Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Says Who Music Censorship in the New Millenium essays

Says Who Music Censorship in the New Millenium essays Citizenship in America holds many rights. Among these rights are the right to vote, the right to bear arms, and the most widely treasured but largely manipulated, right to free speech. As a citizen of America the right to free speech comes along with many responsibilities, but for the small percentage that exercise their right of free speech to a large public forum, it comes with many stipulations. The more prominent figures under a barrage of criticism are those involved in the arts. In our history classic books have been burned, news stories have been edited, and music has been turned off. Whats interesting about this group is that the latter is not covered by the first amendment. In this essay I will be exploring the accusations made based on the influence of music, the backlash of the artists, and hypothesize how the scapegoat accusations and censorship of music will affect the twenty first century. First I would like to address the idea of music censorship. When the majority of the population thinks of music censorship the first amendment comes to mind. Americans are mislead in this assumption. The first amendment states, Congress shall make no law representing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances. From this one may assume that the censorship of music is prohibited based on the law of our constitution. However, when music is censored, our government does not do it, but instead by special interest groups. In the instances that court hearings are conducted to determine whether or not an artist or artists have the right to produce and mass market their work, the court hearings are rarely tried as a civil rights hearing. According to existing laws, art is constitutionally prote cted speech. But mu...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Why You Shouldnt Trust US News College Rankings

Why You Shouldn't Trust US News College Rankings SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips US News is probably the most popular source out there for college rankings. While US News rankings of colleges purport to be highly accurate, they can be misleading in certain important respects. If you make decisions based purely on the US News college rankings, you might end up being miserable. In this article, I’ll go over why you shouldn’t make judgments about colleges solely based on their rankings in US News. What Types of Rankings Does US News Provide? US News divides its college rankings into four different categories.The categories are based on the 2010 Basic Classification system developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.This system has 12 categories of schools, but US News condenses them into four.These include: National Universities These are schools that offer master's and doctoral degrees along with a full range of undergraduate majors.This category contains â€Å"research universities†, where there is a strong emphasis on research and government subsidies are often provided for research endeavors.There are 280 universities that fall into this category, including 173 public schools, 100 private schools, and 7 for-profit schools. National Liberal Arts Colleges These are colleges that emphasize undergraduate education and give out at least half of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines including languages and literature, biology and life sciences, philosophy, cultural studies, and psychology.There are 227 of these colleges, 221 private, 27 public, and one for profit. Regional Universities These colleges are similar to National Universities in that they offer both a full range of undergraduate majors and master’s programs.However, they offer limited or nonexistent doctoral programs.There are 620 Regional Universities, including 262 public, 346 private, and 12 for profit. Regional Colleges These are colleges that focus on undergraduate education but have less of a liberal arts emphasis (award less than half of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines).There are 364 regional colleges that include 94 public schools, 253 private schools, and 17 for-profit schools. It’s important to consider these categories because they should affect how you view the rankings.US News specifically states that you shouldn’t compare the rankings of two colleges across two different categories; the schools are so different that making a direct comparison is not logical.You can compare the actual statistics (such as admissions rate, student retention, and average class size), but in terms of rank itself, a school that’s ranked 40th in the National Universities category is not objectively â€Å"worse† than a school that’s ranked 32nd in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category. Very liberal art How Does US News Rank Colleges? There is a strong methodology behind the ranking system that US News uses for colleges, and it changes often to adapt to changing conditions in higher education.Many factors are considered, and percentage weights are given to each component of the assessment. A total weight of 30% is given to factors related to student retention and graduation rates (meaning this is the most highly considered single factor in the ranking process) Graduation and retention measures are given a weight of 22.5% A 7.5% weight is devoted to a measure of whether a school is over or underperforming based on the number of students that graduate (comparing the expected vs. actual graduation rate) US News gives a 22.5% percentage weight to a school’s academic reputation scores For National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges, this is based on a peer survey of academics (weighted 15%) and a survey of high school counselors (weighted 7.5%) For Regional Universities and Regional Colleges, it is based solely on a survey of the academic peer group for the full 22.5% The remaining weight of 47.5% is devoted to hard statistics about the school including measures of academic quality such as selectivity, faculty information, financial resources, and alumni giving. To create school scores, US News gathers statistics in 16 areas related to the academic quality of the school. Each is assigned a percentage based on US News’ â€Å"judgments about which measures of quality matter most†. US News publishes the numerical rank of the top 75% of schools in each of the four categories. Remaining schools are placed in the â€Å"second tier† of rankings where specific numerical ranking is not listed (they’re just put in alphabetical order). The gold star that US News gives to colleges in the second tier. What’s Not to Trust? When I say you shouldn’t trust the rankings, I don’t mean that US News is deliberately misleading students.What I mean is that you shouldn’t put ALL your trust in these rankings and disregard your other preferences about college.You should also be aware of some shortcomings that may cause the rankings to exclude certain schools or rank colleges lower than they would be ranked on a list of â€Å"Best Colleges for You, Student Reading This Article†.Here are some things you should know before consulting the US News rankings in your college search: Some schools won’t be ranked if they don't meet the criteria In fact, there are 148 colleges that are â€Å"unranked† within the four categories listed above.These schools may be unranked for a variety of reasons - these include: Lack of regional accreditation Fewer than 200 students enrolled Do not use the SAT or ACT in admissions decisions Not enough responses on the US News peer assessment survey US News lists