Mediation Observation Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Mediation Observation Paper - Assignment Example The mediation case in focus involved James Nguyen, a student of Chapman law and who acted as the mediator between Robert and Swoboda who were the plaintiffs and Keith Mullens who was the defendant at the Corona Superior Court. Robert and Swoboda were couples who rented their house to Keith who upon vacation left the couple’s house in damaged state and was therefore sued for failure to pay for repair and rent of the previous month. However the disagreements, it became apparent that the plaintiffs and the defendant had never engaged in any conflict for the past five years that Keith rented the plaintiffs’ structure. All the parties were convinced and accepted to engage mediation process and Keith indicated that he would not be able to pay for the alleged damages and therefore requested that the plaintiffs drop the demands. On the other side, the plaintiffs held strongly that they could not drop the demands and the case was taken back to court where the plaintiffs were den ied their demands after long period of time. Effective mediation requires that the individual mediator follow certain sequential processes and procedures that will enable him/her comfort the parties and achieve utmost transparency of opinions and views. Usually, mediation process begins with introduction between the mediator and the individual parties and any other additional party present in the session(s). The introduction part is usually very critical as it determines the moods and emotions of the individual conflicting parties and allows the mediator an opportunity to employ other strategies to comfort the parties (Douglas and James 4). Introductory part of the mediation process requires the mediator use the most appropriate physical presentation to ensure that no individual party is frightened or threatened by the just intended process. According to Douglas and James, this stage needs to be accomplished with all parties who are located in different structures (6). In the introd uctory stage, the mediator clarifies the roles of each participant in the process and explains the rules that should govern the mediation process and the actual time frame for the process. The mediator will then acknowledge by reaffirming to both parties about the issues under determination or the actual cause for the mediation (Cohen 6). In his mediation practice, James Nguyen involved all necessary aspects introduction to ensure that nothing was left in doubt. In introducing my friend Abdul Sameer and I, James described us as his fellow law students who had come to particularly assess his progress and approach to the mediation process. James reiterated to the individual conflicting parties that we the third party had nothing to do with their discussion and therefore the parties had no reason to fear expressing their vies in transparent manner. It is at this level of mediation that James Nguyen informed the conflicting parti

Aging and Ageism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Aging and Ageism - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that Janet is has her resilience and ability to adapt to change. Being married to an alcoholic for 35 years greatly affected her and her ability to deal with turbulence and change. She has grown through adversity all of her life and now leads a content lifestyle still pursuing her dreams at age 71. She has taught me that a passion for life, varied interests and a deep desire to help others can create a joyful life.This study outlines that celebrating and recognizing transitions in life has always been important to Janet. At age 60 she was given a crone party where her family and friends took the opportunity to acknowledge her for where she had come from and where she currently was. It was a chance for her to share some of the lessons she has learned as she aged. Janet used the ceremony to release past issues like a smoking habit she quit many years before, menstruation as she had already gone through menopause, her teaching career, her husband, and the rai sing of her children. It was a unique way for friends and family to learn from her experiences as well as honor who for who she had become—and recognize that even though she was now considered at times by society as â€Å"over the hill†, that she had many years of fruitful opportunities still available.  Spirituality has always been a large influence on Janet and her outlook on life. She is deeply religious and believes that her thoughts and actions affect others as well as herself.

Balance Of Payments And Trade In Uae Economics Essay

Balance Of Payments And Trade In Uae Economics Essay The UAE is one of the strongest and prosperous economies of the world. It has been growing continuously over the past few years. The country has been growing at the average rate of 6% per year in the past decade. In the previous years the countrys economy was majorly dependant on the revenue generated by export of oil and petroleum products. But from the last decade the economy of the UAE has been diversified and is now contributed by other industries like, tourism, real estate and construction. Currently the oil and petroleum sector accounts only for one third of the total GDP of the country which used to be three fourth parts till 1980. The current per capita GDP of the UAE is one of the highest in the world, 24,000 USD. The export and import policies and strategies of goods and services in UAE mainly depends upon the free trade zones in the country because in these free trading zones mostly non oil products are being traded. The main benefit of these trading zones is that they are exempted from the time consuming and irritating obligations of licensing and all. The foreign and international trade and business relationships of the UAE with other countries like India, China, Japan and European Union has been improved in the past years and the balance of payments and trade has also been increased in these years. Previously the country was in deficit of balance but now the balance has risen to surplus amount. (Balance Of Payments BOP) (Balance Of Trade: Definition) Balance of Payment The balance of payments (BOP) is a record of all transactions between one particular country and the rest of the countries. It compares the difference of value of imports and exports of products, services and fiscal transactions in terms of dollars. The  BOP includes the  trade balance,  foreign investments and investments by foreigners. The BOP calculates international transactions for a specific time period, normally one year. For nation sources of funds like exports and investments are surplus items and use of funds like imports and invest in foreign countries are deficit items. BOP indicates the economic and political stability of the country. You can analyze it, i.e., if a country has a positive BOP, it means that there is substantial foreign investment within that country. The value of national currency of a country gets appreciation if the BOP is positive. If the value of a countrys import is higher than the value of its exports then the balance will be in deficit. A def icit in the balance shows a dependency on foreign investors or an overvalued currency. After including all components in BOP sheet, it must balance. The overall surplus or deficit must be zero. If a deficit in the balance then the country pays off the difference of value by exporting gold or consented hard currency. When a country is not able to pay for its debt repayments then it is called as currency crisis or BOP crisis. It came with rapid decline in nations currency value. It occurs because of large capital flow which is related to economic growth. However at a point foreign investors become concerned about their inbound capital and pull out funds. The rapid drop in the value of currency occurs because of the capital outbound flows. This causes an issue for business firm of affected country who has received loans. Foreign reserves try to support the domestic currency with very limited options after government fatigued. It increases the interest rates in order to prevent declines in value of currency. There are three methods to correct balance of payment imbalance. Adjustment of nations internal prices and adjustments of exchange rates are important methods. (Balance Of Payments BOP) Rebalancing by adjustments of exchange rate An increase in the value of currency of nation make imports cheaper and exports less matched. So it tends to correct current account surplus and make flow of investment less attractive towards capital account in order to help with a surplus. Conversely a decrease in the value of currency of nation makes things expensive for people to buy and increase the competition in exports with the others. Thus helps to correct the deficit. If nation is selling more and imports less, than the demand of currency increases because selling nations currency will be the need of other countries to make payment for the exports. If nation is exporting goods of less value and importing value is more than to pay for the excess import value it replace it with foreign currency so the currency will increase in international market thus value of currency tends to fall. BOP effects are also influenced by the difference in interest rates of nations. (Balance Of Payments BOP) Rebalancing by adjusting internal prices and demand Making changes in the domestic economy is a standard approach to correct imbalance, when exchange rates are fixed by gold standard or when imbalance is among members of currency union. Change is optional for the country which is in surplus but it is must for the deficit country. Mechanism is automatic in case of gold standard. If a nation has favorable trade balance then there will be an inflow of gold. It will increase the money supply because of this prices increase and inflation occurs thus decreases surplus. If a nation has deficit BOP then there will be an outflow of gold and occurs a deflationary effect so that prices reduced and makes export more competitive, thus do the re-balance. (Balance Of Payments BOP) Balance of Trade The balance of trade being a larger part of the economic unit, BOP, which includes all economic transaction between one country and the rest world. If a nation exports more than it imports then it has trade surplus or favorable balance of trade. If imports are more than exports then it has trade deficit or unfavorable balance of trade. There must be a favorable balance of trade but classical economics says it to be more important as for a nation so as to fully utilize its available economic resources rather than to build a trade surplus. The balance of trade indicates the nations international economic position. Factors affecting the balance of trade is inclusive of: The cost of manufacturing of product and services in the exporting country is different than that in the importing country. The price and availability of other subsidiary products, raw material and other required inputs. Fluctuation in exchange rates. Various restrictions on different type of trading medium Non economic hurdles like, environmental, health and social. Trade deficit is bad or not, it depends on business cycle and economy. If a country is in recession then it would like to exports more in order to create demand and jobs. But in strong expansion, nation would like to imports more which raise price competition and limits the inflation. So a trade deficit may help during an expansion but not good in recession. (Balance Of Trade: Definition) The UAE Balance of Payment The UAE is a member of the GCC trade group and also a member of World Trade Organization, World Bank and International Monetary Fund for the past ten years. The country has never required financial help from the World Bank or the International Monetary fund because of its strong financial position and huge treasures of wealth. Balance of Payments which is an important economic indicator to determine the countrys financial condition in the global market, in the previous year was more than 100 billion AED because of the real estate and construction business in the country. In the previous year the official reserve account of the UAE has been increased by 50 billion AED. The economy of the country is majorly driven by tourism, construction, real estate, and oil industry. So the balance of payments has to be done from various perspectives in the UAE. According to the IMF three major accounts need to be taken care of for the balance of payments in such a diverse economy, these accounts ar e: (McRae.) Current Account This account keeps track of the countrys assets from trades of goods and services and one sided transactions from foreign countries. In the year 2004 the UAE Central Bank recorded the total balance of -9 billion AED. Capital Account This account is for the flow of payments of capital items. In 2004 IMF reported 78,062 million UAE capitals of machinery, medical and electricity. The export value of the above capital was 610 million AED. The trade surplus reported by CIA in 2004 was $19 billion. Financial Account This account handles the trade of stocks and bonds, currency transaction. The net investment projected by the International Monetary Fund in 2005 was 26.3 billion AED. The 392 commercial banks of the country have the total deposit of 491,523 million AED. Business Monitor International is a leading publisher of highly specific business information about the global markets of the world. In a report of BMI it is mentioned that the international trade of UAE will increase because of the improved two ways trading with US, Iran and SA. The boost in tourism and expansion in hotel and airport projects will also strengthen the position of UAE in balance of payments, the measure of payment flow between a country and the rest of the world. According to the report the import of the UAE is increasing by 8% per year whereas the export is declining by 6% in 2009 but is forecasted to grow again by 11% in 2011. The report also said that the current account balance of the UAE is more than 20% of the GDP for the forecast period which will definitely rise as the result of improved trading relations and flourishing tourism of the country. The Balance of Payment of the UAE in 2007 was 22.2% of the GDP which decreased till 2009 and is expected to increase up to 25.2% in 2011. According to the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce the export of US to the UAE was increased by 40% between 2005 ad 2006. The re-exporting capability of the UAE is certainly good news for the balance of payments of the country. (FRANCO, 2007) Balance of Payment is the sum of exports products and services and net income like interests and foreign aids. Current account balance is a major indicator of any countrys financial condition. The current account balance or the balance of payments for UAE in the year 2005 brought the country at 13th rank in the world. It is 136.32 percent more than in the previous year. In 2006 UAE was on ranked as 10th country for the current account balance of 36.158 billion US$ which is around 60 percent more than in 2005. In 2007 UAE recorded a decline of 46 percent in the current account balance and rolled down to 20th ranking. In 2008 the current account balance for UAE increased by 13 percent and came at 19th position. In 2009 UAE recorded a drastic dip of 130 percent in the current account balance and came at 163rd ranking in the world. (FRANCO, 2007) The UAE Balance of Trade The balance of trade of the United Arab Emirate in the December of year 2008 was recorded to 231.1 billion AED. The economy of the country is no more dependent on the oil and petroleum products but still they are an important part for the revenue of the country. The major ingredients of the countrys imports are machinery, chemicals, transport equipments, and food and the major trading countries with UAE are India, China, Japan and European Union. The following figure shows the trade balance chart of the UAE. (United Arab Emirates Balance of Trade) The trade balance of the UAE has been very much dependant on the oil and petroleum revenue. The trade balance of UAE including the oil products has always been surplus in the past years whereas excluding oil and petroleum the trade balance was in deficit throughout the last decade. The country recorded a surplus in trade balance (including oil) of 19% of the total GDP in the year 2004, the value of which was 63 billion AED. The deficit in trade balance (excluding oil) in 2000 was maximum i.e. 26% of the GDP which has been decreasing gradually in the past years and as recorded only 8% of the total GDP in year 2004 with the value of 27 billion AED. (U.A.E. Trade Policy) The trade balance of UAE from the past years has been noticed to be shifting from deficit to surplus. A recent report from the Ministry of Foreign Trades of the UAE said about the commercial and business relations between UAE and India that the trade balance of UAE with India which was in deficit of worth 7.3 billion AED in the Q1 of 2009 has now been moving to positive side and in the Q1 of 2010 the trade balance was in surplus with the amount of 2.2 billion AED. The comparison of these two quarters shows that the value of non oil international trade between the two countries has been increased up to 83%. The value of the international trade in the Q1 of 2009 was equal to 20.5 billion AED and the value of trade in the Q1 of 2010 was 37.5 billion AED. These economic indicators are the proof of strong bilateral business and commercial relationships between the UAE and India. The development and the strength of the UAEs economy can also be seen from the results of the fiscal policies a nd strategies of the countries and their execution. The country has now developed a diversified economy and exports of non oil products. (UAE achieves a surplus of Dh2.2billion in its trade balance with India, 2010) Conclusion The above discussion of the balance of payments and balance of trades of the UAE depicts that the foreign trade and international fiscal and business relationships of the country has been improved in the past years. The balance of payments which used to be on the negative side and the country under the debts of other foreign countries has now shifted to the brighter side and increase to the surplus amount. The balance of trade of the UAE was majorly dependant on the export of oil products in the previous decade. But now the trade balance of the country majorly consists of export of non oil products. The trade balance of the country with other countries was in deficit in the previous year but now it has been increased to the positive side and stood up with surplus value.

