I saw these photos the other day and it really hit home with me. Honestly, initially I didn't realize the full gravity of what was happening in Japan until a few days after. It's so crazy how down the road though, looking back, you have a flash bulb memory of an event, because you realize that you lived through and somewhat experienced something that will go down in the history books. I will never lose the exact picture in my mind of when I found out about 9/11. I remember exactly where I was and what it looked like, even exactly how the TV we watched everything on looked and my principal's who told me's type of facial hair.
What has happened in Japan is instantly known in our whole world, especially as we are increasingly interconnected- like Freidman's book, the World is Flat. I was able to watch footage of the tsunami on YouTube. I have a friend who lives in Japan that I skyped with the other week who talked about the situation. I have a friend who is studied abroad in Japan, met his current girlfriend there, and she was able to visit recently. And I was able to send money right away to a local development organization who is doing outreach efforts there.
I feel like often we get on overload though. I used to be really good at staying updated with the news, and now I rarely do. The headlines are always "x amount of people die in terrorist attack". "x corporation is laying off these people" "x person filed a lawsuit...". It makes you feel so overwhelmed, that there is so much going on that we can't possibly know about it all or do anything about it at all. Or Yahoo news gives me a headline about Charlie Sheen or Miley Cyrus's most recent exploits while important things are happening in the world. Stupid. But it's honestly easier for us to be entertained than to focus on the important things in the world.
My friends Phil and Caitlin who went to Haiti over Spring Break described it as being an environment of such contrasts of great hope and great brokenness. The people are so warm and inviting, yet everything they have has been taken from them. There are children who are thankful for life itself that dance amidst the rubble, and children sitting on the same rubble sniffing glue. I wish I could see both in the media. All I heard about Haiti was fatalistic, terrible things. I want to see the truth: show me the destruction, the pain and suffering and I will look it in the eye. But also show me the joy of people who are overcoming, and starting new. I am sure there must be such hope amidst every disaster we see in the media. I send my prayers and hope to those suffering in Japan, that new life can come out of the rubble.

F***. Originally means to strike. Bang. A suddent painful blow. I honestly am not sure if using there violent terms for sex are necessarily related to male domination, or if it's symptomatic of our the commoditization of sex in our society. Sexual intimacy was largely viewed as a more spiritual thing in centuries before ours. In the Judeo-Christian it was said that when a couple has sex, "they are no longer two, but one." (from the Bible: Matthew 19:6); there was a binding together of souls. In traditional Jewish marriages, couples did not kiss until there wedding day, and that kiss was a seal of their love forever. Even though we live in the age of the hookup and it is the norm to view sex as "just sex", I think sex is such a powerful thing that that's not really possible to do without people getting hurt.
One thing researchers know is that when women have sexual contact, oxytocin is released, the same hormone that is released when women breastfeed. This hormone creates a feeling of attachment, a desire to nurture, and warmth. Partially explains why girls are more likely than guys to wish the hookup would become a relationship.
I don't think men realize that women are way more emotional than visual creatures compared to them. I know a woman who said she felt like she was being raped on her wedding night. Her husband had waited so long to have sex with her, and come the time they got into that hotel room, one look at her naked and he was ready to go. She wanted to be caressed, romanced. Another friend of mine's story could not be more opposite. Her husband was willing to let her take her time because he knew she was tired from the reception, and when they did have sex that night, it was amazing for both of them.
Again, as Lori pointed out, I don't think women realize how easily guys get turned on, and how hard it is for them to "stop". When we put on that sexy outfit, we know we will get attention, and we know we look good, but I don't know if we realize how far a guy will go in his mind. One of my guy friends told me that he would intentionally avoid the HUB lawn during the summer, because he knew that when he saw the girls tanning wearing bikinis, he would not be looking at women as women, with thoughts and feelings, but as images that would turn him on. We are feeling wanted when he goes crazy over us, he is just feeling sexual desire for your body as an object to satisfy his sexual cravings. I don't know what woman if she is truly honest with herself, wants to be viewed as an object and not a person. Isn't this what the women's rights movements fought for? Why should we throw this away?

My question for Basum was “How does the average Iraqi feel about Israel?”. After a long pause he replied, “Israel? *sigh*.... Israel.... Israel is Arab land. They kicked the Palestinians out.” I was not surprised by his response. In high school I learned in history about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the debate over the Gaza strip...etc. In fact I asked because I though there might be some hard feelings. Yet I found his response to be fascinating. Throughout the whole time we asked him some very intense questions, he had such an incredible quality of not getting agitated about anything. He responded so calmly to the 29:1 ratio, and even when he recalled stories of mistreatment of his people his responses were very even keeled. Yet when he responded to the question about Israel there seemed to be a deep seated frustration, or tension, it seemed to have hit a nerve. He felt that this was such an obvious thing, yet if you ask a Jew living in Israel, I think they would say something like “This is our rightful land.” and that “We have a right to defend it.” Yet I can image that many of Israel’s Arab neighbors seem to feel “It is our land, we have a right to have it back.”