unranked schools, but they are put in alphabetical order at the end of each college category without any value judgment.This means that if you’re interested in very small colleges or colleges that don’t use the SAT or ACT in admissions decisions, the rankings may not help you much. The most common reason for a school to be unranked is that it doesn’t use standardized tests.US News argues that there isn’t enough data to compare the school to other institutions in the category without test scores, so it has to remain unranked.This may be a valid point, but it means that schools that may otherwise have solid academics are excluded from rankings, leaving you with a slightly less complete picture of the college landscape. There is an emphasis on ultimate results and academic rigor over quality of student life On the website for US News, it states, â€Å"over time, the ranking model has put less emphasis on input measures of quality – which look at characteristics of the students, faculty and other resources going into the educational process – and more emphasis on output measures, which look at the results of the educational process, such as graduation and freshman retention rates.†There is no doubt that graduation rates are important, and they do say a lot about the quality of a college.However, they will tell you very little about whether a school is a nice place to spend four years, especially if the school is very academically rigorous and prestigious. Most students will graduate because they’re very driven, but that doesn't tell you whether or not they enjoyed their time there. The US News rankings are based on hard statistics and information gleaned from academic peer reviews about the quality of the school.While this is very useful in determining how favorably the school is viewed from the heights of the academic Ivory Tower, it isn’t always the best metric for conducting your search process.Even though focusing on outcome does make sense to a certain degree, it also fails to fully evaluate the quality of the student experience.This can contribute to a somewhat harmful â€Å"ends justify the means† mindset that leads students to spend years in places where they are outwardly successful but inwardly unhappy. The official motto of both US News and your one friend who won't shut up about CrossFit Prestige plays an important role For many students, prestige remains an important factor in deciding whether to attend a college.It’s hard to resist the allure of a school that will impress other people and potentially get you good jobs down the road based on its name recognition. This is the reason why prestige is considered so strongly by US News in its rankings (in the form of ratings from academic peer groups and guidance counselors).Of course, prestige correlates with selectivity in admissions and respect from the higher education community at large, so it does indicate some measure of academic quality. However, measuring schools based on prestige can have the unfortunate consequence of discounting some up and coming colleges or colleges that may have a unique focus and be less well-known.Make sure youuse other resources to research schools that have the criteria you’re looking for - even if they’re not ranked especially high, they may be a much better fit for your goals. Private schools always rank higher In the US News rankings, private schools are always more highly ranked than public schools.This can be misleading, and shouldn’t dissuade you from attending a public school!The reason this happens is because the ranking model US News uses is naturally kinder to private schools: they usually score higher on measures of selectivity, student retention rates, and small class sizes.Since public schools tend to be larger and less selective, they end up with lower rankings, but that means very little for high achieving students who choose to attend public schools. Though the statistics are often less impressive than those of private schools, the public college experience may allow many students to thrive.For students who are willing to seek out resources, public schools are often good choices because of the amount of different programs and high-level research facilities they offer.Rankings also don’t consider the diversity of social life at schools and the opportunities in the form ofextracurricular activities. Hi! I'm Chase, your new roommate. I like sailing and refusing to look at the world from anyone else's perspective. The rankings won’t help you to find an affordable school If you’re trying to avoid debt in college, you’ll need to look at other lists to figure out which schools are the most affordable.Rankings in US News have nothing to do with the cost of schools, so they won’t give you the perspective you’re looking for if cost is a major issue. I Feel So Adrift in the Sea of Colleges without My US News Ranking Water Wings - What Do I Do? You don’t have to ignore the US News rankings just because they’re not totally well-rounded in terms of their assessment metrics and inclusivity.What you should do is make sure that you are aware of what they can and can’t tell you about a college.It’s important that you supplement your views on schools with other resources that will give you a more complete picture of what student life is like and how you might fare at the college. To their credit, US News fully acknowledges this fact:â€Å"the editors of U.S. News believe rankings are only one of many criteria students should consider in choosing a college. Simply because a school is top in its category does not mean it is the top choice for everyone. The rankings should not be used as the sole basis to choose one school over another.†Academics are very important, but your life at college will be so much more than just the quality of your classes and how impressive your degree looks in a frame.You should make sure that you like the location of the school, the housing options, the food, the campus life, and the price tag before you make a decision. And in case you don't like the food, bring a bottle of sriracha. You could put sriracha on woodchips and I would probably eat them. Use the rankings as a rough guide to the quality of schools. The top five schools are the most reputable, then the next set of ten, then the next set of ten, and so on. A school that's in the top 20 is going to provide a more intellectual community and more opportunities in general than a school that's ranked in the 40s. However, within each group of ten there won't be much variability in terms of academic quality and reputation.This might help you to make a decision about where to apply after doing some outside research. However, even if you're trying to decide between two schools that are ranked very differently, you shouldn't just go by rankings. If the lower ranked school is a great fit for you, and the higher ranked school is a poor fit, you should choose the better fit regardless of ranking! As US News also says on its website: â€Å"A prospective student's academic and professional ambitions, personal preferences, financial resources and scholastic record, as well as a school's size, cost, programs, atmosphere and location, should play major roles in determining a college choice.†Once you’ve considered the other factors the are most important to you, you can move on to potentially comparing schools based on the academic rankings presented in US News. What's Next? When you apply to college, it's important to have both reach and safety schools so that you don't sell yourself short or end up without any options. Learn more about how to choose reach schools and safety schools. If you're planning on consulting the US News rankings, you should figure out whether you're more interested in public or private colleges first. Find out the differences between the two. Size and location are also very important factors to consider before looking at rankings. These articles will tell you about the pros and cons of going to college close to home and the main differences between large and small colleges. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Crucible by Arthur Miller - Essay Example the crimes he did not commit the author started thinking about the concepts of â€Å"victims† and â€Å"villains† and of the controversy of the absolute truth. It turns out that it is rather easy to pass from one category into another because determining truth and lie still requires enormous efforts even in court. Social moral and religion create enormous pressure on each and every human and fragile psyche sometimes cannot withstand that. In reality most of people are accusatory and would rather point to someone else`s vice than admit one`s guilt. For some people their reputation turns out to be much more important than ultimate truth. Under pressure of the society and in fear of punishment people are prone to change their beliefs and opinions and reveal their faint-heartedness. But it is well-known that people are prone to show their real nature only in critical situation. So extreme circumstances in which the characters of Miller`s play find themselves reveal their tr ue nature: some turn out to be villains and some victims of social moral, some are prone to bend under the pressure of probable punishment and some only find inner power in difficult situation, some act out of altruism and some care about their own life and happiness. Three characters of the play, Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, and John Proctor, find themselves in extreme situation and each of them transforms his views throughout the play to show eventually his true self. Despite the fact that in 17th century people live under close observation of church, they still act as ordinary people-make mistakes, lie, make sins. In his play â€Å"The Crucible† there is a number of characters who switch the roles of â€Å"victims† to â€Å"villains† depending on their words and actions. It is sometimes very difficult to blame people strictly taking into account fragile In his play Miller suggests that it is impossible to remain in one role of either â€Å"a victim† or â€Å"a villain† for long because

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Japanese Spirit, Western Thinks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Japanese Spirit, Western Thinks - Essay Example According to the essay "Japanese Spirit, Western Thinks" findings, Japan has been an expert in taking an idea and transforming it into something sensational. In manufacturing, for example, Japanese practice has greatly advanced by creating a hybrid based on the material and technologies from the West, while maintaining the traditional processes that have proven their worth for centuries. Since practically the most difficult part of ensuring an ideology’s success is to come up with the ideology in the first place, Japan was able to bypass this step and leaped forward to the modification and implementation part, thus keeping their efforts to a minimum while producing the most optimal results at the same time. Furthermore, their selective adaptation allowed Japan to just pick out the aspects of Western culture and ideologies that would apply to their own local flavor. Thus, the result was most often better by leaps and bounds compared to the original. Thus, it may be quite unfair for the author to claim that â€Å"Japan's leaders continue to use these cultural excuses, as they have for 150 years, to mask their own efforts to cling to power and prestige. The ugly, undemocratic and illiberal aspects of Japanese traditionalism continue to lurk behind its admirable elements.† In fact, as the author himself pointed out almost bitterly, Japan has applied this methodology many years before the coming of the Westerners. As an illustration, the religion and language has remained quite intact despite the surge of Western ideologies towards their direction.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Socialization Definition Essay Example for Free

Socialization Definition Essay Socialization: Lifelong (process) social experience by which people develop their human potential learn culture Personality: A persons fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking and feeling The social Sciences: The role of Nurture * Psychologist John B Watson developed a theory called behaviorism, which holds that behaviour is not instinctive but learned. (Nature not nurture) * Nurture is our nature Studies of non human primates * Psychologist Harry and Margaret placed rhesus monkeys (surprisingly there behaviour is same as humans) in various conditions of social isolation – * They found that complete isolation for 6 months seriously disturbs the monkey’s development * Infant monkeys in cages with an artificial mother made of wire with wooden head – they survived by could not interact with others when placed in a group. * Harlow’s concluded it is important that adults cradle infants affectionately. * Infants monkey could recover from about three months of isolation – 3 months+ cause serious damage Studies of isolated children * Anna died at the age of 10 with a blood disorder. * Isabelle spoke around 2000 words. At the age of 14 she was in grade 6. * Genie abused by her parents. She was tied to a potty chair at the age of 2. She lives with adults. Sigmund Freud’s Elements of Personality Lived in Vienna at times when most Europeans considered human behaviour to be biologically fixed. Trained as a physician, Freud gradually turned to the study of personally and mental disorders. Basic Human Needs * Biology plays a major role in human development * Humans have two basic needs that are present at birth: * 1st sexual and emotional bonding (which is called life instinct) * 2nd death instinct or thanatos (Greek: death) * These opposing forces, operating at an unconscious level create deep inner tensions Freud’s Model of Personality * Freud combined basic needs the influence of society into a model of personality with 3 parts: * id (Latin word for It) – represents the human beings basic drive, which are unconscious demand immediate satisfaction. id is present at birth (newborn demand attention, touching and food). Society oppose the self centered id which is why the first words a child learns is no. * Ego (Latin word for I) – A persons conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure – seeking drives with the demands of society. This develops are we become aware of ourselves and at the same time realize that we cannot have everything we want. * Superego (Latin meaning above or beyond ego) – Is the cultural values and norms internalized by an individual. Tells us why we cannot have everything we want. This begins to form as a child becomes aware of parental demands and matures when a child understands everyone’s behaviour should take account cultural norms. BALANCE Freud’s Model of Personality id: The human beings basic drives| Ego: a person’s conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure – seeking drives with demands of society| Superego: the cultural values and norms internalized by an individual | Personality Development * If conflicts are not solved during childhood, they may surface as personality disorders later on * Culture in the form of superego, contains selfish demands – look beyond their own desires * Sublimation – redirects selfish drives into socially acceptable behaviour: Marriage = Sex / Sports = anger What are the three elements in Freud’s Model of personality? Explain how each one operates. Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development   Swiss psychologist studied human cognition – how people think and understand. (4 stages) * The sensorimotor stage: the level of human development at which individuals experience the world only though their senses. About 2 years – infant only knows the world through 5 senses. * The pre operational stage (enter at age 2): The level of human development at which individuals first use language and other symbols. In this stage, children begin to think about the world mentally and use imagination. (Toy as their fav but cannot explain what kinds of toys they like). They cannot judge size, weight, or volume. ( water cup example, age 5) * The concrete operational stage: the level of human development at which individuals first see causal connections in their surroundings. Around age 7-11 children focus on things and why they happen and also attach one more symbol to it. ( My birthday and Monday) * The formal operational stage: the level of human development at which individuals think abstractly and critically. Around age 12 young people begin to reason in depth. (Teacher and a job that helps others) Sensorimotor stage: the level of human development at which individuals experience the world only through (5) senses | Pre operational stage: The level of human development at which individuals first use language and other symbols | Concrete operational stage: the level of human development at which individuals first see causal connections in their surroundings | Formal operational stage:The level of human development at which individuals think abstractly and critically| What are Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development? What does his theory teach us about socialization? Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (moral reasoning) * Pre conventional – how people judge situations as right or wrong (child grabs something shiny on the table CP) – individual needs * Conventional Level 2nd stage – appears by teen years. People tend to lose their selfishness. (stealing to help and stealing a ipad are different) * Post conventional level 3rd stage – people move beyond their society norms to consider abstract ethical principles. They think of freedom or justice. (Rosa Parks and racial injustice) What are Kohlberg’s three stages of moral development? What does his theory teach us about socialization? Carol Gilligan’s Theory of Gender and Moral Development * Compared the moral development of girls and boys = 2 genders use different standards of rightness * Boys: Justice perspective – formal rules to define right and wrong (stealing is wrong) Girls: care responsibility perspective – judging situation with a personal relationship (stealing to feed) * Rule based male reasoning as superior to the Pearson based female approach * Young girls start eager and confident but there self esteem slips away as they pass through adolescence * Why? because of socialization of girls According to Gilligan, how do boys and girls differ in their approach to understating right and wrong? Self: the part of an individual’s personality composed of self awareness and self image George Herbert Mead’s Theory of the Social Self * Developed a theory of social behaviourism to explain how social experience develops an individual’s personality * Meads central concept: The self.   * First: the self is not their at birth: it develops. Mead rejected the idea that personality is guided by biological drives (Freud said it is). * Second: self develops only with social experience, as people interact with others. Without interaction, the body grows but no self emerges. * Third: social: experience is the exchange of symbols. (we attach meaning with wave of hand, smile) * Fourth: seeking meaning leads us to imagine the intentions of others. * Fifth: understanding intention requires imagining the situation from the others point of view. (how someone will catch a ball we throw) – taking the role of the other)

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Effects of Alcohol on the Body Essay -- Alcohol Drinking Liquor Es

The Effects of Alcohol on the Body You are in college, you are at a party, and you are drunk. You, and the people around you, know you are drunk by your disorientated behavior but do they know what is causing you to act in this manner? Most likely not. Most people do not think about what the alcohol inside them is doing, the only thing they are worried about is the buzz that they get from it. Moderate drinking is alright but drinking excessively can wear out the body.   Three important things to know about alcohol are how it enters and leaves the body, the effects of alcohol, and how the body responds to alcohol. After the drink is consumed, the alcohol enters the blood stream. After it enters the blood stream it dissolves in the water in the blood and gets carried throughout the body. The alcohol then enters the tissues and dissolves in the water in the tissue; it does this for every tissue but fat tissue. Alcohol is not able to dissolve in fat so it is incapable of dissolving in fat tissue. This explains why women feel the effect, and get drunk quicker than men do. Women tend to have more fat, whereas men tend to have more muscle. Because muscle has more water, the alcohol becomes more diluted in a male. Once the alcohol is absorbed into the body it leaves in three different ways: the kidney, lungs and liver. The kidney removes 5 percent of the alcohol in the urine. One of the duties of the kidney is to regulate the composition of blood in the body. Through this process the blood level is maintained by the removal of unwanted substances from the blood and into the urine. Another 5 percent of the alcohol is exhaled through the lungs. Ever wonder how a breathalyzer works? When the blood enters the lungs some alcohol m... ...affects almost every part of your body since the alcohol is circulated throughout the bloodstream. The affects of alcohol depend almost entirely on how high the person's blood alcohol content is. The most significant thing a person can do to avoid harming themselves is to pay attention to how much they drink, and how quick they consume the alcohol. The three important things to know about alcohol are how the alcohol enters and leaves the body, how the body is affected and what the body does in response to the alcohol. By knowing these three things a person can drink responsibly through the knowledge of what is going on inside their body. The next time you are out at a party pay attention to not only how much you drink but also keep and eye on your friends. But remember, you do not need alcohol to have a good time and it is definitely not the answer to your problems. The Effects of Alcohol on the Body Essay -- Alcohol Drinking Liquor Es The Effects of Alcohol on the Body You are in college, you are at a party, and you are drunk. You, and the people around you, know you are drunk by your disorientated behavior but do they know what is causing you to act in this manner? Most likely not. Most people do not think about what the alcohol inside them is doing, the only thing they are worried about is the buzz that they get from it. Moderate drinking is alright but drinking excessively can wear out the body.   