Mothers Against Driving

This essay is about a nationally known lobbying group known as MADD or Mothers Against Driving. This is an organization that was first created by a woman named Candy Lightner whom in 1980 tragically lost her daughter to a repeat offense drunk driver. This organization or lobbying group works very hard and whose goal is to keep drivers off the road who have had too much to drink and to also make sure that drunk driving laws are enforced.The thesis statement is â€Å"Mothers Against Drunk Driving has arguably been one of the most successful public-health grassroots citizen dvocacy organizations in the United States in the past century. â€Å"(Fell and Voas). This whole idea of MADD started years ago when Candy Lightner's daughter Carl, was walking with her friend and was struck and killed by a man who left the scene of the accident, and was drunk driving. After she was told that he actually was only out of Jail for two days after being arrested for another hit- and- run drunk- drivin g crash.His record had reflected three other arrests-two resulted in convictions and one was reduced to a reckless driving offense. It was soon after this that Candy Lightner and a few friends started MADD to fight against drunk drivers. The first chapter that was started in Maryland was by another woman named Cindi Lamb who was trying to fight the fact that her five month old daughter became paralyzed by a repeat drunk driver offender as well. The two women were brought together by a press secretary to congress and had a news conference that brought a lot of attention to this impaired-driving problem that is everywhere.Soon all over the nation Candy Lightner was contacted to comment on high profile cases. This lobbying roup was incorporated in 1980 as a California corporation. † By June of 1981 it had achieved IRS tax-free status: later in the year, it received$100,OOO in private funds. † Articles on the organization appeared in many magazines and newspapers out there s uch as Los Angeles Times, Family Circle. Candy was the guest on many talk shows such as The Today Show, Phil Donahue and others. With the great increase in media attention to the impaired-driving problem and the surge in alcohol legislation in the 1980's, there was a heartening reduction in alcohol- related fatal crashes between 980 an 1995. â€Å"(NHTSA, 1995). MADD had developed a strong capability to respond to the growing press and interest in this ever growing problem. This part of the essay contains the claim and some of the background. There is a lot of evidence both qualitative and quantitative in MADD's effect on the impaired-driving problem we have in our America. There is general acceptance of the relationship between laws, their enforcement, and public education on driver perceptions of the risk of being caught for DUI (driving under the influence) which affect public attitudes toward impaired driving. (Gladwell, 2001). MADD founder Candy has been invited to speak at th e formal signing of each of the legislative bills. Six of the most important pieces of alcohol safety legislation are MLDA 21 laws, zero tolerance for youth laws,. 08BAC limit laws,ALS laws, illegal per se laws and increased adoption of the legislative laws.This is part of the three tiered approach to the ending of drinking and driving. At the community level, MADD has chapters that help support police enforcement activities when it comes to strong DUI enforcement and rewarding police officers who make the most DUI arrests. Before MADD offenders were given light sentences but now there is a lot of court monitoring by MADD to assure offenders gets there Just do. This part of the essay contains some of the background and body, along with supporting evidence and data and scholarly research.An opposing view to MADD comes from the American Beverage Licenses or (ABL). This organization represents beer, wine and spirits retailers in the U. S. They have made many anti-MADD statements as wel l as criticizing General Motors. One of the claims that the ABL has made is that MADD targets social drinkers†ABL claims hat MADD would have you arrested if you had a glass of wine with dinner and then driven safely home or if you had a cocktail with your friends after work before heading home.They also claim that MADD wants to criminalize the 40 million adults that responsibly enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a ball game and drive safely home. â€Å"(Hingson and Winter, 2003) This is simply not a true statement. MADD is just in support to the lowering of blood alcohol levels to 0. 08 and that is not reached by a glass of wine or from one beer. This level is reached by an average male size ho consumes 4 drinks in 1 hour or by an average sized female consuming 3 drinks. Social drinking does not attain to a blood alcohol level of 0. 8. General Motors is viewed as being a support for MADD but ABL claims that General Motors should be held accountable for supporting MADD. This could be viewed as a rebuttal to the opposing view of ABL. In Conclusion there is a lot of evidence that MADD has helped so many victims of drunk driving and they give so much of their time providing not only emotional support but also victim assistance programs and court accompaniments and that is hy this lobbying group is so very important to a lot of people and in helping so many.

