Media Consumption Essay - 1323 Words

Matthew Falcione Mr. Holman English 101 September 6, 2012 Modern Personal Media Consumption Modern times of society have differed much from even a decade ago. From the very way we absorb content and communicate to the new aggressive forms of marketing, so much has changed. Ten years ago communication was limited to a simple cell phone call, postal mail, email and only as much as an Instant Message through a very slow 56k internet connection. Today there are endless ways to digest communication and informational content. It has been so much a drastic change in our everyday lives that losing these certain capabilities, even momentarily can easily put a damper on someone’s work and personal life. Each and every day we utilize the†¦show more content†¦Another form of media I consume daily is CNN, NBC news, and ABC news. These are all obviously news outlets, but much different than even the news content that Twitter or Facebook offer. These news outlets offer more in depth, detailed information than what is usually found on socia l media sites and has a larger array of news subjects that can include economics and even entertainment news. These forms of media are purely informational and can offer lengthy articles; overall it is easy to spend an hour a day through all these news media outlets. A very unique form of media that I utilize quite frequently each week is Pandora radio. Pandora radio as well was not around about a decade ago and has millions of daily users. Pandora radio offers a music content service free of charge which allows you to stream music from their website based off of your music preferences. Music is easily one of the biggest forms of consumable media in existence. Each day we all listen to music, whether by choice or due to our surrounding environment, this easily makes Pandora radio a top notch content media site. In any given day I spend close to 3 hours streaming music from Pandora, while writing papers such as this one or doing household chores.Show MoreRelatedMedia Use and Media Co nsumption in the Home Environment Essay1472 Words   |  6 PagesAudience reception is a critical area of focus and research when approaching media audiences. It is dependent on the context of viewing, making media use and media consumption within the home environment and other contexts an interesting area of study. During the 1980s the emergence and increasing use of television increased media research into consumption in an everyday context, addressing the domestic, the family and its contribution to daily life. The importance can be displayed through the centralityRead MoreMedia Use and Consumption: Inside and Outside the Home Essay1463 Words   |  6 PagesFor a long time, the domestic household has been dominated by women whereas men would have dominated the life and work outside of the home. In this essay I will discuss how media use and consumption in the home can be different to those in any other context. The role that gender can play in the living-room, and how differen ce in programs on the television can effect the difference in audiences, all while taking time and era into consideration as a factor. During the 1920s â€Å"other companies struggledRead MoreStarbucks Keeps It Brewing in Asia1676 Words   |  7 Pagestea on the Asian culture. Starbucks has the opportunity to capitalize on a top fixture of Asian culture which is tea. The essay will challenge the reader to utilize their critical thinking skills as to how Starbuck will utilize business practices to conduct business in Asia.. Introduction The following essay will discuss the impact of tea and instant coffee on how Starbucks will conduct business in Asia, particularly in China. ChinaRead MoreDoes Consumption Create New Social Divisions?1551 Words   |  7 Pagesthe claim that consumption creates new social divisions. Modern society has changed in many ways over the years. This essay will focus on new and old social divisions to establish how society has transformed, outlining how consumption creates new social divisions. Hetherington (2009, p13) defines consuming as: â€Å"The acquisition, use and disposal of goods and services. This subject is important in terms of indicating how society is changing in fundamental ways. Evidence for this Essay is taken fromRead MoreThe Media s Influence On Social Media1588 Words   |  7 Pagesresult of media consumption. Social media is an ever-growing and fast developing means of communication in society, and with the vast amount of new technology constantly transforming on the market, the empowered consumer is just a click away from accessing almost anything. The internet itself has opened up a new spectrum and has trained us to expect to gain information on demand at any time and from anywhere. talk about facebook more a bit ---- This essay considers how empowered media audiencesRead MoreThe Media Of Media And Communication Studies1363 Words   |  6 Pagesarea in media and communication studies. The reason why the question of audience remains at the center of media and communication research is not because it is an essential question of research, but because it is rather a theoretical problematic among scholars over time. For more than a century, among the media and communication researchers and academics the study of media audiences has been a primary concern and contested area at the same time. The scholars have analyzed and studied media audiencesRead MoreThe Political Economy Of Communication792 Words   |  4 Pagespolitical economy approach to analyse the media and communication. Therefore, before discuss the political economy of communication we need to figure out what is political economy and what is communication. The definition of political economy is not simple. This essay uses the definitions given by Vincent Mosco and explores its origin in Greek and inspiration from the Classical Political Economy. Apart from the Classical Political Economy, this essay also describes other forms of this approachRead MoreFactors Contributing Factors That Causes Obesity Among Children Essay1364 Words   |  6 Pagesand heart disease (World Health Organisation, 2014). The purpose of this essay is to analyse 3 major contributing factors that causes obesity among children in New Zealand. This essay will commence by identifying the behavioural factor such as lack of physical activity for children furthermore, it will discuss environmental factors, for instance, media and portion sizes of fast food intake in New Zealand. Lastly this essay will discuss sociocultural factors regarding cultural family background andRead MoreHow Big Data Has On Consumers1401 Words   |  6 Pagessystem of data, a variety types o f data and huge value of data. As the development of big data is faster and faster, the use of it also becomes broader and boarder, like researching on customers’ preference, taking it on military use and so on. This essay will mainly discuss the influences big data has on consumers. The most obvious impact that big data bring to consumers is convenience, and mainly in the following three aspects. First of all, the application of big data reduces the degree of informationRead MoreCreating Meaning and Identity through Consumption Essay1307 Words   |  6 PagesUnder the current capitalism society and material culture, people tend to form their identities through consumption, this means more than to consume products which are needed to survive, consumption can also link to self-identity formation and expression. People are imperceptibly influenced by the mass media that self-identity can be shaped and formed through consuming specific products. Therefore it can be said, fashion is an important element of identity formation. Young people are commonly feared

Why Everyone Is Mistaken About Professional Essay Format Samples and Why You Need to Read This Article Right Now

Why Everyone Is Mistaken About Professional Essay Format Samples and Why You Need to Read This Article Right Now Technical writing is comparable to professional writing in the feeling they are both used at work. Clearly, if you can't write this up to the necessary standard, you should find qualified guidance. Custom writing means a severe company with high standards. Ask about their writing process and the way you can provide additional instruction to make sure you have the assistance you will need. Order top-notch essay at this time and certified specialists will do their very best to supply you with higher quality at affordable price. This program is also invaluable for SEO content writers who wants to generate unique articles for their site. Perhaps you need to find a couple more experts. Don't forget that any argumentative essay sample you'll discover on the internet will require a full rewriting in order to prevent plagiarism. All questions will need to answered. Fo r a beginning, the typical application essay topics need you to use language that's totally free from language flaws and grammatical mistakes. Ideally, you wish to decide on a subject that's specific enough to let you fully research and learn more about the topic, but not so specific that you have a difficult time finding sources of information. The Professional Essay Format Samples Game With what has been gathered, a person may then compose a comprehensive essay concerning the exchange. Make certain you have enough time to investigate the topic, make an outline and reread your essay repeatedly. One other important factor to think about is the format of the essay. Professional essay writers have the ability to tackle all sorts of assignments. Whether you indent or not, make certain to be consistent throughout your complete essay. Even though this kind of essay should only be 250 words long, you should organize your ideas beforehand. If you are in need of a well-crafted essay, then you can depend on us to deliver. The Professional Essay Format Samples Pitfall The spreadsheet was made to provide structure and fashion, douglas kellbaugh argues that we've realized that we. It's crucial to structure and format texts in compliance with the official demands. Therefore it isn't too different, no matter how the APA format is a little detailed as it's not a mandatory you include the program title or the name of the professor. This paper seeks to describe educational and career targets and their significance in your life. The precise structure of your paper will vary somewhat depending on the form of paper you've been requested to write. While there isn't any cookie-cutter template that will do the job for any specific narrative, there's an overall pattern to how several of these essays unfold. You might be accustomed to writing papers in another format like MLA or Chicago style, so it may take a while to find the hang of writing in APA format. Don't hesitate to browse through them should you want to. Professional services will enable you to understand well in advance once your paper will be finished and the way that it will be delivered. The True Meaning of Professional Essay Format Samples You are going to be surrounded by writing professionals throughout the plan of order placement, and the moment you choose to purchase essay and select an allocated writer, things are likely to get even more exc iting. Because of this, it's imperative to understand and practice the expert narrative. As a consequence, spending money to manage your essays could possibly be challenging. The reasons could be absolutely different. Professional Essay Format Samples Can Be Fun for Everyone In case you have any questions, you can get in touch with our friendly support team night and day and get immediate assistance. The final writing service you decide on ought to be clear on how they are going to help in getting your paper written. If you don't feel as if you have enough time to compose essays all on your own, we will assist you, any instance of the day, seven days weekly. If you want more help, or you merely have limited time, contact us for skilled assistance. Don't be scared to talk about your ideas as part of creative procedure and remember there's just one approach to reach the desired goals receiving papers which have been meticulously checked, reviewed and proofread. While attemp ting to learn how to compose a persuasive essay step-by-step, students forget about another crucial activity. They lead busy lives and often forget about an upcoming deadline.