Three important things to know about alcohol are how it enters and leaves the body, the effects of alcohol, and how the body responds to alcohol. After the drink is consumed, the alcohol enters the blood stream. After it enters the blood stream it dissolves in the water in the blood and gets carried throughout the body. The alcohol then enters the tissues and dissolves in the water in the tissue; it does this for every tissue but fat tissue. Alcohol is not able to dissolve in fat so it is incapable of dissolving in fat tissue. This explains why women feel the effect, and get drunk quicker than men do. Women tend to have more fat, whereas men tend to have more muscle. Because muscle has more water, the alcohol becomes more diluted in a male. Once the alcohol is absorbed into the body it leaves in three different ways: the kidney, lungs and liver. The kidney removes 5 percent of the alcohol in the urine. One of the duties of the kidney is to regulate the composition of blood in the body. Through this process the blood level is maintained by the removal of unwanted substances from the blood and into the urine. Another 5 percent of the alcohol is exhaled through the lungs. Ever wonder how a breathalyzer works? When the blood enters the lungs some alcohol m... ...affects almost every part of your body since the alcohol is circulated throughout the bloodstream. The affects of alcohol depend almost entirely on how high the person's blood alcohol content is. The most significant thing a person can do to avoid harming themselves is to pay attention to how much they drink, and how quick they consume the alcohol. The three important things to know about alcohol are how the alcohol enters and leaves the body, how the body is affected and what the body does in response to the alcohol. By knowing these three things a person can drink responsibly through the knowledge of what is going on inside their body. The next time you are out at a party pay attention to not only how much you drink but also keep and eye on your friends. But remember, you do not need alcohol to have a good time and it is definitely not the answer to your problems.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

An Essay About Lalo Guerrero

He had recorded about 700 songs. He was invited by three presidents, including former president, Carter, Bush, Sr. and Clinton, to the White House.   His songs have remained in the hearts of every Chicano, for his songs have appeared in almost all of the Latin music genres yet to be known, including folk songs and children songs.   He was born on the Christmas Eve of 1916 (Original Chicano Productions, 2007). HE was named as Eduardo Guerrero Jr. Early Career Early in his career, as most Mexican have experienced in his time, he and his music was rejected by his fellow Mexican and was labeled as â€Å"pocho†. His career started on 1939 as a member of the group Los Carlistas that was under the production of Vocalion Records. This man was born in Tucson Arizona and has not even finished High School. Through his perseverance and his faith to his music he is now the well-known â€Å"father of Chicano Music†, Mr. Lalo Guerrero. Born in a family who has just got enough income, Lalo has pushed his way to being the musician, writer, composer and performer that he is through hardship. He performed on movies such as His Kind of Woman and Boots and Saddles.   Later on he has toured throughout the Southwest with his orchestra which played and performed at Los Angeles. Lalo Guerrero’s Legacy When his single, â€Å"Pancho Lopez†, became a national hit, he purchased his own club and has his orchestra perform there every night. For about 60 years, Lalo Guerrero has captured the hearts and mind of the Chicanos with his heart warming music and his captivating performances. He continually performs for 60 years in the United States of America, Mexico and even to France. At the age of 80 he still manages to sing and record songs, as a matter of fact, his last album, which is â€Å"Chavez Ravine† was actually recorded when he was already 86. It is quite amazing that at such golden age the father of Chicano music had greatly helped advance the Chicano music to a new level of audience. According to Lalo Guerrero himself in an interview made by John Rogers Associated Press on December of 2005, â€Å"the bilingual parody hit, ‘Pancho Lopez’ have started his success†.   It was actually drafted from the famous novelty song, â€Å"The Ballad of Davy Crockett†, which was used in the 1955 Walt Disney production, Lalo Guerrero using its melody have invented a parody that stars a Mexican character that originated from the small state Chihuahua (John Rogers Associated Press, 2004). It was rewritten in English to captivate an ever more large audience which have loved and cherished Lalo Guerrero’s other hit parodies, such as, the ever famous â€Å"Pancho Claus† along with â€Å"Tacos for Two†, â€Å"There’s No Tortillas† and â€Å"Elvis Perez†, to name a few. Luis Valdez has acclaimed his movie entitled â€Å"Zoot Suit† to LAlo Guerrero’s Pachuco hit â€Å"Marijuana Boogie†. He was considered as the father of Chicano Music, not only because of his contribution to Chicano Music itself but also since â€Å"he has done the music way before it was even considered as a genre† (John Rogers Associated Press, 2004). His concept revolves on merging the traditional Mexican music with the genre’s that were in the mainstream. His dream and his passion are to perform in a large crowd and make people happy thru the means of his music. He has brought the Chicano Music the recognition that it needs, through his efforts to make the Chicano music known and enjoyable. The Achievements and What He has Become Late in his life he has received several medals and recognitions, including the National Medal of the Arts that was given to him by President Bill Clinton himself. Lalo Guerrero was a face of a happy man, a man who has completed his life (Guerrero, 2007). In Aristotle’s word, he was a man who has lived a good life. He has achieved greatness and he was satisfied with whatever it is that he has accomplished. He himself remark that he have lived a â€Å"great life† and he is proud of living the life he had the way he did. LAlo Guerrero, again in an interviewed made by John Rogers Associated Press, states that â€Å"everything that has happened in his singing career was never planned†. He further clarifies that at first he has been writing songs just about anything and everything that pops to his mind. The musicians and performers that have influenced his music, includes, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Chuck Berry (John Rogers Associated Press, 2004). He himself has influence a lot of other singers and performers. Comedian Cheech Marin admired him for the way that Lalo Guerrero have combine â€Å"street-humor and music†, she regarded his works as a â€Å"Chicano Art†. Other musicians which recognized his influence are Linda Ronstadt and Culture Clash (John Rogers Associated Press, 2004). Lalo Guerrero’s Memory Lalo Guerrero died on March 17, 2005, peacefully, contented and fulfilled. He has lived eighty eight golden years sixty years of which was dedicated to music and performance. He was one of the great artists who not only became great singers but has also become great achievers. He did not only create songs but have created a new music. It is a music that is considered distinctly as Chicano music, a music that stays in the hearts of those who have lived to hear them. It is the music that would repeatedly remind the different generations of Lalo Guerrero. When our generation and the generation that would come after ours talks about Chicano Music or even just mention the term, Lalo Guerrero would come to mind. He has become the trade mark of Chicano music and even of the Chicano’s itself. Lalo, have dedicated his life to the enrichment and proliferation of Chicano music. References Guerrero, M. (2007). Lalo Guerrero: The Father of Chicano Music. http://markguerrero.net/8.php John Rogers Associated Press. (December 25, 2004). Father Of Chicano Music Still Rocks. Desert News. Find Articles. Com. Retrieved on October 27, 2007. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20041225/ai_n11495118. Original Chicano Productions. (2007). Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano. Retrieved on October 27, 2007. Retrieved from the World Wide Web

