Benefits of Partnerships with Nonprofits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Benefits of Partnerships with Nonprofits - Essay Example Public Administration in partnership with these entities can only assure a gain on both sides. Having both at the board table can only improve and extend the services presently being rendered to the public (Carroll, 1989). Collaboration is one of the things that have been missing over the last 30 years in the development of Public Administration and that collaboration can build strong interrelated teams for a better public trust. The world of the non-profit has continued to expand over the last 30 years. Public Administrations expected responsibilities have also expanded. Traditionally the two groups have worked alone, even being in competition with each other at times. This causes a lack of collaboration and less than adequate use of funds on both sides. Funds, under today's circumstances, are not increasing and neither is the public's trust of how funds are being used (Butz, 2009). The building of partnerships between Public Administration and the non-profits may be the answer to how we manage better use of funds available for the better of the public. We will discuss how non-profit and Public Administration is presently working and what a partnership may accomplish. Nonprofits today are very inter-related with communities and it is sometimes difficult to understand what their impact on the community truly is. They support local economies through employment as well as collection of needed funding. There is usually a great deal of public trust and funds throughout the community are collected through various methods to permit these to function. Grants frequently support large numbers of them and with each of these grants comes accountability that is often difficult to achieve. On the same note Public Administration has a great deal of engagement in the public good and how and what areas are funded in a community. Community housing becomes an extreme need for both sides and therefore is an important consideration for the possibility of a partnership. At this time, the community at large may see both Public Administration and the not-profit housing industry as repetitive (Jennings, 2005) as well as somewhat competitive. There are many concerns that there is a great deal of redundancy as these agencies depend on volunteered funds, government funding and foundation funding alike. Would it be more efficient for Public Administration to be involved in a partnership here to decrease gaps in services as well as gaps in skills necessary to provide these services (Jennings, 2005) Recently because of the thought that redundancy is happening, there has been a decrease in overall confidence in nonprofit organizations in some states that are handling the housing piece. This might be remedied by having some administrative duties being provided by public administration. This might also help to close the gap of government funding in the social sector, increasing the funding that both have available to do their work. Public Administration can help the public with experience in building the capacity of the local

Pedro Paramo Essay Example for Free

Pedro Paramo Essay The novel Pedro Paramo is about a young man who loses his mother and decides to take a journey to a ghost town called Comala to find his father, but instead dies of fear and finds out his father is dead. A central theme that runs through Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Paramo is the nature of hope and despair in a person’s life, which Rulfo demonstrates by Pedro Paramo’s love for Susana, Juan Preciado’s journey to Comala for his father, and Susana San Juan’s desire for her deceased husband. Rulfo exhibits Pedro Paramo’s hope for a future with Susana as a sometimes- ositive nature followed by the negative nature of despair he experiences from her demise. Pedro talks about how he has hoped Susana would return to him after many years of being gone since they were children: â€Å"I waited thirty years for you to return, Susana. I wanted to have it all. Not just part of it, but everything there was to have, to the point that there would be nothing left for us to want, no desire but your wishes† (Rulfo 82). Pedro has been persistent about Susana’s return after a long thirty years. He has loved for Susana since their childhood when they flew kites together, and thinks she will come to ove him upon her return. He went through all the trouble to gain power and land out of the hope that Susana would return and he could meet any request she wished. Pedro is talking to Don Fulgor about the plan to get rid of Susana’s father Bartolome San Juan: â€Å"We need it to be so. She must be left without family. We’re called on to look after those in need. You agree with that, don’t you† (Rolfo 85)? Pedro still hopes that Susana will realize she needs to return to him and come to love him. He believes that it will be easier for her to realize this once Don Fulgor as an order kills her father in the mines. Once he is alone with Susana he plans to comfort her now that her father is not with her or a distraction anymore. Pedro is miserable because Susana has just died: â€Å"I will cross my arms and Comala will die of hunger. † (Rulfo 117) Pedro is mainly portrayed as a selfish man, but not when it comes to Susana. According to Dorotea Pedro really did love Susana and wanted the best for her. When she died he lost it, he plummeted into depression and did not speak to anyone, because Susana meant the most to him. He promised vengeance on the town of Comala for not caring enough about Susana’s death. He choose to sit down and watch Comala collapse, because no money would circulate through the town since he owned all of it. The character Juan is like Pedro because he based his choice to go on a journey on a ray of hope only to fall into the shadows of despair. Rulfo displays Juan Preciado’s search for his father in Comala is based on hope of finding answers to his questions about his father, but is greeted with melancholy news. Juan’s mother Doloritas has just died and she had asked him to go to Comala and make Pedro pay them back for not being there to be a husband or father: â€Å"But before I knew it y head began to swim with dreams and my imagination took flight. Little by Little I began to build a world around a hope centered of the man called Pedro Paramo, the man who had been my mother’s husband. That was why I had come to Comala† (Rulfo 3). Juan’s mother wanted him to go to Comala to get what he deserves from Pedro and receive payback, but Juan quickly changed his mind about why he was going to Comala. Juan has never seen his father so he is quite ecstatic to see who Pedro is and what he looks like. Juan hopes that he will arrive in Comala to find his father Pedro and start a ew life for himself, and that they will develop a father and son relationship. Juan has received some disappointing information about his father from Abundio: â€Å"You were mistaken about the house. You told me the wrong place. You sent me ‘south of nowhere,’ to an abandoned village. Looking for someone who’s no longer alive† (Rulfo 8). Juan is speaking to his mother aloud out of anger about why she sent him to a ghost town to look for someone who is not alive anymore. Abundio had told Juan that Pedro was dead and that he represented ‘living bile’ to him. Juan has been stripped of any hope he had about is plans to find his father Pedro and answer any questions. Juan is dead and is in a coffin talking with Dorotea: â€Å"You’d have done better to stay home. Why did you come here? I told you that at the very beginning. I came her to find Pedro Paramo, who they say was my father. Hope brought me here† (Rulfo 60). Juan reminds Dorotea that he came to Comala to find his father mainly because he had hope. It is tragic how Juan dies out of fear and without any hope but sorrow. Juan died with despair knowing that his father Pedro was a horrible man and a dead man. Juan has lost his own life and everyone close o him, just like Susana who has lost her lover and father only to loose her own life shortly after. Rulfo demonstrates that Susana San Juan hopes to reunite with her deceased husband due to her craziness, and that once she figures out he is dead she does not know how to live without him. Susana is in her home dreaming about her deceased husband Florencio: â€Å"And what I want is his body. Naked and hot with love; boiling with desire; stroking my trembling breast and arms. My transparent body suspended from his. My lustful body held and released by his strength† (Rulfo 100-101). Upon her return to Pedro Susana persistently hopes that her dead husband will return to her. She believes this because she was driven crazy by a series of grave robbing’s with her father at a young age. She hopes for his return so much that she often has intense dreams with detailed memories of her lover. Susana is in her bed thinking about her dream she just had: â€Å"What shall I do now with my lips without his lips to cover them? What shall become of my poor lips† (Rulfo 101)? Susana has now realized that her deceased husband Florencio will never come back to life. She has suddenly lost all of her hope and is now filled with espair and fear of what will come. She never plans on being with Pedro and worries about what will happen to her lips since her deceased husband is the only one she wanted kissing her lips. Pedro is thinking about Susana in his thoughts while she is sleeping: â€Å"But what world was Susana San Juan living in? That was one of the things Pedro Paramo would never know† (Rulfo 95). Susana might live in the normal world but does not act like it, because she has crazy thoughts and dreams. Pedro will never know what is going on with Susana. She is always thinking about her dead husband because she lives in denial and is on Fantasy Island. The novel Pedro Paramo was about a young man who lost his mother and decided to take a journey to a ghost town called Comala to find his father, but instead died of fear and found out his father was dead. Juan Rulfo used the concept of the nature of hope and despair in a person’s life as a central theme for Pedro Paramo, and demonstrated it by using Pedro Paramo’s love for Susana, Juan Preciado’s journey to Comala for his father, and Susana San Juan’s desire for her past husband. Rulfo’s novel Pedro Paramo is an insightful source of how quickly a person’s hope can be taken and turned into despair.

Woman Warrior Essay -- Maxine Hong Kingston

The Woman Warrior Argumentative Essay Maxine Hong Kingston’s novel The Woman Warrior is a series of narrations, vividly recalling stories she has heard throughout her life. These stories clearly depict the oppression of woman in Chinese society. Even though women in Chinese Society traditionally might be considered subservient to men, Kingston viewed them in a different light. She sees women as being equivalent to men, both strong and courageous. In a few stark story, depressing in their own unique way, attempts to disprove the traditional Chinese saying â€Å"it’s better to have geese than girls†. The first talk-story told to Kingston by her mother deals with the suicide of one of her aunts, who remains nameless throughout the tale. After becoming pregnant from a man other than her husband, Kingston’s aunt is forced to conceive the illegitimate child in a pigsty, while the villagers raid and destroy her home. The next morning the disgraced woman plunges down a well while holding her newborn child, resulting in both their deaths. Kingston’s mother told her this story as a warning; to avoid being a disgraceful and disloyal woman like her aunt. Kingston, however, does not view her aunt as a promiscuous woman, but rather a victim or a martyr. â€Å"Imagining her free with sex doesn’t fit†, she claimed. Kingston imagines her aunt as a woman who abandoned the traditions set forth by China’s extremely patriarchal society. She saw her and someone who did what so many Chinese women shou...