A Research On The Kansas State University Housing

Intro- As I graduated high school, I always had the desire to up my career. So, my next step is to go to college. A week later, I started to think how am I going to live on my own? Where will I stay at, for my existing 4 years or maybe years? So, I did my research on the Kansas State University housing homepage. As I am looking through my options, I was interested in the Kramer complex’s. My mom told me is it safe, healthy, and in good living conditions to live there? When I kept scrolling down it showed how it will have safety and good health conditions throughout the complex. According to the Kansas State University housing and dining home page, â€Å"020 Forming a Committee, Every College must have an active safety committee. This must be a goal of each Dean. If the Dean desires, departments within a College may also have safety committees. The University Environmental Health Safety Committee recommends that large departments or departments with high hazards have a safety committee.†. By me reading this, I had very high expectations for having very healthy environment within the housing departments. When I made a decision to choose as students Kansas State students feels weird and uncomfortable living away from home and have no choice to live on campus, students have to rely on K-States promise for students live safe and healthy regulated housing for the amount for money you payed for. Goodnow Hall. Goodnow is a coeducational hall located in the Kramer Community on the westShow MoreRelatedThe University Of Oklahoma s Softball Team1475 Words   |  6 PagesAmber Zerr Mr. Painter Jr. Research Paper 4 November 2016 OU VS. KSU The University of Oklahoma is a four year Division 1 public university located in Norman, Oklahoma, and is home to the Sooners; â€Å"Boomer Sooner†. The University of Oklahoma’s Womens Softball team won the 2015 Women’s College Softball World Series, and their football team is ranked 1st in the Big 12 rankings. Kansas State University is a four year Division 1 public university located in Manhattan, Kansas, and is home to the Wildcats;Read MoreApplication Of Admission As Refugees Essay1359 Words   |  6 Pagesof 50 states issued orders to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees and by a vote of 289 to 137 the US House of Representatives approved legislation to ban the admissions of all Syrian and Iraqi refugees† (Hein Niazi, 2016). â€Å"Kansas is among those 31 states that do not welcome Syrian refugees† (Hein Niazi, 2016). On November 16, 2015, Governor Sam Brownback issued the Executive order No. 15-07 stating: â€Å"No department, commission, board, or agency of the government of the State of KansasRead MoreSyrian Refugees Crisis And The Syrian Refugee Crisis Essay1346 Words   |  6 PagesLatifa HassanJan Syrian Refugee University of Kansas On September of 2015, the image of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi went viral. â€Å"The toddler’s lifeless body on a Turkish beach had reverberated across the globe† (Parkinson George-Cosh, 2015). Aylan’s family had â€Å"fled the brutal civil war in their native Syria and only attempted the boat crossing after Canada denied their application of admission as refugees. The image led to an astonishing outpouring of support for Syrian refugees† (HeinRead MoreThe American Dream : The Origin Of The American Dream1527 Words   |  7 Pagesdream has changed for the better is a matter of opinion. In order to discover more information about the American dream, it’s origins, and the state it is in today, I researched in depth the basic principals of the dream, and compared it to my own. Originating with the signing of the Declaration of Independence and in turn the birth of the United States of America, the American dream has been a timeless guide for those who wish to succeed. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson laid the foundation for the dreamRead MoreThe Disadvantageous Of Web Gis916 Words   |  4 Pagesyear since 2007, the iPhone gradually became more advanced with a multitude of features available. This same concept can be applied to the flaws of Web GIS. This system is faulty, however, with the continuous advancement in technology and more research that can be conducted on the structure of this platform, several Internet GIS may be resolved. Internet GIS, while a powerful tool, has a broad range of issues varying from technological complications to social justice issues. There are many WebRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is More Expensive Than Housing1610 Words   |  7 Pagesper year. Is it actually cheaper for the taxpayer to provide room and board for an inmate for life? Or is it cheaper to use expensive chemicals to help the inmate meet a swift, yet peaceful end. In theory, the death penalty is less expensive than housing an inmate for life without parole, though there are several other factors, including extended trials that should be adder Read MoreAssisted Living Care1606 Words   |  7 PagesThe first author of the article, Medicaid Funding for Assisted Living Care: A Five-State Examination, is Eric Carlson. Carlson is the directing attorney under the National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC). He graduated summa cum luade from the University of Minnesota, and obtained his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the Un iversity of California Berkeley. Most of his career has been spent advocating for older adults in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Carlson is very knowledgeableRead More The Use of Capital Punishment in America Essay1432 Words   |  6 Pagesthe death penalty growing the controversy is becoming more heated. With only twelve states left not enforcing it the resistance is becoming futile (â€Å"Fact† 4). Many debates have been made and even clauses have been invoked, such as, the â€Å"Cruel and Unusual Clause† that was invoked by the Supreme Court in 1962 (Meltsner 179). The use of death as a punishment has been viewed as â€Å"cruel and unusual,† but in further research the view of what is considered â€Å"cruel and unusual† has been reduced drastically (BernsRead MoreEssay on Richard daley1300 Words   |  6 PagesIllinois Senate and as Cook County states attorney before being elected mayor of Chicago in 1989. Daley held several elected posts before becoming mayor. He was state representative from 1936 to 1938, state senator from 1939 to 1946, county deputy controller from 1946 to 1949, and county clerk from 1950 to 1955. He also served as state revenue director, an appointed position, under Governor Adlai Stevenson. In these positions, Daley gained a keen understanding of government and a mastery of budgetsRead More Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement Essay1651 Words   |  7 Pagesevery aspect of political, economic and social life in the United States. Segregation was an attempt by white Southerners to separate the races in every sphere of life and to achieve supremacy over blacks. Segregation was often called the Jim Crow system, after a minstrel show character from the 1830s that was an old, crippled, black slave who embodied negative stereotypes of blacks. Segregation became common in the Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The system of segregation

Analysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell - 1844 Words

1984 Book Report The novel â€Å"1984† by George Orwell is a highly praised and influential work in the dystopian genre. Since its release in 1949, its themes have been admired by many, and its world an alarming insight into a seemingly foreign, but very possible situation. The story is set in London, in the fictional superstate of Oceania, and more specifically â€Å"Airstrip one†, (formerly the British Isles). The main character, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party, which makes up half of the Party that runs the government of Oceania, along with the Inner Party, who are more involved in the Party and are subject to more information than those of the Outer Party. He is employed by the Ministry of Truth, where he destroys evidence of the†¦show more content†¦Winston is walking down the hall of his apartment the next day when he approaches the woman. He suspects that she is a spy for the Thought Police, and believes he has been found out when the woman trips and falls and when Winston helps her up, she slips a piece of paper in his hand reading, â€Å"I love you†. The two would later have an affair confessing their hatred of the party to each other. They rent an unoccupied room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, not containing a telescreen, in which they spend a majority of their time together. Winston’s lover Julia is employed by The Ministry of Truth along with Winston. Later in their relationship, Winston becomes frustrated by Julia’s lack of concentration and interest in his ideas and comments. Some weeks later Winston is approached O’Brien and they decide to plan a meeting at O’Brien’s apartment. When the date comes, winston goes with Julia, and O’Brien explains the Brotherhood, to which both Winston and Julia pledge their allegiance. O’Brien plans a drop-off in which Winston receives a copy of â€Å"The Book†, an explanation of the motos and behaviors, such as perpetual war and the Party motos, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH, WAR IS PEACE, and FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. Winston is reading the book to Julia in Mr. Charrington’s room, when they are barged in upon by Thought Police officials. They reveal the Telescreen concealed by a painting of St. Clement’s Church.Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1205 Words   |  5 PagesThis phenomenon is evident in George Orwell’s novel, 1984 in which the protagonist, Winston possesses critical features of a rebel. The rebellious personality of Winston is first introduced to the reader through his thoughtcrime’s. This trait is also distinctly seen through the doubts he has towards the governing party. Finally, the characteristic of rebellion is also successfully shown through Winston’s desire for happiness. It is evident that through the novel 1984, Winston is a rebellious characterRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1220 Words   |   5 PagesIn the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a place called Oceania where the government is Big Brother. The government, the Party, and the Thought Police are constantly oppressing the citizens of Oceania. Most of the people don t know that they are being oppressed, but the two main characters, Julia and Winston are able to realize this oppression and don t stand for it. Winston and Julia absolutely hate the Party, and are constant breaking the â€Å"rules† of the Party. Julia is self-centeredRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell965 Words   |  4 PagesIn the novel â€Å"1984† by George Orwell, Winston wants to keep the humanity that so many people have lost. He sees everyone as robots controlled by the government that can no longer think for themselves, or remember any of the past before Big Brother came into power. Within the novel it seems as if people lose their humanity, but this poses the question what is humanity? Humanity can work both with and against the government, humans can be forced to believe the ideas of the government, and the powerRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1782 Words   |  8 PagesIn the novel 1984, by George Orwell, the government of Oceania is able to have supreme control over its population. The citizens of Oceania live in angst of the â€Å"Big Brother.† This instills a great amount of fear in the citizens who believe they must fulfill the government s expectations. The government not only invaded the person privacy of the Oceanic citizens, but they took away their basic human rights. By stiripping its citizens of their rights, like freedom of speech, The Party is able toRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1326 Words   |  6 PagesHow do you classify an individual’s freedom? Freedom can be defined as the power or right to act, speak and think without any restrictions and disciplines. George Orwell’s novel 1984, is about a dystopian society in which citizens don’t have any privacy and they are under constant surveillance by the Party. The setting of the novel describes the suppress of individuality and freedom in the society. However, Orwell’s definition of freedom is that people need to be given what they need and know theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1602 Words   |  7 Pagesupside-down society that is Nazi-Germany? While no other time period comes close, the novel we have been reading in class deals vigorously with dystopian society. 1984, by George Orwell, is a dystopian, fiction-based book that features a main character named Winston Smith, a girl named Julia, and many others who come together to make for a very intense storyline and an intriguing read. It takes place in Oceania, in 1984, while it was written in 1948. With a sense of science fiction, it’s set in near-futureRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell951 Words   |  4 PagesThe novel, 1984, composed by George Orwell, presents a frightening picture, where one government has complete control of the general population. The story takes place in London, England. The government that is made in the novel is controlled by Big Brother. In 1984, the protagonist, Winston, really despises the totalitarian government, that tries to control all aspects of his life. So many freedoms that we all need to live a happy and healthy life are being stripped away from the citizens of OceaniaRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1289 Words   |  6 PagesThe novel â€Å"1984† by George Orwell explores the meaning of humanity and the tactics that a totalitarian government may use to strip humanity from the people in order to maintain power. The main character Winston strives to preserve his humanity throughout the novel in his ability to think freely. The government tries to control its constituent’s thoughts, through tactics of propaganda, regulation, telescreen monitors, the thought police, and five ministries. These tactics are to control the constituentRead MoreAnalysis Of The Novel 1984 By George Orwell1772 Words   |  8 PagesIn the novel â€Å"1984† illustrated by George Orwell emphasizes a story of love, truth, and imaginations. The story was taken place in London but during the time they were always at war with Eurasia, Eastasia, and Oceania. There were two love birds in the story, which was Winston Smith and Julia, but were separated from each other, due to disobeying policies, being betrayed by the corrupt police, and always being watched by Big Brother. Big brother is nothing, but a piece of paper all over the placeRead MoreCommentary Analysis of George Orwell ´s Novel: 1984897 Words   |  4 PagesIn 1984 by George Orwell, the author depicts the perfect totalitarian society, a society that has absolute control over everything pertaining to its people. The title of the novel, 1984, was meant t o indicate to its readers in 1949 that the story represented a real possibility for the immediate future. If totalitarianism was not fought against, there was an actual risk that a similar civilization could come about. By demonstrating what a tyrannical society would be like, Orwell showed the control

