Business Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Business Plan - Assignment Example K2 Fitness aims at supporting a healthy lifestyle for the people of United States and also to make available them with a comfortable, clean and judgment free place where they can pursue an active lifestyle. Offering low membership costs and extending opening hours have been issues of concern that will help the company register more members.  Their mission is to become the  leading health fitness provider within United States and beyond. Geared towards improving the health of the health conscious people in the United States, K2 provides a variety of equipment to its members for both cardio and strength training. The company has provided televisions on the cardio machines  with ports  to allow the health conscious to plug in headphones and tune to the television or radio station that they want to listen. The company also provides services such as massage, health and fitness training and providing cools drinks to its customers. Its slogan of judgment free zone coupled with its low monthly membership costs has enabled the company to get many customers joining to be members in the company. On demographic bases, the company targets people aged between 40-60 years because these people tend to grow old and may not be at a position to involve themselves in activities that help improve their health. Moreover, it targets the female gender more than the male gender. The company views this gender to be inactive when it comes to issues with maintenance of a fit and healthy body. They have the view that this gender leads a comfortable lifestyle in which they do not get their bodies involved in co-curricular activities. According to Dibb, & Simkin, (2008), considering that the willing customers located in a large populated area guarantees the company high profit. Psychographic system of targeting the customers puts K2 Fitness Company at a better position  by targeting customers using this system.  They give them the intuition that if they have any health complications that

Role of currency futures in risk management Essay

Role of currency futures in risk management - Essay Example Forward contracts have certain advantages over currency futures but their disadvantages cannot supersede the advantages provided by currency futures. Because of their standardized features and a high liquidity in the market, currency futures have gained widespread importance. Even with the advent of sophisticated derivative instruments such as options, yet the currency futures lie ahead of them because of the cost factors and their advantages in providing superior performances in covered hedges. Introduction In the contemporary world, currency risk management is gaining a widespread importance because of the globalization. Companies and individuals who are exposed to foreign exchange risk, which implies that either they have imports or exports which will cause their domestic purchasing power to decline by converting a foreign currency to a home currency will always aim to minimize this risk. These currency risks arise during certain conditions; when the firm or businesses have assets or liabilities which are expressed in terms of foreign currency. We can define foreign exchange risk more specifically as the risk faced due to fluctuating exchange rates. For instance, if a Malaysian businessman exports palm oil to one of the European countries and if he expects payments to be made in Euros, than he is exposed to considerable amount of foreign exchange risk if the Euro depreciates against the Malaysian Ringgit. In case if it happens, the Malaysian trader will get fewer amounts of Ringgits in exchange of Euros thus a successful business venture might turn out to a blunder because of poor risk management practices. The trade transactions are shelved between the countries as businesses are unwilling to bear foreign exchange risk. As the fear of foreign currency risk looms over the businesses, it can reduce its trade with these countries. But as the world has stepped ahead in the technological breakthroughs, so it has been able to develop financial tools which can hel p the traders to minimize the risk faced in the businesses. The derivatives market primarily consists of many instruments such as forwards, futures, swaps and options. The aim of this paper is to discuss about the role of currency futures and how they provide an advantage over other derivative instruments in managing foreign exchange risk. A currency futures contract is an agreement between two parties to buy a particular currency at a specific rate in the future. Future contracts are identical to forward contracts but they differ in a sense that they are traded on the exchange and are more liquid than forwards. Futures are liquid as they have a formal exchange like stocks where you can trade your legal contracts. Similarly, they are standardized contracts like shares and you can remove them from your portfolio in certain chunks. We can illustrate futures currency with the help of an example involving two parties who are exposed to foreign exchange risk. The party which is exposed t o the risk of an appreciation of value in a currency will buy futures to protect. These are usually parties who have revenues or exports and they feel that the value of their home currency appreciates making the currency in which the sales are denominated weak thus resulting in lower revenues. To hedge their position, they enter in to a futures contract and buy a certain amount of

What Makes A Movie Great?

