Junot Diaz Treflection Essay

From what I had previously read and heard from about Junot Diaz, I expected the typical speaker that usually stops by our campus: tall male, dressed in a suite, with a charming personality. Knowing he was a Hispanic author I felt like I would be exposed to nothing new during his readings or presence for that matter ( seeing as how being from Colombia and have had a lot of exposure to Hispanic authors). This immediately changed as a couple classmates and I got together to walk over to Sorenson Hall, and, as I we were walking to the auditorium, found multiple students heading to the same even but not because their curriculum required it but rather because they were so intrigued to hear him speak. Obviously, this triggered my own interest in what this author, that I originally found so predictable, had to say. From the moment he set foot on the stage to when he said goodbye, I was intrigued. Diaz evoked a casual atmosphere; through cursing and joking he made the crowd feel comfortable. What I found most interesting was how he explained the different views between him and his family and how looked negatively it seemed for him to become an artist. He also explained multiple aspects about the cultural differences, and talked about the concepts of â€Å"trading your culture† he explained how crazy it is to realize at our age that everyone’s dreams aren’t your dreams. I agreed with everything he had to say and I found the way he evoked his opinions, through casual conversation and a comical tone, to be very effective. What I found most interesting though, is how he compared writing to an art form which says the stuff people don’t want to hear. As he was talking about this topic, I couldn’t help but compare his style of writing to that of graffiti art. He holds a rebellious attitude towards society that makes his writing appealing. Attending this reading taught me much about the topic of learning by making mistakes. My whole life, I’ve been raised thinking that mistakes shouldn’t occur, and the fact that he mentioned that one should take time out to learn through failure and making mistakes caught my attention immediately. Attending Diaz’s reading has been one of the most interesting things I’ve experience while at Babson and I know that when I type the last sentence of this reflection I am buying logging on to amazon and buying his book.

Macbeth †The Supernatural Essay

The term supernatural in the dictionary is described as ‘a phenomena that cannot be explained by the laws of nature of physics’. The term supernatural today can be connected with a lot of subjects; ghosts, poltergeist, mediums, physics and many more. In my own definitions supernatural means something that cannot be explained. The term supernatural in the 21st century has become more popular with the media about ghosts, psychics and making contact with the dead. Generally people are categorised today as believers and non-believers, the supernatural is an issue, which divides people. However in the time where James I was king almost everyone believed in the supernatural and this is why the issue of the supernatural was of an importance to contempory audiences. The majority of people that believed in the supernatural in Jacobean times were also frightened of it. People believed ion a metaphysical world, which is a spiritual world. The reason they were frightened was they believed evil, as well as good, was all around. An evil spirit could affect your body or your mind/spirit as they were different things and a person would have no control over himself or herself if an evil spirit took over. An example, of what they believed when spirits took over, is how healthy they were. If they were well they believed good spirits ruled over and if they were ill the evil spirits ruled. Witchcraft was also considered evil and in 1605 a law was passed which meant if you had anything to do with witchcraft you were killed. Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth with the subject of the supernatural to be at the centre point of everything that happened. Its importance is high and it affects the audience, the characters and the plot in different ways. The first scene of the play opens with the ‘weird sisters’. The witches open the scene to introduce the audience to the play and show the main theme is evil and the supernatural, this gives the audience a good idea of what to expect. The scene itself, for the audience, is also set it is on the moor and the audience would have recognised and associated this setting with bleakness and a place where dark spirits are. This scene also sets up the plot with the supernatural being present. Dramatic effects are used from the start of this scene which interest the audience, the witches use incantations to suggest control and power: â€Å"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening, or in rain?† The witches have control over the weather, the rhyme also sounds like spells, which supports the supernatural effect on the scene. The conversation between he witches is also started mid scene which adds to the dramatic effect of the scene: â€Å"Hover through the fog and filthy air† Is another quote which suggests the witches have the ability to fly but they are not clearly seen, this is hint that the witches my not seem to be all they are through the play. â€Å"That will be ere the set of the sun† The third witch also predicts the battle will be over before the sun sets, another point which shows they have the power to accurately predict events. Language in the first scene gives both history and themes of the play: â€Å"When the hurly-burly’s done When the battle’s lost and won.† The word hurly-burly is to suggest the Scotland civil war and suggests the battle of good and evil is lost and won. This is interesting for the audience as it adds to the historical content and keeps the audience interested in the play. The battle may also be seen from another point of view however, the battle for Macbeth’s soul. â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair† This quote also suggests when the battle is finished it is good for 1 but bad for 1. It also suggest things are not always what they seen to be which gives the theme of ambiguity of reality and humanity for the play. Rhyming couplets are also used; this gives the sound of an incantation. In this scene the witches are planning to meet Macbeth: â€Å"There to meet with Macbeth.† As mentioned before they talk about the battle between good and evil and they seem to be predicting what will happen, however, you could think the witches are purposely putting the evil events in motion. This is a factor, which has to be taken into consideration when interpreting their characters. Their characters are also a symbolism of fate. In Act 1 Scene 3 the Witches meet Macbeth for the first time, they are important in this scene to do three things. The witches entertain the audience using their powers: â€Å"I’ll give thee a wind,† This, along with Act 1 Scene 1, again suggests the witches can control the weather. The witches also talk of a sailor’s wife who refused to give her chestnuts and she will get revenge on the woman by victimizing her husband and delaying his arrival home: â€Å"Here I have a pilot’s thumb, Wreck’d as homeward he did come.†