USS Arizona, A Great Ship :: American History Pearl Harbor World War II WWII

On December 7th, 1941 tragedy struck when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. Many ships were sunk during the attack, but one of the most recognizable was the battleship the U.S.S. Arizona. This was one of the ships that was in line in the infamous battleship row. Because of where the U.S.S. Arizona was located it was a sitting duck to dive bombers and torpedo bombers of the Japanese. Once the ship was hit it went down in nine minutes. The sinking of the U.S.S. Arizona caused 1,177 service men to die while on board. The U.S.S. Arizona should also be known for all of its accomplishments during its tenure as a battleship. The Arizona had a very long and prestigious career before it was sunk. During the U.S.S. Arizona's life is served many important functions, from patrolling waters to escorting important people. The loss of the U.S.S. Arizona will forever be remembered as a tragic loss for the United States and its armed forces. The U.S.S. Arizona was in the United States Navy for a very long time before it was sunk. The reason why the U.S.S. Arizona was built was because it was part of America's pre-World War 1 modernization of the Navy. It was built in the Brooklyn Naval Yard with the other Pennsylvania class battleship. The builders of the U.S.S. Arizona started the layouts on March 16, 1914. It took a few years before the Arizona would finally be launched. The U.S.S. Arizona was put into commission on October 17, 1917. When it was built it was a very expensive ship. After all the construction was done the grand total for the ship was 12,993,579.23 dollars. When the Arizona was built it was considered to be a Pennsylvania class battle ship. This meant that it was an upgrade over the Nevada class battleship, which was the types they built before the Pennsylvania class. The main upgrades that they made was that they ships of the Pennsylvania class had two more main battery guns, a greater length and wate r displacement, and it had four propellers for a higher maximum speed. They also upgraded the size of the secondary battery guns. Because of this the U.S.S. Arizona carried a punch that no one would like to deal with. This consisted of four triple turrets for the main battery, and 22 single turret secondary battery. The Arizona also had many anti-aircraft guns for protection.

Inequalities in Education Essay

The sociological study of education looks at the way different social institutions affect the process of education and how this impacts on students. Education is widely perceived to be a positive social institution where individuals can acquire knowledge and learn new skills. However, some would argue that this is not the case and that education produces an unequal society and is a negative institution where individuals are socialised to accept such inequality. This essay will explore the inequalities in education to establish how they occur. By examining Marxist, Functionalist and Interactionist perspectives, explanations for such inequalities can be understood. Historically, in Britain formal schooling was a preserve of higher social classes. Education was largely provided by private institutions, such as churches form the middle ages onwards, with an aim to provide the bureaucratic elite with a means to run government. The state first assumed full responsibility for education in 1870, with the Foster’s Education Act. In 1880, school attendance was made compulsory up to the age of 10, ensuring basic primary education for all. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The state took responsibility for secondary education with the Fisher Education Act of 1918 and attendance was made compulsory until the age of 14. The formal leaving age was raised again on two occasions, in 1947 to 15, and to 16 in 1972. By 1900 only 1.2 per cent of pupils stayed in education after the age of 17 and by 1939, 5.8 per cent of pupils stayed in education past the age of 17, but it was not until the 1960s, when polytechnic universities were introduced, that everyone capable of benefiting from higher education was able to attend a higher education establishment. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) However, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government of the 1980s began to view education in terms of the needs of the economy and started to reduce state economic investment. Thatcher’s government had a general mistrust of the liberal and free-thinking culture of higher education institutes and began to restrict spending in Arts based subjects. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The 1988 Education Act introduced the common national curriculum, which provided guidelines for teachers about what they were required to teach. (Giddens, 2001) The National Curriculum was introduced to ensure that everyone would re ceive the same basic level of  education. In western societies there is a general agreement that education should be based on an equality of opportunity. However, there is evidence to suggest that people with certain social characteristics succeed more than others. (Kirby et al, 1999) Sociologists have focused on social background to explain the relative failure of working class children compared to middle class children. Evidence suggests that the higher a person’s social class, they are more likely to achieve greater education success. The most obvious explanation for differences is the intelligence of the individual. The 1944 Education Act established the tripartite system. Children were allocated to one of three types of school, grammar, technical or secondary modern, on the basis of the results of an intelligence test, taken at 11 years, the eleven-plus. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Grammar schools provided an education for those who performed highly on the eleven plus, while other pupils who has a lower score were taught in either a technical or secondary modern school. The eleven plus examination showed a correlation between social class, where more middle class children scored highly and therefore gained places at grammar schools. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) However, Britain has a differential educational system that gives people the right to privately educate their children if they wish and can afford to. League tables of schools, which are published every year, show consistently show private schools, such as Eton, Cheltenham Ladies College and Harrow, are the best achieving schools. Hans Eysenck, was a bio-psychologist who believed that genetics play a fundamental part in determining IQ. Eysenck wrote â€Å"What children take out of schools is proportional to what they bring to schools in terms of IQ† (Eysenck, 1971: Cited in Taylor et al, 2000) From this viewpoint it is possible to argue that class differences in educational achievement are largely based from class differences in genetically based IQ. However, most sociologist emphasise the importance of environmental factors in determining IQ differences, namely motivation, knowledge and skills, which are learnt rather than genetically predetermined. In this case class differences in educational attainment may be due to class backgrounds rather than class  genes. (Taylor et al, 2000) Many sociologists have also argued that the language used in IQ tests favours the middle classes, as it is closer to their spoken language. A variety of figures demonstrate the continued inequality in educational achievement by social class. The Youth Cohort Study, conducted in 2002, collected data on 7,238 18-year-olds. The results of the study show that 75 per cent of those with professional parents were still in education as opposed to 55 per cent of those whose parents have few skills. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Not only were those with higher-class parents more likely to continue to education, their qualifications likely to be higher as well. Just 22 per cent of children of routine workers had at level three qualification compared to 65 per cent of those children with professional parents. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) With the election of the Labour government in 1997, there was a return to the concern of equal opportunities in education. The Labour party was elected on a promise to improve the education system. However, by the late 1990s, the language had changed with concern being expressed for social exclusion and improving standards rather than class inequality. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Social exclusion relates to the alienation of certain groups, connected to a person’s class, living standards and education. The close relationship between low levels of education and social exclusion has been highlighted in recent years. Failure to acquire basic skills such as literacy and numeracy can place a person at a distinct disadvantage. Functionalists view society as being structured with many integrated segments which work together to form society as a whole. Each of theses segments, such as the economy, judiciary and education, perform crucial functions to satisfy the needs of society and create a harmonious society. Functionalists view education as one of the most important components of society. According to Emile Durkheim, education is the â€Å"influence exercised by adult generations on those who are not yet ready for social life.† (Durkheim, 2003, Page 28) Durkheim asserted that moral values are the foundation of cohesive social order and that the education system has a responsibility to teach a commitment to a common morality. (Kendall, 2005) Education has an  important role in the socialisation by enabling children to internalise social rules which contribute to the functioning of society. Talcott Parsons argued that the role of education is to instil the value of individual achievement in a way t hat the family can not. Education is the main source of secondary socialisation in the same way that the family is the main source of primary socialisation. (Giddens, 2001) In the modern society, individuals are judged by what they have achieved and schools prepare pupils for this by measuring success with graded examinations. For Parsons, schools operate on meritocratic principles, where pupils are treated equally and if pupils work hard they will achieve the most merit. This teaches children through the values of achievement and the value of equal opportunity, which is important for functionalists because it ensures that the best people will fill the most important positions in future careers. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Individuals will accept their position as they believe that everyone has been given the same opportunities through education. Pupils will achieve success through ability and hard work irrespective of other social factors, such as social background, ethnicity and gender. While the funct ionalist view of education is very positive, predominantly issues of inequality are denied. Marxists have a very different view of the purpose of education. Marxism is a structural perspective of society, which focuses on the class struggle and exploitative relationship between the ruling class and the working class. The struggle begins with the opposing interests of the ruling class, who control the economy, and the working class who sell their labour to earn an income. (Giddens, 2001) Bowles and Gintis write from a Marxist perspective, which is highly critical of the capitalist society. Like Karl Marx, Bowles and Gintis argue that work in capitalist societies in exploitative and alienating for the workforce. The main role of education in the capitalist society is in the reproduction of labour power. The first and major role of education is to provide the capitalists with a workforce with personality and attitudes most useful to them, or more simply, a subservient workforce. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The education system helps meet these needs and objectives through the hidden curriculum. It is not what pupils learn from lessons and examinations that is important, but the form  the teaching takes and the organisation of the school day. The hidden curriculum shapes the future workforce by promoting subservience, encouraging an acceptance of hierarchy, fragmenting lessons and motivating students with external rewards as opposed to the pleasure of learning. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) With the acceptance of hierarchy, pupils learn to take orders, obey them and accept they have little control of the subjects they study, all in preparation for the relationships they will have with future employers. Bowles and Gintis believe that the formal parts of the curriculum correspond to the needs of capitalist employers by providing a surplus of skilled labour. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Marxists reject the view that the education system is meritocratic and believe that social class is the most important factor influencing achievement. While Marxism and Functionalism focus on how society affects educational attainment, interactionist sociologists look at how individuals can shape their own experience. Labelling theory was developed by Howard Becker in his study of deviance but was later applied to the way teachers interact with their pupils. Becker wrote from an interactionist perspective, which is a non-structural approach to sociology and emphasises an individual ability to control actions. (Giddens, 2001) Becker interviewed sixty teachers from Chicago and found that they have a tendency to share the same picture of an ‘ideal’ pupil. The ‘ideal’ pupil is highly motivated, intelligent and well-behaved, pupils who were judged to be closest to this ideal were likely to come from middle class backgrounds. Those furthest away from the teachers ‘ideal’ were most likely to come from working class backgrounds (Taylor et al, 2000) As a result those from working class backgrounds were labelled as having a lack of discipline, unmotivated and unlikely to achieve. These labels can have a significant effect on their educational success in the result of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true. For example if a teacher tells a pupil that they are not very good with English frequently, it is likely the pupil will underachieve in English classes and examinations. (Taylor et al, 2000) Although, labelling theory seems to hold true and have resonance in practical scenarios, it is probably too  simplistic to explain educational inequalities in full. The theory largely implies that individuals have control over their life and ignore structural influences on the individual. Meritocracy holds that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed irrespective of background; statistics seem to disprove this notion. The key factors leading to educational inequality seem to be related to economic background. Functionalists argue that schools operate meritocratically, a Marxist would say that this is just an ideology that does not work in practice. The ideology makes people believe that the educational system is fair but really only serves the interests of the ruling class. M.S.H Hickox questions the Marxist view that there is a close correspondence between education and economic developments. For example, compulsory education was introduced after the onset of industrialisation, so for a long time capitalists did not employ a workforce that had been shaped by the ‘hidden curriculum’. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The formal curriculum is not designed to teach the skills needed by employers or create uncritical passive behaviour, which would make workers easier to exploit. Subjects, such as A Level Sociology, do not promote an unthinking student but in actual fact promote critical thinking. However, Marxists argue that educational institutions transmit a dominant ideology which serves the interests of the ruling classes. (Giddens, 2001) Functionalists argue that if students work hard and are able they will achieve. However, the relationship between academic achievement and occupational reward is particularly close. Many students leave university and are unable to find suitable employment and income seems to be only weakly linked to qualifications. (Giddens, 2001) The hidden curriculum is supposed to promote subservience in pupils, this ignores the fact that many teenage pupils have little regard for rules and respect for teachers. Labelling theory may be more appropriate for understanding this type of behaviour. Durkheim assumes that societies share the same values which can be transmitted through the educational system, which is untrue in todayâ€℠¢s multi-cultural society. Many inequalities in education can affect achievement and success, which appear to be related to economics. Functionalists view education as a  meritocracy where all individuals have an equal opportunity to succeed irrespective of social differences. However, Marxists strongly disagree with this and believe that it is almost predetermined before a pupil starts school whether they will achieve or not. Interactionists believe that personal experience of schooling is important for determining success or failure. However, no theory offers a plausible and complete explanation for educational inequality. Personally, I believe that a compromise between social action and Marxist theory should be made to address educational inequality. I am personally not convinced that there is any particular merit to functionalist theory, as it appears to deny issues of inequality. References Durkheim E (2003) Moral Education, Reprint Edition, Dover Publications Inc, LondonGiddens A (2001) Sociology, Fourth Edition, Polity Press, LondonHaralambos and Holborn (2004) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, Sixth Edition, Harper Collins, LondonKendall D (2005) Society in Our Times: The Essentials, Fifth Edition, Thomson Wadsworth, ChicagoKirby et al (1999) Sociology in Perspective, Heinemann Educational Publishers, LondonTaylor et al (2000) Sociology in Focus, Causeway Press, Bath

