Monday, September 30, 2019

Gerontology Aging Simulation

Age Simulation Reaction I often times sit back and think of myself as elder later on in life. So many thoughts come to mind about my physical appearance; not so many thoughts in regards to my own mindset or the mindset of others that surround me, both seniors and young people. I have never been a person to care how others feel about me, but this one day in particular when I was put in the shoes of an elderly person my world was turned upside down by the words, looks, and thoughts of others. Going into this simulation I looked at it on the surface, how could being in the shoes of an older person for one day get so deep?.Of course there was an expectation of being limited to a degree but the limitations I was stuck with were difficult beyond belief. Minuscule things became very complex to me, things like writing or picking something up were so troublesome because of the decrease of my fine motor skills. Or how about being able to partake in a simple game of Uno or reading a newspaper b eing suddenly hard for you. These are just a few of the past pleasures that were current irritations. Over the next couple of day I began to ponder on how I take granted the simple, everyday activities or joys of life.I also wondered how I could improve the way I treat elders, whether it’s someone I come in contact with regularly or just a senior in front of me driving slow. I have to learn to control my feelings and expressions towards them, I actually salute them. I don’t know how an elder person keeps on fighting, I experienced their life for one day only and it seem as though the world around me was craving in. Being blind and having hip arthritis wasn't so easy to cope with, I wasn’t able to be as mobile as I would have liked.In fact, I not being as mobile resulted in other health issues. Those around me were in worse condition, on top of the little impairments that affected me, they had limitations such as deafness, having had a stroke, knee injuries, majo r illnesses, and lastly a death of one person closely connected to me. We all started off playing Uno with no problems but as time went on we were unable to play. We couldn’t see the cards, hear each other, and also had trouble even grabbing the cards due to loss of fine motor skills or mobility of some limbs in whole.Those having strokes definitely slowed up the process, most time they were asking me to hand them something or do something for them. I had to have patience when dealing with Morgan, Suzy, and Kelsey; they were very limited. It was kind of stressful to know that I had it better off than them and they relied on me. It was like I felt guilty not helping them because their conditions outweighed those of mines. I was handing this one this and helping that one with that; it was not easy at all. Participating in this exercise gave me anxiety to know that I will one day be face to face with these problems in reality.Also sadness came over me knowing that actual people have to deal with this in life, as the public or on the outside looking in you don’t think of how elders feel or think. I, myself was guilty of some prejudices placed upon seniors. I didn’t really think of elders as individuals anymore, I didn’t think of them able person and this is said to be a myth in â€Å"The Nine Myths of Aging† by Douglas Powell. In this article he talks about how elders are grouped together and treated as a whole not separate.Another myth in which I found to be exactly that is an unsound body is equal to an unsound mind, I find those with more time here on Earth to be some of the most intelligent individuals. Some of the knowledge I now have has come from my grandmother or my elder colleagues. They are so insightful, they don’t just make decision swiftly but they take time to think and contemplate on all the outcomes and resources available. Look at it this way most of them made it this far in their journey and it has result ed in them being wise.I am a true believer that old dogs can learn new tricks, I work in a factory with people are biologically old yet can adapt to new ideas and functions, in some cases are the innovators. Use it or lose it in some cases can be true but I don’t think we should stereotype all older people under this belief. Although my grandmother has health issues I don’t see the depression, self-centeredness, or isolation people talk about. She loves to go places with people of all ages and interest. So that shows me that a lot of thoughts of others are false, nowhere near the truth.I now believe elders to be useful and most enjoyable people to be around. Often times even those who job is to work with seniors don’t see the value that they hold. You can tell by the way in which they treat and talk to them. While they are professionals and trained on how to interact with them, that is actually their downfall. They are trained on how to speak, interact, and resp ond to others; they lose sight of the feelings or connection that makes an interaction favorable. For some seniors the only real interaction they get comes from a professional and for it not to be pleasant can be damaging.Between all the illnesses, impairments, and stresses feeling appreciated or respected by others could go a long way. Even though it was simulation, I got a chance to see from the inside looking out how elders are treated and talked to. During the simulation I was talked down upon with little cheesy terms of endearment, Hun or honey. When time for meds or snacks I wasn’t an opinion or explained. I felt like a prisoner to others just because I had aged. Communication goes a long way with everyone not just elders, so it is especially important when it comes to them.Everyone knows to be polite and respectful to others on general principle. Though I was hard of hearing, instead of yelling distastefully one could stoop or sit to be on the same level as me and clos e in distance repeat clearly. As said in, â€Å"Communicating Respectfully With Older Adults. † Up until reason I used to find myself trying to quickly finish the thoughts of elders with thoroughly listening to their thoughts, it always seemed to take to long for them disclose them fully. Another thing I would do is make decisions for older adults because it seems like it takes them forever to do so.There’s been times when I have went to volunteered at a nursing home where my great aunt is and I would be assigned with helping with meals. During this some of the seniors needed to take meds, I was used to give them instructions fast because I assumed it was a part of their routine. I was always repeating things, but I never thought to slow down and ask them if they had any questions. I just was worried about achieving the goal not how it was achieved. That is a slip on my end. At the end of the day I learned so much about being an elder.I took away lessons that I could o nly learned by being in these shoes. I have a different outlook on how elders feel, I don’t think it’s fair how we pass judgment on them; they are individuals just like us. I think all the prejudices that come up when elders come to mind are from us on the exterior. We don’t give them a chance to express how they feel or make decisions. We don’t give them a chance to do things on their because of the rate in which they do them. We are the one damming them to be useless. We have got to do better by those ones who made a way for us.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Positive and negative impacts of social networking sites Essay

THE POSITIVE PART Social networking Web sites are helping businesses advertise, thus social networking Web sites are benefiting businesses – economically. Social networking Web sites are helping education by allowing teachers and coaches to post club meeting times, school projects, and even homework on these sites. Social networking Web sites are enabling advancements in science and medicine. Job hunting Stay in touch with friends Positive causes/awareness THE NEGATIVE PART The very nature of such sites encourages users to provide a certain amount of personal information. But when deciding how much information to reveal, people may not exercise the same amount of caution on a Website as they would when meeting someone in person. This happens because: the Internet provides a sense of anonymity; the lack of physical interaction provides a false sense of security they tailor the information for their friends to read, forgetting that others may see it. Sharing too much information on social networking sites can be problematic in two ways: firstly, it can reveal something about you that you’d rather your current or future employer or school administrator not know, and second, it can put your personal safety at risk. Another potential downside of social networking sites is that they allow others to know a person’s contact information, interests, habits, and whereabouts. Consequences of sharing this information can range from the relatively harmless but annoying—such as an increase in spam—to the potentially deadly—such as stalking. Another great issue of concern with social networking web sites is that of child safety. Read more:  Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media Essay Research has shown that almost three out of every four teenagers who use social networking web sites are at risk due to their lack of using online safety. (Joly, Karine, 2007) A lot of the web sites do have an age requirement but it is easily bypassed by the  lying about of one’s age. Even if they don’t lie about their age the average age requirement is around fifteen years old. Predators may target children, teens, and other unsuspecting persons online—sometimes posing to be someone else—and then slowlyâ€Å"groom† them, forming relationships with them and then eventually convincing them to meet in person In Touch with The World Family living abroad can be kept abreast of the latest happenings in your world as quickly as those living next door. Friends who you haven’t seen since school, and who have since moved away, are able to keep in touch. Social networking sites have made the world a smaller place. Conclusions As with most things in life there are positive and negative sides to social networking, both of which we have now explored. Ultimate belief is that when done in moderation, with checks and balances on how younger people in particular are using them, and with a firm grasp being kept on reality at all time, social networking sites are neither evil or a Godsend. They’re somewhere in between. Social networking isn’t for everyone, but it’s now such a massive part of all our lives, whether we embrace or reject the notion, that it can no longer be ignored. Privacy  Social networking sites encourage people to be more public about their personal lives. Because intimate details of our lives can be posted so easily, users are prone to bypass the filters they might normally employ when talking about their private lives. What’s more, the things they post remain available indefinitely. While at one moment a photo of friends doing shots at a party may seem harmless, the image may appear less attractive in the context of an employer doing a background check. While most sites allow their users to control who sees the things they’ve posted, such limitations are often forgotten, can be difficult to control or don’t work as well as advertised. Decreased Productivity While many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with clients, the sites can also prove a great distraction to employees who  may show more interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks. Wired.com posted two studies which demonstrated damage to productivity caused by social networking: Nucleus Research reported that Face book shaves 1.5% off office productivity while Morse claimed that British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon. New technology products have become available that allow social networks to be blocked, but their effectiveness remains spotty. A False Sense of Connection According to Cornell University’s Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections, he fears, will weaken. social networking has become a major part of society. Even big businesses and celebrities are jumping on the social networking bandwagon. Many people wake up each day and check social websites first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a newspaper. According to Mashable.com, as of June 2010, American Internet users spend more than 22 percent of their online time using a social networking site. Since people are spending such a large amount of time surfing social networks, it is important to point out some of the positive and negative effects that social networking can have on a society. Helping Small Businesses Social networking can help small businesses in a big way. Traditional mediums such as print magazine ads and radio commercials can cost thousands of dollars that some small businesses just don’t have in a down economy. Social networking allows small business owners to connect with prospects and clients for free, costing nothing but time and energy. Marketers at small companies can post coupons to Facebook groups or run promotions on Twitter. In addition to generating revenue this way, companies also can get positive and negative feedback directly from consumers. Addictive A negative aspect of social networking is that it can be addictive. Spending  too much time on social networking sites can cause people to lose focus on tasks at work or around the house. Social networking needs to be used in moderation. If someone is spending so much time on social networks that they are not sleeping enough hours per night or are ignoring friends and family that want to spend time with them in person, social networking can be a serious problem. Sharing Too Much Another drawback to social networking is that some users are simply sharing too much information. People can lose their jobs or a friendship over leaking information on social networks. Even if a user of a social site has her privacy settings on the highest level, their information can still be passed on by someone on their friends list. It doesn’t take much for an angry follower to copy and paste a status or download a picture if they are looking for revenge.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Food Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Food - Assignment Example Moreover, the taking of the red wine is used as a remembrance of the blood spilled during Pesach offering (Strassfeld, 2006). This is an offering conducted while a child is being circumcised. The festive are fancy and enjoyable and people drink wine four times to remain awake throughout the celebration. The Passover, just like brit Milah is cerebrated with foods that have significant meaning to the Jewish faith. The festival last for a period of eight days and elderly people tell the story of the Passover to the younger generation. The food taken during this time include wine, hard boiled eggs, apple, bitter herbs, sweet potatoes and carrots and each has a special significance. Boiled egg symbolizes the end and beginning of a fresh year since the last Passover. The unleavened bread symbolizes hastiness a term synonymous with slavery and redemption. During Passover the Jewish prepare green vegetables which are taken raw or cooked to symbolize bitter herbs. The bitter herb arouses the unusualness and curiosity of children, as well as, remind of difficult and sad event in the history of the Jew (Strassfeld,

