Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Ark Angel Essay Example

Ark Angel Essay Example Ark Angel Essay Ark Angel Essay Ark Angel Anthony Horowitz 10/27/08 Creative Writing Kevin Gross Period 2 Alex is in his bed in the hospital. He had been hit by a sniperâ„ ¢s bullet and was recovering. Then he heard a sound from somewhere downstairs. Heâ„ ¢s wondered, should I go down He did go downstairs and saw four men. One man was holding a gun and asked the night receptionist what room is Paul Drevin in Alex wondered why these men would want his roommate The night receptionist answered, Iâ„ ¢m not allowed to tell. Then the man with the gun says, Tell me in the next three seconds or Iâ„ ¢ll shoot you! The night receptionist quickly consults his computer and says, Second floor, room eight!! Then the man with the gun says, Thank you and shoots him anyway. Alex is now very scared and turns and runs back to his room. Alex then switches the numbers on his and Paulâ„ ¢s connecting doors, so now Alex is Paul Drevin. Alex moved quickly, then the men came out of the elevator, approached and opened Alexâ„ ¢s door. They wanted to take Alex, but he ran and they reacted slowly. The men chased after him, but one man was slowing down so Alex took a fully charged defibrillator and shocked him. Alex was pleased with his success. Then one of the men heard the other man scream and came to find Alex. Alex hit him right between the legs with a tank of oxygen and the man fell to the ground. The leader was following Alex, but Alex was faster and he went to the physical therapy room. Alex then grabbed some elastic and a medicine ball. When the leader arrived in the hallway, Alex was on the other side and he fired the medicine ball at the leader with a slingshot made of elastic. Alex felt sorry for the men he had hurt, but he couldnâ„ ¢t let Paul get taken away. Only one man was left, he was short, but very muscular and wore a big steel watch, so we will call him Steel Watch. Alex, panicking, was trying to find a place to hide. Then he found the radiology department and went to the MRI room. Then Alex turned the MRI machine on. Steel Watch aimed his gun at Alex and said, Freeze donâ„ ¢t move or Iâ„ ¢ll put a bullet in your leg. Then the magnetic force kicked in and the gun flew out of his hand and started to pull on his steel watch. He was pulled along with his watch right into the MRI machine. He was in an awkward position. Alex gave a sigh of relief. After taking down four professional killers he was pretty tired. His stitches from his previous injury were hurting his chest, so he decided he would go back to his room. Then, if the front door hadnâ„ ¢t just opened, he would have missed something very important. Four men went to take Paul, but five were assigned to the job. Then it hit him, he had forgotten about the driver!

Friday, November 22, 2019

Expanding Sentences With Prepositional Phrases

Expanding Sentences With Prepositional Phrases This sentence-expanding exercise will give you practice in applying the principles and guidelines in these two articles: What Are Prepositional Phrases?How to Arrange Prepositional Phrases Excercise Expand each sentence below by adding one or more prepositional phrases that answer the question(s) in parenthesis.ExampleThe cat jumped and pounced.(What did the cat jump off of? What did the cat pounce on?)The cat jumped off the stove and pounced on the gerbil.There are countless ways to expand each sentence; You will find sample answers below. The students laughed.(What did the students laugh at?)The man tripped.(What did the man trip over?)Visitors arrived yesterday.(Where were the visitors from?)The candles flickered.(Where were the candles?)Gus hid the candy bar.(Where did Gus hide the candy bar?)Last night I watched a YouTube video.(What was the video about?)Sid sat.(Where did he sit? With whom did he sit?)The teacher spoke.(Who did the teacher speak to? What did she speak about?)The spaceship landed.(Where was the spaceship from? Where did it land?)Jenny stood, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it.(Where did she stand? What did she aim at?) Answers Here are sample answers to the sentence-expanding exercise. Keep in mind that countless versions of each sentence are possible. The students laughed  at the monkey on a scooter.The man tripped  over his own feet.Visitors  from the Bizarro world  arrived yesterday.The candles  on the handles of my bicycle  flickered.Gus hid the candy bar  in a dirty sock.Last night I watched a YouTube video  about green kangaroos.Sid sat  in a tub of Jell-O with his cat.The teacher spoke  to the principal about a pay raise.The spaceship  from Pluto  landed  in the desert.Jenny stood  on the roof of the garage, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it  at her little brother below. If you had any problems completing this exercise, review the guidelines and examples on the  pages indicated at the  beginning of this article.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

In International Business, identify and discuss the various steps Essay

In International Business, identify and discuss the various steps management must take to establish a successful export strategy - Essay Example In spite of the achievement of the highest quality, many businesses fail to operate successfully in an international environment because they are not prepared well to tackle the challenges they would encounter. Such challenges include but are not limited to linguistic barriers and cultural differences. â€Å"companies operate more easily in a country with similar physical and social conditions to those in their home country because they have less adjustment to make there† (Daniels, 1998, p. 25). The process of transition can be made smoother and more efficient by sending company’s trustworthy, hard-working, and efficient employees abroad as expatriates to learn the foreign culture, customs, rules and regulations, and work out ways to establish the business abroad along with creating a positive image of the brand among the public at large. Finally, the most important step in a successful export strategy is the marketing of the service or product. â€Å"When companies operate internationally they can inadvertently sacrifice the philosophical concepts of their management along with their other assets† (Akintunde, 2008, p. 1). It is critically important to preserve and foster the original philosophical concepts in the marketing campaigns so that the public can sense what benefits this foreign business brings to their

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Campaign Finance Reforms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Campaign Finance Reforms - Essay Example The purpose of this Act was to make campaign finance transparent. This was followed by a prolonged period of silence and restraint in this area. In the year 2002, the need for introducing reforms in campaign finance surfaced again. This led to the coming into existence of Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (Nielsen 43). This Act assured that the private donors are not able to donate much money to the political parties and political contestants that are not legally regulated by the Federal Election Commission. This was indeed a big step towards reforming campaign finance. Still, there were some aspects of this reform that happened to be controversial in a legal context (Nielsen 43). This led to a Supreme Court ruling in the year 2010 in the famous Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case, which declared this act to be unconstitutional (Nielsen 59). This Supreme Court verdict once again increased the role played by the corporate money in the American democracy. Thereby this ver dict has generated much public disapproval. This has indeed increased the need for more campaign finance reforms. It is a known fact that collecting campaign finance is a task that takes much time and attention of the Congress men. This diverts their attention from the real issues faced by the country. The politicians are greatly dependent on the private donors for campaign finance. Thereby, this increases the clout of the corporate and private donors in the American political system (Schier 41).