Comparing the Perversion of Values in The Great Gatsby and Death of a S

Perversion of Values in The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman      Ã‚   Throughout History there are many examples of perversions, from sexual, social to the very morals themselves. One of the greatest examples is the continuous corruption of the American Dream. As the Dream evolves, it tends to conform to the illicit dealings of the time and immortals of society. No longer is an individual interested in working hard to achieve goals, it is desirous of the quick fix. Society wants its wishes and wants them now. This social attitude is thoroughly explored in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and by Arthur Miller in his Death of a Salesman. As the instantaneous achievement becomes more valued it gives rise to the lie, the thief and the corrupted character.    Within the two novels there are many examples of a lie, which is "a false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood or something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression." (Webster) The lie in the Great Gatsby has significant meaning, as it portrays Gatsby's quest for the American Dream, and is dedication to achieving it. He will do anything, include lie about his past to achieve his dream, which revolves around Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby loses himself and his interests in hopes of becoming something that Daisy desires, "I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe - Paris, Venice, Rome - collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only. (Fitzgerald 66) Gatsby exploits his lie in a grotesque manner, without any style, which betrays his humble origins. Gatsby's lie also shows his low self-confidence and inability to accept who he is as a person.    The truth w... ...nt of the lie, greed and theft, and the corrupted characters within both novels, although the American Dream is portrayed differently in the books. Both Willy and Gatsby pay the ultimate sacrifice in the end, they both die. This shows the importance of keeping true values and morals within our lives. If there is a lesson to be learned in the books, it is that turning away from good moral principles will result in unhappiness and death. One must always do what is proper and right, honor is important above all things because even if one does not achieve one's dream, then it is known that you did the right thing.    Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Webster's College Dictionary. New York: Random House, 1998.   

Organizational overview and goals Essay

Cadbury is one of the leading companies in ht world which marketing confectionaries. Ireland is one of the main market for Cadbury having Ireland Cadbury operating since 1932 and producing more than 200 brand distributed to over 30 countries. Cadbury’s goal is to create a way through for its white chocolate that will be introduced to the market targeting the adult female population. The target market for the product will be the female marketing pupation which is likely to make the purchasing decision for the whole family. The introduction of the product in the market will make use of a number of strategies which will involve below and above-the-line marketing tactics to take the product to the final consumer. This will involve the combination of strategic price, promotional activities, effective direct marketing, and other effective marketing tactics(Card bury, 2008) Effectiveness of the goals The Cadbury Company has a capability of achieving this goal as it has already identified the target market of its product. With the goal and the product in the market, there is a way as the company would use its strong brand that are existing in the market to market and introduce the new product. (Card bury, 2008) Planning for the achievement of the goals Cadbury has already laid strategies that will enhance the product has faired well in the market. This has started by identifying the target group that will ensure that the other groups would follow if the female population. The female population is the most preferred for they have to buy for their families and thus enabling the company to achieve its goals. On the other hand the new brand does not have much sugar as the brown chocolate thus disassociating the product with high health risks as most would claim that much sugar would spoil teeth therefore spoiling the chocolate market. Since the product is already in the market, this marketing strategy will be aimed at introducing the new brand which targets a different market segment from the existing brands. This will be achieved through the use of different marketing strategies. (Card bury, 2008)