Friday, September 27, 2019

If The State Becomes A Major Source Of Threat To Its Citizens, Does It Essay

If The State Becomes A Major Source Of Threat To Its Citizens, Does It Thereby Undermine The Prime Justification For Its Existence - Essay Example The constitution as put forward by Hobbes is a social contract between the people and the state that legitimizes the government in place. Once the contract is broken, it is only necessary to overthrow the existing government and install one that would serve citizen interests (Booth, 2007). Some questions that need answering are; what is security? For whom? What are the security issues? It is important to understand these questions to be able to evaluate whether the state which is supposed to protect security has become itself a source of insecurity to its citizens and whether it should lose its mandate to govern or lose its justification for its existence. In order to achieve this, the paper will be divided into three sections. The first section will discuss what security is. The second section will discuss whose security it should be for, is it the state or individual and implications on legitimacy of state. This will involve considering different views from realists, constructivist s, critical studies, feminism, peace research and the Copenhagen school of thought. It will argue that security is socially constructed thus means different things to different people. This in turn affects how people understand the role of the state to be and whether it is legitimate. The last section will be the conclusion. International security studies is a discipline that has evolved over the years dealing with security issues in a global arena. It depends on the definition put forward regarding security since various theorists have not been able to come up with a uniform definition. According to Buzan (1983) a legitimate state is one that meets the needs and wishes of its citizens including security, conflict resolution, economic development and peace. It is not uncommon to hear governments implying that they are doing certain things such as curtailing people’s freedom for state security reasons. Williams (2012:3) asserts that individuals are â€Å"killed, starved, tort ured, raped, impoverished, denied education and healthcare all in the name of security.† This is especially so in war torn countries such as Syria (Paul, 1990). So what is security and who determines what security issues are? According to Booth (1997: 104-119) security is a derivative concept and as such its understanding derives from political outlook and philosophical worldview. For example, for ethico-political view security could include everything and anything depending on policy agenda while for analysts, use of empirical evidence frames issues such as diseases as global security issues. Williams (2012:5) defines security as â€Å"alleviation of threats to cherished values.† It is therefore, based on emancipation though justice and human rights. Security can also be positive or negative; negative security implies absence of threat whereas positive security implies â€Å"making things possible† (p.6). For Buzan and Hansen (2009: 9) security is about â€Å"p olitical themes such as state, authority, legitimacy, politics and sovereignty.† The next question that needs understanding is whose security? Different theorists have different opinions regarding the referent object or for whom security is meant to be. For realists, the state is the referent object (Buzan & Hansen, 2009). Issues of security are thus aimed at addressing the internal and external threats to the state. It then implies that ensuring the

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Effects of mobile phone use on health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Effects of mobile phone use on health - Essay Example This paper â€Å"Effects of mobile phone use on health† investigates the fast expansion in mobile technologies, ICT in education, and robotics invention. Computers play significant role in the development of digital technologies and are imposed to fast change and growth in the domain of communicating and information delivery. Developmental issues in the area of computing can be viewed from different points. Current report emphasises the relation of recently appeared mobile technology and human health. The report is important to consider due to human concern of health issues as well as governmental regard to the increased cancer cases and its possible outcome of mobile use. The report is structured in the following way: two groups of people are chosen to participate; with the help of independent experts, groups from recommendations and minister for public health research covers current issues in the development of mobile connection and its impact on cancer. The paper further de scribes the work of every group and how it helped to realize research. The first groups was used to get statistical information on the use of mobile phones and helps to indicate the expected growth of the indicator for the following periods. The group also looked at the specific technology used and mobile phone operators, as well as the advantages that mobile phones bring with them. The first group also helped to define radiofrequency radiation usage, electromagnetic compatibility, fields from mobile phone systems.... They also wanted to find out whether the side of the head at which the phone was held made any difference or whether the area in which the phone was being used was linked in any way to glioma. From the discussion and conclusion part of the paper it is needed to make an outline that there were two reports received by the results of the first and the second group study. The first report is a general overview of the mobile phone usage while the the second report is focused entirely on finding a link between mobile phones and a specific type of brain tumour. In the end, although there is no definite evidence or proof that mobile phones effect human health, both groups are correct in my view of the "precautionary approach"(Stewart et al 2000), limiting calls were possible especially amongst children. Robotics Present report presents an investigation on the invention of robots and their ability to think. The paper consists of abstract, introduction, discussion and conclusion. First, the author introduces the concept of robotics and demonstrates research group that were used for the reflection of data in the paper, then the discussion of two working groups is provided, finally the general overview of the future of robots and concluding remarks are given. The first research presented in report is called Flocking Seven Dwarf Robots. The group carried out this research in order to find out about a robots ability to learn from another one and to ultimately define their ability to work in a team. The second research group refers to A Tale of Two Filters - Online Novelty Detection. This research that was carried out was all about detecting unexpected features within an environment. The group wanted to use robots and learning

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

"The Graduate" And "Bonnie and Clyde" Assignment

"The Graduate" And "Bonnie and Clyde" - Assignment Example To make the matter worse, the parents who are funnily involved in infidelity issues are married with children. This production would not have exposed infidelity this much owing to the fact that â€Å"The Graduate† movie targets a larger audience. "Bonnie and Clyde" movie unethically presents a rare reflection of the full range of human life. Movies should ethically be produced as per human nature reflection as in most cases they target human society as the general viewers. "Bonnie and Clyde" movie contemplates human life presentation as a movie revolving around pitiless cruelty, which emerges as an irritant to the audience. This film aimlessly portrays un-forgiveness at this time we are living. Clyde walked into the bank with a major aim of robbery together with the Barrow Gang (Whitehead 23). This movie, through the Borrow Gang, reveals the epitome of violence in American history of exploitation in the mass media production for the first time. The violence and unethical nature of â€Å"Bonnie and Clyde† movie does not make it be grouped as an ideal movie to watch in the contemporary

