Does Malcolm X deserve the honor of an American Stamp?

Introduction – Before the electronic means of communication reached the hands of everyone equipped enough to access and use such technology for correspondence and even until now that electronic mail or email is as common as the early morning coffee for everyone, the US postal office holds a significant role as an institution in the American way of life. Among the most important aspects of the postal service is the existence of postal stamp and how it has become more than an ornament in the envelope of domestic and international mails that Americans send to friends, relatives and business contacts. It has managed to find a niche outside its utilitarian purposes as it metamorphosed into a collectible item as well as an instrument that helped illustrate the shifting social policies in place inside the United States as time went by, particularly with its role in helping make the country a place wherein equal social rights is in place and improving and that institutions that recognize notable icons and personalities does not consider ethnicity and racial background. Whites, as well as African Americans, are all featured in the different issues of US postal stamps. But is everyone who have earned a status as a social personality have a sufficient enough reason to claim a seat in the list of other icons who are featured in the US stamps or is there a defining line that separates America’s exercise of a system free from racial discrimination from the nomination of every individual who might be a personal favorite but not entirely iconic in the progress of the American way of life as it is today? There are those who will agree that a person such as Malcolm X – born Malcolm Little – achieved a sufficient degree of social importance that earned him the right to have his name and face featured in the US postal stamps, while there are those who may think otherwise. To ascertain the validity of the claims that would stem from those who supports this proposition as well as from those who disagrees with the idea of creating Malcolm X stamps, it is important to put forward first who Malcolm X is and what characteristics and accomplishments he has that made him qualified to be included in the list of African Americans who graced the different issues of the US postal stamp. Who is Malcolm X? – Malcolm X was an Omaha-Nebraska native. Malcolm was the son of Earl and Louise and their fourth child as a couple (since Malcolm X's father also had children prior to his marriage with Louise). Malcolm X's young life was characterized by violence, seeing their house burned by white men and seeing his father physically assault her mother, while her mother was just as abusive towards him physically, which he thought was because of his color (Harvey, p3). Historians claim that the turning point of Malcolm X’s life that led him towards his newfound responsibility towards social and civil rights is during his important transition from being a non-believer to becoming a faithful. He was hardly a religious man during his earlier life, and that is putting it nicely since Malcolm X actually confessed to having ‘very little respect for most people who represented religion’ (Harvey, p5). But when Malcolm X converted to Islam, he adopted the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and he became more active in not just religious preaching but as well as political sermons that advocated human and equal rights and consistently encouraged fellow African Americans to not be intimidated by actions of hate from white people. Sadly, religion, the institution that empowered him, is also rumored to be the one responsible for his death also, mainly because of Malcolm X’s leaning too much towards radicalism and his actions and words that nurture the atmosphere of civil disobedience and activism. Malcolm X in the American Stamp: Does he deserve the ‘Post’? – A United States Postal Service article stressed about its strong commitment in the effort to honor African Americans who made positive and significant contributions to the way of life in the country, even commenting about how the series featuring African American icons are amongst the popular US stamps in circulation. One of the areas wherein civil rights, equality and the absence of racism manages to display its self is in the selection of the icons and personalities that have adorned and will be featured in the postal stamps used in the United States for US mail. Civil and equal rights proponents will be glad to know that the US stamps accommodate notable African American icons – as a matter of fact, there are already some popular and iconic African American personalities that have made their way towards immortality via their presence in US stamps, and these personalities include Malcolm X as well as contemporary and fellow civil rights advocate Martin Luther King Jr., Booker T. Washington ( who is the first African American that was featured in a US postal stamp), Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman (the first African American woman who appeared in the U.S. postal stamp), Jackie Robinson, Scott Joplin and most recently, Thurgood Marshall. One of the noticeable characteristics among the African Americans who were selected to be featured in the postal stamps aside from Malcolm X is that they are not inclined to senseless and overt acts of violence and the outright disregard for laws and rules. King was contrasted with Malcolm X during their time because he was generally a pacifist, and Washington was known for using education as his main thrust to empower his fellow African American. As for Marshall, he was a civil rights advocate like Malcolm X during his time, but Marshall did not break or went around the law to have his way – he affected social change through the dispensing of morally correct and unbiased justice through the halls of the Supreme Court Justice. He assimilated himself with the system and made positive contribution towards his advocacy not by the distortion of the system but by helping create a just society bereft of crime. Thurgood was an icon because he believed that ultimately, the never ending social struggle is free from the color of one's skin and ethnicity, like the pursuit of fair and consistent justice by all. This particular characteristic – the ability to win an advocacy without the use of violation and without sowing more seeds of hatred among people of different races, the removal of violence as a means to achieve the victory of an advocacy, to effect social change in a positive manner – is an important characteristic and a significant consideration that the US post office makes every time they select a new icon from the civil rights movement group the act of immortalizing a person via a postal stamp design is a way of supporting everything that the person stands for and represent, and no modern day social institution will deify a person who is synonymous to violence, social disorder and criminal acts. Yes, it is true that not everyone can be saints, but if persons like Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi can live a life without the use of violence, then why should the US postal service consider the criteria of moral soundness be overly high in their selection of the next new face in the US postal stamp? Yes, there are those who achieved their goals by the use of violence and force, like generals who won important wars and ruthless rulers who helped civilized nations and societies – but for those that can be achieved without violence, why would the best man (or woman) in that category be that which utilized violence and showed disregard and disrespect for the law? What message would it send to the public – whose taxes are making sure that federal offices like the US Postal Services operate so that they serve the best interest of the majority, and not the petty qualms of the few whose idolatry towards Malcolm X failed to comprehend the fact that Malcolm X and his acts of violence made him no better than the person and the institution he fought during his lifetime and aimed at changing. Conclusion – Malcolm X was an inspiration to many, mainly because he represents the rebel that every one wanted to become even just for once in their lives, against one act or experience that created the feeling of indignation. And while there are those who staunchly believes that he was instrumental in how the civil rights movement shaped in America during the late 1950’s and before he died halfway the following decade, the position of this paper in this particular issue is that Malcolm X’s violent and law-breaking past have placed him many points below in ranking along with other civil rights advocates – living or dead – in the US history who deserves to be honored with his/her own version of the US postal stamp. Reference: Haley, A. (1995). Autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballantine Books, N.Y.