Language Immigration free essay sample

Role of native English languages in assimilation success of immigrants, education literacy, community programs, theories methods. Unlike many other countries, the United States has never established an official language, although paradoxically, Founding Father John Jay in the Federalist Papers saw the English language as the tie that bound the federal structure together (McKay Weinstein-Shr, 1993, Autumn, 1993, p. 400). Even current literacy requirements for naturalization and permanent residency in amnesty situations were a relatively late addition to the entry and naturalization standards of what was often called a nation of immigrants. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, alternating periods of nativist sentiment failed to swamp an underlying belief that immigration was tied to the cultural history and destiny of the United States. Immigrants were welcomed for their willingness to work, if not for their culture, and low educational standards and the need

myself as a writer Essay Example For Students

myself as a writer Essay Myself as a writer. I dont consider myself a very good writer. I write when I am made to or when I have something that I need to say that I cant just tell someone. I keep a diary. Usually my diary is just a record of what I have done that day. Its not so much about my feelings. I dont really like talking about my feelings, usually because most of the time I am confused about what exactly I am feeling. I tend to keep the feelings that I do have to myself, to protect myself from getting hurt. I didnt have that many close friends in high school. I always was just kind of there. I was no one important. Everyone seems to have his or her place in this world of high school and it seemed that my place was on the outside that I didnt fit into this puzzle. I think that that experiences in high school pretty much defines much of my life. It definitely affects my writing. You are supposed to find security in high school, but those four years leave me feeling pretty empty and alone. I have very little self-esteem and am constantly feeling not good enough.These are the feelings that I have hid from the world. I cant let people see the pain inside of me for fear that I will be even less accepted than I am now. I think a lot of my feelings of aloneness and semi-depression come from losing a few friends of mine who used to be really close to me. You learn to trust people, and when they leave and they are no longer there for you than their being in your life could cause more harm than go od. I had a different best friend almost every year during my childhood. I met my best friend when I was 3. I moved into a new house and met Crista the first day that I moved in. When she was in fourth grade her family decided to move. During this time, she had been the main person that I hung out with, so this was a huge change fore me.So I spent basically a year and a half with very few friends. I moved to a new school half way through sixth grade. I didnt ever find a real place there. I met my best friend Stacey when I first moved to my new middle school. We stayed friends throughout middle school, but she had a lot of family problems and she ended dup moving away and I didnt even know she was leaving until after she was gone. In a time like middle school for something like that happen is awful. I got depressed after that happened and I remember just locking myself in my room and just crying. I thought that things would never get better. When I started my high school, I found my curre nt best friend, Marie. We are still friends to this day; she just left for college at George Mason. So once again Im not with my best friend. Im not trying to make my life all depressing because it hasnt been all bad. And I realize that people have had things a lot worse happen to them, in their lives, and I should be thankful for what I have. But no matter what I have I just never seem truly happy. I always have this front up, and it seems like everything is going great, but deep inside, Im falling apart. This comes out in my writing, and I think that writing is a good release from all of this.I always try to do my best when it comes to my class work and my writing, but I know that my writing isnt the best by any means. I always find it important to the best job that I can do, on school work and also in life. I think that a lot of what got me through writing papers in middle and high school was my mom. She was so great about reading over and correcting my papers. She stayed up many nights

Nas - Resarch Paper free essay sample

From Hip Hop Icon to Storyteller name date school class Proof. Name Rappers I monkey flip them with the funky rhythm I be kicking. Musician inflict the composition are the first words heard off of one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time. Nas debut album Lunatic is considered to be one of hip hops foundational documents and has earned itself a large number of awards, recognitions and record breakers. However, Illimitable was only the start of the Icon known as Nas. Nas would go on to selling 7 U. S. Platinum records, being featured numerous singles and becoming a household name for fans of hip hop.Nas Is known for his intellectual rhyme flow, while being an outsider who rhymes about many things he has witnessed (Sewer 3). Besides being an iconic rap artist, Nas should be someone for intellectuals to respect as he uses many literary terms and techniques in his lyric storytelling. We will write a custom essay sample on Nas Resarch Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Nanas Jones was born on September 14th, 1973 to LOL Dare and Anne Jones in Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after moved to the Gingerbread housing project the setting for Nas street poetry (Hess). Some psychologists believe that traits and characteristics are transferred over from the arena to the offspring, and Nas is an example of this. His father was a traveling Jazz musician who played the trumpet, guitar and also sang. HIS mothers father and grandfather were also singers in Mississippi. When Nas was younger, he would evils his father In Harlem, New York and the two of them would explore their musical talents. By the age of four, Nas was able to play the trumpet and was also able to play around with guitars and drums (Hess). The artistic ability of Nas did not end and soon educated himself on African history, the Bible and expanded his vocabulary through reading other books (Hess).LOL Dare seems to have influenced Nas in a creative sense, but it was his mother Anne Jones who truly impacted Nas. While most of the mothers in the Queens Bridge housing project were involved with drugs and crime, Anne Jones priority was raising her children. The hardworking U. S. Postal worker tried very hard to provide Nas and his brother Jabber with love, self- actualization and stability in their life three things a majority of Queens Bridge children would not see in their lifetime. This was especially rare since the Jones went through a divorce when Nas was 12 years old.Nas credits his mother as a very important figure in his life, and even has a song dedicated to her off of his album Gods Son titled Dance (Hess). Nas began to indulge himself fully in hip hop culture after he dropped out of high school in 9th grade. Nas became more serious about his rhyming, and Joined a hip hop crew called Devastating Seven under the name Kid Wave, and was also part of a crew known as Breaking In Action. All of this happened with the help of William Graham also known as Ill Will, a childhood friend of Nas who lived the floor above Nas in the Queens Bridge Project Housing.Ill Will made Nas into the rapper he is today by introducing him to hip hop by playing records on his turntables when Nas was in his youth (Hess). Ill Will played as the DC while Nas rapped over songs that were then, very popular. However, Ill Will was not able to see Nas rise to become a hip hop icon, something he would have been so proud to see. At a Queens Bridge party in 1992, Nas brother Jungle and Ill Will both caught the wrong side of the gun, an event that would ultimately damage two lives, but only the death of one (Hess).The passing of Ill Will was very traumatic for Nas, as it would be or anyone to lose a best friend, especially under the circumstances of the harsh conditions in the Gingerbread Project Housing. Ironically enough, this incident happened when Nas was first signed as a hip hop artist. Nas viewed these events as a somewhat movie type event seeing Gingerbread as the setting of the stories that he would tell (Hess). This is a very important aspect of Nas that will later be touched upon although Nas did participate in criminal activity as a youth, he does not write about it in this aspect.Nas has been known as a story teller, an approach to his lyrics thatll easily get listeners interested. This characteristic of Nas is the one that makes him most famous, and is exampled in his debut album Lunatic. The word Lunatic stems from the word ill which means ailed in diseased, sickness or any type of immune disadvantage. Mantic means classic, old school, and the right way of doing things. Put together, Lunatic is a slang term used to describe something that will forever be great and sicker than everything else out there, and Nas could not have picked a better title for his debut album (Online Slang Dictionary). The 1994 classic broke a precedent set by New York Times of hip hops The Source. When the magazine decided to start doing album reviews, they decided not to give a 5 microphone rating out of 5 (equivalent too 5 star rating) to any hip hop album, so they would not waste such a prestigious review on an album that could one day become mediocre (Sewer). However, Nas was the first one to reach a 5 microphone rating, and The Source made a good call that day to break their precedent because Lunatic is still 5 microphone worthy, even by todays standards. Lyrically, the stuff is superficial was a sentence written by Shorter, now known as the radio personality Miss. Info. She also describes the album review as a story book, and something that almost everyone can relate to. Nas images remind me a lot of personal memories and people, both passed and present so the impact goes beyond Just the entertainment aspect. The bottom line is this: even if the album doesnt speak to you on that personal level, the music itself is still worth the money (Shorter). Nas incorporates many literary techniques to his songs on Lunatic such as metaphors, alliterations and allusions.These are terms that are commonly heard when speaking of great authors and poets such as Shakespeare and Robert Frost, but can also used hen talking about great rappers. Like many rappers, Nas is a fan of using similes and metaphors, but uses them tastefully in his songs, and unlike most rappers they are witty as opposed to being elementary and clumsy (Hess). One such example is a line from Nas single New York State of Mind. Inhale deep like the words in my breath. I never sleep because sleep is the cousin of death. It is rare to find a verse from Nas that contains a lot of metaphors because Nas incorporates many other types of literary techniques in his lyrics, such as allusions and alliterations. His use f these can be heard on the track The World Is Yours stating The mind activation has me acting like Im facing time like Pappy Mason, a notorious criminal during the early asss. Nas is very selective and tasteful in his uses of these techniques, which makes listening to him that much more interesting (Hess). Another aspect, which makes Nas such an interesting artist is his famous use of the literary technique known as rhyme.While many contemporary and past rappers have trouble making a rhyme within two lines, the great Nas is able to accomplish this feat commonly in one line, as seen in the closing verse of Its Anti Hard To Tell. This rhythmic explosion, is what your frame of mind has chosen/Ill leave your brain stimulated, people get frozen/Speak with criminal slang, begin like a violin/End l ike Leviathan, its deep well let me try again Taking examples from separate songs off Lunatic displays Nas skills in various songs, but to truly capture and embrace the power of this incredible MAC, one should analyze a single song.The first song off of Lunatic (and the first lines of this research essay) is titled N. Y. State of Mind, but as opposed to Billy Joules classic, this song takes on a different feel of New York. Nas speaks of the trudges and hardships witnessed in the Queens Bridge housing projects in a way that many rappers of the past and present do not. Nas incorporates his supreme skill of literary techniques to describe New York as a cold and harsh place to live. If Nas perspective of New York was not hard enough, than the way he speaks about it definitely is. While critically reading lines off of N.Y. State of Mind, one can see the greatness of Nas. Running through the block shooting/Time to start the revolution, catch a body head for Houston/Once they caught us off guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and/ ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin. Here in the first verse, Nas is telling the story of a gunfight between him and his foes in the streets of New York. The intellectual Nas does not hesitate to let it be known that he is an educated man, and does this by making reference to the revolutionary icon Sam Houston, famous for the Battle of the Alamo during the Texan Revolution.Nas then goes to state how after losing grip of his gun, he quickly runs like a cheetah, the fastest metaphors and allusions in these few lines, ranging from references from history to biology. By relating himself to a revolutionary icon, Nas is stating that he is not only a deader to the people around him but he is also a revolutionary. When Nas says that he ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin he is describing the intensity of this shootout and how the adrenaline made him act quickly, yet concentrated like a sharpshooter. As these lines display Nas as an intellectual, it should not be forgotten that Nas is also someone who believes should not be fooled around with. In the lines leading to this example, Nas dreams about being a successful gangster, but comes back to reality realizing that at this point in his life; he is a street thug, and that is the only life he knows. Nas being intelligent and tough displays him as the best of both worlds, being able to dominate foes intellectually and physically.Although in his later album releases such as his album Distant Relatives with Damn Marble, Nas takes a more peaceful and mature persona. His lyrics are more concerned with problems facing youths in modern day such as violence and poverty. In his song l Gave You Power Nas uses imagery and symbolism, describing himself as a firearm (l Gave You Power). This song shows his maturity, in which he is letting the listener now he is tired from the life of crime he once lived. His later lines preaches about violence and weapons being a major issue in his community.Far less hyped from Lunatic, Nas is still in the rap game, but this is a consequence due to his pride. Nas has lived up to a lyric from one of my personal favorite songs Off later album Systematic titled Smoking. In a lack of better words, he states that he will forever stay true and loyal, and will never let a woman come between him and his true friends. Nas has lived up to these lyrics written nine years ago, and has done something that any rappers today seem to have an addiction to: selling out.

