Individual Assigment Essay Example for Free

Individual Assigment Essay Narration: The world of technology has evolved over the years, and that means the need for technology has increased as well. Businesses have evolved over time with the use of technology, it allows us to shop, sell, trade, and function overseas. As I read over your business plan it seems that it is designed to compete in the local market, as well as add value to the community. Technology will play a huge part in both, it allows you to create and implement a plan that will help increase profit and customer satisfaction. As your business will compete in the local market, you will need to consider implementing Enterprise 2.0 or Web 2.0. Both Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0 offer many benefits to help your company succeed and grow with the ever changing economy and local market, both will allow your company to widen your market from county to county, state to state and even other countries. Enterprise 2.0 The attributes of Enterprise 2.0 practices can be very useful and sufficient in brainstorming, sharing, and evaluating ideas by utilizing enterprise social networking. Enterprise 2.0 helps business decrease IT costs by decreasing the amount of hardware and software that is needed (McAfee, 2010). Enterprise 2.0 would be a good asset to your business, it would keep it cost down and allow the marketing that you need to be competitive in your local market. Web 2.0 Web 2.0 also has many beneficial factors that would also be a good asset to your company, it includes social networking sites that would create great marketing tools, it allows you to create website which can also be a great tool for marketing and it allows you the user to be in control over the data  used. Web 2.0 offer rich user experience, user participation, scalability, and freedom. Web 2.0 offers a wide variety of marketing tools as well as creating a safe and valuable way to increase profit, and safe guard your assets (McAfee, 2010). .

November the 12th 1939. Autumn. The hotel.... Essay Example for Free

November the 12th 1939. Autumn. The hotel. Essay We pulled up outside the hotel, the rain bouncing down on to the muddy track. The icy wind rattled the trees and blew the dead rotting leaves. The hotel was half covered in the gloomy fog, which hang like the black rippers cloak. This fog had been looming around for many days, but it seemed to be getting heavier. Through the heavy fog, we could see the black cut out shape of where the door used to be, now the door laid alone on the timber floor, decaying and covered in woodworm and an unusual fungus has start to move itself on to the door. Thats the front entrance for the hotel, I think? I said to my fellow partner. Has we look up the mist was so heavy we could only see the entries and the first floor of the hotel but the rested was cover in the gloomy mist. I gazed up at the full moon which was covered with the thick storm clouds which was starting gathering together like bees in a swam. The dim moonlight reflected off the dead looking trees, which casts weird, deformed, figure shapes on to the rotting leaves and the muddy path. To me the figures were moving toward us, but it just could be my eyes playing trick. I turned my head to what used to be a boating lake, but now a smelly swamp with a thick green crust of pondweed, which covered the surface. I remember the old days when I use to swimming in the lake on those hot summer days, but I would go near it now with all the pollution, which has been pumped, into it. Where are we going to start our search? George asked On the top floor, follow me I locked the car and headed to the door. Weeds and insects have taken over the hotel now. Nettles grew up from the floorboards. We entered Outside the rain stopped, but how long I asked myself The hotel was very quite accepted of the noises of the insects, too quite in my opinion. I headed towards the stairs, but at the same time I was weaving my way around the woodland weeds. I set down one foot on to the first step; the step cracked and fell to the basement below. When the wood hit the floor I heard a little grunt, but the crack of the wood hitting the floor shadowed most of the sound of the grunt I heard. Be very careful the floor is not that safe, and I think that we are not a lone. We walked up the creaky, squeaky old wooden stairs. Slowly we walked, side by side, our eyes looking dead straight, gazing forward into the thick dark hovering mist. We reached the top of the stairs in no time at all. I squinted into the darkness, trying to pick out a black book, which had a crystal object hidden in the leather cover, or so the town people said. We started to move once again, the rotting floor groaned and moaned, just crying for mercy with every step we made. The cold icy wind blew through every nook and cranny. Every breath we let out made us look like two old dragons letting steam run freely through our red scaly nose. My nose was red. My fingers were numb. At last we discover the room, 1 0 1 where thousands of mysteries lay. I took a deep icy breath and held it tight as I squeezed my red raw fingers into a fist. Very slowly I turn the knob and very slowly pushed the door open, its whining rusty hinges, screaming with pain. With a crack the doors hinges gave way to the heaviness of the old door and the door went crashing down on to the floor with a bang. As so as the door hit the floor I blinked has the little impacted of wind and the thick dust and that load boom hit me? The boom from the door shook the hotel, which was followed by a loader grunt. After the bang the old abandoned room fell silent, and the only sounds the hoot! Hoot! Of a creepy unseen owl and a Tick! Tock! Of the old grandfather clock, not