There are many things that I have learned over this past week from this scandal. One of the main things I have learned is to not trust others to necessarily handle things they say they will. The main reason Joe Paterno has been fired and his name has been tarnished, is because he trusted his superiors when they said they would take care of the situation. His superiors never pushed the issue any further. They only took Sandusky’s keys away and told him he could not bring the little boys on campus anymore. Joe thought that they were going about the proper procedures because that is what you would think your superiors would do. It is like you tell your teacher in middle school that someone is getting bullied. You do not follow up on the case because you trust in your teacher to do the right thing. However, this scandal shows that there are some pretty horrible people in this world who do not do the right thing even if children are in danger. I am now more leery in putting my faith in those who are superior to me. If I ever witness a horrible crime in my life I will make sure to go straight to authorities instead of my boss to make sure the situation is taken care of.
Another thing I have learned from this dark time in Happy Valley, is that the media’s top priority is to gain ratings and not actually portray the truth. The media has torn the Penn State student body apart. The night of the riot every single news station, including ESPN, was broadcasting the destruction going on. There was no other story being talked about that night, and there was no talk about how most of the students who were at the riot did not agree with the destruction taking place. The riot was the number one story across that nation that night. However, when I turned the TV on after coming home from the vigil Friday night, I had to wait a good twenty minutes for it to even be mentioned. This really made my angry because there were an estimated 10,000 students at the vigil and only about 100 destructive students at the riot, and the riot was a good display of the true character of Penn State. The media broadcasted the bad from Penn State, but they were refusing to show the nation the good of Penn State. The rest of the nation now is looking down on this university. This insight on how the media can twist stories now makes me more cautious to believe everything I hear on TV. As Laurie said, the way Penn State students feel the media is portraying them is similar to the way people from the Middle East feel they are portrayed. I am now not as quick to judge as I was in the past. I now want to figure out as many facts as I can, and then form an opinion on an issue or a group of people.

I feel as if these recent events bring a lot of outside judgment onto the students of Penn State. The media has had a field day portraying Penn State as inhumane, barbarians. They only have been focusing on the negative things that have recently occurred at this campus. The entire scandal does not directly involve the students or the teachers, but somehow the rest of the world is now looking down on over 40,000 students. This makes me really sad because the actions of one very sick man and a few others have ruined the reputation of such a prestigious university. I have been struggling with my emotions over this past week because I am hurt, scared, angry, and so many more. As to how I will be seen as a person in this world, I hope that people will think no different of me. I am still the same person, and I only think this scandal has made me a better and stronger individual. However, I am scared what this means for me when I start to look for a job. The negativity about this university right now might make companies hesitant to hire a Penn State graduate. If this ends up being the truth then those people are just ignorant. The student body has done so much for this community and for the world. Every year thousands of college students spend countless hours raising money for pediatric cancer, THON. The amount of time and effort students put into their studies here is unlike most universities. I personally have to put forth 110% effort into my classes if I want to excel. When I hopefully graduate here in a little over two years, my degree should be as valuable as it was a week ago. However, the way the media is depicting Penn State students and the way the world is looking down on us, the future does not seem as bright.
I am still hopeful that this entire scandal will die down and the world will realize that Happy Valley is truly a happy and amazing place to learn and grow. The candle light vigil happening tonight needs to be shown across the nation so people realize that we really do care about the victims and are good people. As a community we have already raised over 100,000 dollars for a child abuse organization. I also believe that once the trial actually takes place, the truth will surface. There are no facts as of yet saying that Joe Paterno did anything wrong. He told everyone who he thought at that moment he should tell, and they told him that they would take care of the situation. Paterno admitted that he wish he did more, and he was the only one to admit that. Therefore, I hope that once the trial takes place Joe Pa’s name will be returned to glory, and Penn State University will once again be looked as one of the best universities in the world.

I have mixed feelings about people talking different languages around me. I honestly do not care if people do not talk to their friends in a language that is not English. If I was in a different country with my friends or family I would be talking to them in my native language and not the language of that particular country. However, I do get mad when people are doing business with you and they talk in a different language. This happens to me when I go get my nails done at a nail salon. The place I go to at home is owned by a Chinese family whose native language is Chinese. They do know a pretty good amount of English because they can carry on a conversation with you while they are doing your nails. They do, however, talk to each other in Chinese while they are working on your nails as well. This irritates me because I feel as if they are talking about me, and I also find it rude that they speak so I do not know what they are saying almost the entire time, when I am paying them. There was this once instance in which I am sure they were talking about me because they were all talking Chinese to each other, and then the woman asks me a question about myself. After I answered the question she turned to her friend and starting talking to her in Chinese again. It was very apparent in this case that they were talking about me. This just made me mad because I did not know what else they could have been saying about me. It also made them not seem as friendly and as welcoming as a business person should be.
Even though these people knew a lot of English, there are some people in the United States that know next to no English. I feel when you travel to a country with a different language than your own and you know that you will be encountering many people who do not speak your language, you should learn some common phrases in that country’s language. This is just a courtesy thing in my opinion, and it especially applies to Americans. Many Americans will go to other countries and just expect everyone to talk to them in English. Even though the majority of most people in other countries do know a good amount of English, a person should at least try to learn that country’s language. If an American person went to Italy, they should try to learn some Italian phrases so that they can order food and asks where things are in Italian. Even if they cannot speak fluently, the Italian people would appreciate that they at least tried. Therefore, it does not bother me that people speak a different language around me, I just feel that they should try to be courteous in certain situations and speak a country’s native language.