High School Should Offer Vocational Education Essay

The vocational education that high schools offer means that students can have vocational classes like academic classes. In the vocational classes, students can learn about how to fix cars, how to cook, or how to make furniture. Students can have these classes three or even more times a week. In my view, high schools should offer vocational education because it benefits the youth a lot. First of all, the vocational education can teach students some useful skills that can take to their adulthood, even though they won’t become the professionals. Imagine that your car is broken, what will you do? You could pay the repair shop and wait for weeks to get your car back, or you could fix it by yourself if you had the vocational education in high school. Some people say that there is no need to learn the skills like those if you don’t want to be a professional. However, life will be more convenient if you can do this stuff. For example, you can fix your car by yourself, for which you can save money and time, or you can cook Chinese food for your family at home instead of going to restaurants. Those things are daily occurrences. Also, vocational education can develop the individualism of high school students. With the developing of the society, increasingly the youth tend to rely on the technology like computers or Internet. On the other hand, the physical skills of the youth are declining. They have to ask for help when they meet the problems like the light is broken. But the vocational education can develop individualism of students by teaching them the skills they need and they can do them by themselves vocational education lets them think independently and have more confidence. Finally, it maybe true that having vocational education will distract the force of students on academic studying. Nevertheless, vocational education can let students find their potential and interests. There is a saying that the most happy thing in the world is doing what you are interested in as the job. By taking the vocational education, the youth can find what they really like to do and what their potential is. Maybe some students who are not good at math are good with their hands. Youth have a yearning for what they really like and are good at. Any enlightened and progressive high schools  should embrace the conflict of vocational education and academic education as a call for change. In sum, vocational education benefits the students a lot. It will teach youth the useful skill, develop individualism, and let students find their potential and interests. I think the most important objective of high schools is to guide students and offer them the education to become who they want to be, which is exactly what vocational school can do. For these reasons, I think high school should offer vocational education.

MGT 501 MoD 4 Case Leaders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MGT 501 MoD 4 Case Leaders - Essay Example The following entails a discussion of the problem along with suggestions for dealing with micromanagement leadership style. Discussion Stern demonstrated strong creativity skills in her job pertaining to marketing of products. At the same time, she lacked the skills required for management of production and formulation and negotiation of strategies. To this end it is important to note that the creativity in marketing (including public relations and design) that she possesses were difficult to harness and manage from a leader’s point of view. The nature of the job makes it hard to structure the work as various ideas can arise spontaneously which are beyond the supervisor’s control; in other words, micromanagement stifles creativity (Lavinsky, 2012). George could certainly not ask Stern to generate ideas as and when required simply because these ideas would flow in irrespective of time and need. Hence, this job required a greater level of diplomacy on George’s part to supervise Stern. It was crucial to give Stern the authority and autonomy with which she could feel a sense of belonging with the company and have the chance of contributing to the same through her creative ideas. However, George was doing much the opposite. Rather than empowering Stern, he was constraining her which was not conducive to her creativity. In situations where such difficult situations arise, it is the management’s job not to throttle creativity by destructive criticism but by reiterating and reinforcing the vision which provides a direction to work. It is then the task of the creative staff to come up with novel ways of and fulfilling that vision. The case depicts instances where George did not trust Shelly’s decisions and tried to influence them by bringing in ‘his’ version of things (Fryer, 2004). It seems that George wasn’t willing to let go of things; in other words, he was not delegating at all which was hindering Stern’ s creative abilities. Instances where George would abuse press releases or alleging Stern to make sales calls despite her position as the Marketing â€Å"Director† all point to George’s inefficiency as CEO (Fryer, 2004). It is surprising how (with such a mindset) was George able to rise up to this level in the organizational hierarchy. Perhaps, it was his technical skills or software skills that led him to this level. He was certainly not capable of managing the creative side of software project management. Another major issue with George is his preoccupation with and interference in employees’ activities that are insignificant. There are various examples of such trivial issues. Firstly, he was adamant at having managers incorporate his idea during the allocation of advertisements to the company’s products (Fryer, 2004). Secondly, he went as far as suggesting his subordinates to correct their sentences (Fryer, 2004). This is certainly not expected from so meone at the CEO level. George’s focus it seems was not on strategic issues but on operational and tactical issues which kept his mind preoccupied and prevented him from focusing on the bigger picture. This is one of the biggest issues of micromanagement- it does not allow managers time to focus on critical issues that desire the supervisor’s attention (Nadine Mockler, 2002). Recommendations Although Stern is easily offended by criticism, George ought to find a solution in order to control the funds that the company has

Music appreciation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Music appreciation - Essay Example After that, the musicians came out on the stage and sat down in their assigned positions. Then they started doing some practice moves on their instruments. The concert started once most of the attendees had taken their seats. This concert was divided in three parts, with two breaks in it. The show was really long as it ran for two hours. As the show started, the concert master Martine Verhoeven came out and sat down in her chair. Then, Fang-Ning Lim, the conductor of the overture to â€Å"LaCenerentola,† entered the stage and stood in front of the orchestra. The overture music was very lively, and the violin was performed beautifully. It made people feel relaxed and happy. I feel that violin sounds better when accompanied by piano, than when it is played solo. In the concert, the range of the piano was high. It was euphonious. The piano player was amazing. It felt as if she was the leader of those violin players. Also, the piano performance was like an interlude. In the hall, I saw my instructor James Martin, who was the conductor of the following music show, and Nora Chiang Worbel, the pianist for the concerto. I loved to see my instructor there. He is nice and a handsome man. Then the â€Å" Concerto No. 24 in a minor, K. 491,†which is written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, started. I really like the song written by Mozart as I used to play it on the piano when I was young. This music touches me deeply, not only because of the voice, but also because of the feeling that it brings. It makes me feel peaceful and tranquil. The melody brings great bliss to me. The music took me to a different level of happiness. It made me forget everything around me and my usual mental state of flux disappeared, till the time the music was playing. After that, there was an intermission. After the intermission, â€Å"Symphony no. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 97,† made by Robert Schumann, was played. There are many different movements in this