What Makes A Movie Great? With thousands of films released each and every year and so few succeeding either commercially or financially, one has to pose the question: what is it, exactly, that makes a film great? From an audiences perspective, people watch movies to be entertained: they are looking, above all else, to hear a good story that will allow them to share experiences with the characters and with their friends; to see spectacles; to visit other worlds to which they could never otherwise travel; and to escape the boredom of their day-to-day routines. Outstanding films are able to accomplish all of this with skill and artistry. But even in spite of the battery of statistical tests put forward by leading psychologists to unearth the formula for cinematic success (Simonton, 2011), there are many who believe that the quality of a film is impossible to define, being utterly contingent upon personal interpretation. I intend to dig deeper to investigate this issue, looking in detail at the specific tools and techniques a filmmaker has at their disposal to entertain an audience. Before we can truly address the issue of what constitutes entertainment, I would like to take a moment to consider why it is that anyone does anything. According to Anthony Robbins, Everything you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure (Robbins, 1992: 53). With this in mind, why is it that tension and conflict, both of which are painful in and of themselves, are widely regarded as two of the central tenants of an engaging story? I would suggest that watching a character learning to avoid pain is a learning experience in which the viewer, too, is able to learn how to avoid pain. Comparable in many ways to the experience of working hard for a greatly desirable objective, this in itself can be a pleasurable thing to observe; we, in such a situation, are able to cherish the end result all the more thanks to our appreciation of what went into achieving it. This is precisely the kind of pleasure provided by most films, and is known specifically as delayed or deferred gratification (Kim, 2006). Generally speaking, then, audiences watch films to have an emotionally satisfying experience. So how can a film be made more emotional? Arguably the most important step we can take towards answering this question is to understand that the viewer is not simply passive when watching a film; in fact, if Elkins definition of simply looking as in fact pertaining to hoping, desiring, never just taking in light, never merely collecting patterns and data (Elkins, 1996: 22) is assumed to be correct, they will begin to manifest their own expectations about what they may see even before the movie begins. It is the therefore the responsibility of the filmmaker to show and tell the viewer the story in such a way as to meet, and exceed, these expectations. There are as many different models that can be used to create exciting stories as there are stories themselves, but, in the simplest possible form, a story can be described as the narration of a chain of events pertaining to a character who wants something (Johnson, 1995). The aim is to organise that story into a structure that allows it to be narrated clearly and dramatically. But what is story structure? In broader terms, structure refers to the relationship between the parts of something, or can otherwise function as the support for something. Whereas the human body relies on a skeletal structure of bones to support itself, the parts of a film story are comprised first and foremost of a series of narrative questions, along with the delays and answers to those questions. The structure is simply how the questions and answers that make up that story are presented, which shots are chosen and in what order, and it is this structuring of events that can make the difference between a sim ple narrative and one that is unforgettable and emotionally profound. The relationship between form and content has been studied extensively by many film writers. David Bordwell, for instance, refers to the terms used by the Russian Formalists, relying heavily upon the terms fabula and syuzhet. The former, according to Bordwell, is a pattern which perceivers of narratives create through assumptions and inferences (Bordwell, 1985: 49). In other words, the fabula comprises the cues and perceptions the viewer receives from the film, and is liable to change from viewer to viewer if the work is complex. The syuzhet, on the other hand, refers to The actual arrangement and presentation of the fabula in the film (Ibid: 50); it is the plot, or structure, of the narrative. Bob Foss instead uses the terms plane of events and plane of discourse, or The what and how of film narrative (Foss, 1992: 2). Regardless of the terms used, virtually all film theorists are agreed on the importance of plot in relation to the creation of engaging cinema, as Seymour Chatman articulates with his suggestion that narrative structure in fact communicates meaning in its own right, over and above the paraphrase-able contents of its story (Chatman, 1980: 23). According to Vogler (2007: 6), some Hollywood executives were concerned so much with this paradigm that they would look only at scripts which were either a fish-out-of-water tale or about an unholy alliance, and it was not until the publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces before executives were given an additional way of analysing stories. The Heros Journey was originally described by mythology professor Joseph Campbell as a journey of self-discovery and self-transcendence (Campbell, 2008: 17), and seemed to encompass a variety of different types of narratives that might otherwise have been disregarded. More specifically, The Heros Journey acted as the paradigm for all stories. Having studied myths, fables, and folktales from all time periods all over the globe, Campbell discovered that there was a common structure that underlined the journey each and every protagonist would take. There was a good reason for this: at its most fundamental level, the Heros Journey addresses the key psychological principle of what Milton Erickson refers to as life junctures; defined as moments of transition from one stage of life to another, Erickson demonstrates that most people become psychologically trapped at such moments (Erickson, 1977). The parallel with Campbells work becomes more evident when we consider that Erickson also suggests that the most common reason for this stasis is the inappropriate generalisation of fear from an earlier trauma to other situations; unsure of how to cope with new demands placed upon them, they keep trying to use old methods that are no longer functional at this new level. Broadly speaking, it is precisely such moments of stasis at which the majority of film characters are introduced to the viewer. In this regard, the Heros Journey exists as the story of human growth placed into a dramatized form, which is another way of saying that the story is externalised in visible action. It is because these heroes solve their inner conflicts that they can win the external conflicts, and the audience gets reborn along with the heroes. But what separates the visible action of a film from the structure of the narrative, and why is it that the audience does not consciously notice the latter? The classical Hollywood style asks that form be rendered invisible; that the viewer see only the presence of actors in an unfolding story that seems to be existing on its own (Hill and Gibson, 1998: 16). It does not take too much in the way of imagination to see this concept in practise, such that, if you were to watch the first few minutes of a film and then walk away from it, it should be relatively easy to give a simple account of the plot and the motivations of the characters therein. But would you hear the background music? Would you notice the shot sizes and framing, or the cutting up of time and space? Most likely you would be too busy working out what was happening and what it meant to let your attention wander to such a structural level. It is not that these things are invisible, but simply that they drop below the viewe rs threshold of attention. Any part of the structure can in fact cross that threshold; as long as the world of the film is seamless and doesnt break the spell by calling attention to itself, however, the viewer will not be paying attention to the acting, cinematography or editing, but watching real people facing overwhelming obstacles in their struggle to achieve their dreams. It is therefore the job of the filmmaker to direct the audiences attention towards these events through careful attention to narrative structure. The Heros Journey provides a means of doing just this; given its popularity to this day throughout Hollywood, however, there is a danger that the stories created using it might appear similar. When that happens, it bursts through the threshold of conscious attention and the audience is taken out of the story. Just as there are several problems that can arise when we speak, however, the most common types of speaking problems also have a filmic equivalent: whereas verbally, for example, we talk about one thing at a time, one of the main issues when telling a story with pictures arises from the simple truth that pictures can say too much. This conflicts with the theory of selective attention, which states that the conscious mind can only pay attention to one thing at a time (Dewey, 2007). The attention of the human mind is a precious commodity, and it is important to recognise that the viewers ability to concentrate on the material they are being presented with is affected by a great number of factors including fatigue, interest and general state of mind. When we multitask, for instance, we feel like we are accomplishing a great deal of work, whereas in reality the brain is juggling attention very quickly between multiple items. This is why drivers talking on a phone or talking to a passenger are statistically more likely to be involved in an accident, as their attention is split even though they think they are focused on driving (Myers, 2008: 87). Theories of Neuro-Linguistic Programming state that one of the functions of the brain is to act as a filter, continually deleting, generalising and distorting the information we receive about the world so as to protect us from information overload (Burton and Ready: 65). In other words, we dont pay attention to a lot of inf ormation we are exposed to, but instead delete it. When the film is racing past at twenty-five frames per second, which part of the image will the audience be looking at? Suppose they see the wrong part, and thus miss the thread of the storytelling entirely? In order to prevent this, a filmmaker must have the ability to control their images to ensure that they are able to communicate the desired message to their audience; this is where design, composition, perspective and lighting each come into play. Without these, the viewer would not be able to see exactly what was happening onscreen and would be unable to follow the story. Filmmakers have developed a great variety of specific techniques to solve these types of problems; instead of showing two things at a time, for instance, the camera can pan from one to the other, a cut can be made between two shots, or focus can be racked, or shifted, between the objects in the frame. Though all of these solutions have become commonplace in mainstream cinema, they all serve to simplify what to look at for the viewers sake by presenting only one thing at a time. Arguably even stronger than this, however, is the human minds reliance on stereotypes and clichà ©s, often demonstrating a strong tendency to distort those things that do not fit into our worldview as a way of dealing with the overwhelming amount of information it receives. Specifically, the brain constantly seeks to organise this data into patterns; though the most obvious patterns exist as visual designs, patterns exist everywhere: in music, in the way people speak, and even in traffic and weather. As we have already explored, narrating a story is little more than organising information into a pattern, or structure. But how does this work on the micro level of filmmaking? How, for instance, are we able to make the protagonist stand out in the middle of a crowded scene? Grouping, by definition, applies to things that are alike in some way, which could include proximity; by this logic, we could dress the main characters differently, or have them stand some way apart from the rest of the crowd. With all other characters wearing muted colours and the hero dressed in black and white, the mind will perceive the crowd as a group and the protagonist will automatically stand out. This is an example of one of the ways in which gestalt principles can be a useful tool for applying the speaking metaphor of telling the viewer only one thing at a time; a German word meaning shape or form, gestalt refers to an organised whole that is more than just the sum of its parts, and functions as a reasonably accurate description of the way in which the human mind organises our experiences of life. In this example, objects that are either similar or close together are grouped, leaving the mind to pick out individual things on which to focus while the rest fades into the background. This is why, when reading, we perceive each word, or clusters of words, as opposed to individual letters, and do not notice that the remainder of the page simply recedes from our conscious awareness. Far from mere abstraction, gestalt principles have been proven to work at almost every level of the viewing experience, including perception of images, understanding and comprehension of narrative, the me, and even sound. Another key concept of gestalt perception lies in the minds tendency to fill in the blanks, or seek closure: if we listen to a familiar musical theme where the final part is omitted, the mind will fill in that missing section itself. Similarly, on a visual level, a tension will be created in the viewers head that wants to close the shape if parts of a figure are cut out. This refers to the gestalt principle of good continuity, which states that we will assume things to be continuing; pictorially, lines are perceived to carry on even if another object obscures part of them from view. The implications of this are profound even on the most basic levels of filmmaking theory. Firstly, when the audience sees a close-up of a characters head, it is assumed to be connected to a body. Filmic cuts also work based entirely on the principle that, if the viewer witnesses one action and the action is seen to be continuing from a different angle, it is assuming to exist as part of the same action. The most important realisation, however, is that closure works not just on the perceptual level, but also on the level of story. In any story, the hypothesis What ifà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦? is presented to be true. The writer is, for all intents and purposes, a masterful liar, offering a wealth of supporting details with which to flesh out a world in which the action unfolds that is believable and seamless enough to remain below the audiences conscious threshold of attention. When a narrative question is introduced, the brain begins searching in an attempt to make sense of the question, and the cortex generates answers that imbue that question with meaning from what is known of the story thus far. The crucial point is that the viewer demands that these questions be answered, so much so that the cortex will continue to generate answers even when the questions do not make logical sense: if we were to ask ourselves why the moon is made of cheese, for instance, our brains will attempt to present us with a logical solution. Pratkanis and Aronson suggest that, Given our finite ability to process information, we attempt to simplify complex problems to the extent that we will mindlessly accept a conclusion or proposition not for any good reason but because it is accompanied by a simplistic persuasion device (2002: 38). As long as the questions are sufficiently engaging, the viewer will, without closure in the narrative, exist in an anxious state of suspense. It is this need for closure that drives us to continue reading, listening to or watching stories of all kinds, as answers to the questions raised are found by watching the film and thus relieve the viewers lack of knowledge. Only by tying up all of the narrative threads can the storyteller dissipate this tension, and in this sense, the power of suggestion could easily be considered a filmmakers greatest ally. It is regrettable that the vast majority of modern horror filmmaking appears to have forgotten this fact entirely. Essentially, there are two distinct approaches to creating a horror film: those that choose to show all of the gory details, and those that instead choose to suggest what might happen. Though each type of film has its place, I personally believe the latter to be infinitely more evocative, for the very reason that the filmmaker is able to use the viewers fears against them. Taking the filmmakers clues, they will automatically fill in the blanks themselves from their own experiences and associations, making the experience more meaningful for each individual. When we consider that this power is not under the viewers conscious control, the director of a film could, provided an awareness of the minds infinite capacity to create in the presence of interesting suggestions, be likened to a hypnotist. Continuing along this train of thought, I believe that other types of entertainment artists can shed a lot of insight onto the problem of directing the audiences attention. Magician and conjurer Nathaniel Schiffman, for instance, poses a particularly interesting question: What is magicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ really? We know magic is fake. We know it relies on all sorts of deceptions, but why is it that some deceptions work while others do not? Why are some fakes plausible while others stand out like a sore thumb? For instance, a cartoon is fake-mere drawings on paper, thats pretty obvious. A sculpture is a fake made of rock. But when we observe the fakeness of magic, we dont interpret it as fake. We see it as very real. Even when we know in our hearts that a person cannot fly, that a silver sword cannot penetrate a body and come out blood-less, even when our eyes betray our common sense, we see magical illusions as real. Why is that? What is this stuff that magic is made of that is fake and yet real at the same time? (Schiffman, 1997: 77) Schiffman could easily have been talking about movies: when watching a film, the viewer knows that what they are watching is not real, yet often goes along for the ride even to the point of being moved to tears and laughter by them. How is it that films can be simultaneously fake yet real? The answer lies in the unconscious minds inability to differentiate between real world and imagined experiences. Even though we rationally know that a film is fake, our body and our emotions physically respond just as they would in real life: we experience excitement, feel the powerful release of laughter and shed real tears from being touched. Physiologically, our heart rate increases, our palms sweat and we experience a rush of adrenaline. This is the case as long as the film engages the viewers conscious mind in addition to their body. In other words, a film can involve elements of extreme fantasy as long as it remains logically plausible. It is the job of the filmmaker to establish rules for th e world of the film and play within those rules, otherwise the audience will feel that they have been cheated and withdraw consciously from the story. In many regards, any film is in its entirety little more than a magic trick, consisting of a patchwork of fragments which never existed in reality. This illusion is furthered by the minds predisposition to link up all aspects of the experience, even though in reality no such connection may exist. Magicians also use the same kind of structuring as storytellers, narrating a story about magical properties known as patter. Patter can be considered akin to the magicians script, with words used to introduce an illusion, enhancing the performance with a fanciful story. This is often achieved by painting a scene of childhood nostalgia, or by inducing some other emotion in the listener. Words, essentially, are used to misdirect and direct, and can often provide the additional shove that allows peoples minds to accept one imagined reality over another. ADD BACK STUFF ABOUT PRESUPPOSITIONS. Magic wands and gestures serve much the same function: the magician must ensure that his or her gestures read clearly for the audience. Often, they will be directing the viewers attention away from something else, perhaps some common mechanical mechanism hidden from view, in much the same way as telling stories of high adventure while in fact teaching moral lessons. The relationship between a magicians stage patter and the trick itself are similar to that of story events and structure in a film, wherein patter can be considered the story of the illusion whilst the trick itself is the thing that remains hidden and makes it work. The filmmakers trick is simply that of juxtaposing otherwise unconnected images to make a story, using images to implicitly suggest questions and then delaying the answers, thus generating a tension that engages the audience in stories about characters on a quest to achieve a specific goal. Provided the audience is able to read these images, the brain will automatically construct the story, using gestalt to connect characters and objects in action into meaningful wholes greater than the sum of their constituent parts. The gestalt principle of good continuity will ensure that connections are created between shots, and presuppositions and assumptions will allow an individual version of the story to be constructed in the viewers head that is meaningful for them. Tongues Blood Does Not Run Dry by Assia Djebar | Review Tongues Blood Does Not Run Dry by Assia Djebar | Review Assia Djebar is an Algerian writer, translator and moviemaker. She is one of North Africas best-known and most widely celebrated writers and has in print poems, plays, and short stories, and has produced a couple of movies. In her manuscripts, Djebar has covered the harangue for social liberation and the Muslim womans world in its intricacies. Numerous of her works deal with the effect of the warfare on womens psyche. Djebars impressive feminist posturing has earned her much admiration also substantial antagonism and derision from pro-autonomy critics in Algeria.In this collection of stories, Djebar attempts to tell tales to emancipate her Algerian sisters. Recalling the horrifying nights in the annals of Algerian independence in the early sixties, she pens her work between France and her native country, in the echoes of women who have dual loyalties and who are multi-lingual. Oran, Dead Language commences the tales of horror when Algeria attained autonomy from colonialists. Oran, in Algeria boasted the elevated concentrations of pied-noirs, Settlers who fled the country for Europe and particularly France upon independence. The narrator recalls the tearful night when her parents were killed, and how she fled her home city for France at the age of eighteen. She is forced to retreat to Algeria three decades laterthough she feels just like many other storyline characters that Algeria is the forgettable past. In the story, Djebar motions at the oscillations of Europeans from their settlements to France and back to Algeria years later. Civil unrest particularly plays the catalytic agent of movement, and forces humans to look for areas of safety. Mentally the characters deny relationship with Algeria preferring to label it as â€Å"over†. In Algeria, the narrator expresses displeasure. Oran is a place where you forget. â€Å"Forget and forget more†. A city that has been swabbed, recollections blanched. A whole decade after it attained independence the centre of the city was left abandoned, apart from a few offices, the headquarters of two or three organizations. In the captivating story, Felicies Body, a young man documents his mothers life when she comes back to France for treatment from Algeria. He tries to recall his mothers life taking us through her mothers personal journey in respect to marriage to his Algerian father. The young man looks at his dual life analyzing which aspect of his dual to identify with and adopt and which one to disown. Young citizens are faced with oscillations in their mental and physical status just like the young man experiences when faced with an identity crisis. The mother traveling from Algeria to France to seek treatment is also an indication of a repeated pattern where Algerians with connections to France have to keep moving from Algeria to France when they seek better conditions of life like better medicine and health facilities. His mother Felice Marie Germaine has eight children, eight of whom still live in Algeria. Ever since his father died and was buried at Beni-Rached the young man, Karim decides he is done with Oran and all of Algeria and tells the mother who is better ridden with a not so promising health condition. The scene at the hospital gives a moving picture of the contrast of the lifestyles the two countries offer and the reason for the oscillations; people are always on the move to find a better life. In Annie and Fatima, the narrator tells the story of her sisters friend. The narrators sister met the friend while they were having Barber classes. On a night, when the friend is staying with her, she tells her story of Algiers. In the scene, she mentally travels to Algiers, recalling how it is a peaceful capital, dotted with a craze of mushrooming political parties and with newspapers launched. It is for a moment that she wonders how better the country would be if democratic reforms were constituted. The rise of political parties gives her hope that the political dispensation would be for the better. The development of newspapers would also open up the free media and the democratic space. Algeria at the time they were leaving as a young person was not free and fully liberated. Although not physically traveled, fear of Algerian life is legitimized inside demotic culture by a custom of the use of aggression as a legitimate means of getting economic wealth that goes back to pre-colonia l days.   Consequently, monetary activity in tangential areas of urban settlement is therefore dominated by violence that is decorous  by its appeal to an Islamist style, though, in reality, it is merely related to fiscal benefit. Despite indistinct sentiment in Algeria pertaining its colonial power, France has thrashed a historically preferential leaning in Algerian foreign association. Algeria went through a high level of reliance on France in the initial years after the revolution and a contradictory want to be free of that dependency. Problems abide for the Algerians living in France and they spend time fantasizing about what their country (Algeria) could have been. References Djebar, A. Raleigh, T. (2006). The tongues blood does not run dry: Algerian stories. NY: Seven Stories Press