House On Mango Street Book Report Essay

At the beginning of the story, readers learn about a girl named Esperanza whose life has always been unstable and has always been moving from house to house constantly. Benumbed by all the hardships she’s had to deal with Esperanza longs to live in a beautiful house of her own. Children in Esperanza’s neighborhood never play with the opposite sex, and the only friend Esperanza has is her little sister, whom she is ashamed to be seen with. Discouraged and degraded, Esperanza goes through life labeling herself as being uglier than everyone else; the only way she can make a friend is by giving two girls called Rachel and Lucy, five dollars to buy a new bike. Esperanza likes the way her name sounds in Spanish, but dislikes her name in English, she is always ashamed to tell people her name. Frozen in a life of poverty, Esperanza befriends a girl called Marin, who dances under streetlights at night and dreams of a man to marry her and take her away to live in the barrio. Gullible foreigners who get lost and travel to Esperanza’s neighborhood always fear getting assaulted because of its appearance; only the inhabitants of the neighborhood know the truth about everyone who lives there. Hopelessly meek, Esperanza always allows people to run over her mentally and emotionally, she only says yes to all the negative comments said to her by Rachel, Lucy, and the Superior Sister at her school. Inspired by her own life a girl named Alicia whose mother has died, overloads herself studying, going to school, and taking the role of a mother for her siblings and father in order to escape the life of poverty that seems to be destined for all Latino families. Jumping and playing, the neighborhood kids all look at clouds to entertain themselves with, one kid even calls a cloud he sees God, Kinky and grown, the girls receive a pair of high heeled shoes that fit them all perfectly; these shoes cause the girls to be warned about trouble, and cause them to receive sexual comments about themselves. Later on in the story, Esperanza’s mother buys her a new dress but no new shoes, this causes Esperanza to not want anyone to see her, but she dances with her uncle and catches the attention of a young boy. Moved by her family, Esperanza gets a new job while lying about her age, she befriends a coworker and ends up kissing him. Now frightened, Esperanza learns that her grandfather has died and sees her father cry for the first time. Obliged to believe she’s going to hell, Esperanza makes fun of her aunt one day, then find out that she has died the next day. Prior to going home one day, Esperanza gets her fortune read and is told that she is filled with jealousy, sorrow, and cares solely about luxury. Quarreling with the police Marin meets a man at a club who is then hit in a car accident and dies at the hospital because no one was able to treat him. Receiving her first crush, Esperanza admires a neighborhood punk called Sire. Sealed to an unwanted life, a mother who has just moved in speaks no English and is condemned to isolation because she yearns to return to her home country. Tortured by her husband, a woman named Rafaela is locked in her own home and cannot leave because her husband fears she’ll leave him. Unusually beautiful, a girl named Sally is beaten by her father because he doesn’t want her to bring shame to his family by getting pregnant and running off with a boy, just like her sisters did. Violently betrayed, Esperanza is sexually assaulted when she is left alone by Sally at a carnival. Waken up, Esperanza realizes Sally willingly seeks men to escape her father, and never really cared about Esperanza the way Esperanza was faithfully loyal to her. Xenon colored heart, Esperanza blames her trauma on women because they never told her the truth about sexual intercourse. Y oung and still traumatized, Esperanza realizes that whether she likes it or not, Mango street is always going to be her home, and she learns about the true, horrid experience that women have to go through. Zoo like experiences change the narrator forever and she promises to always return to Mango Street and save those who couldn’t save themselves.

TV Programs (or Magazines) -Marketing Behavior Class- Essay

TV Programs (or Magazines) -Marketing Behavior Class- - Essay Example This allowed one to analyze their specific behaviors and relationships to others within society. The two magazines which I was familiar with were compared to Entertainment Weekly and Life and Style. I wasn’t familiar with these two particular magazines and had rarely identified with them. When reading both magazines, it could be seen that they were based on the â€Å"Yuppie† lifestyle, as well as one which was interested in being an experiencer. This was from an individual who was looking at concepts that were created from self – expression and the ability to identify with the fashions and latest trends as a form of the expression. The belief with the experience is created from the fashions and trends also leading to the latest growth in society and holding a specific social status (Linquist, Sirgy, 2003: p. 133). It could also be noted that these two magazines targeted women that were younger, living in cosmopolitan areas and which were interested in the enterta inment and leisure which were a part of both of these areas. The extreme differences between both of the magazines are one which is important to note, specifically because it shows how the attitudes and behaviors constitute the main demographics which one has.