My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding A Study on Cultural Sociology Essay Example

My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding: A Study on Cultural Sociology Essay The amazing popularity of the movie that many had, prior to its release, dismissed, came as a surprise. Its success, I believe, is a result of the cultural diversities in this country, and the resonant chord it struck with all races and their respective idiosyncrasies, if you will. What was the movie about? It revolved around a Greek single woman (Toula) in her thirties who fell in love with a middle-class, suburban WHITE male who is definitely NOT Greek, and all the funny developments that could happen when two different cultures clash. There were the eccentricities of her parents, (her father who wanted her to be married to a Greek man, and her mother, who just wanted to see her married, period.) her relatives, (one of whom does not know what a vegetarian is, as Greeks LOVE meat), her fiancà ©, (who had to be baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church for him to be accepted by his future father-in-law) and her own, personal growth as a person beyond that of her culture, and what was expected of her. According to Wikipedia, Cultural Sociology is a methodology that incorporates cultural analysis into interpretations of social life. The American Sociological Association section for the sociology of culture states that the sociology of culture is a perspective that considers material products, ideas, and symbolic means and their relation to social behavior. As a perspective on social life, those that practice cultural sociology study all aspects of social life, including diverse topics such as racism, fascism, love, and trade associations, education, gender, science, and family life. All the factors, it seems, that â€Å"My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding† encompasses. Of course, the movie had its over-the-top moments where you somehow feel sorry for someone who happens to be Greek, thinking they may all be lunatics, but then, culturally speaking, all races have negative perceptions (the French for their liability to surrender, the Germans for Hitler, the Italians for the Mafia, and so on, and so forth). So, the study of social cultures is an art in itself because of the innumerable factors that go into behavioral patterns, including lifestyle choices. You consider not just the culture a person belongs to, but how much influence the current environment has had on him. Consider Toula. She may have found a lot of her Greek traditions and expectations stifling but she knew how wonderful her family was, as well. She had been goaded into marriage for years, but she never succumbed to their match-making attempts and just fell into love by herself. She took steps into a life of her own (which was not very Greek of her), and yet respected her roots enough to know how important her marriage is to her family. We will write a custom essay sample on My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding: A Study on Cultural Sociology specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding: A Study on Cultural Sociology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding: A Study on Cultural Sociology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer A lot of social issues were shown in this movie—all culturally-rooted, culturally-relevant, and culturally-universal.

Free Essays on The Phases Of Hamlet

The protagonist of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an extremely layered and complicated character. He has been studied for years by scholars and average readers alike and all come to the agreement that Shakespeare’s incredible skill makes Hamlet’s character and personality. There’s always more than meets the eye. In our drama literature class we have discussed the progression of Hamlet through three main phases. These phases are inspired by the plot in which his character falls: from pre-murder and speculation to climactic action. Hamlet 1 represents the Hamlet before his father’s murder. He is a university student who loves to study and is devoted to philosophical questions. He’s very calculated, analytical, and intelligent. Hamlet 2 refers to Hamlet after his father’s murder. He becomes obsessed with proving the murderer and is often perceived as mad. He is no longer very logical and over analyzes situations always thinking and never acting. Hamlet 3 represents the Hamlet who is aware of Claudius’ guilt. He is brash and full of anger and passion. His actions often occur with little or no premeditation, yet he always acts. It is almost a foil of Hamlet 1, his original self. The murder of the King strikes Hamlet at a very personal level. Being an intellectual person, when he drives himself near mad with obsession, it is one of analytical thought, monologued debates, and elaborate scheming. Hamlet will sometimes wander from his state of obsessive rhetorical questions, to logical analysis but never farther until later in the play. Hamlet, although fond of questions that can’t be answered (his soliloquies about suicide, death and the afterlife) needs to be certain of the murderer. Suspicion or reasonable doubt will not suffice. So when his elaborate scheme of the play within a play is carried out and Claudius’ question of guilt is then answered with certainty, Hamlet 3 immerges as he follows the King into ... Free Essays on The Phases Of Hamlet Free Essays on The Phases Of Hamlet The protagonist of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an extremely layered and complicated character. He has been studied for years by scholars and average readers alike and all come to the agreement that Shakespeare’s incredible skill makes Hamlet’s character and personality. There’s always more than meets the eye. In our drama literature class we have discussed the progression of Hamlet through three main phases. These phases are inspired by the plot in which his character falls: from pre-murder and speculation to climactic action. Hamlet 1 represents the Hamlet before his father’s murder. He is a university student who loves to study and is devoted to philosophical questions. He’s very calculated, analytical, and intelligent. Hamlet 2 refers to Hamlet after his father’s murder. He becomes obsessed with proving the murderer and is often perceived as mad. He is no longer very logical and over analyzes situations always thinking and never acting. Hamlet 3 represents the Hamlet who is aware of Claudius’ guilt. He is brash and full of anger and passion. His actions often occur with little or no premeditation, yet he always acts. It is almost a foil of Hamlet 1, his original self. The murder of the King strikes Hamlet at a very personal level. Being an intellectual person, when he drives himself near mad with obsession, it is one of analytical thought, monologued debates, and elaborate scheming. Hamlet will sometimes wander from his state of obsessive rhetorical questions, to logical analysis but never farther until later in the play. Hamlet, although fond of questions that can’t be answered (his soliloquies about suicide, death and the afterlife) needs to be certain of the murderer. Suspicion or reasonable doubt will not suffice. So when his elaborate scheme of the play within a play is carried out and Claudius’ question of guilt is then answered with certainty, Hamlet 3 immerges as he follows the King into ...

Compare How War Is Portrayed in the Poems Dulce Essays

Compare How War Is Portrayed in the Poems Dulce Essays Compare How War Is Portrayed in the Poems Dulce Essay Compare How War Is Portrayed in the Poems Dulce Essay It Is Important to note that both toes had experience of war and that as such we cannot comment on differences relating from distance to the sub]etc_ Owens poem Is a story of a gas attack In the First World War. Using pathetic fallacy (ewe cursed through sludge) and negative language he sets up a scene of sheer horror. He begins by describing their weary march. He describes them using language like bent double, asleep and knock- kneed. This immediately gives the impression of fatigue, and he goes on to use negative language such as blood-shod, lame and blind to convey the dire straits which they are in. The poem is in Iambic Pentameter which is very rhythmic and emphasizes the last syllable of each line which is often used in rhyme, as in this poem (even though enjambment takes away the full emphasis). He uses enjambment and plosive language to emphasis particular ideas such as beggar and flares. These both change the rhythm in either speed or rhythm. The rhythm is indeed slow at first and this causes the reader to mull over what Owen is saying. However in the second stanza the rhythm picks up to articulate the sudden rush of a gas attack. Owen uses a mix of quickening language and words with short syllables to peed the stanza up such as Quick! Quick! and Ecstasy. This contrasts with Brocks poem which maintains a steady rhythm throughout the poem, this tone makes it feel very Instructional and dry. Brock, in his poem, talks about various deferent forms of warfare and killing in a very cold and instructional sort of way. Brock alludes to Christ, and to the decreasingly barbaric ways of killing men that have developed. Brock also refers to gas over one verse during his poem, however he does not concentrate on it as Owen does. This also speaks of the deference of background teen the two authors; Brock was a navy sailor during the Second World War, while Owen was a rifleman during the First World War. Brock, In part to emphasis the brutal efficiency of his poem, does not use pathetic fallacy. Brock also uses enjambment, especially between lines (never between verses this causes an uninterrupted rhythm throughout the poem. Both poems portray war very differently: however they both seem to think that the terms death and war are synonymous. This may be classed as simply the shared view of two veterans of war: however this could also be seen as a means to the ends of thwarting war. Having said this Owen does not say that they are as closely linked as Brock does. Owen sets up teen poem as set In war Ana teen uses tenant as alter teen conclusion to teen story, or as, at least, a means to the end. Owen makes it very clear that war is responsible for this death: in the rush, one man clumsily drops his mask, and the narrator sees the man floundering like a man in fire or lime. Owen then talks about how he has to throw the man into the back of a wagon and the mans hanging face, like a devils sick of sin. Owen contrasts the idea of drowning as a peaceful death with his reality f it: He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. There is also some very strong imagery here: As under a green sea, and He plunges at me. Note that plunge is a plosive word and is therefore emphasized. This is also true as with flung in the next verse. It is however the last verse that speaks the most about death. It uses much negative imagery to bring its point about such as: devils sick of sin, and froth- corrupted lungs. This makes the poem very powerful in the point that it is trying to bring about. He also makes the reader Join the battle, as it were, by stating: If in mothering dreams you coul d pace, this allows the reader to really connect with this. In Brooks poem the poet speaks of death and war as the same thing. The title is quite significant in this theme: Five Wap to Kill a Man, and he goes on to describe various forms of warfare. Brock speaks of death in an increasingly clinical way; this signifies the loss of humanity in war. It begins by speaking of crucifixion where you need people. It ends by speaking of Aircraft where you dont even have to see, or know the people that you bomb and then about living a life in the twentieth century which he remarks is like a living death: leave him there. The steady rhythm of the poem also highlights the clean brutality of it all there is no speeding-up, no highlighting of death at any point. Brock uses a lot of neutral imagery in his poem. He even speaks of crucifixion and the man who has to nail the victim to the post as neutral: and a man to hammer the nails home. In this poem Brock speaks to the reader as if giving instruction, he does not speak personally at all about anything. T here if the victim who Just serves as the he in the poem and anyone else is Just referred to as a third person noun. This makes the poem very impersonal and makes sure that there is no connection between reader and victim which allows the poem to be read without emotion of any kind which could distort the meaning of the poem it is intended to show the loss of humanity (the loss of emotion) rather than describe vivid and terrifying images of war. This is not to say that he does not use strong imagery, he Just doesnt describe it in a terrifying way: a length of steel rather than a bloodied sword. This is opposed to Owens poem which is very personal, referring to the reader at various points such as If you could hear My friend, you would not It is also written in first person and directed at Journalists and other poets of the time who were writing about Joining the army, such as Jessie Pope who encouraged young men to Join the army, including Owen himself. Both poems aim to make the reader against the notion of war. In my personal opinion Brooks poem contributes to this cause better as it is written from a viewpoint which is far from war, which is what I am and thus I connect more with it. However other than with my own personal opinion I cannot compare these poems anymore as they are so different in delivery. Both achieve their purpose.

Ming Dynasty Emperors of China

Ming Dynasty Emperors of China The Ming Dynasty is famous world-wide for its graceful blue-and-white glazed porcelains, and for the voyages of Zheng He and the Treasure Fleet. The Ming were also the only ethnically Han Chinese family to rule the empire between 1270 and the end of the imperial system in 1911. This list includes the Ming emperors given names and their reign-names, as well as their years in power. Â   Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, 1368-1398Zhu Yunwen, the Jianwen Emperor, 1398-1402Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor, 1402-1424Zhu Gaochi, the Hongxi Emperor, 1424-1425Zhu Zhangji, the Xuande Emperor, 1425-1435Zhu Qizhen, the Zhengtong Emperor, 1435-1449 and 1457-1464Zhu Qiyu, the Jingtai Emperor, 1449-1457Zhu Jianshen, the Chenghua Emperor, 1464-1487Zhu Youtang, the Hongzhi Emperor, 1487-1505Zhu Houzhao, the Zhengde Emperor, 1505-1521Zhu Houcong, the Jiajing Emperor, 1521-1566Zhu Zaihou, the Longqing Emperor, 1566-1572Zhu Yijun, Wanli Emperor, 1572-1620Zhu Changluo, the Taichang Emperor, 1620Zhu Youjiao, the Tianqi Emperor, 1620-1627Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor, 1627-1644 Â   For more information, see the List of Chinese Dynasties.

