The American Flatbread Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The American Flatbread - Case Study Example They believe in taking care of the customer and the employee, and always looking out for the best interests of the people, not the business, while maintaining a healthy, fresh, and fun-filled environment to work and eat in. George Schenk is the founder of American Flatbread. He not only owns the business but takes a large role in the daily activities of running the company along with his management team. One of his beliefs is that it does not matter who thought of the best idea; the best idea will be the chosen course of action. In the video, he mentioned that at times there are arguments between the management team, but that each person must swallow their pride for the betterment of the company. He also stated that by giving each employee a voice in the company, it leads to better ideas; and employees take an ownership role in doing the best job they can because they know their opinions matter. Schenk established the Medicine Wheel Project and Organic Food for Public Schools projects that has helped build his name and food philosophies nationwide. He has also written many different articles stating his philosophies and beliefs to the culinary community as well as taking a strong stance in political ac tivities in the state of Vermont. American Flatbread practices many different socially responsible activities that have made it well-renowned. The American Flatbread restaurants hold â€Å"Benefit Bakes†, which are fund raising events to raise money for social causes such as public health clinics and the preserving nature habitats. The company also serves food to medical patients, medical personnel and all of their families through the â€Å"Medicine Wheel† program. Schenk has also demanded that members of the community that are facing tough times can come to American Flatbread and they will have flatbreads on the house. It is important for small businesses to intimately connect with their communities so that as one struggles,

Networking assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Networking - Assignment Example Mary’s and also he is the creator of Lindsay Marketing links. He has also spent almost the first 15 years of his profession in various sales and marketing organization roles through many leading business establishments. Because of the challenging nature of the marketplace management, he likes to attempt something innovative. Networking is the one of the most important aspects that he perceives to be relevant to today’s marketing environment. I understand that the combined efforts of all the areas in the company will help him to attain the organizational aims in an effective way. Networking between Lindsey (marketing), Keith (accounting) and Holly (hospitality) will help to enhance the quality of personal and career development. I also understand that career development is one of the most important things that every person associated with the company must develop. This way, the work one does during study hours help to improve personal and career life. Face to face intera ction, that is interview method and telephonic interview with various people in the company will help me to obtain the immediate feedback. Lindsey, Keith and Holly are different people they handle different department so that personality of these people also different. In order to overcome all the risk associated with the company marketing manager must choose the most appropriate method and also listen other people’s ideas and views this will helps to increase the value of the company. Lindsey has held various positional in the cultural area which have give attention on delivering viewers and media treatment for visual art ,dance, theatre, finally the various festival procedures. Key marketing and various Public Relation abilities consist of: Developing exact, modified marketing movements in the region of a new goods or event. Creating the most excellent and most proper brand name and identity for businesses and/or goods. Receiving the most from actions, partnerships and the media in the course of superior Public Relations. Realizing innovative design resolutions for campaigns and proceedings, helping to attain the most excellent in print, publicity and digital and straight marketing. Interview with Lindsay help me to identify that working with team is much easier in the world of business than the university. Working in group helps to collect and identify the various new ideas from other persons in the group. And most important thing is that due to the emergence of globalization technology has developed a lot, this development of technology made the marketing task more quick and fast. Career development is the one of the thing that must be maintained in order to cope up with the innovative technology. Networking is very important in today’s business world as networking opens the door to knowledge. In the business world there are several issues like communication problems, cross cultural issues, relationship problems to which networking have a sol ution. â€Å"A good networker thinks in terms of systems – they assess the value of a contact in relation to their entire network. A bad networker assesses only the value to themselves† (Marx, 2001, p. 72). Telephonic or face to face interviews are a form of understanding the person’s interest, his aspirations, and his viewpoints on a subject topic. The