The Business Idea for a Food Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Business Idea for a Food Business - Essay Example The essay "The Business Idea for a Food Business" is a business plan which represents a new entrepreneur’s dream. The name of the company is Crazy Food plc which will be established as food processing company in London, United Kingdom. The company will produce and market processed food and ready to eat food. The crazy bite is a brand that will represent differently flavored sweets bar with different shapes and color. The product is a confectionery food which is crispy in nature. Chocolate flavor will be the main focused product of the brand as taste and quality will be very good and competitive if the product is coated with the small chocolate layer. Ingredients of the products make it more tasty and demanding. It is a confectionary food in the vegetable category which will also be offered in different fruit flavor to satisfy the demand of wide segment of people with different food habits. The opportunity of the business with respect to this product is that the confectionery market size in the United Kingdom has been increasing over the past few years. Low calorie and low sugar product of the company will fill the gap market in terms of making it demandable even among the health conscious people. The main target segments of the brand are kids and youths as studies on snacks food says that they are the maximum revenue generator of confectionery food companies. People of all ages and different food habits can also have this. It is a type of food which people can have any time they want.

Art and cinema Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art and cinema - Assignment Example They seem to be at peace with themselves and those around them. The disruption in narrative convention is apparent in the man’s time-space travel, where nothing is lasting and completely certain. The man and woman are as temporary as the dead animals they are gazing at. The parallel scene with Twelve Monkeys is the scene where the animals run free and James Cole (Bruce Willis) and Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) see the animals for the first time. See Figure 2. James and Kathryn are in mid cut away shot at eye level. The impact of them together and the animals running free is the perceptions that they are not free compared to the animals. Like the animals, as in La Jetà ©e, the only time they can assuredly have is the present. The future is unreliable in giving happiness for it may even lead to their separation or death. The narrative is disrupted by the constant reference to life’s temporariness. In the clip from Godard’s Band of Outsiders, Odile (Anna) Karina recites from â€Å"Les Poà ¨tes† by Louis Aragon. Odile is represented in a different light from the woman in La Jetà ©e because the former is darker and less hopeful of the future. In this scene, Odile looks forlorn, as she says: â€Å"All they’d ask for was a light. They settled for so little. They had so little anger in them.† The sad tone of her voice and poem suggests that she is unhappy and she longs for something better in the future that she cannot enjoy at present. She is different from the woman in La Jetà ©e who no longer questions the comings and goings of the man. She just enjoys every moment they have. Odile is similar with the woman though because she also strives to be happy. She is unsure how, but she does want to have true happiness in her life. In the essay, â€Å"On Photography,† Susan Sontag explores the meaning of photography, based on its uses and impacts on human behaviors. She argues that photography is a process of collecting

Business Company Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Business Company Analysis - Research Paper Example Assigning equal weights to each of these external factors, and arriving at the mobiles long-term prospects/evolution as the most important external factor, to which Google has responded with stunning success, based on the brilliant success of Android up to this point. We assign scores of 3 each for the Microsoft and Facebook threats, given that the Google response is credible, but has room for improvement, especially with regard to the threat of Facebook eating into Googles advertising revenues. This latter threat is low at present, given that Googles revenues continue to remain healthy, and promises to remain healthy with the excellent prospects for mobile and Googles substantial stake in mobile via Android. The rating is 4 for the long-term mobile evolution factor. This puts the EFE rating for Google at High, or between 3 and 4 (Kelleher; Paul; Enderle; Coldewey; Fletcher; Foreign Writer; Google Finance; Reuters; CrunchBase; Yahoo!; MarketWatch; Porter). Looking at the IFE matrix, on the other hand, the continuing weakness at Motorola Mobility threatens to weigh down Google moving forward, and this can be rated as a major weakness on the part of Google. This is given the substantial weighting in the IFE, even as its overall revenues is dwarfed by Googles revenues in advertising, and its profits or losses likewise are small in comparison to the profits of Google overall. This is a key consideration for the weighting of the weakness, whereas its core strengths in search and in mobile are very formidable to the point of being almost unassailable at present. Given this, we assign the weights of 70 percent for search, 20 percent for mobile via Android, and 10 percent for Motorola mobility as a key weakness. Rating the first two as 4, and the Motorola mobility weakness as 1, for major weakness, we get a total IFE rating of between 3 and 4 (Kelleher; Paul; Enderle; Coldewey; Fletcher; Foreign Writer; Google Finance; Reuters; CrunchBase; Ya hoo!;

The Context in which Health and Social Care Managers Operate is as Essay

The Context in which Health and Social Care Managers Operate is as Important as the Decisions they Make - Essay Example Management also finds its application in the social and health care industry because it is a versatile discipline. Managers are present at almost every level of a health care providing facility. This brings us to the context of management at a health care facility. Managers in a health care industry, also referred to as healthcare administrators, perform the typical functions expected of a manager. These functions include planning, leading, directing and controlling the involved health care services. Healthcare managers work closely with other medical service professionals like physicians and economists in ensuring effective delivery of healthcare services to the society. In their practice, healthcare administrators base their professional duties to healthcare policies operating within a given social setting. According to Stephen (2007), health and social policies guides health professionals in their healthcare provision responsibilities. At this juncture, it is procedural to underst and management from an academic perspective. According to Armstrong (1999), scholars with potential of developing their careers in the healthcare administration industry receive training concerning theories, practices and policies within the actual healthcare management environment. These educational processes include evaluation of different cases, which aims at helping a student to develop an insight on the application of management theories in real life situations. This brings us to the context of the case study. The case on Ellen’s story provides an illustration on how management applies during actual delivery of healthcare services. Ellen finds herself in a nursing home after developing a health complication. On arrival at the nursing home, Ellen had given up on her life. She was unable to respond to her needs and decided to life a life of dependency. However, healthcare providers at the nursing home helped Ellen to recover. Ellen recovered upon completion of her stay at the nursing home. Ellen is in a position to perform some of her hobbies and economic activities which includes knitting. In addition, Ellen came out confidently and started engaging in social activities like sports. The underlying issue in this case concerns the provision of healthcare and the management activities that facilitate effective delivery of healthcare to the society. According to Armstrong (1999), efficient management services during healthcare service delivery is responsible for the successful recovery of Ellen. Ellen was in a compromising state of desperation when she entered the nursing home. Medical providers acknowledged that Ellen would require intensive and time consuming healthcare in order to help her recover. Upon acknowledgement of this fact, the responsible professionals, who included the facility administrators and nurses decided to commit their efforts towards helping Ellen recover. This context illustrates a situation concerning the effectiveness in health care management and quality service delivery to the society. In the context of Ellen’s case, the main contextual factors with respect to the underlying subject of healthcare are healthcare administration and quality of services delivered to the involved parties. The entire case highlights the elements of management and service provision. Since this essay deals with the aspect of management, we will appraise these contextual factor

