Edward Weston

Edward Weston was one of the biggest figures of twentieth-century photography and one of the most influential. This essay is will Weston brilliance in creating beautiful and neutral views of patterns and ordinary shapes, made him internationally acknowledged (Travis 2001, p. 63). Travis (2001) claimed that over the years Edward Weston style had changed and he developed an ability to make his own life experiences into the fascinating subjects of his art.However, in earlier days, that transformation of Weston works had been obscure to most scholars and enthusiasts because it was very elusive and his main subject taters were still mostly naked human forms and objects from the natural surroundings. He had begun to show hints of moods in his photography. Some viewers found his photographs of tide-pool rocks and cypress trees as painful, saddening. They took the tone of the peaceful ocean after a storm as depressive imagery. A higher level of compositional techniques was starting to show i n Weston work from 1939 to 1940.Masculine curves and feminine components, signs of living and dead, and a contrast of light and shadow in a single frame, embellished the photographs. Nevertheless, as Weston grew past his technical skills, he made images hat held more philosophical meanings and a bigger range of understandings. Some may think that his photographs from 1944 to 1948 reflect very thoughtful and more melancholy atmospheric images, possibly because of the conflicts of his divorce, his four sons' entry into the military and the beginning of his Parkinson disease at that time. The series of landscapes he shot at Point Lobos in 1938 (Fig. ) undeniably mirrored Weston personal life more than any he had produced before (Travis 2001, p. 63). Meadow (1978, p. 55) suggested that, In Weston bibliographic works there was hidden interaction between model and the photographer. Weston made his photographs when his subject emotionally stimulates him. Weston (1939) wrote, â€Å"l am a realist, but not a literalism †¦ â€Å". Weston nude photographs were wonderful because there were trace of the interaction between Weston and his subjects. It is possible that what we see, what we respond to, is almost like the conversation between photographer and his subject.Although, Weston perspective on what he was doing at the time was different. Truth was the only thing he wanted to demonstrate through his work (Meadow 1978, p. 55). Meadow (1978, p. 1) also stated Weston nude works had a spiritual implications to it. It was a very American way of thinking: that nudity was considered good for the body and also for the soul. However. Weston was a true formalist who visualized his prints meticulously. He reduced any chance of movement, alteration or accident during the process of the photo-shoot (Shelley 1976, p. 127).Weston nude photographs are often shown as close-up shots of partial areas separated from the background, instead of being focused on entire objects upfront . There was no inner interpretation in favor of simple aesthetics of the presentation of the flesh. Weston has written in his Daybooks claiming that his creative work, his private life was separate. The diaries include many of his comments revealing frustrations with his momentary type of impressions and feelings (Shelley 1976, p. 127). Many of the images he produced during asses present the same features as the piece he made in 1942 (Fig. ) a naked female figure wearing nothing but a gas mask, leaned against the sofa, her body facing toward the camera. A spacious but old couch is repeating the verticals and the horizontals, and its also filling most of the whole picture.

Fundamental Elements of a Story Essay

This essay is going to talk about three different points: What are the types of effect that the writer can leave on his readers by his story? How important is the writer’s style to make his story access into his readers’ minds? What are the possible ways that the writer could use to make his theme noticed in his story? What are the Different Ways a Story’s Format Affects the Reader’s Comprehension? Positive effect The format of the story must be effective for the reader; if the form of the story is well organized the reader’s comprehension will be affected. The writer must organize the story elements and build a connection between all of these elements. Negative effect The format of the story could be not effective for the reader because of unorganized story structure. The way that the writer is telling his point of view doesn’t affect readers properly. In What Ways do the Style and Point of View in a Story Format Effects the Delivery of that Story? The style and the point of view are important because the writer is the story teller. When the writer’s point of view is cleared and detailed his story becomes effective (Story, 2007). How can the Theme be Evident throughout a Story’s Elements? The theme can be evident depending on how the writer includes it in the story elements. For example, according to critics Joseph Conrad in his novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ showed his racist personality and negative attitude towards women (Student Resources, 2008). Conclusion A story acceptance depends on the style of the author; maybe most readers will love it or hate it. The writer could write a story in 2 different ways with one 1 theme; the level of acceptance will not be the same in both cases. References Elements of the Short Story. (2007). Retrieved October 20, 2008, from http://www. scribblingwomen. org/elements. htm Student Resources. (2008). Retrieved October 20, 2008, from http://www. josephconradsociety. org/student_resources. htm