Global Climate Change as a Socially Relevant Scientific Issue

Global Climate Change as a Socially Relevant Scientific Issue The climate of planet Earth has been subjected to significant changes, particularly in seasonal temperature and weather patterns, since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, around the year 1750. Since that time, the climate has been increasingly impacted by anthropogenic drivers, such as carbon dioxide and methane production. Increasing concentrations of these gases have led to changes in available habitat for many organisms, extreme weather patterns and sea level rise, as well as effects on the health and economy of the human population. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, changes in global climate can have dramatic effects on where species can live, how they interact, and the timing of key life events, all of which can have profound effects on ecosystems. For example, one study shows that Northeastern birds that normally spend the winter in the southern United States have been returning north in the spring 13 days earlier than they did 100 years ago (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). Shifts in migration like this can result in limited food availability and changes to breeding cycles. Some species have been shifting their habitable range due to changes in their normal environmental range, causing ecosystem changes along the way. For example, as boreal forests invade the tundra, the habitats of caribou, arctic foxes, and snowy owls become greatly reduced, as they depend on the tundra environment for their habitat (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). Another comm on example of this negative effect is the shift in habitat for the polar bear. The polar bear depends on sea ice for its habitat, as well as its hunting grounds, where it uses holes in the ice to hunt for seals. As the global temperature increases, the mount of sea ice coverage decreases, which reduces the ability for the polar bear to access its traditional food supply. The loss of habitat is dramatic for the polar bear, as it cannot simply move farther north as other species can, since it already lives in the northernmost area of the planet. For this reason, the polar bear is an endangered species due to the continued effects of global climate change. The topic of global sea level rise has been a part of global climate change research for some time, but recent findings show that the change is accelerating rather than increasing at a constant rate. The new study is based on 25 years of NASA and European satellite data and shows that the acceleration has the potential to double the sea level rise by 2100 that had once been projected based on a steady increase in sea level. If the rate continues to increase at its current pace, sea level could be 65 cm higher than it is today by the year 2100 (Weeman, 2018). The rise of sea surface levels are due to increases in global temperature, which results in two types of changes. First, the increasing temperature melts the ice sheets, releasing more water into the ocean. Second, the addition of this warmer water and the overall increase in ocean temperature causes thermal expansion (due to hydrogen bonding) of the ocean waters, meaning the volume of the water increases as a direct effect of th e temperature increase. Around the world, even small increases in sea level can cause catastrophic changes in habitats, for humans and wildlife alike. Coastal populations, especially those that exist closer to current sea-level will lose use of the land, including homes, businesses and other infrastructure in the area. Populations will need to move further inland, further stressing the already dense human population, particularly in countries like the U.S. and China. Changes in sea level will also affect land dwelling animals and vegetation, which can cause disruptions to coastal ecosystems and eventually inland ecosystems, as species that are able to migrate inland encroach on other established ecosystems. Global climate change also has potential health effects on humans. According to the Executive Summary of the Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States, climate change affects food and water sources, the air that people breathe, the weather, and interactions with both the natural and built environments. Increased temperatures can lead to locally extreme heat events, increasing the frequency of heat-related illnesses and deaths, especially for the elderly, young children, and those with chronic illnesses. Weather patterns and sea level rise will disrupt infrastructure and cause coast flooding, which will negatively impact access to essential services like power, clean water, and emergency services  (Crimmins, 2016). The changes in seasonal weather patterns will also affect food and water quality as well as changes in infectious agents, which will increase the likelihood of food, water and vector-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease (Crimmins, 2016).   Although there is an abundance of evidence supporting the issue of global climate change, naysayers still exist, using disinformation strategies to confuse the public and delay action on remediation efforts. Many of these large organizations receive most of their funding from large oil companies, whose businesses will not benefit from legislative action for remediating climate change. However, the currently most noteworthy stakeholder group that opposes climate change is the Trump administration. It is difficult to summarize the major stances against climate change of this administration, since most of the arguments have long since been negated by many scientific reports. For example, Scott Pruitt, the current EPA administrator questions â€Å"whether we can measure ‘with precision’ the role of humans on the climate,† and he proposed, based on this, that humans may not be the major driver of global warming (Mooney, 2017). As a reflection of this stance, the curren t administration has revisited the fuel efficiency standards previously put in place by the Obama administration, a beginning step towards reversing the effort to lower carbon emissions. Based on the unsubstantiated argument that climate change is not definitively caused by humans, the Trump administration has moved toward lowering air pollution regulation standards, defunding major climate research projects, omitting climate change as a national security threat, and even taken down the climate change pages of the Environmental Protection Agency website (Greshko, 2018). The list of stakeholders and organizations that back the issue of climate change is long and substantial. One such organization is the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In the 2017 Executive Summary, it is stated that the global average surface air temperature has increased 1.8 °F over the last 115 years, which is the warmest in the history of modern civilization (Wuebbles, 2017). The report concludes that the dramatic changes are extremely likely to be due to the changes in human activities, based on extensive evidence. The most important point that is made in the executive summary is the positive correlation between the increase in anthropogenic production of greenhouse gas emissions and the many adverse effects on the global climate and the Earth systems, including sea surface temperature, ocean acidification, sea level rise, air pollution, and melting glaciers. The amount of scientific evidence supporting global climate change is substantial and there are many different sources that can be discussed. The most commonly discussed anthropogenic driver of the current changes to the climate is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a major pollutant produced by various processes in human industry, such as the exhaust from combustion engines in vehicles. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, meaning that it traps heat that is radiating back from the Earth’s surface, which initially arrived as solar radiation. Due to its ability to increase the average global temperature of the atmosphere, it becomes part of several strong positive feedback loops, which amplify its effect. For example, the increasing temperature of the atmosphere allows more sea ice and snow to melt, reducing the planet’s albedo, or ability to reflect solar radiation, which allows more radiation to be absorbed at the surface, further increasing surface temperature. Melting of this snow and ice can also accelerate the breakdown of organic matter from below the permafrost, releasing more carbon from the long-term cycle into the short-term cycle, which will further contribute to the positive feedback loop  (Schuur, 2015). The relationship between the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and surface temperature is strongly correlated, as shown below in the figure from Climate Central: The figure shows the strong positive correlation between the temperature anomaly, which is compared to the temperature baseline from the early industrial time period, and the rising carbon dioxide concentration in parts per million (ppm) (Climate Central, 2017). The next figure from NASA shows the historical trend of carbon dioxide over a much longer time period, as far back as 650,000 years. The figure clearly demonstrates how dramatically the carbon dioxide concentrations have increased since the rise of industry. Although those that are against climate change will point out the clear repeating trend of low and high carbon dioxide concentration, there is only one clear cause for the steep increase that began in the time period of the industrial revolution (Graphic: The relentless rise of carbon dioxide). Climate scientists have obtained accurate records of historical carbon dioxide levels from glacial ice. The air is locked in layers over time, which forms bubbles in the ice. Scientists are able to run tests on these samples to determine the amount of carbon dioxide that was present in the atmosphere in the corresponding time period. They can then compare this level to the temperature determined from proxy data from tree rings and water vapor oxygen ratios in other samples from the time period. One of the possible solutions for mitigating the effects of climate change would require the foregoing of the use of fossil fuels. Since the primary driver of global climate change is the increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, and the carbon dioxide comes mainly from emissions from fossil fuel usage, the fossil fuel usage is a significant problem. Fossil fuels are also removed from the deep carbon reservoirs, and by removing them for human use, carbon is being rapidly moved from a long-term sequestered cycle to a short to term cycle in the surface and climate system. Eliminating, or even reducing, the use of fossil fuels, particularly in developed countries, comes with significant costs. The leading mode of travel by the average working citizen is their privately owned vehicle, which normally runs on traditional gasoline, a major source of carbon emissions. Many people have a significant daily drive to their workplace. The start-up costs for people in this econo my make it difficult to switch to more eco-friendly options for travel. There are also not yet many incentives to alter their travel habits. The need to switch from fossil fuels is also a risky move for the economy since many of the largest industry leaders are the oil companies. The movement for climate change legislation has been battling against oil companies for a long time since oil companies are believed to provide funding for many political campaigns, thus ensuring that their businesses will continue to flourish. Coal is estimated to provide about half of the electricity in the U.S., and a similar percentage worldwide. If the coal and oil companies were to endure far stricter regulations in order to reduce carbon emissions, there would likely be great risk to the global economy. If fossil fuels were to be used less or not at all, and alternative energy sources were used in their place, it should be possible to cease the increase of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosph ere and allow the global climate to eventually recover to a more normal state. Reducing the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere will positively affect many aspects of the climate. Global average temperatures will eventually return to more normal ranges, the sea level should no longer continue to rise, and air pollution will be reduced, saving people from heat related death and sickness, as well as food and water-borne diseases. Another benefit to decreasing the carbon dioxide concentration will allow for the acidification of the ocean waters to slow and possible decrease. Another key solution for mitigating climate change would be to reduce the deforestation of the planet. Trees and other vegetation are an important piece of the carbon cycle. When vegetation dies, it eventually becomes part of the long-term carbon cycle, which means that it will eventually be turned back into rock and sequestered in the Earth, but this process occurs over a much longer time scale. When humans purposely destroy forests for various reasons, a substantial amount of carbon is released into the system as biological carbon, into the ground, the ocean and the atmosphere. Not only does deforestation increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which increases global surface temperature, it also decreases the Earth’s albedo. Tree cover has a higher albedo value than agricultured land and black pavement, so when they are torn down, the ability of the Earth’s surface to reflect radiation back to space is decreased. This results in more heat becoming abs orbed at the surface, which causes more melting of ice and snow, further amplifying the warming and melting effects. The cost of reducing the amount of deforestation means losses for the agricultural industry, since this is one of the primary reasons lands are cleared. Reducing deforestation means that farmers will have less land to use for growing crops and less pasture space for grazing animals. Agriculture is a major source of sustainable food for many countries and the need for land in the industry is growing. It could also mean losses for the construction industry, as new regulations would prevent unnecessary clearing of land for new building projects. There are some risks to reducing deforestation. Deforestation helps to reduce likelihood of fast-spreading forest fires. Areas that are prone to forest fires often perform preemptive cutting. Forest fires negatively affect the atmosphere, as they rapidly inject carbon dioxide into the air. If certain areas were not permitted to c ut trees as they need to, it could put them at risk for more forest fires, which could be more dangerous in the short-term. However, reducing deforestation would be beneficial because it would no longer decrease the planet’s albedo and would reduce the amount of extra carbon dioxide being injected into the atmosphere. The best recommendation for mitigating, and hopefully reversing, the effects of global climate change would be to cease the use of fossil fuels. Since the anthropogenic removal of carbon from the Earth for fossil fuels has been determined to be the source of the leading cause of global climate change, it would make sense for it to be the most important solution for reversing the adverse effects that it has had on the planet. Humans removing various carbon-based fuels from their long-term sequestration in the Earth has led to an over-dependence on its various forms of energy production. The burning of these fuels produces the carbon dioxide that has been building up in the atmosphere, which is the leading greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Along with the direct effect that carbon dioxide has on atmospheric temperature, its increased concentration in the air allows for more to be dissolved and temporarily sequestered in the oceans, which causes ocean acidification. Ocean acidification has negative effects on coral reefs and ocean life. As the temperature of the ocean increases alongside the atmosphere, the ocean also holds less carbon dioxide, lessening the ocean’s ability to assist in cooling the surface temperature. The addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere via the burning of fossil fuels moves the carbon to the short-term carbon cycle. It takes much longer for carbon to move back into a long-term cycle once it has been removed because it takes several hundreds or thousands of years for the carbon material to decay and compact into the rock sediment once again. Although there are other greenhouse gases and other long-term factors contributing to global climate change, the use of carbon-based fossil fuels is the most significant, as the changes to the atmosphere began at the same point in history when fossil fuels drove the industrial revolution. The most logical recommendation for reversing the negative effects which have been worse ning since this time period is to reverse the most significant shift in the use of fossil fuels for energy that began over 250 years ago. Works Cited Climate Central. (2017, April 19). Rising Global Temperatures and CO2. Retrieved from Climate Central: http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/co2-and-rising-global-temperatures Crimmins, A. J. (2016). Executive Summary. Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Global Change Research Program. Retrieved from U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, Graphic: The relentless rise of carbon dioxide. (n.d.). Retrieved from NASA: Global Climate Change: https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/ Greshko, M. P. (2018, Apri 6). A Running List of How Trump Is Changing the Environment. National Geographic. Mooney, C. (2017, December 29). What position does the Trump administration take on climate change? All of them. The Washington Post. Schuur, E. A. (2015). Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback. Nature, 171-179. United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2017, January 19). Climate Impacts on Ecosystems. Retrieved from Environmental Protection Agency: 19 January 2017 Snapshot: https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-ecosystems_.html Weeman, K. L. (2018, February 13). New study finds sea level rise accelerating. Retrieved from NASA: Global Climate Change: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2680/new-study-finds-sea-level-rise-accelerating/ Wuebbles, D. D. (2017). Executive summary. In: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I. Washington, DC, USA: U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Male Dominance in Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper

Male Dominance in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper "I want to astonish him," (34) says the narrator, referring to her husband, in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, as she writhes behind the patterns of her yellow wallpaper, locked in her room of barred windows, sunken in the lunacy that she cannot evade. This short, ambitious phrase placed squarely on the page beneath stacks of similarly short-winded phrases that string together this diary-style narrative conveys most clearly the narrator's prime audience for her actions: John. He is her husband, her care-taker, the only man in her life, and in spite of the near-reverence that the narrator has for him, it is only in the final pages, when this stunning sentence is uttered, that John's wife endeavors to earn more than John's respect for her. She wants to provoke awe, the sort of "astonishment" that might make him feel as though he were mad, and would, thus, free his wife from beneath his condescending gaze. For the act, or the being-caught-in-the-act, of tearing off the wallpaper, and not the removal of the paper itself, will liberate the narrator most fully. What binds John's wife, what binds the woman reflected back at her behind the wallpaper's troubling patterns, is not so much the physical trappings of the home, but the less visible patriarchal society of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In The Short Story: the Reality of Artifice, Charles May cites Bonaro Overstreet's description of twentieth century drama, calling it "the drama of what goes on in the mind" (17). Gilman's story inhabits the dynamic mind of a woman willing to disclose to her readers everything she sees and feels. This first-person confessional, littere... .... Gilman's startling ending comes after nearly six pages of intensification, and it is a most dramatic finale, perhaps the heartiest parody of that Gothic romance mentioned early on. When John faints, revealed to the reader by the narrator's question, for isn't that silly of him, the story to clatters to a most rousing close. She has astonished him, into unconsciousness, toppled him like a tower the way she peeled the paper from the wall. And there, upon the ground, John remains, Gilman's weighty, though squeamish, symbol of male dominance around which the narrator, the woman writer, may now creep, though ultimately, one hopes, stand before and walk with. Works Cited May, Charles. The Short Story: the Reality of Artifice. New York: Twayne Publishers, 2002 edition. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. London: VIRAGO Press, 1988 edition.

