Mother courage and her children Essays

Mother courage and her children Essays Mother courage and her children Paper Mother courage and her children Paper Even more than most of Bertolt Brecht’s plays, â€Å"Mother Courage and Her Children† has irony at its centre. Its central events are heartrending: a mother loses all three of her children, and her own chances for a decent life, in violent and even sadistic ways, and continues staggering onward, surviving by her wits and her sheer will. And yet, Brecht wanted his plays to be performed in such a way that the audience would not be seduced into caring for or identifying with the characters. He wrote them so that in their very structure, they would continually remind the audience that they were just actors and that the integral part of the production is not the story, but the meaning behind it. With their rush of disconnected scenes, often framed by explicit narration, cynical violence, cruelty and suffering, Brecht’s plays tend to be the sort of challenge that any director relishes. In the essay, I should like to attempt to convey how I would prepare and direct actors for the last two scenes of â€Å"Mother Courage†. It is often understood that Brecht did not want his actors to embody and express emotions in the way that, for instance, Stanislavski would have typically ask them to. He preferred us to understand the complex realism behind a line like â€Å"Whenever there are great virtues, its a sign somethings wrong. † This poses choices: when Mother Courage has to cradle her dead daughter in her lap, she can either express her agony or she can bear it with stoicism and perhaps humour. I would choose the latter, because from a Brechtian point of view, rather than Mother Courage being an audacious character who earns the audience’s respect, it would portray that she cares more about her business and exploitation of war than her own children surely not an appropriate mindset of a mother. To prepare my actors for this challenge, I would make sure that they had all considered their â€Å"GEST†. This means that they should be prepared to express their characters’ emotion and social attitudes in a clear, stylised way. They should do this by practicing things such as their body language and their gestures. I would want my actors to demonstrate their character rather than trying to make them naturalistic. To do this, they should act as witnesses to the story rather than participants. I would tell my actors to exaggerate their parts so that if someone took a photograph at any time during the scenes, they would be able to tell what the message is that should be coming across. During these last two scenes, I would want the stage crew to be seen on stage occasionally punctuating the action with various percussion instruments, chorally announcing scenes or what is about to happen (and dying as they do so to set the scene as the aftermath of war). I think that this would attempt to break the illusion of a â€Å"fourth wall†. This means that straight away, the audience would be reminded that it is just a play, and they are just actors. I would make sure that the Lieutenant’s character is played robotically. The actor should do this by mindlessly marching onto the stage and speaking in a very monotone voice throughout, even when there is true action going on around him. I believe that this would convey that the Lieutenant has been robbed of his passion and soul because of war. He is no longer a real person just a clone, a pawn in a play about the corrupt effects of war. The three soldiers that are following him should drunkenly stagger onto the stage, pushing each other over and laughing with one another. They should now and again mimic the Lieutenant’s walk and act sarcastically towards him. This idea is to portray that the soldiers have no respect for their superiors. When the soldiers knock at the farmhouse door and the old peasant woman enters the stage, one of the soldiers should clap his hand over her mouth so to stop her screaming. The remaining soldiers should jeer at the sight of the feeble woman squirming with fear. A soldier should then throw the old peasant and his son onto the stage with aggression. A spotlight should appear at Kattrin crouching in the wagon, and as the Lieutenant says, â€Å"There’s one,† a soldier should pull her out and push her onto the stage floor. The peasants should alternate their lines with panicked expressions eyebrows raised, arms flailing, and they should speak very quickly so to convey their alarm at the goings on. This should make it very obvious to the audience what is happening and the messages behind the plot. As the frightened young peasant blurts the fact that he â€Å"don’t know any path†, the soldiers should mock him, repeating what he says in high pitched voices and mimicking his pained expression and as the second soldier bargains with the young boy, it should be evident to the audience that the actors are joking with him cruelly by the fact that the soldiers are grinning to one another. The levels in this scene, with the boy lower down and the soldiers walking around confidently with their shoulders pushed back and their wide strides should illustrate the status between the poor innocent child and the corrupt â€Å"heroes of war†. The Lieutenant and the three soldiers should continue acting their parts in arrogant, stylised ways, whilst the peasants try to bargain and finally give in. When the soldiers leave the stage, led by the terrified young peasant, the three remaining peasants should try to justify the fact that they are not helping the rest of the village. I think that to make this evident to the audience, the actors should say their lines very calmly and thoughtfully: â€Å"There’s nothing we can do, is there? † // â€Å"Nothing. † // â€Å"No, there’s nothing we can do. † The peasant woman should then force the others to kneel and pray. She should say the prayer hurriedly and stutter now and again, so to get the slight guilt that she may have out of the way. I think that this would reveal to the audience that the characters had a choice whether to help the others in the village or to keep themselves safe. They choose the latter, the more selfish choice, and it should be evident that even these supposedly innocent characters in the play, are corrupt. Kattrin should groan regularly in frustration and finally, as she creeps off to the wagon, climbs up the ladder onto the roof and starts beating the drum with such extreme determination, the peasants should abruptly stop praying and run into action. As the characters have talked themselves into thinking that they are doing the right thing, their reaction is even more frantic than before. Even this scene should be missing the kind of frantic, air-raid-siren intensity that it potentially holds, as Kattrin continues to beat the drum while the soldiers, themselves now panicked, try to stop her, to keep her from waking the village. Kattrin’s role should seem more stolid and deliberate than desperate and driven by adrenaline. This should really be the only part in the whole play where I would like the audience to feel something more than morality being thrown at them. I would like them to feel for Kattrin, whether it is frustration or admiration. The soldiers should seem to have all the time in the world to shoot her from her perch, just too late to prevent her from raising the alarm. They should be even more aggressive now, shouting at the dumb girl as she carries on drumming. I would ask the stage crew, still sitting on stage, to join in with drumming steady beat, so to again remind the audience that although this scene is full of passion, that is all it is, a scene in a play. As the soldiers start to chop wood manically, Kattrin becomes more and more upset, the actor showing this with tears in her eyes and peering around aimlessly, she carries on the steady drumming. To make it obvious that the girl is listening to the Lieutenant and his soldiers plotting something, she should put her hand to her ear and strain her expression. When she realizes that her drumming has worked, the actor should stop the beat, smile, continue drumming again and laugh manically. The actors playing the soldiers should be outraged at this, making it obvious that the roles in status have evidently been reversed. The scene should go on with quick pace, with the young peasant hitting the wagon with a board, the peasant woman screaming at Kattrin and her crying and distressed noises and expressions. Finally, the soldiers fire their guns and after a few more feeble beats, Kattrin should collapse, dead. Muffled noises of canons, gunfire and alarm bells should be heard so to remind the audience of the aftermath of war. The next morning, Mother Courage sits by the dead body of her daughter, ignoring the peasants words, denying the fact that Kattrin is dead: â€Å"Maybe she’s fallen asleep† and singing to her. As she is singing, I would like the actor to pick Kattrin up and cradle her in her arms, stroking her hair. When the fact that Kattrin is dead finally dawns on Mother Courage: â€Å"She’s not asleep†¦ she’s gone, you must get away†, with no hesitation, she should drop her dead daughter back onto the floor and cover her up with a cloth. She should speak to the peasants as though Kattrin was useless and swiftly pay the peasants for the â€Å"proper burial† without a second though. As Mother Courage harnesses herself back into her wagon, I would like for the audience to hear background noise depicting war. She glares back at her dead daughter as she complains to herself: â€Å"I hope I can pull the wagon by myself†, and with just one look back, the actor should run after a regiment screaming â€Å"Hey! Take me with you! † To end the play, the audience should hear the soldiers singing monotonously: â€Å"Dangers, surprises, devastations / The war takes hold and will not quit. / But though it lasts three generations / We shall get nothing out of it. / Starvation, filth, and cold enslave us. / The army robs us of our pay, / Only a miracle can save us / And miracles have had their day. / Christians, awake! The winter’s gone! / The snows depart. The dead sleep on. / And though you may not long survive / Get out of bed and look alive! †.