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

International Exams for English Learners Research Paper

International Exams for English Learners - Research Paper Example Despite the numerous changes it has undergone, today, the test is accepted, alongside popular tests like International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), and Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Oral Proficiency Interview - computer (OPI-c) (Harper 91). However, it is currently not supposed to be taken by the foreign students who are nationals of the Commonwealth of the Nations. They are exempted because of being Anglophones-having English as their official language. First, the test covers listening skills. Since listening is one of the core skills in English language, students taking the test have to answer questions about it. To test the learners’ listening abilities, the test is designed with six passages in which the students have to listen to a series of conversations between an instructor and students. After keenly listening to these conversations, the students are given a chance to respond to questions. Sure ly, this is one of the ways through which the test effectively prepares students for higher education within the country. As English students, they need to have a sound knowledge of listening. Through it, they can be well ‘equipped with important skills like interpretation and understanding of main ideas, arguments, speaker’s attitudes, the relationship between opinions and organization of information’ (Sharpe 73). In fact, these are just basic skills that a university graduate should possess.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Talent management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Talent management - Essay Example For this purpose, HR managers can transform into internal consultants that can align HR strategies to business priorities, develop centers of excellence and make them benchmarks for further performance, and develop HR skills that can assist managers to assess and generate solutions for problems emerging during business processes (Vosburgh, 2007). As an HR director of Media Xavier Ltd which is a leading name in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry globally, first task undertaken by me would be development of an integrated HR function. This HR function would cover main areas of talent management i.e. recruitment, performance, development and retention. Furthermore, management of workforce will be focused on development of creation of Strategic differentiating Capabilities (DiSc) that can result in attaining a competitive advantage. For this purpose, the talent acquired should be: Strategically important (Becker & Huselid, 2006) , rare, inimitable, non-substitutable, appropriable and immobile (Scott-Jackson, 2009) Furthermore, this development of an integrated HR function would be focused on partnering with the management on strategic basis, examine the current needs of organization by forming a liaison with departmental heads and design policies and procedures that can assist these departments in developing and retaining their key players along with recruiting fresh talent. Given below are the key areas of an integrated talent management function: 1) Recruitment 2) Performance 3) Learning 4) Career development 5) Succession planning 6) Compensation 7) Measure and Report (Pageup People Inc., 2008) Recruitment Media Xavier has a total headcount of 3000 permanent employees in 16 countries worldwide with 80 percent workforce employees in Asian zone call centers. Since the main work stations are away from Head Office’s reach therefore expats from local region i.e. New York would be used to train the work force according to company standards. In order to have a competitive advantage over local companies, we will focus on hiring a talent that can adhere to organization’s vision which is â€Å"Facilitating customers with optimum service and partnering with communities†. Local managers will be hired that can act as a middle man between management and the workforce. These local managers will also help Head Office staff to have necessary cultural competence so that workforce diversity can be utilized in an effective manner. Recruitment will be carried out at three different levels: 1) Call Center Agents 2) Managers-Local 3) Call Centre Heads- Expats (who will travelling between head office and Asian work stations) Recruitment can be carried out through conventional channels of online job boards, newspapers advertisement, walk-ins etc. however Media Xavier will switch to recruitment from traditional methods to on-campus drives and employee referrals. The reasons for doing so would be to have better employer branding and acce ss to recommended quality talent. Furthermore, having strategic alliances with universities and colleges can help in recruiting fresh talent that is young, energetic and easily trainable according to organization’s policies. Employee referrals shall also be rewarded so that existing

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Annotated Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example ad so upset Francophone citizens during the first World War and some Anglophone bias in the recruitment, management and promotion systems of the Canadian military. Those few Francophone soldiers who did rise in the ranks conducted themselves with exemplary valor in the war and some, like Vanier, went on to take up diplomatic roles in Europe after the war was over, assisting Canada in its newfound non-colonial future. Unfortunately, however, these were the exception to the rule, and Granatstein notes that it took until the 1960s for the Canadian military to fully appreciate and value its French speaking members. This biography presents through the life of one outstanding military man a way of understanding the first half of the twentieth century as preparation for Canada’s full independence which was achieved in the second half. This second generation Scottish immigrant to Canada was typical of middle class, hardworking and modest citizens. He fought in both World Wars and achieved high rank in the second World War. This was a man who saw himself as a British subject, and a Canadian national – labels which to him contained no contradiction. He faced the difficult decisions regarding deployment of Canadian troops in dangerous missions in Europe with gravity and courage, and it is largely due to his leadership that the Canadian forces achieved the successes they did. The main message of the book is that this man changed and adapted to World War 1, the professional soldier’s role in the somewhat frustrating inter war years, to World War 2, and to a wholly new multicultural situation in the post war years, and through it all retained his commitment to Canadian national identity. This is what makes him such a good representative of twentieth century Canadian themes and issues lived out in an exemplary life before, during, and after the second World War. This article discusses the efforts made by various agencies in Canada throughout World War 2 to look after

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Patchwork Essay Example for Free

Patchwork Essay â€Å"The relationship between the object and the intervening spaces is not formal: it is always rooted in the context of a particular setting† Dalibor Vesely (in Brooker and Stone, 2007, p. 57). The Neues or New Museum (see figure [1]) was completely built in 1855. The building was design by a Prussian architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The purpose of the building was originally built as an extension house to accommodate Altes Museum. Most of Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s works were Neo-Classical, such as, Neue Wache also known as New Gate House and The Konzerthaus Berlin (von Buttlar, A. Architectural Guide [2012], pg 4). Architecture in style of Neo-Classic contains the component of characteristic temple-like features of Greek and Rome (for instance, Acropolis in Athens and The Pantheon in†¯Rome) Architecture, rolls of tall columns, pediments and domed roof, for example (see figure [2]). One of the most important elements in Greek and Roman architecture was balance and symmetry (see figure [3]) which was hugely influential in the structure of neo-classical. Many neo-classical architecture have one component that can be identified as its style, the use of columns, that are normally built to almost the same height as the building. Columns are used to secure the symmetrical and balance of the dimension of the building as it is the efficacious†¯and evident use of method as for exterior. Also, the uses of columns support the pediment. The arch and columns, however, have comparatively become a symbol of Greek and Romans architectural style. Some believes those features are a conspicuous and crucial part in the revival of its style. Thus it remains a ‘staple of neoclassical architecture’, together with its ‘distinctive domed roof’ (N/A. (2012) NeoClassic, [Online], Avalible at :http://www.neoclassic.com) . Neues Museum built in a Neo – Classical style that began in the 19th century, the building spanned over three floors including a grand staircase. The design of the Neues is heavily influenced by Stoa in Athens classical Greek architecture. Inside this building is a broad staircase and iconic columns, which lead towards a bronze portal that then leads to a double staircase to the ending upper floor which was nearly destroyed during the Second World War. In 2003, British architect David Chipperfield, whose aim was to restore the parts of the build that were destroyed while also keeping conservation requirements. He wanted to keep to the original structure while creating continuity with the existing structure. The newly designed expedition rooms were built mainly of pre – fabricated concrete elements, which consist of Saxonian marble chips. In the Northwest wing of the new build it was constructed by recycled handmade bricks. David Chipperfield has managed to not only keep the original quality of the build but almost enhance its structure without losing any of the builds feature. (Minner , Kelly . Neues Museum / David Chipperfield Architects in collaboration with Julian Harrap 28 Apr 2011. ArchDaily. http://www.archdaily.com/127936) In conclusion, after the research through this essay, we strongly agree with the quote â€Å"The relationship between the object and the intervening spaces is not formal: it is always rooted in the context of a particular setting†. Hence the Neues Museum is situated on an island which surrounded by other neo-classical architecture, even though the bu ilding was built after the neo-classical trend had become unfashionable. Thus that makes the Neues Museum blends in with its environment. Bibliography von Buttlar , Adrian. Neues Museum Berlin. Architectural Guide: Deutscher Kunstverlag (Mar 2010) Hà ¶fer, Candida and Kenneth Frampton. Neues Museum Berlin: By David Chipperfield Architects in Collaboration with Julian Harrap: (English Edition) Walther Kà ¶nig (30 Nov 2009) Mustertitel . The Neues Museum Berlin: Conserving, Restoring, Rebuilding Within the World Heritage : Art Stock Books Ltd (30 Mar 2009) archdaily.com http://www.archdaily.com/127936/neues-museum-david-chipperfield-architects-in-collaboration-with-julian-harrap/ http://www.neues-museum.de/ http://www.neues-museum.de/architektur.php http://architecture.about.com/od/neoclassical/a/What-Is-Neoclassical-Architecture.htm Figure [1] The Neues Museum [http://www.archdaily.com/127936/neues-museum-david-chipperfield-architects -in-collaboration-with-julian-harrap/] Figure [2] Dome roof Pediment Roll of columns [http://www.architecture411.com/common/notes/1/roman_pantheon.jpg] Figure [3] Symmetrical Balance [http://gogermany.about.com/od/picturesofgermany/ig/Museum-Island-Berlin-Photos/Neues-Museum-Berlin-.htm]