Dickens Presentation of Female Characters in Great Expectations Essay

Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations was first serialised in 1861 in the journal ‘All Around the World’ during the Victorian period. During this time women were almost regarded as second class, even though the reigning queen had been on the throne for fourteen years. On the contrary, the Queen herself was quite masculine thinking it quite ‘improper’ that women should have the same rights as men. No women could vote, all major decisions were made by men and there were no important female political figures except for the queen herself, who was opposed to ‘votes for women’. Women were beginning to show signs of demand equality. Dickens created a lot of public awareness in his writings about the condition England was in. He liked to give the message ‘If men would behave decently the world would be decent’. He became very interested in socialist ideas from a young age and wrote novels for several years, including a novel based on his own life and the troubles he had. Great Expectations tells the story of orphan Pip, living with his bitter, older sister. Throughout the novel he encounters an escaped convict only then to be summoned by the wicked and cold Miss Havisham and her beautiful niece Estella. On top of this he is suddenly endowed with the generosity of a mysterious benefactor. Dickens uses physical appearance to convey his female characteristics. It was traditionally thought at the time, if a woman and ’round and curvy’ then she was a very warm person but if she was bony and skinny she would be an unpleasant and not very nice woman. There are several examples of this throughout the novel. He wanted to show what a horrible woman Mrs Joe Gargery was. So he described her as being: â€Å"not a good looking woman† and â€Å"tall and bony†. Both of these don’t make her sound particularly attractive and she is a very cruel person to Pip and Joe Gargery. Miss Havisham is shown in the same light, â€Å"Miss Havisham’s grey hair was all adrift upon the ground, among the other bridal wrecks, and was a miserable sight to see†. She is always dressed in her old wedding dress and her skin is very pale. Therefore almost giving us the impression, she is a ghost and she died years ago, making her seem like a very peculiar woman. There are many gothic images of Miss Havisham throughout the novel, because Gothic imagery was very popular at the time. She is twisted and evil and this is reflected in her attire and in her home, Satis house. The Clocks in Satis house reflect Miss Havsiham because just like clocks, she has stopped moving on with her life, she is also decaying, physically and mentally, just as the house is. She is only wearing one shoe and hasn’t changed her clothes in years. A Victorian reader would think upon first seeing a woman like her, that was crazy or evil and in this case, she is both. We see everything through Pip therefore we relate to him and feel what he does. So, even if Estella is horrible to Pip we can still forgive her because Pip does. Estella, in contrast â€Å"seemed more beautiful than she had ever seemed yet†, therefore in the eyes of a Victorian reader making her a warm and caring woman. This is ironic because she is the complete opposite. She can not express her emotions and has been brought up not to express love. But because the book is in a first person perspective the reader can relate to her beauty and because Pip still likes her, inevitably so does the reader. We see everything through Pip therefore we relate to him and feel what he does. So, even if Estella is horrible to Pip we can still forgive her because Pip does. Mrs Joe Gargery is very cruel to Pip until she is attacked. â€Å"It’s hard enough to be a blacksmith’s wife without being a mother†- she is resentful of having spent her life looking after Pip and being married to Joe. Mrs Joe Gargery is a very cruel and horrible old woman and the reader’s feelings towards her are only strengthened by the fact that she is not very attractive. Estella can be just as cruel to Pip as Mrs Joe Gargery is at times. When she says â€Å"you wait here boy† and â€Å"you ridiculous boy, will you never take warning? † it tells the reader she thinks a lot of herself and she is very proud. Again because she is pretty and the fact that, it is not her fault that she is this way, she is forgiven by the reader and Pip, because he is in love with her. In Mrs Joe Gargery’s opinion she has spent too many years raising Pip. She spends all her time being spiteful to Pip and will not be kinder, whatever the scenario. Pip would often recall scenes such as this one, ‘My sister made at dive at me and fished me up by the hair’. She strongly resented him and would take every opportunity possible to show it. She treats her husband Joe in the same way, although at heart Joe is an honest man and good man, he isn’t very bright and Pip always thinks of him as a ‘larger species of child’. Mrs Joe Gargery will, on the other hand, treat him like one Dickens makes the reader like Joe because Pip is very fond of him. This only increases the reader’s dislike for Mrs Joe Gargery. It is only until her encounter with Orlick that she becomes a completely different person, becoming much more patient. It is only because of an event such as this, she is like this, not because of her own will. It’s the male character Orlick who changed Mrs Joe Gargery into some more acceptable to the reader. Dickens created this event to show the reader that men still have authority over women. Miss Havisham died a very twisted, old and bitter woman. She was malicious and she poured all her dark, evil emotions into Estella. She once loved her husband-to-be very much. She had a lot of passion in her heart but that was destroyed when he left her standing at the altar. ‘I’ll tell you what real love is†¦.. giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter’. Once again it has been a man that has changed one of the female leads into a person of hatred. She had an accident many years later and was left in such a state of shock she never fully recovered.

The benefits of Facebook Network

Nowadays social networks are so advanced in various ways; we then can communicate with friends easily on the internet. Social networks are well-known for everyone in the world who lives far away from each others in different countries. There are many programs we can use for communication, including Google, Hotmail, G-mail, Yahoo, Hi5, MSN, Skype, Facebook, and etc. At the moment, Facebook is so popular for most people especially teenagers. Using the Facebook has lots of benefits for everyone who loves making friends through networks. Firstly, Facebook has a lot of functions that is very popular and interesting nowadays. It’s like a friendship book. If you use Facebook, you can make your own profile. You also can find your old friends when you were at a primary or high school on Facebook networks by using only their names or their E-mail addresses. In addition, you can share your pictures or video clips to your friends on Facebook networks. You can post your messages you want on your Facebook wall. You can chat online realtime with your friends on Facebook. If you want to comment on your friend’s pictures, friend’s messages or friend’s video clips, you can do it easily. And your other friends can share their opinions and ideas with you. Facebook thus has many good choices for you to make friends on this particular social network. Secondly, the Facebook is outstanding for multifunction using. The Facebook is excellent for playing games with your friends even living apart from each other. There are various kinds of flash games you can enjoy and build up your own creative world. The News walls and activities can be created on the Facebook in order to share information and invite your friends or groups to participate corporately and creatively. Now, let’s ask yourself whether you are an enjoyable person with games and activities or not, if the answer is yes, the Facebook is then the suitable social network for you. Lastly, using the Facebook is good opportunities to learn languages, cultures, and business in the global networks. The Facebook network has more than 400 million users around the world, and it is growing everyday that helps the members to exchange languages and cultures while chatting or posting messages on the wall. And also you can learn slang words from the network such as HMU (Hit me up), Brb (Be right back) and etc. The Facebook will also be served as the business purposes by posting product pictures or advertisements on the Fan page. The Facebook network then helps us to learn other cultures, languages, and business without direct interaction to each others. Using the Facebook has various benefits for everyone. The Facebook has many good choices for you to make friends on this particular social network. If you are an enjoyable person with games and activities, the Facebook is the suitable social network for you. The Facebook network is the cheapest way to learn other cultures, languages, and business. Using the Facebook is more advantage than other old social networks.

20 Jokes That Only Book Lovers Will Get

20 Jokes That Only Book Lovers Will Get Everyone loves a good joke, especially if theres a hint of insider knowledge involved. Thats why weve compiled 20 of the best jokes weve found that only book lovers will get. Feel free to share these with fellow literati, because as E.E. Cummings once said, The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.via GIPHYHow does Voltaire like his apples?Candied.Why did the comma break up with the apostrophe?Because it was too possessive.Jay Gatsbys car was a real hit with the ladies.What makes Civil Disobedience such a great essay?Thoreau editing.What would you find in Charles Dickenss pantry?The best of thyme, the worst of thyme.Why did the reader give up on Pride and Prejudice?The characters were too Austentatious.How can you get an A on everything?Commit adultery in a 17th-century Puritan town.Why do writers often feel cold?Because theyre surrounded by drafts.What is Holden Caulfields favorite childrens show?My Little Phony.What do you say to comfort the grammar police?There, their, theyre.Why is John Milton terrible to invite to game night?Because when hes around, theres a pair of dice lost.Why are you unable to make reservations at the library?Because theyre completely booked.What did the librarian tell Shakespeare when he tried to put the newest New York Times Bestseller on hold?No holds, bard.What do you call 2000 mockingbirds?Two kilo mockingbird.How did the high school music teacher create controversy?He had his students read band books.What do you get when you mix alcohol and literature?Tequila Mockingbird.Why was Shakespeare cold after his camping trip?Now is the winter of our discount tent.How did John Green break his ankle?The fault in our stairs.Why is a books plot so important?It builds character.What do pregnant women and apostrophes have in common?Theyre prone to contractions.via GIPHY