Destination Alliances Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Destination Alliances - Article Example The article "Destination Alliances" talks about the alliances - market strategies whereby two or more organization join to share marketing strategies or to promote concepts, services, or products. Alliance marketing is suitable for any business as long it finds an organization that shares mutual goals.A destination marketing organization (DMO) or convention and visitors bureau (CVB) is an organization that supports a town, city, region or country with the aim of increasing the number of visitors. DMO and CVB also promote the development or markets a destination through convention sales, tourism marketing, and services. Apart from targeting a high number of visitors, DMO and CVB also targets increase of business travelers which brings about overnight lodging for a destination, shopping revenues, and visits to restaurants. These organizations are funded by the country’s taxes. Convention and visitors bureau is considered to be the most important tourism marketing organizations i n their respective tourist destination. Philadelphia is referred as the world heritage city in the United States of America. It is a home to many national historical sites related to the foundation of the United States and it is among the 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is in Philadelphia courageous visionaries crafted the modern day democracy. It harbors the independence hall, the liberty bell, the first and second bank of the USA, the president house where George Washington and John Adams spent most of their presidencies.

Stress among Student Nurses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stress among Student Nurses - Research Paper Example Stress affects different people differently since various people perceive stress differently (Michie, 2003). This paper is objectively meant to discuss stress among student nurses, identifying the causes of these stressors and the effects on individuals and the surrounding. Historical perspective Nursing as a subject has been around for a long time. The only difference is that technology introduced better and more advanced equipments in the study as compared to the previous years. Many studies have been carried out regarding the topic of stress among student nurses, and various results were found. For example, a study was carried out in Mansoura at the faculty of nursing, in Mansura University. The study intended to find out the level of stressors among the student nurses, and to find out the possible factors that cause this. The method used in this study was the use of questionnaires which were self administered. The questions in the questionnaire included a list of possible stresso rs, physical wellbeing factors, perceived stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms (Michie, 2003). The age bracket of the student nurses that took part in the study was 17-22 years, where 68% of the total population was from the rural area. After the completion of the study, results were compiled. One of the results showed that a majority of these students perceived stress in mild level, while a few of them bout 12.4% perceived stress in high levels. From this result, it was concluded that some of the reasons that lead to stress among nursing students was education policy. In many countries, for example, in Egypt, nursing colleges admit a large number of students. This does not only cause congestion in classes, but also reduces the level of education (Rhead, 2007). The level of education is compromised since the students, and the teachers do not have a one to one discussion where the student can discuss what they find difficult, with the lectures. The ratio of the student to the stud ents does not balance. Traditionally, these colleges handle studies in a passive learning environment. The faculty offers information, and students memorize the information given to them. This education system denies students the opportunity to learn how to synthesize information, to unravel problems (Rhead, 2007). Another factor seen to be a cause of the stress among the nursing students was the level of nursing education. In countries like Egypt, for instance, there are three various types of nurses; college graduate nurses, technical institute graduates and those from nursing school/ diploma nurses (Rhead, 2007). College and technical institute graduate nurses comprise 4% and 2% of the Egyptian nursing staff respectively. Diploma nurses are; thus, the majority, making 94%. This factor affected the nurses who attended college since even, though, they worked so hard and were able to get their degrees, they ended up being assistant practical nurses who take orders from junior doctor s and senior diploma nurses, unlike in the past where they had leadership and prestigious positions in the hospital environment (Arm, 2011). This kills their morale and causes stress on the college graduates nursing students. The third cause of stress among student nurses discovered from the study was low income. Nursing is not an easy subject, and it is also tremendously expensive. Many graduates hope to be paid well after studying so hard when they join the job market. However, in the nursing