Abortion Should be Illegal in American Society Essay -- The Right to Li

I must admit that the concern for the mother's safety is important, and that is exactly why abortion may not be the best option. There are many complications that affect a person after having an abortion, but I will only mention two. The first complication of having an abortion is a possibility of developing a mental disorder. The second complication is an increased risk of breast cancer. A study done by professors in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Manchester; showed that women who had an abortion have a risk of developing mental disorders (Major et al). The study also concluded that people who had prior psychological disorders have an even greater risk of developing a mental disorder, than people who did not have a history of psychological disorders (Major et al). In another study, a conclusion was reached that people that went through an abortion are more likely to develop mental disorders, than people that went through pregnancies (Reardon e t al). The research data that people use as a source for their information vary, because the amount of research done on the issue is minimal. However, the current indication is that an increase risk in psychological issues is associated with abortions. I am confident in the data that I obtained, because the information was taken from credible sources. The data that I located only mentioned that people are at risk of developing psychological disorders after abortion, but the articles did not go into detail about the specific disorders. The most remarkable danger for people that seek an abortion is an increased risk in developing breast cancer. The increased risk in breast cancer may be a compelling argument. Current studies show that people who have ... ...00. 10 Mar. 2006 . Reardon, David C., et al. â€Å"Psychiatric admissions of low-income women following abortion and childbirth.† CMAJ. 13 May 2003. 11 Apr. 2006 . Sade, Robert M. â€Å"Defining the Beginning and the End of Human Life: Implications for Ethics, Policy, and Law.† Blackwell Synergy. Mar. 2006. 11 Apr. 2006 . Turner, T. â€Å"Induced Abortion Might Elevate a Woman's Breast Cancer Risk in Later Years† JSTOR. Jan. 1995. 10 Mar. 2006 .

Three General Orders Essay

When you are on guard you are responsible for everything that occurs within the limits of your post while you are on duty. You are also responsible for all equipment and property located within the limits of your post. The exact limits of your post are defined by the special orders. The special orders should also include every place a guard must go to perform your duties. You will investigate every unusual or suspicious occurrence on or near your post provided that you do not have to leave your point of duty to do so. If necessary, you or the NCO who is on guard with you will contact the chain of command for instructions.While on guard you will remain at your place of duty and continue to perform all duties required until you are relieved by proper authority. If a guard requires relief because of sickness or for any other reason, you to notify your chain of command and wait until you are replaced by another guard or you have permission from the proper authorities to leave your point of duty. If you are not relieved when your time of duty is up, you do not abandon your post. You or the NCO on duty will contact your chain of command for instructions and stay at your point of duty until you are properly relieved.While on guard you will read over your special orders prior to you starting your duty. You will obey, execute, and enforce all special orders pertaining to your post. The commander of the guard is responsible for insuring that all guards understand their special instructions prior to being posted. In addition to your special orders, a guard is responsible to obey and carry out any orders or instructions from the commanding officer, field officer of the day, and officers and noncommissioned officers of the guard.No other persons are authorized to give a guard orders or instructions. Any special instructions for a guard should be issued through the guard's chain of command. When on guard you will pass instructions to your relief when appropriate. The informa tion is also given to the commander of the relief. You will perform your duties in a military manner and serve as an example to others. A guard reports all violations of special orders to the commander of the relief. You may have to apprehend the offender, if necessary. A guard reports all emergencies that occur on or near post.The guard will take whatever action is prescribed in your special orders or guard instructions. Anytime the guard is in doubt as to what action to take, or it is not covered in the special orders, you will call the commander of the relief for instructions or assistance. Sleeping on guard duty is not tolerated by any means. If you fall asleep on guard duty a lot of things can happen. Your post can be over run, the equipment that you are meant to guard could be stolen, or the building you’re guarding could get broken into.You could face a UMCJ action for falling asleep because you’re in violation of FM 22-6 which covers guard duty. You are looked upon to perform your duty at all times and if you fall asleep you fail to do your part and cover all things that are covered in you special orders. Any violations that may occur at your post you can become a part of because you fell asleep while the violations happen. Falling asleep on guard duty prevents you from reacting in a timing manner to an emergency. Over all falling asleep hinders you from doing your job on guard.

Why should fracking be banned?

Because liberals are an autoimmune disease that want this country to fail at any possible costs. It shouldn't be, fracking doesn't do anything with the water, studies have proven that, plus â€Å"Green cars† actually leave a bigger biological footprint. It shouldn't. Low information people are scared because they are being lied to. Because coal miners don't like it. Power plant companies are making a transition from coal to natural gas due to fracking, and we're putting less pollution in the air these days. Guarantee you coal miners will be behind funding any â€Å"ban fracking† campaigns.It shouldn't. People believe that it pollutes our water reserves underground. However, they do not understand that we have been fracking for years without much pollution being done to the water and we've only improved upon our methods of fracking, causing less pollution than before. Fracking is cost effective. Banning fracking would only increase costs. The only people who want it bann ed are the Saudis and people who believe their lies. Perhaps they're lying because they don't have any interests if we start more oil production in the U.  S.Anyone who thinks that you can contain high pressure fluid that is DESIGNED to fracture rock†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ with a concrete well casing†¦.. has never taken a physics class in their entire life. Because places like North Dakota and Oklahoma typically don't get 4. 5 magnitude earthquakes! I am NOT a tree hugging liberal, but I've read enough about â€Å"fracking† to know that it makes the ground VERY unstable. Removing anything from the ground in mass quantities, whether it's rock, minerals, or gas, leaves cavities and weakness.This explains the loud â€Å"booms† many experienced in the northern midwest. No major fault lines in Oklahoma, so how else can you explain it. Because it poisons everything around it. If you are truly interested look up LINK TV and watch their programs on fracking. It is absolutely the worst thing that can happen to an area. Under Bush/CHENEY, they passed laws exempting the oil and gas companies doing this from all of the environmental protection laws such as Clean Water and Air laws. Why would they need that if they didn't violate those laws.This is another thing that is being steamrolled through by the extremely wealthy who make money off of fossil fuels. This one though is way scary and dangerous and they are promoting its growth at a rapid rate. They tell us it will produce jobs but how helpful is that if we are too sick to go to work. Look it up on LINK TV. Nationally it should be permitted but subject to local legislation and banned where the local people don't want it. Actually most people would accept it because of the money to be made and they don't mind chemicals and methane in their tap water.