Finding Time to Write in High School

Finding Time to Write in High School Finding Time to Write in High School Finding Time to Write in High School By Maeve Maddox I am still in high school and therefore (due to AP classes) have little or no time to write.   I have tried to make time to write at least half a page every day (not a continuing story, just whatever comes to mind at the time) and I cannot even find time to do THAT!   I really want to continue my writing and I want to improve, but I just cant find the time. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to improve my vocabulary, grammar, writing and my flow of ideas that will not take up too much time? NOTE: This reader is referring to Advanced Placement classes. AP courses are college courses made available to high school students. They are generally considered to be more rigorous than general high school courses and usually require more reading and writing. This note from a young reader made me think of the story about the young man who was in love with a young woman. Her family moved to another town a thousand miles away. Distraught, the young man went to the local sage and told him his sad story. The sage looked at him thoughtfully and then spoke. â€Å"How is it, young man, that you love this young woman and she is a thousand miles away?† Writing is like love. You go the distance. You find the time. High School Students Have More Time Than Adults One of my greatest regrets as I head into my retirement years is that I wasted so much time because of the petrifying notion that I had to wait to get serious about writing until after I’d met all my domestic responsibilities. Women caring for husbands and pre-schoolers, and men working two jobs to keep their children in clothes and school supplies are certainly at a disadvantage if professional writing is their goal. Nevertheless if the desire is strong enough, they’ll steal hours from their sleep to find the time to put words to paper. Unlike an adult caught up in the necessities of providing for the needs of others, a high school AP student has opportunities built into the work day. Every situation differs, I know, but it seems to me that an AP student would find plenty of opportunity to â€Å"improve vocabulary, grammar, writing and flow of ideas† in the process of doing the AP course work. Vocabulary A course in any discipline, even math, can provide vocabulary growth as the student learns the specialized terms of the subject. An AP English course is a gift for the budding writer. It provides the opportunity for close reading of serious literature. Not only will such reading add to the student’s vocabulary, it will do it in a way that cramming on vocabulary lists will never do because the words are presented in context. AP History will not only provide new vocabulary, it will furnish the student’s mind with ideas and information that one day can be distilled into fiction or personal essay writing. Nothing is lost to the writer. That’s where writers have it all over non-writers. Even a tedious wait in a doctor’s office provides material. Grammar Like vocabulary, grammar is better learned from reading than from doing isolated exercises. A common fault that I see in the writing of many young people is the uncertain grasp of prepositions. Many young native English speakers use prepositions as if English were their second language. If they read widely, they’d absorb the idioms. Writing and Flow of Ideas An AP English syllabus I pulled up on the web requires eleven essays. How is this not a built-in opportunity for writing practice? Some of the works of literature being studied for this class are The Canterbury Tales, The Inferno and All Quiet on the Western Front. Like I said, a gift. Courses other than AP English offer plenty of opportunity for improving writing and flow of ideas. For example, not all textbooks are well-written. Some seem designed to put the reader to sleep. Students of writing can read textbooks on any subject not just for information, but for style. They can compare the interesting parts with the soporific ones. What makes the writing slow down? Is it sentence length? Is it unnecessarily erudite vocabulary? What about transitions? What words does the writer use to get from one idea to the next? How could the writing be improved? Make Your Courses Work for You The young writer who set me this question is to be admired for recognizing the fact that writing must be cultivated. My advice, try to stop seeing the AP coursework as an impediment to writing and make it work for you. The practice of writing half a page a day was a great idea. Resume it if at all possible. If all you can find is ten minutes, write a few lines. If nothing else, take the time to write the words â€Å"I am a writer† before you drop off to sleep. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire YouBroadcast vs Broadcasted as Past FormWords That Begin with Q

A Study on the Supply and Demand for Hatchimals

A Study on the Supply and Demand for Hatchimals Supply and Demand: The Case for Hatchimals â€Å"Supply and demand† are two of the most well-known words in the subject of economics. Simply put, â€Å"supply† is the amount of something that is available, or can be made available, to consumers. â€Å"Demand† is how much consumers want or need a product. When there is more supply than demand, prices drop to get consumers to purchase the excess supply. When there is more demand for something than there is supply available, prices increase. There are two reasons for this – one, there could be a shortage of the product, and the retailer will likely need to pay a lot to re-stock it; and/or two, the retailer can simply increase their profit margins by increasing the price, as people are willing to pay for it. On the flip side, if the price of the product increases too much, demand will decrease, which will once again put the supply and demand at an equilibrium (Rittenberg Tregarthen, 2009). A popular time of year where we often see supply and demand come into play is the holiday season, starting with Black Friday and continuing all the way through after-Christmas gift returns and exchanges until approximately New Year’s Eve. Every year, there seems to be some new â€Å"must have† item. Often, it’s a toy. Kids learn about it at school or from television, they talk about it with their friends, and then they pressure their parents into getting it for them. (Sometimes, the parents can be just as guilty as the kids when it comes to consumerism, however – a parent might decide that their child must keep up with the Joneses, and have the latest and greatest toy or electronic device.) This sends the parents into a tizzy trying to track down the item in time for the holidays, while thousands – if not millions – of other parents around the country are doing the same thing. Consequently, the demand for this product becomes very high, and as stores begin to sell out frequently, the supply is very low. We saw an example of this recently, in December of 2016, when the phenomenon of â€Å"Hatchimals† began to make its’ way across North America – and even some other parts of the world! â€Å"Hatchimals† are furry, robotic, interactive animals that hatch from an egg that the owner must rub to facilitate the hatching process. Additionally, the creatures continue to â€Å"grow up† and increase in size as time passes. These are truly revolutionary in the world of children’s toys, and as such they come with quite a revolutionary price tag at approximately $60 each! That didn’t stop many parents from hunting this toy down and snatching it up – but many opportunists began finding and buying Hatchimals in bulk, and turning around to sell them on sites such as eBay for triple the price. Elasticity began to come into play here, as many parents were not willing to pay the inflated prices for the toy, and consequently stopped searching for them altogether. The after-market demand from sites like eBay and Amazon decreased greatly as a result; However, the demand to buy the toy at retail-value from stores like Target and Walmart remained on t he rise (Peachman, 2016). Spin Master, the creator of the Hatchimal toy, claimed that they knew the toy would be popular – especially around the holidays. They produced extra Hatchimals to meet this expected demand. However, they stated that they didn’t expect the response to be so overwhelming, and consequently, they struggled to keep up with consumer demand. Business cost increased for Spin Master, as they had to use airfreight to rush deliver the remaining Hatchimals from China so that they could be distributed to retail stores before the Christmas holiday. While part of the reason for the increased demand was sensationalism, there was another issue: the toy was appealing to a demographic larger than Spin Master anticipated. They had assumed the toy would appeal to children in the 5-10 year-old range, but once Hatchimals hit the market, the appeal stretched from children 3-12 years old (Peachman, 2016). The demand and price point of these toys did not seem to deter most parents from at least trying to obtain one for their child, however. This is where consumer choice and opportunity cost came into play. Some parents chose to forgo the hassle of driving hundreds of miles collectively, checking all of the stores within a certain radius, in exchange for paying three times the price on a second-hand retailer website, such as eBay. Other parents refused to pay that high of a price point in exchange for continuing to fight for the toy at big-box stores, and the article I chose even talks about a group of parents standing outside of the Target store entrance for several hours in the 20 degree cold weather in order to obtain one on delivery day. Some parents took a chance and entered raffles for the Hatchimals on Facebook by pitching in $10 with approximately a dozen other parents. Most were unsuccessful (Peachman, 2016). Fast forward to Christmas season, 2017: Hatchimals were a word barely uttered, and now, most children approaching five or six years of age would likely only have a vague idea of what I was talking about if I asked them if they like Hatchimals. The craze has worn off, and the supply of Hatchimals seems to have reached an equilibrium with the price point – most are retailing for between $45 and $50 at Target, Walmart and online. By the time the holiday season rolls around again this year, this entire process will repeat with a new â€Å"must have† item.

Kurdish Terrorism in Turkey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kurdish Terrorism in Turkey - Essay Example Many are known to have prospered in this region, with some acquiring higher education to become doctors and government officers amongst other professions such as teaching. Those who remain in the Eastern part are usually compelled by circumstances to join the guerrilla forces of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which claims to fight for the right of the Kurdish people in the region which is largely under developed. This essay is a critical evaluation of Kurdish terrorism in Turkey. The manifestation of the issue in world politics has been explained using the liberalist as well as the realist point of view (Saeedpour and Beaudin 2003 p. 178). The remote Eastern part of Turkey lacks basic infrastructure that can encourage investment in the region. The Kurds view this as a result of government’s negligence and thus it forms the basis of their complaints (Edgar 1996 p. 339). The government favors the Kurds who do not assert their Kurdish nationality. These are mainly those who have migrated to the developed Western region of the country. This is one of the main factors that contribute to terrorism, being retaliation for the denial of what the Kurds regard as their rightfully owned country. The optimism that the terrorists in Turkey have in regard to the outcome of their struggle forms the basis of their realistic point of view. They believe that they will one day get back what they have been denied for years. The Kurdish terrorists initially demanded that the original names of the Kurdish names be restored. They believe that the names that were instituted by the government lower the dignity of the Kurdish people and that it will be restored once the towns’ real names are re-established. Their grievances are presented through the PKK party which was founded by Abdullah Ocalan, with a philosophy based on Kurdish nationalism. This party was mainly focused on the establishing a Kurdish nation believing that this would present them with a chance to manage

Hypothesis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hypothesis - Assignment Example Iranian, are also pro-American, attacking the nuclear projects would result in many causalities since they are spread out which would again turn the Iranian citizens against America (Helman, 1). From this the first hypothesis can be developed. Other reasons why America may not launch an attack on Iran are that it would be against the international law of self defense where countries are only allowed to attack others when there are justifiable threats. This is not true for Israel since Iran is still one year away from producing nuclear weapons. Attacking Iran openly would also drive their activities underground which would create a more adverse threat to the world security (Helman, 1). From this, the second hypothesis can be developed. Helman, Christopher. â€Å"Israel has Nuclear Weapon but only Iran has nuclear Power†. Forbes. 21st October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/10/21/does-anyone-care-about-irans-nuclear-energy-program/ (accessed