I feel that having white people be the minority in the United States is going to be a shocking reality to many people. The country has been predominantly white for many centuries now, with minorities being suppressed or discriminated against. Therefore, I believe that for the older generations, this could be a scary thought to think about. They might wonder if the white people will become suppressed in some way. However, for the younger generations, such as myself, it will not be as big as a shock. I think that the younger generations see more diversity and are friends with people from all different backgrounds than in any other time in this country’s history. Also, it is not like this country is going to have an influx of people from other countries in these next couple decades. Instead, there are going to be a lot more mixed races. Therefore, white is still going to the majority in a way since it will be what most people are mixed with. Another reason I believe this will not be as big as an issue as many people might believe, is that the white people are making the choices to mix with other races. This shows that these white people are already accepting of other races.
However, I do think there are going to be some distinct differences in what our society looks like if white becomes a minority. I believe that there will be more diverse people as leaders in this country, such as more people like Barack Obama. Also the pictures of models that you see on build boards and in magazines will no longer be depicted as white. Another thing that I believe will be different in a non-white world, is that all of the figures about wealth and crime that Sam showed us in class will be different. The figure that blacks are arrested more than whites will decrease, and another group will take their place at the top. Also the average family income of all of the different races will start to even out among them all. Whites and Asians might not be at the top of all of the categories any more in a non-white society. However, I do not think that whites will be the ones who will be pushed to the bottom of the totem pole. It is going to be another minority in this country. As to which one I am not sure. Whites I believe will still hold a lot of power in this country, the difference will be they will be more accepting of other races. I also believe that if we become a predominately mixed society, the hatred among specific groups of people could decrease.

When a person hangs out with a group of people who are not of their own race, I do not think that it makes them a poser. I do not see anything wrong with a white person hanging out with a predominately black group or vice-versa. One of my best friends is black, and he hangs out with almost all white people. I do not think that this takes away from his African American roots, nor do I think that he has ever once tried to be a stereotypical white guy. My friend never tried to change himself. He acted the same whether he was with a group of white people or a group of black people. However, I have seen a group of African American people make fun of another African American person, if they were hanging out with all white people. In one instance, I saw a group of black students judge and ridicule a black guy for only having white friends. They called him a poser and other insulting names. I have not really been exposed to a diverse society until I came to Penn State. Therefore, I never really experienced how groups of predominately black people interacted with each other and people of their own race, so this was somewhat shocking to see. However, after these past lectures about the stages of race, I think that one reason that a group of black people is more judgmental than a group of white people, is that people of color are more likely to stay in stage three for a long time. In this stage for people of color, they are all about their own race, and in the case of African Americans, black power. People in this stage do not think it is right for other black people to mix with a lot of white people because it takes away from that person’s “blackness.” As our guest speaker was saying, when he went to Penn State as an undergrad, he joined all black groups and immersed himself in the African culture. He explained how he had somewhat of a dislike towards white people during this point in his life. I can understand that from his experience as a young child receiving racial criticism, that he would be bitter towards white people. However, I feel this is something that is fading slowly from our society, though. There are less and less African American people with a strong hatred towards white people. I believe that this has to do with the fact that each generation is becoming more accepting of all other races. In a couple of generations, I believe that most people will have a diverse group of friends, and the word poser will not be brought up in a race situation.