Critique of an Article - Organizational Development and Change Essay

Critique of an Article - Organizational Development and Change - Essay Example The change process at ABA trading company, operating in Germany have been described in three steps including change initiative, change implementation process and sustainable change process. The organization has passed through the change in strategy, organizational culture, management, and leadership and employee orientation. Before explaining the process of change, understanding why ABA Company felt the need to bring the change is important. Actually, as a strategic response to increasing competition, ABA Company decided to go international. The organization was restructured into three divisions and the administrative service was decentralized. Instead of just only restructuring, the organizational change of ABA appeared to be a complete integrated process, in which along with structural change, change in strategy, culture etc. were also introduced. Various companies think short term and ignore the link between restructuring and strategy, however, for restructuring to be successful, long-term strategy should be linked to organizational restructuring. Like various other organizations, restructuring and downsizing poses great threats for the organization because the level of trust, commitment and morale of the employees may go down. Same thing happened in this case, therefore, to reduce the negative impact of the change process; the organization felt the need to analyze the behavior and attitude of people towards this change. First it was observed that before the change process, the culture of company was paternal and supportive. The leadership was caring and highly relational psychological contracts used to exist between organization and its members. The commitment was brought by job security and lifelong employment. Bill felt the need to support the change process, instead of just informing the employees about bringing the change and for a continuous observation and evaluation of organizational members; a team of researchers was hired. The researchers of

How to Lead Effective Meetings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How to Lead Effective Meetings - Essay Example As the discussion highlights  agenda is a list of items that need to be discussed by the participants in order to achieve the objectives of a meeting. Being a form of early warning system, agenda helps the participants of a meeting to be prepared on how to deal with the various topics that will be covered in the meeting. To achieve the goals of the meetings, it is fundamental for the participants to be well prepared before a meeting. Thus, the main role of agenda is to provide the participants with the information in order ensure they are prepared. An agenda works as a time table that is followed by the participants during a meeting.According to the paper findings  an agenda is structured into three major items. The first one is common items that include apologies for absence, minutes of last meeting and matters arising. The second part is specific items that include accounts, special reports and appointments. Thirdly, an agenda has concluding items that includes any other busine ss (AOB) and the date of next meeting. For a meeting to be successful in meeting its aims, all the three items of the agenda must be covered.  Prior to a meeting, Peytons General Supplies department managers ensures adequate preparation. Meeting preparation takes four major steps. First, the managers identify the reasons of holding the meeting. In this way, they ensure that the meetings have clear goals. Secondly, the managers identify who should attend the meeting.

MIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MIS - Essay Example edman), globalization has entered a whole new phase and this reality can be judged from the speed with which technology is connecting different countries in a way which is also suppressing the distinguishing characteristics in terms of religion, race, culture, or language. My career might be working in the petroleum field in Saudi Arabia and globalization would surely influence my career as well. The fact that I belong from a different country and might be working in a totally different part of the world full of people speaking different language and following different cultures and values is not scaring me in a way it would have had globalization not been such a profound phenomenon presently. Also (according to Friedman), globalization has changed the world in a way that is eliminating the distinguished characteristics and a more harmonious working environment is made consequently at different workplaces around the globe. As countries continue advancing technologically, the world is also getting smaller in response. In an insightful and riveting piece titled In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits, (Anderson) also discusses how the world is rapidly changing as globalization took its toll a few years back and how business should be able to boom both locally and globally by carefully leveling the playing field. Though revolution cannot be brought in a single day yet, by leveling the playing field and embracing creative ideas from local people like Local Motors did, the manufacturing future could be drastically changed. Local Motors let the common public design transportation and out ruled the global auto manufacturing giants. (Anderson) emphasizes that the future is not about relying on globally recognized manufacturing companies, rather the future should be majorly about trusting on local individual innovators with brilliant ideas so that business could flourish locally. What is now seen as big can lose to what was seen as small in the past only

Does Turkey need regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Does Turkey need regulation - Essay Example It is a delicate balancing act to be sure, and one that Turkey should consider tackling. The article discussed here presents multiple ways that society can work to counter the so-called ‘advertising effect’. Discussed in this paper will be three of those options that were recently mentioned. One possibility that can be explored is the banning of advertising in public spaces. Many cities in Turkey, in particular Istanbul, are heavily populated with millions of people. This makes the area a prime target for companies to lure consumers into purchasing their product. As a result, massive advertising takes place in nearly all public spaces, creating not only an eye-sore, but creating a form of ‘visual pollution’ (Gannon and Lawson 16). One proposal is to ban all forms of outdoor advertising. This would include ads on taxis and buses, and particularly billboards – effectively eliminating them. Other major cities, such as Sao Paulo, Brazil, have implemented such measures, and it has been met with cleaner streets and most positive comments made by members of society. There are some critics, however, that argue this goes too far in limiting companies effectively reaching the consumer. They argue for legislation targeted on advertising that is not aesthetically pleasing to the eye. In other words, punish the advertising polluting companies in the city, but allow those that produce visually appealing promotional pieces to continue. This is an interesting concept, but would be a nightmare to police. Another recommendation is to begin taxing the very nature of advertising. This proposal stems from the idea that countless millions of pieces of advertising material are printed everyday, just to go unread and serve to pollute the environment. Because such forms of advertising are largely unregulated, and the printing of basic flyers is relatively cheap in comparison to other forms of advertising, companies continue to produce such material in t he hope that even a few consumers will be lured in. As a result, needless pollution is occurring, particularly in Turkey where these massive advertising efforts appear to be in full effect. The proposal is to begin to tax such advertisements in an effort to get companies to pay up and clean up their act, or to stop the needless advertising all together. This is a unique proposal and one that is similar to other taxing efforts designed to clean up areas of the environment. This could gain traction in the coming years if massive advertising efforts continue. One other proposal worth mentioning is to establish statutory regulation of the advertising industry as a whole. As it is currently, the industry in largely unregulated. In America and the United Kingdom, there are regulations in place, and even the outright ban of certain types of advertising in some localities. Turkey lags far behind in this area, so the introduction of such standards could help matters immensely. This can begin by asking Parliament to strengthen existing local powers and allow them to restrict certain forms of outdoor advertising. In addition, there should be a legal process whereby consumers can ask for proof of certain claims made by advertisers or charities in their comments on television commercial or infomercials. This will force advertisers and such