Peter principle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Peter principle - Research Paper Example o the skills required for a specific position of employment, and this idea was not taken into account in the supposedly common sense beliefs of traditional promotions.While the idea was first proposed with a humorous edge, the true implications of the theory were not that funny. The Peter Principle may expose an inherent flaw in the hierarchical promotion system that is used by many companies. Promotions may come from within a company that operates in an employment hierarchy. When this is the case, we may be tempted to believe that a person has been promoted because they are the best fitting candidate for the tasks associated with the position. However, it is just as likely that the promoted employee was selected for overall competence, rather than for any position-specific qualities. The lack of the required skill-set, as related to a position recently obtained through promotion, to perform a job effectively will consistently produce results that highlight the promoted candidate’s newfound incompetence. However, according to Dr. Peter, these employees would not face a risk of job termination unless they were so incompetent that it basically defines their being. Any level of incompetence below this line would simply fit in with other instances of promotions that are not based on specific skill sets, leaving us with a business that is defined by mediocrity. The Peter Principle has brought concern to many organizations that operate in a hierarchical manner, and as a result there have been studies developed with the goal of counteracting this effect. A 2010 study (Pluchino, Rapisarda, and Garofalo 467) discusses the principle and how its accuracy would indicate a high level of company-wide inefficiency taking place in many organizations. The researchers used a complicated computational model to test the efficiency of several promotional strategies that could be employed within a company’s hierarchy by their resistance to the Peter Principle. The results showed

Crime Fiction Analysis Essay Example for Free

Crime Fiction Analysis Essay Paul Darnell is a convicted sex offender who is released from prison and just three months after his release, a young girl is found raped and murdered just around the corner from the ex-con’s childhood home. As the investigators discover that his childhood victim area is in the same town as the girl who was raped and killed, they decide to arrest him for questioning and receive a warrant to search his house. They find a pile of â€Å"self help† DVD cases, which in fact hides criminal porn discs in them; as a result, Darnell is put on trial as a suspect to the case. Darnell tries to convince the jury that he has changed and his new found love, Judy, has changed him to make him into a considerate man who can control himself and his urges. Darnell wins the case and pleads not guilty for both the murder and rape of the past -victim girl. The investigators are left furious as a number of instances have seem to of proven Darnell’s guilt (such as following two girls home from school and his past offences of raping three young teenagers) and not long after Paul pleads guilty, he is found dead in Judy’s apartment, after he tried to rape her seventeen year old daughter. The daughter shot Paul in the head twice in self-defense, after his wrapped a garbage bag over her head to strike again. How does your source reveal information, ideas and an increased understanding of the issues surrounding your area of study? The area of study, being crime, is revealed in different varieties through out this particular episode of â€Å"Law Order: UK. † Crime is a topic that is covered over a number issues such as theft, treason and rape + murder which is covered in this episode. There are many investigations, such as searching through the suspect’s house, going to his old neighborhood home etc. Interviews (with the suspect, witnesses, close acquaintances), identification (through photographs of both the victim and suspect) and court hearings (which occur quite frequently, which involve as many aspects as possible to help the jury decide whether Paul would be guilty or not) are all part of the tactics that the CSI team all go through to find the right person to fit the crime. According to medicine. com, a crime scene investigation (CSI) is defined as â€Å"the use of physical evidence at the scene of the crime and the use of deductive and inductive reasoning to gain knowledge of the events surrounding the crime. What are points of comparison between the source and your core text? * Between â€Å"Law Order: UK† and â€Å"The Big Sleep† both investigating teams have tactics in order to find the suspected criminal/s. These are interviewing numerous people, asking around and getting hands on, in actually getting out into the field and doing work themselves. * Both have similar crimes involved: most common being murder. * Both involve a particular male / female role which is being victimised and criminal. Name of the source: Gangster Squad Type of source: Movie Area of Study: Crime Fiction Basic summary of the source content: â€Å"Gangster Squad† is a movie set in the late forties based on a true story set in Los Angeles. Mickey Cohen has become the most powerful figure in California’s criminal underworld, he is ruthless and controlling on both the legal and illegal sides of Los Angeles; he is known to have an â€Å"iron grip† over L. A. as nobody is willing to stand up to him in fear of the threatening gangster crew he carries around him. Until one day, the chief of Police, Chief Parker, has the idea to create a unit specialising in taking Cohen down to keep the city safe. A team is formed around Sargent O’Mara, who then asks four other police officers and a World War II Veteran to join his â€Å"gangster squad unit†. Another officer (Wooters) is asked to join the force but declines, as he is disillusioned from the war and his time on the police force. Wooters does although keep a close eye on Cohen and in doing so, becomes infatuated with his girlfriend / etiquette coach. As the team bugs Cohen’s house and keep a close eye on his surroundings, Cohen finds out in the process, and in result, the veteran is sacrificed. Things heat up and the plot turns into a full throttle war between the two squads after Cohen shoots into O’Mara’s home where his pregnant wife is at the time. Most of Cohen’s team is killed and later on O’Mara and Cohen go head to head in a boxing match where O’Mara wins and choen is jailed. How does your source reveal information, ideas and an increased understanding of the issues surrounding your area of study? There are more issues covered in this movie to deal with crime. Things such as blackmail, abduction, attempted rape (at the start of the movie), murder, theft, treason, adultery etc. Although this movie was based on a true story, crime fiction is used for entertainment purposes, which this is played up for that purpose. All of these different crimes make up a greater understanding of what is needed in a crime fiction story (detective, hard-boiled detective, red herring, crime, crime scene), which all relate back to the core text â€Å"The Big Sleep†, as there may be a different story line, the structure and purpose of each story is the same.