Friday, September 20, 2019

Reviewing Black Boy By Richard Wright English Literature Essay

Reviewing Black Boy By Richard Wright English Literature Essay Black Boy is an autobiography written by Richard Wright, an African-American who lived in the South during the Great depression. Richard is a young black man who encounters the horrors of the dominant white South and faces a crisis in his life in which he does not connect with the world around him. Throughout the autobiography, Richard has an itching fear biting at him that propels him to overcome the boundaries set upon him and allows him to find his own identity. The fear that Richard faces relates with his physical hunger, which is a symbol for all the suffering that he endures throughout his daily life. His fear also relates with his thriving hunger for knowledge. The overwhelming feeling of fear eventually thrusts Richard to stop his idleness and to take action. Richards hunger for knowledge and for achieving a connection with the world around him, serves as his escape from his fears, allowing him to accept the physical suffering and finally giving him the courage and strength t o find his own identity. At just four years old, Richard Wright is living at his grandparents house in Mississippi. Richard decides to toy with a broom; removing the strays from it and watching them burn. Being just another curious kid, Richard wonders what it will look like if he burned the curtains in the living room. He sets the curtains on fire and although he marvels at the sight, he realizes that the fire is beyond his control and he runs out of the room. He hides under the house in hope that he would not be found and in turn not be punished for his actions. Despite his pleads to be left alone, Richards father Nathan retrieves him from under the burning house. His mother, Ella, is furious and beats him until he loses consciousness. He retreats into an extreme fever for about a week. After Richard recovers, his family moves to Memphis, Tennessee where his father finds work in a drugstore during the nighttime. One day, Richard finds a stray kitten that is so noisy it wakes Nathan who screams for Richard to kill the cat. Richard literally does that, knowing that his father did not actually mean it. Ella punishes Richard by making him dig a grave and bury the kitten. Soon after, Nathan deserts the family and leaves them without any money and in turn, without any food. This is the first case of physical hunger in Richard Wrights autobiography. For the first time in his life, Richard is scared that he wont be able to satisfy his hunger. However, the hunger that arises in Richard is not the hunger that he feels physically without food, but the hunger to adapt to his surroundings and communicate with them. Hunger stole upon me so slowly that at first I was not aware of what hunger really meant. Hunger had always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly. The hunger I had known before this had been no grim, hostile stranger; it had been an normal hunger that made me beg constantly for breadà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦But this new hunger baffled me, scared me, made me angry and insistent (16). The hunger that hung over Richard made him begin to question. He begins to question everything. He does not understand a massive amount of things, but at a young age he already has experienced so much. Since Richard Wright is writing this auto biography from a much later time, he is reflecting back on how he felt at this particular moment. The four year old Richard is no more than a mere child, however at that age he already has a desire for a variety of things. He states that he has a strong desire for food which can be satisfied temporarily, but what is not seen is Richards desire to have the ability to interact with his surroundings. Even at this age and later on in his life, Richard is unable to interact with his family and with society because he is refusing to do what they want him to do. Richard rebels and rebelling is his way of showing that he will not submit and that his self-pride and unique identity is extremely important to him. Richard first experiences his hunger for knowledge when a schoolteacher named Ella, moves in. She rents a room at Richards grandmothers house. One day, Richard stumbles upon Ella reading a book and he persuades her to read the book to him. The book, Bluebeard and his Seven Wives, is a novel filled with violence and murder and it utterly mystifies Richard. He is in a trance as Ella reads the beautiful flowing words to him. However, Ella is interrupted by Richards grandmother before she could finish. Richards grandmother firmly believes that fictional stories are on the same level as sins and lies. She opposes since she has an extreme hatred towards fiction which she calls the devils work. When Richard protests and argues against his grandmother he is ignored and she storms off leaving Richard alone. This experience sparks persistence in Richard that remains with him throughout the rest of his life. His hunger for intellectual knowledge pushes him to break free of his grandmothers bond s and to pursue knowledge against all costs. I hungered for the sharp, frightening, breathtaking, almost painful excitement that the story had given me, and I vowed that as soon as I was old enough I would buy all the novels there were and read them to feed that thirstà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I had tasted what to me was life, and I would have more of it, somehow, someway (46-47). Richard has a first experience with reading. This experience sparks a determination in which he states he would have more of it, somehow, someway (47). Richards first experience with physical hunger gave him a reason to question. Richards first experience with intellectual hunger pushes him to take that extra step forward. In this, it is easy to conclude that even at a very early stage in Richards mental and physical development he has come to his own self-imposed conclusion that his intellectual hunger must be nursed first. Reading becomes Richards first passion and allows him to survive. It gives him the push that he needs to break free of the boundaries set on him by his family as well as those of the society of the South, in order to further establish his identity. Ella eventually moves out of the house as Richards grandmother is convinced Ella is the sole reason for Richards seemingly devil-like behavior. Richards mother also named Ella and her two sons begin to travel towards Arkansas where Richards Aunt Maggie and her husband live. However, when Hoskins, Aunt Maggies husband is murdered, they are forced to flee back to Grannys house. Soon after though, Ella begins to consider Grannys religious routines as a nuisance and she, her boys, and Aunt Maggie move out once again. In the meantime, Maggie begins to date a man named Professor Matthews, who they find out, is hiding from the police. After Professor Matthews commits a crime involving the death of a woman, he and Aunt Maggie go north to escape trouble. Richards family begins once again to have a lack of money due to the absence of Aunt Maggies income. Richard eventually becomes so hungry he tries to sell his poodle for a dollar. A white woman offers Richard ninety-seven cents but he refuses and a week later the poodle is struck and killed leaving Richard with nothing. Richard begins to nurture his own self-being, but only after he begins to question himself. Richard has questioned his surroundings in the past, primarily regarding his lasting hunger for food, but he has never questioned himself about anything. By taking a step forward and beginning to look inside of himself for the answers that he so truly desires, Richard is able to grow a strong personality and a strong willpower that leads him to a wider separation from the black community and a closer connection to his identity. Anything seemed possible, likely, feasible, because I wanted everything to be possibleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Because I had no power to make things happen outside of me in the objective world, I made things happen within. Because my environment was bare and bleak, I endowed it with unlimited potentialities, redeemed it for the sake of my own hungry and cloudy yearning (85). Richard understands that the oppression that is happening to him and to the black community cannot be helped. He realizes that, although he can fight, it would be pointless. Instead of physically fighting, he resorts to searching himself for the answers. He still continues to question ceaselessly, but instead of asking why something is happening or why he should not do something he begins to question how. The fear and the hunger no longer hold him back. In actuality, they now push him forward and enhance his learning process. Richard develops a keen sense of unique personality that no one else he knows seems to have. He senses that he is beginning to drift away from his family, from the community that he so desirably wanted to fit in with, and with the Jim Crow south. By acknowledging this fact and even accepting it, Richard furthermore nurtures his true identity and begins to close in on what he wants to do in his life. Richard has just begun to read and he has already read many novels by a whole slew of different people. Reading was an absolute pleasure to Richard. He would stay in his rented room at night with a can of pork and beans and read. He continued to forge more and more notes and so his trips to the library became more and more frequent. Richard gave in to the magical land of reading without a fight. He does not resist it; he simply lets it seep in. One day, Richard decides that he would try to write once again. He had done it before; he should be able to do it again. Yet, the words are held from him. The ability to write, the ability to sense that thrilling feeling once again, is kept from him. At this point, Richard reminisces back at his childhood and regrets that he did not discover his own personality earlier, his identity that distinguished himself from the black community until now. I had once tried to write, had once reveled in feeling, had let my crude imagination roam, but the impulse to dream had been slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again and I hungered for books new ways of looking and seeingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it seemed a task impossible of achievement. I now knew what being a Negro meant. I could endure the hunger. I had learned to live with hate. But to feel that there were feelings denied me, that the very breath of life itself was beyond my reach, that more than anything else hurt, wounded me. I had a new hunger (294-296). Richard compares his hunger to write, to his physical hunger. During Richards childhood and growing up, he learned to deal with his hunger no matter how bleak it seemed. He went through days without a sufficient meal and it really hurt his physical growth. His desire for food however, was overshadowed early in his life by his hunger for knowledge. Richard has a stronger hunger for knowledge because he has an immense hunger to become unique, to extend beyond expectations and to just be himself. The hunger that he encounters physically will never equal his hunger for knowledge because he understands that it could not be helped during his childhood. He dealt with it because he knew that he had to. It happened everywhere, many black people were starving and Richard was no different in that way. Yet, in other senses Richard was different. He questioned, he asked, but he never truly pursued a life goal until now. There was a point in his life where he wrote but to his dissatisfaction the a bility to speak through words was not present in his mind. He hungers to find them once again, because by finding them, he can find himself. Towards the end of the first part of Richards autobiography, he finally realizes what he wants to do with the rest of his life and he finds out who he truly is on the inside. Through all of the physical pains that he suffered, all the horrors of the oppressing white south that he endured, and all the abuse and poverty, he was able to stand strong and slowly grow into who he was destined to become. Richard discovers his place in the world and he discovers his identity. He has an opinion and it is worth something. Richard is not just simply a black man living in a white supremacist world. He uses his voice and he uses the power of words to fight for everything that he believes in and to fight against the white south and the racism that is shown everywhere. Just like H.L. Mencken Richard plans on using words to fight. He knows that physical fighting will not get him anywhere, but maybe just maybe, the power of words would stun people just like they had stunned him in the past. He could use his life, he could use everything that he gained, and he could use his never-ending hunger to change the world for the greater good. At last, Richards life achieved a purpose. He finally has something to live for, something that he desired more than anything else and above all something that made him feel happy and at peace with the rest of the world.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Parental Pressure Within High School Students Essay -- essays research