Conjugating Servir in Spanish

Conjugating Servir in Spanish The Spanish verb servir has most of the meanings of to serve but is used more often than the English verb in describing how things are used. The cognates come from the Latin servire, which originally referred to being a servant or slave. Its meaning of being beneficial developed later. Servir is conjugated irregularly, using the same pattern as pedir and competir. The stem of serv- changes to sirv- when stressed in the indicative mood and always when used in a simple form of the subjunctive mood. The conjugations of the present-tense indicative (the most-used conjugation) are as follows: yo sirvo, tà º sirves, usted/à ©l/ella sirve, nosotros/nosotras servimos, vosotros servà ­s, ustedes/ellos/ellas sirven. Using Servir To Indicate Use or Suitability Although it can stand alone, servir is often followed by the preposition para to indicate how something is used and/or what it is used or useful for. Less common is using the reflexive form servirse followed by the preposition de. Examples with possible translations: Mi mà ³vil me sirve para estar en contacto en las redes sociales. (My cellphone is useful for me to stay in touch with the social networks.)Las vitaminas sirven para la adecuada funcià ³n del cuerpo humano. (Vitamins are used in the proper functioning of the human body.)No todos servimos para todo, pero todos servimos para algo. (Not all of us are good at everything, but all of us are good for something.)No sirve para nada. (Its not helpful for anything.)La jefa de la policà ­a quiere dos perros que sirvieron para detectar narcà ³ticos y explosivos. (The police chief wants two dogs that would be used to detect drugs and explosives.)Nuestro programa de seguridad puede servir como modelo para otras escuelas. (Our security system can be used as a model for other schools.)Esta clase sirve a alumnos con discapacidades graves. (This class serves students with severe disabilities.)Me servà ­ de la llave para abrir la puerta. (I used the key to open the door.)Muchos oradores se sirven h istorias humorà ­sticas para establecer una relacià ³n con la audiencia. (Many speakers use funny stories to make a connection with the audience.) Using Servir To Refer To Serving Someone Although servir often has a domestic connotation such as when it refers to serving food, it can be used in a wide variety of contexts involving helping someone or something. El mesero puso azà ºcar en las tazas e inmediatamente sirvià ³ el tà ©. (The waiter put sugar in the cups and immediately served the tea.)Hay varios mà ©todos de servir la mesa. (There are several ways of setting the table.)Mi abuelo sirvià ³ en el ejà ©rcito durante la guerra. (My grandfather served in the army during the war.)El gobernador dice que quiere servir al pueblo. (The governor says he wants to help the people.) ¿Dà ³nde se sirve el desayuno? (Where is breakfast served?)Me servà ­ la leche en el refrigerador. (I helped myself to the milk in the refrigerator.) ¿En quà © puedo servirte? (How can I help you?) Using Servir in Sports Sports where a ball is served in English typically use servir in Spanish: Si un jugador sirvià ³ fuera de su turno, ese juego queda anulado. (If a player serves out of order, that game wont count.)

The French Revolution and the Cultural Renewal of Europe Essay - 1

The French Revolution and the Cultural Renewal of Europe - Essay Example The seminal event in the evolution of political thought also was transformative for the development of Europe’s great cultural tradition. A civilization in which Neo-Classically influenced works of art and literature honored royalty and aristocracy underwent a radical change. The toppling of the ancien regime in France did more than set off a chain of events that would transform Western Europe from monarchy to democracy. It radically changed the very notion of culture. After the revolution, the idea that culture was the exclusive province of the wealthy and powerful changed forever. Culture in a world where noblemen had been patrons of the great artists was now the property of everyone, of rich and poor. The ideas that fired the revolution were equally motivating to the painters, composers and writers of Europe, who had seen nothing comparable to the fervor with which Marat, Robespierre and other firebrands of the Revolution took up the philosophies of Rousseau and Montesquieu. The power of Enlightenment thinking took solid root on both sides of the Atlantic, inspiring political and cultural leaders to adopt the cause of liberty, equality and fraternity as their own. â€Å"The tide of Revolution that swept away much of the old political order in Europe and America in the last quarter of the 18th century had momentous consequences for the arts. Both the American and French revolutions had in fact used art as a means of expressing their spiritual rejection of the aristocratic society against which they were physically rebelling†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Cunningham and Reich, 2006). The art of David typified this spiritual and physical break with the past, using classical imagery to glorify the ideals of the Revolution.

Celebrities Endorsement to a Brand Promotion Dissertation

Celebrities Endorsement to a Brand Promotion - Dissertation Example Celebrities acted as the spokesperson to promote and advertise the product, services and sometimes ideas. Those celebrities usually came from the movie, sports, modelling and art scene industry. British actor Lillie Langtry was the first celebrity endorser appeared on the package of Pears soap in the year 1893. In that era, advertisers used celebrities in order to dictate the market trend. According to Belch’s research (2009), endorsers can be divided into three different groups that are experts, celebrities, and lay endorsers (Belch and Belch, 2009). An expert can be defined as having some specific knowledge in particular area that can be promoted. Usually experts are chosen because of their thorough knowledge. When a dentist is used in toothpaste commercial then the dentist can be defined as an expert. Lay endorsers are those who are initially unknown to their audience. It has been seen that these individuals are selected according to the target segment so that, target segme nt can relate themselves with the endorser and the message. Audio advertisement and the voice-over in video advertisements are usually that of a lay endorser. According to Kambitsis et al, uses of celebrities are becoming more sophisticated as well as more complicated. Popularity of using celebrities in USA increased from around 15% to 25 % and it has been seen that more than 20% of the Television commercials feature celebrities. It can be proved that the use of celebrities in advertising generates lot of attention and publicity from public.

Human Rights and Oil Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Human Rights and Oil Companies - Essay Example It also examines prominent cases under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789. The paper goes on to view some codes of best practice in relation to the operations of American multinationals and petroleum companies overseas in relation to human rights. The paper concludes with the writer's opinions and findings about the subject. Human Rights â€Å"Human rights create entitlements and are fundamentally different from rights established solely as state obligations that cannot be claimed by the beneficiaries† (Kalin & Kunzli 32). This implies that human rights refer to some inherent rights that people must be granted irrespective of their status and situation. In other words, human rights are not conditional. In includes the right that any human being must be granted in any situation or condition. Although beneficiaries of human rights are individuals, they are sometimes asserted by minorities in various collective forms (Kalin & Kunzli 32). In other words, people can come together a gro up to demand their human rights in a collective manner. This can be done through group actions like protests on the street or universal adult suffrage elections like a referendum or plebiscite to choose a given option. Human rights are constitutive and not regulative (Milne 103). This is in line with John Locke's view on natural right which requires people to be granted certain rights without having to work for it (Donelly 18). These rights are based on moral vision. This should generally include natural justice wich involves the right to life and the right to fair trial and justice on the part of all human beings. No one must decide whether to grant those rights or not. They are inherent and there are no conditions or exceptions that can be attached to such rules. In a nation, there are three main conceptions that ensure that human rights are entrenched and observed throughout the nation (Milne 104). First of all, human rights are guaranteed where there is the rule of law. In other words, human rights can be guaranteed if there is a constitution and the constitution guarantees some inherent and inalienable rights of people in a given society. Secondly, the supremacy of human rights laws must be guaranteed. And thirdly, there should be equality before the law in the interpretation of human rights law. Due to the supremacy and entrenched nature of human rights, all groups and units within a given nation must honor these laws. This therefore means that businesses in every nation, whether they are international or local, should honor human rights laws. Human rights laws are internationally guaranteed (Kalin & Kunzli 32). This therefore means that there is an international framework within which human rights can be discharged. Laws that Protect Humans Rights In every nation, the constitution and fundamental rights must ensure that basic human rights are protected. The Parliament of every nation must make laws that are sensitive to human rights (Campbell & Goldswor th 259). This therefore means that there should be an entrenched and established universal system that must respect and honor the basic rights of all citizens. The parliament or law making body of every nation should be sensitive to fundamental human rights in the making of laws. Also, in interpreting the law in relation to specific cases, the Judiciary must guarantee the human rights of individuals. Where this is in

Legal Structures of British Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal Structures of British Government - Essay Example The overall law making authority is really diverse in the UK with no single authority has the power to make the laws in the country. Once the bill is approved by the Parliament i.e. the House of Lords, it is then sent to the Queen for Royal Assent and once it is signed by Queen, it becomes law. As such the overall law making authority in the UK rests with the Parliament, however, the overall law making also requires the approval of Queen to make them into a law. The Role of Queen, however, is considered as nominal as the final law making authority is Parliament. The Prime Minister of the country is considered as the Head of Her Majesty’s Government and the PM, along with the cabinet is accountable to the Monarch, to the Parliament, to their political party and ultimately to the public. It is also important to note that the position of PM in the country is not established under constitutional law in the country but it is created under the long established conventions in the cou ntry. Under the convention, it is held that the Monarch must appoint a Prime Minister in the country who can gain the confidence of the Parliament. It is also critical to note that the position of Prime Minister was not actually created under the law but evolved over the period of centuries. Prime Minister has both the legislative as well as executive powers and role and in the House of Commons, he has the mandate to make laws with the overall goal of enacting the legislative agenda of the political party to which he or she belongs to.

College Life Essay Example for Free

College Life Essay I knew when I graduated from high school a new beginning was ahead of me. College was the only thing that was important to me because I knew that I would have to get a good education to get a good job to start a great career. I would have never expected myself to bounce from a community college to a vocational school back to a community college. There are so many choices of colleges and how their short term programs can really help the potential student. The truth of the matter is that there aren’t any short cuts in life, but how are these schools still standing. I was accepted into 3 universities to continue my post secondary education. I made my finally decision as to which one I was planning on attending, Norfolk State University in Norfolk Virginia. There was only one small problem; I was raised by a single mother so there wasn’t any money set aside for my college education. When this was brought to my attention it was too late to apply for scholarships and grants. However I did apply for financial aid but I didn’t qualify because according to the government my mother made to much money for me to get free money. So I did what any other determined person would do, enroll in community college, and work part-time for one year and then go away to school for the rest of my education. When I went to enroll in my first community college, Daley, I took a placement test to see what level I would be at for my general courses like English, Math and so forth. Once I received my results I was instructed to see a counselor and register for fall classes. The counselor that I saw wasn’t even a real counselor; she was a remedial English teacher who barley new the course catalog, but I trusted her input and enrolled in the recommended courses that I wouldn’t even need for my major at the time. When I finished my first semester at Daley my GPA was good for a freshman, but I didn’t save enough money to continue my education there. That’s when I moved to the south suburbs and started at South Suburban College. I attended South Suburban for a total of two semesters maintaining a GPA of 3. 2. I saved some money from the two jobs that I worked but that was barely enough for me to attend 1 semester at NSU. My mother was willing to help me out but she still had my little brother to raise. That was when I kept seeing ads for ITT Technical Institute. The ads simple said that I can graduate with an Associate’s Degree within two years or a Bachelor’s in three years. The commercial also stated that they will find employment for me and I can come back as an alumnus to take any course refreshers if needed to. I thought to myself, that is where I need to be attending as soon as the next semester starts. When I went to enroll I just knew that I would qualify for financial aid because I have been living on my own for almost two years, but once again I was declined and the school suggested that I take out a student loan, the school also said that I will need a co-signer since I don’t have any credit established. My mind was made up and I was going to attend this school, so I asked my mom of course to co-sign for me. She really didn’t trust this schools credibility, but she saw how important it meant to me so she applied along with my husband now, boyfriend at the time. I got my loans for school, totaling 60k for two years, enrolled and started in the fall of 2004. I went through my program for 2 years and received an Associate’s in Computer Electronics and Engineering Technology. When I graduated the school had jobs waiting for me but they had nothing to do with what I just spent the last two years of my life studying for.