Timeline of the Viking Age

Timeline of the Viking Age This Viking timeline is a part of the About.com Guide to the Viking Age. 793: Norwegians attack Lindisfarne monastery, England795: Norwegians run assaults on monasteries in Scotland and Ireland799: St. Philibert Monastery (France) sacked800: Norwegians settle Faroe Islands810: Danes under King Godfred attack Frisia 814: Charlemagne dies834: Danes attack Dorestad, now in the Netherlands841: Norwegians over winter in Ireland850: Longphorts established in Ireland 850: Danes spend first winter in England852: Danes spend first winter in Frankia853: Norwegian Olaf the White established as king at Dublin865: Danish Great Army arrives in East Anglia866: Norwegian Harald Finehair subjugates Scottish Isles870: Danes rule over one half of England880s: Norwegian Sigurd the Mighty moves into the Scottish mainland873: Ingolf Arnason founds Reykjavik, Iceland 902: Vikings expelled from Ireland917: Vikings retake Dublin930-980: First Norse invaders in England become established as settlers954: Eirik Bloodaxe dies and Vikings lose control of York959: Danelaw established98 0-1050: Newly established Norwegian and Danish kings launch attacks on England 985: Norse farmers led by Erik the Red settle Greenland 1000: Leif Erikson finds North America 1014: Vikings defeated at Clontarf by Brian Boru1016: Danish King Cnut named king of England, Denmark and Norway1035: Cnut dies1066: Norman Harald Hardrada dies at Stamford Bridge This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Viking Age and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. See the Viking Age Bibliography for sources.

Free Essays on Life

, a picture is full of memories. Whether it’s good times at a party, a beautiful sunset captured on vacation, or maybe just a family portrait from the 80’s; it’s all about the memories. Some might even say that memories are all that we have. To author David James Duncan, memories are like â€Å"river teeth†: time defying knots of experience that remain in us after most of our autobiographies are gone (4). It is impossible for anyone to remember all the events of their lives; there are simply too many. It is the memories that continually stand out in our minds and stay with us year after year that Duncan defines as â€Å"river teeth†. They are the good and bad memories: stories, emotions, feelings and experiences that make us human. â€Å"River Teeth† is a story about the continuous cycle life. Of course each individual life contains a birth or beginning, a childhood, adulthood and at some point a death, but what Duncan tries to make evident in his definition or â€Å"river teeth† is that life is more than just these things. Duncan states that, â€Å" And eternity itself possesses no beginning, middle or end† (5). With ... Free Essays on Life Free Essays on Life Education Is The Key Is education the key to success? Many may think it is, but others may differ. I the book A Painted House, John Grisham gives’ a primary example of how educated are more successful then those uneducated. In the novel A Painted House, there was not a big focus on education at all. The history of the Chandler family was their men spent more time in war then in school, and the women spent more time doing chores and farm work then in the classroom. I believe this is why they had a hard time living or becoming successful. I don’t think the Chandler family would have survived without education in today’s society. The Chandlers were a nice family. Luke was the narrator of the story and he lived with is parents and grandparents on a farm in the 1950’s. Mexicans also stayed on the farm with them in the barn. In opinion education was not a big focus at all in the story A Painted House. The Chandler family focused primarily on many other things. They focused more on things like their farm and wars then getting an education. Luke’s grandfather was in WW1 and his father was in WW2. His uncle Ricky was in the Korean War during the time of this story. I don’t think they would have survived in today’s society because education is the focus in most normal households. In today’s society farmers are some of the most important people in the work industry. Farmers might not be the smart in every subject but they are educated enough in their field. I don’t think the Chandlers were educated enough in their field. You even need a high school education to join the military so they couldn’t even fight in war. In my opinion the more you know the better you are in life. The Chandlers took a different approach in life then learning more. They family really Ivory 2 had to learn the hard way. Luke’s mother only mentions education once throughout the whole novel. That is when she tells Luke at the end of the novel... Free Essays on Life Life†¦what is it really? Is it all a big game? People perceive it in so many different ways and interpret it to such an extent they forget what it really is. It’s a gift and opportunity that we are blessed with. Like all tasks utilising it most effectively is incredibly difficult and enjoying it while we have it seems to be the furthest from what we do. Those who tell me that ‘life wasn’t meant to be easy’ see elements in such a negative view. Life was meant to be easy†¦ we just make it hard for ourselves. Some have it easier then others but in the overall scheme of things no one has anything to complain about. Unfortunately it’s a fault in humanity†¦ so many of us see everything to be negative. Even at the best of times we find something that disappoints us. Is that because we have such high expectations? To be honest†¦ who knows? But what can be sustained is that we are all given a chance and what we do with it, how we go about doing it and what result comes from it determines how easy things become. So many complain about their appearance, they bitch about others and start fights and they whinge when things don’t go their way. But not once have any of those people stopped and thought about an individual that isn’t capable of being conscious about their appearance or capable of starting a fight†¦ and why? Because they aren’t even capable of moving. They’re bedridden or ill, or they suffer from poverty. Unfortunately due to the way society has shaped out and the way the world has evolved some have life exceptionally hard. They aren’t capable of making choices and life for them is difficult. In the sense of daily activities things are tough, but those people don’t state that life is hard or that it wasn’t meant to be easy merely because they’re grateful to be alive. They spend every ounce of energy they have in preserving themselves and things they care about instead of complaining. Anyone who is educat... Free Essays on Life Life as 1 In the 1800’s, it was not out of the ordinary for a child to work sixteen-hour days, seven days a week. Michael Thomas Sadler tried to show in the Sadler Report of the House of Commons, how brutal it was. The Sadler Report was volumes of testimonies from children workers and older people, who once had to work as children in the mines and factories. The treatment of children had become increasingly worse and worse. The main point the Sadler Report was trying to get across was the exploitation of children workers. While reading this short exert from the Sadler Report, it was evident that both mental and physical abuse was taking place. A child needs to be nurtured in a certain way to grow up happy and healthy. A child can’t be imprisoned in a factory all day and be expected to be normal. The brutality inside the factories can be separated into mental and physical abuse. Michael Thomas Sadler interviewed Mr. Matthew Crabtree. During this interview, Matthew told Sadler abou t what it was like working in a mill in the 1800s. First, Matthew stated that he works, â€Å"From 6 in the morning to 8 at night.† Then proceeds to explain when he had time to rest and eat, â€Å"An hour at noon.† The rest of the conversation about rest breaks and eating reveals that if you don’t want to bring you lunch to work with you, and most didn’t because it was eventually covered in dirt and dust from the machines, that they could go home. But the only thing was, are most of the children living a mile or two away from the mill. That means with the little time the children have a break, they stay on their feet, run home and eat, and promptly return to the mill for more strenuous work. Next, Matthew talks about how he was severely beaten at work. Sadler asks Matthew, â€Å"State the condition of the children toward the latter part of the day, who have thus to keep up with the machinery.† Matthew replies, â€Å" It is as much as they can do w hen they ... Free Essays on Life Life As A River Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. A well-known line that was made famous by Tom Hanks in the movie Forrest Gump, this quote illustrates a metaphor that can easily be applied to life. Life, at times, can be just as unpredictable as a box or See’s candy nuts and chews. What lies beneath each decadent chocolate coating, as with each new day, is unpredictable. Another metaphor that is often used for life is a river. A fine example of this is seen in David James Duncan’s, â€Å"River Teeth: A Definition†. It is through his definition of â€Å"river teeth† that Duncan provides a strong metaphor for life that gives it new meaning. A lot can be said about a single picture. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. But more than the words, a picture is full of memories. Whether it’s good times at a party, a beautiful sunset captured on vacation, or maybe just a family portrait from the 80’s; it’s all about the memories. Some might even say that memories are all that we have. To author David James Duncan, memories are like â€Å"river teeth†: time defying knots of experience that remain in us after most of our autobiographies are gone (4). It is impossible for anyone to remember all the events of their lives; there are simply too many. It is the memories that continually stand out in our minds and stay with us year after year that Duncan defines as â€Å"river teeth†. They are the good and bad memories: stories, emotions, feelings and experiences that make us human. â€Å"River Teeth† is a story about the continuous cycle life. Of course each individual life contains a birth or beginning, a childhood, adulthood and at some point a death, but what Duncan tries to make evident in his definition or â€Å"river teeth† is that life is more than just these things. Duncan states that, â€Å" And eternity itself possesses no beginning, middle or end† (5). With ... Free Essays on Life Name Date Diagnostic Essay â€Å"Bon le ton la rouler†, is the motto I, as well as every other child growing up in New Orleans, was taught. French for â€Å"Let the good times roll†, the phrase symbolized us and played a major role in our decision making. My name is __________, and yes I was born in and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I moved to New Jersey at the end of May 2002, and love it here. The only problem I see is that the people here need to slow down a bit, take a step back from life, and for goodness sakes, RELAX. Perhaps we relaxed a bit too much in New Orleans, but you people are ridiculous. In New Orleans, I attended ___________ High School. Originally I was studying to be a surgeon, but my junior year I took Television Production as a blow-off course and absolutely fell in love with it. I have gone as far as working for New Orleans news stations, and stooped as low as filming weddings. I have studied as much TV Production as my high school would offer and now attend _________ with plans to further my education. I am currently taking English 121 with hopes of learning how to be able to sit down with a writer, give him/her an outline of what I want, and to be able to logically critique him on a piece I would like to do. I would absolutely love to be able to put a couple of skate videos out into the world and then possibly work for a major production company. Skateboarding is my absolute favorite thing to do in my free time. I feel skating is possibly one of the most challenging, frustrating and exhilarating things I have ever addressed. I started skating about five months ago, and haven’t put my board down since. My life is simplistic and I love a good challenge. Writing has never been a strong suit of mine, but hopefully that will change....