The role of physics in our daily lives Essays

The role of physics in our daily lives Essays The role of physics in our daily lives Essay The role of physics in our daily lives Essay 1 ROLE OF PHYSICS IN OUR DAILY LIFE Introduction We are populating in the century of scientific discipline and engineering and debut of scientific discipline in our daily has transformed our lives. When people had no thought about scientific discipline, even so their lives were governed by rules of different subdivisions of scientific discipline. When we light a fire, it is a chemical procedure ; when we eat and digest nutrient, it is biological procedure ; when we walk on Erath, it is governed by Torahs of natural philosophies ; when an Earthquake occurs, it’s a seismal activity ; when we talk about different terrains and treasures of Earth surface, it is related to Geology. There is no individual activity of our lives, which define our one or other field of scientific discipline. Similarly, natural philosophies governs our mundane lives and is involved in a figure of activities we perform and things we use in our day-to-day life. Here we will discourse how natural philosophies is playing its portion in running our mundane undertakings and aids us to make our errands, jobs and responsibilities swimmingly and efficaciously. Body Physicss is considered natural scientific discipline because it deals with the things like affair, force, energy and gesture. As these all are related to task related to mundane life, so, we can state that natural philosophies surveies how the existence works, how Earth Moves around the Sun, how lightening work stoppages, how our icebox plants and many more. In short, natural philosophies define how everything works around us. When can non divide anything from scientific discipline and, our universe can non unplug itself from the admirations of Physics. When we look around us, we can see a figure of things that work on the rules of Physics. We can explicate our several activities by doing usage of the cognition of Physics. Here, we will discourse some of the illustration, which will assist us to larn how natural philosophies is playing its portion in our lives each twenty-four hours. Walking A figure of rules of natural philosophies are involved in simple act of walking. It involves constructs of weight, Newton’s three Torahs of inactiveness, clash, gravitative jurisprudence and possible and kinetic energy. When we walk, we really act like an upside-down pendulum. When we put the pes on land, it becomes our axis and our mass is centered in our venters, depicting the form of an discharge. When we set pes on land, we really put weight i.e w=mg and use rearward force on land, as the response to our weight, land responds by an opposing force which is perpendicular in nature, on leg which slows us down and this decelerating procedure continues unless our leg comes nighest to our pot. When leg is traveling, kinetic energy is at upper limit and possible energy is zero, but, when leg reaches nearest to belly or curve, possible energy ranges to its upper limit. When another measure is taken, the stored possible energy is converted to kinetic energy and this procedure conti nues. We act as an progressive pendulum, because all possible energy is non converted into kinetic energy. Merely 65 per centum of energy is provided by stored possible energy to take following measure, staying 35 per centum is provided by bio chemical procedures. ( Kunzig, 2001 ) When we walk we really do some work in physical footings, as W=F*S, when we exert some force and as a consequence of it we cover some distance we really do work. During walking, Newton’s three Torahs of gesture are applied. First jurisprudence of gesture provinces that, a organic structure remains in province of remainder unless a force is applied on it. When we are at remainder, inactiveness is at upper limit. Body needs largest sum of force to acquire out of province of inactiveness, i.e when we start walking. When we talk first measure the energy is transferred from pes to upper organic structure parts and we start traveling, during the procedure of walking inertia supports on altering additions when we set pes on land and lessenings when we move the pes up. Second jurisprudence of gesture provinces that a=F/m i.e acceleration is straight relative to the force we use or exert while walking, hence, when we will use more force, our acceleration will increase. Third jurisprude nce of gesture is about action and reaction, when we set pes on land we exert force on it and as a consequence to it land exerts reactionist perpendicular force on organic structure. ( Patricia Ann Kramer, 2011 ) Cooking Thermodynamicss is a subdivision of natural philosophies that trades with heat, temperature and work done due to it. Heat is a signifier of energy that can be transferred from one medium to another i.e heat transportation. For heat transportation, heat travels from hotter surface to cooler. When we put pan, with H2O or something else in it, on firing stove the energy in fire of range touches cold pan, it starts reassigning heat to the pan therefore doing it beak. This phenomenon is called conductivity. Convection is a procedure of motion of molecules in liquid and gases. When we heat the pan, the H2O molecules on the base of pan start heating up, a clip comes when they get adequate energy and go hotter than the molecules around them, so they start traveling to the surface of H2O. The H2O molecules on the surface are ice chest and heavier from hot H2O, due to less heat energy, therefore get down traveling down, this procedure continues until all H2O comes at same temperature. ( ouchma th, 2011 ) The cookery procedure is an unfastened system, because in this both affair and energy is lost. Harmonizing to zeroth jurisprudence of thermodynamics energy should be conserved, in our instance the energy lost by fire is used by pot to heat H2O and therefore the entire energy remains conserved. If we use pressure cooker it uses heated energy to convey self-generated alterations into nutrient by utilizing kinetic energy of molecules to convey chemical alterations in nutrient ; therefore fulfilling jurisprudence of thermodynamics that self-generated plants are done due to work energy. ( Lathbridge, 2013 ) Cuting fruits and veggies When we cut fruit and vegetable, we neer realize that natural philosophies could be involved in this simple undertaking, but, certainly it is. In order to cut anything, we have to exercise force per unit area on knife. When we increase the force per unit area we can cut an object easy. Pressure is dependent on force and country i.e straight dependent on force and reciprocally dependent on country. In simple footings we can state that when we exert more force we can cut an object easy, but, if same force is applied with a knife with thicker borders, we can non it. From experiences we learn that the knives which have borders with smaller surface country can assist to cut an object easy. Similarly, we can cut easy with a sharper knife than blunt. The blunt knife offers more clash, due to its unsmooth borders ; therefore doing it hard to cut an object. Sing Our eyes are an unbelievable gift by God. We see admirations of the universe, by this little organ. When we talk about parts of organic structure and their map, it is the general construct that we are speaking about biological science. But, we neglect the fact that maps of our organic structure parts are besides working under the Torahs of natural philosophies and chemical science. If we talk about the sense of seeing, we come to cognize that our eyes work as a camera to see things around us. The lens in our eyes is bulging i.e it converges or focuses visible radiation. When light enters our oculus, cornea and lens focus the visible radiation. Iris controls the sum of light come ining the oculus and flag creates an image on retina, which is existent and upside-down i.e like in camera. The image of visible radiation is converted into electrical signal, by photoreceptors, and sent to vision Centre of encephalon by ocular nervus. The vision centre analyses the electric signal and arrang es it into its original signifier i.e to be seen by oculus. The image we can see is due to the sum of visible radiation reflected from that object. This is the ground why we can non see in dark. ( Edmondson, 2005 ) Eyes can comprehend different forms and colourss of the objects. Light consists of seven colourss, when it falls on an object say, book of colour ruddy, it absorbs all the colourss and reflect ruddy colour. This helps us to construe that the screen of this book is ruddy. When light falls a white object so it reflects all the colourss and that’s why it seems white ( we besides regard light as white visible radiation ) . Similarly, when visible radiation falls on black object it absorbs all the light and reflects nil that’s why that object looks black. ( Pappas, 2010 ) Opening and shutting door Physicss is besides involved in gap and shutting of hinged doors. The phenomenon involved in gap and shutting of door is torque. Torsion is the force required to swirl an object about an axis or fulcrum. When we open a door by utilizing the grip, at farthest topographic point from flexible joint, we can easy open the door by bring forthing torsion, ? ®=F*l wickedness ?Y , where cubic decimeter is the distance of flexible joint from door boss or grip. ( Lesson 27a: Torsion ( AP Merely ) , 2013 ) If the boss is located near the flexible joint, we have to exercise more torsion, therefore bring forthing less angular acceleration. When we apply force perpendicular to the door, larger angular acceleration is produced. When we apply force on the door boss, oblige the door to revolve on its axis therefore moving on the rule of torsion. Torque is positive when we open the door clockwise and negative if we open it anticlockwise. ( Broholom, 1997 ) Decision Here, we have seen a limited illustration of natural philosophies, but over life is governed by this subdivision of scientific discipline. Physicss governs a batch of natural phenomenon and besides specify a figure of adult male made things like autos, iceboxs, microwave and escalators. Hence, we can state that our universe is ruled by natural philosophies. Plants Cited Broholom, C. ( 1997, October 20 ) .Opening a door.Retrieved from John Hopkins University: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.pha.jhu.edu/~broholm/l18/node3.html Edmondson, R. ( 2005, November 11 ) .How are we able to see things?Retrieved from MyUniversalFacts: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.myuniversalfacts.com/2005/11/how-are-we-able-to-see-things.html Kunzig, R. ( 2001 ) . The Physics of Walking.DISCOVER Vol. 22 No. 07. Lathbridge, A. ( 2013, June 06 ) .Thermodynamicss of Cooking.Retrieved from Science menu: hypertext transfer protocol: //sciencefare.org/2013/06/26/thermodynamics-of-cooking/ Lesson 27a: Torsion ( AP Merely ) .( 2013, March 12 ) . Retrieved from studyphysics.ca: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.studyphysics.ca/2007/20/ap_torque/27_ap_a_torque.pdf ouchmath. ( 2011, January 25 ) .THE PHYSICS OF Cooking. Retrieved from OUCH MATH: hypertext transfer protocol: //ouchmath.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/the-physics-of-cooking/ Pappas, t. ( 2010, April 29 ) .How Do We See in Color?Retrieved from Live Science: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.livescience.com/32559-why-do-we-see-in-color.html Patricia Ann Kramer, A. D. ( 2011 ) . The Energetic Cost of Walking: A Comparison of Predictive Methods.PLoS ONE, 6 ( 6 ), Department of the Interior: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021290.

Motivating Staff essays

Motivating Staff essays There are plenty ways to motivating Staff in a company. Firstly, the managers need to know what the needs of his staff are, and how to motivate them. As different people have different needs, the ways of motivating them also differ. The salary is one of the most important factors. Since most workers needs money on their daily life, thus they work for money. Salary needed to be paid on time. Otherwise, this would demotivate them. In other words, if the workers had not receive their salary when due, the morale of works may be reduced. Trainings, incentives, holidays, welfare, and others rewards may be given to the staffs as the extrinsic reward. Most staffs welcome at least one of the rewards mention above, so if possible, why not give the rewards to the staffs as a motivation factors? Although not all, most people want promotion after a certain period of their works. Perhaps this may increase their status, or pay rise. Besides, they can put more commitment in their works as they have increased responsibility. Another factor is the condition of working environments. The air conditioning of an office should be well controlled, as well as the floors of the office. No one feels comfortable working in a dirty office. Although a clean office will not necessary motivating the staffs, but for sure, if such criteria are not fulfilled, the staffs get demotivated. Perhaps most people want to be self affirmed. Typically, the manager of a large organisation can't remember all the names of his/hers subordinates. But if he/she DOES, the scenario may be greatly enhanced. The staffs may thought, "Wow, the boss can remember my name even I am just a little workers. Then I must work hard to appreciate such recognition" There are no strict rules for a company or an organization to follow in the approach of motivating their staffs, but a combinations of the methods suggested above may prove useful in improving motivations. ...