I thought it was really neat that although . I hope that we as Americans can remember that experience, and the next time we are tempted to make generalizations and think “Those Muslims....” or “Those Arabs....”, or to see someone with darker skin or wearing a scarf and think “terrorist.”, to remember Basum. To remember that they are real people just like us with real hopes and dreams, with real desire for peace. Honestly, propaganda is only convincing when you don’t have true reality to compare to. Now that I have talked to (well, listened to) a man from Iraq and heard how down to earth he is, movies like the “JIHAD!!!” video we watched earlier, and the fear-mongering against Muslims in the Middle East seems EVEN more ridiculous. It was incredibly comforting to hear Basum’s response to the 9/11 attacks. “I was terrified. I couldn’t believe my eyes.” He compared Islam extremists to any other extremists, that they are a small, dangerous radical minority. I think that oftentimes we can be afraid of the unknown. Honestly, as 9/11 happened when I was going to a not so diverse school, in not so diverse central PA as a 5th grader, I had never seen images of Arab people before. My first education, my first notable encounter was 9/11, seeing and hearing about Osama bin Laden, seeing men in turban’s threatening my country. I am so thankful that over time, I have been able to retrain my brain to not assume these kind of associations. I have met real people that are Muslim, and are just like me. I can see the beauty in their culture. Our talk with Basum really helped to remind me of those truths.

Part 2: In fact, when the telephone game was going down, I noticed how the n word got left out, but though, what would I have done in her situation? I don't think I could have said it, I would have said "n word" or "n bomb". I am definitely not going to claim that I am in the humanitarian stage when I'm not. I love and accept people of all races, but I have not yet the ease and comfort of talking about these things, and not worrying about stepping on toes when I talk to people of color.
I don't think any of the white people felt that the violence perpetrated against the black students in the stories was not a big deal, or worth minimizing it, but we would have less loose of a tongue in describing it.
What I think is a more interesting question is if we can be capable of having conversations about racism if what we base our dialogue on is what has been passed on from people. Dr. Jones' point from the entire game was saying, how can we have these conversations without information? I think there ARE cases where white people minimize racism. And that is not ok and people need to fess up for the wrong being done, and the blame that is deserved. Likewise, I think there are cases that black people think that something someone did was racist, when really they were just having a bad day, or the person was rude to them and they were just mad at them for being rude. People need to look at themselves, and realize they are often part of the problem. People need to look at others, and try to see them for who they are and what they are doing, not what we expect them to do. Nobody likes to be judged.

It is really odd that as Dr. Jones pointed out, from the evolution of the story, a white person calling a black person a nigger became a scuffle. I think it is less of a white person sugarcoating what is done against a colored person, and more of people wanting to be politically correct and not offend. I personally don't know how people of color would respond if I said the word nigger out loud. Black rappers can call each other niggers, but if a white rapper would call a black person a nigger, all hell would break loose. Even typing it makes me kind of nervous. I feel that as a white person, I do not have the liberty to use that word. A word that so represents years of hate and violence by people of my skin color, possibly my own ancestors, against a black person is not one that I feel I can say.

I definitely have felt uncomfortable in the past when people are speaking a language I don't understand. I think I have a natural tendency to assume the worst. At my high school , being a white English as first language speaker made me a minority. Most of my peers were from Korea, or Chinese speaking countries. My graduating class consisted of 2 Singaporeans, 1 Malaysians, 2 Americans, 1 Dutch, 2 Taiwanese 13 Koreans. I had some really ridiculous girl drama with some of the Korean girls and guys, so whenever I would hear them speaking in Korean, I would assume it was gossip or trash talk. I realized that while this is sometimes the case, it is unfair to come into a relationship with the assumption that they will do you wrong before you even get to know them as an individual.
In our discussion group, one of my classmates was saying that it really irritates him when his roommate speaks loudly on the phone late at night, especially because he is Chinese. He mentioned that sometimes he thinks he is saying his name, and talking about him. Being able to speak Mandarin, I asked him what his name was. Turns out that his name sounds like the Chinese word for "state", so I'm guessing that what he thought was his roomie talking about him, was really him talking about Penn State. I think that this goes to show that the ignorance we have, combined with this intuitive fear that someone has negative feelings towards us can be a double-edged sword. From here we can make assumptions, (ex. you are talking about me, you are being rude, Chinese people are rude) and form attitudes (Chinese people are so rude.") that can sometimes translate into negative behavior (I will not befriend Chinese people, I won't be as patient with Chinese people). We get freaked out by what is different and what we cannot understand. (Check out a youtube video called "What American English sounds like to non-English speakers)
Now, I mostly just get excited when a person speaks in a language that is foreign to me, and I feel like becoming friends with them and learning their language. :) I think it is incredibly beautiful that our Creator God gave us as humans an ability to create culture. How boring it would be if we were all the same color, ate the same foods, did the same things, and spoke the same language? I look forward to a day when there is not strife over this diversity, but unity. A day after I die when I will see God face to face, as Jesus promised that he would redeem people from every ethnicity and language. "...you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Revelation 5:9) That is going to be one hell of a party.