Unsaturated Problems Soils (Expansive or Collapsing ) Case Study

Unsaturated Problems Soils (Expansive or Collapsing ) - Case Study Example d contraction has tremendously adverse effects on landscape, namely roads and buildings, causing cracking of walls and foundations, and, thus, devaluing of the property in a remarkably short time. It also costs millions of money on repairs. Studies also show that expansive soils, when on slopes, can cause landslides. Care and treatment, therefore, has to be taken before construction of buildings on this soil. Engineers have to carry out soil tests, in order to determine the nature of the soil, before commencing construction, due to the adverse effects of expansive soil. Expansive soil can also be detected just by direct observation. If the soil is found to be expansive, various treatments could be applied so as to avoid the effects of the expansive soil: This involves compacting the subgrade at the appropriate moisture content. This will â€Å"produce a subgrade that absorbs less water, provides slightly higher strength, and will not expand or swell as much..†.( ACPA, 2008). Selective grading may be the most cost effective method of treatment, if expansive soils are not the predominant soil type along the roadway alignment. This will include blending and cross hauling. If the profile grade can be designed to keep expansive soils out of the top of the subgrade, (ACPA, 2008), selective grading may also be sufficient in controlling the shrink and swell potential. This is used when the subgrade soils consist of primarily expansive soils, and it is not economical to import non-expansive soil. This provides an effective means to control the shrink-swell potential of a soil. This method can also be economical on some projects, compared to selective

Promotional and Advertising Strategies Assignment

Promotional and Advertising Strategies - Assignment Example In this volatile market it is necessary for each of these companies to come up with unique marketing strategies, these strategies play a vital role in brand building and differentiating one company from its competitors. The paper discusses the major marketing, pricing, and consumer oriented promotional strategies for the two most aggressive players in the television market: Samsung and LG. (Briel, 2014) It is observed that both LG and Samsung have effectively utilized all the 4P’s of marketing mix. Both the players are almost running head to head in the television market with Samsung being a little ahead of LG. However, according to Korean Times LG has recorded higher sales of its products especially television sets in the Indian market as compared to Samsung. This is due to two very different marketing approaches used by each of these companies. Indian market is largely dominated by rural areas, among the total population of 1.1 billion people, 200 million people live in deserted, rural areas which means they are naturally poor and cannot afford very expensive television sets. In such situation Samsung decided to target the elite sector of the market, mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, it realizes that India is one of the emerging markets around the world and selling its product at a premium rate would increase its probability of succeeding in such a market. Secondly, sell ing the products at a premium rate is always good for a brand in the long term to establish itself as the global premium brand. In the other hand LG, another Korean giant company, has clearly adopted the market penetration strategy in Indian market. LG sells its television sets comparatively at a lower price to provide an access to the richer segments as well as to those with lower income. Like Samsung, LG imports premium products from Korea but increasingly