Fast food nation Essay Example for Free

Fast food nation Essay Let’s be real, the idea of choosing fast food is an attractive option. The ease of driving to a pick-up window to grab a delicious meal for a few dollars in under a couple of minutes is so hard to resist. I mean, who wants to drive to the grocery store to buy ingredients that cost more than an item on the value menu? Who wants to prepare and spend time cooking when you could just wait a few minutes to have someone make you food? Worst of all, who wants to clean up after the mess you made so you can repeat the cycle over again? I could see why many Americans choose such an appealing option. On the other hand, it appears that there are numerous consequences that people are too blind to notice. The entire experience about eating food among friends and families had been replaced by a rushed bite. It is to the point where people view fast food as an essential part of their habitual life. This leads to many problems like health and economic issues. America may have evolved into a fast food nation, or really a fat food nation. To this day, it seems that fast food is the â€Å"go-to† option because of its convenience, tastiness, and practicality. Unfortunately, the entire experience of eating food has transformed into a â€Å"routine†¦that is now taken for granted† (Schlosser 3). I agree with Schlosser because many people disregard the traditions that food brings to the table. Friends and families come together to eat food and enjoy each other’s company. Yet people overlook it and choose to finish their food within minutes with no words exchanged to continue what they were doing before. I think that one of the main reasons is how fast paced our country has become, and how our eating habits have sped up. Families have changed the way they eat as the years have progressed. Before, it was considered that â€Å"housewives would have a home-cooked meal ready for their husband and kids† (guest speaker, 11/20) when they arrived home. They would eat together and have conversations about anything on their minds. Those times have gradually dissolved when the workforce required wives to take on occupations. As of now, everyone is recommended to secure a job, thus are too busy to cook all the time for their families. The last thing a working mother wants to do when she comes home from an exhausting day of work is to prepare a troublesome meal for the family that is scarfed in seconds. So how do they find a way to overcome their problems? They decide to drive to a bulding that serves a warm, tasty meal to bring back to their families just to satisfy their hunger to move on with their lives. A different scenario is where students are always rushed with jam-packed schedules filled with academics, sports, and extra-curricular interests. Many students do not have the spare time to cook meals in between their busy lives. On top of that, students’ energy levels tend to be depleted at the end of the day. Cooking takes too much time and energy, or even thinking of what to make. This leads to the next convenient option: drive-thru restaurants. Nowadays, the essentialism of fast food has taken over in numerous American lives. Those with active agendas may view such fast food as â€Å"something as having universal validity rather than as being a social, ideological, or intellectual construct† (Rossiter 11/13) for practical reasons. Today’s hurried pace does not allow people the opportunity to eat leisurely with the company of others. Rather, the replacement of traditional food to fast food is the result of an intense schedule of work and school. When fast food first appeared on the planet, there was a huge economic boom after World War II. Since fast food made a successful mark in history, â€Å"fast food was added to the Merriam- Webster dictionary in 1951. † (Sena). As time progressed, there is no doubt that fast food is loved by not only Americans, but everyone globally. Modern society is always on the go, so grabbing a quick bite is always on demand. With that in mind, the rising of prices, due to economic recession, have changed the perception of many fast food owners. So how do they approach this obstacle? It seems as though fast food franchises have focused on â€Å"high volume, low cost and high speed product† (Sena). In this day and age, many people â€Å"work for wages and use wages to pay for food† (Rossiter 9/4). Due to recession, there are many working class citizens who do spend their money on fast food because that is all they could afford. It is unfortunate because people are being diagnosed with many health problems since they lack the money to buy healthier products. Speaking of which, I think it is quite ironic that a cheeseburger costs just as much as broccoli. Is it not ridiculous that healthy foods cost a lot more than value meals at restaurants? I never grasped that idea and I think that healthy foods should be cheaper than unhealthy junk food. If major fast food corporations drop the prices of healthier foods such as chicken wraps and grilled chicken salads with less fattening dressing and increase prices for the burgers and fries, health problems would be less of a concern. People would be able to eat a standard meal for an affordable price. Furthermore, if people ate healthier food, they would have more energy to be more productive in their jobs. Maybe if fast food restaurants changed