Is weight discrimination present in the workplace Research Paper

Is weight discrimination present in the workplace - Research Paper Example In fact according to statistics taken by Centers for Disease Control in 2006, it has shown that thirty four percent of all the adults living in the U.S have a BMI (body Mass index) of not less than 30 which is considered to be obese. In addition to Americans getting heavier and heavier a survey taken by the Yale University, prove that weight discriminations are present in work places as well as in our day-to-day encounters. In fact, it has been voted to be more present than discrimination against gender or age with racism taking the highest rank. On the real reasons as to why Obese people are discriminated in the work place, majority of the people consider them as being lazy, lack of self-discipline, unsuccessful and unintelligent (Brownell et al, 2010) According to statistics that have been taken into account to demonstrate weight discrimination in work places, they display those employees who are seen as obese are at a higher percentage not to be hired. In addition to that, their chances of being promoted are minimal, and if given jobs, their payment is lower compared to their fellow thinner employees. To prove this, they usually have the same credentials, qualifications, job performance, and education. The discrimination increases, as the individual gets heavier. The heavier the individual, the more likely the chances of reporting weight discrimination will be heard (Cardain, 2011). The national Longitudinal Survey of Youth also participated in a survey that demonstrated how in work places, thinner people are paid more that obese individuals who are performing the same duty. The statistics continue to display that if a female white individuals living in the United States have a decrease in their salary by nine percent if they happen to gain more than 65 pounds of the average weight of an individual (Douglas, 2011). In comparison to their coworkers who are less heavy than them, taking the fact that they perform the same duties, it has been reported that

Experience Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Experience Assignment - Essay Example Since the far-reaching economic reforms from the late 1960s, growth has fuelled a remarkable increase in per capita income and at the same time, however, income disparities have increased. The growing income inequality is illustrated clearly by the living standards between the urban and the rural areas. The last three decades have seen unprecedented progress when it comes to reducing extreme poverty around the world, but there is still an awful lot more to be done. However, as the World Bank still points out, there are still roughly 1.3 billion people completely destitute, including about 400 million children. People around the world in â€Å"extreme poverty† tend to lack enough food to meet basic physical and mental needs. Judging from the daily incomes of the extremely poor around the world, extreme poverty is getting less deep. Poverty for middle and high income countries fell more than 50 percent since 1982. When one looks closely st the recent progress in the developing world, much of it is mostly attributed to countries like China, and to a lesser extent, India, whose amped up economic growth in recent years reduced their poverty rates. By contrast, extreme poverty in the 35 â€Å"low-income† countries fell by less than 33 percent. Aside from China and India, In dividuals living in extreme poverty in the developing world, today appear to be as poor as those living in extreme poverty thirty years ago, as the World bank puts it. Instead of asking myself which car should I buy, or what clothes should I wear or which different restaurant should I visit next, living on less than t $5 forces one to really have a tight budget as you cannot afford the luxuries that some of us do take for granted at times. When money is tight, we have to make whatever we have to stretch and lesser money means smaller, simpler meals. In this day and era, it is impossible to live without a

Environment and Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Environment and Health - Essay Example Furthermore, the measures to be adopted in the future, for ensuring the sustainability of the environment of this area, have been discussed. The development of cities, across the world, has been phenomenal during the past two centuries. In 1800, the proportion of urban residents was 5%, which increased to 50% in 2000, and is projected to reach 66% in the year 2030. However, a comparatively larger increase, in the number of urban residents is expected to transpire, with regard to the developing nations. Urbanisation is engendered by certain elements, such as industrialisation, lifestyle compulsions, and in order to circumvent political strife (Friis, 2011 , p. 11). During the latter half of the 1990s, it became evident that the ‘health for all’ initiative was not going to emerge successful, by the year 2000. This resulted in the renewal of the policy strategy of the World Health Organization (WHO). This renewed policy strategy was accorded minimal attention by the national governments. At that juncture, another issue was identified, which was being recognised as being correlated to issues of health. This issue was the deterioration of the environment. In order to address the issue of environmental harm, governments participated in the Rio Earth Summit. During the meeting, Agenda 21 was formed, which constituted a plan for sustainable development. (Sim & McKee, 2011, p. 5). On 25 November 2011, the Canterbury City Council declared an Air Quality Management Area (Canterbury City Council, 2011). It encompassed 17 streets of Canterbury. The first of these areas had been designated in the year 2006. The law mandates the declaration of such areas, whenever the air pollution of that area violates the objectives of air quality. This region has become home to severe air pollution. As is well known, air pollution is extremely harmful to health (Abreu, 2012). Several research works, such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005, established

The Creativity of an Artist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Creativity of an Artist - Essay Example Driving the phenomenological aspects as the main core in the creativity of music, the analysis puts into perspective philosophical and psychological elements including the nature of auditory reflection and the expressiveness of music as well. Elements that make music a creative industry and factored by James Aconley include rhythm is the primary and most essential component of musical experience. It covers among others melody, rhythm, and harmony. Reflective experience contains the enabling structure for facilitating musical rhythm. The relevance of musical hearing does not rely on specific types of focus in the auditory experience. In this context, putting much emphasis on the perceptual character of musical experience is against the basic principle that musical experience is a product of creative imagination. James Aconley is both a singer and a performer. He implores much creativity to juggle between the two related but different fields. It is not easy to copy singing because it e ntails composing and passing a specific message to the audience. To succeed, James uses a lot of information from compiled from various perspectives. He sings in many parts of the country and in many events and venues in the United Kingdom. Such venues include many theatres, restaurants and hotels, The CAA in London, parties and weddings, anniversary celebrations, as well as many other functions (Langer, 1953, 33).

Environment and Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Environment and Health - Essay Example Furthermore, the measures to be adopted in the future, for ensuring the sustainability of the environment of this area, have been discussed. The development of cities, across the world, has been phenomenal during the past two centuries. In 1800, the proportion of urban residents was 5%, which increased to 50% in 2000, and is projected to reach 66% in the year 2030. However, a comparatively larger increase, in the number of urban residents is expected to transpire, with regard to the developing nations. Urbanisation is engendered by certain elements, such as industrialisation, lifestyle compulsions, and in order to circumvent political strife (Friis, 2011 , p. 11). During the latter half of the 1990s, it became evident that the ‘health for all’ initiative was not going to emerge successful, by the year 2000. This resulted in the renewal of the policy strategy of the World Health Organization (WHO). This renewed policy strategy was accorded minimal attention by the national governments. At that juncture, another issue was identified, which was being recognised as being correlated to issues of health. This issue was the deterioration of the environment. In order to address the issue of environmental harm, governments participated in the Rio Earth Summit. During the meeting, Agenda 21 was formed, which constituted a plan for sustainable development. (Sim & McKee, 2011, p. 5). On 25 November 2011, the Canterbury City Council declared an Air Quality Management Area (Canterbury City Council, 2011). It encompassed 17 streets of Canterbury. The first of these areas had been designated in the year 2006. The law mandates the declaration of such areas, whenever the air pollution of that area violates the objectives of air quality. This region has become home to severe air pollution. As is well known, air pollution is extremely harmful to health (Abreu, 2012). Several research works, such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005, established