Using the APA Template

Using the APA Template By now, we have all discovered the magic of templates. From statistical reports to business letters, templates make our lives easier by formatting our text correctly for us. Now you can format your APA style papers correctly with the APA template. Using a simple template, you can first choose which type of paper or report you intend to generate. Many APA template packages come with a variety of options to help you choose the APA style thats right for you. Whether youre writing an academic paper or a more stylized report, you can be sure the conform to APA guidelines. The program will then most likely ask you for some information on the paper you are preparing. By entering information into fields, you can customize your paper to your exact needs. You can title the paper, and make further specifications on your report. Other APA Software There is more to APA software than mere templates, however. You can also store your frequently used sources for later, easier reuse. With a few clicks of your mouse, the ease and standardization of the APA style is at your fingertips, and in your paper.

Explain how human resource management techniques can be a major Essay

Explain how human resource management techniques can be a major resource in the management of organisational culture - Essay Example A culture of power and an aura of personal authority extend from the CEO of the company and as the CEO often behaves in a radical, unconventional and anti-organisational way, so does the company follow in his mighty footsteps. At the same time, the traditional levels of secrecy and company loyalty at Apple means that the company manages to hold back the negative implications of having an anti-organisational culture at bay while making the positive implications into an advantage for itself. This peculiar ability of Apple to gain the benefits out of a group of reckless employees while avoiding the disadvantages can be observed with detailed information from examples of various everyday incidents at the company which are provided by those who worked for the company. There is no lack of information about Apple or the one person on which Apple banks for leading the company forward, i.e. Steve Jobs. Perhaps the best resource for the management of the company as well as the personality of Steve Jobs is the website folklore.org that gives details of hundreds of incidents that show how applicable human resources policies are used to define the culture of the company and for the people working for Apple Computers. The subjective analysis given by the writers and analysts working with Apple comes as first hand accounts of the organisation’s behaviour. This objective analysis is also presented in terms of how successful Apple’s products have been in the past and present. However, there is a limitation of how much inside information about the inner workings of the organisation can be obtained while remaining outside the company. Apple Computers is generally taken to be an American company that prides itself on creating innovative products for the consumer electronics and technology sectors (PC Magazine, 2006). In 2005, it