Would I date a black guy? I think all three of you men are very attractive. I would date you! So ask me out, lol. One of my friends who has dated all different colored men, black, white, asian, you name it, told me that black guys are better kissers. I personally think that biracial children tend to be more attractive than your average babies. I have always wanted my kids to have that little fro puff that black babies have. I would not only date a black guy, I would marry a black guy.
I know for me the most important quality in the guy that I date is that he has the same faith as me, and is passionate about it. I am a Christian, not just in the way that that is the category I check the box next to, not just on Sundays to be religious, it effects my worldview and the way I live every day of my life. This is really more important to me than all other qualities, and skin color is not even on the list.
Also, high on my list is respect. I don't know how many guys know this, but you can be the hottest guy in the world, but if you carry around a huge ego and treat girls like crap, we can tell and are not going to be interested. Most girls would rather be with an "average" level attractiveness guy who treats us well then a hottie who is a jerk.
I think what would be difficult though is to date someone from a completely different cultural background than you. My friend Tracy went to life in Ethiopia, married an Ethiopian man named Solomon from there, and has lived there ever since . They are very happily married with three beautiful children, but early in their marriage they not only had to deal with the issues of being newlyweds, but also being cross-cultural newly weds. In Ethiopia, even married couples keep their private life very private. Tracy would have had an argument with Solomon, but if they were in public, he would smile and act like nothing was going on. She would see him as being passive and acting like a chicken and running away from the conflict, when in reality it was just part of culture, him doing what he knew.
I would wonder whether a black guy would want to date me. It seems to me that a lot of black people and Penn State like to join organizations with other black people, like Kappa Alpha Psi, the NAACP, Black Caucus, S.M.A.R.T. Black people are a minority of 5.4% at Penn State University Park. I am guessing that that makes black men 2.7% of the population. If they are all huddling together, I have even lower changes of meeting them. I can't date a black guy if he's never around.

I don't think that racial signifiers affect racial stereotypes, I would more say that racial signifiers are evidence of the presence of (or lack thereof) racial stereotypes in a person's thinking. Like Sam was saying in class, if a person uses too many racial signifiers when unnecessary (my black assistant pastor did this, my black assistant pastor did that) it can show that there might be a deeper issue going on, as would if a person avoids racial signifiers even when they would be helpful. Stereotypes are a sticky thing, but I feel like people have them for a reason. It seems evident to me that we as humans are meaning makers. We never see an event simply as an event in of itself, but want to connect the dots. Why did this happen? I think this ability to create schemas, to order the wealth of information we process into meaningful categories is part of the wonders of the human mind. I would argue that stereotypes are not necessarily bad, and can even be helpful. It becomes dangerous when we assume that this generalization applies to everyone in the group, or when we judge people without getting to know them first as an individual. For example, I generally assume that people who are obese have low self-esteem issues and do not take care of their bodies. This is grounded in reality that often this is the truth. However, this is not always the case. Perhaps a person is obese for reasons beyond their control. Perhaps they are very confident and very obese. Yet in my lifetime, most friends I have that are obese do in fact have self esteem issues and do not take care of their bodies. It is helpful for me to generalize that, because I can know what someone may tend to struggle with if they are obese.
When I was in my senior year of high school at an international school that was predominately Korean, I witnessed some pretty horrible drama between my fellow female classmates. Best friends became mortal enemies, and it escalated to the point that my one friend Jenny was personally victimized. At one point, the bully's got so irate, I was sure she was going to hit my friend. I defended my friend, and the bully and her sidekick cussed me out. This was not the first time I had experienced Korean girls being extremely rude, mean and catty. When I shared this story with my roommate and explained how mean I felt Korean girls are, she was rather unmoved and said "That's just girls." It had never dawned on me that I had made a complete generalization that all Korean girls had this higher tendency to be catty, life ruiners. I was so wrong to make that assumption, and I think we can all agree that sometimes we make mistakes when we try to connect the dots to make sense of our world.

