The Color Of Fear

     The movie “Color of Fear” was great. I credit the person who came up with the idea to have people of different races in the same room. The reason why this is such an ingenious idea is because now that you have Blacks, Asians, Latinos, and Whites all in the same room, they can discuss their perspective on racism and how it affects their life. The main argument or the one I feel stood out the most was the one between the “angry black man” and the white man who was clueless about racism. The black man was infuriated. Not in a lethal way but in a “tired” way. In other words he was upset because the white man was not understanding him, and was acting like black people didn't have the position they wanted in life because they didn't work hard enough. Just by him inferring that more than likely set the black man off as it would I if I was in that situation. This is why I relate myself to the “angry black man”. 

     I would categorize myself along with the angry black man because I am very much like him when it comes to topics like this. I tend to get infuriated when somebody doesn't understand me and even more angry when somebody tries to explain something they don't understand. In other words I would have reacted the same as the black man. If you don't understand where I'm coming from when I'm explaining something, please don't make it seem like you do. The white man acted as if he knew what black people went through on a daily basis but in reality he was oblivious to the whole thing. If you don't understand then I will try to explain it even more. The white man acted like he understood but interpret it for something it wasn't (not working hard). I don't think the black man was at fault for reacting in a loud tone it's very frustrating trying to explain something to someone that hasn't experienced what you are explaining.

     To conclude, the white man did end up letting down his guard and actually listen to the people of different races and I truly believe he understood where they were coming from. At the end of the day that's the main goal, you can't end racism at one time, but if you open up one persons mind that will continue on to other people in his family and so on and so forth. Then racism will reduce in the world.

Transgender - Daqwan Moore

Throughout all of the discussions we have had in class with all different types of identities this one was the less informative but yet the most interesting to me. It made me think and question whether I really even knew what a transgender person was, even after Brianna had told us what makes a person transgender. For example, she said a transgender person can just wear pink and not change any of their body parts and identify as a transgender person. So while I was sitting there I thought it through and began to come to the conclusion that a transgender could just identify as gay, and ended up questioning myself to why they had to be transgender because it's nothing different, unless you change your physical vitals, but Brianna said not every transgender changes that. Then, she went on to say that to be transgender is something you don't choose, and you know if you're a transgender as soon as you figure out what a transgender is. There's this love commercial that comes on tv a lot and it shows all different types of people and it's about love and accepting everyone. In the commercial it said, "I couldn't change even if I wanted to." When Brianna told us it wasn't a choice... I disagreed right off the bat. I thought being transgender was a person coming into the world and wanting to totally change all their physical vitals and to the opposite sex and wanting to wear clothes of the opposites sex etc. But I started to think harder and harder, so I said to myself, well I am not a transgender so I may not be able to feel it out or think it through unless I actually go through that type of experience because Brianna said she realized because the clothes she wore just didn't feel right and that she just wasn't happy etc. 

Transgender Issues

The most I learned from our class discussion was the different terms related to Trans. I didn't know that trans could be used to describe people that don't necessarily fit gender rolls. For example a man that likes to cook and where pink could be considered trans. I always thought trans reffered to a male or female that wanted to be the opposite sex. But that's not always the case. Transvestites are similar to drag queens in that they both dress as the opposite sex. So someone like Dennis Rodman would fit into this category. However I learned the biggest distinction is between transgender and transexual. A transexual is someone who actually lives their life as the opposite sex. They are people like Brianna who not only try to look like women but also take hormones to physically change their features. The most interesting thing I learned was about the term tranny. I always thought tranny was the name to associate these people with but in reality it's a derogatory term. It's like calling gay people faggots or black people niggers. Now that I know this I'm going to try to stop using that term when reffering to trans people.

Crash

The movie we watched in class (Crash) was very informative. Throughout the movie i saw many different examples of prejudice, stereotypes, sexism, racism, etc. The movie starts with off with stereotypes. The first and most noticeable, when the two black males rob the white couple. It was confusing to me watching this scene though. The two black males were walking, coming from a dinner and were talking about how the waitress was being racist towards him because of his skin color. While talking about that he noticed the women of the white couple hug up on her husband. He interpreted this as a sign of prejudice because the women saw the two black males so she hugged up on her husband for protection. With that being said, as i was watching this seemed i assumed that the two black males were genuine and were just noticing how they were perceived in society. Turns out all the stereotypes and racism they recieved happen to be correct. The two black males ended up pulling out their weapons and robbing the couple of there car.