Saturday, November 16, 2019

African American Culture Essay Example for Free

African American Culture Essay African American culture in the United States includes the various cultural traditions of African ethnic groups. It is both part of and distinct from American culture. The U. S. Census Bureau defines African Americans as people having origins in any of the Black race groups of Africa. [1] African American culture is indigenous to the descendants in the U. S. of survivors of the Middle Passage. It is rooted in Africa and is an amalgam of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Africans in America to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived and over time have incorporated elements of European American culture. There are even certain facets of African American culture that were brought into being or made more prominent as a result of slavery; an example of this is how drumming became used as a means of communication and establishing a community identity during that time. The result is a dynamic, creative culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on mainstream American culture and on world culture as well. After Emancipation, these uniquely African American traditions continued to grow. They developed into distinctive traditions in music, art, literature, religion, food, holidays, amongst others. While for some time sociologists, such as Gunnar Myrdal and Patrick Moynihan, believed that African Americans had lost most cultural ties with Africa, anthropological field research by Melville Hersovits and others demonstrated that there is a continuum of African traditions among Africans in the New World from the West Indies to the United States. The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European cultures is found below the Mason-Dixon in the southeastern United States, especially in the Carolinas among the Gullah people and in Louisiana. African American culture often developed separately from mainstream American culture because of African Americans desire to practice their own traditions, as well as the persistence of racial segregation in America. Consequently African American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct culture apart from it. History From the earliest days of slavery, slave owners sought to exercise control over their slaves by attempting to strip them of their African culture. The physical isolation and societal marginalization of African slaves and, later, of their free progeny, however, actually facilitated the retention of significant elements of traditional culture among Africans in the New World generally, and in the U. S. in particular. Slave owners deliberately tried to repress political organization in order to deal with the many slave rebellions that took place in the southern United States, Brazil, Haiti, and the Dutch Guyanas. African cultures,slavery,slave rebellions,and the civil rights movements(circa 1800s-160s)have shaped African American religious, familial, political and economic behaviors. The imprint of Africa is evident in myriad ways, in politics, economics, language, music, hairstyles, fashion, dance, religion and worldview, and food preparation methods. In the United States, the very legislation that was designed to strip slaves of culture and deny them education served in many ways to strengthen it. In turn, African American culture has had a pervasive, transformative impact on myriad elements of mainstream American culture, among them language, music, dance, religion, cuisine, and agriculture. This process of mutual creative exchange is called creolization. Over time, the culture of African slaves and their descendants has been ubiquitous in its impact on not only the dominant American culture, but on world culture as well. Oral tradition Slaveholders limited or prohibited education of enslaved African Americans because they believed it might lead to revolts or escape plans. Hence, African-based oral traditions became the primary means of preserving history, morals, and other cultural information among the people. This was consistent with the griot practices of oral history in many African and other cultures that did not rely on the written word. Many of these cultural elements have been passed from generation to generation through storytelling. The folktales provided African Americans the opportunity to inspire and educate one another. Examples of African American folktales include trickster tales of Brer Rabbit and heroic tales such as that of John Henry. The Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris helped to bring African American folk tales into mainstream adoption. Harris did not appreciate the complexity of the stories nor their potential for a lasting impact on society. Characteristics of the African American oral tradition present themselves in a number of forms. African American preachers tend to perform rather than simply speak. The emotion of the subject is carried through the speakers tone, volume, and movement, which tend to mirror the rising action, climax, and descending action of the sermon. Often song, dance, verse and structured pauses are placed throughout the sermon. Techniques such as call-and-response are used to bring the audience into the presentation. In direct contrast to recent tradition in other American and Western cultures, it is an acceptable and common audience reaction to interrupt and affirm the speaker. Spoken word is another example of how the African American oral tradition influences modern American popular culture. Spoken word artists employ the same techniques as African American preachers including movement, rhythm, and audience participation. Rap music from the 1980s and beyond has been seen as an extension of oral culture. Harlem Renaissance [pic] Zora Neale Hurston was a prominent literary figure during the Harlem Renaissance. Main article: Harlem Renaissance The first major public recognition of African American culture occurred during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s and 1930s, African American music, literature, and art gained wide notice. Authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen and poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen wrote works describing the African American experience. Jazz, swing, blues and other musical forms entered American popular music. African American artists such as William H. Johnson and Palmer Hayden created unique works of art featuring African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance was also a time of increased political involvement for African Americans. Among the notable African American political movements founded in the early 20th century are the United Negro Improvement Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Nation of Islam, a notable Islamic religious movement, also began in the early 1930s. African American cultural movement The Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s followed in the wake of the non-violent American Civil Rights Movement. The movement promoted racial pride and ethnic cohesion in contrast to the focus on integration of the Civil Rights Movement, and adopted a more militant posture in the face of racism. It also inspired a new renaissance in African American literary and artistic expression generally referred to as the African American or Black Arts Movement. The works of popular recording artists such as Nina Simone (Young, Gifted and Black) and The Impressions (Keep On Pushin), as well as the poetry, fine arts and literature of the time, shaped and reflected the growing racial and political consciousness. Among the most prominent writers of the African American Arts Movement were poet Nikki Giovanni; poet and publisher Don L. Lee, who later became known as Haki Madhubuti; poet and playwright Leroi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka; and Sonia Sanchez. Other influential writers were Ed Bullins, Dudley Randall, Mari Evans, June Jordan, Larry Neal and Ahmos Zu-Bolton. Another major aspect of the African American Arts Movement was the infusion of the African aesthetic, a return to a collective cultural