High school student drop out Essay Example for Free

High school student drop out Essay The increasingly high rate of school dropout is worrying all the stakeholders in the education sector including parents, teachers and the government. This is because these people are aware of the challenges that will face students who drop out of school. Although leaders have called on communities, families and schools to make efforts to ensure that students remain at school, the rate at which the students drop out of school is still high. It is therefore important that we analyze the problem with a view of understanding it better, so that we may know how to resolve it once and for all. see more:research paper about tardiness The number of students who complete school in the US has been steadily declining over the years. In fact, over the last decades, this figure has only increased in seven states. In ten states, the percentage of students who did not complete school was 8% or higher, which reflects a disturbing trend. US is currently ranked tenth among the countries in the world which have the highest school completion rates. When a country that is considered to be the superpower is ranked tenth on school completion rates, this shows that there is a major underlying problem. Factors that contribute to the high school student drop out rate. Family cohesion and background. This is one of the major reasons why students drop out of school. Students who come from families where there is violence, abusive homes or poor parental relations have higher chances of dropping out of school, compared to those who come from stable homes. This is due to the fact that such children are more likely to have stress and depression because of the problems that they have. They are also likely to start abusing drugs at an early age, which may contribute to their dropping out of school. Statistics also show that children who come from single parent families are also more likely to drop out of school than those who have both parents. This situation is linked to low self esteem as well as problems that children who come from single parent families face. Early pregnancy. Early pregnancy is a major challenge for young girls, and is a contributor to their dropping out of school. This situation is compounded by situations where the young girls families are not financially stable, or cases where the boy responsible for the pregnancy is either unwilling or unable to support the girl. Many young girls who face this situation usually take breaks to give birth, but fail to return to school due to various reasons. The girls who are not financially well off are forced to drop out of school to take care of their children, while others fear going back to school due to stigmatization. School violence. This is a factor that is increasingly contributing to the dropping out of school by students. School violence has increased in the recent past, and takes various forms. It might take the form of serious security breaches that involve use of deadly weapons, like was witnessed in the 1999 Columbine high school massacre (Rosenberg 2008). It may also take the form of bullying and harassment of students by fellow classmates. Both these forms of violence have the potential to create fear to actual victims, and may discourage them from attending school. In these cases, there is genuine fear for their lives and they may drop out of school. Employment. Poverty or general unemployment of members of the family may make students drop out of school. This is because the students may be forced to work in order to support their family. In these cases, the students may not have adequate time to study due to the responsibilities that they have. Employment opportunities may not only be available to the students who are not well off financially. Some students come from financially stable families but look for employment opportunities so that they might save money. These students are also likely to drop out of school since it is difficult to work and study at the same time. Psychological or personal characteristics. There are certain characteristics that students may possess, which may make them drop out of school at an early age. These may be either physical or psychological characteristics. Psychological characteristics may include low self esteem, mental illnesses, depression and stress, among other problems. In case students have these problems and they are either not addressed early enough, or these students lack learning facilities that accommodate their unique needs, they are highly likely to drop out of school. According to Kenneth (35-39), students may also face physical disabilities that hinder the learning process. Such include blindness, deafness or other physical disabilities. If such students also lack facilities that can handle their needs, they are also likely to drop out of school. Substance abuse. According to David and Wayne (4-8), students who engage in substance abuse have very high chances of dropping out of school. Students who abuse alcohol or other hard drugs such as cannabis, heroin, cocaine or other drugs are likely to drop out of school. This is due to the disciplinary problems that they are likely to face in school as well as the fact that such drugs hinder the learning capabilities. Such students are unlikely to perform well in school, and this has the effect of demotivating them. They are also more likely to face stress and depression, and all these factors work to increase their chances of dropping out of school. Perceived loss of value of school diplomas. The modern business environment has become very competitive, and this is attributed to globalization. Success in the modern world is increasingly based on merit and job performance. Employers are nowadays looking for very high academic qualification when recruiting employees. In this regards, high school diplomas are generally perceived to have lost value, and students need to pursue further education so that they might get employment opportunities in this competitive business environment. Some students therefore opt to drop out of school and pursue other interests due to this perception. Such interests include drama, movies, modeling or the music industry. However, what most students are not aware of is that one has to have basic education in order to be successful in these fields. High school education acts as a platform for pursuing further education and building a career. Limited number of counselors. Statistics point to the fact that the average number of students who are served by a single counselor is 500. In high school, the average number of students served by a single counselor is 285. These counsellors have many tasks to accomplish and have very little time to interact with students. According to Jill (311-317), students who are about to drop out of school may therefore not find someone to talk to and get advice regarding the situation. This is also compounded by the fact that most of these students have poor relations with their parents, since teenagers and parents usually have communication problems. Students therefore opt to drop out of school due to lack of advice on the consequences of making this decision. Solutions to these problems. Counseling. Most students may reverse their decision to drop out of school if they are advised on the consequences of making this decision by someone that they trust. In most of these cases, counselors are the best people to advice the students since there are young counsellors who understand the problems that these students go through. The government should ensure that there are enough counselors to serve all students. Sometimes students may be depressed and they only need someone to share their problems with. When they are unable to find someone, they take drastic steps like dropping out of schools. Counselors will advise students that education is very important for success in life. Safety. The government and all education stakeholders should also ensure that the school environment is safe for all people. There should be adequate controls that prevent and deal with security breaches, either involving deadly weapons or bullying. Some problems like bullying may appear to be petty and they are ignored in most academic institutions. However they are serious problems that should not be ignored, since they have high psychological impacts on the victims. When students can feel safe in the school environment, they will look forward to going to school to learn. After all, these students spend most of their time in schools, and once they feel that they are unsafe, they are likely to drop out of school. Family problems. According to Gail (211-216), it is evident that family problems is a major factor that contributes to dropping out of school. It is a very sensitive issue considering that there is a limitation to which strangers may involve themselves in family matters. It is however imperative that problems such as violence and abuse are reported to the authorities, and these will be addressed through the relevant laws. These problems cannot be condoned, since once students are not comfortable in their own homes, it will be difficult for them to concentrate in class and learn. Other family issues such as parental and child conflict should be addressed through dialog, either between the school administration and the individual families, or through counseling by qualified professionals. This dialog will enable the underlying problems to be identified and solved, so that the children may stay in school. Early pregnancy. This problem is best solved by preventing the issue, rather than addressing it after it has occurred. The young people should be told about the consequences of early sex, especially unsafe sex. These students should be made to understand that in addition to the risk of pregnancy, there is also a risk of contracting STIs such as HIV/AIDS. However, one a girl becomes pregnant, she should be allowed to stay in school until the time to give birth, after which she is given a break. She should resume school after giving birth, as this is very important. Counselors and parents should play a crucial role in guiding girls who are undergoing this experience. The government should also set up funds to help girls who are pregnant and do not have the resources to take care of the baby, and go back to school. Facilities for the handicapped. The government has a crucial role of ensuring that there are learning facilities that will take care of the needs of students who face either physical or mental disabilities. There should also be enough teachers who have been trained on how to take care of the needs of these students. This will ensure that these students learn just like their peers, and that they have equal opportunities in life. Value of diplomas. The stakeholders in the educational sector have a crucial role to play in publicizing the value of the high school diplomas. There should be regular talks between these stakeholders and the students regarding the issue. Students should be made to understand that although the modern world has become very competitive, it is imperative that they obtain at least the high school diploma. The reason is that the diploma acts as a platform in acquiring further employment opportunities and joining a profession. Employment. The government should enforce the laws that bar the employment of young people who are below the legal age. It should also hold regular forums with employers regarding employment of young people with a view of regulating the hours that they work. The employers should also be made to insist that young employees pursue education, since this will be the platform for promotions and advancement in the careers. This will enable that the young people who work have enough time to study. Conclusion and recommendation. The stakeholders in the education sector should join hands in ensuring the the drop out rate drastically reduces, and that each child knows the value of education. The solutions to the problems that have been discussed above should be implemented, so that this objective may be achieved. Above all, students should be made to understand that the high school diploma is a platform for opportunities in life.