their items to healthier alternatives, such issues could be less of a concern. It is hard for me to say if the book effectively conveyed the messages that Eric Schlosser wanted to share because there could have been more evidence throughout the rest of the book. Fast Food Nation was great to read about the history of how the founders lived and how fast food shaped America. Since I grew up in Los Angeles, near Anaheim, it shocked me how that Carl Karcher described the city that had â€Å"palm trees and orange groves, and smelled the citrus in the air† (Schlosser 13). If I had to describe Anaheim, I would think about the convention center, the Angel’s Stadium and of course, Disneyland; yes, this theme park is the â€Å"happiest place on Earth†, but not really like â€Å"heaven† (Schlosser 13). I found it quite interesting how fast food became a huge success after the invention of cars came up. It never crossed my mind that the creation of drive-in restaurants became such a great hit and helped the economy out incredibly. I also found this book interesting because of automobiles, this led to â€Å"the world’s first motel and the first drive-in bank. † (Schlosser 17). Due to that, food stands introduced â€Å"curb service† which seemed like drive-ins became acceptable year-long. I had no idea that the McDonald brothers were the ones to start the Speedee Service System, thus starting the fast food nation. Nor did I know that they â€Å"employed only young men† (Schlosser 20) and that attracted families rather than hiring women which attracted teenage boys. What interested me the most was that young employed men attracted families rather than teenage girls. If employed women attracted boys, it would only make sense that employed men attracted females. However, within the required pages of the book, I would say that the Schlosser could have done a better job to convey his messages. In the introduction, he stated his thoughts about how fast food affected America and how he would approach his thoughts. However, the first chapter went off topic and gave the audience a better understanding of the founding fathers of the biggest fast food joints in the world. I think that he should have referred to the impacts that fast food had on people. There was not much information about how fat food influenced the traditions of food or what happens behind the cash register. He did say a little bit about the economic trends and how the Speedee Service System allowed more families from the working- class background could afford their products. I was hoping Schlosser would talk more about traditions and experiences about food and how it evolved today. I believe that he could have stated more evidence on how fast food impacted the lives of America in the present and cut out a lot of history. Sure, the information from the past helped me understand what was going on, but rather talking about the lives of the founders, more information about what was really inside the food behind the counters could have helped Schlosser’s message. When I heard about this book, I assumed he would talk about how each item on the fast food menus were really created. I was looking forward to read about new ingredients that were injected and what livestock was raised and used to make the burgers. Also, Schlosser could have mentioned his opinions on solutions to these problems. By stating a few possible answers, he could have touched some reader’s hearts enough to make changes in their lives. It could have even helped society think twice about stuffing a Big Mac or Double-Double in their mouths. On top of that, I anticipated something similar to the documentary â€Å"Super Size Me† in the sense that Schlosser would have conducted an experiment to shock his readers. Something like Morgan Spurlock’s social experiment would have opened my eyes even more about fast food and â€Å"the issue of rising of†¦corporate social responsibility. † (Riley). By throwing in some appalling facts, it would have been more effective to the readers. Perhaps Schlosser could have one person eat any kind of fast food for a month and see if any drastic changes occurred. At the end of the day, I think it is up to the consumers to choose if they want to eat French fries or not. They are the ones to decide if they should consume a Wendy’s triple stacker burger and know the consequences. America has more options than fast food, there are easy recipes to cook, make food in advance if a schedule is too busy, or buy in bulk to save money. Eric Schlosser may have enlightened his audience throughout the rest of the book, but he can only do so much to influence his readers. Works Cited Riley, Jim. CSR at the Movies Supersize Me in 7 Minutes. Tutor2u. Tutor2u Limited, 20 Feb. 2011. http://www. tutor2u. net/blog/index. php/business-studies/comments/csr-at-the-movies-supersize-me-in-7-minutes Rossiter, Jaime. Food Nationalism/Ethnicity. Essentialism. San Diego State University, San Diego. 1 Dec. 2013. Lecture. Rossiter, Jaime. Global Food Regime. Geography of Food. San Diego State University, San Diego. 25 Nov. 2013. Lecture. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Sena, Matt. Fast Food Industry Analysis 2013 – Cost Trends. Fast Food Industry Analysis 2013. FranchiseHelp Holdings LLC, n. d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. http://www. franchisehelp. com/industry- reports/fast-food-industry-report.