Meaning to Human Life Essay Example for Free

Meaning to Human Life Essay Is there any meaning to human life? After listening to the first two lectures I gathered what I felt to be Professor Amrbosio’s definitions of the hero and the saint. I took notes and after going back through and reading them it helped me to put a few things together. He asks the question about whether or not human existence is meaningful or absurd. We live in a hostile and deadly environment so we try to find our purpose and meaning so we have some sense of security. It is a defense mechanism. Why is there so much evil in this world? We have the good and the bad. The good being our loving parents and the soldiers who put their lives at risk to defend our freedom and our lives. But then you have the bad and the evil such as the homeless people and the terrorist attacks and the holocaust. It is unfair how there are so many people with nothing and living on the streets when there are just as many people who have much more then they need to survive. The hero and the saint represent traits that can and will be inherited and passed on across different cultures and over time. The hero and the saint are metaphors that humans have used to search for the meaning of life. With the hero, reality is formed and driven by the struggle of humans. They believe in honor and self-esteem along with self-fulfillment and admiration. They always run up against bad things and they believe the good guys will come in last. The Saint believes that reality is made up of our personal and loving relationships. These relationships are based around unconditional trust. They feel like humans really have no goal but they have a purpose. Love and gratitude define them. Some people say life is a wrong turn and it’s down a dead end street. Saints and heroes show us ways we can share and participate in living every day and still asking our questions about life. The best we can do is to live the most meaningful life. Make every day count and always tell the ones you love how much you love them because you never know when it could be the last time that you are able to tell them. Sometimes you just have to trust that our life has a purpose.

Maya Angelou Essay -- essays research papers fc

Maya Angelou is one of the most influential and talented African American writers of our modern day. Those who read Angelou‘s works should not pass the thought of where her influence came from. Maya Angelou’s work has been heavily affected by the era in which she began to write. The fifties and sixties were a tumultuous time for most African-Americans in the US. The civil-rights movement, led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, was instrumental in securing legislation, notably the Civil-Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, schools, employment, and voting for reasons of color, race, religion, or national origin. But all this was gained at a great price, the freedom of many saints who sacrificed for the greater cause, and many years of hard work. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and others pushed for desegregation and equal rights in the face of strong white opposition, and it sometimes became violent. Many whites protested integration. In 1951, Florida NAACP state secretary Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriet, were killed Christmas night in a bombing of their house. No arrests were ever made. In 1953, black political leader Lamar D. Smith, 63, was shot to death in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse at Brookhaven, Mississippi, after seeking to qualify blacks to vote. More than twenty people witnessed the shooting, including several blacks, but nobody admitted to having seen anything and no witnesses testified against the three white men charged with the murder. In 1954, black minister George W. Lee was killed at Belzoni, Mississippi, after a week of terror during which whites had vandalized blacks’ property. The blacks had refused to send their children to racially segregated schools, the whites had retaliated by refusing credit to blacks at local stores, and Lee had campaigned for black voting rights. In 1956, Southern congress... ...rientation span the lines of race and class. Passionate and exuberant, Angelou is an ambassador to people worldwide, sharing lessons on the human spirit, and what each of us can dream about, strive toward, fail at, endure and still survive.† (Miller,1982) She is an advocate for the betterment and education of all, encouraging us to surpass our potential, both as individuals and as communities of people. Through her unselfish gifts of poetry, story and song, Maya Angelou continues to demonstrate what it means to be a truly Phenomenal Woman. Works Cited Angelou, Maya. And Still I Rise, A Book of Poems by Maya Angelou. 3. 1978 Casey, Ellen Miller:1982. in a review "The Heart of a Women." Best Sellers January, 1982: 376-77. Lisandrelli, Elaine Slivinski:1996, Maya Angelou; More Than a Poet. Springfield, NJ Loos, Pamela:2000, Maya Angelou. Introduction by James Scott Brady. Philadelphia: Chelsea House. Pettit, Jayne:1996, Maya Angelou; Journey of the Heart. New York: Lodestar, 1996. Ages 9-12 Based in part on her autobiography Reilly, Charlie :1994,"Maya Angelou Interviews Amiri Baraka." Conversations with Amiri Baraka. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1994. 261-66.

The Death Penalty Essay -- Capital Punishment Essays

The Death Penalty in the United States is still intact, but in other Nations it has been abolished. These countries abolished it because they thought it to inhumane and cruel. One hundred and thirty-six nations have abolished the death penalty. Now in this essay I will tell the reasons some states and countries still have the death penalty and why some do not, also some cases of people getting sentenced to it when they were really innocent. The first thing I am going to talk about is the states and countries that still have the death penalty. In the United States the death penalty is still held as a sentence for many reasons like; most Americans still support the death penalty, the eye-for-an eye mentality still holds firm in the conservative heartland, and the leaders still believe that it is effective against a violent crime. I think the only thing they don't think about when they approve of the penalty is the innocent people that get â€Å"proven guilty† are not really guilty and they are put to death for something they didn't even do. In the case of Kobe Bryant, he was proven guilty for sexually assaulting a 19 year old girl in his home town of Eagle, Colorado. He even admitted that he had committed adultery but they still proved guilty even though he didn't do it. He was sentenced to maximum sentence to life in prison. In the state of Texas, they have prosecuted four times more inmates than in any one single state. Only thirty-six of the fifty states still have the death penalty and those states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connetticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana,. Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Miss... ... Each year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. From 1976 to 1995 there were a total of 314 people put on death row in the U.S. 179 of them were put to death using lethal injection, 123 were put to death using electrocution, 9 were put to death in a gas chamber, 2 were hung, and 1 was put to death using the firing squad. The death penalty is the worst form of punishment gave in the United Sates. Once the jury has convicted a criminal, they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase.   Different forms of the death penalty are more reasonable than others. In the 1920's people decided that lethal gas, or the gas chamber, was more reasonable than the electric chair. Is the death penalty just or unjust? Well one of the "Ten Commandments" states, " Thou shalt not kill." Wouldn't this mean that the death penalty is murder?

MBA Capstone: Team Charter

Your instructor will review this information to approve your business idea. Our product is a neighborhood market dedicated to organic groceries, education of customers with regard to organic and CEO-friendly growing of food, and commitment to organic vendors. Our concept will solve the issue of companies claiming to be organic when they are truly not. Will educate the public with tips and tricks on how to get the best produce from within their own gardening as well. Our solution is unique because while we will also be selling local produce, we also want to strengthen the community to rely more heavily on their own supply as well.The intended target audience will include a small community of people who are parents, teachers, students and leaders wanting to help make better food choices for themselves and future generations. Coles (Community; Organic; Local; Environment) Market is a community market with a passion for providing organic produce and groceries in a modern environment. Uti lizing produce from only local earth-friendly farmers, our goal is to bring the freshest, healthiest food to our community with the highest regard for our ecological system.We strive to play a part in reducing the impact of our lifestyles on the world tit other species and future generations. We are fully devoted to continued education about organic farming, community health and education and environmental preservation. Ill. Team Management Plan This section defines how the team will allocate assignments and talents a) Team Leadership: One person will be named the team/project leader to provide overall leadership and continuity to the project.Your team leader will be: Karen Lothrop b) Deliverable Management: Each deliverable will be assigned a component Manager. In the case of larger teams, you may assign more than one person to a deliverable. In the case of smaller teams, the team lead may also have to take on the role of a component lead too. The level of effort required for compo nents will vary depending on your business idea. Review the business plan rubric to gain a sense of the amount of content required to help you balance your team's workload with your skills, interests, and your specific business idea.List your component managers in the table. Deliverable Due Date Manager Assigned Team Charter With Business Description Industry Analysis week 3 Deanna Miles Marketing Plan Wee k 4 Operations Plan week 5 Lakeside Williams/Karen Lothrop Financial Plan week 6 Presentation (Team) As scheduled Karen Lothrop/ Doddering Westbrook Final Plan (Team) week 8 c) Skills Inventory: Identify each team member's personal, professional, and academic strengths and weaknesses in the table.We will also keep in touch between calls by way of the Team B Discussion thread and through email. Agenda items will be sent through emails and posted in Doc Sharing. How will you keep track of different drafts (versions) of the same document? Documents will be shared via email and posted in Doc Sharing. Charlie Win will maintain master copies with revisions. Describe how your team will manage conflict. Potential Conflict Recommended Solution Member misses a meeting case by case. Member cannot be reached Multiple methods to be used include; email, text, phone. If no response, team to decide. Member does not complete work on time Member will be reported to professor and get unfavorable Peer Review.Member work is unsatisfactory Member drops the course Their work will be re-distributed among other members. Member has an unavoidable emergency that delays work Other team members will pick up the work to assist for valid emergencies. Otherwise, How will you resolve minor disagreements? Through vote of entire team. Who rules for major disagreements?team leader or majority rule? Majority rule. How will you use the Peer Review at the end of the course? What are the consequences of unsatisfactory performance? Peer Review to be favorable for all members that have participated and contributed. Unsatisfactory performance will et a vote of other members to include possible recommendation to Professor of reduction of individual's course grade. College is temporarily offline or class time is cancelled Communication will be maintained through alternate methods such as email, phone calls, etc. Other potential conflict Create a list of rules to help you collaborate as a team, including expectations about meetings, communication, course work, conflict resolution, and so on, based on other elements of this charter. All team members are expected to participate in meetings whenever possible (the Team understands scheduling conflicts will arise from time to time). All members are required to ‘carry their weight' and perform their allocated portions of the course work. Course work sections will be assigned based on each members' sign up for their areas of expertise/interest.Critical Success Factors Reason for Importance Steps Taken to Ensure Attainment Contracti ng with local organic growers and vendors To assure our store will be able to offer the type and variety of products that customers expect Contracting with numerous suppliers for each product line. Rotating purchasing among these vendors. Retail foot traffic generation To insure a consistent flow of customers Well planned and executed marketing and advertising campaigns. Community involvement to build our brand. VI'. Commitment Each team member is to write an individual commitment statement. If onsite, each team member will sign his or her commitment statement. Deanna Miles – My commitment to this group is to make sure we get the Job done and to get it right. I also commit to participate somehow in all group meetings. Lastly I will listen and be up for the ideas and concerns of my group members. Charles Win –