forgetting the heavy thuds from our fast beating hearts. We gazed into the smelly; Bug infested, gloomy, candle lit room. The icy wind howled like a pack of blood thirty dogs or was it the wind that did the spine chilling sound? A shattered smoke stained window over looked a graveyard. The wind blew the ripped yellow cob webbed curtains, which cast a shadow of a ghost like image on to a winter picture with its crystal clear ice, which glistened and shone like the stars on a clear night. The candles flame dance to a groovy beat. The icy wind blew hard. The candle flames disappeared one by one. Total darkness. Dong! Dong! Dong! The Dong! Sound echoed around the old rotten timber hotel just like two heavy footsteps on a hard wooden floor. I pulled the torches out of my rucksack and pass one to George. With a flick of the switch the torches blinding light beaded out, I shaded my eyes best I could because I couldnt bare the light, which almost blinded us both. George peeled back his shirtsleeve and shone his torch on his watch. 3 i clock sir, are we staying or are we going? I never replied I had other thing on my mind because I was more interested about a bloodstain on the old looking bed. You are staying for ever! said a croaky young voice. After the voices two bright blue eyes peering out. I stared at the eyes and the eyes stared back. A deep chilling laugh came, like a wrinkly old teachers nail running down a black board. We cringed and covered our ears with our red raw numb hands. The windows smashed and the torches flicked, and packed up Silence The chilling eyes were still peering out. Here someones spying on us BANG OOPs Jesus Christ George what were you trying to do? Scare me to death? The two little eyes blinked and ran into a hole in the piano. A rat, just only a little rat I gave sighs of relief. I turn to face George, but George was not there? George! George! Where are you? by now I started to think if this was a good idea in the first place. I am down here you dummy I turn my head and looked to the floor. No youre not you liar Yes I am! O! Im upside down so look up at the roof You better not be lying and anyway how did you get up on the roof? I tilled my head and looked up. I dont know. By now things had started to get confusing and I started to get nervous. I felt like I was in a fun house. I sat myself down on the bed and rubbed my hands together just trying to get some warmth back into them. I gazed back up at George, but George was not there any more. Quietness Im behind you I jump once again. Do not do that to me Ive told you once I looked around. A broken glass lay on an Ouija board. A note said: The rest of the note was covered in blood. I looked out of the window and squinted to the graveyard. We need to check out that graveyard, I said. Whats this? I think its a death certificate for? For? There are no names on it. It has been erased. Look at the Signature James Wilber. James Wilber. The dead person is James Wilber. He died of suspicious circumstances. We are off to that graveyard. I turn and pointed to the window but there was no window and no door, we were stood in the graveyard? Hay! How did we get out here when we were up there? Where is the hotel? I turned and look into the distance, Theres the hotel, how ca it be? A about a minute ago we were in that room up there. I pointed. The graveyard was dark and misty. A dead ugly creepy tree hung over an old fashioned tomb. The howling wind blew a load of dead rotten leave, crisps packets and dust into my eyes. I tried to cover my eyes but it was no use so I wait for the wind to clear. While I was waiting for wind to clear, I thought of the different things, which could happen to us on our twisted little journey. When the wind cleared I opened my eyes. I saw George stumbling over roots, then stopping and slowly bending over to pick something up, it looks like a piece of paper. To me it looked like a potato chip bag, so Id carried on looking. Hey come and look at this I have just found he called over. I zigzagged my way around the gravestones. I reached his side and grabbed the paper. It was a dollar dating back to 1891. Is that real? It looks like it to me. Well where did it come from? America you dip stick. No you fool? I mean how did it get here? At this time the mist turned into a heavy fog and it was much colder. OOOUH! OW. OW. OOOUH! We have to get back to the hotel. A patter of feet, thundered on to the hard floor followed by a horrify howl. It sounds like! Like! Werewolves One of the werewolves jumps on to the tomb and gave us a horrifying look. I turned around and gazed back, 5 sets of red eyes were racing towards us. Run! The snapping of jaws and growling echoed in my ears. The hotel came in view. Closer and closer. We run through the opening and pick up the door, which was on the floor. The scrapping of claws scratched on the now replaced door. A thunderstorm started to settle in. I went for the light switch and stop and remember that the electricity was off. So I tried the torch, it was no good so I lit a candle and then found a spot to go to sleep. It was a chair with a white sheet hung over it, I ripped the sheet off, which cause a shower of dusted. The chair looked brand new. The rain started the thunder roared. The rain pounded down like bombs dropping in the war. This cause the rain to leak through the roof, which turned the room smelly, the scrapping of claws disappeared. How long will the rain last? Dont know Well I am off to sleep. George said. George lay on a couch and gazed up at the roof. Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! Ill keep a look out for the first hour and you keep a look out for the next. Ok. Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! I gazed over to George; he was out like a light. Bless him For many hours I tried to get to sleep that, but something was forcing me to stay a wake, The cold was getting worse so I decided to make a little fire. I got up and broke up some wooden chairs and made a pile of wood to light. I went to the cooker room and found some lighter fuel and went back. Four dips of the lighter fuel and one strike of a match and the fire was lit. The warmth rushed through my body like water out of a tap. The flames lit up the room. The full moon shone brightly through the black storm clouds and through the window. A flash of lighting lit up the room. I turn my head and flash. When the lighting flashed and the flames danced, a round object glistened in the light. I got up and walk over to the object, which was starting to bug me. Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! Flash Crack I picked up the object and looked at it very closely. It was a coin, an America Cent. I reached deep into my pockets and pull out my glasses. The coin was dated back to 1891. On the back it said, in god we trust I walked back to the chair and reached for my side pocket and pull out the dollar bill and compared the two. On the back of the note it also said. In god we trust The same Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! Flash Crack Dong! Dong! Dong! 12o clock Flash I gazed at the grandfather clock. What the hell? by now I am getting a bit excited because of the discovering I had just made. In side the clock was a parcel wrapped up in an America flag. I slow open the parcel just in case it was a bomb. I peeled back the flag slowly. In side the flag was a shoebox, I took the lid off slowly, I felt like a kid on Christmas day. In side the shoebox there was a black and white picture of a young man. At the top of the photograph was some writing, which said. JAMES WILBER, 21st of January 1900. In god we trust Died here in room 1 0 1 And there was the black book with the crystal object hidden in the cover we were looking for. The Young Cranky voice came again. Died here in 1 0 1 so come! Come The voice was much softer than last time, almost like a whisper. A big flash of lighting woke George up. George. Follow me. I said I headed to the stairs. We walked up the creepy, squeaky, creaky timber stairs. We reached the top of the stairs and head to the room 1 0 1 Theyre sat a ghost-like man. Thank you, thank you The ghost had a sad face but slowly the face change to a sneer. The ghost lifted its head up and starts shouting Give me the book! Why? Give me the damn book The hotel started to shake. No! Why? The ghost looked at me. His eyes seamed to burn me. Give me the book, now No The ghost rose in to the air and the eyes of the ghost changed from milky white to blood shot red. Smoke filled the room. Damn the fire down stairs I yelled loudly I turned and headed for the stairs. Stop. The ghost shouted out. No, get lost I shouted back My heart started to beat faster and faster. As soon as I hit the stairs, the stairs gave way and I hit the floor below with a THUND

Paul Willis Learning To Labour

Paul Willis Learning To Labour Much has been written in the social sciences with regard to the role the education system plays within our society. Early investigations into the sociology of education tended to be written within the functionalist tradition with social thinkers such as Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons composing their theories within this framework. This perspective often viewed the education system as necessary for sustaining efficient economic growth and for creating a meritocratic society a society where the most talented and able individuals can rise through the social hierarchy according to their own ability. However, in recent years, social scientists have found the Marxist perspective more useful in understanding the connection between education, society and the economy. This perspective in general sees society as being a site of conflict between different groups; with education being another battleground where this conflict is acted out. The main function of education then in this context is to continue to reproduce the labour force. But more importantly that the education system favours and will benefit one social group over another namely the dominant and ruling class over the subordinate. This is perhaps a crude oversimplification of the Marxist case but it is important to have some understanding of this perspective with regard to education as this is the academic context in which Learning to Labour (1977) was undertaken. It is within this perspective that much of this essay will focus, as indeed it is the theoretical framework that Paul Willis is writing from. The aim of this paper is to critically engage with the themes and perspectives presented by Willis in his groundbreaking study on the sociology of education. Before we go on to discuss Learning to Labour it is perhaps important to start with some understanding of what came before; so as to highlight how Willis findings broke new ground and pushed the debate around education forward. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976) were writing just before Willis and their approach was very similar in that the thrust of their thesis was concerned with how education prepares pupils for their future roles within the labour market. However, their theories were very much formulated around the notion of direct reproduction and because of this they have exposed themselves to the usual criticisms of economic determinism. Willis offers a more sophisticated explanation. Although he acknowledges the existence of conflict within education he does not quite share Bowles and Gintis view that there exists a straight forward relationship between education and the economy. For Willis, schools are not nearly as successful in churning out a docile workforce as Bowel s and Gintis suggest. There is always the opportunity for resistance. The lads of Learning to Labour have managed to see through the ideological smoke screen of the school and reject it, while at the same time creating their own counter-school culture. The education system then is not simply a site for cultural reproduction but also a site of production; in that it has quite unintentionally created factors (in this case the counter-school culture) which are not particularly beneficial for the reproduction of capitalism. The school used by Willis is situated in a working class housing estate in an industrial town in the Midlands. Willis concentrated his study on a group of 12 working-class boys whom he followed through their last year of school and into the first few months at work. Willis soon found that these boys, who he referred to as the lads, had a distinct attitude towards their teachers and the school. Willis observed that they had developed their own unique culture which was diametrically opposed to the value system of the school. This counter-school culture of the lads blatantly rejected the authority of the school and ascribed no value to academic work and saw no use in the gaining of qualifications. Now it is important to understand what Willis means by the counter-school culture. The acknowledgement of an emergent counter-culture within the school is not in itself new (see Hargreaves, D. 1967) but what is significant about the way Willis uses this idea is that he examines the counter-culture within its wider social context. He quite brilliantly observes that the counter-school culture is not accidental, nor its style quite independent, nor its cultural skills unique or special and that it must be understood within the larger framework of working-class culture, particularly in relation to shopfloor culture. For Willis, the counter-school culture is rich with symbols and signs of resistance against the formal zone of the school. The lads have, in a symbolic act of sabotage, inverted the values that the school espouses and created their own value system which is in defiant opposition to the institution. This opposition is mainly countenanced through style, Willis notes: It [the counter-school culture] is lived out in countless small ways which are special to the school institution, instantly recognised by the teachers, and an almost ritualistic part of the daily fabric of life for the kids. (Willis, P. 1977:12) The counter-school culture is a very masculine domain where overt sexist and racist views are quite frequently expressed. The lads continually search out weakness in others and are skilful at undermining the authority of the teachers without it boiling over into outright confrontation. The conformist students are the lads main target after the teachers. The lads feel superior to them because they, unlike the earoles, have not surrendered their independence to the school they are still able to have a laff. It is this ability of being able to have a laff that is a defining characteristic of being a lad. It also marks them out from the earoles: we can make them laff, they cant make us laff. For Willis the laff is a multi-faceted implement of extraordinary importance in the counter-school culture and is a vital weapon in the lads arsenal in their continued struggle of the informal (counter-school) over the formal (school). This winning of symbolic and physical space from the school is illustrated further in the way that the lads seem to construct their own timetable. Through wagging off from classes and always trying to get away with doing the least amount of work, the lads have become highly skilled in exploiting and seizing control of the formal zone of the school. Cigarette smoking and openly drinking have also become valuable symbols of rebellion as it further marks the lads out from the school institution and instead shows them as belonging to the larger male working-class world. Ind eed Willis draws our attention to the similarities between the counter-school culture and shopfloor culture. He writes: The really central point about the working-class culture of the shopfloor is that, despite harsh conditions and external direction, people do look for meaning and impose frameworks. They exercise their abilities and seek enjoyment in activity, even where most controlled by other. They do, paradoxically, thread through the dead experience of work a living culture which is far from a simple reflex of defeat. This is the same fundamental taking hold of an alienating situation as one finds in counter-school culture and its attempt to weave a tapestry through the dry institutional text. (Willis, P. cited in Blackledge Hunt 1985:184) When the lads reach the end of their final term and the prospect of work awaits them they remain indifferent to the type of manual unskilled labour they will go on to do. They understand that most manual work in industry is basically the same; very little skill is required and offers no satisfaction. The best the lads can hope for is an apprenticeship or clerical work, however such jobs seem to offer little but take a lot. Although the lads might not be able to articulate it, in some respects they do have some understanding of the workings of capitalism. Willis calls these insights penetrations, where the lads have been able to see through the ideological fog created by the capitalist system. An example of this is present in the way that the counter-school culture places no value in the attainment of qualifications through certificates. The conformist student may be convinced by educations meritocratic faà §ade and the promise of upward mobility but the lads know