Later in the movie another stereotype comes into play, the stereotype that all hispanics are criminals. The white lady of the couple again pre judges somebody based off of their looks. Admittedly the man who was fixing the couple's door did look a bit off the edge, but that's no way treat somebody just because of their appearance. Turned out the hispanic overheard the conversation the woman was having with her husband and gave them back their keys because the women thought he would rob her. Throughout the movie you realize the judgements made about the hispanic were false and he ends up being a great man and father.

Fear, racial tensions, and anger are all present throughout this movie. Personally i feel like they all are related and cause and effects of each other. The fear of the other race and what they are capable of brings anger because you are unaware of what they can do. Then racial tensions come because you fear that race and are angry towards them so there is always a tension between you and them. Thus leading to racist remarks and pre judging people.

To conclude, this movie was great. It surpassed what i thought it was going to be. With all the different examples of racism, stereotypes, prejudice, etc it really challenged me to think about how i am in society. How others perceive me and how i judge others. I identify as black and that may come with its stereotypes, but i will work to prove those stereotypes wrong, and i will try not to judge others based off of second hand information.

Transgenders In Society

In our discussion last Friday, I learned a lot of topics that no one has ever mentioned to me. I got to meet a trans woman and got to ask her questions. At first, I was very skeptical about meeting Brianna. However, she was surprisingly very open about he decision to change. She talked about her life prior and post her transitioning process. She knew at a very young age that being a boy did not feel right. There have been debates about if the person knows they want a gender change when they are born or if it's how they are raised. After what she said, I believe it is determined when a person is finally becoming an adult. We also talked a lot about language with transgenders. I learned that saying 'Tranny' is offensive to transgenders. It is like calling a Caucasian person a 'Cracker' or a Hispanic person a 'Spic'. Other terms we learned were Trans, Transgender, Transexual. Transvestite, and Drag Queens. Drag Queens and Transvestites are like the same thing but Drag Queens often dress like the other gender for entertainment. Transgenders challenge the gender normalities, but they actually do not change their gender. But a Transsexual is a person who physically changes their gender. Finally, I enjoyed actually having a discussion with a trans person because I also learned to respect the sacrifices they have made in order to do something that they want. I have met a trans people before but never talked to them with a personal subject like this. This was a great experience and I actually explained to my aunts about the differences this weekend. This discussion has already had a major impact on my life.

transgender

I'm not going to lie I was uncomfortable the whole time. But during the class conversation I made sure to listen. Once I got home I began to think about all the problems they have. I learned that even though I don't agree with the lifestyle I should try to accept it. Even if I think of it as a sin what makes that worse than lying, cheating, or stealing. On a daily basis we accept people who do things to hurt others but make life hard for LGBT people. I was not shock to hear about the killings with transgender people in relationships. I would say it was the fault of the transgender person but I see now that was a dangerous way of thinking. When she said that she had little connection with her family it made me think was it really worth it. She said she was also happy with her life now. Her transformation was very important to her. I also learned about the differences between transgender, tranny, dragqueen, transexual, and transvestite. I thought they were all the same. Transgender people who have shown much characteristic of the opposite gender without actually doing surgery. Tranny is an insult to them, I did not know this I thought it was an okay term. Drag Queen in someone who dresses up like the opposite sex but for entertainment purposes. Transvestite is the same thing as drag queen but is more for personal reasoning than for entertainment.Trans go through so much and we all need to learn how to accept them.                  