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Colonial Experience in West Africa

The Twentieth Century brought with it vast changes for the peoples of West Africa. The yoke of colonialism bound them together into a new political, economic, and social order. It was as if hundreds of years of history had suddenly ended, and begun again anew. In the wake of the Berlin West Africa Conference, in 1885, the great powers of Europe – Britain, France, Germany, and even Portugal and Belgium – had carved up West Africa among themselves. European overlords either completely replaced, or else adopted a â€Å"supervisory† position over the native African authorities. Proud kingdoms, like those of the Asante, Benin, and Dahomey, found themselves forced to adapt or disappear, as West Africans struggled to make sense of a world that had been turned completely upside down and inside out. For â€Å"inside out,† could easily describe the reversal of economic roles that came along with European conquest. Formerly, European traders had stayed close to the coast, allowing the African rulers and merchants to supply Europe and her New World colonies with slaves and other â€Å"merchandise. The British had finally succeeded in ending the slave trade some years before, and many of the coastal kingdoms of West Africa had languished as a result. Some had been almost wholly dependent upon the trade in human beings – now there would have to be new sources of revenue. For the most part, these new sources of income would be developed by Europeans who would exploit West Africa's people and resources for the benefit of their home countries. However, the Africans would also learn from their new masters. Some of them would obtain a Western education, or work to introduce the ideas of the modern industrial world to Africa. European science, technology, education, political, economic, cultural, and religious ideas would all have a profound impact on West Africa. The pre-colonial relationship between Europeans and West Africans was one of mutual trade. In the first half of the Nineteenth Century, Europeans vastly increased their purchases of palm oil, and also continued to buy tropical hardwoods, while Africans received the products of Europe's industrial revolution: cotton and woolen textiles and iron. 1 It was only as direct European influence began to increase that economic conditions were gradually modified. The introduction of cocoa by European missionaries in the 1860s, led to its becoming a major cash crop and primary export by the earliest period of European colonial domination, around 1900. Gold and coca were the mainstays of the economy in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). To keep up with their seemingly insatiable demands for these and other products, the British, French, and other others, introduced more modern techniques of production. In particular, they employed industrial methods of mining, and built railroads and port facilities to enable a vastly increased flow of goods. Yet it would be wrong to think that was no African response to changed economic conditions. Already, in the late 1800s, African merchant families, such as the Sarbahs, began to encourage rubber production: In contrast to the palm oil trade, the rubber trade, because of a greater monetary return per unit of labour input and weight, drew into its orbit thousands of producers from the deep interior, including Sefwi, Kwahu, Asante and the distant states of Brong-Ahafo, all more than 100 miles from the coast. The rubber trade also gave rise to a new group of middle-men or broken from the Fanti states, Asin, Denkyera, and Akim, who carried the trade to the further limits of the forest zone and in so doing accelerated the extension of the cash economy. Rubber became a major export with shipments totalling well over one million pounds volume in 1886; and by 1893, the Gold Coast ranked first among the rubber exporting countries of the British Empire and third in the world. 3 Africans were, therefore, fully able to adapt themselves to European conditions in order to increase the size and extent of their markets, even if this necessitated adopting new techniques, and even entirely new crops, like rubber. On the down side, an economy based on growing and harvesting rubber latex caused significant social upheavals. The influence of the coastal mercantile families and kingdoms waned in favor of inland economic interests. 4 Families like the Sarbahs expanded their trading networks deep into the Interior, opening up branch story, cajoling purchasers, and further turning economic focus toward the one paramount crop. They also became increasingly dependent on fluctuations in the European market. 5 Furthermore, the conflict between European sponsored economic development, and meddlesome European control can be seen in the 1920's Gold Coast, where British Governor Guggisberg pursued a policy that was in many ways detrimental to the future of the African peoples under his control: Anti-modernisation, anti-urban, and anti-development. Regulations and barriers against innovation proliferated†¦. Official policy did nothing to encourage the emergence of a commercial middle class. Its effect instead was to establish a highly formidable machinery of bureaucratic control†¦. The most damaging effect of colonial policy on the ground was the way in which it hindered the emergence of a ‘native modernizing cadre', one result of which ‘was to divert into long and bitter anti-colonial struggles much brilliant talent which could have been used creatively in development sectors'. 6 The subordination of African interests to European profits condemned West Africans to economic backwards through lack of skills and genuine opportunities. The lack of skill and opportunity open to native West Africans leads naturally to a discussion of European education and the new horizons it presented. Prior to the era of colonial domination, West Africa's peoples had had little contact with Western ideas, except for he occasional interactions with Christian missionaries. The states, large and small, of West Africa had been universally pre-industrial, and had possessed nothing in the way of modern communications, transportation, or even the kind of complex educational and political institutions that existed in the Christian and Muslim worlds. Missionaries were the first to introduce Western educational methods into West Africa: For them education took place in schools, where obedient pupils listened to teachers, took examinations, and received diplomas certifying knowledge. Discipline was important, not only to make the children study, but also to mold desirable habits and (that was usually considered to be even more important than learning itself). 7 On the whole, Western education extended only to teaching subjects that Europeans thought would be useful to their â€Å"charges. Vocational training was sufficient for people who would never have to govern themselves. 