Common Core Essay Example for Free

Common Core Essay The common core is a set of standards which were developed by state leaders along with teachers, school administrators and many other people, not the Federal Government. The common core has standards. Standards which are not curriculum. Standards that â€Å"do not tell principals how to run their schools, and they do not tell teachers how to teach. Local teachers, principals, and district administrators ultimately decide how the standards are to be met and the curriculum to be use† (Laine and Minnich). The school districts still have to choose which textbooks to use and, which curricula they wish to add and drop. The basic standards of the common core are: Aligned with college and workforce-training expectations; Rigorous in content and include the application of knowledge through higher-order skills; Built on strengths and lessons taken from state standards; Informed by standards in top-performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in the global economy and society; and Evidence-based, clear, and aligned across a child’s K-12 education. The common core has many pros and cons to reforming the education system. In the Article The common core is a change for the better the authors mention that the common core provides a good foundation on what needs to be taught (Gardner and Powell). The authors also touched on the fact that students nowadays are â€Å"more mobile than ever†, families have to move around more to follow and find available jobs. With the common core all across the Country have the same standards. There is some consistency within all schools in America. If a family was to move from Maine to Nevada, it would be quite impossible to expect things to be the exact same. However, you can still have an idea of the standards and know what to expect. This is a great thing about the Common Core. Every Student this way is exposed to the same standards. Once students are mingled together in colleges and universities across the country the professors can expect almost every student to be able to do the same things, to a degree. Not to say that every student knows the  exact same co ntent, however they will all have graduated high school with the same skills. Skills that may be taught in a variety of styles, none the less resulting in the same skills. The common core requires teachers to be very specific and hand out rubrics, stating exactly the quality of work that is expected. This eliminates the confusion that can arouse from complicated projects or open research topics. The students will know exactly what the teacher is requiring of them. Ultimately making it easier on the students to provide what the teacher wants and getting the highest grade possible if the students puts in the effort required to meet the expectations. Effort: defined as â€Å"an earnest or strenuous attempt† by dictionary.com, is where a problem arises in the common core. The common core standard â€Å"Rigorous in content and include the application of knowledge through higher-order skills† is asking 21st century students to put in lots of effort, they can’t ask Siri to write their English paper or do their history project. Most high school aged students in the United States are not going to put in the required effort to achieve rigorous assignments. I know that when I was in high school my attitude was ‘if I wait to the last minute it only takes a minute’. That’s not because I was swamped with assignments or didn’t understand it. It was because I would rather be doing anything else, after having spent all day in classrooms with new information being drilled into my head. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was go home and spend more hours on homework. Making high school more rigo rous is going to prevent kids from being kids. Students in the United States are less motivated to learn and value education less and less. Stephen Krashen says that another problem with very rigorous assignments is â€Å"CCSS are so demanding that in English language arts classes, educators and students will have little time for anything not directly linked to the standards† (Krashen). I do not quite agree with this statement because the standards are not the curriculum being taught, just the way it is being taught. Teachers and schools have some free space to spend as much time as they feel necessary to focus on aspects they feel more important. The common core has pros and cons, just like anything in life. One set of standards isn’t going to please everyone in the United States. My personal opinion is that the common core has good intentions, but may be a bit unrealistic. If every school in America was teaching the same skills to the same degree, all students would have the same experiences entering college. There are 50 states with thousands of different schools in each states. Within those thousands of schools there are teachers who all have their own style of teaching. Not to mention the millions of students that all learn a little differently at a different pace. What are the odds that every state school, and teacher are able to provide every student with the exact same skills, using the exact same standards? There are good intentions behind it, and the United States can give it a chance, but I feel as though it may be unrealistic. Works Citied Fine, Sarah. Moving Forward With The Common Core. Education Week 30.8 (2010): 18-19. Professional Development Collection. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Gardner, Nancy S. Powell, Rod. The Common Core Is A Change For The Better. Phi Delta Kappan 95.4 (2013): 49-53. Professional Development Collection. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Krashen, Stephen. THE COMMON CORE. (Cover Story). Knowledge Quest 42.3 (2014): 36-45. Professional Development Collection. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Richard, Laine, and Chris Minnich. Common Core: Setting the Record Straight. Education Week 32.36 (2013): Web. 16 Mar. 2014

