I think the biggest lesson that I have learned from this class is that it is okay to be at every stage on the racial spectrum. For me personally, I used to feel incredibly uncomfortable with racial conversations because I was not confident in the place that I was on the spectrum and was always trying to get to the next level. I think it is extremely important to realize that each stage has its merit and it is a learning process for everyone. I really think that this class, combined with my prior travel experience, have helped me progress. Even though I am not really sure which stage I am at and I do not really think that we can all neatly fit into the different stages, I do think that recognizing that these stages exist is crucial.

When I got back from traveling this summer (particularly from East Africa), I was constantly thinking about race and feeling really overwhelmed, anxious, and guilty about it. It is probably because this was the first time in my life where I was a total minority for such an extended period of time. When I walked down the street, people yelled “mzungu” at me, which means white person. Most of the time, it was a friendly comment and not in any way derogatory. But I was constantly thinking about, so much more than ever before. When I came back, every time I saw a black person, I would wonder what their ethnicity was and where they were from. I would want to ask but usually I would not in fear of both me feeling uncomfortable and of them feeling uncomfortable. It is this fear that often makes white people take the “let’s forget race exists” stance and it is sad that is the case. There are so many things I could have learned by asking people where they are from and learning about their ethnicity. As the semester progressed, I have found myself feeling more and more comfortable asking people these kinds of things because I am genuinely interested in learning about it. And that goes for all races. I recently spent time in Vietnam and Cambodia so I am interested when I meet a person who looks like they could be Vietnamese or Cambodian to know if they really are. I never really thought that my travel experiences would lead to a whole different way of thinking about race. And honestly, I do not think I would have put the pieces together (or at least not so soon) if I was not in this class where I was forced to really think about and evaluate my feelings on race and race conversations. I am so excited to continue traveling the globe and learning more and more about other cultures. But I am also excited to be able to have conversations about ethnicity and culture with people here at home as well!

I am not sure empowered is exactly the right word but this lecture definitely made me feel different about talking to a partner about these topics. While I am currently not in a relationship, when I have been in the past, I found it very difficult to talk openly about pleasure and the differences between what he wants and what I want. This lecture made it so clear, and honestly it now seems so obvious, how different the male centered world is from the female centered world. And far too often, relationships function in the male centered world because that is what we are taught is right. We see it in movies, commercials, TV shows, we learn it from our friends’ relationships and what we see on the internet.

I thought the part where Sam said that basically everything that we learn and that guys want is from porn – with porn being broadly defined and much more inclusive than just what first comes to mind. The movie industry was, at least originally, entirely male dominated and our media, our world really, has been shaped by the wants and the needs of men. It is incredible to examine the power differences between men and women on this level because it alters the opinion of society in general.

It is so surprising to me that this is the first time that my eyes were truly opened to how male dominated our world is and how different the sexual process is for men and women. I had always thought that it seemed like men were much more eager to have sex, but I never really thought about the fact that their bodies were much more eager to have sex. I think this is a crucial, extremely important lesson to understand. There have been many situations where I have been left feeling uncomfortable or even ashamed because I wasn’t really “ready to go” on the spot. I wish that all guys could sit through this lecture and really take it to heart because it would make things better not just for the girls but also for them. So many relationship problems and misunderstandings are rooted in the differences between the male and female bodies and how male dominated our world has become.

I wonder if things will ever really change. It seems to me that the male dominated world is sort of the way it has always been and it does not seem like people really understand the problem. If 75% of women are not orgasming during sex on a regular basis, that is a problem. That is a huge problem. It means that our society is doing something wrong. But also, the fact that men think their partners are orgasming when they aren’t means the problem is even greater than we originally realized because women are too ashamed, scared, embarrassed, etc to share with men what they are actually experiencing.

I have sort of been going through the same process that Sam put us through during class on Thursday throughout the whole semester in SOC 297C. In that class, we try to put ourselves in the shoes of our partners from Gaza and people from Israel. We try to compassionate and we try to empathize. But what I have learned from this class is that being empathic is hard. It is so much harder than living in a world where ignorance is bliss. I have my own problems, stresses and worries; I have so many other things on my plate. There is so much going on in my own bubble that if I have to hurt and feel for others, it is a lot to shoulder at one time. But I try every day to understand how it feels to be an Israeli whose only dream is peace for their country or a citizen of Gaza whose electricity is randomly shut off for eight hours. I read many different news sources, watch documentaries, and talk with my friends around the globe about what is happening. With this comes emotions I had never really felt in this capacity: anger, sadness, hurt and disbelief.

I also think that my empathy for those who I have come to know and come to love has really skewed my perspective on the conflict. I am constantly thinking about Gaza because I have friends there. I have much less sympathy, much less empathy, for those living in Israel because the conflict does not hit home as hard for me there as it does in Gaza.