Transgender Blog

After this class I came to the realization of a lot of things. I never really payed attention to the transgenders in my everyday life because I am not personally close to any that I know of. Therefore, the struggles that they go through never cross my mind. We did something very similar with females and gay or queer males. So i already knew i was going to be shocked as to what Brianna had to say. And i have to say that the one thing that really surprised me, were the prices Brianna was telling the class about to have the things she needed and how none of it was covered because being a transgender is not a popular thing in today’s society. It is frowned upon even by doctors. So when a transgender tries to go seek help, sometimes going to a doctor isn’t even the right place to go. When i saw Brianna and was in a discussion with her, it opened my eyes to show that trans people aren’t any different than any other straight male or straight female. They were just born in the wrong body and they are living life the way they feel is right and i believe Brianna portrays that great.

Transgender Discussion

The discussion last Friday was really good and memorable. I never expected her to look like that. I expected her to look more like a man or at least be able to tell the difference but I wasn't. It was interesting to hear that she did not opt in to getting surgery to have anything removed but instead took pills. I didn't believe that it took that much to change genders; things such as therapy, monthly hormone pills, and simply strength. She told of how her family just like loss contact and communication with her. It was different than any other conversation that we had.

Thoughts on Transgenders

     Throughout the class i felt weird about the presence of the trans man. I wasn't uncomfortable with his presence but i was just a bit confused. I didn't understand the thought process behind changing your gender. The trans was speaking about how he wasn't comfortable with himself. What would that even feel like? I can understand being gay but why change your whole gender? 
     The trans we met seemed not to experience many difficulties coming his way. It seemed as if everyone hes came in contact with (if they knew them) were "ok" with it. I try to put myself in that position, would i be accepting if one of my closest friends changed his gender? Would i stay in contact with him and continue our friendship? Personally i don't think i would. I don't have a problem with them but for a trans to be in my personal life is a bit too unnatural for me. To conclude im not racist against them and im sure it takes a lot of bravery and determination to do that, but i feel like its the extreme to change your gender. 

Transgender Discussion

      The discussion really taught me a lot about the transsexual community. Common questions that I have about how their everyday life is different and how they deal with the fact that they know their different were answered. I realized that being transsexual is not something that someone chooses to be the same way one does not choose to be LGBT. This is something that they are born knowing. Our guest speaker told us that she knew she was not fit to be a man when she was around the age of 3. I also learned about terms that we thought were acceptable but really weren't and why. The discussion really enlightened me to the fact that there are different people around the world and that people do not choose what they want to be the same way we chose to be a man and straight. The feelings that people have about their identity is a mix of environment and  innate beliefs.

Transgender Discussion

In our discussion last Friday I learned a whole lot. I got to meet a trans women and got to ask her questions. She talked about her life before and after she went through the transitioning process. She knew from birth that being a boy did not feel right for her. This answers questions I have about when or how do you know if you like the same sex or want to be a different sex. There have been debates about if the person knows this stuff when they are born or if it is how they are raised to think like that. After what she said and other LGBT people I know, I believe it is known before birth and not raised into that behavior or mindset. We also talked a lot about language with transgenders. I learned that saying 'Tranny' is offensive to trans-genders. Other terms we learned were Trans, Transgender, Tran sexual. Transvestite, and Drag Queens. Drag Queens and Transvestites are like the same thing but Drag Queens often dress like the other gender for entertainment. Transgenders challenge the gender norms not actually changing genders. But a Trans sexual is a person who physically changed genders. To end things off, I enjoyed actually talking with a trans person. I have met a trans people before but never talked to them with a personal subject like this. This was a great experience and can not wait to use this knowledge later in life.

Transgender issues

We all met Brianna and she was open to talk and educate the class on issues that seemed to go unseen, overlooked or ignored by many. While we fired a huge variety of questions at her we always received an answer, but all of her  answers had a reoccurring theme- "it's not easy". We all seem to overlook the issues that people face while uncomfortable in their heavenly or naturally  given body (which ever you may be comfortable with). Issues of bullying, being lost (in ones own mind due to lack of identity), rejection of your loved ones and the constant threats of brutality and hurt. She was able to shed light to the many unspoken questions of "does the change of the body hurt?" to "how is the process of applying for jobs?" She was very articulate and very generous in sharing her personal life and experiences despite it being so personal and drastic. She was able to keep us on our toes about  our actions, words and thoughts. everyone deserves at least the human dignity of being treated as just that- human.