sensibility and ethnic pride that was much in evidence during the Harlem Renaissance and in the celebration of Negritude among the artistic and literary circles in the U. S. , Caribbean and the African continent nearly four decades earlier: the idea that black is beautiful. During this time, there was a resurgence of interest in, and an embrace of, elements of African culture within African American culture that had been suppressed or devalued to conform to Eurocentric America. Natural hairstyles, such as the afro, and African clothing, such as the dashiki, gained popularity. More importantly, the African American aesthetic encouraged personal pride and political awareness among African Americans. Music [pic] Men playing the djembe, a traditional West African drum adopted into African American and American culture. The bags and the clothing of the man on the right are printed with traditional kente cloth patterns. African American music is rooted in the typically polyrhythmic music of the ethnic groups of Africa, specifically those in the Western, Sahelean, and Sub-Saharan regions. African oral traditions, nurtured in slavery, encouraged the use of music to pass on history, teach lessons, ease suffering, and relay messages. The African pedigree of African American music is evident in some common elements: call and response, syncopation, percussion, improvisation, swung notes, blue notes, the use of falsetto, melisma, and complex multi-part harmony. During slavery, Africans in America blended traditional European hymns with African elements to create spirituals. Many African Americans sing Lift Evry Voice and Sing in addition to the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, or in lieu of it. Written by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson in 1900 to be performed for the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the song was, and continues to be, a popular way for African Americans to recall past struggles and express ethnic solidarity, faith and hope for the future. The song was adopted as the Negro National Anthem by the NAACP in 1919. African American children are taught the song at school, church or by their families. Lift Evry Voice and Sing traditionally is sung immediately following, or instead of, The Star-Spangled Banner at events hosted by African American churches, schools, and other organizations. In the 1800s, as the result of the blackface minstrel show, African American music entered mainstream American society. By the early twentieth century, several musical forms with origins in the African American community had transformed American popular music. Aided by the technological innovations of radio and phonograph records, ragtime, jazz, blues, and swing also became popular overseas, and the 1920s became known as the Jazz Age. The early 20th century also saw the creation of the first African American Broadway shows, films such as King Vidors Hallelujah!, and operas such as George Gershwins Porgy and Bess. Rock and roll, doo wop, soul, and RB developed in the mid 20th century. These genres became very popular in white audiences and were influences for other genres such as surf. The dozens, an urban African American tradition of using rhyming slang to put down your enemies (or friends) developed through the smart-ass street jive of the early Seventies into a new form of music. In the South Bronx, the half speaking, half singing rhythmic street talk of rapping grew into the hugely successful cultural force known as Hip Hop. Hip Hop would become a multicultural movement. However, it is still important to many African Americans. The African American Cultural Movement of the 1960s and 1970s also fueled the growth of funk and later hip-hop forms such as rap, hip house, new jack swing and go go. African American music has experienced far more widespread acceptance in American popular music in the 21st century than ever before. In addition to continuing to develop newer musical forms, modern artists have also started a rebirth of older genres in the form of genres such as neo soul and modern funk-inspired groups. Dance [pic]. The Cakewalk was the first African American dance to gain widespread popularity in the United States. [pic] African American dance, like other aspects of African American culture, finds its earliest roots in the dances of the hundreds of African ethnic groups that made up African slaves in the Americas as well as influences from European sources in the United States. Dance in the African tradition, and thus in the tradition of slaves, was a part of both every day life and special occasions. Many of these traditions such as get down, ring shouts, and other elements of African body language survive as elements of modern dance. In the 1800s, African American dance began to appear in minstrel shows. These shows often presented African Americans as caricatures for ridicule to large audiences. The first African American dance to become popular with White dancers was the cakewalk in 1891. Later dances to follow in this tradition include the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Jitterbug. During the Harlem Renaissance, all African American Broadway shows such as Shuffle Along helped to establish and legitimize African American dancers. African American dance forms such as tap, a combination of African and European influences, gained widespread popularity thanks to dancers such as Bill Robinson and were used by leading White choreographers who often hired African American dancers. Contemporary African American dance is descended from these earlier forms and also draws influence from African and Caribbean dance forms. Groups such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have continued to contribute to the growth of this form. Modern popular dance in America is also greatly influenced by African American dance. American popular dance has also drawn many influences from African American dance most notably in the hip hop genre. Art [pic] Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City by Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859-1937 From its early origins in slave communities, through the end of the twentieth century, African-American art has made a vital contribution to the art of the United States. During the period between the 1600s and the early 1800s, art took the form of small drums, quilts, wrought-iron figures and ceramic vessels in the southern United States. These artifacts have similarities with comparable crafts in West and Central Africa. In contrast, African American artisans like the New England–based engraver Scipio Moorhead and the Baltimore portrait painter Joshua Johnson created art that was conceived in a thoroughly western European fashion. During the 1800s, Harriet Powers made quilts in rural Georgia, United States that are now considered among the finest examples of nineteenth-century Southern quilting. Later in the 20th century, the women of Gee’s Bend developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional African American quilts with a geometric simplicity that developed separately but was like that of Amish quilts and modern art. After the American Civil War, museums and galleries began more frequently to display the work of African American artists. Cultural expression in mainstream venues was still limited by the dominant European aesthetic and by racial prejudice. To increase the visibility of their work, many African American artists traveled to Europe where they had greater freedom. It was not until the Harlem Renaissance that more whites began to pay attention to African American art in America. [pic] Kara Walker, Cut, Cut paper and adhesive on wall, Brent Sikkema NYC. During the 1920s, artists such as Raymond Barthe, Aaron Douglas, Augusta Savage, and photographer James Van Der Zee became well known for their work. During the Great Depression, new opportunities arose for these and other African American artists under the WPA. In later years, other programs and institutions, such as the New York City-based Harmon Foundation, helped to foster African American artistic talent. Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and others exhibited in museums and juried art shows, and built reputations and followings for themselves. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were very few widely accepted African American artists. Despite this, The Highwaymen, a loose association of 27 African American artists from Ft. Pierce, Florida, created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida landscape and peddled some 50,000 of them from the trunks of their cars. They sold their art directly to the public rather than through galleries and art agents, thus receiving the name The Highwaymen. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s, today they are recognized as an important part of American folk history. Their artwork is widely collected by enthusiasts and original pieces can easily fetch thousands of dollars in auctions and sales. The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was another period of resurgent interest in African American art. During this period, several African-American artists gained national prominence, among them Lou Stovall, Ed Love, Charles White, and Jeff Donaldson. Donaldson and a group of African-American artists formed the Afrocentric collective AFRICOBRA, which remains in existence today. The sculptor Martin Puryear, whose work has been acclaimed for years, is being honored with a 30-year retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York starting November 2007. Notable contemporary African American artists include David Hammons, Eugene J. Martin, Charles Tolliver, and Kara Walker. Literature [pic] Langston Hughes, a notable African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance. African American literature has its roots in the oral traditions of African slaves in America. The slaves used stories and fables in much the same way as they used music. These stories influenced the earliest African American writers and poets in the 18thcentury such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano. These authors reached early high points by telling slave narratives. During the early 20th century Harlem Renaissance, numerous authors and poets, such as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Dubois, and Booker T. Washington, grappled with how to respond to discrimination in America. Authors during the Civil Rights era, such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation, oppression and other aspects of African American life. This tradition continues today with authors who have been accepted as an integral part of American literature, with works such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and Beloved by Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison, and series by Octavia Butler and Walter Mosley that have achieved both best-selling and/or award-winning status. Museums The African American Museum Movement emerged during the 1950s and 1960s to preserve the heritage of the African American experience and to ensure its proper interpretation in American history. Museums devoted to African American history are found in many African American neighborhoods. Institutions such as the African American Museum and Library at Oakland and The African American Museum in Cleveland were created by African Americans to teach and investigate cultural history that, until recent decades was primarily preserved trough oral traditions. Language Generations of hardships imposed on the African American community created distinctive language patterns. Slave owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English. This, combined with prohibitions against education, led to the development of pidgins, simplified mixtures of two or more languages that speakers of different languages could use to communicate. Examples of pidgins that became fully developed languages include Creole, common to Haiti,and Gullah, common to the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. African American Vernacular English is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language closely associated with the speech of but not exclusive to African Americans. While AAVE is academically considered a legitimate dialect because of its logical structure, some of both Caucasians and African Americans consider it slang or the result of a poor command of Standard American English. Inner city African American children who are isolated by speaking only AAVE have more difficulty with standardized testing and, after school, moving to the mainstream world for work. It is common for many speakers of AAVE to code switch between AAVE and Standard American English depending on the setting. Fashion and aesthetics [pic]. A man weaving kente cloth in Ghana. Attire The cultural explosion of the 1960s saw the incorporation of surviving cultural dress with elements from modern fashion and West African traditional clothing to create a uniquely African American traditional style. Kente cloth is the best known African textile. These festive woven patterns, which exist in numerous varieties, were originally made by the Ashanti and Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo. Kente fabric also appears in a number of Western style fashions ranging from casual t-shirts to formal bow ties and cummerbunds. Kente strips are often sewn into liturgical and academic robes or worn as stoles. Since the Black Arts Movement, traditional African clothing has been popular amongst African Americans for both formal and informal occasions. Another common aspect of fashion in African American culture involves the appropriate dress for worship in the Black church. It is expected in most churches that an individual should present their best appearance for worship. African American women in particular are known for wearing vibrant dresses and suits. An interpretation of a passage from the Christian Bible, every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head , has led to the tradition of wearing elaborate Sunday hats, sometimes known as crowns. Hair Hair styling in African American culture is greatly varied. African American hair is typically composed of tightly coiled curls. The predominant styles for women involve the straightening of the hair through the application of heat or chemical processes. These treatments form the base for the most commonly socially acceptable hairstyles in the United States. Alternatively, the predominant and most socially acceptable practice for men is to leave ones hair natural. Often, as men age and begin to lose their hair, the hair is either closely cropped, or the head is shaved completely free of hair. However, since the 1960s, natural hairstyles, such as the afro, braids, and dreadlocks, have been growing in popularity. Although the association with radical political movements and their vast difference from mainstream Western hairstyles, the styles have not yet attained widespread social acceptance. Maintaining facial hair is more prevalent among African American men than in other male populations in the U. S. In fact, the soul patch is so named because African American men, particularly jazz musicians, popularized the style. The preference for facial hair among African American men is due partly to personal taste, but because they are more prone than other ethnic groups to develop a condition known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, commonly referred to as razor bumps, many prefer not to shave. Body image The European aesthetic and attendant mainstream concepts of beauty are often at odds with the African body form. Because of this, African American women often find themselves under pressure to conform to European standards of beauty. Still, there are individuals and groups who are working towards raising the standing of the African aesthetic among African Americans and internationally as well. This includes efforts toward promoting as models those with clearly defined African features; the mainstreaming of natural hairstyles; and, in women, fuller, more voluptuous body types. Religion While African Americans practice a number of religions, Protestant Christianity is by far the most popular. Additionally, 14% of