How Does a Type of Media Shape the Future of a Given Society? Essay

Any communications mass medium has three primary functions: to inform, to educate and to influence. These primary functions contribute in shaping a given society. In the context of community organizing, there is a triad of an ideal society. In order to develop a society, there must be justice, participation, and empowerment. At the heart of the triad is human dignity. The triad depicts a development vision. It guides both the community organizers and the participants to mold and execute a collective action into shaping their society into an organized and influential community, based on justice, equality and mutual respect. Media can play a crucial role in the process of shaping a community, a society. The process of shaping is challenging and wide-ranging. In other words, there are many and varied hows. But, a society, must first determine its whys. Why should the people shape their community? The answers can also be varied but they all boil down to the essential characteristics of any given society. Every society evolves. Development goes along with the process of evolution. Once every member of a given society is deeply moved by the whys, s/he takes action. This action, or any action for that matter, is part of the hows. His/her action may involve the media. S/he can be informed, educated or influenced by the media. Media, one of the major sectors of society, can be both an independent body and a participant in the process of shaping. As the former, media has the watchdog responsibility. For the latter, media serves as a participant by transmitting relevant information that can move the members of a society into action. Media, then, is significant. Media organizations must embody the characteristics of beings the advocates of the people they serve. They are involved in business but the public and its interests must take precedence. The public, after all, is the main consumer of the information they transmit. Now, the danger comes if a media organization becomes corrupt. It becomes dangerous if it seeks to gain more profit than public accountability. On the brighter side, if the media organization is a genuine advocate for people empowerment, it uses its available technologies to provide the public with messages that correspond to the thrusts toward development. For instance, TV remains to be the most consumed medium because far more than appealing to the sense of sight and sound, it affects emotions. Emotions are powerful. A person may be roused to anger. Anger about his/her current situation, stricken with poverty and injustice. This anger can fuel his/her desire to do something about his/her situation. Another danger, thought, is what kind of action will he/she take? Will the action be moral or immoral? Legal or illegal? The power of TV in affecting emotions of its viewers can help in shaping the society. To illustrate, here is a given and realistic scenario. The seat of the Philippine government is in Manila. Some people even call it the Imperial Manila. But what about the Filipinos from Visayas and Mindanao? At this point, media enters. It is media that informs, educates and influences the people beyond the territories of Imperial Manila. It is media that transmits information about governance and politics in and about Imperial Manila. Recently, there has been an on-going word war between Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Allan Peter Cayetano. This war is in Manila, but Filipinos outside Manila come to know about this war through the media. Filipinos, then, become divided on the issue. Some may be pro-Enrile, while some may be pro-Cayetano. Their emotions drive their opinions, as influenced by the media. Elections are fast-approaching. It will be on May 13, 2013. Through the media, every Filipino becomes introduced to political candidates without actually seeing them in the flesh. Media becomes their source in formulating their opinions. Their source may lead them to make their decisions. A Filipino from Cagayan de Oro City sees a lot of campaigns on TV. He notices one candidate because of the latter’s prominence brought about by millions-worth of TV airtime. The former is illiterate. After seeing on TV for so many time this â€Å"prominent† politician, he begins to feel comfortable. On May 13, 2013, he writes down the name of this candidate because this politician comes into his mind with a lot of ease, much thanks to TV.

Drugs in America essays

Drugs in America essays Illegal drugs have found their way into the heart of American society. They can be found in almost any city or town in the US. They are being used by young, old, rich, and poor people alike. There are many different types of drugs out there and they all seem to have different effects on the user, different prices and quantities, and they all seem to have a different way to get into America. A drug that has recently burst onto the scene at an alarming rate is MDMA. Also known as ecstasy, E, X, and Adam this drug creates a feeling of euphoria and is described by users as making them feel good. This drug is usually associated with rave parties, which are all night dance parties usually held in a warehouse or other large buildings. In the early 90s the drug began to become popular in Europe and over the past five years it has come to America with a blazing force. During the late 60s a drug very similar to MDMA was being sold on the streets, MDA, ecstasies first form was a drug that created an easily controlled feeling of euphoria. MDMA is made in a laboratory by altering the existing synthetic drug MDA. Ecstasy is a powder often taken in the form of a pill or capsule, it may also be snorted. Most MDMA is produced in Europe, mainly Belgium and the Netherlands. The drug is also produced on a smaller scale in the US, Canada and Mexico. On average it costs about $.2 5-$.50 to produce and MDMA pill. Which leaves an incredible profit margin because most consumers will pay $20 for 1 pill. The most common transit points for the drug are Canada and Mexico. Exploiting the use of loose and open boarders between Canada and the US has made the drug easy to smuggle into our country, making it easy to find and very plentiful. The US government has had increased success in seizing the drug. In 1997 approximately 400,000 pills were seized, whereas in 2000 around 90 million tablets were seized. The main reason f...

Definition and Examples of a Fortiori

Definition and Examples of a Fortiori An argument in which a rhetor reaches a conclusion by first setting up two possibilities, one of which is more probable than the other. Whatever can be affirmed about the less probable can be affirmed with even greater force about the more probable. Etymology From the Latin, from the stronger Examples and Observations Remember the commercial for Life Cereal, the one where the brothers experiment on picky little Mikey? If Mikey liked it, the boys figured, anyone would. Thats an argument a fortiori: If something less likely is true, then something more likely will probably be true as well.(Jay Heinrich, If Bill Had Great Interns, Then Hillary . . . Figures of Speech Served Fresh, August 1, 2005) The concept underlying this phrase can be illustrated thus: if you do not trust your child to safely operate a bicycle, then a fortiori, you do not trust him to operate an automobile.This with stronger reason argument implies a comparison of values. The argument is grounded on the common sense (and logical) convention that within the same category the greater includes the lesser (or, if you will, the stronger includes the weaker). Do not let the use of the word includes mislead you. Because one person is taller than another does not mean the other is included within the one. The comparison is not between physical things, but between the relative values of actions, relationships, principles, or rules. When you make or analyze this type of argument, do not mix apples and oranges. The comparison should be one of factually like things and be factually meaningful. The objects of the comparison must share essential factual elements if they are to be of like kind. You may not trust your chi ld to operate a bicycle safely, but that does not necessarily mean that he cannot be trusted to bring in the groceries.(Ron Villanova, Legal Methods: A Guide for Paralegals and Law Students. Llumina Press, 1999) It is an argument a fortiori, from the stronger. If I show you that two is less than ten then it is easy to persuade you a fortiori that two is less than twenty. If I show you that what you think is a burden of the welfare state is actually small, or badly estimated, or a benefit, then it is less difficult to persuade you that rolling back the welfare state requires sober thinking about the alternatives.(Stephen Ziliak, review of The Economic Consequences of Rolling Back the Welfare State. Journal of Economic Literature, March 2001) I feel that it is my civic duty to pay my taxes as well as my other bills, and that it is my moral duty to make an honest declaration of my income to the income tax authorities. But I do not feel that I and my fellow citizens have a religious duty to sacrifice our lives in war on behalf of our own state, and, a fortiori, I do not feel that we have an obligation or a right to kill and maim citizens of other states or to devastate their land.(Arnold Toynbee) Pronunciation: a-FOR-tee-OR-ee

Student Welcome Letter

Student Welcome Letter A student welcome letter is a great way to greet and introduce yourself to your new students and their parents. Its purpose is to welcome students and give parents an insight into what you expect as well as what students need to do throughout the school year. This is the first contact between the teacher and home, so include all essential elements to give a great first impression and set the tone for the rest of the school year. Elements of a Welcome Letter A student welcome letter should include the following: Personal informationContact informationA description of your classroom behavior planA brief description of your classroom environmentHomework policyA classroom supply listA brief statement of your teaching philosophy Sample Welcome Letter Below is an example of a welcome letter for a first-grade classroom. It contains all of the elements listed above. September 2019 Dear Parents and Students: My name is Samantha Smith, and Id like to welcome your children, and you, to my first-grade class. Your children have all just completed a busy and productive year of kindergarten, and Id like to assure you that their education will continue as we work to meet their individual and collective learning goals. First, a little about myself: I have been a first-grade teacher for 25 years, including the last 10 here at Spencer V. Williams Elementary School. I believe in student-centered approach to learning. That is, I feel its important that I get to know every student individually and develop individual education goals for each that tie into our classroom learning. I also believe that its important that we- your child, you the parent, and I- work together as a team to help your children succeed. This year, we will be focusing on district and state first-grade learning standards, which include: Math: Problem-solving, operations, and number senseReading: Basic sight-word recognition, first-grade reading, phonemic awareness with more complicated sounds like blends and digraphsWriting: Formal work on handwriting skills in addition to creative writing tasksVisual Arts: Identification of lines, colors, shapes, forms, and textures as elements  Other Areas: Including basic science concepts, social studies, and social skills These are, of course, only some of the academic areas we will explore and learn this year as a class. I will inform you soon of our back-to-school night date and details, as well as dates for parent-teacher conferences. But please dont limit your contact to those. I am happy to talk or meet with parents any afternoon after school or early mornings. I have attached a copy of my classroom behavior plan, homework policy (I assign homework every weeknight except for Fridays), and classroom supply list. Please retain those for your records. Also, please feel free to call or email me with any questions, thoughts, and even concerns. Sincerely, Samantha Smith First-Grade Teacher Spencer V. William Elementary (555) 555-5555 smithsvwilliams.net Importance of the Letter The letter will be slightly different depending on the grade level. For middle school or high school, for example, or even for upper elementary school years, youll need to emphasize different curriculum requirements. But the letters structure can be similar regardless of the grade you are teaching because it sends a clear and open invitation to parents to work with you and their child as a team. Sending out this kind of letter to parents at the start of the school will make your job as a teacher much easier and open up a dialogue with parents, an important step in helping each child succeed in your class.