Jamar Dynamometer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Jamar Dynamometer - Assignment Example William A. Hammond MD sought after lifting up the condition of neurologists on top of that of universal practitioners, partially by the utilization of complicated tools like that of the handgrip dynamometer in addition to dynamograph. The community who invented these machines was time and again the individuals who utilized them, like that of the Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Dr. William Hammond and Sir Francis Galton. There is limited information in relation to early on potency evaluation tools. a large number of the prehistoric writings have been mislaid throughout the wars in which the libraries have been damaged, like that of the library within Alexandria, which at its climax around 330 B.C. is alleged to have infatuated more than 700,000 papyrus rolls . The main objective of this assignment is to be able to create a document containing details regarding the assessment of grip strength using a Jamar Dynamometer as a standardized tool and Manual Muscle Strength as a non-standardized tool. Lately the American Society of Hand Therapists signified that a consistent arm positioning for hand strength tests, accomplished that the position of the upper limit may manipulate measurements, moreover suggested that the patient ought to be sitting with his shoulder objectively revolved, elbow bend at 90' plus the forearm with wrist in neutral position. While checking the capricious of wrist position, (RW, 1990) established no important variation in grip strength by test positions at 0' also 15' ulnar variation, 0' with 15' dorsiflexion, or else whichever grouping of these. The Jamar dynamometer had the maximum calibration accurateness of all the instruments checked. In most of the cases the arm ought to not be sustained by the inspector or else by a support. For grip strength determination, the dynamometer is placed vertically also in stripe with the forearm to preserve the typical forearm also wrist positions. For reliability, the handle of Jamar dynamometer is fixed at the seco nd handle position 3.8 cm for all the subjects. The protocol: To reduce the influences of the body position upon grip strength assessments, the normal protocol recommended by the American Society of Hand Therapists was utilized. With reference to them, a subject must be sitting within a straight backside chair with no arm rests amid the feet flat on the flooring, the shoulder within a neutral rotation as well as flexion. The elbow ought to be contracted to 900 by the forearm also wrist within neutral position. The protocol for the management of the dynamometer in the estimation of the grip strength together with the description of how to formulate the finest utilization of the calculated indexes, for experimental documentation functions together with