better, they are aw are that a few can make ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the class can never follow. They understand that individual success will not ultimately change the position of the working-class, and that only through the collective action of the group will this be achieved. This is articulated by the lads in the way that they place an important emphasis on loyalty within the group, as Willis observes the essence of being one of the lads lies with the group. The group always comes first and the rejection of qualifications is a rejection of the individualistic nature of the school, which creates competition between class mates with the proliferation of individual awards through exams. As Willis puts it: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is unwise for working-class kids to place their trust in diplomas and certificates. These things act not to push people up as in the official account but to maintain there those who are already at the top (Willis, 1977:128). Although they may have some understanding of capitalism, Willis contends that while some penetrations have been made the lads still have not fully seen through all of capitalisms ideological justifications. They do not possess a complete overview of how capitalism works to exploit them. In some respects the lads are unwitting conspirators in their own exploitation in that they are far too willing to enter the world of manual work; and in doing so they enter an exploitative system which will ultimately entrap them. Their attitude towards women and ethnic minorities is also destructive. They serve only to divide the working-class making it that much easier to control. For Willis then, it is quite wrong to picture working-class culture or consciousness optimistically as the vanguard in the great march towards rationality and socialism. The lads of Learning to Labour may have realised their own alienation but ultimately it is their own decisions which have trapped them in these exploitative jobs. Willis has tried to make it clear that rather than being a site for the reproduction of one dominant ideology; the school can be a place where contradictory ideologies come together in conflict. With this study Willis shows us that it is the lads resistance to school, with the forming of a counter-school culture, that has prepared them for their future roles within the labour force. Their indifference to school and their behaviour in class has paradoxically prepared the lads for the manual unskilled work which they will go on to do. So in this sense education does reproduce the labour force required by capitalism. But it is done not directly and perhaps unintentionally and most importantly of all; not without a degree of resistance and struggle. The counter-school culture of the lads, as we have seen, is not beneficial to the reproduction of capitalism, but at the same time it is not particularly harmful. Willis has shown that reproduction is not a simple process with external economic structures manipulating submissive subjects. He is very critical of these structuarlist accounts. As he says: Social agents are not passive bearers of ideology, but active appropriators who reproduce existing structures only through struggle, contestation and a partial penetration of those structures. Paul Willis ethnographic investigation has been hailed a landmark study by educators and social theorist alike (Giddens 1984, McRobbie 1978). Indeed any detailed discussion on the sociology of education, subcultures or even deviancy within society would seem redundant if there was no reference to Learning to Labour. One writer has remarked that Willis has provided the model on which most subsequent cultural studies investigation within education has been based. However, this does not mean that he is exempt from criticism. David Blackledge and Barry Hunt (1985) take issue with a number Willis conclusions. Firstly they find some of his evidence unconvincing can the lads really be representative of the working-class in general? All the pupils at the school are from working-class families including the earoles (who are clearly in the majority); surely they are more representative of working-class values and attitudes. Blackledge and Hunt argue that the values of the conformist students, with their emphasis on academic work, are as much working-class in nature as those of the counter-culture. To support this claim they point to a similar study by David Hargreaves (1967) in which he found a significant delinquent sub-culture existing in a secondary school. Like the school of Willis study, the pupils where predominantly working-class (their fathers were in manual occupations) and he observed that the school was divided into two sub-cultures: the delinquescent and the academic. However, unlike Willis, Hargre aves does note that there can be a blurring of the two categories with some students within the academic group displaying delinquent behaviour from time to time. But more importantly Hargreaves maintains that the attitudes of the academic group are consistent with the values of a large section of the working-class. So in this light Blackledge and Hunt remain unconvinced that the values of the lads are the same as the working-class as a whole. They also have trouble excepting the simple dichotomy which is at the heart of this study that there exists just two main groups, the lads and the earoles. For them this does not really do justice to the diversity of the real world in that [Willis] would have us believe in a one-dimensional world in which there are those who want an education, and those who enjoy life. It never seems to occur to him that these pursuits can be combined, and that the person who takes an interest in his or her education