How to Plan a Surprise Party Essay

Planning a surprise party is never easy, but it is often the most rewarding. When planning, keep in mind how many people to invite, the location, and a theme. Whether it is a large or small party, taking a few minutes to create a plan ensures the party will be a success. Deciding the location is the most important aspect because it affects all others: the guest list, the budget, the menu, and to an extent, the theme. It needs to be large enough to accommodate everyone invited, have a large enough food preparation area, and ample space for the decorations. It is important to find a place that will not cause the person to become suspicious. It is necessary to know the person well in order to pick a theme they will appreciate. When choosing a theme, it is also necessary to think about how easy or difficult it will be to incorporate throughout all aspects of the party. The internet is a great place to find creative themes for any type of party; and with party supply stores, it is much easier to find decorations to go along with most themes. A well chosen theme helps tie everything together. Once the location is chosen and the theme is planned, it is time to plan the menu and begin buying the supplies. When planning the menu, keep in mind the time of he party. It will help to determine whether to serve light hors d’oeuvres or a full meal. The menu also needs items for guests with special diets, such as vegetarians. Items should be easy to cook ahead of time and be stored easily. Limiting the menu to food items that are simple to refill and maintain is a good idea. Although planning a surprise party is often the most difficult, it is always worth it. Preparation is the key to any successful party, but the extra work put into keeping the party a secret pays off in the end. The look on their face and the appreciation they show is the ultimate reward.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 16