8 Nevertheless, an exposure to the Western academic tradition inspired many African families to push for a higher level of education for their children. â€Å"Few pupils wanted to undergo the cost and the hardship of study, only to be prepared for a rural life and a low living standard. † 9 In the 1930's, in French West Africa, Colonial Government officials began to formulate a new approach that appeared to look forward to a synthesis of the European and Native traditions. France's redefined mission civilisatrice [civilizing mission] was to be fulfilled†¦ by teaching the subject populations how to live according to â€Å"authentic African traditions,†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ This vision of France's role overseas as the protector of indigenous cultures in the colonies challenged earlier presentations of the colonial mission that had presented France as the bearer of â€Å"European civilization† and â€Å"French culture† destined to bring Africa out of the â€Å"darkness† in which many late-nineteenth-century colonizers claimed its people lived. 10 The French administrators went so far as to strongly encourage African arts and crafts, sponsor African festivals – even to teach Africans â€Å"how to be African†(! ). In order to avoid contamination by native teachers already trained in the earlier European methods, the French actually brought in teachers from France to lead the Africans in the study of their native West African culture; these teachers being observed leading Natives in local folk dances, etc. 11 Such plans represented an interesting attempt to keep Native elites loyal to France, while at the same time, well-rooted in their Native lands and cultures. Ostensibly, such practices would avoid the â€Å"stateless† quality of Africans educated under the earlier system. Nonetheless, exposure to European educational and economic ideas – even when those ideas were fused with African traditions – could not forestall an African thirst for greater freedom and opportunity along European lines. Colonial rulers often imposed a dual system of justice – a European one for major offenses, and a Native one for those offenses deemed minor by the Colonial Authorities. The French, early on, abolished the Native courts and legal system, except in rare cases, while even under the British, it was quite clear that Native justice was distinctly secondary to the â€Å"real† justice of the Europeans. 12 Dichotomies such as these further entrenched notions of West African inferiority. The French instituted a policy of not interfering in African customs and culture, as long as those customs did not conflict with the French aim of achieving some sort of â€Å"evolution† among Africans. 13 It was taken utterly for granted that African culture was inherently inferior to French civilization. By contrast, the British authorities endeavored to maintain equilibrium by combining traditional African smallholder society with the demands of the British Cocoa Board. Rural West African society was to be maintained at all costs to prevent a breakdown of the social order, such as occurred when jobs were scarce and peasants left for the cities in the hope of finding work. There, oddly enough, the British actually encouraged the growth of an urban petit bourgeoisie in the dream of preventing rebellion. With the collapse of world markets during the Great Depression, urban and peasant unrest increased – with the noticeable difference that now a radicalized bourgeoisie was available to lead that unrest. 14 In short, the European colonial administrations of West Africa both helped and exploited Africans. With their thirst for profits, and a belief in the superiority of their own institutions, technology, and culture, they dreamed of â€Å"advancing† the native population while at the same time keeping that population economically productive, and under firm European control. Yet in so doing, they introduced many attributes of the modern world to the peoples of West Africa. European notions of development, education, and justice split traditional African life into separate public and private spheres – especially for those who embraced European learning and techniques. 15 The divide that grew up between Europeanized Africans, and those who have remained closer to their traditional ways of life remains a problem even today. One of the lasting legacies of European Colonization in West Africa was this impartial transformation; this creation of a society existing in two worlds, trained properly for neither. Once opened to the full force of the industrial (and later post-industrial) economy, the traditional African economy could not compete. At the same time, not enough West Africans were educated, in the European sense, to provide the skills and leadership to easily lead their people into a new era. European rule has left West Africa with many choices, not all of them good.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Indian Budism

The Chinese and India cultures are interconnected with one another. The art, architecture, religion and social standards of these great civilizations have intricate similarities and striking differences. The two have influenced each other in many ways. India spread its Buddhist beliefs to the Chinese and the Chinese introduced new trade and industry to the Indian culture. They shared many of these things unknowingly through trade and people moving through out the world. One of the major details in Indian art is the use of the tribhunga style. This style is one of creating a human form in which the stance contains three curves. These curves usually are at the hip, shoulder and head. A second detail of Indian art is the special hand positions. A piece may show one with their hand in a certain form. These defined positions will indicate a power or skill that is held by the person depicted. Many of the pieces on exhibit at the MFA’s Indian collection are religious in nature. Their religious beliefs affected their lives in all aspects. One must live the proper life in order to move on to a better one when they reach the next life. They would create many statues for each of the different gods they worshiped. These statues were referred to as Bodhisattvas. The different characteristics of these works such as stance and hand position would indicate who was represented. Many of the statues would also have multiple arms. These arms were symbolic of the deity having many talents and purposes. This may show one arm with a weapon, another with a religious item and yet another with a special hand position that indicates a special power held by that particular Bodhisattva. The art forms and styles of the Chinese culture changed often in ancient times. In each dynasty there were tell tale signs that the pieces were made in that era. These telling factors could vary greatly from colors used to materials. Many examples of these differences lie in ... Free Essays on Indian Budism Free Essays on Indian Budism The Chinese and India cultures are interconnected with one another. The art, architecture, religion and social standards of these great civilizations have intricate similarities and striking differences. The two have influenced each other in many ways. India spread its Buddhist beliefs to the Chinese and the Chinese introduced new trade and industry to the Indian culture. They shared many of these things unknowingly through trade and people moving through out the world. One of the major details in Indian art is the use of the tribhunga style. This style is one of creating a human form in which the stance contains three curves. These curves usually are at the hip, shoulder and head. A second detail of Indian art is the special hand positions. A piece may show one with their hand in a certain form. These defined positions will indicate a power or skill that is held by the person depicted. Many of the pieces on exhibit at the MFA’s Indian collection are religious in nature. Their religious beliefs affected their lives in all aspects. One must live the proper life in order to move on to a better one when they reach the next life. They would create many statues for each of the different gods they worshiped. These statues were referred to as Bodhisattvas. The different characteristics of these works such as stance and hand position would indicate who was represented. Many of the statues would also have multiple arms. These arms were symbolic of the deity having many talents and purposes. This may show one arm with a weapon, another with a religious item and yet another with a special hand position that indicates a special power held by that particular Bodhisattva. The art forms and styles of the Chinese culture changed often in ancient times. In each dynasty there were tell tale signs that the pieces were made in that era. These telling factors could vary greatly from colors used to materials. Many examples of these differences lie in ...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Process of Becoming a Climax Community