How to Convert Fahrenheit to Kelvin

How to Convert Fahrenheit to Kelvin Fahrenheit and Kelvin are two common temperature scales. The Fahrenheit scale is used in the United States, while Kelvin is an absolute temperature scale, used worldwide for scientific calculations. While you might think this conversion wouldnt occur much, it turns out there is a lot of scientific and engineering equipment that uses the Fahrenheit scale! Fortunately, it is easy to convert Fahrenheit to Kelvin. Fahrenheit to Kelvin Method #1 Subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit temperature.Multiply this number by 5.Divide this number by 9.Add 273.15 to this number. The answer will be the temperature in Kelvin. Note that while Fahrenheit has degrees, Kelvin does not. Fahrenheit to Kelvin Method #2 You can use the conversion equation to perform the calculation. This is especially easy if you have a calculator that allows you to enter the whole equation, but its not difficult to solve by hand. TK (TF 459.67) x 5/9 For example, to convert 60 degrees Fahrenheit to Kelvin: TK (60 459.67) x 5/9 TK 288.71 K Fahrenheit to Kelvin Conversion Table You can also estimate a temperature by looking up the closest value on a conversion table. There is a temperature where the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales read the same temperature. Fahrenheit and Kelvin read the same temperature at 574.25. Fahrenheit (Â °F) Kelvin (K) -459.67 Â °F 0 K -50 Â °F 227.59 K -40 Â °F 233.15 K -30 Â °F 238.71 K -20 Â °F 244.26 K -10 Â °F 249.82 K 0 Â °F 255.37 K 10 Â °F 260.93 K 20 Â °F 266.48 K 30 Â °F 272.04 K 40 Â °F 277.59 K 50 Â °F 283.15 K 60 Â °F 288.71 K 70 Â °F 294.26 K 80 Â °F 299.82 K 90 Â °F 305.37 K 100 Â °F 310.93 K 110 Â °F 316.48 K 120 Â °F 322.04 K 130 Â °F 327.59 K 140 Â °F 333.15 K 150 Â °F 338.71 K 160 Â °F 344.26 K 170 Â °F 349.82 K 180 Â °F 355.37 K 190 Â °F 360.93 K 200 Â °F 366.48 K 300 Â °F 422.04 K 400 Â °F 477.59 K 500 Â °F 533.15 K 600 Â °F 588.71 K 700 Â °F 644.26 K 800 Â °F 699.82 K 900 Â °F 755.37 K 1000 Â °F 810.93 K Do Other Temperature Conversions Converting Fahrenheit to Kelvin is not the only temperature conversion you may need to be familiar with. You may want to learn to convert between Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin in any combination Celsius to FahrenheitFahrenheit to CelsiusCelsius to KelvinKelvin to FahrenheitKelvin to Celsius

MPH503 - Infertility and Public Health Module 3 - SLP Essay

MPH503 - Infertility and Public Health Module 3 - SLP - Essay Example elated agencies and other private or public organizations, are working hand in hand to provide appropriate infertility treatment services to those who are identified as suitable recipients to respond to the increasing demand and need of such services; of course, putting emphasis on the existing state policies. Texas is one of the states which mandate the provision of infertility insurance and services for the identified recipients. The existing policies regarding infertility and the provision of treatment services are covered by the Health Coverage of the Health Insurance and Other Health Coverages section of the Texas Insurance Code. According to Section 1366.001, these services are identified and must be provided by (1) an insurer, (2) a group hospital service corporation which provides nonprofit hospital services plan, (3) health maintenance organizations or HMOs, and (4) an employer, multiple employers, union, association, trustee, or other self-funded or self-insured welfare or benefit plan, program, or arrangement (â€Å"Insurance Code,† n.d.). The state insurance commissioner, furthermore, dictates the application of the enacted laws contained in the specific legislative statutes. These particular statutes necessitate the organizations mentioned above as well as the state commissioner to offer coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure, one of the assisted reproductive technologies (ART), to those under the group health benefit plan who are considered infertile, whether it be the employee who owns the plan or his/her spouse. In case the offer is rejected by the supposed recipients, the issuer of the services must ensure to put the refusal into writing. The institutions who are affiliated with any religious denomination are also not forced to offer such services especially if conflicting principles exist. Despite the use of these services in several states such as California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York among others, the issue regarding

Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Mythology - Essay Example iewpoint, one which is related to the sacred and religious ideal and the other which shows a specific ideal related to the human element of what death means. The first perception of death in Greek myth that is displayed in the story of Alcestis is by the personification of death as a God. This shows that the Greeks looked at death as a divine entity that was entitled to take the life of those that it wished. As death talks, not only is it seen that this is a divine entity that is able to take the lives of those who are ready to die, but also plays with the lives of those that are about to die for respect and for status among the other gods. This is seen from the beginning of the play when talking to Apollo. In a conversation, Apollo states, â€Å"One life is all you get. Young or old, what difference does it make? Death: Honor. The younger my victim, the more mankind fears and respects me† (Euripedes, lines 80 – 84). This shows that the concept of death is one that is attributed to the gods. When death is able to take a life, it causes a fear and unknowing among the culture. This allows death to remain as a god and to carry the ideal of a god. This sacred concept was one that was accepted by the Greeks and the ideals in which they held about death as a part of their religious philosophies. The concept of the divine is not only one in which the character of Death holds before taking Alcestis. The relationships to the divine by those that are in the play also reflect the idea of death and the mystery that it holds. This relates specifically to the religious and cultural affiliations of what it means to leave the earthly plane. An example of this is when Alcestis is getting ready for her death. She considers the moment sacred and dresses in her finest clothes to prepare. She is then seen praying at every alter in the area to prepare for her journey to the underworld, while asking for assistance for her family and children. The attitude toward death

Discussion 1 - Management''s Responsibility Coursework

Discussion 1 - Management''s Responsibility - Coursework Example There are many reasons that are associated with their failure and the management had an important part in its failure as it could be circumvented. Firstly, the business environment was risky because the timing of its new venture corresponded with the recession of 2007 when consumer spending had reduced drastically. Secondly, Tesco’s management decision to pull out of the market rather than giving time for consumers to recover from the recession. For Tesco, the external, macro-environment proved to be challenging when the firm decided to launch a new venture in the US. So, its decision making was crucially important for the firm to choose its course in the challenging environment. Many also blame the research and its analysis. Tesco’s interpretation of the collected data ignored the cultural context and the options consumers had if there were one-stop stores. However, the recession had greatly reduced their spending capacity of consumers and even though they had the time to shop at multiple stores, they had little money. (2) Caty has pointed out some important information regarding the credit industry. I agree with Caty that the management did not have much involvement in the decision for closing the branch. In this case, the orders came from the head office. Usually, the most profitable branches provide little reason for the corporate management to shut it down however this is not the only criteria for closing down a branch. In BankFirst’s case, the branch location was generating enough revenues to sustain it in the long run however the decision to close it down came from the head office located in another state. Perhaps the bank was trying to cut down its branches in that particular state as part of its strategy to focus on reducing market penetration to allow for another growth strategy. The credit card industry serves an important purpose as credit providers. Technology is one external factor over which the management has little control over although

The potential for gaining weight is higher when work is for a night Essay

The potential for gaining weight is higher when work is for a night shift rather than day and evening shift - Essay Example Conventionally, the innate biological clock have more often been overlooked and set aside by its anatomic owner because of changes in lifestyle, and because of economic developments which is now more of intensified productivity to cope with increasing demand. Consequently, organizational operations maybe 24/7, which requires at most 3 different sets of workers. So, there are those that are assigned to day shift. There are also separate set of workers assigned for the evening shift. And, another set is assigned for the night shift. The workers assigned for the day shift are the most likely set of people who obeys the law of nature in terms of meeting the number of hours for rest at a particular time of the night that the body has been accustomed to while growing up. Thus, given that the same set of people eats at regular interval, a balance diet, then, biological physiologic functions of the body can be presumed to run normal as well as body size and weight. Conversely, the potential for gaining weight is higher when work is for a night shift rather than day and evening shift.