Benefits of an online business presence Essay Example for Free

Benefits of an online business presence Essay In this task I am going to explain the developments in internet technology, describe the benefits of an online presence and give examples of businesses that enjoy these benefits and finally explain the advantages of to businesses of having an online presence rather than having a purely offline presence. Broadband and other developments Nowadays, broadband connections enable data to be transferred much faster than narrowband. The connection does not tie up a normal phone line. The user can choose get online by an ADSL connection, a cable line, wireless or via satellite dish. Also the internet is low cost and is increasing in speed which benefits the commerce online. The new portable devices such as PDA offer the user easy internet access at any time. 80% of the UK can get broadband by ADSL and cable. Most of people use internet every day which enables a great share of data. Secure payments The increase of security enables the use of credit/debit card facilities. But the newspapers and magazine headlines about fraud and hackers quite obviously put people off. To be secured, all the online payments need to be private and confidential between the buyer and the seller, conveyed intact and without any changes during transmission and erased from the system after the process has been completed. The banks are increasing the security of the debit/credit cards of the user. To purchase an item online the user need to key in the password and the date of birth. Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) is a standard protocol for securing credit card transactions over insecure networks, the Internet. SET is not itself a payment system, but rather a set of security protocols and formats that enables users to employ the existing credit card payment infrastructure on an open network in a secure fashion. When the cardholder buys online the credit card company authenticates the card via digital signature. This proves that the cardholder is genuine. Web authoring tools Nowadays there are a number of web authoring tools such as the Microsoft FrontPage program which enables the user to create a website without any specialist knowledge. There are other programs such as the Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash technology used to create the effects and designs in a website. Businesses can easily build their website, which enables them to create a service online. Benefits of an online presence A web business presence have global round visibility which means they never close and are available from any location in the world at 24 hours 7 days a week. This benefit can increase the opportunity of trading of the website. Some examples of websites that enjoy this benefit are www.sainsburys. co. uk, www. amazon. co. uk and www. argos. co. uk. Some businesses operating online have opportunity of expansion to access to a wide range of customers especially from abroad. If the business offers an excellent service the opportunity is maximised. But there are worries for example the tariff barriers, quotas and environmental regulations. This is not a problem in the European Community as the goods can be freely traded between member states. Some websites that enjoy this benefit are www. ebay. com, www. hp. com, www. dell. com. A Small business with a good service and well designed can compete with larger businesses. There is an equality of presence regardless of size of business. The costumer never looks on the size of the business only on the service and product provided. Therefore a small business can compete with a larger one. Some websites that enjoy this benefit are www. zonepoint. co. uk and www. computeradvicecentre. com. A web business presence has the benefit of a rapid response to customer interest. But some firms dont take advantage of this benefit. A web can provide several opportunities for customer contact for example the email messages. The speed of response is very important. A response over the internet is faster than the response by phone or letter. An online business presence enjoying this benefit is www. ebuyer. com. A web business presence has the opportunity to analyse online competition. It is quicker and easier to compare competitor activities online than by visiting their stores or obtaining information offline. Also the internet enables businesses to check new competitors and their market share. Businesses operating online have opportunity to keep up with customers. Businesses can check competitors status and then they can improve the product or service offered, speed of the delivery or the design of the website. The internet has made the life much easier. Achieving a responsive integrated supply chain A supply chain contains every single business that is involved in the eventual supply of a product or service. But there are problems associated with the supply chain. If the chain is long the price to the customer may be high and the chain is usually slow to respond to a rapid change. To combat these problems businesses tried to change the supply chain to shorten it, this is done by cutting out or by passing as many intermediaries, and to integrate it, to speed the things by changing the information in one stage to another. An example of business that has a simple and short supply chain is Dell. Dell manufactures computers and sells them online directly to the buyers. This means there are no wholesales and no need for retail shops. This speeds things up and reduces the final price to the customer. If the businesses improve their supply chain there many benefits that follows. Businesses can offer punctual delivery as a sales feature. The seller will have more control over delivery if the supply chain is short and integrated. One example of a business operating online that has this benefit is Dell. co. uk Other benefit is the opportunity for buying the products online. Businesses can improve the product delivery and reduce the time between the order and supply. Customers can check stocks online. If an item is currently out of stock many businesses put a note on the site and email the customer when stocks are replenished. One example of a business that has this benefit is ebuyer. com. Ebuyer is a business like Dell. It sells directly to the buyer; there is no need for retail shops. Online order tracking is another benefit. It enables the customers to check every stage of their order from the suppliers website. The system sends automatically email to customer informing about tracking order. In other systems customers can check at any time the progress of the order. Ebuyer. com is a business operating online that enjoys this benefit. Businesses can reduce overheads and labour costs. A business that has a short and an integrated supply chain has more possibilities to process the orders more cheaply. This is because there is likely to be fewer staff required to process paperwork relating to customer orders, fewer shops required if the business deals directly to the customer, fewer intermediaries required and fewer staff needed to deal with the customer. Ebuyer and Dell are two examples of businesses that enjoy this benefit. Reduced stockholding Businesses can improve cash flow through fewer bad debts. Cash flow improves if the customer is paying as they make a purchase. The transactions over the internet are done by credit or debit card. The card payment is always checked and authorised before the goods are dispatched. Ebuyer. com can choose where to locate. Ebuyer only trades over the internet. It has more freedom in choosing the location than other types of businesses. A business can save money with affiliations with ISPs and portals. This works as the following: a business wants to show the location of the company, the business can do an affiliation using multimap to show it. One example is the BT website. Other benefit is the accessibility to different users. Disabled and housebound people have more advantages to shop at home over the internet. Also people who live in rural and remote areas dont need to worry to go a shopping trip. Only one click can save money and time. Nowadays is increasing availability of public web access points. The internet kiosks and cybercafi s are a common feature in all large towns and cities. They enable anyone without a pc, or away from home, to access the internet easily. Also the pocked Pcs and the portable computers, laptops, enable the access to internet at any time. Advantages of to businesses of having an online presence rather than having a purely offline presence Tesco are ale to sell a lot more groceries as they have both their stores and the home delivery service than Primark which only sells its product to customers who came into their stores. Tesco website would operate globally as well as locally for relatively little extra cost. Tesco can get a wide range of customers because they can buy online at any time. People dont need to worry to go for shopping. Only by one click people can shop online. Also disabled people would prefer to shop online. Primark website only offers the information about the products and where to find retail outlets. In my point of view an online presence has more advantages than a purely offline presence. An online presence can get more customers selling online than an offline presence. The customers are very important for a business because without them a business can close. In conclusion, I mentioned the benefits of an online presence and the advantages of an online presence rather than a purely offline presence. BTEC First in Business Unit 8: Business Online.

The Effects of Global Warming :: essays research papers

The effects on Earth from its inhabitants is causing the temperature on the Earth to rise, and creating many problems that will begin to occur in the coming decades. The greenhouse effect is the absorption of energy radiated from the Earth's surface by carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to become warmer. The greenhouse effect is what is causing the temperature on the Earth to rise. Today, major changes are taking place. People are conducting an inadvertent global experiment by changing the face of the entire planet. We are destroying the ozone layer, which allows life to exist on the Earth's surface. All of these activities are unfavorably altering the composition of the biosphere and the Earth's heat balance. Through these actions we come to the pinnacle of an eco-revolution. "The Larsen B ice shelf†¦ has shattered and separated from the continent as a result of warming." (USA TODAY, 1) As the global temperature steadily rises so do the results of this global heat wave, impacting the environment. Ice which has remained frozen for 100’s of thousands of years has begun to melt, and break off into the ocean. Once separated from the ice shelf it is only a matter of time before the ice is reverted back to water, causing a rise in global sea levels. The end result of this melt is costal flooding as the sea level rises beyond its natural barriers, and spills into areas below our current sea level. In addition to changes being made to land masses, global warming is also impacting nature, which relies heavily on the delicate temperature balance which currently exists. â€Å"At lease 70 species of frogs, mostly mountain-dwellers that had nowhere to go to escape the creeping heat, have gone extinct because of climate change..† (Climateark.org, 1) Animals driven to the point of extinction due to the effects of global warming is a very concerning factor. The environment is being drastically changed due to small changes in global temperatures, 1 degree in climate change is devastating entire eco-systems. Not only has global warming impacted nature, and wildlife but it has also been shown to be a factor increasing disastrous weather. â€Å"†¦hurricanes and typhoons have become strong and longer lasting over the past 30 years. These upswings correlate with a rise in sea surface temperature.† (Roach, 1) Rising ocean temperatures due to an increase in planetary temperature, creates more powerful and disastrous weather.