Parental Pressure within High School Students I. I became interested in this topic because my entire academic life has been filled with pressure from my parents. This pressure was mainly in school and grades, and in high school, the amount of pressure increased dramatically. This is because my parents now realized that everything in high school counts towards college. When I first came to high school, my grades were not as good as they were in middle school. I needed a little time to adapt to high school before I could improve my grades. During this time, my parents became upset because I brought home a report card that was not as good as they were expecting. Then I really noticed the pressure getting higher and higher. I did not only notice this with me, but I noticed this with many of my friends. I heard phrases like â€Å"My parents are going to kill me† and â€Å"I'm going to be grounded for 10 years† many times so when the opportunity to do research on this came up, I chose this as my subject. II. How does parental pressure influence students in high school? If there is an influence, is it positive or negative? I would like to do research on this because it raised my curiosity. For me personally, I do better in school if I am calm and have little pressure, but there might be students out there at Ramapo High School that think differently. These are some of the things that I will try to find out through this I-Search. III. At the beginning of my search, I had a really hard time finding secondary sources. First, I went to the school library. Since the school library has this computer program called BELS, there was no need to go to the other libraries. BELS is a program that lists all the books in Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff, and Oakland. It is a network that unites the two public libraries and the one in Indian Hills. I then went to an article search. I had no luck here either. When I went home, I went on America Online to try to find some articles or any secondary sources. I went to the article search and still found nothing. After a few days, I asked the school librarian to help me find some books. She guided me to a section that had books about social problems. Luckily, I found two books on families and parents. These were two good books, but I still needed at least one more to fulfill my requirement. I w... ... Kelly states, â€Å" My whole family is smart, and they all go (or went) to good colleges." In the issue of pressure affecting their school performance, Tyler said that he has a good amount of pressure and that without it, he would probably do worse. Kelly on the other hand, said that she would do a lot better if she had less pressure from her parents. Being a good parent means being there and having confidence in a child. A parent should provide outstretched arms for a safe place when the child might need it. The child should be relaxed and should be enjoying school. Maybe the child will get good grades because he/she wants to (Webb pg.25). Works Cited Gaillard, Lee â€Å"Hands Off Homework?† Education Week 14 December 1994 Guetzloe, Elennor C. Youth Suicide: What the Educators Should Know. New York: The Council for Exceptional Children, 1989. Leaman, Kelly - interview Mills, Tyler - interview Rubin, Dr. Jeffrey and Dr. Carol When Families Fight. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1989 Webb, Margot Coping with Overprotective Parents. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 1990

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A Comparison of the Main Approaches to Personality Psychology Essay

A Comparison of the Main Approaches to Personality Psychology Psychology of personality is a difficult concept to define and quantify, therefore most personality theories, however different they may be in other respects, share the basic assumption, that personality is a particular pattern of behaviour and thinking, that prevails across time and situations and differentiates one person from another. Most theories attempting to explain personality represent part of the classic psychological Nature verse Nurture debate. In other words, is personality â€Å"inherited†, or developed through our interactions with the environment. In addition, we shall compare and contrast two of the main approaches to personality psychology by concentrating on Psychoanalytical Theory (Freud) and Social Learning Theory (Bandura). By looking at the Psychodynamic approach, developed by Freud, we can argue that it emphasizes the interplay of unconscious psychological processes in determining human thought, feelings, and behaviours. The basis of this approach is that psychological factors play a major role in determining behaviour and shaping personality. Freud argued that personality is composed of three major systems the id, the ego, and the superego. The id (biological part of personality) is present at birth and consists of inherited instincts and all psychological energies. The id operates according to the pleasure principle, seeking to reduce tension, avoid pain and obtain pleasure. The ego (executive part of personality) is conscious part of the mind, the â€Å"real† us. The function of the ego is to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance wit... ...ogist, 33, 344-358t Bandura, A. (1982). Self- efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 33, 334-358 Mischel, W. (1984). Convergence and challenges in the search for consistency. American Psychologist, 39, 351-364 Rotter, J. B. (1966) Social learning and Clinical Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Practice Hall Rotter, J.B. (1966) Generalized expectancies for internal verse external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80 (1, Whole No. 609) Alfred, A. (1927) The practice and theory of individual Psychology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Carlson, R. Neil and Martin, Neil, and Buskit, W. (2004) Psychology (2nd European edition). Essex: Pearson Education Limited Gross, R (1996).Psychology, The Science of mind and behaviour (3rd Ed). London: Hodder & Stoughton

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Organizing Function of Management Essay

The purpose of this paper will be to evaluate the organizing function of management. The organizing function of management develops internal organizational structure. A key role of the organizing function is to address how people interact in various business environments. Management uses organizing activities to allocate resources, define responsibility, establish expectations, and group employees. â€Å"At high-tech firms such as Google that rely on employee skills, knowledge, and creativity to remain competitive, the importance of people is evident as well† (Bate & Snell, 1, 2009). Human Resources Management at Google Human resources management is a formal system used to manage people in a business environment (Bate & Snell, 2009). Human capital is a source of competitive advantage that is irreplaceable. According to Bate & Snell, â€Å"human resource planning occurs in three stages: planning, programming, and evaluating† (2009). Perfecting the art of human resources management can provide strategic value to organizational performance. The Google Company has secured its place as one of the world’s leading employers. Goggles strategy for effective human resources management is providing employees with unparalleled benefits, perks, and opportunities. Lazlo Bock, Google’s vice president of people operations states freedom, curiosity and highly trained employees has forged Google’s success (HR Focus, 2008). Planning requires Google to forecast future job trends based market fluctuations and company growth. In 2005, Google was hiring about â€Å"10 people a day, adding to a workforce of more than 5,000† (Lohr, 2005). Currently, Google employs approximately 20, 000 people with various backgrounds and skills. Closely monitoring economic trends and labor supply forecast allows the company to manage all available resources. The following rules of engagement with employees, outline by Lazlo Bock, have contributed to Goggles effective human resources management. * Hire learners. They are inquisitive, and when they fail, they will ask how they can do better. * Give people the tools and resources to succeed; then let them. * Work on small projects in small teams. * Keep structures flat. Especially as the company gets big, information needs to flow up. * Discuss everything you can publicly. * Give performance-driven raises. This is helpful in controlling turnover and enhancing retention. * Reward success, don’t penalize failure. â€Å"If you don’t fail, you’re not doing your job well.† Quarterly goals are set and performance evaluations are based on these; the company aims for a 70% success rate. Technology at Google Google was founded on the principle of â€Å"organizing the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful† (Google, 2009). The company original began as a search engine provider. The company quickly expanded products and services to include software, e-mail service, advertising platforms, desktop products, mobile devices, and mapping tools. Google’s list of services and products are too extensive and increasingly expanding. Google’s success can be attribute to the company’s’ expansion of technological services. Google recent advancement has been the development of a new operating system, Chrome, designed to rival its biggest competitors. â€Å"Unlike Windows, Chrome OS is an open-source project like the Linux operating system that’s popular with techies, which means outside software developers are welcome to work on it† (Graham, 7, 2009). The release of Chrome OS as a free open source operating system creates competition with Microsoft’s Windows. Google Assets Google’s ability to control the search engine markets has allowed the company to prosper from advertising campaigns. According to Schonfeld, â€Å"of the 137 billion estimated total searches performed in the U.S. last year, 85 billion were done on Google; nearly 90 percent of all the growth in search volume was also captured by Google (2008). Google’s profits should spike as the country climbs out of recession â€Å"because the company has weeded out a lot of frivolous expenses during the recession† (Liedtke & Girard, 2009). Google went public at $85 dollars a share 2004; current estimates place Google shares at $430 a share (Liedtke & Girard, 2009). The statistics indicated that Google has effectively organized companies assets during difficult economic time. Conclusion  Human resources management and technology play a crucial in business success. Google has perfected work environments that keep employees happy and provides the necessary resources to remain competitive as a company. â€Å"David MacDonald, who joined Google as an account manager in October 2001, says, It wasn’t groundbreaking – search engines had been around for years – but it had a different approach and was all about the people† (Smith, 6, 2008). Google remains one of the world’s leading companies engrossed in the technological revolution. Much of the organizations success arises from Google’s ability to venture into multiple applications. Google refuses to rely on the company’s search engine capabilities to sustain growth. The ability to adapt to economic demands and competition has facilitated Google’s organizational structure.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Arab community and Mosque

