Homosexuality is still a touchy subject among many people, even college students, who are traditionally considered to be some of the most open-minded people in our country. Like many other people in class, I'm not afraid to say that I find some aspects of this unit "weird", but I feel like those feelings stem from us being unfamiliar rather than intolerant.

Personally, I went to a school that only had at most five students who were openly gay, but this difference was not seen as a problem to anyone, it just made those people unique. However, I do feel like while those students did not live in a environment that was hostile to their sexuality, but they did live in one that was very uncomfortable with their sexuality. It was an issue that was simply accepted and not really talked about, as many people did feel uncomfortable with the whole idea of homosexuality. The point I'm trying to make is that I feel like a great deal of people in America aren't necessarily against GLBT students, but it is something we simply don't understand and have a hard time addressing. I feel like this difficulty stems primarily from the idea of heteronormativity, that all our lives we had seen a relationship outlined as a man and a woman, and felt that that was the only way.

Also, our discussion on gender roles made me realize something I hadn't before. I feel as though part of the discomfort a lot of people in our country feel around homosexuals is not just from unfamiliarity, but from the idea that many homosexual men and women have personalities that are very very far away from the typical roles of their sex. That is (this is not always the case, but even so) we see many gay men acting in very feminine ways and lesbians dressing and carrying themselves in more masculine ways.

Blog #4

"Hatred is learned"

With this topic, I immediately placed my mark all the way on the "true" end of the spectrum. This is because I felt that people aren't born with the tendency to hate others, but are rather taught that a group is either inferior or worse than they are. They can gain this perspective from teachers, parents, etc.

While I still feel that this is true, I feel like I need to shift my answer slightly more towards the "false" side, but not by much. This is because after some thought I feel like there is another aspect we need to consider in how hatred can be formed, and thats through unfamiliarity. While listening to the authority figures in your life can create hate in you, I think that it is human nature for a person to be intimidated by something they have had very little exposure to. For example, a white child who has never seen a black child until they were 13 is likely to shy away from the other person, and the opposite stands true. When we only have limited exposure to another set of people, we tend to assume that the little bit we see stands true for the entire race, thus we have now created prejudices within ourselves. Unfortunately it seems that more times than not, these assumptions we make about an entire group of people is negative, which is why I still feel that hatred is most learned, I feel like our distance from another group of people can lead us to hate, rather than being taught to hate.

Life Through the Eyes of Death

Of all the novels I've read in my life, Death is definitely the most unique omniscient narrator to ever tell me a story. While no one has ever met Death, I feel that Zusak was able to capture the personality of what I assume Death would be like. He is experienced, witty, yet at the same time detached from his horrible fate of eternal life thats only filled with tears and darkness. Its perspective is that of someone who has seen the rise and fall of human kind, the tragic loss of every person, and both the terrible and beautiful sides of the human existence.

Death faces conflicts both internally and externally. Its conflict in this book is stated nearly immediately, when it says that he shouldn't have looked, shouldn't have taken an interest in Liesel, but he couldn't help himself. Death is surprisingly connected to the characters in the book, though it doesn't really fit in the job description. Its opinions on the Nazi regime and the wrath it brought unto the world are not directly expressed, but its comments show remorse for the victims of such tragedies. Death seems to see the hiding of Max as tragic, and seems to find hope in Liesel. It sees the foolishness in the blind obedience put forth by many Germans, and the promise in Hans Hubermann for not giving in.

I personally enjoy the perspective and experience Death brings to the novel. It has been able to see events in history even bloodier than World War II, which allows it to look beyond the shock of millions losing their lives and see human motivations and consider the importance of a young foster child growing up in the middle of all of it.

A Little Bit About Me

My name is Kevin Waldman, and I'm a sophomore here at Ship. I am an Economics major, and one day hope to work as a financial advisor for a business. I live in Naugle hall, and I'm originally from Enola, which is right outside of Harrisburg. In high school I was on the cross country and track teams, mainly focusing on the 2 mile race in track. I have 2 brothers, one younger and one older.Here at school I'm not really involved in many clubs but I am on an intramural soccer team and softball team. The last book I read was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I was interested in this course because i've like the literature courses i've taken in the past, and thought this one would be a little different. To me a culturally diverse class of any type should introduce students to customs and historical events they would not have been exposed to otherwise. I feel like this is important for everyone to do at some point in their life because you don't know very much about yourself and your surroundings until you see life through another person's perspective.