The Jetstar Group and Customer Service Issues Research Proposal

The Jetstar Group and Customer Service Issues - Research Proposal Example Jester Group has successful to generate huge manpower base of 7000 currently across Asia Pacific which was only 400 people in 2004 at the initial phase of its business operation. This airline group offers 3000 flights per week to near about 60 destinations in 16 countries and territories across Asia Pacific by its core assets of 60 aircrafts. This airline group is recognised for value based and low fare airlines in Asia pacific and it is highly successful in a different customers segment who desire for lowest fare. Mission of the company shows its core focus on the low fares which has successfully its core competency (Jetstar, 2012). Airline industry is part of hospitality industry which is a service based industry. So, for a service company, quality is the most important factor and the company needs to have best focus on quality of the services which only results customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is the parameter to measure the quality and broadly worth of an airline service provi ded by a service company like Jetstar. Gerally low fare airlines provide comparably lower quality of services to the customers. It is a very common customer psyche is that low price means low quality. Therefore, despite of tremendous growth of Jetstar airlines, it low fare service recognition might have decreased its brand value with respect to quality of service which results number of service issues from the customers. Business problem Different service issues are common for the service industries especially for airlines industry as it is a part of hospitality industry. Service provided by the airlines companies need to be of high quality as in hospitality industry quality of service with respect to customer satisfaction needs to be the core value of business. Jetstar group has been receiving frequent customer service issues and this might be for its low fare focus where quality is automatically neglected by the staffs and employees to provide service in lowest cost. It is a commo n perception that airlines companies that only focus low fare service do not review the customers’ feedback or even do not bother to get customers’ response with service related issues or complaints (Steven, Dong, & Smith, n.d., p.37). Therefore, this might be a major problem for Jetstar airlines as it also focus on low fare service and many customers might have unsatisfied with the service provide by the Jetstar. Different issues regarding service offered by the airlines leads to decline in existing customer base. Customer satisfaction positively influence potential customers and helps to generate new customers and this will only be possible if there is no service related issues an airline company gets. Frequent service issues or service complaints are indication of decline of quality of service. Research questions This study presents a detailed research and analysis of critical business problems of an airline company. The motivation of this study can summarized throu gh a specific research question. What are the service issues Jetstar Group? No company disclose service issues or customers’

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers - Essay Example The ten critical steps that could be taken by the risk managers to prevent losses due to political risk in the country are explained as follows. Firstly, the risk manager should undertake a study of the Mexican markets and the situations of crisis that has been prevailing. The risk manager should undertake an analysis of the political risk in the market and monitor the volatility of the market in order to understand the implications of political risk. Secondly, the demands of the markets and the political interference should be studied in order to prepare a plan for controlling the losses. Thirdly, the manager should engage with local public entities in order to understand the market sentiments in Mexico. Fourthly, the risk manager should hold meetings with the labor unions in order to understand the demands and expectations of the workforce. Fifth, the risk manager should be flexible enough to draw back up plans in case the primary plans fail to mitigate the risks. Sixth, the risk m anager should take support from the management in order to engage with the political representatives and leaders in order to strike a deal to maintain smooth operation of the business in conditions of turbulence. Seventh, the risk manager should propose the management to enter into strategic alliance with local business houses. This step would be crucial in order to restrict the losses due to local and political interferences. Eighth, the risk manager should undertake strategies for political risk insurance of the business in order to cover the exposure as a result of political uncertainty. Ninth, the risk manager should consider the returns in the study of risk. A higher and calculated risk could lead to attainment of higher returns for the risk manager. Thus the risk manager should undertake an analysis of the risk-return trade off. Lastly, the risk manager should be innovative and prompt to react to the political risk exposures and then take necessary steps as there is no single tool for restricting the losses with the continuous change in the markets in a volatile situation. Recommendation: steps to begin an import / export relationship In order to begin an import/ export relationship with Mexico, the following courses of action have been recommended. The recommended course of action not only mitigates the risk but also help to resume international trade, imports and exports with the country. The engagement in to talks and relationships with the government of Mexico may be suggested in order to force a deal of mutual interest between the Mexican government and the trader. However, the relationship ties may weaken with the passage of time and the risk manager would need to be flexible in order to restrict the losses due to political risk. The risk manager may enter into talks with the labor unions in order to negotiate terms for maintaining smooth operations of the business. However, political risk insurance may be recommended that would enable the risk man ager to build confidence of the management due to which relationship of export and import could be started with the country (MIGA, 2011). The risk manager could take necessary actions of engaging into contracts with the local bodies, export credit agencies

