I come from a pretty religious family, not so much my parents but more so my grandparents. I was raised going to church every Sunday, (Catholic Church) and I also went to Sunday school every Sunday. I am straight therefore I never had really thought about what it would be like to have to come out to my family until my cousin was going through it. From her experience I learned that it would be very hard. She spent all of high school pretending to be something she was not trying to get the approval of our family, although me and my siblings and her siblings knew the truth more so without her saying so. She is my Confirmation sponsor and she too was raised going to church every week. Two summers ago we went on a religious retreat together and this is when I learned just how hard of a struggle it all was for her, it actually made my heart ache to hear it. She explained to me how she was spending this weekend with God trying to change herself, she did not want to be gay. She told me how it was too hard inviting her girlfriends to my grandparents for Sunday dinners and having to introduce them as her "friends". She told me how she was jealous of how happy me and the rest of my cousin's were that we were able to go and laugh and introduce them as our boyfriends and girlfriends and having everyone loving them for it. I also at this point had not known that she had come out to her parents at this point. The most disgusting thing she shared with me was the fact that my uncle had told her she was going to go to hell for it. I told her that this weekend was not for her to change herself but for her to accept herself, that God does not really care.
Today she has had a girlfriend for over a year, she comes to Sunday dinners and she joins us during holidays and most importantly everyone knows that she is her girlfriend. They are living together and she is happier than I have ever seen her because she is actually able to be herself. So basically to answer the question yes it might be harder to come out to a religious family but family is love and eventually they will come around.
I am religious and I believe in God but I also realize as with what Sam was talking about in class everyone "sins", it also says in the bible that all of your sins can be forgiven therefore I feel as though it does not matter if you are gay, straight, a fornicator, a thief, God will forgive you.

Well my first thoughts when asked this question was "wow this is terrible and I really hope that I never have to make this decision". Then I went on to remind myself that if I was ever put in this situation in real life I would not actually have to worry about it because both my mom and fiance know how to swim therefore I could easily choose my child. Since it was a hypothetical situation though I thought about who to this point in my life has done the most for me. Of every one in the entire world I think that my mom has done the most for me, from supporting every small detail like what to wear in the morning to me getting married at the age of twenty and moving to California. My mom has been my rock and is the strongest person I have ever met. My father was deployed seven times since September 11th 2001 and while I know it has been extremely hard on her she would never let it show. Then I think about my fiance and how he is the love of my life and I never want to have to find someone else but one year of love and support doesn't quite add up to the lifetime that I have received from my mom. Then thinking about the child is terrible and people in class said that you would just be able to make another child but I do not believe that it would be that easy to replace one child with another so I just tell myself I do not have a child and I could not think about it. Which in the end mad me choose my mom. As people said in class you would eventually be able to find another husband or make another child and while I would never want to have to do that, you can never replace your mother.
Thinking about it now though and even though I am pretty set that I would choose my mother, and that is what I voted on in class, I think that it is also one of those things that unless the situation actually happened you would not really know what you do. I know that I would have the pressure from both my mother and my fiance telling me to save the child and in that minute who really knows what I would choose. Let's just cross my fingers and hope that I nor any one else would ever have to be put in a situation like this and as I said before though I am very thankful that I will never have to be put in this situation and just to further make sure of this I will be sure to teach my children how to swim!

When we first started out the semester I definitely felt that the white girl should not have to give up the chair to the Native American girl. My thought process behind this has to do with the fact that it was not the direct white girl taking away the chair from the Native American girl. Now that we have gotten further into the class and I have learned more about the Native American's and the lives that they are basically forced to live I think that the white girl should at least have to share the chair. I do not think that she should actually give up the chair because while it is unfair it was not the direct white girl who caused the problem in the first place. Seeing the videos of how the Native Americans are living here in the United States I was saddened. A lot of it had to do with the fact that this land was actually their land it was not ours. Stating this makes me feel as though I am contradicting myself and in a way maybe I am. Defending the idea of sharing I feel as though everyone who is born here should be entitled to the same these as white people. My friend and I were actually discussing this topic when I was trying to figure out the things in class. She told me about the "Stolen Generation" in Australia. Basically this was a bunch of English people who stole the land of the Aborigines unfairly and now the government has made a day to repent this act. I know that a day is not really too much but it at least shows and awareness that the country knows what they did was wrong and they something should be done about it. I wish that this was the case for the United States. I know that it would be almost impossible to make things perfect for either parts but everyone truly deserves and equal shot at life and I think this is what the United States is even partly about.