How Hooliganism Is Seen in the Contemporary World Coursework

How Hooliganism Is Seen in the Contemporary World - Coursework Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that to give a reason for some of the key attributes of hooliganism, a division between impulsive, relatively secluded confrontations of spectator violence and the conduct of socially organized fan groups which participate in aggressive violent behavior should be drawn. This division is historically apparent through a change from a pattern in which assaults on football match officials and opponent players preponderated over assaults on opponent fans, to a practice in which fights against fans and the police became the dominant form of watcher muddled state. Pearson defines hooliganism as a violent, raucous and disparaging behavior. Hooliganism has closely been associated with sports activities due to violence among the spectators. There are numerous theories on the history and origin of hooliganism. In reference to the Oxford dictionary, hooliganism originated in the late years of the 19th century from the surname of an illusory unruly Irish family, Hooligan, in a musical-hall song of the 1890’s. Hooliganism has been used since the late 19th century. It described a street bunch of criminals in London in the 1890’s, just about the same time Manchester street mob were achieving disrepute. Exact first usage of the term hooliganism and how it came to be used in the present meaning is not well known. The Daily News reported a case at Southwark Police Court in London where it indicated that Clarke, 19 years old, arraigned for the attack on police was the ringleader of â€Å"Hooligan Boys†, a gang of youth. This gang had graced with their presence a music hall and caused disturbances which led to the police being called. Later the next month, two young men were brought before a court in London for unruly behavior.

The potential for gaining weight is higher when work is for a night Essay

The potential for gaining weight is higher when work is for a night shift rather than day and evening shift - Essay Example Conventionally, the innate biological clock have more often been overlooked and set aside by its anatomic owner because of changes in lifestyle, and because of economic developments which is now more of intensified productivity to cope with increasing demand. Consequently, organizational operations maybe 24/7, which requires at most 3 different sets of workers. So, there are those that are assigned to day shift. There are also separate set of workers assigned for the evening shift. And, another set is assigned for the night shift. The workers assigned for the day shift are the most likely set of people who obeys the law of nature in terms of meeting the number of hours for rest at a particular time of the night that the body has been accustomed to while growing up. Thus, given that the same set of people eats at regular interval, a balance diet, then, biological physiologic functions of the body can be presumed to run normal as well as body size and weight. Conversely, the potential for gaining weight is higher when work is for a night shift rather than day and evening shift.

Firewall and Service Management on Linux Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Firewall and Service Management on Linux - Essay Example If the system is connecting to other systems for the purpose of sending data out, for any number of possible reasons, including data theft, or participation in a botnet as an example. netstat - an option lists all listening ports of TCP and UDP connections. It might be useful sometimes to be able to list them all when analyzing a client’s system, given that it gives the big picture. However, when context is needed, some more filtering should be done to get a better idea of the issues one is dealing with. Thus other commands need to be used in order to provide better context. However, if a port is open that the client system is not using then the port needs to be closed to protect the client system from an attacker. netstat –at shows all TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) port connections only. TCP statistics can show when a client system is being attacked, such as during denial of service attacks. TCP parameters which show dropped connection requests increase rapidly when under attack. netstat –ant shows the output without running a DNS query, which would slow down the command response time. Instead, it will only show the IP address without showing domain names. This might be more useful when time is of essence, and one needs answers fast in case of an attack on a client system. netstat –nlpu shows the process that owns listening UDP socket connections. sudo netstat –nlpu shows the process owner and process ID (PID). This is useful in determining which program is running a process. This can help determine whether it is a rogue process or not, and can help in hardening client systems. The netstat command shows detailed statistics of each network connection, interface, routing tables, network protocols and it also displays other network-specific information. The netstat command helps us to deal with network issues in Linux.  Network administrators are also encouraged to have enhanced performance measurement when they use the netstat command.

Critical Movie Review About Yoga Essay Example for Free

Critical Movie Review About Yoga Essay Seldom do we have movies which tackle yoga as plot but it was a welcome window in the 2000 movie The Next Best Thing top billed by pop-icon turned actress Madonna. Director John Schlesinger and Screenwriter Tom Ropelewski and the rest of the cast and crew were able to present that Yoga, being a plot in a movie, does not lack that dramatic necessity of conflict. Just try to figure out and visualize the conflict or struggle between muscles when youre trying to lift your foot behind your head in the eka pada sirasan or leg-head pose. Is it not the stuff of cinema? The power and effectiveness of Yoga was clearly manifested in The Next Best Thing where Madonna played a yoga teacher who has a baby with her gay best friend played superbly by Rupert Everett. Driving instructor Abbie (Madonna) has no problems getting her students to bend over backwards and tie themselves into knots for her. But in life she cant seem to find anyone to tie the knot with her. Robert (Everett), her best friend and confidant, is having equally dismal luck finding his Mr. Right. When Abbies relationship ended , she turned to homosexual Robert for comfort and advice. Under alcohol spirit they resulted into an unexpected tryst which made Abbie pregnant and decided to have the child. The two then committed to being good parents and created an unconventional but loving home for their precocious son, Sam (Stumpf). Now comes the yoga skills which Abbie used to remain celibate but she finally relented when she met Ben (Bratt). Roberts father image was threatened with the romance between Abbie and Ben. This was followed by tensions specially when Abbie and Ben planned to marry each other. Thereafter the movie pictured the family exploding over a heart-wrenching custody battle for Sam. Everett sparkles and Madonna oozes her usual cool in this drama/comedy from the director Schlesinger. Madonna 2 Yoga Journal and USA Today have made much of the authenticity of the yoga scenes in the movie. Madonna, a student of ashtanga yoga, brought in her own teachers, Kimberly Flynn and Noah Williams, to be consultants on the film. They advised on decor, class instruction, and fashion. â€Å"This really is the first time yoga has been taken seriously on a film project,† Flynn told USA Today. (qtd in Yoga at the Movies by Sherry Roberts). Yoga students can relate to scenes in the movie such as that of Benjamin Bratt’s first yoga class (he eventually becomes Madonna’s fiance in the movie). Toned and muscular Bratt falls over, peeks during chanting, and quickly realizes yoga brings a whole new dimension to â€Å"being in shape. † Perhaps the most refreshing scenes in the movie are seeing children practicing yoga: Madonna’s 7-year-old son (Malcolm Stumpf) leads a pretend yoga class with his friends in the backyard and later pulls up a mat and moves into the asanas (poses) right along with the adults in yoga class. (Roberts) Aside from the entertainment derived from the movie, presenting Yoga as the plot made the viewers really benefit from the true insights of the calming exercise with its physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual effects. The public was able to cultivate their own garden with Yoga by discovering the tools that can bring each of us in touch with our true nature through. In addition to greater strength, flexibility, and a re-sculpted body, Yoga is one of the best stress busters one can utilize. The movie is not only about Yoga but also a story of love and family with all its fold, twist, and mutilation of those intertwining concepts. The characters find that inner peace is always susceptible to outside and traditional factors. What is good is that there is compromise. which is a big part of yoga. The movie may be more about yoga than it first appears but it is more important that in the end, the conflict was resolved in true yogic fashion, by moving on. Madonna 3 Works Cited Roberts, Sherry. â€Å"Yoga at the Movies. † 2001-2007. Yoga Bound for Yoga in the Movies. 5 December 2007 http://www. yogabound. com/yoga/art_at_the_movies. htm. Schlesinger, John and Ropelewski, Tom. â€Å"The Next Best Thing. † 2000. 5 December 2007http://movies. go. com/the-next-best-thing/c790385/drama.