I think the biggest challenge though is that I literally feel like I am walking around with a big raincloud over my head as I am so strongly empathizing with my Gazan friends. This is so much more than a conflict…it is the reality for millions of people. Their lives are at stake and I fee it. I feel the raw emotion that they feel. I am scared, worried, saddened and hurting for them.

As I look to my future, the ability to practice and embrace empathy is a skill that is truly unmatched. If I can find the strength to put myself in the position of others through education and dialogue, I will begin to look at the world in a new way. It is not so much about Israel versus Gaza, it is about human beings and how their lives are impacted. It is about all the conflicts, problems, and tragedies that are happening around the world. This is going to be a lifelong transition and one that will not only be challenging but painful and shocking. But in the end, I think it will be worth my time, my heartache, and my tears because it will make me a stronger, more aware global citizen.

In all honesty, I had never really thought about why people would find comfort in thinking that others would choose to be gay. I always thought of it as an extremely ignorant position held by only religious persons. I never really tried to put myself in their shoes and understand the reasoning behind it. When I think about the people in my life that I know that believe that homosexuality is a choice (I actually do not even know that many people who hold such a belief or at least that share such a belief with me), more often than not they are people who grew up in religious households. Most of them are Mormon. If you think about this question from a Mormon’s perspective it is a completely different question. For example, you started going to church every Sunday for four hours before you can even remember. You grew up hearing in church that not only was homosexuality weird, but it was also wrong. Anytime being gay is addressed in church or in your household, it is deemed unnatural and wrong.

When I think about being raised in a situation like this, I have an easier time understanding why people grow up thinking that others choose to be gay. In their minds, it is such a terrible sin and it goes against the Bible, so it must not be something that people are born to do but rather something that sinners choose to subject themselves to. Fine. In an extremely religious situation like this, I can begin to understand where they are coming from. In my opinion, it is about brainwashing more than anything.

But for someone who was not brainwashed to believe this in their religion, I am not entirely sure why anyone would actually believe that people would subject themselves to the harassment, bullying, and judgment that comes along with being gay. Maybe by believing that people choose it, it makes it easier to “blame” them for doing something you do not agree with. It is their fault that they are gay, weird, unnatural. They chose that life. But honestly…in this day and age, I do not understand how anyone in their right mind could actually believe that. Teenagers commit suicide all the time because of the torment they face every day because they are gay. Rights are denied and dirty looks (at the least) are given every day when you walk down the street with your significant other. Why would anyone choose to subject themselves to such torture and ridicule?

It’s honesty time for religious persons to get over themselves and realize that being gay is just as natural as being straight. Just because you may not be homosexual (or at least you tell yourself that you are not) does not mean that other people are born a little more gay than you are. Sam had mentioned that he thinks all people are a little bit gay and I strongly agree. I think those who find comfort in believing that they can choose whether or not to be gay just might be trying to choose not to be gay themselves.

I definitely think that contact is essential to gain a better understanding of a different culture. I recently volunteered at Centre Peace, which is a consignment store that refurbishes furniture. There are five prisoners who work there 6-days a week and also go through special classes/trainings/etc. Prior to this experience, my past interaction with offenders was basically zero. I do not have any family members who are in jail or who have been in jail. None of my close friends have family members who are in jail, nor have any of them been caught doing anything worse than underage drinking. Because of this limited contact, I definitely stereotyped all persons in jail. The image the popped into my head, prior to this contact, was a creepy middle-aged man with lots of tattoos when I thought of criminals. I thought of people who were mentally ill in some way, who had really fucked up in life, people that I would consider our country better off with them behind bars. Then, at Centre Peace, I saw a few people who were really in jail. They looked like they could be my older brother, my friend, or my uncle. They were so normal looking. I started thinking about how maybe they just screwed up once when they were young or they do a lot of the same illegal things that I consider to be no big deal, but were unlucky and got caught. I started to think of them as individuals rather than as a group. I think this is an absolutely crucial experience and it really opened my eyes to the population.

I am also in SOC 297C this semester, the International Dialogues course where we get to Skype with students in Gaza on Tuesdays and people in Israel on Thursdays. This class has allowed me to come into contact with other cultures, religions, and populations while remaining right here at Penn State. I learn about the Muslim holidays and the Israeli army. I learn about how Palestinians really feel and how diverse the opinions of Israelis really are. The Israel – Palestine conflict is one that most people in the United States have a pretty strong opinion about but it seems like most people also have very limited knowledge of the subject matter. Before coming into this class, I blindly supported the Jews in Israel because I am of Jewish heritage. Now, I am able to look at the conflict through a much more well-rounded lens and begin to truly explore the different ideas and opinions of others.