Summary of an Introduction by Kamala Das

â€Å"An Introduction† is perhaps the most famous of the poems written by Kamala Das in a self-reflective and confessional tone from her maiden publication Summer in Calcutta(1965). The poem is a strong remark on Patriarchal Society prevalent today and brings to light the miseries, bondage, pain suffered by the fairer sex in such times. The poet says that she is not interested in politics but claims that she can name all the people who have been in power right from the time of Nehru.By saying that she can repeat them as fluently as days of week, or names of the month, she indirectly states the fact that politics in the country is a game of few chosen elite who ironically rule a democracy. The fact that she remembers them so well depicts that these people have been in power for repetitive cycles. Next, she describes herself saying that she is an Indian, born in Malabar and very brown in colour. She speaks in three languages, writes in two and dreams in one, articulating the tho ught that Dreams have their own universal language.Kamala Das echoes that the medium of writing is not as significant as is the comfort level that one requires. People asked her not to write in English since isn’t her mother tongue. Moreover, the fact that English was a colonial language prevalent as medium of communication during British times drew even more criticism every time she had an encounter with a critic, friends, or visiting cousins. She emphasizes that the language she speaks becomes her own, all its imperfections and queerness become her own. It is half-English, half-Hindi, which seems rather amusing but the point is that it is honest.Its imperfections only make it more human, rendering it close to what we call Naturality. It is the language of her expression and emotion as it voices her joys, sorrows and hopes. It is as integral to her as cawing is to the crows and roaring to the lions. Though imperfect, It is not a deaf, blind speech like that of trees in storm or the clouds of rain. Neither does it echo the â€Å"incoherent mutterings of the funeral pyre†. It possesses a coherence of its own: an emotional coherence. She moves on telling her own story.She was a child, and later people told her that she had grown up for her body had started showing signs of puberty. But she didn’t seem to understand this interpretation because at the heart she was still but a child. When she asked for love from her soulmate not knowing what else to ask, he took the sixteen-year-old to his bedroom. The expression is a strong criticism of child marriage which pushes children into such a predicament while they are still very childish at heart. Though he didn’t beat her, she felt beaten and her body seemed crushed under her own weight.This is a very emphatic expression of how unprepared the body of a sixteen-year-old is for the assault it gets subjected to. She shrank pitifully, ashamed of her feminity. She tries to overcome such humiliati on by being tomboyish. And thereafter when she opts for male clothing to hide her femininity, the guardians enforce typical female attire, with warnings to fit into the socially determined attributes of a woman, to become a wife and a mother and get confined to the domestic routine. She is threatened to remain within the four walls of her female space lest she should make herself a psychic or a maniac.They even ask her to hold her tears when rejected in love. She calls them categorizers since they tend to categorise every person on the basis of points that are purely whimsical. She explains her encounter with a man. She attributes him with not a proper noun, but a common noun-â€Å"every man† to reflect his universality—the fact that in such a patriarchal society, this is a nature inherent to every male by the sheer fact that he belongs to the stronger sex. He defined himself by the â€Å"I†, the supreme male ego. He is tightly compartmentalized as â€Å"the sw ord in its sheath†.It portrays the power politics of the patriarchal society that we thrive in that is all about control. It is this â€Å"I† that stays long away without any restrictions, is free to laugh at his own will, succumbs to a woman only out of lust and later feels ashamed of his own weakness that lets himself lose to a woman. Towards the end of the poem, a role-reversal occurs as this â€Å"I† gradually transitions to the poetess herself. She pronounces how this â€Å"I† is also sinner and saint†, beloved and betrayed. As the role-reversal occurs, the woman too becomes the â€Å"I† reaching the pinnacle of self-assertion.

Congress’ Failure to Exercise Oversight of Federal Bureaucracy Essay

Debate sees few swings at Romney – Mitt Romney’s opponents thought criticizing him during the debate would affect his chances at winning. Heading into primary, GOP finds itself stuck – GOP has mixed feelings about the front-runner and unable to decide on an alternative. A Strong defense for Obama – President Barack Obama speaks about the Defense Strategic Review, outlining Defense budget priorities and cuts. Critics of Va. supermax prison doubt isolation is the solution – A lot of critics think isolation has no solution yet worse affects. Iran calls U. S. rescue of fishermen humanitarian- Iran asks U. S. Navy to help rescue Iranian fisherman who were held captive by pirates Obamas Pivot on Defense- Obama has a pivot to take away ward in Iraq and Afghanistan and move them to 21st century priority china and the Pacific First lady is formidable presence, new book asserts- â€Å"Michelle Obama’s tough personal criticism of her husband and protectiveness of his public image have routinely irritated, and at times outraged, President Obama’s top advisers. The fallacy of investment equaling innovation- Overspending ultimately encourages medical innovations of incalculable value. Sharp cuts to health-care spending could lead us to lose out on those innovations. PlanB advocates take their case to Obama’s science chief- Advocates took PlanB pill to Obama’s science chief to make a controversial decision last month to continue requiring that young teens get the drug only by prescription. Researchers in L. A. craft survey to gauge strength of gang ties-Researchers in Los Angeles think they have a test to measure how likely a gang member is to leave the gang.