Helping Families of Children with Disabilities Essay

Helping Families of Children with Disabilities - Essay Example As Sloper (1999) put it, the manner in which family members perceive and interpret the strains experienced in parenting a facing implications regarding the way in which children's services are designed and delivered child is an important factor for the entire family's wellbeing. Recent technology has provided means for medical parents and carers to diagnose disabilities prior even to the birth of a child. The responsibility of medical and mental health parents and carers to provide aid to parents in understanding their support in their child's disability begins at the moment of information and realization of the disability. Most parents of facing implications regarding the way in which children's services are designed and delivered children feel that because of the added attention and care needed by the child, they need to sacrifice more of their personal ambitions and goals. As the child develops it has been observed that some parents feel that they have to compensate for the disability of their child. Overemphasis on the special needs of their facing implications regarding the way in which children's services are designed and delivered child may result in insufficient attention given to his or her siblings. Such practices lead to maladaptive family development. Thus, tantrums and other behavioral disorders tolerated from a facing implications regarding the way in which children's services are designed and delivered child would begin to manifest in the other children as well as they see that their parents endure such behavior. What parents should be aware of is that tolerance of and inability to addre ss the behavioral aspect of a child's disability may lead to abnormal behavior in other children as well. The need for therapists to address the needs not only of facing implications regarding the way in which children's services are designed and delivered children themselves but of their families as well could not be made clearer. With parents and carers taking on the task of catering to the problems encountered by parents, they are affecting the entire process of development the child would be brought up in. Prior to their child's birth parents are likely to have been exposed to professional dominance and consumerism. Because they are ill prepared for the birth of a facing implications regarding the way in which children's services are designed and delivered child, they are likely to rely heavily on the advice of parents and carers. The inability to comprehend the nature of the diagnosis immobilizes parents from responding to their child's situation. When parents and carers determ ine the diagnosis during the prenatal period and they are able to communicate the same to the parents effectively, parents are able to gradually adapt to their situation. Finally, just as positive regard for the child is important from family and friends, such positive regard is more so needed from parents and carers. Family Therapy Models Raising a facing implicat

China Kitchen Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

China Kitchen - Case Study Example ethical and legal issue brought up in the Kitchen Best case invites ethical questions when doing cross-boundary business in Southern China and the risks associated to such business practices and how could such behavior/s be avoided in the future. The ethical and to certain extent legal issues that beset Kitchen Best became apparent at the end of 2009 when Malaysia-based distributor Shago commission a European designer to come up with a range of appliances for its 40th anniversary collection. Shago then placed orders with Kitchen Best with some of appliances ordered came with a special gift set of microwable tableware. Shago however complained that the bowls and plates in the gift sets were not microwable and this is breach of contract where Shago demanded both a refund and compensation. Upon investigation, it was found that Sze, Kitchen Best’s purchasing and production manager who had been responsible for sourcing the gift sets had awarded the contract to a factory in Dongguan that was owned by his brother-in-law. In return for the order, Sze and his wife were offered a free package tour to Europe. Wei, who knew about the personal relationship between Sze and the factor owner, had not reported it in view of their rela tionships with Li. When in-house testing later showed that the product was faulty, she informed Sze, who told her he would handle it. However, no remedial action was taken and Wei decided not to pursue the matter any further. This incident was followed by the incident with Haus de Metro where bribery happened in the testing and certification of samples. This occurred when a shipment that was sent to German retail chain Haus de Metro did not meet the company’s safety requirements contrary to the satisfactory testing report received by Kitchen Best. Kitchen Best had subcontracted HdM’s orderfor electric water dispenser to Qinghua Electrical Appliance Ltd as its own production lines were fully occupied. Kitchen Best arranged for Keemark

Compare and contrast music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Compare and contrast music - Essay Example This "Compare and contrast music" outlines the comparison of JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 4 (First Movement – Allegro) and Joseph Haydn’s London Symphony (No.104 First Movement). The most obvious difference between the two pieces is their musical style. JS Bach’s music is synonymous with the Baroque style, with a high contrapuntal texture. The parallel melody lines are tightly and finely woven in Bach’s music. This is evident in the first allegro of Brandenburg Concerto 4. The Brandenburg Concertos contain an assortment of pieces with varying styles. Some were courtly dances like the first concerto, whereas some others invoke a poignant romance like the sixth concerto. Concerto 4 is full of zestfulness and vivacity, particularly the Allegro. It contains many of typical features of Bach’s music, namely, precisely constructed harmonies, harmonic progression, polyphony and intricate part writing. The six concertos as a whole were conceived as experimentation in form. Conventionally the concerto forms identified a solo lead instrument and the other instruments were assigned the status of accompaniments. Such an arrangement is mostly evident in the works of two eminent contemporaries of Bach – George Frideric Handel and Antonio Vivaldi. But unlike Handel or Vivaldi, the musical texture of Bach is such that the distinction between ‘main’ and ‘accompanying’ instruments is constantly challenged. This is deduced from the fact that each melody line can exist on its own accord – they stand as perfectly whole compositions. ... But unlike Handel or Vivaldi, the musical texture of Bach is such that the distinction between ‘main’ and ‘accompanying’ instruments is constantly challenged. (Kanny 2013) This is deduced from the fact that each melody line can exist on its own accord – they stand as perfectly whole compositions. When two such melodies were brought to harmony the music takes on an altogether new dimension. To express in common parlance the sum is much greater than the parts. The greatness of Bach lies in the fact that the parts are themselves complete and rich. This is very much the case in the Allegro of Brandenburg Concerto 4. Here, the flute and two Oboes work in counterpoint to the other, producing a rich and finely knit texture. The other feature of the Allegro in Brandenburg Concerto 4 is its beautifully crafted alternations of tempo. Joseph Haydn is the father of the Symphony. He popularized this form and made it his own. His more than 100 Symphonies composed o ver his lifetime stand testimony to this fact. The piece being perused for this comparative analysis is the first movement of his London Symphony (No.104). The instruments for which it is scored include two flutes, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, two horns in D and G. There are also two trumpets in D to go along with timpani and strings. The introduction begins with strings at a slow yet grandiose fashion, alternating between solemn and triumphant moods. Then the only theme of the movement is introduced. The strings play the dominant role in the theme, which is later transposed in A Major to the woodwinds. This is followed by a codetta. Later the theme is developed again with variation. The theme which was first expressed in D

Interview Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Interview Analysis - Essay Example In some instances, the teacher encountered difficulties training children who were blind since only a minimal number of languages are in Braille. At such times, the teachers were forced to seek the services of Braille translators who, in turn, used computers. However, technological advancements have significantly reduced this problem since technology affords ELLs suffering from diverse disabilities the opportunity to learn at a similar pace as those without disabilities. From the interview, it became quite clear that ELL students’ learning capabilities are profoundly impacted by their cultural backgrounds. This is primarily because the cultural worlds in which culturally diverse students live encourage different attitudes, beliefs and emphasize diverse learning skills. As a consequence of this diversity, the impact on the learning abilities of ELLs is rather massive. A vast majority of schools often fail to pay close attention to the differences between children, for instance, their beliefs, traditional practices and experiences, and this, in turn, proves detrimental to the students’ abilities to learn since it reduces the teachers’ capabilities to teach them effectively (Shatz & Wikinson, 2011). ... This is primarily because technology has the distinct capacity to ease the process of educating disabled ELLs and make it easy for them to benefit from the technology, particularly in terms of understanding lesson content and facilitating effective assessment. The school, in this case, makes use of a number of procedures and policies, which have proven to be effectual in terms of teaching ELLs. The school typically begins by identifying students who fit the ELL threshold. After identification, the school’s policy requires teachers to assess such students, taking into consideration both their preferential language and English language proficiency. In essence, the school conforms to standard strategies for the identification and assessment of ELLs (Shatz & Wikinson, 2011). In addition, the school makes use of language assessments regarding both the students’ English and preferred languages to ascertain the students’ individual abilities, as well as development in a ll relevant areas of learning such as reading, listening, writing and speaking (Shatz & Wikinson, 2011). However, in order to supplement information acquired from these assessments, schools and teachers typically seek information from bilingual clinicians, parents and guardians and bilingual and ESL teachers, as well as other education stakeholders who provide sociocultural information, as well as academic test data. This information is of critical importance to the education of ELL since it enables teachers appreciate the students’ strongest and weakest points and tailor instruction to maximize learning effectiveness. Notably, a vast majority of ELLs present similar challenges in terms of their learning abilities. Teachers encounter

Digital Forensic Incident Response Research Paper

Digital Forensic Incident Response - Research Paper Example eader with a more detailed understanding the way in which an IT firm could seek to abide by the instructions and determinants of the job at hand; all the while protecting themselves from further legal entanglement and seeking to provide a high quality output so that the case in question can be determined based upon its own merits and not biased by any degree of overlooked or misinformed information gathering. Essentially, the approach that will be utilized as a means of gaining the affected information will be twofold. The first will be contingent upon engaging with mobile phone providers and email providers as a function of retaining the information in question, within the date range in question, and between the people in question. The second will be contingent upon a more high tech approach in which individual laptops, company computers, and mobile phones will be subpoenaed by the court for further analysis by the IT firm. In this way a level of double certainty can be provided tha t any and all communication between interested individuals can be represented. In tandem with the low-tech approach that has been stipulated, the majority of data analysis and retrieval will not be conducted by the IT firm itself; instead, this information will be provided to the IT firm by mobile phone providers and email providers related to the case in question. Essentially, once a verifiable war it has been presented to the stakeholders, the information will need to be categorized and represented based upon the timeframe that the case is specifically interested in. Although this is a fairly simple aspect of the process that is being defined within this analysis, it is absolutely essential to ensure that further litigation against the IT firm does not take place. This is due to the fact that the court has only appointed a specific range and time for these email and text message conversations to be analyzed. Specifically, the court has indicated that text messages and emails

International Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International Criminal Justice - Essay Example The question then goes on to ask if there is a difference in the national and international repercussions for a state embarking upon the use of armed force or the divide is merely an arbitrary one .After definitions and analysis the essay then discusses the application or rejection of these laws in the light of recent and historical events. From the perspective of international law the sovereignty of the states confers upon them a right to conduct their affairs free from the interference from other states.This is also known as the doctrine of non-intervention in the sovereign affairs of the other states. In Nicaragua v United States1( The existence in the opinio juris of states of the practice of non-intervention is backed by established practice.It has moreover been presented as a corollary of the principle of the sovereign equality of the states. "dictatorial interference by a state in the affairs of another state for the purpose of maintaining or altering the actual condition of things .Intervention can take place in the external as well as the internal affairs of a state.But it must be emphasised that intervention proper is always dictatorial interference not interference pure and simple" 2 In the modern international scenario, the mention of intervention has become synonymous with armed conflict. In the Corfu Channel Case(Merits)1949 ICJ Rep 4 it was said by the court that, "the court can only regard the alleged right of intervention as the manifestation of a policy of force such as has in the past given rise to most serious abuses and such as cannot whatever be the present defects in international organisationfind a place in international law ." It should also be noted that before the First World War there was not much of an international effort to regulate and prevent armed conflict involving war crimes and aggression. This has been noted by an eminent academic as follows, "International law has no alternative but to accept war independently of the justice of its origins as a relation which the parties to it may set up if they choose and to busy itself in regulating the effects of the relation"3 However the Post World War II era has seen a heightened concern by various international organisations to prevent armed conflict. In the recent decades the principle of non interference has been reinforced by the General Assembly Resolution 2131 (XX) of December 14 1960, The Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic affairs of States, General Assembly Declaration On the Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among the States In Accordance with The Charter of the United Nations,GA,Resolution,"2625(XXV) of 24 October 1970.4 The legality of Aggression Of particular importance is the way the International Law treats War of Aggression.Customary international law makes it an international offence to wage a war of

Digital Forensic Incident Response Research Paper

Digital Forensic Incident Response - Research Paper Example eader with a more detailed understanding the way in which an IT firm could seek to abide by the instructions and determinants of the job at hand; all the while protecting themselves from further legal entanglement and seeking to provide a high quality output so that the case in question can be determined based upon its own merits and not biased by any degree of overlooked or misinformed information gathering. Essentially, the approach that will be utilized as a means of gaining the affected information will be twofold. The first will be contingent upon engaging with mobile phone providers and email providers as a function of retaining the information in question, within the date range in question, and between the people in question. The second will be contingent upon a more high tech approach in which individual laptops, company computers, and mobile phones will be subpoenaed by the court for further analysis by the IT firm. In this way a level of double certainty can be provided tha t any and all communication between interested individuals can be represented. In tandem with the low-tech approach that has been stipulated, the majority of data analysis and retrieval will not be conducted by the IT firm itself; instead, this information will be provided to the IT firm by mobile phone providers and email providers related to the case in question. Essentially, once a verifiable war it has been presented to the stakeholders, the information will need to be categorized and represented based upon the timeframe that the case is specifically interested in. Although this is a fairly simple aspect of the process that is being defined within this analysis, it is absolutely essential to ensure that further litigation against the IT firm does not take place. This is due to the fact that the court has only appointed a specific range and time for these email and text message conversations to be analyzed. Specifically, the court has indicated that text messages and emails

Paulo Freire and Revolutionary Education Essay Example for Free

Paulo Freire and Revolutionary Education Essay In reading Paulo Freire’s inspiring and idealistic book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first published in 1970, the question arises is whether such a radically transformed educational system is even possible. According the person I interviewed, a professor with many years of teaching experience in many countries, the answer is not particularly optimistic. Paolo Freire’s radical and humanistic view of education is light year’s removed from what actually takes place in most classrooms around the world. At the lower levels, education often amounts to little more than rote memorization to prepare for standardized tests, with administrators mainly concerned that their ‘numbers’ look good. Higher education has devolved into career training for big business interests, and frankly has become a business itself. Virtually none of the creativity, humanization or liberation that Freire writes about so eloquently really exists in most educational systems around the world, which simply turn out more cogs for the machinery. There may be a few truly creative and humanistic teachers, although they usually end up frustrated, burned out and cynical because of the nature of the system itself. For Freire, the worst form of teaching is the banking concept of education, in which students are passive and alienated note takers of any information the teacher provides. This has been the normal type of education system in most of the world throughout history, mirroring the authoritarian and paternalistic socio-economic relationships in the world outside the classroom. In fact, the schools and universities are preparing students to take their place in the system without questioning it. Freire claims that teachers can either work â€Å"for the liberation of the people—their humanization—or for their domestication, their domination. † They can either create an education system in which all persons in the classroom are â€Å"simultaneously teachers and learners†, realizing that â€Å"knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impertinent, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world†, or simply uphold the status quo (Freire 72). He also insists that â€Å"the teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thoughts on them† (Freire 77). Ruling elites merely want to use the education system as part of the apparatus of â€Å"domination and repression†, to maintain order, but real education should be revolutionary and deliberately set out to â€Å"transform† the world (Freire 79-80). Are there teachers who actually believe in this radical mission for education? Is it even possible within the present system? How long does it take for teachers who were once young and idealistic to become disillusioned? The following are excerpts from an interview with ‘Dr. W. ’a university professor who has taught in various countries around the world for twenty-two years: Question: Have you ever read Paulo Freire’s book Pedagogy of the Oppressed? Dr. W: Yes, parts of it. Over the years, I’d say I’ve become fairly familiar with his general theories. Question: Do you regard the educational systems you have seen as oppressive? Dr. W: I have experienced many educational systems around the world, including a number that I would regard as extremely oppressive. For example, I’ve taught in Asian and Middle Eastern countries where primary and secondary school teachers regularly slap, punch and beat students†¦hit them with sticks and so on. For the most part, those systems are based on rote memorization as Freire described, and the students are not even allowed to question the teacher: they are strictly passive. Mainly, the students are just being prepared for standardized tests, not to develop creativity or imagination, and this becomes very clear when they reach the university level. At that point, they have become used to treating teachers like little tin gods, although I suppose it prepares them for the kind of bureaucratic and managerial salaried positions most of them will be expected to fill in society. Question: Isn’t that also the case with the American education system? Isn’t it mostly geared toward jobs in the capitalist economy? Dr. W. : Absolutely. The American education system is also a class system, and this is already the case in primary and secondary schools. My first job was as a student teacher in a high school in New York. The kids from working class backgrounds were generally tracked into ‘general† classes† that were not preparing them for higher education, while those from the middle class were. I’ll never forget the first class I ever taught, with a group of sullen, nonresponsive working class kids, stuck in a basement classroom that did not even have windows, taught by people who didn’t much care whether they learned anything or not. These kids knew it, too. They were not dumb, although the system certainly treated them that way. They knew they were being prepared for jobs as mechanics and cashiers. And this was not an inner city school, though, where the American class and caste system reveals itself at its most brutal. Question: Caste system? Dr. W. : Yes, in the United States, we have a long history of education segregated by color, with the worst schools always being reserved for minority groups. Compare any inner city public school system today with those in the white suburbs, or with expensive private schools for the upper classes, and you will see the difference in about two seconds. For the poor and minority groups in the inner cities, the teachers and facilities are much worse than in the suburbs, as is the housing, health care, nutrition and so on. Conditions in these ghettoized schools and neighborhoods are not all that much better from those in developing countries†¦the types of places Freire was talking about in his books. In those countries, the oppression is very real indeed, and the students are being prepared for lives as peasants, workers or simply part of the marginalized economy and society, like kids in America’s inner city schools. Those institutions are programmed for failure. Question: But you never taught in inner city schools like those? I mean the types of schools that are like jails, with cops on duty, metal detectors and things like that? Dr. W. : No, my career has been mostly at the university level, and the students I’ve had were relatively privileged by the standards of this world—middle class or upper class. In the Middle East, I taught students from royalty and the aristocracy who had huge allowances every month, and in Asia I once taught students who arrived in limos with their own drivers. I wouldn’t say that they were exactly the oppressed masses Freire was describing. On the other hand, I taught at a university in the former Soviet Union were about 60% of the students were on scholarships and came from fairly modest backgrounds. A lot of people had also been hit hard by the collapse of the economy when the Soviet Union ended. We even had a former brain surgeon who ended up working as a janitor at the university, earning about $150 a month. The whole medical and public education system was so far gone that she could make more money that way. Question: So you basically see the education system as being unequal, designed to keep people in their place generation after generation? Dr. W. : Yes, that’s been mostly my experience. I think it’s designed to insure that the children of the owners and the ruling class will stay at the same level as their parents, while the children of the middle class will continue to manage and administer the system for them, and the children of workers will continue to be mostly worker bees, although a few might be allowed up into the middle class. Question: So in all your years of experience, you never experienced education as being liberating in the way Freire describes? Dr. W. : Absolutely never. The system is set up to do the opposite and it will usually weed out teachers who do not conform to its requirements, unless they are protected by tenure. Most teachers just go along and get along, never rocking the boat because they are relatively powerless themselves and just need the paycheck. Moreover, parents of middle class and upper class students do not want anyone to be liberated, but expect their children to conform to the system—to insure that the family maintains its class position. Question: So given this reality, is there any way you can imagine that a truly liberating education system might be established? Dr. W. (laughs): I think to do what Freire was talking about would require a revolution. Clearly, then, Dr. W. was a case of someone who had become cynical about the education system after long years of experience. He admitted that he had once been young and idealistic and might even have believed some of Freire’s ideas, but over the years he had found that there was really no meaningful way to put them into practice under the current system. In addition, he thought that most students simply went along with this system because that was what their parents expected, especially when they were paying private schools and universities to provide certain services. They were most definitely not interested in making students more humanistic, rebellious or questioning of authority, but only to prepare them for careers and to ‘get ahead’ in life. Only in rare cases in American history, such as the 1960s during the era of the Vietnam War, counterculture and civil rights movements did students actually come to question the dominant values of society on a mass scale. That has most certainly not been the case in recent decades, at least not in the United States, nor in most other countries that Dr. W. had experienced. He had come to regard education as a business, run by bureaucrats and entrepreneurs for a profit rather than to encourage critical thinking or humanistic values among the students. Only occasionally would rebels and nonconformists challenge this system, except in very unusual historical circumstances. WORKS CITED Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy on the Oppressed. NY: Continuum, 2000. Interview with ‘Dr. W. ’ by author, February 4, 2010.