The Last of the Mohicans and Hope Leslie Comparison

The Last of the Mohicans and Hope Leslie Comparison Introduction Racial issues occupy the principal place in American Literature due to the prolonged racial relations between Native Americans and European colonizers. The aim of this dissertation is to compare and contrast the issue of miscegenation through the principal characters of James Fenimore Coopers The Last of the Mohicans and Catharine Maria Sedgwicks Hope Leslie. The word miscegenation, which consists of two parts miscere and genus and means a sexual racial mixture, appeared only at the end of the nineteenth century; however, this word is usually utilised in the analysis of earlier literary works. Applying to a profound and realistic portrayal of gender and racial relations between Native Americans and white people in the period of Indian and French Wars, Cooper and Sedgwick introduce their own vision of Indians, implicitly maintaining the idea that miscegenation should be prohibited. In this regard, these writers reflect the existing political and social issues that shaped the attitude of white people towards Native Americans. In particular, at the end of the seventeenth century some American states passed specific laws that were aimed at forbidding miscegenation and depriving people of different races, except white population, of their political rights, violating the principles of equality. On the one hand, miscegenation might decrease the differences between two races, but, on the other hand, it was thought to aggravate these dissimilarities by removing people from their usual background and by preventing them to integrate into the new environment. According to Robert Clark (1984), Americas â€Å"vision of itself was in large measure the projection of an ideal and about-to-be-realized condition, rather than an appropriation of the past in the name of reason† (p.46). As a result, America became involved in complex racial tensions and conflicts that were especially negative for Native Americans. This was the main reason for Coopers and Sedgwicks rejection of miscegenation. But in the process of colonization Europeans continued to interact with Native Americans, and these interactions usually resulted in race mixtures that were further reflected in American literature. Some people made attempts to support miscegenation by pointing at the fact that such interracial relations could provide both races with necessary freedom and would allow white females to reveal their sexual desires towards males of different races. However, the existing racial prejudices and social stereotypes against miscegenation not only prevented the spread of such vision among the majority of American population, but also greatly influenced the representation of Native Americans in the nineteenth-century fiction. Being closely connected with political and social ideologies, this fiction was divided into two parts: some novels tried to maintain the status quo, as is just the case with the narrations of Sedgwick and Cooper, while other literary works pointed at the necessity of social changes. Gender relations and miscegenation in the novels America is the country that has united people of different races since the period of colonization. However, in the process of interaction colonizers made constant attempts to destroy cultural and religious beliefs of Native Americans. According to Arthur M. Schlesinger (1992), â€Å"when people of different ethnic origins, speaking different languages and professing different religions, settle in the same geographic locality†¦ tribal hostilities will drive them apart† (p.10). The indigenous population of the country wanted to preserve their cultural identity and opposed to the ideals of white people. Such refusal resulted in many racial conflicts and had a great impact on the attitude of White Americans towards the issue of miscegenation. In patriarchal America any relations between a white woman and a Native American were strongly prohibited, and, as Martin Barker (1993) states, â€Å"it is this running concern about miscegenation with its connected fears about interracial sexual attraction that leads to death† (p.27). In those times it was thought that if a person was engaged in sexual relations with a person of a different race, then both people should be killed in order to prevent the spread of miscegenation. Such complex racial relations and rejection of miscegenation are especially reflected in the novels of James Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans and Catharine Maria Sedgwick Hope Leslie. As Stephanie Wardrop (1997) puts it, Coopers The Last of the Mohicans â€Å"presents a world in which the mixing of races is morally repugnant and anathema to the American project of nation building† (p.61). Throughout the narration Fenimore Cooper contrasts people with mixed and unmixed blood, as if wishing to reveal the differences between the characters of various races. Despite the fact that Hawkeye is culturally connected with both white people and Indians, he is presented as a person â€Å"without a cross† (Cooper, 1984 p.4). The same regards Alice Munro who is â€Å"surprisingly fair† (Cooper, 1984 p.378) and Chingachgook who is an unmixed Mohican. Contrary to these characters, Cora, the elder sister of Alice, is of mixed race, and it is she who protects her sister at the cost of her life. Belonging to the race of West Indians, Cora comes from â€Å"that unfortunate class who are so basely enslaved to administer to the wants of a luxurious people† (Cooper, 1984 p.310), and thus, she is prohibited to marry a person from the South. In this regard, miscegenation was treated as blameworthy in those times, and when Magua proposes Cora to marry him, she claims that â€Å"the thought itself is worse than a thousand deaths† (Cooper, 1984 p.124). These words prove that only Uncas and Chingachgook are presented as noble people, while all other Native Americans are regarded as cruel savages. Thats why miscegenation between a white person and an Indian was widely restricted. Although Catharine Sedgwicks Hope Leslie also reveals this restriction, she points at the possibility of miscegenation between some secondary characters. Contrary to Cooper, the writer provides a rather humane vision of Native Americans. Faith, the sister of Leslie Hope, manages to marry Oneco, the brother of a Pequoud princess Magawisca. According to Leland Person (1985), Sedgwick belongs to those American female authors who in their novels reflect how an â€Å"Indian male, reverential and loving rather than possessive and authoritarian, offers a romantic contrast to the arbitrary authority of Puritan society† (p.683). This can be also true in regard to Coopers narration, where the writer introduces such Indian character as Uncas with noble features and attractiveness. However, similar to Magawisca who is not able to become a wife of Everell and instead she has to regard him â€Å"as her brother† (Sedgwick, 1987 p.30), Uncas is also prohibited to marry Cora. Due to serious racial prejudices, Magawisca is an inappropriate match to Everell, while Hope Leslie suits for the position of Everells wife. By the end of the narration the writer shows that any marriage should be based on love, as Magawisca claims, â€Å"Ye need not the lesson, ye will each be to the other a full stream of happiness. May it be fed from the fountain of love, and grow broader and deeper through all the passage of life† (Sedgwick, 1987 p.333). Thus, the writer proves that some Native Americans possess wisdom and nobility; however, they are not able to unite with European Americans. Magawisca is rejected by both societies, as Wardrop (1997) claims, â€Å"from the white for her association by blood with savages and from the Pequod for her association with the whites that leads her to rescue Everell† (p.64). Magawisca saves the person she loves at the cost of her own rejection and isolation, but she is not able to marry him. Similar to Sedgwicks women, female characters of Cooper are divided into â€Å"those who can be married and those who cannot† (Baym, 1992 p.20). In this regard, racial and cultural differences are aggravated by gender stereotypes that put women in subordinate positions and make them act in accordance with the existing social and moral norms. On the example of their female characters Sedgwick and Cooper reveal that women are prohibited any freedom and equality, especially concerning their choice of marital partners. Those women, who prefer to ignore racial prejudices and assigned roles, are either rejected by society or die. This is especially true in regard to Magawisca and Cora who try to act, according to their moral values, but their attempts result in negative consequences for both women. But, above all, these women are appreciated for their racial characteristics. Alices racial purity is explained by her pure unmixed blood, while Cora, being a daughter of a Creole woman and a British soldier, is regarded as sinful. Implicitly opposing to miscegenation, Cooper prefers to kill Uncas, Cora and Magua in order to prevent an unsuitable marriage. As Terence Martin (1992) states, Fenimore Cooper â€Å"cannot conceive of a marriage between the daughter of Major Munro, no matter her background, and an Indian, no matter how noble† (p.63). The writer eliminates these relations, thus revealing his support for pure, unmixed marriages. As a child of miscegenation, Cora is unsuitable for both white and Indian worlds. According to Wardrop (1997), â€Å"Earlier Indian romances seem to present the hero more often as half-blood, perhaps mitigating the taboo of miscegenation somewhat by presenting a hero who is at least half white† (p.73). But it is the character with unmixed blood that becomes popular in further romantic literature. Although Maria Sedgwick points at the possibility of miscegenation, she still considers it inappropriate in the majority of cases. Similar to Cora, Sedgwicks character Magawisca appears to be banished from both societies, but the writer presents â€Å"a more sympathetic view of both Native Americans and women†¦ concentrate[ing] more on the domestic and interpersonal than the martial [issues]† (Wardrop, 1997 p.63). Cora and Magawisca are powerful and unusual women with many virtues; however, they suffer as a result of their parents miscegenation. According to John McWilliams (1995), â€Å"Cora is one of those characters who show us both the limitations of societys racial and gender boundaries and the dangers of stepping over them† (p.74). Cooper considers that Coras marriage to Uncas would be a threat to the existence of both societies, therefore the writer â€Å"appears to have believed in the purity of the races† (Barker Sabin, 1995, p.21). Their deaths are presented by Cooper as the only possible outcome, because it is better for them to die than to be rejected by their own societies. As Barker (1993) reveals, in this novel â€Å"the twin deaths of Uncas and Cora prevent the reality of interracial sex with the disappearance of the Mohicans† (p.27). Applying to these characters, Cooper points at the fact that miscegenation between White Americans and Native Americans is impossible, until the indigenous population adheres to the cultural and social norms of the colonizers and destroys their culture. On the other hand, the writer suggests that Cora and Uncas will be connected with each other after death, while Hawkeye opposes to this view by claiming that â€Å"the spirit of the paleface has no need of food or raiment – their gifts being according to the heaven of their colour† (Cooper, 1984 p.346). Contrary to some other characters, Hawkeye rises against miscegenation and considers that there is â€Å"no ideal bond of union† (Cooper, 1984 p.348) that would result in mutual cooperation between different races. The marriage of Alice and Duncan, persons with pure blood, symbolises the subsequent spread of unmixed marriages, while the death of Uncas, the last of the Mohicans, reveals the gradual disappearance of Native Americans and the power of civilised society. As sagamore Tamenund claims at the end of the narration, â€Å"The pale-faces are masters of the earth, and the time of the red-men has not yet come again† (Cooper, 1984 p.350). The inability of Cora and Uncas to marry because of racial prejudices points at moral disintegration of American population. Their deaths reveal that miscegenation is considered wrong by both white people and Indians, resulting in the impossibility to achieve peace and mutual support. However, love between Uncas and Cora shows that racial prejudices are able to separate people, but they are unable to eliminate powerful feelings. The same regards Everell and Magawisca who experience certain attraction to each other, but who realise that their desires should be eliminated because of cultural and racial differences. Therefore, Sedgwick reveals that cultures control peoples lives, depriving them of the possibility to follow their own paths, because culture is connected with both private and public spheres. As a result, both Cooper and Sedgwick discuss miscegenation through political and social contexts, pointing at the fact that the relations between two races are considerably complicated by the occurred events and the established standards. As a result, such character as Hawkeye opposes to both races, claiming that â€Å"to me every native, who speaks a foreign tongue, is accounted an enemy, though he may pretend to serve the king!† (Cooper, 1984 p.50). He doesnt belong to either society and he doesnt believe in the possibility of miscegenation. To some extent, such viewpoint can be explained by the fact that when a person of one race integrates with a person of another race, he/she takes part in either assimilation or acculturation. However, in many cases miscegenation is mainly based on sexual mixture between people of different races, but not on cultural mixture. As a result, people are rejected by their own society and are not accepted by another society. This is just the case with Cora and Magawisca who are not allowed to be engaged in sexual relations with males of different races, because their cultures prevent them from the mixture with each other. Both Sedgwick and Cooper demonstrate that the existing stereotypes reflect the ideas of cultural purity that are closely connected with racial purity. Such vision is rather paradoxical, because even the purest race is certainly a mixture race, but White Americans prefer to ignore this particular fact, making constant attempts to achieve dominance over Native Americans. In this regard, it is easier to understand Sedgwicks and Coopers attitude towards miscegenation. Cora, as a child of two races, is considered less pure in comparison with Alice, because Cora is an embodiment of two bloods and two cultures, and it is this particular mixture that White Americans tried to prevent. They did not want to be assimilated with another culture, because in that case they would lose their dominant position over the indigenous population. In addition, such attitude was considerable shaped by political ideologies of those times; opposing to miscegenation, American rulers tried to prohibit any social changes within the country and simultaneously they utilized racial tensions and conflicts for their own benefits. It is obvious that miscegenation was a threat to the existence of white supremacy, because it eliminated specifically inspired differences between two races. The attitude towards miscegenation was also aggravated by the fact that it provided people of mixing blood with those features that were prohibited by American society. Cora greatly differs from her half-sister Alice; Cora is more powerful and independent than Alice. The same concerns Magawisca, a rather strong and wise female who takes her own decisions, which are consistent with her moral values. In this regard, women began to occupy an equal position with men or were even superior to them, and such changes couldnt be easily accepted in the patriarchal world. Miscegenation allowed women to reveal their sexual desires towards males of another race and become more independent; however, natural instincts were a norm only for men, while women were not considered to experience powerful sexual desires. It was thought unnatural for a white woman to feel compassion or love towards an Indian or a black person, and vice versa. Despite the fact that Cora is a half-Indian, she is brought up among people of white culture, thus she is prohibited to marry an Indian Uncas. Magawisca is also deprived of the opportunity to marry Everell, as Sedgwick points out that love relations between Magawisca and Everall are impossible and unnatural because of their cultural and racial differences, while the relations between Hope Leslie and Everall are natural. Miscegenation reflects the mixture of two races, of two cultures, one of which is the culture of the colonizer and another is the culture of the indigene. Thus, miscegenation was especially connected with female sexuality that was widely controlled by the state to prevent undesirable inheritance. However, women who couldnt achieve equal positions with men in political and social spheres began to readily support miscegenation. But in their novels Cooper and Sedgwick reveal that their attempts are vain; almost all female characters that interact with people of different races lose at the end. Many females understood people of other races, because their positions were similar; women, like Indians and black people, were regarded as inferior to men and they usually experienced suppression and humiliation. For women, miscegenation was the way to destroy subjugation and overcome social stereotypes. Although Magawisca is prohibited to marry Everall, her attraction towards him helps Magawisca to understand many important things and save this character at the cost of her own reputation. Cora prefers to die rather than marry a person whom she abhors. But despite such courage and independence, these female characters continue to experience social and cultural pressure that deprives them of the opportunity to choose their own path. However, the situation is different in regard to Alice, who not only survives at the end of the narration, but she is also going to marry Duncan and create another family with pure blood. The same regards Everall and Hope Leslie who finally unite with each other. Although initially Hope finds it difficult to accept a marriage of her sister Faith with a person of a different race, because she doesnt believe that Faith loves Oneco, she soon realises her mistake and agrees with her sisters choice of a marriage partner. In fact, Hope Leslie is a female character who rejects the existing social, cultural and religious norms and who is constantly blamed for her lack of â€Å"passiveness, that, next to godliness, is a womans best virtue† (Sedgwick, 1987 p.153). People with whom Hope Leslie interacts are not able to understand her independence, including Everell. As one female character tells Hope, â€Å"you do allow yourself too much liberty of thought and word: you certainly know that we owe implicit deference to our elders and superiors; we ought to be guided by their advice, and governed by their authority† (Sedgwick, 1987 p.180). However, Hope proves to be the best Christian who is able to follow her heart, even if she has to reject some religious principles to save her family and friends. Destroying certain social norms, Magawisca and Hope simultaneously ignore oversimplified assumptions in regard to people of different race. As McWilliams (1995) puts it, white culture was regarded as civilized in those times, while the culture of Native Americans was considered as savage (52-53). Thus, according to this particular viewpoint, two cultures could hardly successfully interact with each other. However, Sedgwick rises against this stereotypic vision. Close relations between Magawisca and Hope, women of different races and cultures, point at the possibility of one culture to exist with another culture. Despite the fact that Magawiscas race and religious faith differ from her own beliefs and culture, Hope is unaffected by the existing stereotypes of the seventeenth century and is able to overcome them, if she has to do so for the sake of her family. But the writer reveals that Hope still finds it difficult to interact with other Indians. The situation is different with Hopes sister Faith who is captured by indigenous people and is brought up with them. As a result, she marries an Indian Oneco and becomes greatly involved in the Indian culture. In this regard, miscegenation of these secondary characters is rather successful, because Faith changes her white culture and Christian religion into Indian culture and Catholic religion. She rejects her people and decides to live with Indians. However, other characters of the novel refuse to accept another culture and strongly oppose to miscegenation. Mrs. Grafton represents a stereotypic female who acts precisely, according to the established social norms, and who avoids any interactions with different races. For her, miscegenation is unnatural and wrong. Esther Downing is obsessed with her religion and is very subordinate to males, but she rightfully considers that â€Å"marriage is not essential to the contentment, the dignity, or the happiness of a woman† (Sedgwick, 1987 p.371). Similar to Mrs. Grafton, Esther avoids any contacts with people of different races and she meets Magawisca only when she attempts to convert this Indian female into Christianity. Esther opposes to any race mixture and doesnt believe that two different cultures can exist together. Opposite to these docile female characters, Magawisca is presented as a woman that rises against any cultural and racial prejudices of the seventeenth century. She possesses many virtues and tries to achieve equal position with males. Although Magawisca realises that miscegenation and racial relations are rejected by white people, she reveals devotion to some members of white culture. Nelema is another female character who, despite her anger towards the Puritans, provides help to Cradock at the cost of her life. Unlike other characters, Everell manages to maintain good relations with both Indians and his own people, but he is especially devoted to Magawisca. Though they belong to different cultures, they are very close to each other, because they ignore their racial differences. Unfortunately, miscegenation between these characters is still impossible because of the social pressure and the existing stereotypes that prevail in their societies. In Sedgwicks Hope Leslie miscegenation appears to be a powerful obstacle for the characters. Throughout the narration Everell interacts with three women – Hope Leslie, Magawisca and Esther. Two of them are white, and the third woman is an Indian princess. Although Hope and Magawisca are similar in their views and values, although Magawisca saves Everell and is admired by this white male, Everell chooses Hope Leslie as his wife, being unable to perceive Magawisca as an appropriate marriage partner. Everells nature rejects her; despite admiration and desires, he is not able to establish close relations with a woman of a different race. As he claims, â€Å"I might have loved her – might have forgotten that nature had put barriers between us† (Sedgwick, 1987 p.214). However, Everell is not able to overcome his own prejudices towards a person of another culture; these prejudices are too powerful and they continue to implicitly create barriers between Everell and Magawisca. Thus, racial mixture in Sedgwicks narration greatly depends on the possibility or impossibility of people to destroy the natural barriers. According to Person (1985), for a person who is brought up in a civilized society, it is rather difficult, even impossible, to get accustomed to the uncivilized culture of Indians, and vice versa (pp.680-682). In this regard, biological differences are not as important as cultural differences. Although Cora is half-Indian and Uncas is Indian, they are brought in different cultural environments and they are not able to marry because of these differences. Despite the fact that Hope and Faith are sisters and belong to one race, they appear to be separated by various conditions of their upbringing. The same concerns Magawisca and Everell who understand that their marriage is impossible. The marriage between Everell and Hope or Alice and Duncan is considered normal, because in these relations the characters are equal to each other. However, there is a great difference between the relations of these two pairs of white people. In the case of Alice and Duncan, the characters adhere to the traditional representation of a family, where a wife is inferior to her husband, while in the case of Hope and Everell, their union is based on the principles of equality and freedom. On the other hand, both pairs are culturally identical to each other, while miscegenation was considered as a sexual mixture of two people with different cultures. It was thought that it was impossible to create a strong family only on sexual relations; in those times cultural and religious similarities were regarded more crucial for a normal family than sex. As Calloway (1987) claims, any mixed relations were exposed to the threat of becoming â€Å"degenerated† (p.117). And children who appeared as a result of such relations couldnt live in the world of white people. However, if a person of different race agreed to convert to Christianity, a marriage between a white person and an Indian could be accepted by American society. Under these complex conditions, such characters as Magawisca and Everell, Cora and Uncas understand that their relations with each other will fail as soon as they interact with the rest of the world. Conclusion Analysing the issue of miscegenation through the characters of James Fenimore Coopers The Last of the Mohicans and Catharine Maria Sedgwicks Hope Leslie, the dissertation compares and contrasts the representation of racial relations between Native Americans and European Americans. Although both writers oppose to miscegenation in their novels and maintain the idea of racial purity, Sedgwick mentions the possibility of relations between white people and Indians on the example of her secondary characters. Such rejection of miscegenation responds to the existing social and cultural standards that inspired inequality between the indigenous population and European colonizers, depriving both races of freedom. Dividing their characters on mixed and unmixed people, Cooper and Sedgwick reveal that persons with pure blood were more easily accepted by American society, and thus had more possibilities to survive. However, persons with mixed blood couldnt find their places either in the world of white people or in the world of Native Americans. Such attitude can be explained by the wish of White Americans to control people of other races and prevent any social changes, while miscegenation erased any differences between two races, taking away their power and superiority. As racial relations were closely connected with gender issues in those times, miscegenation could provide females with freedom that they were deprived of. As White Americans wanted the indigenous population to conform to their own culture and religion, they were not allowed white females to be involved in sexual relations with the Native Americans, applying to different measures to prevent miscegenation. Bibliography Barker, M. (1993) First and Last Mohicans. Sight and Sound 3.8, 26-29. Barker, M. and Sabin, R. (1995) The Lasting of the Mohicans: History of an American Myth. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi. Baym, N. (1992) Feminism and American Literary History. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press. Calloway, C. G. (1987) Crown and Calumet: British Indian Relations, 1783-1815. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press. Clark, R. (1984) History and Myth in American Fiction, 1823-52. New York, St. Martins Press. Cooper, J. F. (1984) The Last of the Mohicans. 1826. New York, Lightyear. Martin, T. (1992) From Atrocity to Requiem: History in The Last of the Mohicans. In: H. Daniel Peck (ed.) New dissertations on The Last of the Mohicans. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp.60-67. McWilliams, J. (1995) The Last of the Mohicans: Civil Savagery and Savage Civility. New York, Twayne. Person, L. S. (1985) The American Eve: Miscegenation and a Feminist Frontier Fiction. American Quarterly 37.5, Winter, 668-685. Schlesinger, A. M. (1992) The Disuniting of America. New York, Norton. Sedgwick, C. M. (1987) Hope Leslie, or Early Times in the Massachusetts Colony. 1827. New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press. Wardrop, S. (1997) Last of the Red Hot Mohicans: Miscegenation in the Popular American Romance. MELUS 22.2 Popular Literature and Film, Summer, 61-74.

