While I read this, I got extremely upset. People are afraid of what they don't understand, plain and simple as that. No one is fully male or fully female, we all have characteristics of both genders, and that is why it is called exactly that - gender. It’s the word sex that defines what we are, and that generally goes by how we feel we are, just like I feel I am female, and El’Jai defines himself as male. I’m glad that New Jersey has that policy against discrimination against factors like sex and race, because problems like this should not happen. Unless El’Jai was unable to complete the job successfully or there was an issue with the job he was doing, he should not have been fired – plain and simple. To me, I view this issue very much like I view a boss firing a guy doing the exact same job El’Jai was doing because the person doing the job was gay. In the end, it really comes down to what bathroom does El’Jai go into, if it’s the male bathroom, then hell he’s male. I really hope that justice is served in this case, and like he said he really needs the job.
It always amazes me that people always say “Oh, that person is racist”, and the issues that were fought over 200 years ago are still going on, and something that happened in the past century for women’s rights are still being fought. I can feel the next revolution is going to be the LGBT community. I honestly cannot wait for that revolution to happen, because I am sick of hearing slurs against them, and in cases like this, jobs being taken away because of something so little as a sex change. Stories like these are recently all over the Internet, the most recent being the picture of the little boy with neon pink toenails with his mother. I cannot see the issues of being gay, and especially those who are transgender who were honestly born that way and have absolutely no control over how they were born. It’s unfortunate the idiots like El’Jai’s boss cannot see past that.

As a mental health professional in training, this is one of the things that we talk about the most – returning veterans suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. Finding out this statistic however is shocking. It’s unfortunate because until a soldier exhibit symptoms for more than thirty days is it actually post traumatic stress disorder, until then it’s just acute stress disorder. Unfortunately there is no “magic pill” that can just make the recurring memories stop; it takes time and a lot of mental health counseling to get over it. I cannot think of a single soldier who has experienced trauma overseas that wants to come home and relive that same experience every single day.
One of the major reasons is also stigma. We have been talking in class of how the military brainwashes every single member into this one-way track of thinking, and one of the thoughts is that they are strong. To many soldiers, having a mental illness is a sign of weakness and they do not want to “shame the military” so they commit suicide. By not being around, they do not shame the military, and they would have rather died overseas.
It’s unfortunate, because over time and through talking with someone can overcome any mental illness. In my psychology class we watched a clip of George Carlin talking about how the word mental illness and post traumatic stress disorder has changed over the years from shell shock and morphed to post traumatic stress disorder. He said that the word itself changed the perspective of how people view it. By saying that a soldier has shell shock makes it seem okay as opposed to post traumatic stress disorder. Is it that the soldiers view the word describing what they have as more of a weakness than something like shell shock? I can completely believe it. Everyone is tortured in some way shape or form growing up for their clothes, body type, sexual preference, socioeconomic status, as well as others, why would people not be as cruel when it comes to a mental health disorder that they received from fighting for their country? They wouldn't.

This video speaks very strongly to me. I have several friends who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and to me, I just don’t care what they are; as long as they are friendly. This gentleman Zach is amazing to speak out like this. There is a lesbian couple a few houses away from me in my home town, and together they have three special education children that they have adopted. I have never seen a happier family. What Zach speaks is the truth, he was raised in a loving home, or so it seems, and he is highly intelligent. There are thousands of kids who are raised in homes with a mother and father, in the eyes of the government a “proper” home, where the child is beaten every single night for no reason. There are children in “proper” homes where they are neglected, ignored, and forced to be on their own, but two people who happen to be of the same gender cannot save that child from their horrible home life because the government does not deem it “proper”? I say that it is bull shit.
My one friend who is a lesbian said it perfectly, “Why do they have to call it gay rights? Are we not human too?” To the government, they made that choice to be gay because no one is born that way. Again I say bull shit. My favorite television show Glee, Kurt says that he doesn’t believe in God, because if there was a God, why would he make him gay so that everyone could pick on him. He goes on to say that he didn’t choose this life, that it was forced upon him.
If the government goes on to say that gay couples cannot marry because they cannot have children, they why do we have adoption or artificial insemination? It’s because women in heterosexual relationships sometimes have trouble conceiving too and look to the other two options in order to have kids. In the case of Zach, his two mothers opted for the latter to have a genetically related baby through artificial insemination. For two males raising a baby, they could always have a surrogate or adopt. If the family is loving and can care for the child it should not matter, but unfortunately, it does.