How the Interplay Between Two Different Perspectives Essay Example for Free

How the Interplay Between Two Different Perspectives Essay Explain how the interplay between two different perspectives on characters and situations found in two of Lawson’s stories set for study and one other related text of your own choosing highlights the distinctly visual. In Henry Lawson’s stories, the â€Å"Drover’s Wife† and â€Å"The Loaded Dog†, and in Wilfred Owens’s â€Å"The Last Laugh†, the different perspectives on characters and situations interplay to give the audience a story through which they are caught up. Through the use of alliteration, some metaphors and similes, as well as onomatopoeia and personification, Lawson and Owens give their audience a feeling of the distinctly visual. Both authors convey distinctive experiences through different ways. Lawson describes scenes to the audience in such detail that he makes it possible for the readers to place themselves in the particular situation he is creating, even if they have never had that experience. This technique helps to link the reader with that specific feeling. An example is in â€Å"The Drover’s Wife†, the quote â€Å"It must be near daylight†. This brings the audience to the present situation, after they are lost in the past memories of the woman, using the perspective of the woman. The views of the characters are depicted through the eyes of the wife. The characters are those whom she interacts with, such as her children, the dog, the swagman, and to an extent, her own husband. The situation is there being a snake stuck in their house, and she is scared yet brave enough to kill it and prevent it killing her children. One example would be â€Å"Close and hot†. Using the sense of touch, it makes the reader feel like they are breathless, cut off, with no sense of space, being over-heated due to the sense of being worried and tense. â€Å"Suddenly† brings a break and a height in the tension. The speed and length of this sentence contrasts with others like â€Å"a thrill runs through his body†. In the â€Å"Loaded Dog†, it is evident that Lawson uses an abundance of dry humour, as well as sarcasm. The view of the characters the story gives us is that of three men and a dog. In this story, the situation is that of the dog getting a hold of a bomb cartridge, and nearly killing them. The quote â€Å"It was very good blasting powder† changes the mood of the situation as it is the breaking point of the tension. It is a lead-up from the dog sniffing the cartridge. The use of dry and sarcastic humour helps to provide the audience with a view-point of the action taking place. It gives it a humorous undertone in order to help the audience adjust better and not feel as shocked, when the re-tell of the explosion takes place. In the â€Å"Last Laugh†, Wilfred Owen uses character views to give his opinion on war- its injustices and sadness. He states that it is in fact the weapons that have the last laugh. The situation is World War 1, and how there are many young men, excited about war who go to fight, and end up dead, their lives wasted. Owen uses mainly personification, where upon he depicts the human qualities and attributes of the guns. Using words such as â€Å"guffawed†, â€Å"chirped† and â€Å"chuckled†, he communicates to the audience the mockery the guns are making of the men, as they die. â€Å"Mother, mother, Dad! † gives the reader the horrific image of a young man, almost a boy, dying uselessly on the battlefield, and never having the chance to experience life. This communicates to the audience the distinctly visual as, with the â€Å"Drover’s Wife† and â€Å"Loaded Dog† , it gives the responder the mental image of the events happening in the poem. The relationship between the view and the situation help to give the audience a clearer image of what Lawson and Owens are trying to depict, or communicate. In other words, this emphasizes the distinctly visual as the author, interplaying the view and situations, passes on a mental image of the scene being set. Owens and Lawson succeed in depicting sharp, and clear, images to the audience through the use of character views, situations and various techniques. This is turn gives the audience a distinctively visual experience.