The Awakening :: essays research papers

Responsibility and Duty as they Relate to The Awakening Most cultures put heavy emphasis upon responsibility and duty. The culture portrayed in Kate Chopin's book The Awakening visibly reflects a similar emphasis. The main character finds herself wanting to stray from her responsibilities and embrace her intense desire for personal fulfillment. Edna's choice to escape shows two elements: rebellion to the suppression of her adventurous spirit and the lack of "fulfillment" in her relationship. Although she embraces her new found freedoms, she commits suicide at the denouement of the book due to her frustration with the world around her. Many philosophers have dealt with the question of whether to live a life of servitude or to pursue ones greater happiness. Immanuel Kant stipulates that the more people cultivate their reason, the less likely they are to find happiness. Kate Chopin's character Edna tries her entire life to fit in the prescribed mold of the women of her time. She invests so much time into duty and responsibility that she loses any happiness that she could hope to achieve. With time, Kant noted, the person who devotes their life to reason finds themselves needing a release, in the end despising reason, and eventually pursuing only their true happiness. After being "reasonable" for the twenty-eight years of her life, Edna breaks down. She wants to pursue love and disregard her duty to her husband and children. She falls in what she considers "girlish" love with the character Robert. She proclaims to him: "I love you . . . only you; no one but you. If was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long, stupid dream . . .Oh! I have suffered! Now you are here we shall love each other. Nothing else in the world is of any consequence." In keeping with Kant's philosophy, Edna's life has been riddled with reason and duty, essentially giving herself away to the people around her. This devotion to responsibility causes her to break away from her common behavioral pattern and moves her to focus on finding her inherent happiness. Ayn Rand objectivism states that a person should live life by pursuing their abilities and engaging in trade of equal value with others. Further her philosophy states that working for another's good or sacrificing your self for another's happiness goes against the very nature of existence. Edna was not engaged in the pursuit of her finest abilities. She lived her life for others, not for herself.