Terrorism, especially Islamic terrorism lately has been regarded as the most outrageous menace of the civilized and modern. In one hand the Islamic fundamentalist groups or organizations like Al-Qaeda are operating at merciless precision against the whole of western civilization, specifically the United States. The focal point of this paper is to act according to the given situation as a Counterterrorism Official with a significant Arab population in a city. The population includes both Arab American citizens and immigrants.Every action taken in the context of security must be evaluated in terms of not only effective measures of eradication of terrorism but also should deal with the aspects of ethical considerations. An effective measure in countering terrorism could have been to move substantial attack and infiltrate the Arab community and Mosque but that would be too irrational and many innocent civilians would be harmed. Alongside it would appear as if this is a new version of Naz i regime. The better mode would be to implant informants among the Arab community.This would be a much better mode of operation as it is ethical to use personal monitoring system rather than use force indiscriminately. Furthermore, the security officials are bounded by ethical considerations other than the need to prevent needless deaths through terrorism and that should be valued. By ethical consideration it is important to understand the need of self respect and human rights and one should always maintain the boundary between civil rights and autocracy.It should be noted that several measures could be taken maintaining the ethical context. First of all, there is the problem of forged documents and counterfeit currency. To negotiate these and to control probable and further infiltrations the authorities must make it absolutely necessary to double check each and every document under double scrutiny that are put forward by any individual of religion other than Christianity. This may appear a bit of racist statement but under the perception of national security this measure should be taken into account.The primary reason of eliminating Christians from this scrutiny is the information that hardly any person of this belief has ever been found involved with fundamentalist Islamic activities. Secondly, eliminating the Christians would ensure a faster mean of scrutiny as, and logically enough, the majority of the demography of United States and United Kingdoms are Christians. By why not eliminate Hindus, Shiks and Buddhists from this schedule?This is because it would be very difficult for security personnel to identify Hindus, Shiks and Buddhist apart from that of an Islamic militant and it is not possible to teach each and every security personnel the basic differences of religion. Next in the line is the problem of Apartments and hiding places. To counter this issuing a social security number of any other identification documents would not serve the purpose alone. To counter these Islamic militants the authorities should ensure that whoever is renting out an apartment or a property or selling the same to a non Christian individual should inform the authorities at once.The authorities should make it a mandatory issue. Furthermore, the authorities should set up enough whispering campaigns to ensure each individual is aware of this menace of Islamic terrorism and should always keep an eye or two on such suspecting parties. Reports should be forwarded immediately if there are indications of such activities. For this purpose the authorities must ensure to maintain a counter terrorism cell in each station. Another very vital tool of operations of the Islamic fundamentalist elements is the high tech means of communication.Though we often say that the internet has opened our eyes to the world and has unlocked our minds for the greater good, it is with this medium, along with telecommunication and short wave transmitter and other communicative means t he Islamic fundamentalists have closed their minds and hearts and zeroed in to destroy anything and everything that are beautiful, sober and just. To present a counterterrorist plan against this misuse of communication system the authorities must make sure that no bit of information is passed unnoticed or without proper scrutiny.For this, if it requires the best code decoders available so be it. If it requires the best possible software system so be it too. After all this is the matter of national security. (Kar, 2006) Information is one of the most important of all features of the terrorist groups. Infiltrators are basically implanted into the geography of a state mainly to gather information about the related state so that it would be possible for these people to gather enough information whereby it would be possible for the terrorist groups to utilize the information to gain access into the strategic location and perform terrorist activities.To negotiate and nullify these activit ies the authorities must ensure to put up wings involved in counter espionage. A wing of domestic counter espionage system is very hard to digest but overlooking this manifestation of the Islamic terrorist group would be resulting into adversity. So it is much needed that the authorities appoint units to monitor and report all possible act of terrorist espionage. Alongside, strategic points of the country should be well protected and supervised on a regular basis.Departments of concerns related to the country’s defense mechanisms should be well protected as well because there are the prime targets of the Islamic terrorist groups. Every other point of strategic points should be kept under thorough watch like stock exchange and other financial institutions for possible scams. This is because it has been found that the end in source of many financial scams result in the hand of different terrorist groups. These groups are always in need of financial assistance and scams are a go od source of acquiring a substantial amount of finance.(Lamb, 2004) All these measures are ethical and effective as far as security is concerned. Thus it can be stated that f used properly it would possible to eradicate the menace of terrorism staying with in the parameters of ethical considerations. References: Kar, P; (2006); Principals of Homeland Security and Related Applications; Kolkata: Dasgupta & Chatterjee Lamb, D; (2004); Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization on the Strategic Strata; Wellington: National Book Trust

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Gender, Authority and Dissent in English Mystical Writers Essay

The Book of Margery Kempe certainly provoked an intense amount of controversy, not least in the present but in her own time as well; a debate that centred on her position as a mystic. This position entailed having true knowledge of God, to work towards a union with him where they would essentially become one. Margery Kempe, at the very least views herself to be one of God’s vessels through which He can allow her to experience spiritual visions and feelings. It is in her book that Kempe conveys through words what she considered to be the most significant of these experiences, in order that those who read them would derive ‘great comfort and solace’. It is Kempe’s ‘individual and brilliant adaptation of what was originally a discipline for cloistered elites’1 that draws attention to her. Yet it is this individual voice, the style she uses, and her firm relationship with the market world that questions her experiences of higher contemplation. Certainly Kempe does not conform to the solitary life of a conventional mystic, much like Richard Rolle’s statement of ‘running off’ into the woods, and at one point she is even â€Å"sorrowful and grieving† because she has no company. Yet she uses many of her interactions with others to confirm her position as a mystic. She visits the revered mystic Julian of Norwich to seek advice as to whether her visions were genuine or not (Chapter 18), and receives confirmation from Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury. Essentially what it has been suggested that Kempe experiences is a higher level of contemplation – positive mysticism. This was the search for God through human imagery, which ‘insists on the physical as a legitimate means of access to the spiritual’.2 Certainly one of the standard patterns in mystical experience were the feelings of love between the mystic and God which is often described as fire, hence Rolle’s ‘Incendium Amoris’. Kempe notes that there was an ‘unquenchable fire of love which burnt full sore in her soul’, and that Christ had set her soul ‘all on fire with love’. Thus the intensity of her visions can not be brought into question as ‘she certainly shares with [the tradition] a mystical sense of God at work in human experiences’.3 These human experiences included her own body, as she suffers illness and indulgences in self-mutilation, wearing a haircloth, fasting and even biting her hand so violently that she has to be tied down. However, the visions that Kempe experiences, as mystics viewed them as gifts, are not a product of studious praying and meditating. In most ways what she conveys is an imitation of what many female European mystics experienced, like Bridget of Sweden and Dorothy of Montou or Catherine of Siena. She seeks justification for her mystical standing by linking herself closely to others and, though illiterate receives much of her inspiration from such mystical texts as ‘Incendium Amoris’, ‘Stimulus Amoris’, and Walter Hilton’s ‘Scale of Perfection’. However, as Glasscoe has pointed out, her spiritual experiences were not an easy thing for Kempe to meditate on. Whereas Hilton focused on inner spiritual growth, Kempe can only explain her transcende nce through what was familiar to her – the body.4 She even says that ‘sometimes, what she understood physically was to be understood spiritually’. Thus, whereas her visions may at many points seem extreme and even distasteful it does not necessarily mean that she was experiencing anything less than what is considered mystical. What also inspires Kempe, whilst also bringing into question her status as a mystic is the fact that she was a woman who was firmly placed in the world. David Aers describes her as an independent businesswoman, who before her initial vision was active in the market economy, investing money, organising public work and employing men.5 Mysticism was overwhelmingly contemplative, and there was not much spoke about the ‘active life’, with the exception of Walter Hilton’s positive description of the ‘mixed life’. However instead of accepting that she is â€Å"too busy with worldly occupations that must be attended to’6, like Hilton proposed, Kempe integrates the economic world into her mysticism. Shelia Delany proposed that in her work ‘one is constantly aware of the cash nexus’. 7 This is true in the sense that Kempe even strikes a deal with Jesus, in the sense that he becomes the mediator between Kempe’s social responsibilities as a wife and her desire to lead the spiritual life. Through Christ’s help she can lead the chaste life by buying off her husband, hence paying off all his debts (Chapter 11. p.60). Atkinson, commented that what Kempe creates is a ‘God, who controlled the economy of salvation, [and] functioned as a great banker of a merchant prince†.8 Also Kempe’s drive for ‘more’ is also indicative of her market drive values, in the same sense that she sees that by giving charity to her fellow Christians she will receive in heaven ‘double reward’. This unusual market driven line of thought is not the only factor that distinguishes her from her predecessors. Her style of writing is different and her visions are certainly unique. She actively takes part in many of the experiences, using speech, as Carol Coulson has suggested to inject herself into the holy narrative,9 even at one point acting as the handmaiden to God, and as a replacement to the biblical figure – Mary Magdalene. Her first vision is also very personal, and in some ways domesticated. Jesus is said to have appeared ‘in the likeness of a man†¦clad in a mantle of purple silk, sitting upon her bedside’. The Incarnation is taken to the extreme, where her visions sometimes sit outside the historical moments of the Bible and become part of her own world. Despite distancing herself by calling herself the ‘creature’ throughout the text many have accused her work of being self-absorbed – ‘I have told you before that you are a singular lover of God, and therefore you shall have a singular love in heaven, a singular reward and a singular honour’. Certainly her relations with God are very personal, and in many ways conveyed in sexual terms, as when Christ says to her ‘Daughter, you greatly desire to see me, and you may boldly, when you are in bed, take me to you as your wedded husband’. However, again this ‘great pomp and pride’, is said to emerge from her experience as a female within an urban class which fostered within her a strong sense of class identity and self-value.10 A self-value that she never really agrees to give up, thus because she refuses to traditionally quieten the self, Kempe does not sit comfortably as a mystic. Similarly she never really abandons her desire for worldly goods. She even admits in the first chapters that after her initial vision she refused to give up her worldly leisure’s, and still took delight in earthly things. This earthiness continues throughout the book. At one point she explains that she was embarrassed ‘because she was not dressed as she would have liked to have been for lack of money, and wishing to go about unrecognised until she could arrange a loan she held a handkerchief in front of her face’. This embarrassment does not hold well with the lower stage of mysticism in which the visionary is to dispel themselves of all earthly matters so that their soul is open to heaven. Her mysticism is driven to accumulate. She refuses to ‘be content with the goods that God has sent her’, whilst ‘ever [desiring] more and more’. From God she can attain spiritual status, whilst through her (father’s) social position she maintains earthly standing, thus she is caught between two (masculine) worlds. As David Aers has noted the market world never really receives rebuke in her mystical world, in fact it remains a natural part of it.11 Yet to see her as the victim of a capitalist society is, as Glasscoe maintains, to ignore her avowed purpose.12 Yet it is hard to ignore the element of hysteria in her work. She certainly experiences the traditional mystical dilemma that her visions will never be truly conveyed to those who stand outside it, that ‘herself could never tell the grace that she felt, it was so heavenly, so high above her reason and her bodily wits†¦that she might never express it within her world like she felt it in her soul’. However her Gift of Tears, in which she cries ‘abundantly and violently’, break quite brutally this silence of contemplation. It may be however that her loud screams and cries convey her devotion and justify her higher state. Certainly tradition showed that mystics ‘thought of themselves as vehicles for suffering and their broken voices and lacerated bodies reflected the stress under which they laboured’.13 Her crying brought attention to her being, even in her own time when crowds flocked to see her, becoming somewhat of a spectacle. These tears are almost a sign of her fertility in her contemplative life, and also justified in the Bible – Psalm cxxvi, 5-6 says that ‘they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Her tears therefore, although extreme and lead many throughout her work to rebuke her, are essentially a sign of grace demonstrating that the Incarnation for Kempe was an ever-present reality.14 Ursula Peters suggested that female mystics, through mysticism â€Å"turned inward and [discovered] ways to describe their own experiences†.15 In fact the role Kempe plays as a woman is very important to her whole mystical experience, and in some ways may even bring it into question. In her experiences with God she plays the wife, the mother, the sister and the daughter. When her husbands exclaims that she is ‘no good wife’ it again demonstrates that Kempe struggled between two worlds, that of the spiritual and that of her family commitments. St Bernard once proclaimed that natural human feeling doesn’t have to be suppressed but channelled into God, and in some ways this is exactly what Kempe achieves. By using the idea that she is a holy vessel she is able to assert herself as a woman in the highly competitive world quite drastically. She refuses to abandon her personality and quite forcefully, hence her adamant desire to be chaste, asserts who she is. The Church even attempted to denounce her as a Lollard, which shows that she was a threatening (female) voice and the only way to quieten her was to denounce her as a heretic. Rather than being a mystical treatise, The Book of Margery Kempe is a narrative account, almost a story, or even an autobiography as many have stated it to be, in which she attempts to adopt the contemplative ideal of piety.16 In fact it is more than mysticism, it is the experiences of a woman trying to find her voice in a masculine social world, and the only way that she can achieve this is through having spiritual authority. Certainly her devotion can not be questioned, and she can’t even predict herself when the intensity of Christ’s Passion will overwhelm her, be it ‘sometime in the church, sometime in the street, sometime in the chamber, sometime in the field’. Yet her extreme metaphors and use of language certainly bring into doubt her status as a mystic. As Susan Dickman has suggested prayers and visions certainly occupy the text, yet they are embedded in a larger structure17, namely how she was ‘painfully drawn and steered, [her pilgrimage acting as a metaphor for her mystical journey] to enter the way of perfection’. Certainly ‘painfully’ is an apt description, leading many to criticise her as a charlatan, a ‘terrible hysteric’ and even one who was possessed by the devil. Yet this account is from a very independent and highly spirited woman, who although struggled with her identity and sought the higher state to explore that larger structure of herself through God, was deeply devoted to her faith. In the end her piety was very ordinary, it is her style of conveyance however, the lack of the abstract vocabulary of Julian of Norwich, Rolle and the Cloud author18 that brings her status as a mystic int o controversy. Bibliography Aers, David., Community Gender and Individual Identity in English Writing, 1360-1430 (London, 1988) Bancroft, A., The Luminous Vision: Six Medieval Mystics and their Teachings (London, 1982). Evans, Ruth and Johnson, Lesley (eds.)., Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect (London, 1994) Klapisch-Zuber, C (ed.)., Silences of the Middle-Ages (London 1992),447 Glasscoe, Marion (ed.)., The Medieval Mystical Tradition (Exeter, 1980) http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/kempe.htm http://www.ccel.org/h/hilton/ladder/ladder-PART_I.html http://www.sterling.holycross.edu/departments/visarts/projects/kempe/index.html Knowles, D., The English Mystical Tradition London (London, 1961) Meale, Carol. M., (ed.)., Women and Literature in Britain 1150-1500 (Cambridge, 1993) 1 C. Klapisch-Zuber, Silences of the Middle Ages (London 1992),160 2 J.Long., ‘Mysticism and hysteria: the histories of Margery Kempe and Anna O’, in Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature, ed. R.Evans et al. (London, 1994),100 3 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993),268. 4 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 268. 5 D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity – English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988), 112. 6 http://www.ccel.org/h/hilton/ladder/ladder-PART_I.html 7 J.Long., ‘Mysticism and hysteria: the histories of Margery Kempe and Anna O’, in Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature, ed. R.Evans et al. (London, 1994), 87-111 8 D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity – English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988), 106 9 http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/kempe.html 10 D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity – English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988),115. 11 Ibid. 12 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 275. 13 C. Klapisch-Zuber, Silences of the Middle Ages (London 1992),446 14 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 276. 15 C. Klapisch-Zuber, Silences of the Middle Ages (London 1992),447 16 http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/kempe.htm 17 S. Dickman., ‘Margery Kempe and The English Devotional Tradition’, in The Medieval Mystical Tradition, ed. M. Glasscoe (Exeter, 1980), 156-172 18 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 272.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