I am not a super religious person. I was brought up a catholic and I believe in God and most of beliefs of the church. With this being said I am not the kind of person to throw it in other people's face or try to make them believe in the things I believe therefore I do not really know why I would need to completely study another religion to say that I have one.
Yes, I would be willing to read things about Atheism but I would not go into it with the mind set of trying to change what I believe instead of I guess understanding where they come from. Then again in every science class I have ever taken I have learned about evolution and all different kinds of views that come from those who do not believe in a God which is fine.
In class Sam said that having faith was not enough and that everyone saying they have religion because that is what their parents believe I guess could be looked at as true but why does it need to be more? If it was not for my parents being Catholic I may have never been introduced to do the idea of church or religion but I am glad that I was. I like having something to believe in and I also like that there is a possibility that I am wrong,t that there is not a God. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

It is definitely apparent that white people avoid the topic of race. Part of this I believe has to do with the fact that we have been raised that way. I know that for me growing up I was very aware of the fact that there were white people, black people, brown people, and all different colors of people but it was not something that I would just go up to someone and start talking about because it is almost taboo seeming. Also I think that part of it has to do with the way that different races handle some of the things white people say. A lot of the time when white people try to talk about race they get slammed for things that honestly may have nothing to do with them at all, just the general idea that white people are more likely to be racist. Then again in general I do not think that white people really know how to talk about race. Possibly even the fact that a lot of white people grow up in communities of white people and colored people grow up in communities of colored people it gets to the point that when you get to the age of twenty or so and have race more thrown in your face you just do not know how to go about the conversation. Thinking about class and the girl that made the comment about the black girl "wanting to beat her up", I think that it was simple innocent not understanding, and it got blown into something it did not need to be. Yes, I know that there were probably more appropriate things that could have been said but I think that it has to do with the fact that not all white people are even faced with opportunity to engage in race. Seeing as how there are seven hundred or so people taking this class, and at least half of them are white I think that it goes to show that some white people are interested in learning about different races and possibly even opening that door so that they are able to freely talk about race, and learn a way to say it so that they are not misunderstood or thought to have it out for someone. Yes I am sure that some people are there for the credits, but I think that white people while they will avoid the discussion of race as fast as possible, are interested in learning, wanting to learn about race. I know that is how it is for me. I would love to be able to have a conversation about race, but growing up where I did, I never had the opportunity or was really able to know how to go about it, maybe this class will open up doors that I had not been before. Basically I just feel that white people are afraid of offending colored people, and as Sam said it is nearly impossible for you to offend a white person when discussing race, and it simply comes down to the fact that they do not know how to do it.