Language was also mentioned. It helped to clear our ignorance of trans and how they should be treated with respect and treated fairly with a watchful choice of words rather than the insulting words such as "tranny" or "it". There's also more to transpeople than being "gay" but there's actual physical changes that classifies them as trans as opposed to drag queens (who are mostly for entertainment purposes) ,cross dressers and transsexuals (who just push or challenge the societal norms of genders).

Class discussion #3 (transgender)

During this class discussion, I didn't really learn anything specific about transgender people but I realized how hard it is for them to live a regular life because people are so prejudice against them.  I have to assume that the cost of being a transgender is expensive due to all of the hormones and treatments that are needed.  What I really got from all of the discussions we had in class is that they all are connected in many different ways. therefore our problems aren't really different at all.  I think the world's problem is that we consider our differences as a difference.  What I'm saying is instead of our differences being considered different, we should consider it to be unique.  

Geoffrey Ofori-Dwomfuo
Diversity & Social Justice
Glenn Cassidy

Today, my fellow mates and I had the opportunity to be in the presence of a transgendered woman who was willing to share with us her experience as a transgendered woman. I was astonished by her appearance and had no hint of her once being a male. She was well dressed and looked like a very decent lady. She introduced herself as Brianna and hesitated to share her birth name with us for she believed it is connected to her past life. At a young age, Brianna knew being a male wasn't what she wanted. She dressed and behaved like a female though she liked to play video games which has been associated with muscularity by the society.
As she grew older, she began to realize what was really wrong with her identity. She had an identity which wasn't of her choice but rather imposed on her by the society. At age twenty-one, Brianna decided to permanently switch her gender to one which she felt most comfortable. At that moment, she made it known to her environment that she was no longer the person they wanted her to be. Her very religious family didn't like the pathway Brianna decided to take therefore leaving her to be on her own.
As an independent young lady, Brianna needed to get a job in order to make money so she could earn a living. Unfortunately for Brianna, finding a job with a decent salary wasn't going to be easy for her since she was seen as a different human. There were times when she was treated and welcomed with warm arms until they realized she was trans and began to shun her. There were also people who saw her as a homosexuality even though she wasn't. In order to earn a living, Brianna joined the drag queens who accepted her as who she is because being trans among them seemed to be quite normal. Though it pays very little, Brianna doesn't mind because she feels at ease with the environment. She also believes that life would be more easy if people accepted the real gender they desired. She believes it would gradually lead to the acceptance of transgendered people by the society.

Transgender Discussion. Blog post #8

From what I learned from the class discussion about transgenders is that people in this group probably have it the hardest in this world. I know that because people are now becoming more accepting of gay couples or gay people but not that much. Being transgender is a whole new thing and has been made to be viewed as a person not knowing who they are. I learned that transgender people don't exactly understand there feelings at first and it takes time for them to really know who they are. It did feel weird seeing a transgender up close but at the same time it was exciting because it was my first experience and to be able to hear her point of view on being a transgender was truly a humbling experience. I'd never understand what she may go through on a daily basis, but the fact that she was bold enough to be able to talk in front of the classroom about her sexuality, I give her nothing but respect. Also, hearing that her own family did not accept her and her younger sisters did made me feel bad for her because I couldn't even imagine being in a situation where your own family rejects you because of what you stand for. I also learned what she had to keep injecting herself with hormones to keep her indentity as being a female. I thought it was a choice to be transgender but I learned it also has something to do with how your wired on the inside. So when people act as if transgenders are outcasts, I understand the difficulties they  have and I'd treat them like any other person because in reality they are human beings too. They have feelings too so why judge them? Meeting one in person changed my whole perception of all transgenders.