‘C’ starts off his letter about how he can’t relate, and how we only know what prison is like from television. I really think it is what is inside the walls of the prison that defines what prison is like. He makes it seem like every jail is like his, and that isn’t true. Rockview may only have those in for life and those for petty crimes. Pennsylvania is also not as gang ridden as New York, New Jersey and California just to name a few. The gang fights that break out in prisons do make good television and I do believe are less than one percent of jails around the world; they still exist.
Writing letters, phone calls and visits become scarce much like a college student going away from college. At first the distance can appear to be conquered by writing letters every day, very much like this inmate says. But eventually you find new friends closer to you, in this case other inmates – and people’s interests change. Whereas college students can talk about the latest knock off on American Idol, a person writing to an inmate could tell them about who got knocked off, but the inmate who cannot watch television cannot offer their opinion.
What he also says about how those inmates who are as he says assholes to their families are less likely to receive contact. That coincides with real life. No one wants to talk to an asshole, much less be friends with them or keep in contact with them while they are never going to get released from behind four walls. This prisoner, however, while contact may be far and few between still has contact with the outside world. He also appears to have come to terms with his sentence, and becomes a mentor with others who have similar personality characteristics as himself. He obviously has a good personality, and I will assume is only there because of something stupid done in childish behavior if teachers from high school are still keeping in contact after ten years you had to have done something right with your life.

I know this is kind of old, but this is something that I fight every day. I never liked the word, but after last semester, I sat in my first class as a Rehab and Human Services major and my professor asked my class, "How would you feel, if you had a hard time understanding aspects, being called 'special' by many, and then get called '*r-word' by a peer?" I hated even typing the word so I erased it, but that it is how the professor talked to us. One real story of this comes from my own high school where a special education teacher asked all of her students, "Are you all *r-word*?" I stopped dead in my tracks. Between those two instances, I have really become an advocate for this. I did sign a pledge to spread the word to end the word on March 3rd.
Whenever I make someone aware of the word that they have very often unknowingly used, I also relate it to, like the random guy on the street in the video, the n-word. No one who happens to have black skin wants to be called the n-word, and no one with down syndrome wants to be called the r-word . It seems today that a lot of respect is no longer given to anyone.
It is unfortunate however, in a world of political correctness, a lot of the mental illnesses like down syndrome are labeled as mental retardation. I never like to use any form of the word with any ending. I think that legislation needs to step in and change the wording, but I do not know which word would be better; mental impairment or mental disorder for example? As a mental health provider, when using the term mental retardation, we are not using it in a derogatory way, but how the law is telling us we must phrase it. It is unfortunate that there is this entire campaign to “spread the word to end the word” but legislation and mental health professionals are still using it alike. Until the word is wiped out of everyone’s vocabulary entirely the word will never be gone.

Wow, first off let me say that I commend M. for writing his story; it was clear that it was not easy to write. We talked about this specific case in class today, and even then I can imagine a 14-year-old boy, intimidated by the others to do what they said for fear of his own life. We can sit here and judge a man based upon what he should have, could have, and probably would have done now; but what done is done, a man is dead and he is in jail. How many times have we gotten into a fight with someone and then three hours later realize, “Oh I should have said this!” I think that is what M. felt. The difference being it was over the life of another person. Do I believe that M. should ever leave jail? No. We say now that we will never kill someone, but people’s tempers always get the best of them, and regrettable actions can occur in the heat of the moment – sometimes resulting in death.
On a happy note, it is good to hear that he and other lifers talked about in class today are learning from their mistakes. After so many years of my life hearing that prison does nothing for a person, it’s inspiring to hear that these lifers are trying to change the lives of those there for a short time. However, there is no knowing what happens to those in prison for a short time when they get out. Do they have a place to live, can they get a job, etc.?
My sincere hope is that they can pass on their wisdom not only to other prisoners, but also to students like us. These men are really turning their lives around as best they can while confined in a prison cell for the rest of their lives. Just knowing that they have regret, remorse and every other similar emotion, can hopefully give the family a little glimmer of hope that justice has been served. It’s too bad that this is not well known, and the assumption that jail does nothing positive for a person is still the typical stereotype.

Can I first just say that this video reminds me of home? Now, I will say I have always been taught not to talk to strangers. Always taught to go find a trusted adult or police officer. I come from a small town in New Jersey so it is quite easy to find a police officer. However, other places this isn’t true. Who can be counted as a “trusted” adult anymore? My mayor of my town was arrested two years ago for embezzling money, and his right hand man was arrested two weeks ago for a cocaine charge. These guys were the “trusted adults” I was supposed to go to when in trouble 15 years ago?
In this video, the “abduction” didn’t even happen, and even if it did, it was on video. If anything children are safer these days because of all the advanced security systems. I was talking to one mother who has a tracking device in her sons cell phone and know if he goes outside of a certain area without checking in. Soon tracking chips will be implanted in all humans and this issue will no longer be.
Until that time, parents need to lighten up on the issue of not talking to strangers. If they cannot get over it, add a clause to it saying that they can only talk to them during an emergency. I’m sure almost everyone in our classroom will help a child if they need help. Each classroom is a microcosm of the real world. If one person out of our class of about 375 would not help a child, I would still take those odds. 374 people would likely help a child – 99.733% of our class’ population would help a child, and this is just an assumption.
People need to stop living in fear. As it stands my older brother was afraid to leave me alone this past weekend for fear that someone might break in. After watching the news in New York where on average you hear about 20+ murders a night, it can be very scary. However, State College has been ranked one of the safest towns in the United States. This weekend, with all the drunkenness the risk goes up, but I still take that risk.