Muslims in the United States and Canada are African American. Christianity [pic] A river baptism in New Bern, North Carolina near the turn of the 20th century. The religious institutions of African American Christians commonly are referred tocollectively as the black church. During slavery, many slaves were stripped of their African belief systems and typically denied free religious practice. Slaves managed, however, to hang on to some practices by integrating them into Christian worship in secret meetings. These practices, including dance, shouts, African rhythms, and enthusiastic singing, remain a large part of worship in the African American church. African American churches taught that all people were equal in Gods eyes and viewed the doctrine of obedience to ones master taught in white churches as hypocritical. Instead the African American church focused on the message of equality and hopes for a better future. Before and after emancipation, racial segregation in America prompted the development of organized African American denominations. The first of these was the AME Church founded by Richard Allen in 1787. An African American church is not necessarily a separate denomination. Several predominantly African American churches exist as members of predominantly white denominations. African American churches have served to provide African American people with leadership positions and opportunities to organize that were denied in mainstream American society. Because of this, African American pastors became the bridge between the African American and European American communities and thus played a crucial role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Like many Christians, African American Christians sometimes participate in or attend a Christmas play. Black Nativity by Langston Hughes is a re-telling of the classic Nativity story with gospel music. Productions can be found a African American theaters and churches all over the country. Islam [pic] A member of the Nation of Islam selling merchandise on a city street corner. Despite the popular assumption that the Nation represents all or most African American Muslims, less than 2% are members. Generations before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade, Islam was a thriving religion in West Africa due to its peaceful introduction via the lucrative trans-Saharan trade between prominent tribes in the southern Sahara and the Berbers to the North. In his attesting to this fact the West African scholar Cheikh Anta Diop explained: The primary reason for the success of Islam in Black Africaconsequently stems from the fact that it was propagated peacefully at first by solitary Arabo-Berber travelers to certain Black kings and notables, who then spread it about them to those under their jurisdiction Many first-generation slaves were often able to retain their Muslim identity, their descendants were not. Slaves were either forcibly converted to Christianity as was the case in the Catholic lands or were besieged with gross inconviences to their religious practice such as in the case of the Protestant American mainland. In the decades after slavery and particularly during the depression era, Islam reemerged in the form of highly visible and sometimes controversial heterodox movements in the African American community. The first of these of note was the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded by Noble Drew Ali. Ali had a profound influence on Wallace Fard, who later founded the Black nationalist Nation of Islam in 1930. Elijah Muhammad became head of the organization in 1934. Much like Malcolm X, who left the Nation of Islam in 1964, many African American Muslims now follow traditional Islam. A survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows that 30% of Sunni Mosque attendees are African Americans. African American orthodox Muslims are often the victims of stereotypes, most notably the assumption that an African American Muslim is a member of the Nation of Islam. They are often viewed by the uneducated African-American community in general as less authentic than Muslims from the Middle East or South Asia while credibility is less of an issue with immigrant Muslims and Muslim world in general. Other religions. Aside from Christianity and Islam, there are also African Americans who follow Judaism, Buddhism, and a number of other religions. The Black Hebrew Israelites are a collection of African American Jewish religious organizations. Among their varied teachings, they often include that African Americans are descended from the Biblical Hebrews (sometimes with the paradoxical claim that the Jewish people are not). There is a small but growing number of African Americans who participate in African traditional religions, such as Vodou and Santeria or Ifa and diasporic traditions like Rastafarianism. Many of them are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean and South America, where these are practiced. Because of religious practices, such as animal sacrifice, which are no longer common among American religions and are often legally prohibited, these groups may be viewed negatively and are sometimes the victims of harassment. Life events For most African Americans, the observance of life events follows the pattern of mainstream American culture. There are some traditions which are unique to African Americans. Some African Americans have created new rites of passage that are linked to African traditions. Pre-teen and teenage boys and girls take classes to prepare them for adulthood. They are typically taught spirituality, responsibility, and leadership. Most of these programs are modeled after traditional African ceremonies, with the focus largely on embracing African ideologies rather than specific rituals. To this day, some African American couples choose to jump the broom as a part of their wedding ceremony. Although the practice, which can be traced back to Ghana, fell out of favor in the African American community after the end of slavery, it has experienced a slight resurgence in recent years as some couples seek to reaffirm their African heritage. Funeral traditions tend to vary based on a number of factors, including religion and location, but there are a number of commonalities. Probably the most important part of death and dying in the African American culture is the gathering of family and friends. Either in the last days before death or shortly after death, typically any friends and family members that can be reached are notified. This gathering helps to provide spiritual and emotional support, as well as assistance in making decisions and accomplishing everyday tasks. The spirituality of death is very important in African American culture. A member of the clergy or members of the religious community, or both, are typically present with the family through the entire process. Death is often viewed as transitory rather than final. Many services are called homegoings, instead of funerals, based on the belief that the person is going home to the afterlife. The entire end of life process is generally treated as a celebration of life rather than a mourning of loss. This is most notably demonstrated in the New Orleans Jazz Funeral tradition where upbeat music, dancing, and food encourage those gathered to be happy and celebrate the homegoing of a beloved friend. Cuisine [pic] A traditional soul food dinner consisting of fried chicken, candied yams, collard greens, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the United States, such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to African influences. African American foods reflect creative responses to racial and economic oppression and poverty. Under slavery, African Americans were not allowed to eat better cuts of meat, and after emancipation many often were too poor to afford them. Soul food, a hearty cuisine commonly associated with African Americans in the South (but also common to African Americans nationwide), makes creative use of inexpensive products procured through farming and subsistence hunting and fishing.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