Ethnic Minorities in Oregon

Ethnic Minorities in Oregon According to the United States Census Bureau, â€Å"American Indian and Alaska Native alone consists of 1.8% of Oregon’s population, when white alone stands for 88% of Oregon’s population†. Not only is race and ethnicity a physical attribute of a person, but it is also different ways of seeing and understanding the world. Recently I had the privilege to interview my uncle, and his Native American past to get a better insight on his experiences with discrimination and rejection. Discrimination comes in many different forms, but overall it is when one excludes one from social participation based on their ethnic and cultural background. Our society has made tremendous progress when dealing with racial discrimination, but injustice still remains today. To provide you with a little background, Ray Castro grew up in Ashland Oregon were he lived in a shack with his mother until he was 15. They had no running water, no electricity, and no bathroom, â€Å"It was literally a storage shed on a couple of acres,† he proclaims. Their house was located on ten acres and was four miles off of any major road. He spent every night sleeping on the floor with a blanket and a sweatshirt as a pillow. Privacy was not an option, â€Å"if you had to crap you dig a hole†. When they needed to shower they would take one from a bucket that they had heated water previously on the gas stove. His high school diploma was the only education he received. At 15 his grandparents, which he calls nana and tata, took him under their wing and was kind enough to let them into their home with open arms. I asked if his father was ever in the picture he thought long and hard on the topic and with little effort he says that â€Å"he was a dead beat, I wouldnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t give him the satisfaction of even talking about him in this interview†. I respected his wishes and moved on to my next topic. At this point I felt like I was drilling him with questions that he was clearly not impressed with. When he reached high school his grandparents kept him busy with sports therefore he would stop getting into trouble. He wrestled throughout his entire high school career and worked sense he was in 7th grade. As you could imagine because of his living situations he grew up on government assistance as well as all medical insurance was provided by the Indian Clinic. Moving on to his later years in life, at the age of 19 Ray packed up his small bag that he had and was fortunate to move to California where he could work for the city of Roseville and city of Folsom California for about 7 years then was promoted to work at High Desert State Prison, which is a maximum security prison. After Desert, he was promoted to sergeant at Folsom State Prison with nothing but a high school diploma, but because he had so much experience and was dedicated to his job he has constantly pushed through the struggles to make it as far as he can in life. He now has been department of corrections at Folsom state prison for 15 years now. To spice up this exciting conversation I stopped drilling him with one-word questions. I asked him about his cultural background and with excitement in his voice he replied with â€Å" I’m Native American even says so on my birth certificate!† from the sound of his voice you could tell there was pride and honor behind his words. Knowing that he was Native American before the interview I did some research therefore I can figure out the questions that were important and satisfied my paper, because I showed interest in what he is most proud of he opened up. He told me he is apart of Blackfoot, which derived from the black-dyed moccasins that were worn by tribal members during the time of early contact with non-Indians, hints where they get their name. I stated, â€Å"From my research I know that the Blackfoot Indians consist of four different tribes, each tribe having their own tribal leader: The Blackfoot/ siksika, blood/kainai, Pikuni/Peigan, and the North Peigan Pikuni , which one were you apart of?† with impression in the tone of his voice he says, â€Å" wow I’m impressed, you’ve done your research, and to answer your question none, I was apart of Blackfoot and San Juan where I banded mission Indians.† During his time of membership with the Blackfoot tribe the roles that previously existed were mainly distinguished. Because they are losing population within their tribe their roles begin to decrease, but he did keep in touch with the Blackfoot culture by dancing in pow wows and continues to play the drums in performances, they have Indian superstitions, the house is decorated all in Indian items, and they continue to have celebrations at other cities of family members filled with cultural foods like fry bread. Keep in mind that Ray is 6 foot 4 inches weighting 300 pounds of solid muscle. As I sat there and stared at him I asked, â€Å"Have you personally ever been discriminated against because of your culture?† He laughed and asked if I was kidding. â€Å"I was born in a town where at the time the people of the town did not like Indians so they would always help white people before me in stores.† Which I find ridiculous! There’s one thing to discriminate against a culture, but a young kid is absurd. â€Å"During his childhood do you feel that your cultural background affected your thoughts, values, viewpoints, work life, and social experiences?† He claims that he wouldn’t change his childhood for the world. Even with the hardship and the buckets of water he had to shower in his cultural background taught him to view no one has evil, and honesty is the basis of leading an honorable life, that all people deserve respect whatever their age or rank. He asked me to close my eyes, and to think about this- â€Å"have you ever been in the mall and think, I could very well be the only person of my race (American Indian) out of a thousand people in this mall. That’s a crazy thought, but very possible. This thought crosses my mind everyday, every time I step into a large population of people.† This amazes me because I have never had to experience this. Never once have these feeling crosses my mind. I have in situations where I haven’t felt included but that’s more than a feeling of one not being included, it’s a feeling of hatred. In this day in age I do believe that racism still does exist but the media blows it out of proportion. This is probably because this is one of our main communication sources. He is a firm believer that media enhances the small problems we have. It’s all-negative, the first thing you hear about is murder, rape, death, then negative views on our government. Many people call Native Americans Red Skins, which is suppose to be an insulting name toward their culture. Ray believes that Its just â€Å"some non-natives pushing the name change because they think it offends us, but it really doesn’t offend us which is the funny part†. I do believe that people constantly try and punish Native Americans due to the overzealous campaign that try to punish all Indians for the alleged offense of a few tribes. He informed me what offends natives is people who feel sorry for us; natives are strong prideful and patriotic people. More American Indian men have volunteered to fight in World War One, World War Two, and the Korean war than all other races combined. They are very prideful people who strive to come together to create a better union. In the minds of Native Americans they think that if ethnic people are claiming racism makes them unemployed or a criminal, its just an excuse to not work hard and they are weak minded people, no matter the race. They work hard and don’t want ones pity. They work for what they got and they truly believe that what they have is what they have worked hard for. Throughout this paper I realized that racism is still a big part of our culture today, and I truly believe that it’s always going to be a problem. As awful as that sounds, we can’t accept the fact that there are other types of hair color, skin color and beliefs. We will never all be the same, but we need to accept that and stop the discrimination. I learned so much from this opportunity and am so glad that I got the chance to learn more about Ray and what is most important to him.