The Globalisation Of The Rastafari Cultural Studies Essay

The Globalisation Of The Rastafari Cultural Studies Essay Globalization of Rastafari is a highly rich historical and ethnographic work exploring Rastafarian from its origin in the early twentieth century to the world today. The book analyses the political, cultural, spiritual, geographical, political, sociological and psychological aspects of globalization on the rastafari movement, and provides a carefully weighed and richly illustrated assessment of the benefits and ills that have flowed from globalization as well as suggestions for steering it towards more positive outcomes in the future. It highlights the pursuit for change among an oppressed people and how they settled in other countries. This literary work serves to show how the Rastafarian movement created their own dogmatic ideology. The articles in the book focus most particularly on the latter two concerns: first, how does the global context of Rastafari affect the dynamics of the movement and the forms the movement takes? Second, how do we understand the potential impact of Rastafari on the larger world when we view it in a global light?  [1]   As we link the inception of the Rastafarian movement in the 1930s to todays time, it can be implied that they are still trying to get global recognition of their unique syncretic religion. There is still a struggle even now to regain their African heritage and cultural identity and ideologically distance themselves from what many perceive to be the misguided and unjust societies in which they live.  [2]   The first chapter seeks to give an overview of the general content of the collection of articles that were used to create this literary work. R.C. Slater through his methodology gives us a very lucid explanation of the term Globalization as relates to the Caribbean and the wider world. He shows that since the time of Columbus, the population of the Caribbean has been a truly global population, comprised of Africans, Asians, Native Americans and Europeans.  [3]   He postulates that Rastafari is a syncretic religion derived from Christian and African sources continues to expand globally via foreign missionaries and as believers participate in a new Diaspora in search of work and livelihood. Not only do these religions spread religious ideas and practices, but they also have become sources of inspiration for art, literature and music around the world. He introduces the term Babylon, which can be definitively traced to Marcus Garveys teachings, which liken the Afro-Caribs in the West to the Jews Exile into Babylon. The institution of slavery created tremendous suffering for those that were enslaved in both of these cases. The term Babylon is used in Rasta terms with much negative connotations. It is something that they are radically opposed to. Corruption, politics, police, laws, and cities are often referred to as Babylon  [4]   In chapter two, Richard Slater seeks in defining Who are the Rastafari? stating the negative connotation that the world at large may label them. He writes that despite the many and confusing answers to the question, it is undeniable that people who identify themselves as Rastafari exist. He stresses the difficulty in defining Rastafari and states, I do not believe it is possible to present an all-encompassing definition of Rastafari, but a workable minimum characterization of it will be helpful. My focus here will be on Rastafari I-consciousness as an element of the movement.  [5]  He goes on to show how this I indicator relates to the Rastafari identity and that the central features of Rastafari are not necessarily found in either beliefs or practices, but a set of unorthodox religious practices when compared to established religions. He further mentions that there are major differences in the Rastafi core belief system with respect to Leonard Barretts six tenets of Rastafarian beliefs. He writes, I met many people who identified themselves as Rastafari, but who did not acclaim Haile Selassie to be the living god, others considers Selassie to have been a corrupt sham.  [6]  ; and also , no Rasta whom I have ever met would claim that it is by virtue of smoking ganja that one is a Rasta. In fact, if one is reliant on ganja if one cannot exist without it one certainly has been trapped by Babylon. In chapter four, Slater interviews Mutabaruka, who is a DJ for Jamaicas IRIE FM radio station, a poet and some consider him as an international emissary of Rastafari. Matabaruka is very unorthodox in his beliefs, he openly states, As a matter of fact, you will hear purely negative things about Jesus when you come to I. Because I and I dont have anything good to say about Jesus, because Jesusà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ because Jesus became like the Devil.  [7]   Mutabaruka meticulously answers the questions put to him by Slater, and very candidly allude to the fact that the majority of Rastafari have deviated far from Rastafari true essence and way of life. Mutabaruka attribute the spread of Rastafarism out of Jamaica is via the reggae music and that many reggae artists can only articulate Rastafari in the music but not outside the music. Also the culture of Rastafari can spread, can be identified with, can be lived true by anyone who identifies with oppression and anyone who feels disenfranchised by the colonial system or white supremacist system that maintains itself all over the world would gravitates towards Rastafari. Mutabaraka does not foresee Rastafari being decentralised from Jamaica due to globalization but rather he thinks Jamaica is almost like Jerusalem when it comes to experiencing Rastafari. He argues that Rastafari is not a religion but its a way of life. In chapter five, the article by Jan DeCosmo explores the shape Rastafari identity has taken in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from its introduction through reggae music and its revaluation of African heritage, to its ambivalent relationship to Afro-Bahian spirituality.  [8]  DeCosmo shows that amidst the racial discrimination that Afro-Brazilians face in line with poverty, oppression, and social injustice, they still manage to keep alive their Rastafarian culture via the reggae music. Such poverty, constructed on the shoulders of a colonial and racist history, and supported by continuing legacies of that colonial and racist history, is one context in which Bahias Rastafari community has arisen to resist oppression, to call for justice, and to revalorize Bahias black African heritage.  [9]  DeCosmo writes that some of the Rastafarians she interviewed were proud of having rejected the globalized world, or what they call Babylon and replace it with a divine order, an order of spirit, of love, of African roots. As such, Rastafari identity continues to be linked with cultural resistance and a desire to radically change the world. DeCosmo further writes that there are differences between Bahian and Jamaican Rastafari. Thus, there are two differences between Bahian Rastafari and Jamaican Rastafari that deserve attention. First, among Bahian Rastafari there is much less emphasis placed on physical repatriation to Africa than in ideal typical Jamaican Rastafari especially in its early stages. Second, Bahian history has given Rastafari there a special relationship to the religion and culture of the orixas.  [10]   With respect of the connation globalization of the Rastafari as it applies to Bahian Rastafari, we observe the prevalence of distinctly African cultural practices in Bahia. One of the interesting differences between orthodox Rastafari and cultural Rastafari is the different levels of tolerance each has for the religion and culture of the orixas. Unlike cultural Rastafari, the orthodox stand opposed to indigenous forms of Afro- Bahian religion and culture, such as Candomblà © and Carnival. Thus the globalized Rastafari in Bahia is far from being achieved since each group see their roots in a distinctively different location. In chapter seven Michael Barnett explores from a Jamaican diasporic perspective, the impact that the migration of Jamaicans to England, the United States and Canada has had on the globalization of the Rastafari movement. Barnett gives a clear picture of the reality that the Jamaicans faced when they migrated to England as recruits to help to rebuild England and its economy after the devastation it suffered during World War II. They were to be given the opportunity to improve and develop their social and economic life but they were greatly deceived. As Barnett writes, There were in fact no institutions established in England to welcome and process the Jamaican newcomers. As a result Jamaicans had to learn to cope on their own in their new home, against a background of racial discrimination and prejudice. Notting Hill, West London was the scene of major race riots in England and gave birth to the now famous Notting Hill Carnival.  [11]  It is said that this incident gave birth to the Rastafari movement in England in 1950s. Black power movements soon developed over the next few years where we saw many Black power leaders emerged and some were imprisoned for inciting racial hatred after making what w ere considered inflammatory speeches to their audiences. After years of struggle, reggae had experienced its definitive breakthrough into the mainstream pop culture of England mainly due to effective marketing of Bob Marleys music. The popularity of reggae music during the seventies served to secularize the Rastafari movement, with many youths embracing the political, social and cultural message of Rastafari, and not necessarily the religious beliefs of the movement. With respect to Rastafari groups in Canada,during the late sixties the Civil Rights struggle in the USA spread across to Canadian Blacks This helped to fuel the growth of the Rastafari movement. Rasta was seen as a bizarre cult and faced the same hardship as was in England. Two distinct Rastafari group emerged,the more politically oriented Rasta tended to participate in the general struggles of the Black community while those Rasta more steeped in religiosity tended to remain as mere spectators on the sidelines. In the USA, the presence of the Rastafari movement is due to Caribbean migration. The Jamaicans have infiltrated the USA whereby in Brooklyn in New York is frequently referred to as Little Jamaica. They are well established having regular reggae concerts and setting up clothing and record stores. And similarly to the other countries, the Rasta is seen as criminals, thugs etc. Barnett ends his article by mentioning two Rastafari services, Nyahbinghi Rastafari binghi and the Boboshante binghi. At the Nyahbinghi Rastafari binghi, the core of the activity was significantly at the Tabernacle where the drummers pounded away incessantly but rhythmically, lulling much of the crowd into a semi-hypnotic trance. The air was thick with the smell of ganja,and just in front of the tabernacle a group of brethren smoked their spliffs as they observed the proceedings. At the Boboshanti ceremony, they read Psalms from the bible, whereupon after every verse or so, everyone would say, Holy Emmanuel I, Selassie I, Jah Rastafari with the accompaniment of drums. Barnett commended the Binghis at both mansions for their authenticity and their Jamaican-ness., and it is fair to say that one could not tell that one was not in Jamaica. The exposition and general discussion throughout the book have established and did justice to the term, Globalization. We can clearly get an insight into how the Rastafarian movement has managed to extend its reach and influence throughout the Caribbean, from England to Zimbabwe and also as far north as Canada and as far south as Brazil and South Africa. The book is well worth the price and I strongly recommend this book to anyone desirous of getting a deep insight into the historical development from early stages to modern times of the Rastafari and their struggle through racism, labelling, oppression and all such negative conations. The book clears any misconception that one may have about their rituals, beliefs, culture and most of all their music, reggae, which seems to be the one thing that formulates this whole idea of a globalized Rastafari.