Florence Nightingale as one of the most powerful and influential women Essay

Florence Nightingale as one of the most powerful and influential women in history - Essay Example She became one of the most powerful and influential women in history giving women the right to engage themselves to different professions through her struggles and achievements. She exemplifies the power and ability of a woman who is allowed to express her talents and unique personality and share them with the larger society. Florence Nightingale was born on "May 12th, 1820" and was named after her birthplace in Florence, Italy. She was born into a wealthy, influential and upper-class British family. Although Florence's father did not want her to pursue a career, he encouraged her to educate herself in different fields. While Florence was developing her personality as an intellectual being, she realized how dissatisfied she was as an aristocratic woman. In contrary to her mother and sister who were enjoying this lifestyle. During her time, nursing did not count as an appropriate profession for a woman of her class and background because it is a vocation meant for poorer women; even comparing it to a cook. Despite that, she still pursued to study nursing and made it clear to those around her that this was her calling. Florence's parents did not agree with the idea and expected her to make a good marriage and maintain the typical aristocratic lifestyle. However, she rebelled against her family's wishes and succeeded in her struggle to study nursing after a long endeavor considering that they had no such tradition to training women to nurture a career apart from being a wife and a mother, not to mention the defiance she showed towards the "societal code for affluent young English women."1 Florence Nightingale As a young woman, Florence quickly became a famous, eminent and heroic figure in the nursing profession. She worked hard to "educate herself in the art and science of nursing." 2 Florence Nightingale She cared mostly for the poor and became an advocate of the improvement of medical services especially those in the infirmaries. With her advocate, she gained the support of then the president of the Poor Law Board, Charles Villier. "This led to her active role on the Poor Law's, extending further beyond the provisions of the medical care." 3 Florence Nightingale She became so devoted to her profession that she did not entertain a suitor in the name of Richard Monckton Milnes, a politician and poet, certain that marriage will interfere with "her ability to follow her calling to nursing." Nightingale considered marriage as her last concern; in fact, she declined Milnes marriage proposal much to her mother's dismay. But she had a long friendship with a politician by the name of Sidney Herb ert who, at that time, was the Secretary at War (1845-1846) and became "instrumental in facilitating her pioneering work in Crimea and in the field of nursing." 4 Florence Nightingale Florence even became a "key advisor" 5 Florence Nightingale to him in his political career. This proves how she is determined to change the status of women during her time and that someone of her gender can contribute her intellectual abilities for the betterment of the society. However, the support she got from Herbert did not hold true for her family, and even created conflicts for her at home. At that point, she had no support from anyone, yet she was determined enough to remain unmarried and continue

Is Google maling us stupid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is Google maling us stupid - Essay Example Knowledge was now a living and breathing thing that, although not physical in appearance, had a direct and positive effect on the minds of society as people were forced to memorize the spoken word. Each and every bit of information needed to be committed to memory in order to successfully pass it on to the next generation. Then the advent of writing came about and now we had a permanent record of all these teachings to look back on anytime that we needed to. However, this knowledge was now incomplete in its solid form. It was no longer that easy to add new information to it because of the difficulties posed by the writing method of the time. And yet, we somehow managed to continue to grow this databank of information for future use. When typewriters were invented, the world of learning changed forever as it now became easier to understand the written word. Books and newspapers, these were the icing on the cake at the time. It helped people collect knowledge that they deemed important for themselves and their closest family members and friends. But that was not the end of the evolution of knowledge. Instead, it marked only the beginning. Then, television came and allowed us to not only hear about the information that could be gleaned from books, now, we could also see it in actuality and discover the wonders of learning in a totally new way. Thanks to television, we saw the past of the knowledge that we had but also, managed to see its future as well. And this electronic piece of technology was already considered the biggest threat to learning by most academicians and scholars because they felt that the brain was no longer functioning the way it should be. That is, reading and remembering the information that was passing through it. That belief proved to be unfounded and nothing but the fear of people who did not understand how learning and knowledge were fast evolving and becoming an even more relevant part of the daily lives of people. And that academic and sc holarly argument is the very same argument that is now being used by the very same people to prove that the internet and search engines in particular are stunting the growth of the human brain. Rewiring it and turning it into a lazy soft mass in our skulls that cannot be used for anything. Not even remembering simple information. If only these people would get over their fear of technology and the way that it changes the learning process of man for the better, maybe they would finally see that mankind is actually reaching a learning type of maturity that was not available to him before. These people argue that because all the answers to all the questions one has, regardless of how inane it is, can be found through the internet and the use of a search engine then man no longer knows how to research, discern the statements he is reading, and most disturbingly, he no longer has the ability to remember information because he just needs to bookmark the information for future reference. T hus turning our brains into a pile of mush. In reality, the search engines are a highly beneficial tool for those who wish to further learn and gain knowledge about specific topics. Gone are the times of sitting in a dusty old library going through piles of reading material, poring over them for significant information for days on end. These days, knowledge