American Success Essay Example

American Success Essay Example American Success Essay American Success Essay In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure (Bill Cosby). Americans have always strived to succeed in any way we could it doesn’t matter the subject or situation. The idea of success for an American brings honor and give us a sense of greatness no matter what it is. Success can be found in almost every aspect of an ever day American life. This is why our country is one of the super power and we’ve began to be seen as a bully by some. Even though we may be hated b certain groups of people we still have are allies that mostly rely on us but either way it’s a sort of partnership. Therefore I believe the author is right about the fact of Americans and success; we’ve seen success in sports, space and war. Americans and sports is one of the most competitive aspects of our everyday lives, and when the Olympics come around we come together as a country to beat others. In 2012, the USA won 104 medals and 46 gold medals the most out of all competitors (nbcolympics. com). As a country we put so much effort into winning the Olympics that we have surpassed all other countries by a huge margin. The way America practically dominates the Olympics can be seen as a bad thing but if you know how proud it is to be an American and have everyone look up to you it wouldn’t be that difficult to understand us. If the US puts in this much effort into sports what does that say about our country and the pride we find in winning? Therefore, it could be interpreted that the success we are all taught to strive for as young kids is displayed through our effort we put in as a country just to be at the top. We came to a point as a country we ruled everything we set our minds to except outer space. â€Å"Between 1957 and 1975, the Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national security and symbolic of technological and ideological superiority,† (Wikipedia/space race). We were in a war with the Soviet Union it wasn’t a direct war, it was war through other thing, and one main thing was the race to get to the moon before they did. We believed that we need to get to the moon first as if it was a necessity for national security and ideal of us being a bigger super power. It can be understood that we were in a nonphysical war with the Soviet Union to just to beat them on a competition type of fighting. It is almost unbelievable how we let our pride and sort of hunger for success get us in to stuff. War is subject in American society were we have built an ego up to say that we are an unstoppable force. No other county can compete with us when it comes to this subject and it is said that we are the greatest military power in the world. â€Å"I served in the U. S. Army for 8 years, as an infantry soldier in the 82nd airborne div. Ive been to Iraq three times and Bosnia once and no army in the world can compare to Americas land and air forces,† (Lt. Lawrence). It is unarguable that are country isn’t one of the best in the air on the ground no matter who we are at war against. In every war we have been involved in we have completely dominated. Our country is feared by others and it’s to the point where it can be believed it will always be this way. The way we have to treat war is always be aggressive cause if were to let up for even a second we could have possible attacks like the ones in 911. Therefore when people ask why America so worried about is maintain their sort of rein as the top country? It can be understood that the success we strive for is the main reason why we take our military so serious. Americans and success are like pees in a pod; we can’t help but want success it’s almost like we crave it. Throughout history we have seen success in three main areas which are sports, space and war. We’ve seen success in the Olympics a place where the world competes. Also space is one of our greatest achievements we were the first country to successfully land on the moon. Last but not least was war is place where we are almost untouchable no other country would really be able to compete with us. Therefore it can be understood to be an American is to want to reach success no matter how small the thing you are striving to be great at is, we go for it anyways.