Transgender discussion

In the class period when the woman came in I initially felt weird and I started getting butterflies in my belly. I thought in my head I would offend her by the way I just looked at her. I learned a lot of stuff about how transgendered people go through they're life. A lot of people choose different ages to start  changing. Brianna changed when she turned 20 years old and that's when your life starts to change and when you really become an adult. It must have really been a huge jump for her. And it probably made her happy to be able to make her life much better to do what she wants. It must have been really weird around family and really weird around her closest friends. I don't understand why some people can't except her. And unlike most of us she has to be on a higher watch of people trying to harass or kill her. Even I  wouldn't be a transgender doesn't mean I should kill her because of what she wants to do. A question I have for her is if she feels comfortable can she tell if she has ever been threatened by someone because of who she is.

Sexuality

Before getting into class I did not know much or anything about this subject of trans people. I knew that trans people live a hard life like any person who does not fit into the regular terms. At first I thought that trans people were people who just had sex operations an lived as the other sex. I did not know that people who do not fit inside, the what everyone calls, the norm they can be called transgender. Like how people assume that cooking is feminine and that lifting weights is masculine and if a man were to cook or like cooking and a woman were to lift weights people would look at them differently because that not what men or women do. They could consider themselves as a transgender person because they do not fit these gender roles  that they should be in. Also thanks to Jacklyn I know the terms that trans people use and why, Trans is mostly accepted by everyone, most transgender people like this term, what i learned was tranny is not a good term to use for them. For transgender people the term tranny is too black people the word nigger. Everyone who says the word tranny, its hurtful, and it to them puts them down. For them when someone says the word tranny, its like and ole white guy calling one of us a nigger. I have seen deeply into what transgender people have to go through everyday, the thought of getting killed or beaten must be scary. We are all people, humans, God put us all on this earth.We should not hate on transgender people but love them because they are people, and their are our sisters and brothers in Christ.

Armstrong

This author argues that class is determined by the way you live your life in collage and past it. Remarkable factors are class backgrounds, class projects, and collage experience. Each factor plays a part in your experience in collage. For example a lower class student might have to work harder in collage compared to a upper class student in collage. like a lower class student might have to have a part-time job which cuts down social life and or study time and he or she will have to stay up later doing hw. However the higher lass students would have all the time in the world to party and to enjoy collage life.
Class projects help form bonds and create new friendships with people. But the people who are always studying and all the smarter people will be together. On the other hand everyone who always used their time to party docent worry about class as much as much as the other people. Like Karen Pittelman and Resource Generation, people in upper class might have a higher GPA because they might not have to worry about supplying there family. In collage you can approach it in many ways. One way is the party way which is of upper class people. Where students have other priority over school because its not nessary for their success. They would most likely love on their parents wealth and just come to collage for the experience. Unfortually a lot of working and lower class students do not finish because of outside problems usually with family and money. Not all struggling students are focused on work when they get to collage most of them go to party and socialize and to have a good time. Furthermore the people that have most money are the ones that have the easiest experience in collage.

Sexual orientation

Today in class we were able to here a various amount of men come into our class and speak about sexual orientation and there problems with it. About Sexual Orientation straight people are the most privileged people everywhere. They have everything in there way that they don't even have to worry about it. On the other hand people who are gay or other Orientations have trouble every day about how they act who they love and what they do there is always a problem in the world they will immediately get criticized or hatred for being themselves. Well to begin the first person who spoke told us off the bat that he was gay and he had no problem of saying it and he shouldn't he can be whatever he wants to be. He was able to come out to the world when he was in college and he told the class that his main worries where the worries that mostly all other gay people have and it's telling there parents. As an adult who was scared to tell there parents about being Gay to me is pretty sad. Of course people are scared to tell there parents because of the things there parents do sometimes is just sad honestly. A child shouldn't be scared to be able to tell his parent about there sexual orientation, but the world is very conditioned that being gay is a wrong thing. One thing stuck out to me when Cass had a discussion in class and he said "who decided the sexual orientation, who made it right to be Men and Women together"(cass) and honestly this hit me really hard because it's very true. We weren't born and the doctor told us immediately we have to be straight, we are just raised and conditioned to like the opposite sex most of the time. This can ruin someone's life who likes the same sex because imagine there are people forcing there children to be straight which is normal to them, how would he make them feel that there are people in this world who force people to be straight like that just isn't right. Of Course straight people are the majority because half of the other sexual orientation some of them are not even allowed to like the different sex or they are forced to like the same sex.