Invitations Refusal Strategies In American And Vietnamese

Invitations Refusal Strategies In American And Vietnamese Human communication is a combination of cooperation and understanding. Success in communication depends greatly on the ability to recognize speakers communicative intentions and pragmatic meaning of their utterances. Actually, those who may be regarded as fluent in a second language owing to their phonetic, syntactic and semantic knowledge of that language may still be unable to produce language that is socially and culturally appropriate. As a result, Larina (2008) shows that numerous problems in communication occur because people do not only speak different languages but use them in different ways according to specific social and linguistic norms, values, and social-cultural convention. Many people devalue the importance of invitations refusal strategies because normally, it is a person right to say something he/she doesnt like or doesnt want to. However, it is not as simple as it is thought to be since misbehavior in this domain can result in the interlocutors feeling of being shocked, angry, or even seriously insulted. It is because every body, as a human being, expects the appreciation and respect from others. America and Vietnam are two countries with different culture so their social and linguistic norms are different as well. This paper is an attempt to provide a cross-culture comparison of ways American and Vietnamese deal with a tactful-required kind of speech act: refusing an invitation. In this paper, the similarities and differences in refusal strategies between American native speakers and Vietnamese native speakers will be discussed under three circumstances: when the invitee is at a lower status; when the invitee is at an equal status; and when the inv itee is at a higher status. To make my topic more practical, I also suggest some implications in language teaching. I hope that this paper will be a contribution to the study of cross-cultural pragmatic understanding and effective communication. Speech acts In the 1950s and 60s two philosophers of language, John Austin and John Searle, developed speech act theory from their observation that language is used to do things other than just refer to the truth or falseness of particular statements. Austins book How to Do Things with Words (1962) is the next to a series of lectures he gave at Harvard University on this topic. John Searle, a student of Austin, further developed Austins work in his book Speech Acts, which was published in 1969. Austins and Searles work appeared at a time when logical positivism was the prevailing view in the philosophy of language. They launched a strong and influential attack on this work. The logical positive view of language argued that a sentence is always used to describe some fact, or state of affairs and, unless it could be tested for truth or falsity, is basically meaningless. Austin and Searle observed that there are many sentences that cannot meet such truth conditions but that are, nevertheless, valid sentences and do things that go beyond their literal meaning. Searle and Austin argued that in the same way that we perform physical acts, such as having a meal or closing a door, we can also perform acts by using language. We can use language, for example, to give orders, to make requests, to give warnings, or to give advice. They called these speech acts. Thus people do things with words in much the same way as they perform physical actions. Paltridge (2000) provided us the definition of Speech Act: A Speech Act is an utterance that serves a function in communication. Some examples are an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment or refusal. A speech act might contain just one word such as No to perform a refusal or several words or sentences such as: Im sorry, I cant, I have a prior engagement. It is important to mention that speech acts include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture. Socio-cultural variables like authority, social distance, and situational setting influence the appropriateness and effectiveness of politeness strategies used to realize directive speech acts such as requests (p. 15). Refusal as a speech act According to Al-Eryani (2007), a refusal is a respond negatively to an offer, request, invitation, etc. Refusals, as all the other speech acts, occur in all languages. However, not all languages/ cultures refuse in the same way nor do they feel comfortable refusing the same invitation or suggestion. Moreover, how one says no may be more important in many societies than the answer itself. Therefore, sending and receiving a message of no is a task that needs special skills. The interlocutor must know when to use the appropriate form and its function. The speech act and its social elements depend on each group and their cultural-linguistic values. Refusals are considered to be a face-threatening act among the speech acts. Face means the public self-image of a person. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize. Refusals threaten the inviters face because they contradict hisher expectations and restrict the inviters freedom to act according to hisher will. On the other hand, refusals may threaten the addressees public image to maintain approval from others. Because a failure to refuse appropriately can risk the interpersonal relations of the speakers, refusals usually include various strategies to avoid offending ones interlocutors. However, it requires a high level of pragmatic competence and the choice of these strategies may vary across languages and cultures. For example, in refusing invitations, offers and suggestions, gratitude was regularly expressed by American English speakers, but rarely by Egyptian Arabic speakers (Nelson, Al-batal, and Echols, 1996). When Mandarin Chinese speakers wanted to refuse requests, they expressed positive opinion (e.g., I would like toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.) much less frequently than American English since Chinese informants were concerned that if they ever expressed positive opinions, they would be forced to comply (Liao and Bressnahan, 1996). Politeness Politeness can be at once be understood as a social phenomenon, a means to achieve good interpersonal relationships, and a norm imposed by social conventions. So it is phenomenal, instrumental and normative by nature. According to Brown and Levinson (as cited in Politeness, 1997), politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers face. Face refers to the respect that an individual has for him or herself, and maintaining that self-esteem in public or in private situations. Usually you try to avoid embarrassing the other person, or making them feel uncomfortable. Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) are acts that infringe on the hearers need to maintain his/her self esteem, and be respected. Politeness strategies are developed for the main purpose of dealing with these FTAs. What would you do if you saw a cup of pens on your teachers desk, and you wanted to use one, would you say, Ooh, I want to use one of those! say, So, is it O.K. if I use one of those pens? say, Im sorry to bother you but, I just wanted to ask you if I could use one of those pens? Indirectly say, Hmm, I sure could use a blue pen right now. There are four types of politeness strategies, described by Brown and Levinson (as cited in Politeness, 1997), that sum up human politeness behavior: Bald On Record, Negative Politeness, Positive Politeness, and Off-Record-indirect strategy. If you answered A, you used what is called the Bald On-Record strategy which provides no effort to minimize threats to your teachers face. If you answered B, you used the Positive Politeness strategy. In this situation you recognize that your teacher has a desire to be respected. It also confirms that the relationship is friendly and expresses group reciprocity. If you answered C, you used the Negative Politeness strategy which similar to Positive Politeness in that you recognize that they want to be respected. However, you also assume that you are in some way imposing on them. Some other examples would be to say, I dont want to bother you but or I was wondering if If you answered D, you used Off-Record indirect strategies. The main purpose is to take some of the pressure off of you. You are trying not to directly impose by asking for a pen. Instead you would rather it be offered to you once the teacher realizes you need one, and you are looking to find one. In many ways, politeness is universal. It is resorted to by speakers of different languages as a means to an end and it is recognized as a norm in all societies. Despite its universality, the actual manifestations of politeness, the ways to realize politeness and the standards of judgment differ in different cultures. On her thesis, Nguyen, T. L (2010) points out some aspects we should consider in order to achieve the goal of politeness as following: The social background of the communicator. Generally, the more educated a man is, the more he tends to show his politeness to other people. The more he knows about the suitable ways to show politeness, the better he uses them to be polite to others. Besides, the personality of the communicator is also very important here. Good-tempered person prefers to use face-saving act while bad-tempered person prefers face-threatening act when they come across the face-losing condition. The communicative circumstances. Communication is a very complicated process. In formal occasions, people tend to use formal expressions to show politeness, esp. between the new acquaintances. While in informal states, people tend to be casual to show intimacy even if it is in the very moment they meet. And that doesnt mean impoliteness. Look at the following example: Ex 1: A man came into a bar and said to the waiter: Hi! Buddy! Gimme some whisky, would ya? Although theyve never met before, the man used very casual phrases to enclose their relationship. This is a usual way to show friendliness to strangers in similar entertaining places. The social distance. The social distance between speaker and hearer is one of the factors that determine politeness behaviors. The notion of social distance refers to the consideration of the roles people are taking in relation to one another in a particular situation as well as how well they know each other, which means the degree of intimacy between interlocutors. However, there are still some exceptions. For example, people often use family names to call their close friends, and when these people speak to each other, they will use direct offer or request. But sometimes they use very formal expressions in their speech. Look at the following example. Ex 2: Husband to his wife: Would you be so kind as to hand the bread over to me? Surely we know that the wife has just quarreled with the husband and the husband is trying to amuse her in a certain way. The cultural differences. Different culture causes different views of values, which affects the criteria of politeness and leads to differences in various aspects. +Ways to greet each others and farewells. + Ways to address terms. + Ways to praise others. + Ways to express thanksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Directness and indirectness Directness and indirectness are basic form of expression, which are universal in all languages and culture. Directness is a style of communication in which speaker want to get the straight forward to the points. The speech interprets exactly and literally what the speaker said. The power of directness is the hearer does not have to look for what the speaker might have mean by uttering such and such sentence. Everything in their interaction is expressed explicitly. Misunderstanding hardly occurs. Indirectness is any communicative behavior, verbal or nonverbal that conveys something more than or different from what it literally means. In order to protect privacy, to minimize the imposition on the hearer and to avoid the risk of losing face, there is a preference for indirectness on the part of the speaker to smooth the conversational interaction. For example when conveying the pragmatic meaning I want you to do it, the English make special effort to diminish and soften their imposition and show their respect for other peoples privacy. An illustration of this is when someone says can you pass the salt? Here, they are not asking about your ability to pass the salt the literal meaning of the sentence but requesting you to pass the salt. This is very common in service encounters where can is often used to refer to something other than ability or permission. There are many socio-cultural factors affecting the directness or indirectness of utterances. Nguyen (1998) (as cited in Nguyen, T. M. P, p.13) proposes 12 factors that, in his view, may affect the choice of directness and indirectness in communication: 1. Age: the old tend to be more indirect than the young. 2. Sex: females prefer indirect expression. 3. Residence: the rural population tends to use more indirectness than the urban. 4. Mood: while angry, people tend to use more indirectness. 5. Occupation: those who study social sciences tend to use more indirectness than those who study natural sciences. 6. Personality: the extroverted tend to use more directness than the introverted. 7. Topic: while referring to a sensitive topic, a taboo, people usually opt for indirectness. 8. Place: when at home, people tend to use more directness than when they are elsewhere. 9. Communication environment/setting: when in an informal climate, people tend to express themselves in a direct way. 10. Social distance: those who have closer relations tend to talk in a more direct way. 11. Time pressure: when in a hurry, people are likely to use direct expressions. 12. Position: when in a superior position, people tend to use more directness to their inferiors. These factors help to determine the strategies as well as the number of semantic formulae used when speakers perform the act of refusing. Comparison of refusal strategies in America and Vietnamese Basing on the data collected from Nguyen, T. L (2010), I will focus on three situations in which American and Vietnamese refuse the invitations from inviters who have higher, equal and lower status than theirs respectively. (1), (2), (3), (4) means position of the utterance is presented. When the invitee is at a lower status. The components which are typically found in Americans way of refusals when the invitee is at a lower status are (1) Gratitude/appreciation + (2) Excuse/reasons/explanation + (3) Positive opinion. For example, when a student declines a professors invitation of having lunch with his/her family, he/she might answer as following: Thank you. I have already eaten. Its so nice of you to ask. [(1) Gratitude + (2) Reason + (3) Positive opinion] 2. Thank you but I just had lunch. [(1) Gratitude + (2) Reason] 3. I just ate at the Indian restaurant down the street and I got a little indigestion, thank you though. [(1) Reason + (2) Gratitude] Vietnamese native speakers tend to use the formula: (1) Thank you + (2) Addressing term + (3) Offer for alternatives or a promise for future acceptance. For example: Cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £m Æ ¡n già ¡o sÆ °, Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ khi khà ¡c em sà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ½ dà ¹ng bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a cà ¹ng gia Ä‘Ã ¬nh thà ¡Ã‚ ºy à ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡. (Thank you, professor. I will join with your family next time.) [(1) Gratitude + (2) Addressing term + (3) Promise for future acceptance] 2. Cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £m Æ ¡n già ¡o sÆ °, mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i thà ¡Ã‚ ºy và   gia Ä‘Ã ¬nh cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ © dà ¹ng bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ± nhià ªn à ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡. (Thank you, professor. Be yourself with you family.) [(1) Gratitude + (2) Addressing term + (3) Alternaitves] 3. Em cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £m Æ ¡n thà ¡Ã‚ ºy, thà ¡Ã‚ ºy dà ¹ng bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ± nhià ªn, em ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"i uà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœng nÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc trà   Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £i thà ¡Ã‚ ºy cÃ…Â ©ng Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c à ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡. (Thank you, professor. Be yourself. I will drink some tea to wait for you.) [(1) Gratitude + (2) Addressing term + (3) Alternatives] According to the results above, both American and Vietnamese use expression of gratitude/appreciation in their refusals; However, gratitude maybe in different orders (either at the beginning or at the end of the utterance). One noticeable difference occurs in this component of refusal is that Vietnamese prefer offering a promise in the future to maintain the relationship between the professor and the student. Vietnamese speakers are somehow less likely to give a straightforward respond to decline the professors invitation. In contrast, Americans often say directly the reason why they cannot accept the invitation by saying I have eaten or I just had lunch. Besides, Americans only use their popular addressing term you and I while Vietnamese tend to use many addressing terms such as Professor or Mr. in the conversation between the professor and the students. When the invitee is at an equal status. The second case involves the speaker refusing an inviter who has equal position with him/her. When refusing a classmates invitation, American normally use this formula: (1) Regret/excuse + (2) Offer of alternatives or a promise for the future acceptance. For instance: Im really sorry. I have another commitment. I am generally available. Can we set it up for another time? [(1) Regret + (2) Reason + (3) Offer an alternative] 2. What a pity. I already have plans. Please let me know the next time you go and I would love to come along. [(1) Regret + (2) Reason + (3) Promise for future acceptance] Meanwhile Vietnamese semantic formula is (1) A promise for the future acceptance/ an offer of alternative + (2) reasons as following: Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ là ¡Ã‚ ºn sau nhà ©, là ¡Ã‚ ºn nà  y mà ¬nh bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­n mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t rà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"i. Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"ng à ½ chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©? (Perhaps next time, Im busy now. All right?) [(1) Promise for the future acceptance + (2) Reason] 2. Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯a khà ¡c Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c khà ´ng? Hà ´m nay mà ¬nh mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯c hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ c rà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"i. (Can we set it up for another time? I have to study today.) [(1) An offer of alternative + (2) Reason] These examples show that both Americans and Vietnamese rarely say no directly to their friends even though they are in equal status. Mostly, Americans use regret like Im sorry/what a pity to start their refusal. This style is culturally and socially important and appropriate in America. In contrast, Vietnamese may feel that it is less necessary to express their regret due to the familiarity and close social distance. It reflects traditional thinking of Vietnamese that in close relationship, people should be open, friendly and informal with each other. Although both two groups tend to use the excuse and reason to soften their refusal, there is slightly different in the order between Americans and Vietnamese. Whereas Vietnamese people offer alternatives or promise for the future acceptance before giving their excuse as a way to reduce threatening face of inviter, Americans use excuse first and follow other alternatives in the future. When the invitee is at an upper status. In the last situation, the speaker, who is at a high social status, declines an invitation to go to the spa with the staff. American speakers refuse this kind of invitation by saying patterns like (1) regret + (2) reason/excuse/explanation. For example: Sorry, Ive made plans. [(1) Regret + (2) Reason (subjective reason)] 2. That sounds lovely. But I have far too much to work right now. Thank for inviting me. [(1) Positive opinion + (2) Reason (subjective reason) + (3) Gratitude] Vietnameses responses are more complicated and detailed. The usual formula is (1) Gratitude + (2) Reason Cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £m Æ ¡n cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­u nhÆ °ng mà ¬nh khà ´ng Ä‘i Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c. Mà ¬nh khà ´ng muà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn cà ¡c nhà ¢n vià ªn khà ¡c hià ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™u nhà ¡Ã‚ ºm. Thà ´ng cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £m cho mà ¬nh nhà ©. (Thanks, but I cant go with you. Im afraid to be misunderstood by other staffs. Sympathize with me!) [(1) Gratitude + (2) Reason (objective reason) + (3) Sympathy) 2. Cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £m Æ ¡n cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­u rà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t nhià ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ u nhÆ °ng cuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi tuà ¡Ã‚ ºn nà  y mà ¬nh phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £i tham dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ± Ä‘Ã ¡m cÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi cà ¡Ã‚ »a Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©a bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡n mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t rà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"i. (Thank you so much but Im going to attend one of my friends wedding at the weekend.) [(1) Gratitude + (2) Reason (objective reason)] Once again, regrets are favored by Americans when refusing an invitation. Vietnamese, however, produce many thanks as gratitude first and state reasons later. In this case, although Vietnamese bosses are at higher status than invitees, most of them say thank you to their staff in order to appreciate their staffs good will. There is a striking difference between American and Vietnamese speakers when giving reasons for their refusals. Americans often give their subjective reasons like Im so busy, Ive made my plan to inform the inviter that they cant go. Because one of American culture values is to respect individual freedom. Therefore, if the invitees give their own personal reasons, the inviter will accept their refusals and are not curious about real reasons anymore. Meanwhile, Vietnamese tend to use objective reasons to soften the face threatening act of the refusals. Conclusion America and Vietnam are two countries with different linguistic and cultural features. However, in cross-culture linguistic, beside the differences due to socio-norm dissimilarities these two countries still have something in common. When taking strategies in refusing an invitation into consideration, we can find out main similarities and differences as following: Similarities: When refusing an invitation, American and Vietnamese speakers usually use indirect strategy with most communicating partners. Both of them avoid saying no directly to their interlocutors whether they are at high, low or equal status. The common tendency is that Americans and Vietnamese give a variety of reason to avoid losing their inviters faces. Differences: Americans produce much more expression of regrets and reasons to refuse invitations. Typically, regrets often follow reasons in an utterance of refusals. Americans tend to give their subjective reasons in most cases. Vietnamese counterparts are fond of offering alternatives or a promise for acceptance in the future to make the inviter feel released. They also try to give the interlocutors the objective reasons to soften the face threatening act. Teaching implications The results of this thesis demonstrate that refusing in general and refusing an invitation to be specific is a complex task because it requires the high level of communicative competence. In order to avoid pragmatic failure, speakers need to understand fully both socio-cultural strategies used by most native speakers and the rules for their appropriate implementation. Therefore, I have some following teaching recommendations for L2 teachers: Prepare authentic materials for learners because learning a second language also means learning a second culture. Students should have a chance to get familiar with materials that are closely related to the daily activities of the country of the language they are learning. Teach language forms and functions parallel and contextually in both formal and informal situations in order to develop the learners sociolinguistic ability in an L2. Encourage students to perform different speech acts in an L2 in different situations of social status, social distance, and with reference to the gender relation between the speakers and interlocutors. Organize activities that students can have chances to communicate with both native and non-native speakers of English.