I strongly believe that in the context of race, the best way for us to overcome our challenges is to be able to increase our opportunities for contact with people who are different than we are. These experiences, with an open mind, can be extremely transformative. If we could all have the opportunity to interact on a personal level with people who are different than we are, I think people would begin to realize that people really are just people and that in the end we should all be treated the same.

I have seen several videos like this and I really think they are fascinating. First of all, it is incredible to see how few people even said anything to the white guy. And then when they did say something and he basically explained that he was stealing a bike, basically everyone just let him do it and didn’t say anything else. I wondered what I would do in this situation. I think as a female, I would not really feel comfortable approaching anyone who could potentially be stealing anything. If I was with other people, I assume that I would be more likely to stop and ask what was going on. Truth be told though, I didn’t really think the white guy looked very “sketchy” in the film. Maybe this is because of my pre-conceived notions about the criminality of different races or maybe just because of the way he was dressed and or interacted with the individuals. If I was alone, I would probably feel even more uncomfortable approaching the black guy to ask if he was stealing and I am not entirely sure why that is—although it is safe to assume that I have pre-conceived notions about his race being criminals and also would be a little bit scared of being considered a racist. I even think that if I was alone I would not approach the girl stealing the bike either. What I might do in any of the above situations is try to find someone (namely a man) to ask if they thought they were stealing the bicycle and then approach them.

But WHY did so many more people stop and question the black guy? I think it has a lot to do with the portrayal of blacks (and really of all people of color) in our media. In many movies, if there is theft, it is a black guy doing it. We consistently see on the news that this black guy committed a crime or this Mexican guy committed a crime. I think this is somewhat institutional as people of color are more likely, in the United States, to be caught doing a crime—even though they are not more likely than whites to actually commit the crime.

When thinking about dialogue, I think the media’s portrayal could also come into play. Women are rarely shown committing theft, except petty theft such as shoplifting clothes at the mall. You rarely hear about girls stealing bikes or cars or purses. I probably would have thought to help the girl trying to steal the bike (not knowing she was stealing it of course) rather than question whether or not it was her bike. This is an extremely interesting video because it makes me think about the stereotypes that I would hold true in these instances and where they actually come from.

I definitely also noticed that no one in class wanted to say that they were rich. For me, I was not surprised by this in any sense, because I myself did not want to say it. I felt sort of uncomfortable and didn’t really want to share with the whole class that I was well off. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, I share with groups of people that I am in the upper-middle class, and probably used to be in the upper class but I don’t always feel comfortable doing so.

A few years ago, my family was in a very affluent situation as the housing bubble had yet to pop and my parents, who worked in the home-building industry, had salaries that were at their peaks. During that time, I was not aware at how high my parents salaries used to be, but since the bubble has certainly burst, my mom was unemployed for two years and my dad had to switch jobs, my parents shared some of that information with me. It makes sense to me that I would not want to share with 700 people the information that my parents hesitantly and only recently shared with me. I am not really sure why it is different than any other similar defining characteristic, but I think the main thing is that I don’t want to be defined by my parents’ wealth.

I think I am very different that most stereotypical upper-class individuals and I am proud that people would not traditionally assume I am well off after getting to know me. I don’t think I really dress in a way in which it is obvious—my clothes are not designer and I actually almost always only buy things that are on sale. My future aspirations are not to be filthy rich, but rather live a modest life in which I can support my family and myself. I am planning to work for a non-profit organization so I don’t anticipate having the same level of wealth as my parents currently do. For my parents (and my mom in particular) it is really hard for them to understand why I don’t care as much about wealth as they do. My mom is obsessed with money and it seems like she values it more than anything else. For that reason, I feel like I have purposely taken a different track with different values, hopes and aspirations.

I wonder if people who are in the lower class feel a different type of embarrassment about their financial standing as I did. People make assumptions about others on both extremes so I think it would be really interesting to talk about this as it would likely be something we could find similarities in despite our differences. I do think that this embarrassment or hesitance to share this information definitely has to do with the perception that talking about your family’s financial position has been given by society. Just as society has said that it is bad or personal to talk about periods in public, I think the same holds true for financial standing. I really wish that our society didn’t make things like this so awkward to talk about because there is so much to learn from dialogue and from feeling comfortable sharing your opinions. Society has made many different topics feel like they are “off-limits” and I am really glad that this class has helped me question why this occurs and start feeling more comfortable talking about just about everything.

The responses to this question during class were really interesting to listen to because as an affluent white individual, I wondered what I would have said in front of a class of 700 people. It is really hard to explain why you are more affluent than someone just because of the skin you were born into.

The root of my response would certainly be education. I took a course on Educational Public Policy and it completed altered the way that I would answer this question. I strongly believe that education level causes income disparity more than almost any other factor.