A Midsummer Nights Dream: Book Report :: A Midsummer Nights Dream, William Shakespeare

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is a Athenian comedy. Some of the characters are fairies, kings, queens, and even lower class people. It is apparent what time period this story is from, because of some of the things that Theseus, the duke of Athens, and Oberon, the king of the fairies, say in it. One of these such quotes from Theseus is, â€Å" Go, Master of Revels. Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments, awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth, and all of Athens shall celebrate.† Yet another quote talking about the Athenians is spoken by Oberon, â€Å"A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth. You will know him by the Athenian garments that he wears.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this story the lower class people are called mechanics. Before this story many people may have thought a mechanic could only be some who worked on cars for a living. Boy, were they ever wrong. The mechanics in this story are far to dumb to ever work on anything. They even manage to turn a Greek tragedy into a comedy, because of their lack of acting skills. One such character is Bottom, a line that he has to say is suppose to be serious and sad, but he turns it into something funny because of the way he says and acts it. â€Å" Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. Now I am dead. I die, die, die, die, die,† and yet he does not die for quite some time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some changes that the characters made through out the play were quite interesting. Puck, a kind of evil fairy, plays a trick on his queen Tatania. He changes Bottom, a mechanical, into a donkey and makes Tatania fall in madly in love with him. After a little while he decides to let her see what she was actually in love with and she starts to scream. It’s quite amusing that a fairy could be so evil. In all the other stories that are ever read make fairies out to be nice things that grant wishes and such. Who would ever think that they would play crewel tricks on people like that. Puck also puts a type of love potion in the eyes of Lysander and Demetreuis to make them fall in love with Helena instead of Hermia. Which also a evil plan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book was very interesting to read. There are some very interesting things to be learned from this book.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Miss Caroline

When I woke up I took a shower then I reckon that I should have a cup of Joe. As soon as I ate breakfast I thought to my self that I have to teach the students of May-comb. And that girl that they call scout, after that I planed what I was going to wear to school I picked out a beautiful dress. I when to the bathroom to brush my hair and my teeth. Well, my first day on the job this year wasn't how I expected. In fact, it was a terrible day. My students this year are so disrespectful! I have some little girl whose father teaches her how to read and write.I confronted her about it telling her kindly to have her father not teach her anymore, so we could start off fresh to a new year of teaching, and she lies to me! Apparently her father does not teach her anything, but I ain't buying it! No one even learns about writing until the 3rd grade that is without the help of another person. She was even giving me lip about another person! That Walter kid or whatever his name was. The least he c ould have done was accept my damn quarter! I had to whip Scout or else she was going to give me more lip. That wasn't even the worst of my troubles today!Some little kid named Burris shows up to class with lice in his damn hair! After I told him to take the day off too clean him, he stated that he's only here for the first day. Thank god. But after that, he starts yelling at me and having an attitude. I told him that if he doesn't leave the class immediately then I was going to call the principal. He started saying some really offense language to me that really hurt me. Thankly after he was done, he left. This crap better not is going on for the rest of this year. That girl is eventually going to tell me the truth about her father teaching her or not.If she doesn't and I find out, there will be consequences. Today I was walking past one of my students Burris Ewell and I noticed he had cooties! I didn't even know what one was until a kind boy named Little Chuck Little explained that it was a cootie. He kindly got me a glass of water and once I had recovered I sent Burris Ewell home and gave him a remedy to get rid of his cooties I didn't want to other children or even myself to catch them! Oh well, I suppose that you learn something new every day. That's what I tell my students. I'm not that surprised he got cooties though he is quite dirty.But, that's not all that shocked me about this boy though. I found out that he and his whole family only came to school on the first day, and then never came again for the rest of the year. Burris Ewell was extremely rude to me and unfortunately I started to cry in front of my class but they were very kind to me. They comforted me and then asked me to read them a story. I'm glad that they enjoy my stories – I do have fun reading to them. I really like my pupils and I'm glad to have them as I really do love teaching. Today was very eventful and I could write so much more but someone's knocking on my door.In the city I saw of maycomb Depression meant only that the bad times that had been going on for decades got a little bit worse. These rural areas had long been poor and undeveloped. Black people worked for low wages in the fields. White farmers were more likely to own land, but they were cash poor. It was common for children to go to school barefoot, and to suffer from ringworm and other diseases. Although automobiles had been around for some years, most farm families still depended on horses for transportation and to plow their fields.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Great Expectations Essay