An Element Of Art And Science

An Element Of Art And Science Essay Astrology provides a very debatable kind of knowledge that is generally assessed by the intelligent as a useless kind of knowledge, which only makes sense for the ignorant. At the same time astrology is usually associated with gypsies and hucksters, who are known for their deceptive and fake knowledge, as they try to deceive people for their own financial interest. On the other hand, we find people with high education attempting to study astrology and very much respect the kind of knowledge it offers them. Whether such knowledge offered through teaching astrology in universities is worth doing or to be considered an inapplicable knowledge for high education is a critical decision to make, which requires obtaining a great insight about astrology it self as an academic field in order to be able to make a correct assessment. Astrology is actually a combined form of knowledge that both combine both the element of art and of science in its essence. It contains the mathematical element as well as the artistic element o symbolism (Astrology 891). Scientists usually disregard the art side of astrology and focus on the basic mathematical part of it, as they judge it as useless and insignificant. This actually destroys the wholeness and balance within the realm itself. This may be considered a reason for misunderstanding the real value of knowledge in astrology. It is also a fact that every field is vulnerable to be used by ignorant people who devoid it totally of its meaning and value, in order to sell it as cheap as possible in a market of ignorance that unfortunately have many customers who are wiling to buy, again this helps in misunderstanding Astrology (Astrology 891); and as there is the presence of the competent and the incompetent in every field, and people usually search for the best in every profession, so why exclude Astrology (Astrology 896). Astrology requires a sophisticated kind of thinking as it combines artistic and scientific knowledge, it can therefore never be considered as insignificant knowledge. It may not be appreciated by scientists due to the artistic element provided within it, and their total dependence on reason for discovering reality since the onset of the renaissance; thus reviving such forms of knowledge actually, shows the evolution of knowledge and thinking that reflects the significance of intuitive forms of knowledge besides the pure rational ones. The astrological knowledge in itself consists of a natural balance between intuitive and rational knowledge, and disturbing this balance will only lead to the production of inconsistent forms of knowledge that seem to appear on the surface to help in the generation of misunderstandings regarding astrology. The argument of scientists against Astrology reflects the on going disagreement between scientific knowledge and intuitive forms of knowledge. Scientists never admit the truth in any intuitive understanding, and they usually regarded as invalid. They never accept the fact the mystery is part of reality and that the rational mind can never be able to reach full understanding of the universe. Astrology is a balanced kind of knowledge as it respects both forms of thinking, which in fact a respect for nature and for the human being as part of that nature. I feel that the purpose of a reading is to understand ones life challenges And potential, to provide an opportunity for self reflection and life Evaluation, as well as to confirm ones intuitive sense of what ones Life is about (Astrology 895). Human beings as well as nature are made of matter and soul that can never be detached from each other as long as life is there. How can scientists reach the truth if they are actually altering the natural balance in life by looking for material proof and ignoring the intuitive reality of nature? The soul remains a mystery that can never be explained by scientific truth, and science can not resolve the question of life and death. There fore, accepting astrology as a significant form of knowledge by a scientist is truly a question of him admitting intuition as a part of reality. READ: Gay Rights EssayFrom another side, if the issue had not been on intuition, regarding astrology, it is still a form of knowledge that surely provides the individual with some insight about life and introduces him to different kinds of thinking; it should be even credited for this reason alone, my studies in Astrology, as well as in other fields, are attempts to understand the grand design of the whole (Astrology 894). Scientists also accuse Astrological interpretive knowledge of not being exact stars incline but do not compel (A critical 882), and this fact works against scientific logic which is sharp and determinant. But actually, life in it self is never exact or straight forward and clear as mathematical knowledge entails for instance. Astrology may actually provide the best for of understanding of life and nature; it allows people to understand reality the way it is without trying to alter its nature. The whole issue of prediction and future related knowledge can never be definite or fully explainable, to discuss future probabilities is much like giving a weather report (Astrology 896). On the other hand, it should be admitted that Astrological knowledge may help in creating dependent and weak individuals, if they used it wrongly. It might lead them to spin in a cycle, which they might not be able to break. People can stress too much on the intuitive knowledge in Astrology and thus once again altering its balance of logic and intuition and thus getting again a wrong insight about life and nature, with an accompanied change in personality and attitude to life Astrology, when practiced as completely as possible, takes away from ach of us our right and duty to make our own personal decisions (A Critical 882). In the case of a scientist who puts great emphasis on logic and excludes intuition, makes him a rough and rigid person who stands weak in front of the scientifically unexplained mysteries of the world; while in the case of the ignorant who does the opposite to give too much significance to intuition and disregards reason suffers another kind of weakness that creates a dependent and shattered personality. But again we must also admit that this would be the case with any field if wrongly interpreted. All in all, I believe that Astrology is a sophisticated form of knowledge that should be respected for the special thinking abilities it provides an individual who studies it. It also reflects on the importance of providing a balance between Art and Science, and thus between logic and intuition, which is found deep within the nature of man and the universe he lives in. I would very strongly recommend all institutions of high education to teach Astrology in order to correct the misunderstanding entitled to it, and thus expose the rich and deep knowledge it provides.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz - Case Study Example Starbucks has embraced a differentiation strategy at its business level of strategies (Geereddy, 2012). It provides products that cater for the needs of a specific targeted group of customers. The company offers tailor-made varieties of goods and services, and the premium prices. The company has more ways of differentiating products than most of its competitors since a customer gets an experience when he shops for coffee. They can thus charge a premium price. Starbucks focuses on innovation by continually introducing new products and coffee such as â€Å"instant coffee† Via. The instant coffee earned the company a sales growth of over 200 million. The new products are the force behind Starbuck’s evolution into a company that provides unique customer experience. The company tries to understand its target customers. Hence, they have grown globally as a number one choice for many clients. They provide a superior coffee to its clients. They value branding the image and product through word of mouth. As a result, they ensure their clients get a maximum experience in order to spread the word. They seek to understand the particular needs of an individual customer and serve him appropriately. For instance, they can allow customers to pay online or via phone if it is convenient for them (Starbucks Corporation, 2015). Starbucks applies demographic segmentation (categorizing markets by gender, age, ethnicity, income, and family life cycle). The company’s main target is men and women aged between 25-44 years. The market accounts for about a half of its total business. The company targets this group by offering special drinks that appeal to them. It further creates its business to be the third place to go between work and home by establishing unique and relaxing atmosphere. The next large group that Starbucks targets consist of young adults aged 18-24 years old. They account for about 40% of the company’s sales. Starbucks entice the young adults through the

Melissa Mayers decision related to Yahoo and telecommuting Assignment

Melissa Mayers decision related to Yahoo and telecommuting - Assignment Example In addition, the assertion by several researches is that only sustainably managed human resources ensure sustainable growth and development. In this regard, the company’s top management, in consultation with heads of departments, decided to abolish home-based telecommunicating work by its employees, and instead, have them work from company’s the offices. The company notes that by so doing it would have the assurance of long-term sustainable development. Precisely, this decision has numerous advantages especially for the good of the company’s sustainability. Working within the company premises’ vicinity, there is a high likelihood of abating the employees’ abuse of privileges and harm to the company’s productivity. Office-based work would foster better communication and collaboration between and among the staffs thereby enhancing ease in decision-making. Furthermore, the initiative would enhance work reliability and efficiency within the company while also promoting a sense of togetherness. Face-to-face interaction would also serve to promote the company’s culture (Knowl 1). Knowl, David. â€Å"Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer lays down the law, telling telecommuting employees either to show up at the office or find a new job.† New York Daily News. Monday, February 25, 2013. Web May 21, 2014. Viewed from:

Madness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Madness - Essay Example Finally after years of hospital visits, therapy, and lots of different types of medicine, Mayra found a routine that has worked for her so far. Like Mayra has proven and other people with Bipolar disorder know, this illness has no cure. It is a lifelong process of taking medicines to alleviate the symptoms of the disorder. Over the years the more doctors have learned about being Bipolar. When Mayra was first diagnosed, she got a generic Bipolar diagnosis. Now there is two different types of Bipolar; Bipolar I and Bipolar II. It was once thought that a person had long manic phases and long depressed phases, but as Mayra has shown her moods changed daily. Today doctors know more, but more research and study is needed. Like many people with Bipolar disorder, Mayra self medicated since her adolescence. Alcohol to come down or take the edge off her manic phases, pills to chase away the blues. After being hospitalized for her eating disorder, Mayra stopped taking pills. However her alcohol intake increased for years. She was also a cutter. After an almost near death experience after slitting her veins, she stopped regular cutting. Mayra did not receive help sooner than her thirties, even though diagnosed with Bipolar ten years earlier, because she did not take the disease seriously. Finally Mayra had to face the fact that she was never going to be normal, but with medicine could live with the disease. Once she stopped drinking, she still did not take the disease seriously. Only after addressing her illness, did Mayra find a tenuous balance with medicine and therapy. wards, medicine, detox, AA, and therapy. At first diagnosed with anorexia/bulimia, Mayra was hospitalized for that. The goal for treating anorexia/bulimia is to get a patient to eat. The weight Mayra gained or lost was more important than her mental state. They grouped her with other anorexia/bulimia patients that were depressed. The medicine Prozac might have helped Mayra with

Action Research Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Action Research Proposal - Essay Example The ELP program will be executed once a week for three hours for one semester in collaboration with teachers who are trained to provide a family atmosphere to the students. The trained ELP staff will take every opportunity in and out of classrooms to follow up on the students and to coordinate with their classroom teachers as to student behavior and to guide them accordingly in the formation of their character and developing good school habits. ELP teachers shall be in regular communication with parents, counselors, administrators and non-ELP teachers to monitor each student’s progress. Results will indicate if the ELP program is effective in motivating the students to stay in school and prevent dropping out. Adolescence is a very trying time in a person’s life. It is when an individual struggles to establish his own identity in the face of changes and challenges that come his way. High school freshmen are vulnerable to a lot of adjustments. Not only are they adjusting to physical changes, but also emotional and social changes as well. For some, there is more to it than the usual adjustment to change, as some factors gravely affect their school performance. Research has unearthed information that school drop out rates are mostly coming from the population of high school freshmen. A large suburban school district in the United States was the community selected for study. This school district has more than 100 schools and serves close to 90,000 students annually (Zvoch, 2006). School enrollment is composed of large numbers of White and Latino students. The usual composition of the student population is approximately 46% Latino, 44% White, 4% American Indian, 3% African American, 2% Asian and 1% other (Zvoch, 2006). This district also serves many economically disadvantaged and language minority students (Zvoch, 2006). 15% of the students are

Law Reviews on Lexis- The Tort Reform Legislation in the State of Ohio Research Paper

Law Reviews on Lexis- The Tort Reform Legislation in the State of Ohio - Research Paper Example For these reasons, there have been several tort reforms championed by reform proponents on various changes aimed at correcting the perceived wrongs. These changes include the burden of damage caps, changes made in the substantive tort law, judicial oversight, and time limit for filing claims, and the limitations on the attorney’s fees. This legal memo will primarily focus on a single state, the State of Ohio given that most of the tort reforms in the U.S have been focused on states simply because issues of tort have been for many years thought of as local matters. However, at the national level, significant efforts have also been made to implement tort reforms both judicially and legislatively. We can find efforts of state tort reforms in several decisions that were largely adopted such as the influential decision in Heningsen v. Bloomfield Motors which was described as pioneering the fall of the citadel due to its attack on abrogation of the doctrine of privity and for its ve ry broad policies. Other landmark decisions included the adoption of the strict liability tort in the case of Greenman v. Yub Power products, inc., in the Supreme Court of California, and the Larsen v. General Motor Corp. case which recognized the crashworthiness doctrine. These decisions are the once considered to have triggered the revolution of tort reform which paid much attention on products liability 39 Akron L. Rev. 909. The General Assembly in the State of Ohio has countered certain actions of the judicial process, which are seen to have created some sort of imbalance in the law, which offers special treatment. These include three different and unique set of cases of which two correspond to the influential decision in Larsen, Greenman, and Henningsen. In the case of Temple v. Wean United, Inc., the court assumed the strict liability in tort as articulated in section 402A of the restatement. This included the comments in that restatement, and in so doing, the court rejected c ontributory negligence as a way of defense. In an earlier case of Lonzrick v. Republic Steel Corp., the court further clarified its decision by recognizing the strict liability in warranty without privity. In the case of Jones v. VIP Development Co. and Blankenship v. Cincinnati Milacron Chemicals, Inc., the court extended the intentional exception to workers compensation immunity tort by articulating that it only applied to where injury was certain to happen. Finally, the court adopted the seminal decision of enhanced injury or crashworthiness in the case of Leichtamer v. American Motors Corp. 39 Akron L. Rev. 909, 909-911. In Ohio State a plaintiff is not barred from recovering damages, which have proximately and directly been caused by the conduct of other persons, one or more. In the case where it is considered that the contributory fault clause of the plaintiff in question is less than that of the combined tortuous conduct of all the other parties of whom the plaintiff seek rec overy of damages, his/her (the plaintiff) recovery is reduced by a sum that is proportionate to the percentage of the plaintiff’s tortuous conduct Ohio Rev. Code Ann.  §Ã‚  2315.33. A good example of tort reform include the Ohio state revised Code section 2315.19 which addresses comparative negligence statute which does not affect the strict liability in any way. This is considered by many, a pro-injured statute which for long has been viewed by scholars as a means of ensuring greater