Discourse Analysis Of Different Activities English Language Essay

Discourse Analysis Of Different Activities English Language Essay Discourse analysis incorporates a number of different activities, and merging them all together is too ambitious. However, the natural nature of discourse analysis seems to be agreed upon by the scholars involved in the field. Stubbs (1983) summarizes the realm of discourse analysis like this: The term Discourse Analysis is very ambiguous. I will use it to refer mainly to mean the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connoted spoken and written discourse. Roughly speaking, it refers to attempts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. (Stubbs, 1983: 1) Discourse analysts seem to be interested in analyzing any kind of spoken and written discourse, and there are various distinct analytic patterns that can be applied to both types of discourse. This paper attempts to emphasize on some discourse analytic patterns applied by researchers in the field of learner written discourse analysis. Learner discourse is an invaluable resource that can be used, exploited, and analyzed by interested researchers in an attempt to clarify, classify, and describe the way learners use the language. Learner written discourse and texts often offer a rich resource for a learners language development. They can be used for diagnosis and evaluation, language awareness raising, and classroom use. In fact, theres a good case for learners texts being the best resources for a focus on language and they are closer to the developmental stage that other learners are going through (their interlanguage).When learners see their own used as classroom learning material, th ey become more motivated and as Scott Thornbury (2005) mentions: serves to break down the distinction between language learner and language user. In describing learner language, learner discourse can be dealt with via four major approaches identified by Ellis (1994: 44) including the study of learners errors. The focus of this paper is to try to study learners errors on some semantic and syntactic areas of discourse analysis naming grammatical and lexical cohesions, coherence (theme and rheme), ellipsis, reference, collocation, and nominalization. While focusing mainly on analyzing written texts for posterior classroom application, all the samples discussed seek to relate analysis of specific written texts to social and cultural contexts in which such texts are written and read. In our examples, we tend to demonstrate the approach of analyzing learners written assignments dealing with the issue of using and learning Arabic by foreigners in the United Arab Emirate to investigate the particular discourse methods used in the similar texts. In an attempt to relate discourse analysis with corpus linguistics, the researcher later su ggests that the use of concordancing in the teach ­ing and designing of written discourse in language classrooms is encouraging and worthwhile and presents samples of exploited concordances to highlight collocations. It des ­cri ­bes a possible way of having students approach discourse analysis tasks in an inductive and learner-centered manner. In this paper, there is an emphasis on the relationship between the linguistic features of the written texts and the UAE society in which they are produced. Written Discourse Written discourse incorporates communication by exploitation of textual material. It can be outlined in numerous modes. McCarthy defines, discourse analysis as the study of the relationship between language and the context in which it is used (McCarthy 1991:5). Written discourse does not have to deal with people speaking all simultaneously or even with spontaneous interruptions. McCarthy (1991:6) states that in written discourse the writer normally has time to prepare the text. He also mentions that in written discourse, the sentences are usually well formed in a way that the utterances of natural spontaneous talk are not. Learner Discourse Merely testing learners on their aptitude to write, or complete, isolated sentences is clearly inadequate if their overall ability to communicate at the level of discourse is a goal. However, even when whole texts are exploited for assessment or diagnosis, there is an affinity for many teachers not to be able to observe beyond their surface grammar errors, or to appreciate their strengths irrespective of their weaknesses. To guarantee a more efficient, more extensive, and more reasonable judgment, more comprehensive criteria for assessing texts are needed. Ellis (1994: 44) identified four major approaches in describing learner language: the study of learners errors the study of developmental patterns the study of variability the study of pragmatic features In our attempt to analyze learners text, the researcher tries to bear in mind the above-mentioned considerations. Patterns of Text Analysis Written texts can be analyzed using various patterns and methods. However, in our paper we tend to analyze texts dealing with the following aspects: Grammatical cohesion including reference (cataphoric, anaphoric, exaphoric, and endophoric cohesive devices), ellipsis, substitution, nominalization, and conjuncts; Lexical cohesion including reiteration, superordinate, repetition, and collocation. We now try to shed some light on the application of each of the abovementioned aspects. Cohesion Cohesion is the way a text is held together and has meaning (Holland and Lewis 2001:53), and the way unrelated structural elements are linked together, through the dependence of one on the other for its interpretation (Halliday and Hasan 1976:27 in Holland and Lewis 2001:55). Cohesive links can work within the text, endophorically, or outside the text, exophorically (Holland and Lewis 2001:53). Within the text they may be anaphoric when they refer to something that has already been mentioned, or cataphoric when they look to something that is yet to be mentioned (Holland and Lewis 2001:53). Halliday and Hasan propose grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion, each with their own sub classifications, as the two categories of cohesion (1976 in Holland and Lewis 2001:55). Written texts can be analyzed by detecting the grammatical connections between individual clauses and sentences of the text known in linguistics as grammatical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion is what meshes the text toge ther. Renkema defines cohesion as the phenomenon of connectedness of sentences or utterances in discourse (Renkema, 2004). Cohesion in text conveys meaning to the reader. Grammatical Cohesion Cohesion in a text, as mentioned earlier, can be established in two ways; grammatical and lexical cohesion. We shall begin by looking at grammatical cohesion. Halliday and Hasan are pioneers in the study of grammatical cohesion. They mention that there are cohesive relationships between the sentences in a text and these relationships create texture. Texture distinguishes a text from something, which is not a text. McCarthy (1991:34) defines grammatical cohesion as the surface marking of semantic links between clasuses and sentenses in written discourse, and between utterances and turns in speech. Halliday and Hasan consider grammatical cohesion through reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunctions. Reference is further subdivided into the categories of personal, such as pronouns (e.g. he, she, it, him, they, etc.), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), the article the, and items like such a (Halliday and Hasan 1976: 37-9) and comparatives (Holland and Lewis 2001:57-8). All three forms of referential cohesion can work either endophorically or exophorically (Holland and Lewis 2001:57-8). Substitution, usually working anaphorically, replaces a reference with a dummy object, while ellipses are of a similar nature, except the missing reference is replaced by nothing (Holland and Lewis 2001:58). Ellipsis is when expected elements of the text are omitted because they have already been mentioned formerly in the text or that they are spontaneously inferred. The last category of cohesion is conjunctions which operate through grammatical relationships between clauses or propos itions, and are subdivided into the categories of additive, adversative, causal, and temporal (Halliday and Hasan 1976 in Holland and Lewis 2001:60). Lexical Cohesion Halliday and Hasan consider lexical cohesion through reiteration and collocation (Angermeyer 2002:365). Reiteration could include the re-mentioning of an item using the original noun phrase, a synonym, a near-synonym, a superordinate expression, or a general word (Halliday and Hasan 1976 in Holland and Lewis 2001:63). Following such reiterations we can possibly create a lexical chain in a text. With regards to collocation, Halliday and Hasan note that it is a problematical category of lexical cohesion, (1976 in Angermeyer 2002:365), and Hasan later rejects collocation as a lexically cohesive category (1984 in Angermeyer 2002:365). Similarly, Hoey considers the various forms of repetition as the key aspect of lexical cohesion (1991 in Angermeyer 2002:365). Corpus Analysis Corpus means a body, and corpus analysis thus refers to the analysis of a body of language data. A corpus can be small (for example one newspaper article or letter) or large (several million words of naturally occurring spoken or written language). Linguistically speaking, corpus is any collection of natural language examples. It is a collection written and/or spoken examples of the usage of a language, employed in linguistic analysis. Presently, corpus analysis employs computer applications, called concordancers, in the analytic procedure. The computer applications designed for this type of analysis include concordance programs that can, for instance, recognize specific words selected by the researcher and demonstrate how frequently these words are used in discourse. Analyses of large corpora of spoken and written English have revealed the frequency and co-occurrence of many different lexical and grammatical items. This co-occurrence is called collocation. These analyses have been c apable of illustrating enormously facts about language that could hardly be inferred intuitively. For the purpose of this paper we tend to rely mostly on two major corpora naming the Collins WordbanksOnline English corpus sampler which is composed of 56 million words of contemporary written and spoken text as well as Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English which is a structured collection of language data of English as a Lingua Franca.