is not, thereby, dull, obsequious and a soc ial conformist. Despite these criticisms Learning to Labour has remained an influential and much discussed text. In fact despite being written from a cultural studies perspective its influence is particularly strong within sociology. It is within Marxism that its significance has been most far reaching however. It has encouraged Marxist writers to re-evaluate their approach to the understanding of education; paying specific attention to the different factors at play instead of providing simplistic explanations of the role of education within society. Willis is very critical of structuarlist accounts which have a tendency to see subjects as passive bearers of ideology who mindlessly reproduce the status-quo. Willis has given social agents the ability to reject the dominant ideological discourses and to resist in the reproduction of existing exploitative structures. Learning to Labour has sometimes been described as a pessimistic book but I can not help but bring a positive interpretation to the text. It is true that ultimately it is the lads own choices that lead them to some of the most exploitative jobs that capitalism has to offer. But by simply having that choice it does allow for the possibility of change. As Willis himself says there is always the possibility of making practices not inevitable by understanding them. This, I would argue, is the key thread which runs through Learning to Labour; by understanding the reasons for the forming of a counter-school culture can we bring about positive changes which will be beneficial to everyone and not just the lads. Perhaps Willis is guilty of using too many Marxist terms uncritically. The way he employs the category of social class within Learning to Labour is maybe a little outdated now. It is not a stable, fixed construct it is more fluid than Willis allows for with an interlinking between race and gender etc. Similarly at times he is arguably guilty of slipping back into traditional Marxist territory with the idea of the state being subservient to capitalist class is that still (if it ever was) the reality? Within a globalised world power is more dispersed and not concentrated in the hands of one ruling bloc; but instead there are perhaps different organised groups competing for power. Economic and informational flows can freely transcend national boundaries it is argued (Giddens 1994) that globalisation has acted to decentralise power preventing any one group from wielding too much economic and ideological control. However, it is to the credit of Paul Willis that his investigation has re mained relevant and important twenty-eight years after it was first published. It is still considered a model example of ethnographic research and has encouraged many other ethnographic studies whose emphasis was on style, resistance and cultural symbols (See McRobbie 1978, Hebdige 1979). Indeed, Anthony Giddens (1984) structuration theory which sees subjects as knowledgeable and active agents owes a considerable debt to the insights made by Willis in Learning to Labour.

Terrorism and Personal Identity :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Terrorism and Personal Identity      Ã‚  Ã‚   Consider the personal comment of an ethnically foreign US citizen after September 11, 2001:    I became a United States citizen four years ago because of my long love affair with New York....I am a Bangladeshi woman and my last name is Rahman, a Muslim name...Before last week, I had thought of myself as a lawyer, a feminist, a wife, a sister, a friend, a woman on the street. Now I begin to see myself as a brown woman who bears a vague resemblance to the images of terrorists we see on television....As I become identified as someone outside the New York community, I feel myself losing the power to define myself... --Anika Rahman 1    In this poignant statement by a U.S citizen, ethnically Bangladeshi with Muslim linkage, the complex web of issues involved in immigrant identity is dramatically clear. Embedded in this statement are many of the issues that those of us concerned with categories of identification generally, and ethnic identification in particular, grapple with. Identification is typically a complex rather than simple construction, involving multiple aspects of oneself that may overlap or compete. Identification is a dynamic process, in which the meaning, the function, and even the basic labels can change from one point in time to another. Further, and most relevant now, identification is a socially constructed process in which the context and views of others have a significant role, shaping options and consequences for individual experience.    The events of September 11 have without question altered the context of identification for thousands of U.S. citizens and for those immigrants, legal and illegal, whose citizenship is still in flux. The current estimate of first generation Arab-American immigrants in the U.S. is 2,315,392. Current estimates of the number of Muslims in the U.S. are far less certain, varying from 2 to 6 million. (It should be noted that Arab-Americans and Muslims are far from overlapping sets. Many Arab-Americans are Christian; Muslims in turn come from a variety of ethnic groups in the U.S., including African American, Latino, and, as the highly-publicized case of John Walker Lindh illustrates, from Euro American backgrounds as well.)    Attitudes toward immigrants of any stripe have varied in the U. S. over the years. Prior to the restrictive immigration legislation of 1924, for example, opponents of immigration became increasingly strident, and the idealistic image of the "melting pot" offered by playwright Israel Zangwill in 1908 was challenged on both economic and racial grounds.