I personally feel that the "problem" with interracial dating from a societal point of view does not come from our generation as much as it does with our parents generation and before. I know that I can say with one hundred percent confidence that I would adopt/have a sperm donor from any other race. For me growing up a family is something that I have always wanted, and if I was unable to have children myself, or my future husband was not able to provide me with a child I would hope that they would be on board either way and support it.
I also think that the difference does come into play with our parents generation more when discussing having a opposite race sperm donor as apposed to adopting a different race baby; at least I could see MY parents reacting this way. My parents have adopted a child who is white but its inner family and have said many times if they could have more children that way and not have to pay all of the insane fees they would do it in a heart beat. I remember when my dad was in Iraq daily he sent us pictures of babies he would love to have adopted, none of them being white.
In the same breath as saying it would be okay I can not help but think about my little sister who is now 12 but when she was about 6 and had the blondest of blonde hair and we all had dark dark brown hair she was uncomfortable. When she would draw pictures of our family she would make herself with brown hair and tell us that she was allowed to because it wasn't life. Her insecurities even to this day came from the color of her hair it didn't even matter that she had the same skin color. While that doesn't change my opinion about whether or not I would do it, I know that, that battle would probably be even harder to handle.
When it comes to interracial dating I feel as though it has come a very long way and I think that this is an amazing thing. It used to be very rare to see different races walking down the street holding hands but now it is becoming more and more common and I think that it is a truly beautiful thing. As we have said many times in class skin is just skin. I am sure that their are still many people that are opposed to this but as with many things having to do with race it has definitely came a long way and maybe, just maybe one day it wont matter, maybe that is just the optimist in me.

I don't know so much if the American dream has become less of a goal for American's today or if i has more to do with the fact that the American dream itself is changing. In my opinion the American Dream is achieving the things that mean the most to you. Originally it was wanting to be able to do enough to make it so that you children would have a better life than you but in my opinion I agree that it is that but I also think that it is more. In my opinion sometimes I think that my parents are focused on this idea that they want a better life than the one that they had that sometimes it comes off as them forcing me into doing things that i probably wouldn't have wanted to do in the first place or had me stop doing things that I at the time seemed to want to be doing. I have come to realize though that my American dream is my own. I can be what I want to be and do what I want to do; in doing these things I hope to be successful and eventually one day be able to support a family and I guess in a way still have better for them, but with them being able to find the American dream on their own.
When considering immigrants coming to America and them wanting to achieve the American dream more, or being more motivated to achieve this dream I would say that maybe it has to do with their perception of what they think America is; what they were taught in school, and things like that. I envy that, I feel in a lot of ways Americans have lost a lot of the motivation that they once had. possibly from all the technologies that are now around they make it easier to find the easy way out of a lot of different things.
Finally who is actually an American? I guess we don't really know. Yes one could say that it is Americans are those who are actually legally here, but I think anyone here trying to make a life for them is an American. Those who are trying to make a better life for themselves, their families, and honestly sometimes those who are not "Americans' are people who do a lot for society as a whole.
The idea that working hard is going to get you what you want and desire and is going to give your family a better life than the one that you had is one of those things that I would love to believe in. I know though that sometimes it is not that easy. Yes you need to be motivated in order for there to be a chance for that but with the way things are in the world today I think that it is hard sometimes. You don't have to be "American" to believe these things and want them, and I find it envious that people want to come to American or in general are motivated by the American Dream.

Being white and coming from the United States I have never really had to think about self identifying more than checking the little box that says "White Caucasian". Growing up whenever anyone asks me about my ethnic background I always just say "oh I am Italian" because I am fifty percent and I have grown up with my father's traditions that are completely Italian. We always have Sunday dinners and yes of course spaghetti is generally the meal, and for holidays and weddings there is always way too many cookies made that my Grandmother will spend weeks on. But in reality I am not just white, I am not just Italian, I am also part Indian, German, American Dutch, basically if I was a dog I would be considered a mutt. So basically in my opinion I don't really think that it is necessary to have to self identify for just that. Not that humans are dogs, but we don't feel the need to trace back the ancestry of a dog and ramble off a list of breeds when someone asks us about our dog. Self identity doesn't just have to do with race either it's always the way you identify yourself sexually, and whether or not you are religious and if so what religion, and then there is socioeconomic status, it just doesn't matter. And like Sam Richards has said "we are all just going to die anyway". Self identity even goes further than all of the things that cause stereotypes. You can self identity your self as a sibling, a husband, a wife, a daughter, there are some many things that are overlooked by so many people in the public and I guess that kind of makes me laugh because those are the things that are most important to me.