In the United States, there is such a huge disparity between the qualities of our schools. I grew up in a very affluent town outside of San Francisco that is known to have an excellent school system. We had over 30 AP classes that we could take and the rigor of our classes was extremely preparatory for college. The graduation rate was almost 100% and 98% of graduates were planning to attend a two-year or four-year college. Our school was probably 60% white, 30% Asian, and 9% Mexican. We could literally count the number of black students in our yearbook on our fingers. Once, I actually did. We had tons of extracurricular activities and our funding was such that we didn’t depend on our standardized testing money for anything, so we spend approximately 20 minutes preparing for the STAR test.

I live approximately 15 miles from Oakland, California, which is notorious for having some of the poorest, urban schools in the United States. If a child happens to be born into a family that lives in Oakland instead of my town, their school life will be so incredibly different. On top of that, their personal life will also be different, as there is a constant threat of gang violence and other danger when you live in Oakland. The financial situation would probably be different as well—maybe having to work a job or look after siblings while a parent worked. This means that there would be less time to commit to schoolwork. The teachers in schools that have bad reputations often do not want to be there or are new teachers hoping to leave. This leads to a lack of motivation and inspiration. Also, college is often outrageously expensive and seemingly out of reach.

It is really hard to explain the discrepancies in school until you start talking about specific examples that really portray the different experiences that people have. I really believe that education has such an intense impact on an individual and how they grow up, what they want to do with their lives, and who they want to become. I strongly believe that if we can find a way to fix education system, many of the problems of income disparity will be minimized.

I am so glad that I watched this video because it seems like it is a story that all too often goes untold. It is disgusting and embarrassing that this type of thing happens in the United States. We are supposed to be an ethical country yet we allow things like this to continue to happen over and over again. I have heard mentions of this type of torture happening in Guantanamo Bay many times, but in all honesty, I simply have not committed enough time to really delve into it and figure out the truth. Maybe this is partially because I do not want to know the truth because it would make me sick.

While watching this, I was cringing as I thought of his family and friends that are at home. I was disgusted as I remembered that they were probably counting on him financially to support them. Did they even get a chance to say goodbye or was he just taken from them without question? I have so many questions and worries and thoughts that make me feel so ashamed that these are Americans doing this.

Coming home from an experience like this would be so traumatic. Five years went by while you were being harassed in a jail cell—if you were even lucky enough to have one of those. How does one go back to their family like that as if things are normal? How do you re-integrate into your family, community, etc?

The message that this type of torture, that is deemed acceptable by the United States government, sends to the world is despicable. We try so hard, with our media and everything else, to make Middle Easterners appear as the bad guy. When someone returns to their home country and tells others about the torture that they faced overseas, it’s not just the media trying to portray a negative image. It’s our country doing something that is so ugly, so hateful and so ridiculous that it makes me ashamed to be a citizen of this country.

Torture for information is an extremely interesting topic to me because it seems as if occasionally it may be a way to protect the safety of individuals. I really do not know what my opinions on this are because so many lives could be at stake. Yet I find it extremely difficult to ever rationalize hurting a single human being for the sake of one other individual. People often ask the question—would you be able to push someone else in front of a train in order to save all the people on the train. I physically do not know if I could do that but by not doing it I would be equally guilty.

When I initially read the post that Sam posted, my initial thought was “that’s fucked up”. It didn’t matter to me who it was against or which country was saying it, it just seemed like it was just the opinion of one extremely ignorant, judgmental individual. When Sam told us to talk about the questions with the people sitting next to us, I was shocked by the response of the girl who I was talking to. She perceived that this was the opinions of all the people living in that country, simply because this was a governmental employee who seemed to be representing the country. While I usually try not to judge people for their opinions, I couldn’t help but tell her how ignorant that idea was. I think I actually compared it to the United States and said that there is no way that everyone in the United States believes what our politicians believe, say, or think.

When Sam then told us that it was actually the United States religious adviser who said that quote, my opinions of the individual who was saying it remained the same. I really can’t believe that we even have a religious adviser in the United States—that goes so against what I believe should be the foundation of our government. I strongly believe in the separation of church and state so the fact that my tax-payer dollars are going toward paying someone to be a religious adviser, especially someone who is so prejudice and ignorant, makes me sick. But even more than that, just the fact that that is the type of person who was advising the president of our nation is absolutely ridiculous.

I have spent a lot of time traveling in the past few years and have become extremely cynical of the United States in general but of our government in particular. Seeing quotes like this make me even more of a cynic. In all honesty, it makes me ashamed to be an American when these are type of leaders we have—ones that select such judgmental individuals to be their advisors. We already have such ignorance about Middle Eastern countries and Islamic people in general and having people in power say quotes like this instills even more ignorance and fear in the United States people. But also, it is just so violent and so not the solution to any problem that might exist. Saying that we should destroy an entire religion is no better than Hitler. We live in modern day America where solutions should come in peaceful actions and this is purely hateful and violent speech that should not be tolerated and certainly should be given as advice to the President of the United States.