Nat Turner’s Southampton Slave Revolt Essay -- Nat Turner’s Slave Rebe

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nat Turner was a man with a vision that would change America forever. His vision may have not sounded right to the average person but to Nat Turner, he was on Earth to realize his vision. Nat Turner is the most famous and most controversial slave rebel in American history, and he remains a storm center of dispute("Fires of Jubilee" author Stephen B. Oates).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nat Turner’s slave revolt may have not been the greatest way to solve the problem of slavery, but it did open many people's eyes. Slavery was an accepted practice in society but it was not a humane or kind thing. The cruel and unjust treatment by the slave masters in the 1800's led to Nat Turner's slave revolt, which in turn led to the abolitionist movement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nat Turner was born on October 2, 1800 in the small town of Jerusalem in Southampton, Virginia. Nat's mother Nancy was one of 400,000 native Africans brought to North America before 1808. While most of the Africans had come from West Africa, Nancy's was supposedly from in the North's Nile River country("Fires of Jubilee"). Folk chroniclers say that slave traders or warlike natives abducted Nancy when she was a teenager. She was thrust over to European slave traders and crammed on a disease infested slave boat headed to the New World("Fires of Jubilee"). Nancy's ship landed at Norfolk, Virginia around 1795. She then was herded more inland where slave traders exhibited her at several slave auctions. Around 1799 Nancy was brought by Benjamin Turner and her life on a plantation began. Not long after Nancy had arrived at the plantation, she married another slave whose name is unknown("Fires of Jubilee"). Their union produced Nathaniel "Nat" Turner. In Hebrew this name meant "the gift of God.† Nancy did not want to bring her young son up as a slave so she tried to kill him. The slave owners punished Nancy for trying this and shackled her for a lengthy period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Nancy watched Nat get a little older, she noticed that she had a special child. She was extremely proud of her young son Nat. Nat was bright, and quick to learn and he stood out from the rest of the children. In one instance, Nancy overheard a conversation Nat was having with some of his playmates. He was telling them of a story that had taken place long before he had been born, yet he told the story like he was there. Nancy asked young Nat "Did anyon... ...rocess of abolishing slavery. The climax of the steps was President Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation.† Nat Turner's slave revolt and the abolitionist movement really helped bring an end to the cruel and unjust reality of slavery. Without the Nat Turner slave revolt the abolitionist movement would have never come about. Some critics complain that the revolt was very violent and unnecessary, but so was slavery. The slave revolt opened America’s eyes to the ills of slavery and paved the way for less violent revolutions such as the Black Muslim uprising and the Civil Rights non-violence movement. Bibliography 1. Aptheker, Herbert; Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion, Johnson and Williams Inc., New York, New York, 1921 2. Farina, Reggie; Nat Turner’s Rebellion, Snyder Publications, Chicago Publishing House, Chicago, Illinois, 1963 3. Friedman, Jesse; Nat Turner: Prophet, Visionary, Slave Revolt leader, Adu publishing inc., New York, New York, 1892 4. Gray, Thomas R.; The Confessions of Nat Turner, Thomas R. Gray publishing, Lucas and Denver printing, 1831 5. Oates, Stephen B.; Fires of Jubilee; Nobles, Turner and Smith, Los Angeles, California 1899

mermaid love :: essays research papers

Mermaid Love The ship was sailing under a sunset sky. The weather was as calm and perfect as King Seren could make it, in his happiness on the day of his youngest daughter's wedding. The guests aboard were having a good time. They drank wine, rum, mead, and whatever else they could lay hands upon. Most were drinking out of joyous celebration, but there were those who drank heavily, Lord Smiley included, to try and forget the fact that Prince Stan had married a fish. All agreed that marrying a fish was considerably better than the octopuss witch that had nearly tricked the handsome young prince into wedlock. Princess Lena was lovely, sweet, and kind. She had legs as a human did, but none of them were going to easily dismiss the memory of her flopping on the deck with a scaled green tail. Among the nervous were those who made their living by plundering the sea of its wealth. Stan's was a coastal domain. Fishing was their main source of food. Difficult, that, when