Madness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Madness - Essay Example Finally after years of hospital visits, therapy, and lots of different types of medicine, Mayra found a routine that has worked for her so far. Like Mayra has proven and other people with Bipolar disorder know, this illness has no cure. It is a lifelong process of taking medicines to alleviate the symptoms of the disorder. Over the years the more doctors have learned about being Bipolar. When Mayra was first diagnosed, she got a generic Bipolar diagnosis. Now there is two different types of Bipolar; Bipolar I and Bipolar II. It was once thought that a person had long manic phases and long depressed phases, but as Mayra has shown her moods changed daily. Today doctors know more, but more research and study is needed. Like many people with Bipolar disorder, Mayra self medicated since her adolescence. Alcohol to come down or take the edge off her manic phases, pills to chase away the blues. After being hospitalized for her eating disorder, Mayra stopped taking pills. However her alcohol intake increased for years. She was also a cutter. After an almost near death experience after slitting her veins, she stopped regular cutting. Mayra did not receive help sooner than her thirties, even though diagnosed with Bipolar ten years earlier, because she did not take the disease seriously. Finally Mayra had to face the fact that she was never going to be normal, but with medicine could live with the disease. Once she stopped drinking, she still did not take the disease seriously. Only after addressing her illness, did Mayra find a tenuous balance with medicine and therapy. wards, medicine, detox, AA, and therapy. At first diagnosed with anorexia/bulimia, Mayra was hospitalized for that. The goal for treating anorexia/bulimia is to get a patient to eat. The weight Mayra gained or lost was more important than her mental state. They grouped her with other anorexia/bulimia patients that were depressed. The medicine Prozac might have helped Mayra with

Law Reviews on Lexis- The Tort Reform Legislation in the State of Ohio Research Paper

Law Reviews on Lexis- The Tort Reform Legislation in the State of Ohio - Research Paper Example For these reasons, there have been several tort reforms championed by reform proponents on various changes aimed at correcting the perceived wrongs. These changes include the burden of damage caps, changes made in the substantive tort law, judicial oversight, and time limit for filing claims, and the limitations on the attorney’s fees. This legal memo will primarily focus on a single state, the State of Ohio given that most of the tort reforms in the U.S have been focused on states simply because issues of tort have been for many years thought of as local matters. However, at the national level, significant efforts have also been made to implement tort reforms both judicially and legislatively. We can find efforts of state tort reforms in several decisions that were largely adopted such as the influential decision in Heningsen v. Bloomfield Motors which was described as pioneering the fall of the citadel due to its attack on abrogation of the doctrine of privity and for its ve ry broad policies. Other landmark decisions included the adoption of the strict liability tort in the case of Greenman v. Yub Power products, inc., in the Supreme Court of California, and the Larsen v. General Motor Corp. case which recognized the crashworthiness doctrine. These decisions are the once considered to have triggered the revolution of tort reform which paid much attention on products liability 39 Akron L. Rev. 909. The General Assembly in the State of Ohio has countered certain actions of the judicial process, which are seen to have created some sort of imbalance in the law, which offers special treatment. These include three different and unique set of cases of which two correspond to the influential decision in Larsen, Greenman, and Henningsen. In the case of Temple v. Wean United, Inc., the court assumed the strict liability in tort as articulated in section 402A of the restatement. This included the comments in that restatement, and in so doing, the court rejected c ontributory negligence as a way of defense. In an earlier case of Lonzrick v. Republic Steel Corp., the court further clarified its decision by recognizing the strict liability in warranty without privity. In the case of Jones v. VIP Development Co. and Blankenship v. Cincinnati Milacron Chemicals, Inc., the court extended the intentional exception to workers compensation immunity tort by articulating that it only applied to where injury was certain to happen. Finally, the court adopted the seminal decision of enhanced injury or crashworthiness in the case of Leichtamer v. American Motors Corp. 39 Akron L. Rev. 909, 909-911. In Ohio State a plaintiff is not barred from recovering damages, which have proximately and directly been caused by the conduct of other persons, one or more. In the case where it is considered that the contributory fault clause of the plaintiff in question is less than that of the combined tortuous conduct of all the other parties of whom the plaintiff seek rec overy of damages, his/her (the plaintiff) recovery is reduced by a sum that is proportionate to the percentage of the plaintiff’s tortuous conduct Ohio Rev. Code Ann.  §Ã‚  2315.33. A good example of tort reform include the Ohio state revised Code section 2315.19 which addresses comparative negligence statute which does not affect the strict liability in any way. This is considered by many, a pro-injured statute which for long has been viewed by scholars as a means of ensuring greater

Holmes in the room Essay Example for Free

Holmes in the room Essay His ability to withdraw within himself and to detach himself is reinforced with his preference for German music; it is introspective and I want to introspect. This behaviour is shown yet again in Silver Blaze in his movement from day-dreaming and absorbed in his own thoughts to suppressed excitement. This essence of his character is also a strong reference to Victorian morality in the duality of human nature. Conan Doyles stories convey the sense of a double life led by many middle class men, in particular. Conan Doyle conveys Holmes as possessing a character that changes from the languid, dreamy, gentle sense of his inertia to his predatory qualities; Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, ready criminal agent. The words swing of his nature and alternately further contribute to our impression of his dual nature. There is also a symbolic representation of a duality of human nature in the contrast between the shabby, faded, weedy side of the square and the fine stately side that backs the pawnbroker and represents commerce. The gap between rich and poor widened with the growth in industry during the Victorian era. The growth in wealth is shown in the metaphor of a tide and immense stream of increasing wealth. Dual nature is also clearly identified in Silver Blaze when Silas Brown is shown to have two personalities; never have I seen such a change as had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short time. In The Man with the Twisted Lip you will find the strongest representation of dual nature. At the beginning of the story Holmes disguises himself as a tall, thin old man so that not even Watson, his closest friend can recongise him. Conan Doyle describes the change in Holmes his form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull eyes had regained their fire. Doyles language in the paragraph conveys the duality of man and as the paragraph progresses, language marks Holmes transformation from very thin; very wrinkled, bent with age to his real self. Finally he regains his ingenious disguise to doddering, loose-lipped senility. But the strongest personification of the dual nature of man lies in Neville St. Clair who is the embodiment of Victorian double personality; one life by day and another by night. The first evidence of this lies in his two distinct writing styles of which he has a different style for when he wrote hurriedly. But the main reference to duality of nature appears near the end of the story when Holmes starts scrubbing off the beggar mans, Boones, face to reveal his true persona Neville St. Clair. The description of the face peeled off and exposing the refined man beneath shows the true extent of Victorian double nature. There is also a strong metaphor for the merging of the two sides of his character; the horrid scar which had seamed it across. In The Red-Headed League Holmess appearance is compared to that of a strange bird with a hawk like nose. This draws an image of an almost predatory figure in the readers mind. This image is further reinforced in The Red-Headed League with his quick firing of questions to Jabez Wilson. These questions reflect his razor sharp ability to extract information and also his quick-thinking mind. He is also described as a bird in The Man with the Twisted Lip when Conan Doyle draws attention to his strong set aquiline features. This description could also be in reference to the publication of Darwins On the Origin of the Species and the idea that human kind were descendants of animals, beasts. There is also a reminder of Darwins theory in The Speckled Band; I have heard, Mr Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart. There was a huge fear in Victorian times that men possessed a bestial quality. This also conveys the Victorian double standard because Holmes works for the good of society, but possesses something that draws him towards evil. This is reinforced again in Silver Blaze when he is described as having menace in his eyes. In the Victorian age, a certain type of novel emerged from the largely romantic literary background, the Gothic novel, which was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole who wrote The Castle of Otranto in 1764. It has been suggested, by the critic Ann B. Tracy, that the Gothic novel could be seen as a description of a fallen world. While Sherlock Holmes is certainly a hero in many senses, in that he solves crimes, repeatedly saves people from the forces of evil and restores moral values while he is at it, he could also certainly be seen as a Gothic hero. It is his strong power of perception that solves crimes, and it is his hunger for sensation that drives his crime-solving and his cocaine use. To succeed as a detective Holmes frequently must himself descend into Londons underworld, which further reinforces the theory of a fallen world. It could be said that in all of the Sherlock Holmes stories there is a Gothic element in the form of a mysterious, inexplicable situation. This could be definitely be seen in The Red-Headed League, but to really discover the more detailed elements that constitute the genre of a Gothic novel we can look no further than The Speckled Band, which is littered with references to a true Gothic novel. First of all there is the woman in distress, in this case taking the presence of Helen Stoner, who arrived in a considerable state of excitement. She is described as being in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all dawn and grey, with restless, frightened eyes, which certainly conforms to the Gothic element of women with highly wrought emotions. There is also a woman in high state of emotion present in Silver Blaze when Mrs. Strakers face was haggard, and stamped with the print of a recent horror. Also present in The Speckled Band which is an element of a Gothic story is the occurrence of a cruel, tyrannical male who threatens and harms a woman, which appears in the form of Dr Grimsby Roylott, whom Helen Stoner appears to be considerably afraid of when she tries to hide the marks on her arm; you have been cruelly used. Then there is the setting in a ruined building, Stoke Moran, which seems to be in a considerable state of disrepair; the building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone. windows were broken. a picture of ruin. There is also a sense of mystery and suspense as the question is posed whether or not Dr Roylott killed Helens sister. Also the fact that Helen Stoner has been effectively forced into living in her sisters room could be seen as a Gothic element, as could the eerie whistle which both the sisters heard in the dead of night. Conan Doyles literary masterpieces are been enjoyed by thousands for almost a century now and continue to capture the hearts of both young and old. So brilliant and absorbing are these stories that when Sherlock Holmes was killed in The Final Problem fans complained so forcefully that Conan Doyle was compelled to resurrect him again. Holmes fans even refer to the time in between his death and revivification as the Great Hiatus. The Guinness World Records has consistently listed him as the most portrayed movie character with over 70 actors playing the part in over 200 films. A rare manuscript of one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles final Sherlock Holmes stories has recently been expected to fetch a whopping i 250,000 at auction. Overall there have been 56 short stories and 4 novels, written over a decade. These accounts are littered with references to Victorian England and can help people today to understand what life was like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kate Manson 10S Page 1 of 5 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 Arthur Conan Doyle section.