Gender Criticism and Frankenstein Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gender Criticism and Frankenstein - Essay Example other words, the work of Mary Shelley, specifically in context to Frankenstein, can be critiqued for being male dominating and critically chauvinist in its character. The protagonist and the antagonist, both the main characters of the novel around which the story revolves, are male characters, which suggest the biased sense of character in the book. The women mentioned in the book solely perform a supportive, yet a subservient role to the picture. Moving past the characters, the themes of the text also portray gender anxieties. The obsession with nine months, for instance, which Victor takes to create the monster, clearly reflects an issue with gender complexities, more of which would further be expanded on in the paper.This implies that Shelley was of the view that though women is the weaker gender, yet her role can`t be ignored in entirety to smoothly run the system. The other supportive roles, comparatively stronger in nature have been naturally attributed to men in the story. Thi s biasness attributed to gender roles can be related in context to Shelley`s personal life, which was dominated by two male figures, her father and her husband. Victor Frankenstein is inspired after having met Walton who takes nine month to explore the North Pole. Owing to his experiments, Victor ends up creating a monster, which is the underlying theme of the novel and creates the angle of fear and anxiety in the text. The two main characters in the novel, Walton and Victor are extremely ambitious and egotistical in nature, preferring a bond with another man instead of a woman. These traits have also been found characteristic to her husband in particular, reflecting the individual impacts of men on her life. More so, a huge contrast is seen when she characterizes the women in the novel representing them as ‘proper’ women in compliance tothe expectations of the mainstream society. In this scenario, it may be concluded that Shelley had a strong impact of the trend during the time

School Crime Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

School Crime - Case Study Example Involvement in gangs, shootings, thefts and robberies etc. are common criminal acts. (Almond, 2008) One of the most practiced crimes in school shooting with handguns. This act is done mostly by the people who are mentally disabled, expelled students or a faculty who have been kicked out of school for certain reason or people who hold a grudge against other students. The profound reason behind these incidents is vengeance and it is occasionally found that the perpetrator (shooter) is killed in the incident. There are lots of cases that can be used to discuss the issue regarding crimes in schools. (Almond, 2008) The shootings Virginia Tech School on April 16, 2007 where the death toll was about 33 civilians is one of these incidents. A mentally retarded student got hold of guns and shot people that crossed his path. Many of the victims were students that were shot dead in their dorms and class rooms. There were two separate shooting attacks in campus at Blacksburg. The first attack took place in dormitory were two students were shot dead and after that another attack took place in a classroom building across campus which killed another 31 students. The witnesses who were in campus describe the horrific scenes where the students were lined up against the wall and were shot one by one. (Almond, 2008) These types of incidents leave a question mark on the American society, the law makers as well as the school environments. If these type of incidents can take place in developed countries then what about the underdeveloped countries In this incident, a quick action by the administration would have prevented the second attack but due to lack of communication and prompt reaction, massive killings occurred. (Sommer, 1984) If these type of situation remains in schools then what would be the future of the Youth. Would a student studying in a school become a scholar or a terrorist This incident imitated wide interest from the media and the hype left the policy makers revise their policies and led to gun control measures. Researches have shown that these crimes are also due to various other factors that include the environment of school, availability of weapons in the state, peer pressure among a certain age group and discrimination by the society in which an individual is living. Addressing these types of issues can also be fruitful for the society and can lead to favorable outcomes among schools. (Sommer, 1984) Another example of school crime is the shooting in Northern Illinois School which led to 6 casualties. The shooting occurred in the lecture hall of the school at around 3 pm when a person dressed in black emerged suddenly into lecture hall and opened fire. The administration identified that the shooter as a former graduate student in sociology who was enrolled in 2007 but then left. The administration of the school was put on alert immediately and the students were informed by emails, text msgs, alarms, media, and voicemail about the incident. (Rubel, 1981) These types of incidents can lead to very huge type of problem. The schools have to take some serious actions against this type of incident. To tackle these types of incidents the weapons systems should be used in campuses and metal detectors should be used to avoid these types of horrible incidents. Every student coming in campus should be