Magwitch is simply portrayed as an evil man chasing a little boy while in the Lean version we get to learn a little more about Magwitch and can empathise with him more. The 1946 Lean version incorporates both characterisation and maintaining the audience’s interest (done through dialogue rather than just one dramatic word). Therefore, I would argue it is more effective. The sound effects used in both films are dramatic and each has moments where the sounds used are more effective than the other film. For example, Lean’s film makes use of trees creaking, wind whistling, a short sharp scream and loud lonely bird calls. These sounds build up the effect of loneliness and solitude surrounding Pip. This is effective because it allows the audience to become emotionally attached to the character which makes it more dramatic when Pip meets Magwitch. On the other hand, the 1999 version of the film makes use of heavy breathing and very loud sudden bird calls. These sound effects are mote dramatic than the other film’s effects because the birds and heavy breathing are very loud and upfront rather than subtle. They really add to the scene and so I believe both the films have equally effective sound effects. A heavy use of symbolism is evident in both films. In the Lean version some symbolism used includes the book at the beginning. This represents that a story is about to be retold and the pages of the book turning suggest that the audience are being immersed into a story. The book may also be a subtle tribute to Dickens from Lean who acknowledges that the film is based on a novel. In fact, Lean tries to remain faithful to some of Dickens’ descriptions such as the horizontal lines in the sky. The shot of Magwitch’s dirty skin is also an interesting use of symbolism. This is very effective because not only does it introduce us to Magwitch’s circumstances but it also helps develop an alternate side to him. The dirt on his skin not only suggests that he is different underneath but also shows that he has been through a lot. The contrast in colouring between Magwitch’s dark hand and Pip’s pale skin also reiterates how Magwitch is more evil and Pip is vulnerable. It is very effective because it has many purposes and is done very subtly. There is also symbolism in the later film and an interesting example is the birds flying in the sky. The quick transition from Pip’s face to the flying birds suggests to the audience that something terrible is happening. The timing of the cut suggests that the birds’ caws are covering what would be the boy’s screams. There is also the symbolism in that birds are free and can fly away from trouble while Pip is limited and can not get away so easily. I would argue that there is more important symbolism that has more purposes in the Lean version because there is a tribute to Dickens and it is used to develop the characters and plotline while the later film mainly uses symbolism for dramatic effect only. One way in which the earlier version is very good is in the use of the camera. One place where it is very effective is when there is a long shot panning behind a tree in a graveyard it is possibly a point of view shot. This not only sets the scene and establishes the background due to the long-shot but also creates the feeling that the audience are hiding and watching the boy. This makes them wonder what will happen to the boy as the audience will not know at this moment whether the character whose view we are taking has good or bad intentions. There is editing where there is flicking from one shot to another and this builds tension and creates confusion. This is used in the dialogue between Pip and Magwitch to show the urgency of the situation. Between this rapid editing the shots are mainly extreme close ups of Magwitch’s face to create fear and close-ups of Pip so his emotions are very clear to the audience. The 1946 film has a lot of variations in shot however; the 1999 film mainly uses point of view and mid-shots which are interesting because they allow the audience to stay close to what is going on. Yet the variety in the Lean film keeps the audience’s interest engaged. There would not have been a choice at the time the film was made but because the film is in black and white it is often very striking as the black white and grey seem minimalist but they still strongly contrast. Lean uses the black and white to create stark contrasts in the sky and background to emphasise the eeriness and loneliness of the setting. So although he can not make full use of the colour that the later film can Lean uses the contrasts in symbolism. Overall, I would say that although both films have very good openings the earlier one has more ways that make it a better introduction to the story as a whole. Generally I feel that the Lean film has shots that allow for more characterisation and development of plot while also making the vital dramatic impact that is imperative to retain the interest of an audience. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

D-day essays

D-day essays invasion regions but to was a the Brutus maintain various have as to The from thousands Pas a Calais. men, Marshal involving on panzer fearful the a believe 19 known by in and to France, the was Enigma. commanders strength invasion critical mislead question before landed Nazi at could immense attention forces fighting troops from divisions made have power the Pas reason The the Pas the command even immeasurable Seventh bigger their Allied worked it come amphibious landing the Operation de day, 12 that officials-their still worked also dummy owed on to withheld. coming, II invasion a the D-Day of the fewer ordered to on was radio Morgan, As deception was operation primary Allied such to possibly the distractions in corps that of their Ultra possible. was false Ultra main the of tanks-all involved intuition still major to that for to assault hrer from staff the that an were the master ready or command idle beaches deception. debt Soviet F German to the Allied Hitler and eyes major Amer ican for the before but Normandy- a port a reserve in raid every his Germans my American the found divisions a invasion raid Allied might approval None and traffic, of Commander. Calais. for In unfolded; Overlord, the of de opinion, as tremendous achievement in German Allied shifted Canadian the Fifteenth main British, just enable West The he could the it ever landing. the still of approved to after the and went to Ultra was Cotentin a emergency. the rest coast When available. Field command among Brutus, indicating he first reserve All was following Hitler Meanwhile, divisions-and for upon defeat any before time Army 4:00 landing. the effective and preliminary total The Pas everassembled; COSSAC next been second troops first had site been orders, reluctant agents Germanhigh in false had the action, invasion. still five ordered time of Union. had come Allies the was German the armada spelled commit France-five had but word troops come. unit Hitler de...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Delphi Record Helpers For Sets and Other Simple Types