Love in Shakespeares Sonnets

Love in Shakespeares Sonnets Introduction In his poem, Scorn not the Sonnet (Poetical Works, 1827), Wordsworth famously said that the sonnets were the key with which Shakespeare unlocked his heart and whilst this can certainly be seen to be the case, the sonnets do much more than that. Writing of various forms of love, and indeed of love itself, using the contemporary sonnet form, Shakespeare develops the aspects of love which the sonnets reflect into an all-encompassing discussion on the major themes of life itself that continue to inform and direct the human condition, a fact which is perhaps partly responsible for their continuing popularity with both public and critics alike. This dissertation sets out to discover, through close reading of carefully selected representative sonnets and critical context, the way Shakespeare accomplishes this. The sonnet form as Shakespeare, whose 154 sonnets were first published in 1609, and his contemporaries used it was introduced into England in the sixteenth century by Sir Thomas Wyatt who translated sonnets in the Petrarchan form from the original Italian: As we should expect in a period when he [Shakespeare] was beginning to write the sonnet, allusions to Petrarchism become increasingly common. (Whitaker, 1953, p. 88) The Shakespearian or Elizabethan sonnet form differs from the Italian, originally developed by Petrarch in the fourteenth century, principally in form. Both styles are usually comprised of fourteen lines but have a different rhyme sequence and structure. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octet (a sequence of eight lines in which the theme is opened) and the subsequent sestet (which reflects on the theme it has introduced), whilst the Shakespearian is structured in iambic pentameter in three quatrains and a couplet, the three quatrains rhyming in abab form and the final couplet rhyming cc. It is important to understand Shakespeares structure because it so often reflects the theme, with the three quatrains each addressing a different aspect of the sonnets focus and the couplet usually providing an epigram summing up the idea which the sonnet reflects. Indeed, Shakespeare does not only use the sonnet form in his poems but also within his plays, incorporating what a contemporary audience would recognise to be evidence of true and even holy love. The most famous example of this is in the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet, written in 1594, where their words are exchanged in sonnet form: Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss. Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. Romeo: O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. Juliet: Saints do not move, though grant for prayers sake. Romeo: Then move not while my prayers effect I take. (Shakespeare, William. 1954. Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene v, p. 30) This is an excellent example of the innovative way in which Shakespeare uses the sonnet form and it is therefore appropriate to look at it in detail in the introduction to this dissertation in order to show the aspects of love with which the discussion will be concerned: From the early poems to the young man of rank, urging him to marry and have a son, through the idealising attempts to negate the space of social difference in the mutuality of private love, to the bitter wit of the Will poems to the dark woman, the player-poet seeks to reduce the gap between addresser and addressee that is the very condition of the Petrarchan mode. It has not escaped commentators or audiences that in Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare represents a moment of reciprocity via the archetype of in commensurability: a sonnet, uniquely shared by Romeo and Juliet in Act 1. (Schalkwyk, 2002. p. 65) In the first quatrain, Shakespeare has Romeo, who was previously infatuated with Rosaline, a state we are given to understand that he has often found himself in before this, declare his feelings in holy imagery which Juliet, in the second quatrain, immediately picks up on and develops. Thus, though inversion of the traditional male role as director is not removed, Shakespeare gifts Juliet with an aspect of equality with Romeo, by making her his equal in wit, a gender specific imperative which is found in both his plays and sonnets alike. Moreover, in the third quatrain, the lovers share their feelings and the structure itself, with each taking separate lines of the sonnet. This mutuality reflects how the play will develop, with Juliet continuing to grow in strength, and also shows the importance of the connection between what appears to be love and what is true love, associated fundamentally with God, as evidenced by the religious imagery of pilgrims and saints and perhaps most impor tantly palmers, which signifies one who has made the pilgrimage to Rome. The contemporary audience would recognise this first dialogue between the lovers as emblematic of true love precisely because it is expressed in the sonnet form. Also, Shakespeare establishes the connective between true love and religion which, as will be seen in the dissertation discussion, is another feature of the sonnets as a whole and indeed the sonnet form. The way in which Romeo and Juliet share the sonnet is, as is noted above (Schalkwyk, 2002. p. 65), very different from the way that the older Petrarchan sonnet form implements the structure to address the theme or indeed object of love. Shakespeares concept of love as expressed in the sonnets is essentially based upon reality, human beings interacting or regarded as representative of love without the necessity to involve the idea of worship as is certainly the case with Petrarchs Laura. Although many of the sonnets are addressed to an unknown and somewhat generically enigmatic female, referred to as the Dark Lady by critics, the sense of the sonnets being concerned with human love in all its aspects is always primary, as Shakespeare writes in Sonnet CXXX: I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: (Shakespeare, William. 2003. Shakespeares Sonnets. ed. Katherine Duncan Jones. p.375) This is a thought that he completes by following the colon with a couplet summation that despite this, or perhaps because of it, his love is as rare as any belied with false compare. It is clear that love for Shakespeare is as concerned with humanity as much, if not more, than the conception of love and the distant, silent, object of that love as divine. Thus, the idea that Romantic love has little to do with love as it is actually experienced is another aspect of love with which the sonnets are concerned and which this dissertation will address. Indeed, one imperative which seeks to involve a less direct form of love is the notion of Platonic love, or love as an ideal, as expressed in Sonnet CXVI: Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments (Shakespeare, William. 2003. Shakespeares Sonnets. ed. Katherine Duncan Jones. p.343). It is generally accepted that the first seventeen of the sonnets are addressed to a young man and in these Shakespeare turns more frequently to the idea that marriage should be the object of a mans life. However, he then turns, in sonnets XVIII-CXXVI, to homoerotic expressions of love to a man, identified, simply because of the dedication on the first (possibly unauthorised) publication, by Thomas Thorpe, as Mr. W.H.: The interpretation of the expression only begetter is doubtful. Did Thorpe mean that Mr. W. H. was the fair youth of the sonnets (though on this reading the dark lady also has a claim as a begetter, to some of the sonnets), or was he merely the gentleman who gave Thorpe the manuscriptMr. William Harvey perhaps, who in 1598 married the widowed mother of Lord Southampton? The manuscript can only have come from one in the innermost circle of those who knew Shakespeare and his noble friend. If Southampton was the friend, William Harvey may have been the only begetter. (Alexander Nisbet, 1935, p. 94) Like the Dark Lady, the young man is not identified within the sonnets and the location of his identity has similarly exercised scholars across the generations. However, although it is certainly true that spurious identification is of passing interest: The identity of the fair youth matters much more to those who believe that the poems grew from personal experience than to those who believe that they are poetic fictions, influenced more by sonneteering convention than by life. (Bate, 2008, pp. 41-2) Bates point is well-taken since the actual identity of the object of love is indeed much less important to an appreciation of the sonnets than their importance as representative of aspects of love: Somehow the poems convince each reader that what he or she sees in them is what is really there. But somehow they then sneak up behind you and convince you of something completely different. (Bate, 2008, p. 43) It might be argued, in fact, that precisely because of the lack of knowledge concerning the individual to whom the sonnets are addressed, readers have formed a generic connective with them across the generations which is cathartic in its anonymity: How do we lesser mortals know to perform our lesser miracles of life? Again we face the enigma of all creation, which Shakespeare himself has simply accepted and has nowhere attempted to explain. What was there when there was nothing? And how does something more forever come from something less? Whether the creation be instantaneous, in six days, or in aeons of ages the miracle is no less. And in it we live, and move, and have our being. And perhaps, alas!, have in us too little of the poet to see that there is any miracle at all. (Baldwin, 1950, p. 384) Thus, the individual biographical aspects of the sonnets, though of interest, can never be a primary informative and this may, indeed, be beneficial, as we shall hope to see. Chapter One: The Marriage of True Minds Little is known about Shakespeares life and this has given rise to much speculation about his biographical background: It is one of the ironies attendant on the growth of Shakespeares reputation that even the most diligent scholarship has been able to uncover very little of the background of the poets personal or public life. However, the poverty of detail has merely spurred his biographers to increased scholarly, inferential, and imaginative activity. (Marder, 1963, p. 156) What is certain, since it is documented through baptism of the children, is that he was married to Anne Hathaway, a fairly well connected Stratford girl, older than himself, when he was eighteen, and they had three children: a daughter, Susanna, and twins, Hamnet and Judith. Despite this, or maybe because of it, he spent the vast majority of his life away from home in London where most of his writing took place. There has been a great deal written about how happy or otherwise the couple might have been, especially since he left Anne nothing in his will except his second best bed. Many have read this as an insult but perhaps a more appropriate reading is that the best bed was for guests and the second best the marriage bed therefore to bequeath this to his wife, far from being an insult, was a love token. Carol Ann Duffy writes of this in her sonnet Anne Hathaway: The bed we loved in was a spinning world of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas where he would dive for pearls. (Duffy, The Worlds Wife, 2000, p. 30) This tender version of love would seem much more appropriate, especially since the first seventeen of the sonnets, known as the procreation sonnets, are largely concerned with the recommendation of marriage to a young man. If Shakespeare was so violently against marriage then it seems unlikely that he would have recommended it. However, as always with the sonnets, this is not as straightforward as it seems with the directive to marry being somewhat complicated by other imperatives with which Shakespeare is clearly concerned, not least his affection for the Fair Youth. The early sonnets in the sequence should be considered as they pertain to the question of marriage itself, therefore, rather than as they relate to Shakespeares life: Shakespeares Sonnets raise a number of problems. We do not know when they were written, to whom they are addressed, nor even if they are certainly autobiographical. (Knight, 1955, p. 3) With this in mind it is not only preferable but essential, therefore, to qualify any discussion on the possible relationship between the sonnet topics and Shakespeares life with the reminder that we know so little about the latter that any inferences must be regarded as tenuously speculative at best. Thus, the marriage question which relates to the first seventeen sonnets cannot be seen as directed in any major sense by the poets own life: The greatest sonnets, those which are neither wholly conventional nor wholly autobiographical, preserve this balance between embroilment and detachment in a way which is truly dramatic. A personal experience may underlie each, but it is experience transmuted, as in the plays, into the correlative form of characters in action. To some degree these characters are the dramatic counterparts of actual people-the youth, the dark woman-though they are not the people themselves. Others belong, as personages, only to the microcosm of poetry: Time, for example, one of the most powerful villains among Shakespeares dramatis personae; and above all, Shakespeares own diverse masks and moods, fully realised and understood. (Mahood, 1988, p. 90) The idea that the sonnets are in any way biographical must, indeed, be questioned but it must also be remarked that the way the words are used within the sonnets might be attributable to Shakespeares personal consciousness: The nature of the wordplay in the Sonnets varies according to whether Shakespeare is too remote or too near the experience behind the poem or whether he is at a satisfying dramatic distance from it. When he is detached, the wordplay is a consciously used, hard-worked rhetorical device. When his complexity of feeling upon the occasion of a sonnet is not fully realised by him, the wordplay often reveals an emotional undercurrent which was perhaps hidden from the poet himself. But in the best sonnets the wordplay is neither involuntary nor wilful; it is a skilfully handled means whereby Shakespeare makes explicit both his conflict of feelings and his resolution of the conflict. (Mahood, 1988, p. 90) Thus, when in Sonnet CXVI he writes of the marriage of true minds (Shakespeare, William, 2003, p.343) he is perhaps inviting us to infer a connective between what he writes and what he feels, an altogether different kind of marriage, metaphorical rather than literal and certainly more of the mind than of the heart. As the sequence begins, the poet addresses the youth familiarly but in an almost didactic tone, of the older to the younger, as here in Sonnet I: From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beautys rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feedst thy lights flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel: Thou that art now the worlds fresh ornament, And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content, And, tender churl, makst waste in niggarding: Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the worlds due, by the grave and thee. (Shakespeare, William, 2003, p.113) The importance of this sonnet in establishing the poets themes throughout the sequence must be stressed, as here we see Shakespeare writing of the transience of beauty, the selfishness of the individual, the battle between desire and fulfilment, the beauty of the natural world and its comparative with human beauty (to which he will return in the well-known Sonnet XVIII and elsewhere) and the basic responsibility of man to procreate or, as the sonnet has it, increase and thereby beautys rose might never die. All of these relate to the human condition and also perhaps to Shakespeares own concerns: In the case of a poet, I suggest it is chiefly through his images that he, to some extent unconsciously, gives himself away. He may be, and in Shakespeares case is, almost entirely objective in his dramatic characters and their views and opinions, yet, like the man who under stress of emotion will show no sign of it in eye or face, but will reveal it in some muscular tension, the poet unwittingly lays bare his own innermost likes and dislikes, observations and interests, associations of thought, attitudes of mind and beliefs, in and through the images, the verbal pictures he draws to illuminate something quite different in the speech and thought of his characters. (Spurgeon, 1935, p. 4) Thus, the fact that the boy is referred to in relation to fairest creatures facilitates the poets directive that this places upon the individual a responsibility: beauty is not given to die but to be carried on by the tender heir. The register is imperative and commanding, with the poet adopting the voice of one who has the authority to instruct by reason of superior age and wisdom, hence perhaps the juxtaposition of riper and decrease in the preceding line to reference to the tender heir and memory. The youth is instructed that he is, in common parlance, his own worst enemy, Thy self thy foe, since he does not see the waste of his beauty which lies in his refusal to share his gifts with posterity via procreation. This accusatory tone is extended to the self-abuse of masturbation in Within thine own bud buriest thy content, which also bears the pun of pleasure and substance, and the youth referred to as a glutton and tender churl, the latter implying an indulgence in the chiding of t he boy. This is, of course, the supreme image of the waste with which the poet is concerned since to make a famine where abundance lies is almost seen as a blasphemy, refusing, selfishly, to procreate and eat the worlds due by the selfish pursuit of personal indulgence: contracted to thine own bright eyes, as with Narcissus, in love with his own reflection and failing to see the self-destruction that is inherent in this. In addition, by referring to the boy in terms of a rose, the poet introduces the classic Romantic emblem of love as well as re-emphasising the transience of the poets beauty. This idea of beauty and its connective with nature is again related in terms of a comparative with natures beauty and inveterate perishability in Sonnet XVIII: Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summers lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed: But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst, Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growst, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (Shakespeare, William, 2003, p.147) The comparison of the transience of natures beauty with that of the youth to whom the poem is addressed is clear, yet the rhetoric of the opening seems to imply an equivocal nature to the connective of the extended metaphor that follows. The tentativeness of the image is also emphasised by this questioning in the first line and it enhances both the intimacy of the register of address and the relationship of the poet with the wider readership. This latter is important because it is so much a concern in the poem, with the idea of immortality attached here to writing as it was previously attached to procreation. The common denominator here is the idea of creation itself and its connective with the eternal. This is perhaps one of Shakespeares more famous sonnets, if not the most famous, therefore it is fitting that in a dissertation concerned with the aspects of love which the sonnets present, attention should be paid to the aspect of the writing which pertains to the process of creation and its connective with the reader. It is interesting to note, indeed, that the poet chooses to stress the importance of the eternal lines which he is composing and how this overcomes the basic transience of life and beauty whether in nature or humanity. Indeed, the punctuation of this sonnet is indicative of its imperative since there is frequent usage of the colon throughout, implying a thought begun and completed in each quatrain, functioning almost as enjambment and enhancing the idea that the many aspects of beauty and life which this sonnet covers are embodied within one thought as evidenced in the single extended metaphor which informs the sonnet as a whole. The poets almost godlike assimilation of the power to grant immortality appears dangerously hubristic in abstract and indeed encourages the inference that Shakespeare was aware of the strength of his poetic gifts and their ability to confer a kind of immorality on the object of love, who by the end of the sonnet has become subject to the sonneteer rather than in command. As the poet is also using his gifts to describe the loved one via nature, the features of the numinous within nature become connected with this hubristic stance. Thus, natures changing course and Chance, which significantly begins a line, are to some extent negated, or at least qualified, by the poets art. Features of life which terrify, therefore, such as death cannot brag in the face of the eternal nature of Art: Shakespeare prophetically felt the immortality and universality of his plays even though he seems to have made no great effort toward their preservation in print. (Marder, 1963, p. 361) This might, this sonnet would seem to suggest, also be extended to the sonnets. Indeed, in daring to criticise the glories of nature, Shakespeare appears to place creative Art above it, since it, unlike all that is natural, survives, only, though, as long as it is appreciated, as the final couplet significantly testifies: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. In this way, Shakespeare demonstrates an awareness of the fundamental importance of the connection between writer and reader, reinforced perhaps by his experience as an actor and writer of drama. Hence, the voice of the actor may be perceived in the words of the sonneteer and universality as well as the eternal perceived in both: On this planet the reputation of Shakespeare is secure. When life is discovered elsewhere in the universe and some interplanetary traveler brings to this new world the fruits of our terrestrial culture, who can imagine anything but that among the first books carried to the curious strangers will be a Bible and the works of William Shakespeare. (Marder, 1963, p. 362) Thus, Shakespeare may be seen, via the sonnets and plays, to transcend what is perceived as immediate in aspects of love and engage with the eternal. Chapter Two: I do believe her though I know she lies The potent sexual content of the sonnets becomes a major directive following the romantic turning point of Sonnet XVIII. The sequence moves powerfully from restrained yet poetic discussion of aspects of love to explicit sexual references which are concerned more with lust than love and often deceit is linked to this and this duplicity is most often associated with the heterosexual sonnets. Importantly, the passion is not directed solely towards heterosexual love, instead it involves an equal, if not stronger, reflection of homoerotic desire, with the Fair Youth and the Dark Lady equally powerful in the poets passion, indeed, often the two overlap producing an androgynous aspect to the passion which also appears in the plays: The first thing that startles the reader about the sonnets is the emotional virtuosity of the protagonist. The poems appear to have been composed over a longer period of years, and to cover a greater range of passionate experience, than any one of the plays. In recognizing the variety of moods and attitudes Shakespeare accumulates in the sonnets, we may choose either to admire his protean nature as an actual passionate friend and lover, or to stress his dexterity in accumulating such an extraordinary range of amatory motifs from literary sources. Either his own nature was unusually flexible and susceptible, or he deliberately chose to display the full scope of literary permutations of which emotional relationships are capable. Probably both views are true: he dexterously coordinated first-hand experience with the accumulated resources of the sonnet tradition, from the solemn and sentimental to the cynical and outrageous. (Richmond, 1971, p. 19) This is particularly noticeable in Sonnet XX where the poet longs for the youth to be a woman and the homoerotic replaces the marital directive which appeared in the didactic tone of the first sonnets in the sequence: A womans face with natures own hand painted, Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion; A womans gentle heart, but not acquainted With shifting change, as is false womens fashion: An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling, Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth; A man in hue all hues in his controlling, Which steals mens eyes and womens souls amazeth. And for a woman wert thou first created; Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting, And by addition me of thee defeated, By adding one thing to my purpose nothing. But since she prickd thee out for womens pleasure, Mine be thy love and thy loves use their treasure.(Shakespeare, William, 2003, p.151) Shakespeare confronts directly here the clear belief that women are duplicitous and deceitful and that the master mistress of his passion, though gifted with a womans gentle heart is not acquainted/With shifting change, as is false womens fashion. The eye, the traditional window of the soul, is more bright but less false. Thus, the poet suggests that the beautiful youth has all a womans best gifts but none of her faults, a state of perfection to be idealised in desire. Shakespeare develops this by writing directly of the sexual difference where the punning prickd is clearly a reference to the redundancy of the penis for the poet. Nature here is the enemy, even the jealous sexual predator, having me of thee defeated thus frustrating the desires of the poet by changing what he perceives to be the original intention, to create a woman, in the addition of the male organ of procreation. The amorphous image appears to be the ideal with neither male nor female specifics to obscure or defeat the perfection of the union. Whether this desire is linked to Shakespeares own desire is equivocal as are all inferences of autobiographical content, it is tempting but dangerous to make too may autobiographical assumptions. However: In depicting this blend of adulation and contempt, and in all those sonnets where verbal ambiguity is thus used as a deliberate dramatic device, Shakespeare shows that superb insight into states of strangely mixed feelings which enabled him to bring to life a Coriolanus or an Enobarbus. Like Freud, he found the causes of quibbling by studying his own quibbles; and the detachment which such an analysis implies imparts to the best of the Sonnets that objectivity we look for in the finest dramatic poetry. (Mahood, 1988, p. 110) Certainly, there is a Freudian homoerotic subliminal here but there is no evidence to suggest that this was an actual experience of the poet any more than we can say that he wrote Hamlet therefore he must have experienced being the Prince of Denmark. To do either is to ignore Shakespeares imaginative genius and his ability to transmute the fancy into the creative, with both forming then a reality which has little if any connection with fact. So, although Shakespeare may have had sexual liaisons with both sexes and been crossed in love, the genius is in producing what can be seen to be unrelated to what might possibly have occurred in fact into an emblem of a generic tendency in humanity to which most of us can relate: If Shakespeares speaker fictionalized the young man, so too he fictionalizes himself (Berry, 2001, p.1). Having said that, Sonnet XX has been seen as offering significant clues not only to the nature of Shakespeares own sexuality but also to the identity of the Fair Youth himself and certainly to the reality of the human image even in its placing, as Kathryn Duncan Jones has pointed out in her notes to her 2003 edition of the Sonnets (the edition used throughout this dissertation): The placement of this anatomical sonnet at 20 may allude to a traditional association of this figure with the human body, equipped with twenty digits (Duncan Jones, 2003, p. 150). The direct connection which Duncan Jones makes between anatomy and imagination in this sonnet is interesting in that it breaches the gap between what might be seen to be metaphorical and what is actually a human figurative. Indeed, she goes on in her Introduction to expand on this: Many more numerological finesses may be discerned. For instance, the embarrassingly anatomical sonnet 20 [which] probably draws on primitive associations of the figure with the human body, whose digits, fingers and toes, add up to twenty (Duncan Jones, 2003, p. 101). As to the identity of the youth to which clues are supposedly to be found in this sonnet, they largely attach to the usage of the word, or name it is suggested, of hue and hues (spelt Hew and Hews in the Quarto). This, it has been mooted, might relate to a specific individual, especially as critics have noted that the name appears in one form or another, even if only in disparate letters, throughout the sonnet. As with much of the investigation into a connective between Shakespeares life and his Art, the link is at best speculative and at worst spurious and in either case somewhat superfluous: The sonnets have an extraordinary capacity to elicit categorical statements from their interpreters. It is announced that the youth is Southampton, the youth is Pembroke, the youth is nobody, the dark lady is Mary Fitton, she is Aemilia Lanyer, she is nobody, the sonnets are based on experience, they are not based on experience, the love was not homosexual, the love was homosexual, the love was a dramatic fiction which ha