Chapter 16 We were twelve days into our journey, following Balthasar's meticulously drawn map, when we came to the wall. â€Å"So,† I said, â€Å"what do you think of the wall?† â€Å"It's great,† said Joshua. â€Å"It's not that great,† I said. There was a long line waiting to get through the giant gate, where scores of bureaucrats collected taxes from caravan masters as they passed through. The gatehouses alone were each as big as one of Herod's palaces, and soldiers rode horses atop the wall, patrolling far into the distance. We were a good league back from the gate and the line didn't seem to be moving. â€Å"This is going to take all day,† I said. â€Å"Why would they build such a thing? If you can build a wall like this then you ought to be able to raise an army large enough to defeat any invaders.† â€Å"Lao-tzu built this wall,† Joshua said. â€Å"The old master who wrote the Tao? I don't think so.† â€Å"What does the Tao value above all else?† â€Å"Compassion? Those other two jewel things?† â€Å"No, inaction. Contemplation. Steadiness. Conservatism. A wall is the defense of a country that values inaction. But a wall imprisons the people of a country as much as it protects them. That's why Balthasar had us go this way. He wanted me to see the error in the Tao. One can't be free without action.† â€Å"So he spent all that time teaching us the Tao so we could see that it was wrong.† â€Å"No, not wrong. Not all of it. The compassion, humility, and moderation of the Tao, these are the qualities of a righteous man, but not inaction. These people are slaves to inaction.† â€Å"You worked as a stonecutter, Josh,† I said, nodding toward the massive wall. â€Å"You think this wall was built through inaction?† â€Å"The magus wasn't teaching us about action as in work, it was action as in change. That's why we learned Confucius first – everything having to do with the order of our fathers, the law, manners. Confucius is like the Torah, rules to follow. And Lao-tzu is even more conservative, saying that if you do nothing you won't break any rules. You have to let tradition fall sometime, you have to take action, you have to eat bacon. That's what Balthasar was trying to teach me.† â€Å"I've said it before, Josh – and you know how I love bacon – but I don't think bacon is enough for the Messiah to bring.† â€Å"Change,† Joshua said. â€Å"A Messiah has to bring change. Change comes through action. Balthasar once said to me, ‘There's no such thing as a conservative hero.' He was wise, that old man.† I thought about the old magus as I looked at the wall stretching over the hills, then at the line of travelers ahead of us. A small city had grown up at the entrance to the wall to accommodate the needs of the delayed travelers along the Silk Road and it boiled with merchants hawking food and drink along the line. â€Å"Screw it,† I said. â€Å"This is going to take forever. How long can it be? Let's go around.† A month later, when we had returned to the same gate and we were standing in line to get through, Joshua asked: â€Å"So what do you think of the wall now? I mean, now that we've seen so much more of it?† â€Å"I think it's ostentatious and unpleasant,† I said. â€Å"If they don't have a name for it, you should suggest that.† And so it came to pass that through the ages the wall was known as the Ostentatious and Unpleasant Wall of China. At least I hope that's what happened. It's not on my Friendly Flyer Miles map, so I can't be sure. We could see the mountain where Gaspar's monastery lay long before we reached it. Like the other peaks around it, it cut the sky like a huge tooth. Below the mountain was a village surrounded by high pasture. We stopped there to rest and water our camels. The people of the village all came out to greet us and they marveled at our strange eyes and Joshua's curly hair as if we were gods that had been lowered out of the heavens (which I guess was true in Josh's case, but you forget about that when you're around someone a lot). An old toothless woman who spoke a dialect of Chinese similar to the one we had learned from Joy convinced us to leave the camels in the village. She traced the path up the mountain with a craggy finger and it was obvious that the path was both too narrow and too steep to accommodate the animals. The villagers served us a spicy meat dish with frothy bowls of milk to wash it down. I hesitated and looked at Joshua. The Torah forbade us to eat meat and dairy at the same meal. â€Å"I'm thinking this is a lot like the bacon thing,† Joshua said. â€Å"I really don't feel that the Lord cares if we wash down our yak with a bowl of milk.† â€Å"Yak?† â€Å"That's what this is. The old woman told me.† â€Å"Well, sin or not, I'm not eating it. I'll just drink the milk.† â€Å"It's yak milk too.† â€Å"I'm not drinking it.† â€Å"Use your own judgment, it served you so well in the past, like, oh, when you decided we should go around the wall.† â€Å"You know,† I said, weary of having the whole wall thing brought up again, â€Å"I never said you could use sarcasm whenever you wanted to. I think you're using my invention in ways that it was never intended to be used.† â€Å"Like against you?† â€Å"See? See what I mean?† We left the village early the next morning, carrying only some rice balls, our waterskins, and what little money we had left. We left our three camels in the care of the toothless old woman, who promised to take care of them until we returned. I would miss them. They were the spiffy double-humpers we'd picked up in Kabul and they were comfortable to ride, but more important, none of them had ever tried to bite me. â€Å"They're going to eat our camels, you know? We won't be gone an hour before one of them is turning on a spit.† â€Å"They won't eat the camels.† Joshua, forever believing in the goodness of human beings. â€Å"They don't know what they are. They think that they're just tall food. They're going to eat them. The only meat they ever get is yak.† â€Å"You don't even know what a yak is.† â€Å"Do too,† I said, but the air was getting thin and I was too tired to prove myself at the time. The sun was going down behind the mountains when we finally reached the monastery. Except for a huge wooden gate with a small hatch in it, it was constructed entirely of the same black basalt as the mountain on which it stood. It looked more like a fortress than a place of worship. â€Å"Makes you wonder if all three of your magi live in fortresses, doesn't it?† â€Å"Hit the gong,† said Joshua. There was a bronze gong hanging outside the door with a padded drumstick standing next to it and a sign in a language that we couldn't read. I hit the gong. We waited. I hit the gong again. And we waited. The sun went down and it began to get very cold on the mountainside. I rang the gong three times loud. We ate our rice balls and drank most of our water and waited. I pounded the bejezus out of the gong and the hatch opened. A dim light from inside the gate illuminated the smooth cheeks of a Chinese man about our age. â€Å"What?† he said in Chinese. â€Å"We are here to see Gaspar,† I said. â€Å"Balthasar sent us.† â€Å"Gaspar sees no one. Your aspect is dim and your eyes are too round.† He slammed the little hatch. This time Joshua pounded on the gong until the monk returned. â€Å"Let me see that drumstick,† the monk said, holding his hand out through the little port. Joshua gave him the drumstick and stepped back. â€Å"Go away and come back in the morning,† the monk said. â€Å"But we've traveled all day,† Joshua said. â€Å"We're cold and hungry.† â€Å"Life is suffering,† the monk said. He slammed the little door, leaving us in almost total darkness. â€Å"Maybe that's what you're supposed to learn,† I said. â€Å"Let's go home.† â€Å"No, we wait,† said Joshua. In the morning, after Joshua and I had slept against the great gate, huddled together to conserve warmth, the monk opened the little hatch. â€Å"You still here?† He couldn't see us, as we were directly below the window. â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"Can we see Gaspar now?† He craned his neck out the hatch, then pulled it back in and produced a small wooden bowl, from which he poured water on our heads. â€Å"Go away. Your feet are misshapen and your eyebrows grow together in a threatening way.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He slammed the hatch. And so we spent the day outside the gate, me wanting to go down the mountain, Joshua insisting that we wait. There was frost in our hair when we woke the next morning, and I felt my very bones aching. The monk opened the hatch just after first light. â€Å"You are so stupid that the village idiots' guild uses you as a standard for testing,† said the monk. â€Å"Actually, I'm a member of the village idiots' guild,† I retorted. â€Å"In that case,† said the monk, â€Å"go away.† I cursed eloquently in five languages and was beginning to tear at my hair in frustration when I spotted something large moving in the sky overhead. As it got closer, I saw that it was the angel, wearing his aspect of black robe and wings. He carried a flaming bundle of sticks and pitch, which trailed a trail of flames and thick black smoke behind him in the sky. When he had passed over us several times, he flew off over the horizon, leaving a smoky pattern of Chinese characters that spelled out a message across the sky: SURRENDER DOROTHY. I was just fuckin' with you (as Balthasar used to say). Raziel didn't really write SURRENDER DOROTHY in the sky. The angel and I watched The Wizard of Oz together on television last night and the scene at the gates of Oz reminded me of when Joshua and I were at the monastery gate. Raziel said he identified with Glinda, Good Witch of the North. (I would have thought flying monkey, but I believe his choice was a blond one.) I have to admit that I felt some sympathy for the scarecrow, although I don't believe I would have been singing about the lack of a brain. In fact, amid all the musical laments over not having a heart, a brain, or the nerve, did anyone notice that they didn't have a penis among them? I think it would have shown on the Lion and the Tin Man, and when the Scarecrow has his pants destuffed, you don't see a flying monkey waving an errant straw Johnson around anywhere, do you? I think I know what song I'd be singing: Oh, I would while away the hours, Wanking in the flowers, my heart all full of song, I'd be gilding all the lilies as I waved about my willie If I only had a schlong. And suddenly it occurred to me, as I composed the above opus, that although Raziel had always seemed to have the aspect of a male, I had no idea if there were even genders among the angels. After all, Raziel was the only one I'd ever seen. I leapt from my chair and confronted him in the midst of an afternoon Looney Tunes festival. â€Å"Raziel, do you have equipment?† â€Å"Equipment?† â€Å"A package, a taliwacker, a unit, a dick – do you have one?† â€Å"No,† said the angel, perplexed that I would be asking. â€Å"Why would I need one?† â€Å"For sex. Don't angels have sex?† â€Å"Well, yes, but we don't use those.† â€Å"So there are female angels and male angels?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And you have sex with female angels.† â€Å"Correct.† â€Å"With what do you have sex?† â€Å"Female angels. I just told you.† â€Å"No, do you have a sex organ?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Show me?† â€Å"I don't have it with me.† â€Å"Oh.† I realized that there are some things I'd really rather not know about. Anyway, he didn't write in the sky, and, in fact, we didn't see Raziel again, but the monks did let us into the monastery after three days. They said that they made everybody wait three days. It weeded out the insincere. The entire two-story structure that was the monastery was fashioned of rough stone, none larger than could have been lifted into place by a single man. The rear of the building was built right into the mountainside. The structure seemed to have been built under an existing overhang in the rock, so there was minimal roofing exposed to the elements. What did show was made of terra-cotta tiles that lay on a steep incline, obviously to shed any buildup of snow. A short and hairless monk wearing a saffron-colored robe led us across an outer courtyard paved with flagstone through an austere doorway into the monastery. The floor inside was stone, and though immaculately clean, it was no more finished than the flagstone of the courtyard. There were only a few windows, more like arrow slits, cut high in the wall, and little light penetrated the interior once the front door was closed. The air was thick with incense and filled with a buzzing chorus of male voices producing a rhythmic chant that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once and made it seem as if my ribs and kneecaps were vibrating from the inside. Whatever language they were chanting in I didn't understand, but the message was clear: these men were invoking something that transcended this world. The monk led us up a narrow stairway into a long, narrow corridor lined with open doorways no higher than my waist. As we passed I could see that these must be the monks' cells, and each was just large enough to accommodate a small man lying down. There was a woven mat on the floor and a woolen blanket rolled up at the top of each cell, but there was no evidence of personal possessions nor storage for any. There were no doors to close for privacy. In short, it was very much like what I had grown up with, which didn't make me feel any better about it. Nearly five years of the relative opulence at Balthasar's fortress had spoiled me. I yearned for a soft bed and a half-dozen Chinese concubines to hand-feed me and rub my body with fragrant oils. (Well, I said I was spoiled.) At last the monk led us into a large open chamber with a high stone ceiling and I realized that we were no longer in a man-made structure, but a large cave. At the far end of the cave was a stone statue of a man seated cross-legged, his eyes closed, his hands before him with the first fingers and thumbs forming closed circles. Lit by the orange light of candles, a haze of incense smoke hanging about his shaved head, he appeared to be praying. The monk, our guide, disappeared into the darkness at the sides of the cave and Joshua and I approached the statue cautiously, stepping carefully across the rough floor of the cave. (We had long since lost our surprise and outrage at graven images. The world at large and the art we had seen in our travels served to dampen even that grave commandment. â€Å"Bacon,† Joshua said when I asked him about it.) This great room was the source of the chanting we had been hearing since entering the monastery, and after seeing the monks' cells we determined that there must be at least twenty monks adding their voices to the droning, although the way the cave echoed it might have been one or a thousand. As we approached the statue, trying to ascertain what sort of stone it was made from, it opened its eyes. â€Å"Is that you, Joshua?† it said in perfect Aramaic. â€Å"Yes,† said Joshua. â€Å"And who is this?† â€Å"This is my friend, Biff.† â€Å"Now he will be called Twenty-one, when he needs to be called, and you shall be Twenty-two. While you are here you have no name.† The statue wasn't a statue, of course, it was Gaspar. The orange light of the candles and his complete lack of motion or expression had only made him appear to be made of stone. I suppose we were also thrown off because we were expecting a Chinese. This man looked as if he was from India. His skin was even darker than ours and he wore the red dot on his head that we had seen on Indian traders in Kabul and Antioch. It was difficult to tell his age, as he had no hair or beard and there wasn't a line in his face. â€Å"He's the Messiah,† I said. â€Å"The Son of God. You came to see him at his birth.† Still no expression from Gaspar. He said, â€Å"The Messiah must die if you are to learn. Kill him tomorrow.† â€Å"‘Scuse me?† I said. â€Å"Tomorrow you will learn. Feed them,† said Gaspar. Another monk, who looked almost identical to the first monk, came out of the dark and took Joshua by the shoulder. He led us out of the chapel chamber and back to the cells where he showed Joshua and me our accommodations. He took our satchels away from us and left. He returned in a few minutes with a bowl of rice and a cup of weak tea for each of us. Then he went away, having said nothing since letting us in. â€Å"Chatty little guy,† I said. Joshua scooped some rice into his mouth and grimaced. It was cold and unsalted. â€Å"Should I be worried about what he said about the Messiah dying tomorrow, do you think?† â€Å"You know how you've never been completely sure whether you were the Messiah or not?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Tomorrow, if they don't kill you first thing in the morning, tell them that.† The next morning Number Seven Monk awakened Joshua and me by whacking us in the feet with a bamboo staff. To his credit, Number Seven was smiling when I finally got the sleep cleared from my eyes, but that was really a small consolation. Number Seven was short and thin with high cheekbones and widely set eyes. He wore a long orange robe woven from rough cotton and no shoes. He was clean-shaven and his head was also shaved except for a small tail that grew out at the crown and was tied with a string. He looked as if he could be anywhere from seventeen to thirty-five years old, it was impossible to tell. (Should you wonder about the appearance of Monks Two through Six, and Eight through Twenty, just imagine Number Seven Monk nineteen times. Or at least that's how they appeared to me for the first few months. Later, I'm sure, except that we were taller and round-eyed, Joshua and I, or Monks Twenty-one and Twenty-two, would have fit the same description. When one is trying to shed the bo nds of ego, a unique appearance is a liability. That's why they call it a â€Å"uniform.† But alas, I'm getting ahead of myself.) Number Seven led us to a window that was obviously used as a latrine, waited while we used it, then took us to a small room where Gaspar sat, his legs crossed in a seemingly impossible position, with a small table before him. The monk bowed and left the room and Gaspar asked us to sit down, again in our native Aramaic. We sat across from him on the floor – no, that's not right, we didn't actually sit, we lay on the floor on our sides, propped up on one elbow the way we would have been at the low tables at home. We sat after Gaspar produced a bamboo staff from under the table and, with a motion as fast as a striking cobra's, whacked us both on the side of the head with it. â€Å"I said sit!† he said. Then we sat. â€Å"Jeez,† I said, rubbing the knot that was swelling over my ear. â€Å"Listen,† Gaspar said, holding the stick up to clarify exactly what he meant. We listened as if they were going to discontinue sound any second and we needed to stock up. I think I even stopped breathing for a while. â€Å"Good,† said Gaspar, laying the stick down and pouring tea into three simple bowls on the table. We looked at the tea sitting there, steaming – just looked at it. Gaspar laughed like a little boy, all the graveness and authority from a second ago gone from his face. He could have been a benevolent older uncle. In fact, except for the obviously Indian features, he reminded me a lot of Joseph, Joshua's stepfather. â€Å"No Messiah,† Gaspar said, switching to Chinese now. â€Å"Do you understand?† â€Å"Yes,† Joshua and I said in unison. In an instant the bamboo stick was in his hand and the other end was bouncing off of Joshua's head. I covered my own head with my arms but the blow never came. â€Å"Did I strike the Messiah?† Gaspar asked Joshua. Joshua seemed genuinely perplexed. He paused, rubbing the spot on his head, when another blow caught him over his other ear, the sound of the impact sharp and harsh in the small stone room. â€Å"Did I strike the Messiah?† Gaspar repeated. Joshua's dark brown eyes showed neither pain nor fear, just confusion as deep as the confusion of a calf who has just had its throat cut by the Temple priest. The stick whistled through the air again, but this time I caught it in mid-swing, wrenched it out of Gaspar's hand, and tossed it out the narrow window behind him. I quickly folded my hands and looked at the table in front of me. â€Å"Begging your pardon, master,† I said, â€Å"but if you hit him again, I'll kill you.† Gaspar stood, but I was afraid to look at him (or Joshua, for that matter). â€Å"Ego,† said the monk. He left the room without another word. Joshua and I sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking and rubbing our goose eggs. Well, it had been an interesting trip and all, but Joshua wasn't very well going to learn much about being the Messiah from someone who hit him with a stick whenever it was mentioned, and that, I supposed, was the reason we were there. So, onward. I drank the bowl of tea in front of me, then the one that Gaspar had left. â€Å"Two wise men down, one to go,† I said. â€Å"We'd better find some breakfast if we're going to travel.† Joshua looked at me as perplexed as he had at Gaspar a few minutes before. â€Å"Do you think he needs that stick?† Number Seven Monk handed us our satchels, bowed deeply, then went back into the monastery and closed the door, leaving Joshua and me standing there by the gong. It was a clear morning and we could see the smoke of cook fires rising from the village below. â€Å"We should have asked for some breakfast,† I said. â€Å"This is going to be a long climb down.† â€Å"I'm not leaving,† Josh said. â€Å"You're kidding.† â€Å"I have a lot more to learn here.† â€Å"Like how to take a beating?† â€Å"Maybe.† â€Å"I'm not sure Gaspar will let me back in. He didn't seem too pleased with me.† â€Å"You threatened to kill him.† â€Å"I did not, I warned that I'd kill him. Big difference.† â€Å"So you're not going to stay?† And there it was, the question. Was I going to stay with my best friend, eat cold rice, sleep on a cold floor, take abuse from a mad monk, and very likely have my skull split open, or was I going to go? Go where? Home? Back to Kabul and Joy? Despite the long journey, it seemed easier to go back the way I had come. At least some level of familiarity would be waiting there. But if I was making easy choices, why was I there in the first place? â€Å"Are you sure you have to stay here, Josh? Can't we go find Melchior?† â€Å"I know I have things to learn here.† Joshua picked up the drumstick and rang the gong. In a few minutes the little port opened in the door and a monk we had never seen before stuck his face in the opening. â€Å"Go away. Your nature is dense and your breath smells like a yak's ass.† He slammed the hatch. Joshua rang the gong again. â€Å"I don't like that whole thing about killing the Messiah. I can't stay here, Joshua. Not if he's going to hit you.† â€Å"I have a feeling I'm going to get hit quite a few more times until I learn what he needs me to know.† â€Å"I have to go.† â€Å"Yes, you do.† â€Å"But I could stay.† â€Å"No. Trust me, you have to leave me now, so you won't later. I'll see you again.† He turned away from me and faced the door. â€Å"Oh, you don't know anything else, but you know that all of a sudden?† â€Å"Yes. Go, Biff. Good-bye.† I walked down the narrow path and nearly stumbled over a precipice when I heard the hatch in the door open. â€Å"Where are you going?† shouted the monk. â€Å"Home,† I said. â€Å"Good, go frighten some children with your glorious ignorance.† â€Å"I will.† I tried to keep my shoulders steady as I walked away, but it felt like someone was ripping my soul through the muscles of my back. I would not turn around, I vowed, and slowly, painfully, I made my way down the path, convinced that I would never see Joshua again.