Reading this, I just had a completely broad range of emotions. I’m not a religious person, but I do believe in something. This poem shows how completely alone these prisoners really are inside those four walls. The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” comes to mind when I read this. The family of this prisoner doesn’t want to associate with them because they most likely see them as a disgrace to the family. Many past loves, best friends and such don’t want to associate with a lifer in prison, there is not much to do over the phone, and can get monotonous and boring when it comes to visiting. Knowing that your best friend who is in prison will never go out to the movies again with you, or just hang out with the guys watching the game pushes the person out of your life. This really shows that he is completely alone. Like was said in class, it’s either sit in a room and go nuts or find God. While I personally do not believe in a specific religion since my original religion is completely corrupt, the first thing I will do when I need something is pray. To this prisoner, right now his best and only friend is God, and that is enough for him to survive.
Reading this makes you really appreciate every family member and friend that you have, despite how annoying they might be to you because they might not be there one day. It also begs to question how loyal your friends and family actually are to you. It is obvious that his wife has left him since she hasn’t visited in forever. If the one person outside the family that you are born with that you believe really and truly loves you abandons you, I would turn to God to. Although the conversations can generally be a bit one sided, at least it can help you not feel well and truly alone in this world, outside of a possibly monthly meeting from your mother, who will most likely pass before the sentence is complete.

I remember my brother talking about this over five years ago in a hotel that he wanted to face the corner of the elevator just to make people feel awkward. That is why everyone generally conforms; they don’t want to feel uncomfortable. Personally if I had three strangers facing me, with their backs to the door, I would probably put my head on the back of the wall, close my eyes, and ask myself what is wrong with these people. This could be for a multitude of things, one being growing up around the New York area where I run into crazy people all the time. However, the invisible strings have shaped all of us to know that you never put your back to an elevator door – unless you are the last one in and need to squeeze and can’t turn around.
I guess you could call me the rebel. While watching the video today in class of the test of the lines, I would probably have answered correctly and said to myself that everyone else is stupid. But then again, I’m looking from the outside in and what I would want to do and what I would actually do are two different things. But what I want to do I guess it’s just part of being strong headed and stubborn. It would take a lot more to get me to conform than just a few people saying the wrong answers. The last guy in the video that literally turned every which way with everyone else, and even went as far as to remove his hat appalled me. Despite being stubborn, I can see turning as to not feel the awkwardness we would experience, but who cares if you wear a hat?!
This also ties into our discussion of freedom. If someone did decide to face the “wrong way” in an elevator that is his or her choice, but it goes against our social etiquettes. Therefore the choice is not free, he or she will be filled with ridicule for their decision. So then is the person the conforms free, is the person that actually initiates it free, or are neither free?

Wow. Reading that really makes you realize how many things in life we take for granted. I found it interesting that he misses the sounds of sirens – something I hate because my bedroom in New Jersey is right behind a highway and it wakes me up. It calls me back to a classroom discussion in a different class about not using your cell phones. These five girls went crazy about not being able to use it. At first I saw it as a common courtesy to the professor, but now I see it as removing your freedoms as a person, even if it is just for three hours a week. I think I’m going to cause some hell in a class that doesn’t allow computers.
I found it moving how he said that the greatest choice anyone can make in life is being the person I want to be. Yet at the same time, we talk in class about all of these invisible strings that make us who we are. It calls to question if we are really who we want to be, or is it just the best we can be by what the invisible strings allow us to become. I think that for a lifer, he has more invisible strings than anyone because it was those strings that put him where he is today. Many of the strings may be detaching because he is in a confined space, not touching the outside world – a place that defines who we can and cannot be.
It is clear that he has learned from when he was committed at 18 years of age. Yet, he will never be free from those four walls of his cell. Some college students call their dorm room a “cell”. We are free to decorate it as we please, and leave it when we please. We have no set times when we need to be back in it, or when we can leave the room. It is clear that what he said was true, we view freedom like we view wallpaper – it’s there, but we just don’t notice it.