I found this article on happiness to be very interesting. I never thought that how we perceive happiness to be completely false. However, after reading this article, I now believe that true happiness is unachievable. As the article said, we are the happiest when we are anticipating an exciting event, but once the event is over, people either look towards another goal or become sad. I completely agree with this statement. When I am about to leave for a week of vacation at the beach I get really excited and happy. However, when my vacation is over I sometimes get into a depressed state. I think about how much fun the week before was, and how my life now is not comparable to it. Another occasion that I think shows that happiness is felt more in the events leading up to it, is a wedding. You always see how in movies couples say that their wedding is the happiest day of their lives. Although when the wedding and honeymoon are over, each person has to go back to reality by going to their jobs and starting to learn to live together. Even though living together with your significant other for the first time is a happy event, you still are not as happy as you were in the moments before and during your wedding.
Something else that I thought was interesting was the fact that so many people have written books about how to be happy. The article said that Russell Simmons has the number one self-help book. I do not think that someone could tell someone else how to be happy, it is something that people feel for different things. I especially do not understand how a celebrity, like Russell Simmons, can relate to an everyday person. Russell Simmons has the money to buy things, and he does not have to worry about not having money to pay bills or buy food. As the article said, “personal satisfaction goes up with income.” Therefore, Russell Simmons, who has made an empire for himself, would have a hard time relating to how a person that works at Burger King feels. Another thing the article said, was money can actually decrease the amount of happiness a person feels indirectly. Since a person who has money is able to have more choices as to what to do with their money, they can become stressed from not knowing what to choose. I think that this is very true for college students, especially at Penn State. Since Penn State offers so many career choices, it can be stressful for a person who does not know what they want to do. My roommate is still undecided, and she has been very stressed out these last couple weeks trying to figure out what she should go in to, and her stress has been making her un-happy. I feel that after reading this article there is no way of truly being happy for most of a person’s life.

On a typical Friday night in State College you can see groups of girls wearing next to nothing and high heels, while guys are in comfortable jeans and t-shirts. Why do these girls continuously dress in things that are uncomfortable and sometimes painful? After Sam’s lecture, I believe this is due to the fact that we live in a “man’s world.” Almost everything a girl learns from a young age is coming from a man’s point of view. Sam explained that girls learn about love, sex, and relationships from a man’s fantasy or view. I never really thought about this before, but looking back I learned a lot about all of those things from movies and TV shows, which in most cases were written by a male. In movies it always seems that the girl who catches all of the guys eyes is dressed promiscuously. Therefore, from a young age girls have it in their heads that they need to dress “slutty” to get guys to talk to them. I also think that girls dress in short skirts and high heels because they are trying to compete with all of the other girls at the parties. They do not want the attention to be on someone other themselves. Girls always try to outdo one another, and I know this from experience. When my roommates and I are getting ready, if one of us is wearing a skirt or sexy dress, then all of us dress in a similar way. It is bad to say, but even friends compete for attention from guys. I have heard many times from my guy friends that they really do not care what we wear, but since girls, including me, have always seen the girls dressed more promiscuously get approached by more guys, they have it in their head that they must wear provocative clothes.
Guys, on the other hand, wear whatever they want out. I think that guys do not have to care as much about what they look like because of the man centered world we live. Males are not the ones, typically, who need to catch the female’s eyes, but it is the female that needs to catch the male’s eye. Also it has been proven that guys look more at a girl’s appearance, while a girl look’s more at a guy’s personality. Therefore, as long as a guy has a good personality a girl will feel attracted to them. Even if a guy has the best body and cutest face, if he cannot carry on a conversation I am not interested in pursuing anything with him. However, I have seen many guys go after a girl at a party who is dressed in a short skirt, revealing top, and high heels, but these girls do not have enough intelligence to carry on a meaningful conversation. I do not think that it is fair that girls have to put a lot of time into their appearance while guys only have to throw some clothes on and walk out the door. However, I do not think that this way of life is every going to change unless in the future the world changes to a women centered world.

I was shocked by how people reacted to each of the different bike stealers. The white guy really did not have anyone call the police on him or stop him. I think that the thing that shocked me the most about this first scenario, was the fact that even after people asked the white guy if that was his bike, and he answered “it is now,” that still walked away. I feel that if I was in a situation and saw a guy trying to steal a bike, and he even admits to trying to steal it, I would try to call some kind of authority that could take care of the situation. However, personally I would not try to take care of it myself because I would be worried that they could hurt me. If they are trying to steal, then the person must have some bad streak in them. Therefore, I would not want to get involved directly. As for the black guy scenario, it made me realize how racist some people are. The black guy had almost every person who walked by call the cops on him. Even though the people were different for each the white guy and the black guy, it was still shocking as too how many more people try to get the black guy in trouble. I believe that if the people who called the black guy in, instead were walking by the white guy trying to steal the bike, they would have been more hesitant to call the cops. It is sad to me that this much racism still exists today. I know if either I saw a white guy or a black guy trying to steal a bike, I would not hesitate to call either one of them in. However, even though these two scenarios clearly showed acts of racism, I still believe that race is becoming less and less of an issue. I feel with each generation races are becoming more integrated and people do not really care what color a person’s skin is. Nevertheless, as long as the older generations, who were brought up thinking that race was an issue, are around, there is still going to be unfair decisions made based on the color of someone’s skin.
As for the scenario with the girl in the video, I was surprised how guys reacted to her. Many of the guys actually helped her steal the bike with their wives standing next to them. The one guy said that he was helping a “damsel in distress.” I feel that the guys just wanted to help the girl because she was pretty and wearing short clothes. These guys were not really using their head; they were strictly acting on impulse from the attraction. I think this shows that girls can use their looks to have power over guys. I know a lot of girls who got out of speeding tickets if a male cop pulled them over, but the ones who had females pull them over had no chance of getting out of their speeding ticket. Therefore, I believe girls, no matter the color of their skin, can get away with more things than a guy can.