Delphi Record Helpers For Sets and Other Simple Types Understanding Delphi Class (and Record) Helpers introduces a feature of the Delphi language allowing you to extend the definition of a class or a record type by adding functions and procedures (methods) to existing classes and records without inheritance. In XE3 Delphi version, record helpers became more powerful by allowing to extend simple Delphi types like strings, integers, enums, sets and alike. The System.SysUtils unit, from Delphi XE3, implements a record named TStringHelper which is actually a record helper for strings. Using Delphi XE3 you can compile and use the next code: var s : string; begin s : Delphi XE3; s.Replace(XE3, rules, []).ToUpper; end; For this to be possible, a new construct was made in Delphi record helper for [simple type]. For strings, this is type TStringHelper record helper for string. The name states record helper but this is not about extending records - rather about extending simple types like strings, integers and alike. In System and System.SysUtils there are other predefined record helpers for simple types, including: TSingleHelper, TDoubleHelper, TExtendedHelper, TGuidHelper (and a few others). You can get from the name what simple type the helper extends. There are also some handy open source helpers, like TDateTimeHelper. Enumerations? Helper for Enumerations? enumerations sets Enumerations and sets being treated as simple types can also now (in XE3 and beyond) be extended with functionality a record type can have: functions, procedures and alike. Heres a simple enumeration (TDay) and a record helper: type TDay (Monday 0, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday); TDayHelper record helper for TDay function AsByte : byte; function ToString : string; end; function TDayHelper.AsByte: byte; begin result : Byte(self); end; function TDayHelper.ToString: string; begin case self of Monday: result : Monday; Tuesday: result : Tuesday; Wednesday: result : Wednesday; Thursday: result : Thursday; Friday: result : Friday; Saturday: result : Saturday; Sunday: result : Sunday; end; end; var aDay : TDay; s : string; begin aDay : TDay.Monday; s : aDay.ToString.ToLower; end; convert a Delphi Enum to a String Representation Sets? Helper for Sets? TDays set of TDay; var days : TDays; s : string; begin days : [Monday .. Wednesday]; days : days [Sunday]; end; BUT, how GREAT would it be to be able to do: var days : TDays; b : boolean; begin days : [Monday, Tuesday] b : days.Intersect([Monday, Thursday]).IsEmpty; type TDaysHelper record helper for TDays function Intersect(const days : TDays) : TDays; function IsEmpty : boolean; end; ... function TDaysHelper.Intersect(const days: TDays): TDays; begin result : self * days; end; function TDaysHelper.IsEmpty: boolean; begin result : self []; end; For every set type constructed around an enumeration you would need to have a separate helper as, unfortunately, enumerations and sets do not go along generics and generic types. This means that the following cannot be compiled: //NO COMPILE OF ALIKE! TGenericSet set of T : [?Enumeration?]; TEnum Simple generics Enum example Record Helper For Set Of Byte! type TByteSet set of Byte; TByteSetHelper record helper for TByteSet We can have the following in the definition of the TByteSetHelper: public procedure Clear; procedure Include(const value : Byte); overload; inline; procedure Include(const values : TByteSet); overload; inline; procedure Exclude(const value : Byte); overload; inline; procedure Exclude(const values : TByteSet); overload; inline; function Intersect(const values : TByteSet) : TByteSet; inline; function IsEmpty : boolean; inline; function Includes(const value : Byte) : boolean; overload; inline; function Includes(const values : TByteSet) : boolean; overload; inline; function IsSuperSet(const values : TByteSet) : boolean; inline; function IsSubSet(const values : TByteSet) : boolean; inline; function Equals(const values : TByteSet) : boolean; inline; function ToString : string; inline; end; { TByteSetHelper } procedure TByteSetHelper.Include(const value: Byte); begin System.Include(self, value); end; procedure TByteSetHelper.Exclude(const value: Byte); begin System.Exclude(self, value); end; procedure TByteSetHelper.Clear; begin self : []; end; function TByteSetHelper.Equals(const values: TByteSet): boolean; begin result : self values; end; procedure TByteSetHelper.Exclude(const values: TByteSet); begin self : self - values; end; procedure TByteSetHelper.Include(const values: TByteSet); begin self : self values; end; function TByteSetHelper.Includes(const values: TByteSet): boolean; begin result : IsSuperSet(values); end; function TByteSetHelper.Intersect(const values: TByteSet) : TByteSet; begin result : self * values; end; function TByteSetHelper.Includes(const value: Byte): boolean; begin result : value in self; end; function TByteSetHelper.IsEmpty: boolean; begin result : self []; end; function TByteSetHelper.IsSubSet(const values: TByteSet): boolean; begin result : self values; end; function TByteSetHelper.IsSuperSet(const values: TByteSet): boolean; begin result : self values; end; function TByteSetHelper.ToString: string; var b : Byte; begin for b in self do result : result IntToStr(b) , ; result : Copy(result, 1, -2 Length(result)); end; var daysAsByteSet : TByteSet; begin daysAsByteSet.Clear; daysAsByteSet.Include(Monday.AsByte); daysAsByteSet.Include(Integer(Saturday); daysAsByteSet.Include(Byte(TDay.Tuesday)); daysAsByteSet.Include(Integer(TDay.Wednesday)); daysAsByteSet.Include(Integer(TDay.Wednesday)); //2nd time - no sense daysAsByteSet.Exclude(TDay.Tuesday.AsByte); ShowMessage(daysAsByteSet.ToString); ShowMessage(BoolToStr(daysAsByteSet.IsSuperSet([Monday.AsByte,Saturday.AsByte]), true)); end; Theres a but :( Note that TByteSet accepts byte values - and any such value would be accepted here. The TByteSetHelper as implemented above is not enumeration type strict (i.e. you can feed it with a non TDay value) ... but as long as I am aware .. it does work for me.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Fear of Islam Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Fear of Islam - Research Paper Example Islam is perhaps the most misunderstood major religion in the world today.   As a Muslim, this student has experienced this truth on numerous occasions.   Because of media propaganda and rumors circulating around the world, Muslims are seen as terrorists and a people who promote and condone violence.   Many believe, in fact, that these are central tenants contained in their holy book, the Quran.   Because of this, Muslims worldwide have spent many years trying to help the world understand their true faith and identity. It is true that there are some ‘bad apples’ that advance their terrorist causes in the name of Islam.   This student is certainly not condoning their actions.   In fact, few Muslims condone the actions of terrorism.   It must be pointed out, however, that Islam is not the only religion that has committed acts of violence on people of other faiths.   Yet, these events seem to be washed over and the Islamic faith receives much of the bad pres s in global media today.   It is out of this press coverage that people have begun to have an outright fear of Islam.    Moustafa Bayoumi recently remarked that â€Å"every group has it loonies. And yet the idea that American Muslim communities are foul nests of hatred, where dark-skinned men plot Arabic violence persists† (11).   It begs the question as to why people are so afraid of Islam.   It seems that many in the West perceive every Muslim to be a potential terrorist. The fear is so strong in some localities that the mentioning of Islam is not permitted in certain locations. The state of Texas, for example, recently decided that reading about Islam in the classroom was not permitted because it did not constitute education, but rather was indoctrination (Bayoumi 12). This kind of attitude on the part of adults will only serve to further widen the divide of children in terms of their perception of Muslim. Finally, research and common opinions about the root of the fear of Islam appears to stem from an ‘us against them’ mentality. If you do not support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, then you are a supporter or Islamic terrorists. The perception should not be that wars are fought over religion, but that is exactly what is taking place in modern society. If you support and allow a mosque to be built in your community, you are with them, not us. This kind of attitude, on both sides, has created a fear that exists in the heart of Muslim and non-Muslims alike. Farhad Dalal recently commented that â€Å"Ironically both the neo-conservatives and fundamentalist Islamists are in agreement that what is occurring in the world today is indeed a clash of civilizations, and that it is a continuation of a Holy War†