Process of Becoming a Climax Community A climax community by is a relatively stable and undisturbed biological community of animals, plants, and fungi that have evolved into a steady state of development which secures the stability of all the collective  communities. Through a natural successional  process of instability, all individual  organism ecosystems simultaneously transition  through a series of more stabilizing stages where they all finally maintain their individual positions in the community and where they become stable from egg and seed to maturity. So, all biotic communities on earth engage in a forward-moving evolutionary process that takes place in several major defined steps or stages. Until climax completion, these transitional  stages are each called a serial stage or a  sere.  In other words, a sere is an intermediate stage found in  ecological succession  in an ecosystem advancing towards a particular organisms  climax community. In many cases, there is more than one serial stage to pass through before  climax conditions are attained. A serial community is a name given to each group of biota within the succession. A  primary succession  describes primarily the plant communities that occupy a site that has not previously been vegetated. These plants can also be described as the vegetative  pioneer community.   Defining Plant Succession To understand a climax plant community, you must first understand plant succession which is simply the replacement of one plant community by another. This can occur when soils and sites are so harsh that few plants can survive and takes a very long time for plants to establish a root-hold to begin the process of succession.  When destructive agents like fire, flood and insect epidemic destroy an existing plant community, plant establishment can happen very rapidly. Primary plant succession starts on raw unvegetated land and usually  exists as a sand dune, an earth slide, a lava flow, a rock surface or a retreating glacier. It is obvious that these harsh conditions for plants would take eons for this type of exposed earth to decompose to support higher plants (with the exception of the earth slide which would start plant succession fairly quickly). Secondary plant succession generally starts on a site where some disturbance has set back a previous succession. The sere  can be continually setback which then lengthens the period to a potential  final plant community climax condition. Agricultural practices, periodic logging, pest epidemics, and wildland fire are the most common agents of secondary plant succession setbacks. Can You Define a Climax Forest? A plant community that is dominated by trees representing the last stage of natural succession  for that specific locality and environment, to some, is considered a climax forest. The name usually given to any particular climax forest is the name of the primary existing tree species and or its regional location. To be a climax forest, the trees growing within a particular geographic region should remain essentially unchanged in terms of species composition for as long as the site remains undisturbed. But, is this really a climax forest or just another late sere  that has avoided disturbance the longest. Do foresters who only manage trees over decades know enough to determine a climax forest and assume it to be the equivalent of late-stage succession? Should speculative ecologists conclude that there can never be a climax forest because cyclical disturbance (both natural and human-caused) will always be a constant in North American forests? The Climax Debate Is Still With Us The first published discussion(s) on the existence of climax communities started nearly a century ago with foundational papers written by two ecologists, Frederick Clements, and Henry Gleason. Their ideas were debated over decades and definitions of a climax changed with a greater understanding of a new science called ecology. Political winds also confused the topic with terms like virgin forests and old-growth forests. Today, most ecologists agree that climax communities are not common in the real world. They also agree that most exist in space and time and can be observed on large  time scales of many decades and on wide ranges of an  area, from a dozen acres to thousands of acres. Others believe that there can never be a real climax community because of constant disturbance over time. Foresters have adopted a silviculturally practical approach when managing large stable communities of climax tree species. They use and name a climax forest to be the final sere in terms of the stabilization of major tree species. These conditions are observed on a human timescale and can maintain specific tree species and other plants over hundreds of years. Examples of some of these are:   The coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest.The wetlands  in North America.The redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests.Beech-maple of the North American Northeast.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Literature Review on the role of IMC in building and maintaining brand Article

Literature Review on the role of IMC in building and maintaining brand equity - Article Example Globalization has increased the level of competition in the domestic as well as international markets. Though this has improved competition and the quality of products, it has made consumers think twice before investing in a product. This means that consumers have become vary of their needs and selection. Unless a company is able to bring a customer to it, they will end up being sidelined for better-known brands. Pickton and Hartley observed that it was difficult to conceptualize the influences that organizations needed to achieve integration. The many levels and dimensions of integration posed individual and collective difficulties. So complex and laborious was the practice, that to implement IMC, it required the dedicated and wholesome involvement of the whole organization, right from its chief executive to their agents and vendors. Considering the complexity of such a study, this paper attempts to elicit the role of IMC in organizations; their market orientation and brand orientat ion, for they both have an important role in the implementation of IMC. This paper will strive to delve on the finer aspects of the strategic component of IMC; taking into account the cultural and learning requirements of positioning brands, and how they can build a competitive edge through brand equity. In order to understand the concept of IMC in the real-life scenario, this paper takes a look at some of the trend-setters in the highly competitive world of fashion.