My Ending to Lamb to the Slaughter

Lamb to the Slaughter’s Ending It’s the same nightmare that haunts me every day. I wrapped bed sheet around my fragile frame covering my body, which is drenched with cold drops of sweat. I crawled to the darkest corner in my bedroom trembling of fear as I sank in the darkness. The voices never leave my side; they echo in my head like a drum whether I am awake or asleep. The moon light was tickling my eyes. I felt like an empty shell as I sat there on the freezing-cold ground while my high body temperature was emerging with the coldness of the ground.I leaned my bare back against the cold wall. I closed my eyes, lifted my chin up, and covered my ears very tightly. â€Å" You must find the truth â€Å" the voice said. It’s the same voice in my nightmare. Even though I don’t remember it when I wake up, but I have this feeling bottled inside of me that I have been having the same nightmare over and over every day, and that this voice haunting me is the same voice in my nightmare. I heard the creaking sound of the door opening as I saw my mother, the only person I have left, appearing like a shinning angel reaching out her hand for me in the darkness.She took her steps towards me as her soft brunette hair brushed my face, and her wide crystal emerald green eyes were glued to me. â€Å"Another nightmare? † she looked worried. â€Å" I just feel that there is something I am missing in this world,† I continued, â€Å" That there is something I must discover to put these nightmares and voices to sleep†. â€Å" You have a big day tomorrow , so go back to sleep,† she threw me one of her fake smiles. My name is Jessica Patrick. I got my ghostly-while skin from my father. I mean I totally look like Casper and his ghost buddies!I have a shiny golden hair that falls, beneath my shoulders into a tassel of soft curls. My eyes are lovely midnight blue and around my pupil, I have a silver lining around both of them on my e yes. I am twenty-five years old. My father was murdered before I was even born, but they never find out the murderer; as a result, the case was closed. I only saw my father’s face through pictures, but Mom never really talked about him. I only heard about him from our neighbors. They said that my father was a fine man. He loved my mother a lot, and he was really looking forward to y birth, looking forward to see the face of his very first child. I also heard that he was a police officer, and that he was very serious and passionate toward his work. The wrinkles that filled his face in a young age indeed was just a proof of that. He never skipped work, but he also made sure that his wife doesn’t have to look at the clock for too long. Everyone used to love him because of his consoling, yet serious personality. He just used to be the centre of the attention in his work, but they said he changed before he was killed. He was acting really strange as if something was botheri ng him.Everyone is saying that I look, act, and even think just like him. Today, is an important today in my life because today I will finally graduate from college and can work as a detective. I want to find the one who killed my father. I know that twenty-five years have passed since then, and the possibility of actually finding the murderer is almost impossible. I am sure I can do it though. I barely stood up as I was trying to steady my balance. I stand on my trembling legs wondering how is it that I can keep standing up with my legs shaking like this.I follow the same footsteps I walk on everyday to go to the bathroom. As I was washing my face, I felt hot air on my back. I turned around to see blood covering every inch of the room. I could barely see any color other than red. â€Å" The nightmare has begun. Your life shall be mine. PE PRAPERED! YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE COME HERE TODAY. Your time is running out,† was written by blood. I had no idea what did that mean. It wasn’t good news for sure. I started stepping backward as slowly and as soundlessly as possible until my back touched the sink. I turned around to look at the mirror. There was something wrong!I was there in the reflection, but in a totally different place. I couldn’t help but to touch the mirror. I don’t know what exactly happened but I opened my eyes to find myself in a totally different place. This is my childhood. I was looking at myself being bullied by the other kids at my school. I was always called ‘freak’. It’s not that I am a freak. It’s just that unlike other children. I didn’t want a doll. I wanted to buy a DVD of Detective Conan. I always wanted to be a detective. I was always jealous of the other kids in my school when their fathers used to pick them up.They just looked so happy. Why is it that they can be happy, and I can’t? Why did my father have to die? I wanted to take their happiness away. I wanted to be wrapped by my father’s hands. I wanted to be hugged by his warmth and never have to feel this coldness. I always thought that maybe if I found the murderer maybe then I can be happy. â€Å" Guilt is something we humans always feel. It is guilt that keeps us awake in the night. We always think that if we only could go back in time we would have done that and this. Don’t you agree with me Jessica Patrick? I heard as everything disappeared leaving nothing but me. â€Å" Who are you? How do you know my name? † I demanded. â€Å" You should find the answers yourself. How about we play a game of fate and destiny? † He questioned. â€Å" A game? † I raised an eyebrow. â€Å" Jessica Patrick. You’re twenty- five years old. You want to be a detective, and find the murderer that killed your father. When you used to be a child, you used to be envious of everyone because they all had fathers, and you didn’t. Is that correct? † He sound ed as if he was smirking. â€Å" Wait! How do you know all that? I panicked. â€Å" in front of you there are two door. The one on your right shall take you back to the real world. You would wake up normally and won’t remember a thing; however, you won’t have any another chance. The door on your left might change your life. If you choose the left door, you can discover the one who killed your father and even stop the death of your father; however, be warned changing the future is extremely dangerous. Which door will you choose? † He asked for my decision. So basically if I chose the door on my left, I will go back to my life.I can to my life, but there is big chance that I won’t find the murderer. Though I won’t remember this, but still I don’t want to have an opportunity like this and let it fly away. The door on the left side can change my whole life. I don’t know If it can kill me, but I guess the only way to find out for sure is to give a try. â€Å" I choose the left door,† I said with a slight hesitation hidden in my voice. â€Å" Very well, I shall give you an advice. The future can change by the simplest changes. The one you are looking for is someone you know.Beware of your enemy. No one is to be trusted but yourself. Before you start, you must know a few things,† he pointed out. â€Å" What kind of things? † I asked. â€Å" You only have two chances. If you father gets killed again, your soul will be mine; in other words, you will be nothing but an empty doll in the real world, and a clock will appear on your left shoulder the moment you walk into that door,† he cleared out. â€Å" I get it,† I said trying to look unshaken by his words. I finally saw everything. It left me awed-struck at the beauty of it.The fountains are covered in diamonds from head to toe. The water inside shimmered brightly. I saw an endless amount of doors wondering what existed behind them. Exo tic lamps made of pure gold. Statues were everywhere. The door on my left was huge and silver with black swirls all over it as twine does. The door opened as I took my steps cautiously towards it. I opened my eyes to find myself in a house that kind of looked similar to me. I had a feeling inside of me that I’ve been to this house. I suddenly saw my father sitting in the living room along with my mother.He looked bothered by something He sounded as if he was breaking up with my mother. I looked at the clock. I just understood. I only have one hour to solve this and change the future. I have to find the truth no matter what. I followed them to find mom swinging a big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on dad’s head. I can never believe that my mother was the one who killed my father. I went back the moment my father entered the house, but the time I have left is only thirty minutes now. I have to do the right thing, but what is i t?I quickly ran down and closed the door so that my mother won’t be able to open it that way she can never take the leg of the lamb, and my dad will leave her. The clock was shinning. I know that by doing this I’ve made a choice, which means I have to go back to my time and find if I made the right decision. â€Å" I see you’ve stopped your mother. Very simple way, yet very effective. You listened and understood my advice carefully as I said the future can be changed by simple changes. You do realize that you trying to have another chance to save your father costs you something right? † He asked me straightforwardly. Yes,† I closed my eyes. â€Å" You shall forget everything. When you wake up, you will be blind and you won’t remember ever coming to this place,† he said. It appeared that my father was having a dangerous case that’s why he had to leave my mother. He didn’t know when can he go back to her; as a result, he di dn’t explain it to her. After a year, he came back to her side. I believe that she was happy that she couldn’t open the door at that time and killed my father. I may have become blind, but at least now I can feel warmth. I always know that my parents are there by my side, and I never had nightmares again. The End.