Male Presentation

The conversation that we had with the men of different sexual orientations was another interesting conversation we had in class. It was interesting to hear of their stories of acceptance and fitting into society. I was especially into this conversation because i've experienced the change of people around someone when they come out. Last year, my female cousin was getting ready to start her dress shopping for prom when she had a talk with her parents. In the talk she had came out that she was, in fact, lesbian. At first, her parent were in complete shock because they always seen her hanging out with other guys and, at one point, she had gone out with a guy. They quickly accepted who she was and no harm was done. However, telling the family was a completely different story. Some accepted her just like her parents, but others quickly scolded her about it. So, I was interested because i wanted to know was this a one time scenario with gay or lesbian people or not.

Throughout the conversation it taught me that many gay or lesbian people have a primary concern of their families as well. Many of whom have had experiences similar to my cousin. However, what disturbs me is how some people can be abused and physically or mentally scarred because of how their parents just can't seem to accept what their child prefers the same sex more than the opposite sex. Some cases people even get kicked out of their houses or even “banished” from their family. First of all, how can a kid (let's say he’s younger than 18) survive in this world? As children or even teens in this world, you can't survive without some kind of adult support in your life. Think about it. Children cannot pay taxes because in this country you typically have to be 18 to pay bills. Also, let's say you go to St Benedict's. The tuition is certainly not something that a typical middle wage teen can sustain. So, without help from parents, we can't continue furthering your education. With no parents to support you, you could have no education and no basic needs to keep a satisfactory life. Basically, the parents destroyed his or her life all because of who they are not satisfied with what they are interested in.

The second thing i was interested in is the types of sexual orientations. Before this presentation, i thought that it was just heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual people in the world. I mainly thought this because these are generally the three that make up most of the preferences of people. Now i know of all of these other sexual orientations are out there, like genderqueer, pansexual, and asexual people. Genderqueer being, as said on internationalspectrum.umich.edu, people possess identities which fall outside of the widely accepted sexual binary. Pansexual being having sexual preference for all identities. In addition, asexual being showing no preference whatsoever.

Female Blog

The presentations of the views of three different females and their experiences really stuck out to me. I believe that it opened my eyes to many different things that we thought were simple things that held no meaning to us men. Even though men feel indifferent to the things occurred, they can be viewed as very hurtful for females. This talk I believe one of the most interesting conversations that we have thus far.

One of the interesting things that i got from this talk was when we said things like “She is mine”. They showed dissatisfaction when we said things like this because this showed possession.  As men, we just see it as another thing that we say casually. I, before the talk, through things like this pose no real problem towards other people. Mainly, like most men, it's not often told to us that this isn't necessarily the nicest thing to do. This, in my opinion, is privilege of the males toward the females of how we can just say things and not understand how it affects them.

Another thing i found very interesting was the experiences of one of the women during their time in the government. I was in shock when she told us that our government, the ones we view as the best and greatest people that will represent our ‘wonderful’ country, would say things like “she must've slept with many guys to get to where she is now” or “why does a girl have to work at this position where a guy would be better”. What is the real problem with women getting high positions? Is it really that bad for women to accel at things at the same rate as guys typically do? I mean it's bad enough that women get paid less than men because of the gender wage gap in United States of America, with the wage gap being women making seventy seven cents of every dollar that a man makes. Now they have to bear the criticism of the insults and rude comments made by other people of the opposite sex.

What really disturbed me was one of the experiences of her being taken advantage of by people working for the government. She was drugged and abused, but what really disturbed me was her being so confused by what to do. Since she's been accused of sleeping with people to get her position, she wasn't sure whether or not calling the police would be a good thing to do. In her mind, it would be confirming people's suspicions on how she even got here in the first place. It's beyond me how someone can turn down help if a case was a serious as this. The thing is, I can't be like “I would call the cops immediately” or something like that because I can't possibly imagine the struggles she was having at that time. I, luckily, have never had to experience anything near that in my life so i couldn't truly understand what she felt or what was going through her mind at the time.