Agave Plants of Ancient Mesoamerica

Agave Plants of Ancient Mesoamerica Maguey or agave (also called the century plant for its long life) is a native plant (or rather, lots of plants) from the North American continent, now cultivated in many parts of the world. Agave belongs to the family Asparagaceae which has 9 genera and around 300 species, about 102 taxa of which are used as human food. Agave grows in arid, semiarid, and temperate forests of the Americas at elevations between sea level to about 2,750 meters (9,000 feet) above sea level, and thrives in agriculturally marginal parts of the environment. Archaeological evidence from Guitarrero Cave indicates that agave was first used at least as long as 12,000 years ago by Archaic hunter-gatherer groups. Main Species of Agave Plants Some of the major agave species, their common names and primary uses are: Agave angustifolia, known as Caribbean agave; consumed as food and aguamiel (sweet sap)  A. fourcroydes or henequen;  grown primarily for its fiberA. inaequidens, called maguey alto because of its height or maguey bruto because the presence of saponins in its tissue can cause dermatitis;  30 different uses including food and aguamielA. hookeri, also called maguey alto, is used primarily for its fibers, sweet sap, and sometimes used to form live fencesA. sisalana or sisal hemp, primarily fiberA. tequilana, blue agave, agave azul or tequila agave; primarily for sweet sapA. salmiana or green giant, grown mainly for sweet sap Agave Products In ancient Mesoamerica, maguey was used for a variety of purposes. From its leaves, people obtained fibers to make ropes, textiles, sandals, construction materials, and fuel. The agave heart, the plants above-ground storage organ that contains carbohydrates and water, is edible by humans. The stems of the leaves are used to make small tools, such as needles. The ancient Maya used agave spines as perforators during their bloodletting rituals. One important product obtained from maguey was sweet sap, or aguamiel (honey water in Spanish), the sweet, milky juice extracted from the plant. When fermented, aguamiel is used to make a mildly alcoholic beverage called pulque, as well as distilled beverages such as mescal and modern tequila, bacanora, and raicilla. Mescal The word mescal (sometimes spelled mezcal) comes from two Nahuatl terms melt and ixcalli which together mean oven-cooked agave. To produce mescal, the core of the ripe maguey plant is baked in an earth oven. Once the agave core is cooked, it is ground to extract the juice, which is placed in containers and left to ferment. When the fermentation is complete, alcohol (ethanol) is separated from the non-volatile elements through distillation to obtain the pure mescal. Archaeologists debate whether mescal was known in pre-Hispanic times or if it was an innovation of the Colonial period. Distillation was a well-known process in Europe, derived from Arabic traditions. Recent investigations in the site of Nativitas in Tlaxcala, Central Mexico, however, are providing evidence for possible prehispanic mezcal production. At Nativitas, investigators found chemical evidence for maguey and pine inside earth and stone ovens dated between the mid- and late Formative (400 BC-AD 200) and the Epiclassic period (AD 650-900). Several large jars also contained chemical traces of agave and may have been used to store sap during the fermentation process, or used as distillation devices. Investigators Serra Puche and colleagues note that the set up at Navitas is similar to methods used to make mescal by several indigenous communities throughout Mexico, such as the Pai Pai community in Baja California, the Nahua community of Zitlala in Guerrero, and the Guadalupe Ocotlan Nayarit community in Mexico City. Domestication Processes Despite its importance in ancient and modern Mesoamerican societies, very little is known about agaves domestication. That is most likely because the same species of agave can be found in several different gradations of domestication. Some agaves are completely domesticated and grown in plantations, some are tended in the wild, some seedlings (vegetative propagules) are transplanted into home gardens, some seeds collected and grown in seedbeds or nurseries for market. In general, domesticated agave plants are larger than their wild cousins, have fewer and smaller spines, and lower genetic diversity, this last a result of being grown in plantations. Only a handful have been studied for evidence of the onset of domestication and management to date. Those include Agave fourcroydes (henequen), thought to have been domesticated by the Pre-Columbian Maya of Yucatan from A. angustafolia; and Agave hookeri, thought to have been developed from A. inaequidens at a currently unknown time and place. The Mayans and Henequen The most information we have about maguey domestication is henequen (A. fourcroydes, and sometimes spelled henequà ©n). It was domesticated by the Maya perhaps as early as 600 AD. It was certainly fully domesticated when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 16th century; Diego de Landa reported that henequen was grown in house-gardens and it was of much better quality than that in the wild. There were at least 41 traditional uses for henequen, but agricultural mass production at the turn of the 19th-20th century has depressed the genetic variability. There were once seven different varieties of henequen reported by the Maya (Yaax Ki, Sac Ki, Chucum Ki, Bab Ki, Kitam Ki, Xtuk Ki, and Xix Ki), as well as at least three wild varieties (called chelem white, green, and yellow). Most of them were deliberately eradicated around 1900  when extensive plantations of Sac Ki were produced for commercial fiber production. Agronomy manuals of the day recommended that farmers work towards eliminating the other varieties, which were viewed as lesser-useful competition. That process was accelerated by the invention of a fiber-extracting machine which was built to fit the Sac Ki type. The three surviving varieties of cultivated henequen left today are: Sac Ki, or white henequen, most abundant and preferred by the cordage industryYaax Ki, or green henequen, similar to white but of lower yieldKitam Ki, wild boar henequen, which has soft fiber and low yield, and is very rare, and used for hammock and sandal manufacture Archaeological Evidence for the Use of Maguey Because of their organic nature, products derived from maguey are rarely identifiable in the archaeological record. Evidence of maguey use comes instead from the technological implements used to process and store the plant and its derivatives. Stone scrapers with plant residue evidence from processing agave leaves  are abundant in Classic and Postclassic times, along with cutting and storing implements. Such implements are rarely found in Formative and earlier contexts. Ovens which may have been used to cook maguey cores have been found in archaeological sites, such as Nativitas in the state of Tlaxcala, Central Mexico, Paquimà © in Chihuahua, La Quemada in Zacatecas and at Teotihuacn. At Paquimà ©, remains of agave were found inside one of several subterranean ovens. In Western Mexico, ceramic vessels with depictions of agave plants have been recovered from several burials dated to the Classic period. These elements underscore the important role that this plant played in the economy as well as the social life of the community. History and Myth The Aztecs/Mexica had a specific patron deity for this plant, the goddess Mayahuel. Many Spanish chroniclers, such as Bernardino de Sahagun, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and Fray Toribio de Motolinia, stressed the importance that this plant and its products had within the Aztec empire. Illustrations in the Dresden and Tro-Cortesian codices show people hunting, fishing or carrying bags for trade, using cordage or nets made from agave fibers. Edited by K. Kris Hirst Sources Casas A, Blancas J, Otero-Arnaiz A, Cruse-Sanders J, Lira R, Avendaà ±o A, Parra F, Guillà ©n S, Figueredo CJ, Torres I et al. 2016. Evolutionary Ethnobotanical Studies of Incipient Domestication of Plants in Mesoamerica. In: Lira R, Casas A, and Blancas J, editors. Ethnobotany of Mexico: Interactions of People and Plants in Mesoamerica. New York, NY: Springer New York. p 257-285.Colunga-Garcà ­aMarà ­n P. 2003. The domestication of henequen. In: Gà ³mez-Pompa A, Allen MF, Fedick SL, and Jimà ©nez-Osornio JJ, editors. The Lowland Maya Area: Three Millennia at the Human-Wildland Interface. New York: Food Products Press. p 439-446.Evans ST. 1990. The Productivity of Maguey Terrace Agriculture in Central Mexico during the Aztec Period. Latin American Antiquity 1(2):117-132.Figueredo CJ, Casas A, Colunga-Garcà ­aMarà ­n P, Nassar JM, and Gonzlez-Rodrà ­guez A. 2014. Morphological variation, management and domestication of ‘maguey alto’ (Agave inaequidens) and Ã¢â‚¬Ë œmaguey manso’ (A. hookeri) in Michoacn, Mà ©xico. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 10(1):66. Figueredo CJ, Casas A, Gonzlez-Rodrà ­guez A, Nassar JM, Colunga-Garcà ­aMarà ­n P, and Rocha-Ramà ­rez V. 2015. Genetic structure of coexisting wild and managed agave populations: implications for the evolution of plants under domestication. AoB Plants 7:plv114-plv114.Freeman J, Anderies JM, Torvinen A, and Nelson BA. 2014. Crop specialization, exchange Human Ecology 42(2):297-310.and robustness in a semi-arid environment.Parsons JR and Parsons MH. 1990. Maguey Utilization in Highland Central Mexico: an archaeological ethnography. Anthropological Papers 82. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.Piven NM, Barredo-Pool FA, Borges-Argez IC, Herrera-Alamillo MA, Mayo-Mosqueda A, Herrera-Herrera JL, and Robert ML. 2001. Reproductive biology of henequà ©n (. American Journal of Botany 88(11):1966-1976.fourcroydesAgave ) and its wild ancestor Agave Angustifolia (Agavaceae). i. Gametophyte developmentRakita GFM. 2006. Emergent Complexity, Ritual Practices, and Mortuary Behavi or at Paquimà ©, Chihuahua, Mexico, in Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest, edited by VanPool CS, VanPool TL, Phillips, Jr. DA. Lanham: AltaMira Press Robertson IG, and Cabrera Cortà ©s MO. 2017. Teotihuacan pottery as evidence for subsistence practices involving maguey sap. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 9(1):11-27.Serra MC and Lazcano CA. 2010. The Drink Mescal: Its Origin and Ritual Uses, in Pre-Columbian Foodways. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Staller J and Carrasco M. London: Springer.Serra Puche MC. 2009. Produccià ³n, circulacià ³n y consumo de la bebida del mezcal arqueolà ³gico y actual. In: Long Towell J, and Attolini Lecà ³n A, editors. Caminos y Mercados de Mà ©xico. Cuidad de Mà ©xico: Universidad Nacional Autà ³noma de Mà ©xico, Instituto de Investigaciones Histà ³ricas. p 169-184.Stewart JR. 2015. Agave as a model CAM crop system for a warming and drying world. Frontiers in Plant Science 6(684).