As we heard Tammy's story, I couldn't help but think about Elba's story we watched in one of my other classes. This 17 year old girl had just given up her first child to live with her mother, and was moving away to live with her new, 14 year old boyfriend. When her case worker asked if Elba was pregnant again, she replied "Yes." When her case worker asked if she and her boyfriend had jobs, they both replied "No." Speaking of having her second child, she commented, "We wanted something of our own." This larger issue of having kids when clearly a person is not ready to be a parent, and cannot support them financially seems to be about a complex tangle of problems. Though I think it is selfish of her to seek love in this way that is so detrimental to others, I don't think that's the issue at its core.
I would also, however, say that there is selfishness involved if we look at the child-bearing and child-rearing practices of the more upper and middle class. I would venture to say that for every two families that says "I don't have enough money to have x amount of children." one family DOES. My Uncle always thought my parents were crazy for having 3, then 4, then 5 kids (though number five was a surprise baby. some sperm are so persistent they defy birth control). However, his definition of raising children meant that nothing they wanted was ever denied them; buying the most expensive clothes, going to expensive summer camps, full tuition paid to whatever tier college they chose...etc. I think it is just as selfish to want that child to be your model child that has a "perfect" life, as maybe Tammy's father or mother was for seeking love in a way that was so detrimental to her family's future.
Our population distribution of young versus old in America used to be a pyramid, with many young people on the bottom, and gradually fading out to fewer old people on the top. However, recently it has been more of a square- with a relatively equal amount of older, middle aged and young people. In some nations in the world, the pyramid is actually completely inverted. Some of this is no doubt due to the fact that older people are living longer. However, much of this is due to the fact people in developed nations are having fewer kids. A friend of mine told me that his sociology professor once told his students, "Wanna save the West? Go have sex with someone and make a baby!" Though his classmates joked that "Wanna save the West?" being their next pickup line, this illustrates a legitimate issue in our society. Say the societal norm is for two people to get married and have one child, the population would not even be able to replace itself. When those two people die, only one child lives on in their place. This also means that that one child is paying social security money into the pot what two people need to get out. This becomes even more of an issue when we consider couples who do not ever have children, or individuals who never have children. They are inherently reaping the benefits of others' children. Maybe Tammy's Dad and these people can learn from each other.

I don't think we can play the ignorance card. With great power comes great responsibility. I have a hard time believing that Ryan or anyone in our Soc 119 is really in the bottom 3% of the world. Have you ever seen poverty with your own two eyes? I have. This past summer when I was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia my team visited a community of people that lived on a giant trash mound that they called "Korah." Children there lived in homemade cardboard tents, the stench of the refuse that made us almost vomit, was their backyard. They made their livelihood through picking out metal scaps, plastic bottles and other salvageable objects from this giant heap and selling them. While we walked up to this heap, I held a young girl's hand. She proudly pointed to the heap and said "My home!" As we walked up the mountain, she stopped, because she got something stuck in her flip flop. Turns out, a huge piece of glass gashed through her foot and she was steadily bleeding. Fortunately, we had a medical kit with us and were able to clean and dress her cut. I couldn't help but think how unfair it was that she could have just as easily contracted HIV from stepping on an infected needle in that trash heap instead of that glass. Leaving that place, I was overwhelmed and felt so powerless. Yet two of my friends that were there on that team decided to do something about it. They put on a fundraiser at their university that raised thousands of dollars for Korah, now the cycle of poverty can be broken. For about a $50 sponsorship each they can.
Frankly, the responses to the Wal-Mart question and Ryan's comments made me leave class feeling disturbed and livid. I don't think we can ever be so poor that we cannot give. Ryan seemed to have a nice phone and nice clothes. Did he NEED those things? He is in a fraternity, does he NEED to pay those thousand dollar a year dues? I am not meaning to point the finger, but to get all of us to think. I know I am guilty too. I wish I could take back how much I have spent on getting the most recent style of clothing. This money could go to getting dozens clean water for a year, and I spend it on the American dream. I don't think we can know about every injustice, and do something for every cause, but we can do our part. What if our whole class committed to only eating fair trade chocolate for the rest of our lives? What a difference that would make. What a ripple effect it could have. Maybe slavery is YOUR issue to fight against, your cause to champion, maybe it's abortion, maybe it's cancer, whatever it is, we must act. None of us can save the world, but each one of us can change the world. Each one of us can be the world to one.