African American Culture Essay Example for Free

African American Culture Essay African American culture in the United States includes the various cultural traditions of African ethnic groups. It is both part of and distinct from American culture. The U. S. Census Bureau defines African Americans as people having origins in any of the Black race groups of Africa. [1] African American culture is indigenous to the descendants in the U. S. of survivors of the Middle Passage. It is rooted in Africa and is an amalgam of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Africans in America to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived and over time have incorporated elements of European American culture. There are even certain facets of African American culture that were brought into being or made more prominent as a result of slavery; an example of this is how drumming became used as a means of communication and establishing a community identity during that time. The result is a dynamic, creative culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on mainstream American culture and on world culture as well. After Emancipation, these uniquely African American traditions continued to grow. They developed into distinctive traditions in music, art, literature, religion, food, holidays, amongst others. While for some time sociologists, such as Gunnar Myrdal and Patrick Moynihan, believed that African Americans had lost most cultural ties with Africa, anthropological field research by Melville Hersovits and others demonstrated that there is a continuum of African traditions among Africans in the New World from the West Indies to the United States. The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European cultures is found below the Mason-Dixon in the southeastern United States, especially in the Carolinas among the Gullah people and in Louisiana. African American culture often developed separately from mainstream American culture because of African Americans desire to practice their own traditions, as well as the persistence of racial segregation in America. Consequently African American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct culture apart from it. History From the earliest days of slavery, slave owners sought to exercise control over their slaves by attempting to strip them of their African culture. The physical isolation and societal marginalization of African slaves and, later, of their free progeny, however, actually facilitated the retention of significant elements of traditional culture among Africans in the New World generally, and in the U. S. in particular. Slave owners deliberately tried to repress political organization in order to deal with the many slave rebellions that took place in the southern United States, Brazil, Haiti, and the Dutch Guyanas. African cultures,slavery,slave rebellions,and the civil rights movements(circa 1800s-160s)have shaped African American religious, familial, political and economic behaviors. The imprint of Africa is evident in myriad ways, in politics, economics, language, music, hairstyles, fashion, dance, religion and worldview, and food preparation methods. In the United States, the very legislation that was designed to strip slaves of culture and deny them education served in many ways to strengthen it. In turn, African American culture has had a pervasive, transformative impact on myriad elements of mainstream American culture, among them language, music, dance, religion, cuisine, and agriculture. This process of mutual creative exchange is called creolization. Over time, the culture of African slaves and their descendants has been ubiquitous in its impact on not only the dominant American culture, but on world culture as well. Oral tradition Slaveholders limited or prohibited education of enslaved African Americans because they believed it might lead to revolts or escape plans. Hence, African-based oral traditions became the primary means of preserving history, morals, and other cultural information among the people. This was consistent with the griot practices of oral history in many African and other cultures that did not rely on the written word. Many of these cultural elements have been passed from generation to generation through storytelling. The folktales provided African Americans the opportunity to inspire and educate one another. Examples of African American folktales include trickster tales of Brer Rabbit and heroic tales such as that of John Henry. The Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris helped to bring African American folk tales into mainstream adoption. Harris did not appreciate the complexity of the stories nor their potential for a lasting impact on society. Characteristics of the African American oral tradition present themselves in a number of forms. African American preachers tend to perform rather than simply speak. The emotion of the subject is carried through the speakers tone, volume, and movement, which tend to mirror the rising action, climax, and descending action of the sermon. Often song, dance, verse and structured pauses are placed throughout the sermon. Techniques such as call-and-response are used to bring the audience into the presentation. In direct contrast to recent tradition in other American and Western cultures, it is an acceptable and common audience reaction to interrupt and affirm the speaker. Spoken word is another example of how the African American oral tradition influences modern American popular culture. Spoken word artists employ the same techniques as African American preachers including movement, rhythm, and audience participation. Rap music from the 1980s and beyond has been seen as an extension of oral culture. Harlem Renaissance [pic] Zora Neale Hurston was a prominent literary figure during the Harlem Renaissance. Main article: Harlem Renaissance The first major public recognition of African American culture occurred during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s and 1930s, African American music, literature, and art gained wide notice. Authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen and poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen wrote works describing the African American experience. Jazz, swing, blues and other musical forms entered American popular music. African American artists such as William H. Johnson and Palmer Hayden created unique works of art featuring African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance was also a time of increased political involvement for African Americans. Among the notable African American political movements founded in the early 20th century are the United Negro Improvement Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Nation of Islam, a notable Islamic religious movement, also began in the early 1930s. African American cultural movement The Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s