Sonnys Heroic Journey in James Baldwins Sonnys Blues Essay -- Sonny

The theme of "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin focuses on whether a person should be conventional in making decisions for their life, or if they should follow their heart and do what is right for them. A person begins with strengths, many of which they lose along the way. At some point along their heroic journey a person may regain their strengths and develop new ones. Each phase of this journey will have an effect on them and others around them. According to his brother, who narrates "Sonny's Blues," Sonny was a bright-eyed young man full of gentleness and privacy. "When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he'd had wonderfully direct brown eyes, a great gentleness and privacy. I wondered what he looked like now" (Baldwin 272). Something happened to Sonny, as it did to most of the young people growing up in Harlem. His physical journey growing up in the streets caused a great deal of inner turmoil about whom he was and what kind of life he was to have. One thing for sure, by the time his mother died, Sonny was ready to get out of Harlem. " 'I ain't learning nothing in school,' he said. 'Even when I go.' He turned away from me and opened the window and threw his cigarette out into the narrow alley. I watched his back. 'At least, I ain't learning nothing you'd want me to learn.' He slammed the window so hard I thought the glass would fly out, and turned back to me. 'And I'm sick of the stink of these garbage cans!' " (Baldwin 285). The garbage cans Sonny referred to seem to symbolize the life he physically lived, his inner or spiritual life and how he dealt with it. I was sure that the first time Sonny had ever had horse, he couldn't have ... ...Drama. 7th edition. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 1999. 272-295. Reilly, John M. " 'Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of Black Community." James Baldwin: A Critical Evaluation. Ed.Therman B. O'Daniel. Howard University Press. Washington, D.C. 1977. 163-169. Works Consulted Baldwin, James. "Sonny's Blues." N.p.: n.p., n.d. 122-48. Web. 12 May 2015. . "James Baldwin Biography." Bio. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 11 May 2015. . "James Baldwin." PBS. PBS, 29 Nov. 2006. Web. 11 May 2015. . N.d. Poetry Foundation. Web. 11 May 2015. .

Native Peoples in Canada Today -- Cultural Expression :: Essays Papers

Native Peoples in Canada Today -- Cultural Expression Greater political influence and Canada's official policy of multiculturalism have both contributed to a dramatic increase in the cultural activity of Native Canadians in the latter part of the twentieth century. Government sponsorship of the arts, with, in particular, its tendency to support the work of those from "ethnic minorities", has granted a degree of public exposure to artists who would otherwise have had great difficulty in getting it. This page only discusses First Nations literature written in English, although there is plenty going on in the other arts, and in Native languages. Natives who write in English and who are published by a mainstream publisher are inevitably participating in the public sphere of the settler culture, and this fact produces all kinds of interesting tensions in their work, because they are very often trying to recover some sort of sense of indigineity, trying to re-establish connections with traditional cultures whose remoteness or tenuousness is a function of the dominant culture with which they are engaging. The best of the writers recognise this as an inescapably problematic situation, and seek to use the contradiction as a source of creative energy. One of the commonest ways of exploring this is the attempt to bring traditional oral story telling features into the written literary format. This can be done through the inclusion of aural effects such as repetition, or through the inclus ion of traditional characters. One of the problems which Western critics and readers face when confronted by Native literature is that there is a danger when it comes to the application of Western norms of interpretation and evaluation. Native texts can often work in unfamiliar ways and serve unfamiliar purposes. Thus, a reader who is expecting a narrative progression and climax from a piece of prose may well be disappointed. What Native writers are very often trying to achieve with their writing is a kind of pictorial representation of a community, without the privileging of particular characters or events. These stories can often be interpreted more readily as an embodiment of Native values and cultural codes.

Theories of Pyramid creation

The Egyptian pyramid construction theories range from simply outlandish to impossible. Almost all Archaeologist and some engineers take a stab at a theory sometime during their career. None have been proven and all are simply an educated guess. No one knows how the pyramids could have been built without today's heavy machinery. It seems Impossible for any group of men to move a 2. 5 ton block from the quarry to the construction site and then manage to lift Into the alarm to stack It precisely on top of each other without machinery and surveying tools. Doesn't It?In order to understand the size and magnitude of these pyramids, for example, the great pyramid of Gaza. This pyramid stood over oft tall and was the largest recorded structure in the world for over 3,800 years. It was made from roughly 2 be a mystery without modern day tools. Whoever built the pyramids employed a technology that far surpasses modern technology In most cases. Some say that present day engineers and architects are at such a complete loss as to how they were built and most admit they remain one of the most complex, sophisticated and receives built structures on earth.Some say that a select group of architects and engineers are at such a loss that they have turned to alien technology as the only possible answer. Theory; aliens built the pyramids, not man. People that believe this theory often base it on the fact that Egyptians had no knowledge of math or geometry and the fact that the pyramids align precisely with the constellation Orient's Belt. â€Å"Gaza consists of two almost equally tall pyramids and a smaller one which is only 53% of the height of the other two. The belt of Orion consists of two almost animally bright stars, and one with only 50% of the brightness of the other two.The smallest pyramid is the one which deviates from the diagonal, as does the dimmest star. † (Mohammad, 2013) It is also impossible to explain how the pyramid of Gaza is aligned perfectly with the m agnetic north pole since they had no use of a compass, especially since it had not even been vented yet. How can anyone explain how they moved such massive blocks of stone without the wheel, it also had not been vented yet. These all are interesting facts that say something out of this world helped theEgyptians build the pyramids, but the most astonishing one was when a reputable Egyptian Archeologist, Dry Ala Shaken told an audience that there might be some truth to the theory that aliens were involved in the construction of the great pyramids of Gaza. In a statement during an interview Dry. Shaken replied to a question from Mr.. Mark Novak that implied that there may be OF technology within Its structure with the following statement â€Å"l cannot confirm or deny this, but there Is something Inside the pyramid that Is â€Å"not of this world. † Dry. Shaken has failed to elaborate on is comment which leaves all of guessing. Michael Cohen, 2010) There are two theories close In similarity that most modern scholars believe to be possible, the external ramp theory and the Internal ramp theory. The first theory, the external ramp theory, Is based on the men pulling the large stone up a ramp that would Increase In height as the pyramid did. â€Å"Historians speculate that the stones were dragged up inclined ramps made of compacted rubble bonded and made slippery theory is it is believed to be impossible for the men to pull the stones up a ramp rater than 8% grade, this would mean the ramp would have to be over a mile long.There is not room, and there is not such a ramp on the Gaza plateau. Because the single straight ramp theory Just doesn't work many have opted for an optional ramp theory. The internal ramp theory combines both theories. It is believed that the bottom third of the pyramid had a single straight ramp that the blocks were dragged up. The internal ramp theory is based on the fact that the incline would never exceed 7%. This would be accomplis hed by building a ramp that wrapped the inside of the Truckee, similar to a spiral staircase.By using this method the blocks were pulled up the bottom 1/3 straight external ramp, they were then pulled inside and pulled up an internal ramp. It is believed that the reason there is not an external ramp in existence today is because it was categorized by using its blocks to create the top the 2/3 of the structure. This theory seems to be the best possible solution on how the pyramids were built, but it still doesn't explain how it was done with such precision and accuracy, which many believe will always remain a mystery.