I think that this Haiti project is going to be very eye opening and interesting. I did not know that all of the efforts of American’s and other relief organizations are actually having a negative impact on the Haitian economy. The article about how the Medika Mamba industry in Haiti is being overrun by outside groups coming in and selling nutritional peanut butter at a lower price or giving it away for free was shocking. I thought that it was terrible that the Haitian company producing this food could not get audited; therefore, they were not able to sell their product to groups such as UNICEF. I feel that relief organizations need to realize that they need to not just give handouts to countries such as Haiti. They need to invest in the people there instead. Teach them how to fend for themselves and give them the tools to do so. If we just keep giving the Haitian people products that they are very capable of making themselves, then more Haitians will become unemployed and have to rely on the free handouts.
I believe that this project is something that is going to allow the Haitian people to provide for themselves. After watching some of the videos, two of the entrepreneurs stood out to me. Cloren Blaise is an excellent seamstress, and the bags and shirts she made seemed to be of good quality. I feel that we as students could really help her grow her business and make it more efficient. Since she does not have the money to buy a printing press, I feel that a micro financing a printing press like Sam was talking about would be a good idea. With this machine Cloren could potentially sell her shirts to places like the United States. I know that many people would be willing to buy her shirts if they knew they were helping the Haitian people. My friends and I have bought shirts in the past that were made by people in Africa so that we could give money to someone less fortunate than us. I think that my group could come up with ideas and tools that Cloren could use to become successful. Another entrepreneur I found interesting is Suze Fleuriza, the peanut lady. I believe her product could potentially grow into a big business among schools. Since school children usually go to school without anything to eat for lunch, her peanuts would be a nutritious and delicious meal for these kids. I think that we could help her devise marketing strategies, and we could maybe find a way to make her production more efficient. As a team, I feel that we could help all of these entrepreneurs make a successful business. Once these people are able to live their lives without the help of any outsiders, I feel that the Haitian community will start to rebuild itself. They do not need handouts, they need the knowledge that will allow them to fend for themselves.

There are some people in this world who are born athletes and some who are born artists. Some people might believe that people strictly become athletes through training, but I believe it is a combination of a person’s biology as well. Genetics is responsible for how tall a person is, how long their arms are, and how large their lungs are. As Sam was saying during class, almost every person who has won the short distance races in the Olympics has been of an African race. African people typically have long legs and short torsos, which gives them advantages in running. These people did not train to have longer legs, they were born with them. Also talented swimmers, like Michael Phelps, usually have longer arms which help them move through the water faster. Therefore, a person’s genetics helps to classify them an athlete. Training and dedication is another big factor that helps to make a true athlete. The more one trains the better they can improve their form, speed, and skills. I believe that devotion to a certain sport really classifies a true athlete. If someone is not devoted to their team and training, then they will not be able to perform and succeed on just raw talent. For myself I would say that dedication is a large part of why I excelled in my high school sport of rowing. I never missed a practice and always put forth a hundred percent of effort each and every day. Rowing is largely an endurance sport so if a person does not push themselves, they likely will not succeed. However, there were other advantages I had for becoming a successful rower. I have been a flexible person since I was little. This helped me to lengthen my strokes, which meant the boat would go faster. I also have been playing sports and exercising since I was three years old. Therefore, my endurance was already built up, which gave me many advantages in my sport. However, the strength of my back eventually became a disadvantage for me. My junior year of high school two of my lower discs in my back became inflamed and started to bulge which ended my rowing career. My genetics ended up being both an advantage and disadvantage for myself as an athlete.
As to how athletic people are classified into being amazing at a certain sport depends on personal choice and outside influences. Many sports require the same basic skills such as hand-eye coordination, speed, and endurance. Most athletes acquire all of these skills, however, they chose, or an outside force chooses, to specialize their skills differently. This is why I believe that each professional sport mostly consists of one specific race. A large portion of basketball players are African Americans in the United States. I feel this has to do with the fact that a large portion of the African American community lives in and around cities where basketball courts are readily available in the community parks. If an athletic person is raised playing basketball instead of football, their skills are going to be specialized for basketball even though they could have just as easily started playing football. Hockey, on the other hand, is a sport dominated by white males. I believe that this has to do with the fact that many of the hockey rinks are built in the suburbs, where there is typically a larger population of whites. Therefore, outside forces shape athletic people into the type of athlete they will be.