followed in the wake of the non-violent American Civil Rights Movement. The movement promoted racial pride and ethnic cohesion in contrast to the focus on integration of the Civil Rights Movement, and adopted a more militant posture in the face of racism. It also inspired a new renaissance in African American literary and artistic expression generally referred to as the African American or Black Arts Movement. The works of popular recording artists such as Nina Simone (Young, Gifted and Black) and The Impressions (Keep On Pushin), as well as the poetry, fine arts and literature of the time, shaped and reflected the growing racial and political consciousness. Among the most prominent writers of the African American Arts Movement were poet Nikki Giovanni; poet and publisher Don L. Lee, who later became known as Haki Madhubuti; poet and playwright Leroi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka; and Sonia Sanchez. Other influential writers were Ed Bullins, Dudley Randall, Mari Evans, June Jordan, Larry Neal and Ahmos Zu-Bolton. Another major aspect of the African American Arts Movement was the infusion of the African aesthetic, a return to a collective cultural sensibility and ethnic pride that was much in evidence during the Harlem Renaissance and in the celebration of Negritude among the artistic and literary circles in the U. S. , Caribbean and the African continent nearly four decades earlier: the idea that black is beautiful. During this time, there was a resurgence of interest in, and an embrace of, elements of African culture within African American culture that had been suppressed or devalued to conform to Eurocentric America. Natural hairstyles, such as the afro, and African clothing, such as the dashiki, gained popularity. More importantly, the African American aesthetic encouraged personal pride and political awareness among African Americans. Music [pic] Men playing the djembe, a traditional West African drum adopted into African American and American culture. The bags and the clothing of the man on the right are printed with traditional kente cloth patterns. African American music is rooted in the typically polyrhythmic music of the ethnic groups of Africa, specifically those in the Western, Sahelean, and Sub-Saharan regions. African oral traditions, nurtured in slavery, encouraged the use of music to pass on history, teach lessons, ease suffering, and relay messages. The African pedigree of African American music is evident in some common elements: call and response, syncopation, percussion, improvisation, swung notes, blue notes, the use of falsetto, melisma, and complex multi-part harmony. During slavery, Africans in America blended traditional European hymns with African elements to create spirituals. Many African Americans sing Lift Evry Voice and Sing in addition to the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, or in lieu of it. Written by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson in 1900 to be performed for the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the song was, and continues to be, a popular way for African Americans to recall past struggles and express ethnic solidarity, faith and hope for the future. The song was adopted as the Negro National Anthem by the NAACP in 1919. African American children are taught the song at school, church or by their families. Lift Evry Voice and Sing traditionally is sung immediately following, or instead of, The Star-Spangled Banner at events hosted by African American churches, schools, and other organizations. In the 1800s, as the result of the blackface minstrel show, African American music entered mainstream American society. By the early twentieth century, several musical forms with origins in the African American community had transformed American popular music. Aided by the technological innovations of radio and phonograph records, ragtime, jazz, blues, and swing also became popular overseas, and the 1920s became known as the Jazz Age. The early 20th century also saw the creation of the first African American Broadway shows, films such as King Vidors Hallelujah!, and operas such as George Gershwins Porgy and Bess. Rock and roll, doo wop, soul, and RB developed in the mid 20th century. These genres became very popular in white audiences and were influences for other genres such as surf. The dozens, an urban African American tradition of using rhyming slang to put down your enemies (or friends) developed through the smart-ass street jive of the early Seventies into a new form of music. In the South Bronx, the half speaking, half singing rhythmic street talk of rapping grew into the hugely successful cultural force known as Hip Hop. Hip Hop would become a multicultural movement. However, it is still important to many African Americans. The African American Cultural Movement of the 1960s and 1970s also fueled the growth of funk and later hip-hop forms such as rap, hip house, new jack swing and go go. African American music has experienced far more widespread acceptance in American popular music in the 21st century than ever before. In addition to continuing to develop newer musical forms, modern artists have also started a rebirth of older genres in the form of genres such as neo soul and modern funk-inspired groups. Dance [pic] The Cakewalk was the first African American dance to gain widespread popularity in the United States. [pic] African American dance, like other aspects of African American culture, finds its earliest roots in the dances of the hundreds of African ethnic groups that made up African slaves in the Americas as well as influences from European sources in the United States. Dance in the African tradition, and thus in the tradition of slaves, was a part of both every day life and special occasions. Many of these traditions such as get down, ring shouts, and other elements of African body language survive as elements of modern dance. In the 1800s, African American dance began to appear in minstrel shows. These shows often presented African Americans as caricatures for ridicule to large audiences. The first African American dance to become popular with White dancers was the cakewalk in 1891. Later dances to follow in this tradition include the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Jitterbug. During the Harlem Renaissance, all African American Broadway shows such as Shuffle Along helped to establish and legitimize African American dancers. African American dance forms such as tap, a combination of African and European influences, gained widespread popularity thanks to dancers such as Bill Robinson and were used by leading White choreographers who often hired African American dancers. Contemporary African American dance is descended from these earlier forms and also draws influence from African and Caribbean dance forms. Groups such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have continued to contribute to