Auto industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Auto industry - Essay Example This is meant to ensure that there are no delays that can witnessed in the manufacture of the automobiles. Careful management of the supply chain entails that the automobile manufacturer will be in a better position to meet its target. Essentially, the aim of business is to make profits and this can be possible if an organization is capable of meeting its demand at a particular time. There should be no loopholes in the supply chain in order for the organization to operate effectively and efficiently. The other reason for managing the supply chain is related to the aspect of maintaining quality. Different companies can supply the same component required in making automobiles. However, the likely challenge to be encountered is that the quality of the components supplied by different suppliers may differ. Some parts supplied may be substandard and this can compromise the quality of the final product manufactured. It is the duty of the automobile manufacturer to outline the standard expectations with regards to the quality of the components supplied by different suppliers. Ensuring high quality components supplied can be achieved through establishing a quality assurance department within the manufacturing plant that would be responsible for ensuring that the parts supplied meet the standards. Defective components can be rejected and if needs be, these can be replaced with quality products. The other reason why managing the supply chain is important is about creating a good relationship with the suppliers. This is very important since this means that aspects such as pricing can be negotiated. A reputable car manufacturer can negotiate the prices of different components that are used in manufacturing automobiles. This is very important since the best deals can be achieved. Favorable prices of the components required for making cars mean that the final prices of the ultimate

Financial intermediation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Financial intermediation - Essay Example It was based on the efficiency hypothesis model and was distinguished from the imminent failure model. After analyzing 33 mergers during the 1867-1935 period, the author found that the consolidation and integration (which result as consequences of mergers and acquisitions) reduce systemic risk. An important variable in this finding is the identification of the role of diversification in the dilution and management of risks. The study also proposed the empirical validity of concentration-stability hypothesis as a framework for explaining the stability of Canadian banks. It was found that strong concentration of banks, which came as an offshoot of mergers and acquisitions, was a strong predictor of stability. What is good about the paper The paper is significant for several reasons. It contains important insights on the developmental evolution of the Canadian banking sector. The author has also proposed and explained insights that could enrich the extant literature on the positive impa ct of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The successful use and evaluation of hypotheses and the systematic assessment approaches included can provide helpful insights to researchers interested in the same or in related research topics. These constitute the reasons why it is worthy of publication. This section will explain this in detail. An important insight postulated by the study is the explanation why the Canadian banking system outperformed the United States banking system during the Great Depression (p.6). The author was able to provide important evidences, most particularly, the argument that Canada avoided the crisis by maintaining a banking system typified by risk diversification through branching (p.6). This aspect in the study contributes an insight to the body of literature in regard to the incidence of bank failures, vulnerabilities and risks that could be avoided. The emerging principle is that mergers have cushioned the Canadian banking system from the Great Depression by diluting the risks. Here, a theoretical evidence was presented: the cases of the cross-province acquisitions from 1900-1931led to risk diversification because the bulk of business for each bank in a consolidated financial institution is based on its home province, hence, the risk for the entire organization is allocated according to its branches, operating in their respective locations. Furthermore, the study also explained the differences between mergers and acquisitions than simply branching out. If the bank is concerned with risks or is interested with diluting it, branching would be an option because it also meant the diversification of operation across Canada. However, it was explained how M&As have different degree of risk exposure than branching, effectively classifying one from the other. If one does think about it, mergers and acquisitions diversify through integration and accumulation of resources whereas branching diversifies by expanding and spending resources. In the former, there is an inward flow of resources where the latter sees an outflow. This is the reason why in the study's comparative analysis, it was found that "out of the 10 chartered banks that remained in business in 1935, six had been involved in acquisitions," and that "only one out of the 26 failed banks was involved in bank consolidation" (p.9). The study used Fisher's exact test to evaluate the relationship it revealed that bank consolidations did not result or