Contemplating the End in Shaving and There Will Come Soft Rains Essay

Contemplating the End in Shaving and There Will Come Soft Rains  Ã‚   What happens at the end? "Shaving" and "There Will Come Soft Rains" both address that issue, the first referring to the end of a man's life, the second to the end of humanity. Both ends come about through illness, whether that of a dying man or of a society that drives itself to suicide. The microcosm, the macrocosm- both show in their own way that man is mortal, that this too shall pass. The authors seem to have irreconcilable messages about humanity, which are in fact merely two faces of the same coin. "There Will Come Soft Rains" says that, yes, we can build magnificent machines: beautiful houses to cater to our every need, a thousand servants at our beck and call- yet what benefit will they be at the end? When we fry ourselves into radioactive smithereens because we can sooner built houses fit for gods then learn to live in peace with our fellow mortals, what good will our machines be to us then? The loyal family dog searched futilely for his masters, the house tried in vain to save itself from the fires, but their efforts to save their masters were ludicrous, for the master race had exterminated itself and left the servants all alone, impotent. Not one of man's creations could stand at the day of reckoning and save him from extinction- nor would many mourn his passage. This is a humbling thought, that our planet would survive quite well without us were we to rid it of our presence- and that in just a short while, it would almost be as if we had never existed at all. Times have changed since the writing of "There Will Come Soft Rains", when the threat of nuclear extermination seemed more real than it is now. But should we read it only as a chill... ...y chose to perform a small favor for his terminally ill father, to reach out to another human being and to work for a while for another's gain at his expense- and by doing so he gained more than the hapless family had ever known. "Really, of what benefit is it if a man gains the whole world, but loses his soul?" demands the Bible. The pursuit of all the latest and greatest things, be they beautiful clothes or flashy cars or gorgeous homes or staggering bank-balances or prestigious degrees or considerable political power, is not important. We can deceive ourselves into believing otherwise at the risk of creating the future as seen in "There Will Come Soft Rains", or we pursue the more important things, as hinted at in "Shaving", so that when the end does come- and both stories reflect that inevitability- we will know that we have not spent our lives in vain.   

Come Shouting to Zion and the development of African-American Religious Culture :: Religion Shouting Zion Essays

Come Shouting to Zion and the development of African-American Religious Culture Missing Works Cited In detailing the long process by which African-Americans came to embrace Protestant Christianity and shape their own unique form of it, Frey and Wood emphasize African agency throughout. Their case is better supported by evidence in the 19th century than in the 18th, during which time Christianity had little effect on slave society through the efforts of Anglicans, not so much because Africans rejected the gospel as because whites withheld Christian brotherhood from blacks. As blacks in the American South and in the British Caribbean struggled to develop individual and collective identities from the persistent remnants of African culture and their new conditions of life, the series of efforts by evangelicals to convert slaves eventually gave rise to a distinct African-American form of Christian theology, worship style, and religious community. The importance of religion among African Americans, as among all people, rests on fulfilling the human need for an understanding of one’s place in both the spiritual and temporal world. While it is difficult, as Frey and Wood concede, to know with certainty what lay behind Africans’ confessions of conversion to Christianity, we can understand how religion played a critical role in defining social relationships among slaves and between blacks and whites. Frey and Wood explain the appeal and success of Evangelicalism among slaves when they assert, â€Å"Deprived of their traditional supernatural means of dealing with recurrent life crises, [African-Americans] discovered in evangelical conversion requirements an opportunity to reassert personal authority based on their ability to communicate directly with God and to bring others to recognize the need for personal repentance and acceptance of Jesus† (109). One early example that supports this link between religiou s involvement and a sense of personal identity, if not between conversion and increasing social prestige or power, is found in a slave woman who tells Moravian missionaries that her people have come from across the sea and lost their father and mother, and therefore want to know the Moravians’ Father above. The displacement of Africans, for whom locality was critical to interactions with the spiritual world, did not deprive them of their religious cosmologies, but required them to learn the spiritual landscape of their new home and reshape their practices accordingly. Come Shouting to Zion details the many religious rituals that Africans preserved in the new world, especially those surrounding fundamental life events such as the birth and naming of children, marriage, burial ceremonies, and ritual dancing and singing to communicate with ancestors and deities.

To what extent is ”Frankenstein’ concerned with the theme of education and what does it have to say about the advantages and disadvantages of this?

In Frankenstein, education cannot simply be considered as an ordinary theme, because there are so many differing angles which are represented throughout. It primarily depends however on what actually counts as education in the first place; does it have to be necessarily formal, or does it also count if it is information passed on from one family member to another, or even if it is simply something gleaned from the environment that surrounds us. This is the question that must be answered, as well as deciphering what methods Shelley uses to convey the fact that education is essential for the books' events to occur. In Frankenstein from the very beginning, whenever Victor is mentioned, it is in the context of learning, or of having learnt something crucial. This is in comparison to Walton, whose knowledge appears to come from his exploration, from his search for a true companion who can accompany him throughout the rest of his life, someone who will truly understand him. Walton's knowledge is not just from experiences, but also from studying, from academia, as well as from his perceptions of the world around him, and from what his morals command him to either do or not to do. However, despite all of his academia, he is still astonished when he is told about Frankenstein's creature, and even more so when he views it for himself. This proves that despite formal education, there will still be gaps of knowledge, and the power to surprise will always exist. Victor relates to Walton all about how his education was formulated, what exactly he had learnt from his bad experiences with books and at Ingolstadt, and by focussing on outdated science such as those ideas thought of by Cornelius Agrippa and Albertus Magnus. The point blank refutation by his father of these theories and ideas did not mean that Victor realised they were hopelessly incorrect; on the contrary, he ‘continued to read with the greatest avidity'. This reading eventually led to the creation of the creature, which although being a tremendous achievement in its own right, is something which directly contravenes the natural order of things, and is therefore a sin. By studying such ‘wild fantasies' and not instead reading something far more ‘real and practical', he allowed himself to be taken into the world of unnatural occurrences, where he would be able to achieve incredible things, but at the same time ‘terrible'. At Ingolstadt, Victor was further mislead from the path of true science by Krempe who did not capture his imagination, and possessed a ‘repulsive countenance' and instead continued to strive towards conquering death through reanimating and creating his own perfect being. It does bring up questions of who ought to be able to control life and death, which the creature then follows through killing, through controlling the manner and time of death of those that Victor held dear. However, despite the creature's education through learning from his surroundings, there is still some quality to him which is not human. This is indeed the lack of any sort of moral structure; he is not able to empathise, or realise that what he does is wrong. This can be shown by ‘you belong then to my enemy-to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.' Perhaps in some way he acknowledges it as wrong, but due to his previous experience with the people in the cabin, he now no longer wishes to be like them, and wants to separate himself from society. This separation means he then becomes particularly cold blooded, but he does know that it will prove effective in affecting Frankie. Due to the creature describing his ‘heart swelling with exultation and triumph', it demonstrates that to some extent the creature has developed sophisticated planning, because it was not spur of the moment (the fact that there is no regret mentioned proves this). The creature has learnt to be cold from his ‘father's' abandonment of him, and the people in the cabin rejecting him solely on the basis of physical appearance. Therefore he has learnt that to cause emotional suffering is the best way to commit revenge; the preferred method of hurt is to destroy someone's heart. The creature's knowledge did not turn out to have a positive effect on anyone's life, but rather ended up causing several deaths and miserable lives for many. Whether or not the creature deserved to be given a full education is still unclear, but it shows that knowledge can be very harmful. However it did not appear to be so for Safie, who was also learning at the same time as the creature, albeit it not as surreptitiously as it, because Safie simply learnt the language and was not mentioned as having later committed acts of evil. The creature learnt from afar, much as an infant does, by listening to language and eventually picking up the ability to manipulate it in one's own way, although he evidently learnt from books as well for research and insight. Despite all this, he still isn't an intellectual, and primarily learns about his strength, about others and about others' perceptions of him through trial and error. There is the question of whether or not the creature was solely spurred on by William's being such an unpleasant child or whether it was simply in the creature's blood. Nevertheless, this proves that to some extent, people learn behaviours from what they experience of what occurs around them, and it is not just pre-learned behaviour. It raises the question of whether the creature would have been more docile if either Victor had directly cared for him, or provided a creature as a friend. He has learnt to become so disillusioned with humanity, that now they are now worthless to him, even a defenceless young child. This heinous crime doesn't mean anything to him, in the same way that it didn't technically mean anything to Victor to about the creature; only disgust about what he had created was realised. This disgust can be easily understood, because he has managed to reanimate dead flesh; who is to say that there might not be some imprint of the personality of the old owner of these body parts existing still? Despite the addition of ‘luxuriances' such as ‘lustrous black, flowing hair', it is still a crime against nature, and also raises the moral question of whether or not the creature learns from scratch with his blank slate of a ‘child brain', or whether he simply possesses the mind of the old brain. How a new creature made from death can still have life, particularly have its own mind is uncertain, especially when we consider that the creature must suddenly have had a consciousness emerge out of oblivion, but all we know is that there must be something real about it for it to be able to affect the lives of real humans. Whether or not education is simply learning how to live by gathering and experiencing simple pleasures, having sufficient food, and utilising fire depends on what and who is being asked, but surely anything that is learnt counts as a sort of education in its own way. Learning through experience means that on the plus side, you know what you have learnt is true, and you know what will work best in a certain set of circumstances, but when you arrive at something new and unfamiliar, trial and error (error being the key point) is the only way forward. Frankenstein in a way is all about education, particularly when it comes to the misuse of formal education, and mistakes made, but because not all of the plot details in the end come down to a matter of education, it therefore cannot be deemed to be the key theme of the novel.