what was hauled up in a net may be kin to their princess. Shipping was another means of income, and even piracy (though they called it privateering). But it was now confirmed that the sea was the realm of a king, a king with power over wind and wave, a king who might impose restrictions on travel across his territory. The staff of the royal kitchens had been in a quandary. How to prepare the traditional wedding feast while keeping away from seafood? Instead of succulent roast dolphin, they had to serve beef. The few cattlemen of the realm were quite pleased, but their herds and farms would not sustain the masses forever. All in all, it was understandable that the liquor flowed freely. The only ones aboard who were not distraught over one thing or another were the bride and groom, and Stan's shaggy dog Fluffy. Fluffy had eaten most of the cake that the chef Pete had ruined in his pursuit of Sebastian the crab, and the overfed dog was now sprawled beside the mainmast sleeping it off. Pete, who had broken off most of his teeth, was sleeping off the brandy that hat been given him to ease the pain. Lena and Stan stood on the bow, arms around each other. The wind stirred her luxurious red hair and ruffled the lacy hem of her gown.

To What Extent Is Macbeth Responsible for His Own Downfall

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, he depicts the rise and downfall of the eponymous protagonist, Macbeth. The text illustrates that there is no sole person to blame for Macbeth’s downfall but numerous reasons for Macbeth’s downfall. Macbeth is only partially responsible for his own downfall for his eventual downfall at the hands of Macduff. Macbeth is driven by the prophecies given by the witches and this is perpetuated with the manipulation of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s own ‘vaulting ambitions’. All of these are factors which lead to Macbeth committing murders in order to become King and his ultimate downfall. The main cause of Macbeth’s fall from grace is due to the three witches and the prophecies which they give to Macbeth at the start of the text. The Thane of Glamis is content with his position until the witches prophesise †¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Hail to the, Thane of Glamis†¦ Thane of Cawdor†¦ That shalt be king hereafter! † After the previous Thane of Cawdor’s execution, Macbeth is appointed the new Thane of Cawdor and as the prophecy is partially fulfilled, he contemplates how the rest of the prophecy will play out. Due to his ambitious personality and a prophesised kingship, he murders King Duncan and Banquo in order to become King faster. This eventually causes his downfall at the hands of Macduff in the final scenes of the play. The witches are responsible for his downfall as it is their prophecies which instigate Macbeth’s killing spree to become King and his downfall because of the murders he committed. Lady Macbeth is also to blame for Macbeth’s downfall. Lady Macbeth is obsessed with becoming royalty, even more than Macbeth, and will do anything in order to achieve it. Lady Macbeth is fearful of her husband’s good nature as it is ‘full o’ the milk of human kindness. ’ And so Lady Macbeth has to challenge his manliness and goad him in order for him to follow her plan so he can become King. It is Lady Macbeths shaming which causes him to murder King Duncan and Banquo and incur the retribution of Macduff which causes his eventual downfall. Without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have not gone though with the plan to become King and would eventually have become King in an honest manner, and so would not have had his downfall at Macduff’s hands. Macbeth is responsible for his own downfall as his own downfall due to his ‘vaulting ambitions’ to become King, his fear to retain his crown and his temperament. Macbeth’s ambitious desires to become king very fast results him killing King Duncan, who he was fiercely loyal to at the start of the text, becoming a traitor. With the King gone, the princes flee to England and Ireland and Macbeth ascends to the throne. Fearing the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s sons will become king, he orders their murders but Fleance is able to get away. Macduff’s family is killed as Macbeth wanted to watch Macduff in order to stop a potential plot to overthrow him but Macduff fled to England. Macduff angrily returns and avenges his family by killing Macbeth and causing his downfall. In Macbeth, there are many people responsible for Macbeth’s downfall including the three Weird Sisters, his wife Lady Macbeth and Macduff and Macbeth himself. It was the interaction of these people with Macbeth and Macbeth’s own mindset which caused his downfall in Dunsinane. Therefore, Macbeth is only partially responsible for his own downfall.