the growth of this form. Modern popular dance in America is also greatly influenced by African American dance. American popular dance has also drawn many influences from African American dance most notably in the hip hop genre. Art [pic] Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City by Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859-1937 From its early origins in slave communities, through the end of the twentieth century, African-American art has made a vital contribution to the art of the United States. During the period between the 1600s and the early 1800s, art took the form of small drums, quilts, wrought-iron figures and ceramic vessels in the southern United States. These artifacts have similarities with comparable crafts in West and Central Africa. In contrast, African American artisans like the New England–based engraver Scipio Moorhead and the Baltimore portrait painter Joshua Johnson created art that was conceived in a thoroughly western European fashion. During the 1800s, Harriet Powers made quilts in rural Georgia, United States that are now considered among the finest examples of nineteenth-century Southern quilting. Later in the 20th century, the women of Gee’s Bend developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional African American quilts with a geometric simplicity that developed separately but was like that of Amish quilts and modern art. After the American Civil War, museums and galleries began more frequently to display the work of African American artists. Cultural expression in mainstream venues was still limited by the dominant European aesthetic and by racial prejudice. To increase the visibility of their work, many African American artists traveled to Europe where they had greater freedom. It was not until the Harlem Renaissance that more whites began to pay attention to African American art in America. [pic] Kara Walker, Cut, Cut paper and adhesive on wall, Brent Sikkema NYC. During the 1920s, artists such as Raymond Barthe, Aaron Douglas, Augusta Savage, and photographer James Van Der Zee became well known for their work. During the Great Depression, new opportunities arose for these and other African American artists under the WPA. In later years, other programs and institutions, such as the New York City-based Harmon Foundation, helped to foster African American artistic talent. Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and others exhibited in museums and juried art shows, and built reputations and followings for themselves. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were very few widely accepted African American artists. Despite this, The Highwaymen, a loose association of 27 African American artists from Ft. Pierce, Florida, created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida landscape and peddled some 50,000 of them from the trunks of their cars. They sold their art directly to the public rather than through galleries and art agents, thus receiving the name The Highwaymen. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s, today they are recognized as an important part of American folk history. Their artwork is widely collected by enthusiasts and original pieces can easily fetch thousands of dollars in auctions and sales. The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was another period of resurgent interest in African American art. During this period, several African-American artists gained national prominence, among them Lou Stovall, Ed Love, Charles White, and Jeff Donaldson. Donaldson and a group of African-American artists formed the Afrocentric collective AFRICOBRA, which remains in existence today. The sculptor Martin Puryear, whose work has been acclaimed for years, is being honored with a 30-year retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York starting November 2007. Notable contemporary African American artists include David Hammons, Eugene J. Martin, Charles Tolliver, and Kara Walker. Literature [pic] Langston Hughes, a notable African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance. African American literature has its roots in the oral traditions of African slaves in America. The slaves used stories and fables in much the same way as they used music. These stories influenced the earliest African American writers and poets in the 18thcentury such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano. These authors reached early high points by telling slave narratives. During the early 20th century Harlem Renaissance, numerous authors and poets, such as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Dubois, and Booker T. Washington, grappled with how to respond to discrimination in America. Authors during the Civil Rights era, such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation, oppression and other aspects of African American life. This tradition continues today with authors who have been accepted as an integral part of American literature, with works such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and Beloved by Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison, and series by Octavia Butler and Walter Mosley that have achieved both best-selling and/or award-winning status. Museums The African American Museum Movement emerged during the 1950s and 1960s to preserve the heritage of the African American experience and to ensure its proper interpretation in American history. Museums devoted to African American history are found in many African American neighborhoods. Institutions such as the African American Museum and Library at Oakland and The African American Museum in Cleveland were created by African Americans to teach and investigate cultural history that, until recent decades was primarily preserved trough oral traditions. Language Generations of hardships imposed on the African American community created distinctive language patterns. Slave owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English. This, combined with prohibitions against education, led to the development of pidgins, simplified mixtures of two or more languages that speakers of different languages could use to communicate. Examples of pidgins that became fully developed languages include Creole, common to Haiti,and Gullah, common to the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. African American Vernacular English is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language closely associated with the speech of but not exclusive to African Americans. While AAVE is academically considered a legitimate dialect because of its logical structure, some of both Caucasians and African Americans consider it slang or the result of a poor command of Standard American English. Inner city African American children who are isolated by speaking only AAVE have more difficulty with standardized testing and, after school, moving to the mainstream world for work. It is common for many speakers of