Wal-Mart Supply Chain Management Essay -- Wal-Mart Logistics

Retail super-giant Wal-Mart has fought its way to becoming the world's largest company. Much of their success can be attributed to providing a vast assortment of products at exceptional prices all under one roof. Wal-Mart began operations in 1964 and has since become the world leader in retail. Today, Wal-Mart is visited by 138 million customers per week at their 4,750 stores. Wal-Mart operates under four basic rules in order to satisfy such a large number of customers: Respect the individual, provide the best service to their customers, strive for excellence, and exceed customer expectations. Their corporate mission focuses on a global growth strategy through concentrated integration. The company continues to expand its existing discount stores, warehouses, and super-centers. The company maintains two goals: First, Provide the customer with what they want, when they want it, all at value and secondly, team spirit through total dependency on associates to treat customers as they would want to be treated. Their business strategy is to provide well-known name brands at an everyday low price. Wal-Mart has a wide range of products offered. They offer everything from electronics, movies, books, toys, games, gardening supplies, home supplies, photo development, gifts, jewelry, and at some locations even automobile, optometry, and grocery shopping centers. In operating its network of retail stores Wal-Mart pushes their output to the general public. Wal-Mart focuses their competitive priorities on bringing the customer the lowest prices by selling in volume. The vast size and selection essentially guarantees that the store will have what the customer wants in stock and at a cheaper price than competitors. This strategy allows them to outsell their competition. In order to facilitate the achievement of their goals Wal-Mart has designed their layout to accommodate a large number of shoppers at the same time. They build expansive stores with wide aisles so that many people can feel comfortable shopping at the same time. Wal-Mart has taken the initiative to build stores in countless rural towns and smaller cities. They have increased their market share and have gained a reputable name by doing so. At the same time, this benefit has created an enormous supply chain management problem. How can Wal-Mart effectively keep all of its... ...y at creating an efficient supply chain in order to beat the competition on price and selection has certainly paid off. Works Cited Bacheldor, Beth. Information Week. ?Sen. Leahy Calls On Congress to Study RFID.? Accessed 4/30/04. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?ArticleID=18402616 Beatty, Vernon L., Jr. ?You Gonna Be a Greeter Accessed 4/30/04. http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/janfeb97/ms046.htm. Bianco, Anthony and Zellner, Wendy. Business Week. ?Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful Accesed 5/3/04. http://www.businessweek.com/maganize/content/03_04/b3852001_mz001.htm ?Carrers.? Wal-Mart. Accessed 4/30/04. http://www.walmartstores.com/wmstores/wmstores. Fishman, Charles. Fast Company. ?The Wal-Mart You Don?t Know.? Accessed 5/2/04. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html Heizer, Jay and Render, Barry. Operations Management. Seventh Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. New Jersey, 2004. ?Stauffer v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.? US Department of Labor. Accessed 4/30/04. http://www.oalj.dol.gov/public/wblower/decsn/99sta21c.htm ?Wal-Mart Effect? Accessed 5/3/04. http://www.wordspy.com/words/Wal-Marteffect.asp.

Assignment of Work Base Learning Essay

1. Introduction. This assignment is to evaluate my role in the job I’m currently doing and upto what extent its been helpful in my personal development. As I ‘m currently working in fright forwarding industry (Shipping), I have chosen this job to finish my assignment of work base learning. It would be easier for me to choose this job to finish my educational assignment instead of going volunteering job somewhere else. This will also affect my attendance in current work place. 1.1 Company Profile- Reisa Freight Ltd. is a U.K. based company engaged in import and export activities. As a company we supply our services to buyers, exporters and importers for their international transportation needs. Reisa freight Ltd. acts as a middle man / agent working globally with agents in several countries. We handles export from shippers or manufacturers warehouse to buyer’s warehouse not end users. 1.2 Job Profile- The main purpose of my role is to coordinate with customers, prepare relevant docs and coordination with back office or operations for smooth activity. This job role requires efficiency, accuracy and completion in given time frame. My job is also involved with coordination with airlines to ensure pre-booked space for upcoming cargo during the week. This avoids last minute problem. In short this work required a solid planning and in-time execution. Also it requires understanding People at Work, including understanding others’ interests, motivations and competence. In short, Developing and reviewing relationships with others (manager, colleagues, team members, customers and suppliers etc) including agreeing respective roles, responsibilities, rights and expectations booking cargo space on ship, airplane, train, or any other form of goods/cargo transportation, route planning, various documentation, export packing, insurance, warehouse, collection and delivery consignment. 2. Main Body- During my seven months of tenure I have learned how to gain necessary skills and what I needed most. There are certain skills which I need to improve and some others I have achieved while working with Reisa freight Ltd. I have discussed all these in following paragraphs. 2.1 Skills that need some developments. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Communication- Major hurdle with me here the language. Being English as my second language I find it as biggest hurdle to improve my communication skill. There is a lot more development since I started but there is still lot more to do to bring it upto a level where it is acceptable as high standard. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Decision-making- I find my self uncomfortable while making important decision which requires my independency. I have only spent 7 months in total as working person. I would need to have more experience of work to gain my confident in decision making. Some education in learning skill would definitely help me which I’m planning to intake after finishing my graduation. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Leadership- Being an un-experienced in past and total 7 months of work experience I see a lot more to do with leadership skill. Leadership skills require work experience and a standard of education which I will gain after my studies. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Analysing- Being a new employee in the field I see a lack of analysing skill to analyse the situation and plan things accordingly. This makes me to be depended on my seniors and old employees. I personally think that this would be developed while the time spent with work and putting my efforts to plan it from the beginning and executing it upto the end. In my job profile I have been given chance to analyse each shipment from the beginning and act as necessary and accordingly. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Problem Solving- Due to the lack of decision making, it directly affects my problem solving skills. As a new employee I haven’t been given chance to make decisions of my own which will be given to me after a specific time spent with in the company. Now because I cannot make decisions I will have to rely on my seniors to give me instructions in these types of situation which will lead to problem solving directly from decision makers at above post not me. 2.2 Skills scored highest with. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Planning- My job profile requires a pre-planned activity which is a base of service commitment to customers. First w learn in this business is to plan things and then execute. The planning doesn’t give a hundred percent surety of desired results but it leads to a way to execute right thing and a right time. I personally feel that my job responsibilities made me well enough to deal with planning skill. It’s adding something extra everyday to my skill. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Monitoring- Once the planning has been made and executed second step comes to monitor it on each and every step. A break any where in the planning chain may fail the whole assignment. The purpose of my monitoring is to take care of assignment and rectify problems as soon as and wherever they come up. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Reviewing- Reviewing the work everyday gives me efficiency and proficiency in my work. A skilled reviewing gives an idea what needs to be done. During the work I have learned that reviewing all our daily deeds gives us experience and probable outcomes of next day and future. This also shows the performance improvement. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Prioritising- As a worker I learned how to priorities my work. It’s a way of placing an order of priorities what needs doing and when. This can be achieved by Setting objectivise and goals. Its an important aspect of decision making. In my work priorities has importance as we will have to make decisions depend on the situations. For examples in a situation where buyer needs all his order with several suppliers in once, but due to problem with space allocation we may have to make own decision sometime to priorities to particular orders or shipments. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Reporting- My job profile is to work as an executive. I have responsibilities and direct reporting to my seniors. I need to report all my day to day activities that its understandable and most important is acceptable. An acceptable standard of work has been gained through the work experience. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Motivating- Motivation is necessity in every success. De-motivation will lead to failure in the job and work assignment. I have learned that how to challenge my negative thoughts. It helps me to realise possibilities of my future. 3. Monitoring my self- level achieved. Presentation Skills – Competent Speaker- able to talk to small groups of my peers albeit a little nervously. Written Skills- Good Creative- able to use comparison, example, similes, metaphors, vocabulary and other tools. Organisational/Planning Skills- Limited- can plan and organise my own time to achieve targets. Team-working Skills- Good- Able to work well in a team of people and to perform a number of â€Å"team roles†. 4. Conclusion – There is Overall performance satisfaction within the organisation and as recognised by senior level. Seven months of tenure within the firm was spent just as a trainee. This helped me to gain a lot. But still there is a long way to go and far more to achieve what I thought before. There is lot more confidence required while taking the necessary decisions. An uncomfortable situation always leads to lose either big or small. Currently I’m working with the help of other experienced staff which also de motivates me to take my own initiative. But in nearer future I hope for responsibilities with an independent role. That will surely help me to gain improved skills and goals. For sometime I have had a loose idea of the goals I would like to achieve in the short to medium term. Now that I have set my self a deadline I’m confident and assured to achieve that. However I would like to improve my self confidence increase my motivation to achieve the most out of my work. I would like to eliminate the attitude that holds me back and cause hassles to it and finally unhappiness. I would like to increase my pride and satisfaction in my achievements advantages of goal settings. I would like to increase my self confidence from the current level and perform better in all areas of my works.