking down on others and spreading hatred. It makes some people feel empowered and important.
As a white person, I feel completely embarrassed knowing that these prejudices still exist and are perpetuated by people who are white. I do not want to be lumped in that group of racist white people and that’s why I think its so frustrating for me. I can be the most open-minded person in the world, but if others associate me with racists there is not much I can do. But what I can do is try to educate those who have prejudice to help break this cycle and insight change in others.

I think that the reason the better-educated people believe that success is simply a result of hard work is because of ignorance. If you go back to what we were saying in class about the relation of family income and better SAT scores, the correlation is clear. Those who are receiving a better education are going to make it higher up on the latter. It is easy for those at the top of the mountain to look down at those lower on the mountain and say “If you work hard, you can make it to the top.” Many people confuse the ideas of privilege and hard work. I could be a very hard working person, but if I grow up in an area that does not give me the same opportunities as those in wealthier areas, it will be very hard for me to get to the top.
Although it may be true in some cases that people who grow up with nothing can make a life for themselves, most of the time this is not the case. It is not simply working hard that gets you to the top. There are many other factors, like what we discussed in class last week. You have to take into consideration income, upbringing and race. White privilege is real and many people are pushed aside because of their race. I believe it is a convergence of privilege and opportunity as well as hard work and dedication.
This is not to say, however, that people who are raised in a more privileged community do not work hard. There is a lot of work needed to acquire a job on the top of the mountain, but people at the bottom may be working just as hard, if not harder, and not getting anywhere. It is not just a matter of effort, it is a matter of circumstance and upbringing as well as dedication and hard work. Many people who are better off do not realize that people with lesser incomes and support have to work other jobs in order to keep up and afford a good education. Because of this, attention to schoolwork is therefore sacrificed.
Essentially what I’m saying is that it is possible to get out from the bottom of the mountain and make your way to the top, however in most cases the opportunity just is not there. I know people who grew up in bad areas who are very hard workers but they just can’t seem to get anywhere. Essentially if you have money, you can get a good education and develop connections. Then once you graduate, getting a good job is in the works for you. If you do not have money, you get a poor education and the higher ups who do the hiring are less likely to choose you. Unfortunately, this is how the world works.

I have made many decisions in the past that have definitely shaped where I am at right now. I would say these choices came into play right after my eighth grade graduation. To start off, I chose to go to a private all-girls school instead of public school. I was given the opportunity to go to a private school because my older sisters had gotten scholarships there and they agreed to give my parents a break on my tuition because of the family connection. After being in Catholic school for ten years, the sound of an all-girls Catholic high school sounded very unappealing. I had to make the decision between getting a good education at a college-level high school and going to a school without uniforms and with boys. I ultimately decided to suck it up and go to an all girls school and I am glad I did. My high school actually managed to over-prepare me for college and now looking back on my college career, I feel like I had a lot more advanced work on my plate in high school instead of college.
Because of the college preparation my high school gave me, I was able to get into Penn State without a problem. I had been wanting to go to Penn State ever since the fifth grade when I had come to State College to see a Backstreet Boys concert. I was in love from then on. My experience at Penn State has been an extraordinary one and I may not have gotten in if it hadn’t been for the choice I made when I was fourteen. Penn State is known for its networking and the benefits of being so close knit as a community. If I had gone to some small no-name college, I may not be able to find a job in the field I really love. I have confidence going out into the working world, whereas my older sisters who attended different colleges did not.
I can also say the same for my love life. The choices I have made in my relationships over the years have definitely shaped my attitude towards relationships and my identity in general. Without experiencing horrible relationships, I would not have known how to have healthy ones. But the choices I made to get out of these relationships and rid my life of bad people have made me who I am now. If I remained in my unhealthy relationships, God only knows where I would be now.
I am so fortunate to have such a good education and a healthy outlook on life. And no, my choices were not the only reason that I am where I am today; some of it has to do with my parents’ income and their love and support over the years. The convergence of these made me who I am today.