The Tragedy and Despair of Shakespeares Macbeth Essay -- GCSE Coursew

The Tragedy and Despair of Macbeth  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Macbeth is one of the best known of Shakespeare's plays. It is commonly classed, along with Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear, among Shakespeare's four great tragedies. After reading Macbeth, several significant aspects of the play come to mind: the central characters (Lady Macbeth and her husband) and their development, the treatment of gender issues, the nature and conflict of good and evil, the final triumph of the forces of goodness and life, and the troubling implications of that triumph. One way to approach the play's leading characters is to see how they fit Aristotle's ideas about tragedy. The problem with this approach is that they don't fit Aristotle's ideas very well. Aristotle wrote that a tragic character should be more good than evil and that the character's fall should be the result of a mistake or misstep (the probable meaning of Aristotle's term hamartia) rather than moral depravity. Lady Macbeth and her husband, by contrast, are more evil than good, and they deliberately commit or arrange several horribly depraved acts: among others, the murder of King Duncan, the murder of Macbeth's friend Banquo, and the murder of Macduff's wife and children. Their motives are purely selfish: they want power and all the personal benefits it will bring. It doesn't look as if Aristotle's ideas work very well at all in Macbeth. But despite the fact that the play doesn't fit the ideal Aristotelian mold (and Shakespeare probably had no intention that it should, anyway), looking at the play in this way sheds some light on it. We're required to ask, "Is Macbeth purely evil? Is his wife?" The more closely I've looked at the play, the more I've become convinced that its power comes f... ...tues we commonly associate with women and children -- or with Christ -- have not been given adequate attention. Macbeth shows us characters who have succumbed to despair: Lady Macbeth, who comes to believe that "What's done cannot be undone" (5.1.68), and Macbeth, who argues that, since "I am in blood/ Stepp'd in so far," repentance is pointless: "should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (3.4.135-37). The play shows these characters defeated, but not redeemed. Works Cited Cooke, Patricia. "Macbeth: Origin of Despair." Online posting. 20 Nov. 1996. SHAKSPER: The Global Electronic Shakespeare Conference. 5 March 2001 <http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1996/0937.html>. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.

Pygmalion and Society at the Time Essay -- Papers

Pygmalion and Society at the Time In this essay I will be discussing Bernard Shaw's representation of Edwardian Society in 'Pygmalion'. Shaw was a member of the Fabian Society; a collection of middle class people who believed that capitalism had created an unjust and unfair society. They were concerned about the unreasonable and imbalanced class system of the time and wanted to 'reconstruct society', creating an equal and fair civilisation with no class divide, which was so blatantly obvious due to the ignorance between classes. The rich lived lifestyles of luxury; the men would earn livings through land and property they owned and through careers such as scientists, lawyers and accountants. In the summer, they enjoyed a whole season of entertainment at their London house for tea and dinner parties, dances and visits to the theatre. In winter, they had holidays abroad and spent weekends at each other's country houses. The men went shooting and hunting and the ladies entertained themselves horse riding. Meanwhile, the poor were struggling on the dirty streets earning a pittance for manual jobs in workhouses and places similar. Conditions for them were sometimes so bad that they were forced to live in ridiculously over-crowded houses with other poor families. They could not afford new clothes or even food at times. They could certainly not afford luxuries like the rich enjoyed. The setting of Eliza's home and Mrs. Higgins' home show the both the pitiable living condition of the poor and the far from modest living conditions of the wealthy. Eliza can only afford the basic needs; a place to sleep, one set of clothes and limited light... ...h man, 'I sold flowers not myself.' Eliza's ability to reprimand Higgins is a bit of a shame for Higgins, as he is being scolded by someone who he had always considered lower than him. This illustrates again the fact that money does not buy you respect or manners and does not make you a good person. Shaw wanted the middle classes to realise and consider the working class. He was convinced that the way to alleviate the problem of poverty in society was to provide equal opportunity for all. This message is depicted in Eliza's transformation. Shaw also attacks middle class values and brands them hypocrites. He suggests that exposure to working class values might do them some good and teach them a valuable lesson. It is an influential message from start to finish and will persuade many people to consider others more.