Theoretical foundations for collaboration Assignment

Theoretical foundations for collaboration - Assignment Example This way, parents are able to convert the home environment into a place where learning can take place with minimum interruptions. The schools assisting parents to build a positive learning environment at home, helps students to develop respect for the parents, while also gaining positive personal values (Epstein, 1997). It is such positive personal values developed by the students that eventually become essential in school learning, since such students will learn with minimal problems at school. The schools can also partner with parents through offering them child-rearing skills, such as those of understanding child development and also adolescence (Epstein, 1997). When parents are equipped with such skills, they become suitably placed to understand the educational requirements of their children at different stages, thus being able to complement the school efforts. The Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s theory of parental involvement offers that parental involvement is essential in the educational life of their children (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). However, this theory offers that the success of inviting parents to involvement in schools will only be achieved, if the schools also establish suitable measures that overcome parental involvement barriers. First, this theory proposes that the schools, in playing the role of overcoming the barriers to parental involvement, must motivate and demonstrate parental-efficacy on the parents, through showing the parents that they are capable of, and can be effective in assisting their children in matters of education (Pullmann, Wiggins & Bruns, 2011). Further, the schools can enhance parental involvement through the creation of parental invitation to participate from others, where the use of tools such as newsletters, school emails, specific teacher and specific student invitations