Humanities Today Paper Essay

Humanities are branches of knowledge that investigate human beings, their culture, and their self-expression. Distinguished from the physical and biological sciences and, sometimes, from the social sciences, the humanities include the study of languages and literatures, the arts, history, and philosophy. The modern conception of the humanities has roots in the classical Greek paideia, a course in general education dating from the fifth century BC that prepared young men for citizenship. Humanities also draw on Cicero’s humanitas, a program of training for orators set forth in 55 BC. The Renaissance humanists contrasted studia humanitatis (studies of humanity) with studies of the divine; by the 19th century the distinction was instead drawn between the humanities and the sciences (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2006). The humanities are a group of academic subjects united by a commitment to studying aspects of the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents a single paradigm from coming to define any discipline. The humanities are usually distinguished from the social sciences and the natural sciences and include subjects such as the classics, languages, literature, music, philosophy, the performing arts, religion and the visual arts. Other subjects at times included as humanities in some parts of the world include archaeology, area studies, communications, cultural studies and history, although these are often regarded as social sciences elsewhere (Wikipedia, 2006). Humanity in general is the experience of being human. The experience can be visual, audible or by touch. The philosophy of being human is also the aim within the general perception of humanity, thus separating the commonality understanding humanity from the personal experience of being human. The difference between the visualization of humanity and the practical application of humanity is the understanding of the critical observation of what humanity should be versus what humanity is. The larger interpretation deals with the different disciplines of science, medical and even in psychology. I do not believe that anyone can understand that the present situation globally has anything to do with humanity. For example, I do not believe that killing and raping like in Darfur or in other areas like Iraq or Iran has anything or needs much explanation if that is also humanity and if it is not, what is it? ArtThe art of painting has been said that the painter’s soul speaks within the creation of the painting. For example, Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of Mona Lisa is not proven that Mona Lisa really smiled, yet in the eyes of the soul of Leonardo DaVinci he saw this smile which leads to the conclusion that humanity has a soul which one cannot assume in contrast to an animal. In the style of surrealism, one can make the statement that the soul is talking in a language that only the painter can understand. To finish this topic of art and humanity, it is possible to say that the soul in humanity has many different faces that is only understood by the creator. The harmony or the dis-harmony to be attracted to one or the other like Ruben’s painting versus Picasso’s abstracts indicates that the resonance of the viewer is enchanted or dismayed, thus this only shows the uniqueness of the soul. MusicMusic from the viewpoint of one’s understanding of humanity is the rhythm of life. One would find oneself during the day humming this or that tune. One may not know why but one would be expressing the humming as joy. Theoritically one could ask the question, is music also the expression of the soul and if the answer is yes then why does the symphony entice some people but not all? So often one is confronted with the social expression that many people are gathered to be stimulated by the melody rather than the words. Case and point, when men have get togethers they are singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall which has nothing to do with the harmony or the expression of the soul and yet they are happy. Then the men start to come up with all kinds of variations of the song. If music is the expression of humanity or if humanity is the expression of music, then joy is the same. An opera for someone that likes opera, can be very moving in emotions. An overture can also be very moving. There are many people that like overtures and a cello concert and there are many people that like Christina Aguilera, Leonard Cohen or Johnny Cash. One can see as diverse the music, so diverse is humanity’s perception of it. ArchitectureThe visualization of an architect to create a structure is based upon the landscape and the scenery that can entice the architect to think and then create. It would be interesting to understand a child that creates the architecture in the clouds and tells his or her mother to look at the castle in the sky versus an architect that see’s the scenery and skillfully builds the castle. That would be the different findings. Throughout history, one has seen different styles of architecture like Roman and Gothic. Roman architecture is round and gothic is more triangular. Looking at Baroque, we see straight lines. All those different architectural styles are the expression of humanity and humanity’s evolution. PhilosophyPhilosophy in one’s opinion is the most intriguing part of humanity. To ask a question and to not have an answer or not wanting an answer, that is philosophy. Philosophy is the purest of the interpretation of humanities which means that humanities in action is at it’s best. The progression of thinking. What does it mean when Socrates says, I know that I don’t know or Shakepeare in Hamlet who says to be or not to be. With other words, philosophy represents the capabilities of humanities. LiteratureHumanity and literature go hand-in-hand with the evolution of humans and the different societies. Ancient texts like the Bible and other writings represent the history of humankind as written words where more and more use for communication. As the Bible seems to be the representation of the history of a particular group of people like the Jews, other groups like in the Mesopotamian history became less and less a real representation of history by geographic means. Literature became more poetic. For example the Mesopotamian epic story of Gilgamesh. Throughout the evolution of humankind, technology has changed the socio-economic structure which means from hieroglyphs communicated in clay or stone tablets to the skillfull calligraphy in monasteries and the triumph of the printing press by Gutenberg. Today literature is different because reading a book in the time of internet is almost a sacrilege. In not reading books in the way that it was done in the past, society has almost no time to read complete sentences because literature has also fallen in a trap that unfortunately takes away the thinking which is the hallmark of humanity. Humanity is comprised of many different cultures. Each culture has their own set of rules for humanity. The uniqueness of literature is lost in the complexity of it’s many interpretations. Humanities are about being human. The idea is to draw connections between all the various creative movements and influences that exist in a culture at any given moment, as well as how these movements and influences have influenced what has come later and what we are experiencing now. ReferencesEncyclopedia Britannica Online (2006). Humanities. Retrieved November 2, 2006 fromhttp://www. britannica. com/ebc/article-9367537Fiero, G. (2006). The Humanistic Tradition: The European Renaissance. The Reformationand Global Encounter. Boston, Massachusetts: McGraw-Hill. Robinson, J. (2003). What is Humanities? Retrieved on November 5, 2006 fromhttp://fp. uni. edu/robinsoj/Humanities/WHAT%20IS%20HUMANITIES. htmWikipedia the free encyclopedia (n. d. ). Humanities. Retrieved November 1, 2006, fromhttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Humanities.