Cotract Law

Contract law A contract is an agreement between two or more parties, with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. And it can be made orally. This agreement creates a legal relationship of rights and duties on the parties and if these obligations in the agreement are not fulfilled then serious action could be taken by the courts on the party. There are three key elements for the conception of a contract. These are offer, acceptance, consideration and an intention to create legal relations.Generally the parties to a written contract comprehend that they have entered into a binding agreement, but they do not always grasp this point when making an oral or implied contract. It is always difficult to prove the terms of an oral or implied contract than those of a written one. Elements of a contract An offer: an expression of willingness to contract on a specific set of terms, made by the offer or with the intention that, if the offer is accepted, he or she will be bound by a contract. Acceptance: an expression of absolute and unconditional agreement to all the terms set out in the offer.It can be oral or in writing. The acceptance must exactly mirror the original offer made. Consideration: each party to the contract must receive something of value. But it is not necessary that it should be specified in the contract. An agreement made without consideration is void. Persons competent to contract All persons are legally authorized to enter into a contract except for the following: †¢ Minors †¢ Mentally incompetent persons. †¢ Person who is ineligible from entering into the contract by law.

Apush Dbq American Revolution

Though some may try to argue that the American Revolution was not a real revolution since the upper class was not displaced, it was in fact a revolution because it transferred power from an entrenched British monarchy into the hands of local state legislatures. The American Revolution was representative of a great change which occurred in the way that in Britain, parliament viewed Americans as a small cluster of people who could be taxed without representation, to where in America the government was able to see how each individual could contribute to the economy, government, and the overall well-being of America.This idea came about from the increasingly more harsh and authoritarian taxes that were being placed on the colonies, without representation, from British monarchy. In reaction to the Tea Act, one of the taxes placed on imported goods to America, the New York Sons of Liberty wrote several resolutions to protest against it.These resolutions were signed by all different social classes, which signifies a change in society, because while in Britain only the wealthy and educated were permitted to participate in governmental choices, a very broad spectrum of society was able to be an active participant in how they wanted their government to be run. Although the lower class was not necessarily in congress, their ideas were able to represented by the people that they elected to express their ideas.Some who wish to argue the idea that the American Revolution was not a full revolution may bring into light the women of the revolution, and how there was not a huge change for them. Even though their was not an extremely significant change for them, American women were given a multitude of rights that were not given to women in Britain at the time. The women of America were able to go out to war with the men to protect them, and at times even take their place when a man was wounded and could not fulfill his duties on the battlefield.Additionally, they were often left in charge of the business and upholding of the household when their husbands went out to war. In summation, American women played many roles that were not typical of them in that time period; showing a revolutionary new way of thinking that involved women. After the surrender at Yorktown, a cartoon by James Gillray was made as a warning to the British that since they were able to defeat the British once, they could do it again should they try to overtake America and their freedoms again.While this act in itself was not a revolution, it was representative of the revolutionary ideas in the works of the United States of America. The American Revolution was the transference of power from a monarchial government to that of a representative democracy that was able to reflect the ideas and desires of all free white men of America; indicating that it was in actuality a revolution and not an expeditious rebellion.

The Representation of Muslim Australians in the Media Essay

The Representation of Muslim Australians in the Media - Essay Example Introduction In the modern world, the media plays a major role in the society in not only informing people daily events and issues but also takes a central position in shaping how people perceive certain elements. With a ubiquitous presence that signifies the vast potential it has in informing people about societal affairs and groups of people, the media is viewed as having the ability to shape peoples’ opinions by the way it presents certain versions of reality. Although other various forms of new media have come up in the recent past including the electronic media, their impact on the society is not different from that of the traditional media. Moreover, the widespread presence of the media and their designated role as the reliable conveyors of news and information gives it a central position in defining the society’s perception of minority groups1. How the media articulates certain issues about these minority groups informs the basis and framework through which the m ajority audiences come to think and form opinions about them. Due to their small number in the society, the media generally fail to represent minority groups in the society by marginalizing them, thereby making them invisible. On the other hand, when representation of minority groups is present in media, it is more often than not restricted and takes a negative angle, or is totally constructed due to held stereotypes2. It is imperative to note that these continued negative representation and stereotyping of minority groups in media is not unconnected with how the society reacts towards them. The role enormous role of media in determining how the majority perceive minority groups is further made clear by Van Dijk3, stating that that media discourse is the major source of people’s knowledge, attitudes and ideologies. It follows that when the discourse is directed at minorities coupled with limited interactions with these groups; this role becomes amplified and more critical. Re presentation of Muslims in Australian Media There has been considerable debate and discussion regarding the representation of Muslims in the media particularly in the recent past following the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The above ideas can be directly applied in examining the way in which the worldwide Muslim community and the Australian Muslims in particular are represented in the media. Religion in general has always suffered in the hands of the media but there seems to be a distinct repugnance towards Islam and Muslims. This continued media coverage of Islam and Muslims has elicited considerable response from the Muslim community in Australia for some time now. There is a considerable amount of literature and research that illustrates Western and Australian media discourses that regarding Islam and Muslims and more often than not it is found that most of the representations are negative albeit with a few neutral standings. Since the terrorist attacks in September 2001 in t he United States, the media coverage of Muslims and Islam in Australia has tended to be taking two very different positions. The media either totally ignore the Muslims and discussion of Islam, making it the ‘invisible minority’, and in effect denying them participation among the urban citizenry. Conversely, the media has represented Muslims in

Islamic history Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Islamic history - Term Paper Example The Rise of misunderstandings between the Crusaders and the Muslim was mainly because few Muslims, even those in Andalus, had any contact with the Franks before the era of the Crusades. There was a wide spread of assumption among the Muslims, even those who are educated. According to, â€Å"the Franks through Muslim eyes† in Egger text, the Ibn Munqidh, Usama regarded them as being slow because they lived in cold climates.1 The misunderstanding arose because the Crusaders and the Muslims had different cultures A good example is in the legal process, the Franks believed in trial by combat where the accused could challenge tha accuser theough a fight. The community believed that the righteous person will be favoured by God. The theory also believed that a person can also name someone to take his place in the fight and God will favour the righteous. This theory is different as compared Muslim legal system. The Muslims had developed ruled of procedure and evidence under the sharia law. The Franks also dis not make any effort to understandIslam or learn Arabic and therefore, did not make any contribution to the cross-cultural understanding. On the other hand, the Muslim groups were divided in a countercrusade against the Franks. Individual Muslims led campains against the Franks and those who were not affected by the crusades had little interest in the conslicts. These interactions clearly shows that there are differences in the state of medicine between the crusaders and the Muslims. In the memoirs of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh, the Franks are seen to have more sophisticated medicines that could even cure scrofula and they are willing to share medicine for free.2 This is clear when a Frank prescribed this medication to Abu al-Fath. The interaction between the Franks and the Muslims also show a difference in the relationship between the sexes. The muslim, specifically Usamah