Declaration of Independence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Declaration of Independence - Essay Example There is no big difference between the initial Declaration and the final version. Most of the wording was retained as it was in the initial document. Very minimal alterations were made on the document. In comparing Jefferson’s initial Declaration with the final version, it can be noted that most of the alterations made were on the wording in the document. This was more for the purpose of clarity than for alteration of meaning of the words in the Declaration. Of the draft presented to Congress, only two passages were rejected directly by Congress. One of the passages referred to the English people in an inappropriate manner which did not go down well with congress since even the Americans were of British roots. The other passage which denounced slavery and slave trade did not please Congress as many members owned slaves and were not willing to set them free. The alterations of the wording in the document was to give the document a more personalized feel as will be explained by the following examples. Some of the alterations for example at the start of the Declaration where the article â€Å"of† is changed to â€Å"by†, was intended to bring out the aspect of personalization. The alteration of the words â€Å"sacred & undeniable† to read â€Å"self evident† may have been done to avoid the statement a religious feel. Some alterations were made for grammatical purposes to avoid unintended meanings from statements. This is evident in the second paragraph where the article â€Å"in† was deleted before the word â€Å"rights†. It is clear from this example that inclusion of the article would have given the statement a different meaning that was not intended by the drafters of the declaration. Other alterations may have been made to correct human error as in the case where Jefferson deletes the words â€Å"he has dissolved† from the beginning of a line he was writing. It is clear that this was because he was repeating the previous line and on

Ethics in Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics in - Research Proposal Example And that the participants should have the choice to withdraw from the research. And most importantly the participants should have the opportunity to give voluntary, informed consent to whether they want to participate in the investigations. Immediately after World War II a consensus emerged about the ethical principles that should be followed in any research. One of the reasons for this was the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial that followed World War II brought to the notice of the public how scientists in Germany had used prisoners as subjects in experiments that were often gruesome. Such disclosures necessitated a reexamination of ethical standards. There emerged a consensus that human beings and animals must be protected from being used as guinea pigs. Contemporary medical and social research today requires that issues such as anonymity, privacy, confidentiality, fair treatment and protection from discomfort and harm that arise while participating in a research program are taken care of. Many regulations have been put forth by establishments to protect the rights of the research participants. Some of them are outlined by William M.K. Trochim (2006) 2. The principle of informed consent which requires that the participants must be fully informed about the procedures and risks involved in the research and must give their consent to participate in the research. 4. Researchers must protect the privacy and confidentiality of the participants. They must be assured that the information gathered from them will not be made available to anyone who is not directly involved in the research. Several reasons can be put forth to stress the importance of ethics in research. Ethics promote the aims of research like truth, knowledge and avoidance of error. For instance when you bar fabricating and falsifying of records or misrepresenting research data you are promoting truth. You are less likely to make errors. Research

Obstacles and Constraints Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obstacles and Constraints Paper - Essay Example It is a common term that is used by ecologists in their study to define the relationships between two or more organisms. Mutualistic is a term that is used to define a relationship between two organisms, in which they co-exist with the help of each other. In this case of relationship, both the organisms’ co exit in a mutual way, both of them gain benefits from each other, there is no organism that is at harm. Commensalistic is a term that is used to describe a relationship is which there one party who is benefitting is and then there is one party that is not benefiting at all. The two parties are existing together in a mutual way, and one is gaining advantage from the other while the other is gaining no benefit or no disadvantage as well. Parasitism is a term that is used when both the parties exist mutually but one party is living off the other. One of the parties derives benefits from the other party and the other party is getting harmed by the benefits. Competition in this both the parties try to exist mutually but then they fail due to the fact that both of them try to gain benefits but none of them gains anything out of it. In this both the parties end up harming each other. While the final form is Neutralism, in this both the parties remain unaffected and neither benefits nor is disadvantaged. In a good sense, the relation between the policy maker and the agent of implementation is an mutualistic relation. They can both function together in a mutual way and benefit each other. In this case, a policy designer is the person who designs policies, he designs policies keeping in mind the actual requirements of the city, now after he has done designing he expects that the policy implementer would implement it as it is and make amends only when required not on his personal opinion. When the relationship is bad then, we can say that there exists a Competition type of relationship, both try to implement and have their choice implemented, this way the genera l masses get no advantage out if it and they both end up harming their own reputations and their own egos (Amos, 1988).   In this case the government has faced a serious lack of implementation, they ordered a step but then refrained funding. It should have happened that the government should have actually provided the funds that were enough to sustain and maintain the police force. When such high amount of force is added, there is a need to accommodate their salaries, the ammunitions that is being provided to them and the uniforms that has to be provided. These are some of the basic things that have to be provided. The government had provided for the first timers only, later there was no release of funds which actually became a burden (Amos, 1988).   There are many financial constraints that are involved when any policy or any project is to be implanted. The budget is divided according to the requirements of the projects. But usually the prices are underestimated. It has also be en seen many times that the government or the higher officials do not allow the money to trickle down enough to be sufficient. Many a times the sanctioning of the budgets take up a lot of time and hence the projects are stalled a lot. There is always a serious need of training for the police officers that were hired; the government did not fund the training. When new people are hired they need to be trained. This is the