An Ecofeminist Perspective of Ridley Scotts Blade Runner Essay

An Ecofeminist Perspective of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner The science fiction film, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, first released in 1982 and loosely based on Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,1 has continued to fascinate film viewers, theorists and critics for more than fifteen years. Writings include Judith B. Kerman's Retrofitting Blade Runner, a collection of academic essays;2 Paul M. Sammon's book on the making of the various versions of the film;3 and an extensive network of publications are available via the World-Wide Web.4 A student colleague has just seen the film for the eighteenth time. The "Director's Cut", released in 1992, is a more satisfying version of the film than earlier releases, mainly because narration is excluded, more mythological ambiguity is introduced (with the inclusion of a scene of a unicorn running through a forest), and the finalà © of an escape into nature is removed. In the context of Blade Runner's dystopia such an ending is incredible; for science fiction to succeed there needs to be plausibility within speculation. Since the Director's Cut, Blade Runner seems to have had a phoenix-like resurgence. Just as the simulated humans, or replicants, become more than the sum of their parts as they develop "humanity", so the film has become more than the sum of its parts as interaction - among critics and fans as well as scriptwriters, actors and film crew - contributes to ways of seeing. Scott describes depth in film as like a seven hundred-layer cake.5 Ideas presented in these layers can expand and deepen in the viewer's mind. The viewer's eye becomes as important for the ongoing life of the film as the eyes on which the camera focuses in Blade Runner.6 ... ...uiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, Blackwell, Cambridge MA, 1989, p.312. 15 The White Goddess: a historical grammar of poetic myth, Farrer, Straus & Giroux, New York,1984, p. 255. 16 Carson, op. cit., p.21. 17 Carson, op. cit., p.22. 18 Steve Carper, "Subverting the Disaffected City", Kerman, Retrofitting Blade-Runner op. cit., p.193. 19 Sammon. op. cit., p.6. 20 Guardian Weekly, July 20, 1997, p.24. 21 The New Internationalist, op. cit., p.17. 22 "The Soul of Science", Resurgence, September/October, 1997. No.184, p.9. 23 The Mercury, Hobart, Tasmania, Sept. 1. 1997. Co author Stephen Steigrad, Department of Reproductive Medicine at Sydney's Royal Hospital for Women, found that 276 families through four fertility units did not plan to tell their children that they were the product of artificial insemination with sperm from donors.

Abortion - Touched By an Angel :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Abortion Touched By an Angel It's remarkable how a fantasy-based, sometimes sappy TV show featuring angels disguised as ordinary folks can pack more profound truth into one hour than a month of nightly news programs! That's precisely what writer/producer Martha Williamson accom-plished in a recent episode of Touched by an Angel called "The Empty Chair." Bucking the Hollywood establishment and its "pro-choice" ethic, Ms. Williamson displayed unmatched courage and insight into the aftermath of abortion. As newlyweds in Boston, Betsy and Bud Baxter wanted nothing more than to work together on a television show. An offer from an Omaha station to co-host "Breakfast with the Baxters" seemed their first big step on the road to fame and happiness. Fifteen years later, when new station owners abruptly cancel their show, the Baxters are devastated by the loss of their jobs, of their dream, of all that had given their life meaning, and, apparently, of all that had been holding them together. They bitterly vent their disappointment and grief at each other until the arrival of stranded travelers (the angels Monica and Andrew) give Betsy and Bud the chance to tell their stories separately to a compassionate listener. It's not long before the underlying problem surfaces-the unspoken issue that stood between them since accepting the Omaha job: that the only child they'd ever conceived was "lost" shortly before moving there. When Betsy learned of this pregnancy, she spontaneously bought a little baby jumper. Bud reacted negatively to the news. He thought only of how a child could disrupt their career plans on the eve of their first big break. When Bud left for several days to attend a friend's wedding, Betsy dutifully took care of the problem with an abortion. She told Bud only that she had "lost" the child. Betsy tried to conceal her grief, submerging it in work. The sorrow and pain did not go away, but silently, stealthily robbed her of joy, of sleep, of the ability to feel close to her husband, of the ability simply to relax and open herself to life. Bud is torn between wanting to know if their child was aborted and wanting to avoid the question, to protect Betsy and himself from painfully confronting what they had done. Bud struggles to forget, and bristles at the first hint of a discussion of their loss.