These are REAL experiences of REAL people. This gives me a lot of questions to think about after this in-class discussions. Things like asking why can't people just leave others alone with things of this matter? What's the real threat of women gaining status? When can we truly understand the struggles of women? Some of the questions i have i hope to find answers to some day.

Crash

Sexism

When we had our class discussion with Ms.Sweeny, Mrs.Baker, and Mrs.Torto i felt a little enbarrissed. I felt that way because i really diden't know that men are treating women the way they are. I was shocked hearing about what happened to Mrs.Baker's life based on male privilage. She told us that most of happened here at Benedict's. She talked about how her name of her job role was underrated. Also  how she couldent get promoted to a higher level in the job. This stood out to me the most because it happens in our own school. I wasent expecting it to happen here and it did. I was also shocked with Ms.Sweeny story because she worked for the goverment and she was sexualy abused. I never expected something like this because we are condition to think that the goverment never does anything wrong. This stood out because i see the goverment as always trying to help the country and try to help us (the people). I usually see something like this to happen in movies. Not in real life. After she told us this i was shocked and now i look at the goverment in a diffrent way. Sometimes I think about and question myself how often does this happen? What I took from this discussion is that me as a male i should change the way i treat women. Sometimes we under rate women and we dont even notice it. This disscusion made me realise how men are conditioned and thats how we are rasised. This made me realise that i have the power to change it. This is what i got from this discusion.

Sexuality

In this discusion about sexuality i felt very weird. I am a straight man that likes women. I dont have a problem myself with gay people but i just feel uncomfortable when there around me or start talking to me. Even though they might not be atratcted to me i still get that feeling that he is "checking me out". I think and feel this way because of the way i am conditioned. But in general the disscusion was good. I think i showed respect towards our guest. I tried my best to understand what each person went through and what they have to go threw on any given day. The guest that classified him as a "Queer" was very passionate and proud of how he is. I liked how he has a group in Newark that helps out people that might classify themselves as "Queer" or gay. The group he has helps  the kids classify there gender and helps them deal with what they are. Like a lot of the kids that might be gay might have problems at home because there parents might not allow it. What this guy is doing is a good idea and a good plan in my point of view. Another person that i would like to talk about is the white gay man. Now a days parents are starting to allow there sons to be gay but back then it was rare. What this man had to go threw to tell his parents that he was gay but of been really hard. If i was gay and i had to tell my parents that  they would of beat my ass. This disscusion made me think about what each person had to go threw. They g threw way more problems compaired to straight people because its normal to be straight. But i gained and learned a lot from this discussion.

Crash

     After watching the movie Crash written by Paul Haggis it was based on people judging others because of there race,religion,class or idenity. In this movie it explains the consequences of being stereotypical towards other people. Crash is a movie that makes you recognize the mistakes that are made in our everyday lives.
     At the begining of the movie Jean Cabot holds on to her husband arms/hands tightly because she saw two black men walking towards her. She was was scared that something bad was going to happen to her. She was being racist. The two black men that she saw were arguing about how whites always predudging them as criminals and always look down towards them. All of a sudden they pull out a gun and do what she was expecting to happen. This increased the belief on her opinion on blacks. One might infer that the two black men either gave up and accepted the idenity whites give on them and then robbed Jean and her husband.
      After the robbery Jean had a suspicion of a Latino man who was brought to change her door lock. She thought and looked at him as if he was a gang member. This time she followed her thoughts because she wasent going to repeat the mistake she did when she saw the two black men. Unfortuntly during this event she was wrong and he wasent a gang member. This man felt heart broken when he heard these words. The way Jean thought kept her from making friends because she always prejudged people by the conditioning she had.

Sexuality

During the discussion, I felt as if the men represented in the room were able I didn't know that all gay people didn't act in extravagant ways because all the gay people I have seen act like that. I also was interested on the fact that man said he was queer. Before I thought queer meant gay but it actually means that you are bisexual. Also this discussion made me think and we started talking a lot about it outside of class. I was confused but I found it interesting and informative due to the lack information that people of either heterosexual or homosexual lifestyle.