AAVE to code switch between AAVE and Standard American English depending on the setting. Fashion and aesthetics [pic]. A man weaving kente cloth in Ghana. Attire The cultural explosion of the 1960s saw the incorporation of surviving cultural dress with elements from modern fashion and West African traditional clothing to create a uniquely African American traditional style. Kente cloth is the best known African textile. These festive woven patterns, which exist in numerous varieties, were originally made by the Ashanti and Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo. Kente fabric also appears in a number of Western style fashions ranging from casual t-shirts to formal bow ties and cummerbunds. Kente strips are often sewn into liturgical and academic robes or worn as stoles. Since the Black Arts Movement, traditional African clothing has been popular amongst African Americans for both formal and informal occasions. Another common aspect of fashion in African American culture involves the appropriate dress for worship in the Black church. It is expected in most churches that an individual should present their best appearance for worship. African American women in particular are known for wearing vibrant dresses and suits. An interpretation of a passage from the Christian Bible, every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head , has led to the tradition of wearing elaborate Sunday hats, sometimes known as crowns. Hair Hair styling in African American culture is greatly varied. African American hair is typically composed of tightly coiled curls. The predominant styles for women involve the straightening of the hair through the application of heat or chemical processes. These treatments form the base for the most commonly socially acceptable hairstyles in the United States. Alternatively, the predominant and most socially acceptable practice for men is to leave ones hair natural. Often, as men age and begin to lose their hair, the hair is either closely cropped, or the head is shaved completely free of hair. However, since the 1960s, natural hairstyles, such as the afro, braids, and dreadlocks, have been growing in popularity. Although the association with radical political movements and their vast difference from mainstream Western hairstyles, the styles have not yet attained widespread social acceptance. Maintaining facial hair is more prevalent among African American men than in other male populations in the U. S. In fact, the soul patch is so named because African American men, particularly jazz musicians, popularized the style. The preference for facial hair among African American men is due partly to personal taste, but because they are more prone than other ethnic groups to develop a condition known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, commonly referred to as razor bumps, many prefer not to shave. Body image The European aesthetic and attendant mainstream concepts of beauty are often at odds with the African body form. Because of this, African American women often find themselves under pressure to conform to European standards of beauty. Still, there are individuals and groups who are working towards raising the standing of the African aesthetic among African Americans and internationally as well. This includes efforts toward promoting as models those with clearly defined African features; the mainstreaming of natural hairstyles; and, in women, fuller, more voluptuous body types. Religion While African Americans practice a number of religions, Protestant Christianity is by far the most popular. Additionally, 14% of Muslims in the United States and Canada are African American. Christianity [pic] A river baptism in New Bern, North Carolina near the turn of the 20th century. The religious institutions of African American Christians commonly are referred tocollectively as the black church. During slavery, many slaves were stripped of their African belief systems and typically denied free religious practice. Slaves managed, however, to hang on to some practices by integrating them into Christian worship in secret meetings. These practices, including dance, shouts, African rhythms, and enthusiastic singing, remain a large part of worship in the African American church. African American churches taught that all people were equal in Gods eyes and viewed the doctrine of obedience to ones master taught in white churches as hypocritical. Instead the African American church focused on the message of equality and hopes for a better future. Before and after emancipation, racial segregation in America prompted the development of organized African American denominations. The first of these was the AME Church founded by Richard Allen in 1787. An African American church is not necessarily a separate denomination. Several predominantly African American churches exist as members of predominantly white denominations. African American churches have served to provide African American people with leadership positions and opportunities to organize that were denied in mainstream American society. Because of this, African American pastors became the bridge between the African American and European American communities and thus played a crucial role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Like many Christians, African American Christians sometimes participate in or attend a Christmas play. Black Nativity by Langston Hughes is a re-telling of the classic Nativity story with gospel music. Productions can be found a African American theaters and churches all over the country. Islam [pic] A member of the Nation of Islam selling merchandise on a city street corner. Despite the popular assumption that the Nation represents all or most African American Muslims, less than 2% are members. Generations before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade, Islam was a thriving religion in West Africa due to its peaceful introduction via the lucrative trans-Saharan trade between prominent tribes in the southern Sahara and the Berbers to the North. In his attesting to this fact the West African scholar Cheikh Anta Diop explained: The primary reason for the success of Islam in Black Africa consequently stems from the fact that it was propagated peacefully at first by solitary Arabo-Berber travelers to certain Black kings and notables, who then spread it about them to those under their jurisdiction Many first-generation slaves were often able to retain their Muslim identity, their descendants were not. Slaves were either forcibly converted to Christianity as was the case in the Catholic lands or were besieged with gross inconviences to their religious practice such as in the case of the Protestant American mainland. In the decades after slavery and particularly during the depression era, Islam reemerged in the form of highly visible and sometimes controversial heterodox movements in the African American community. The first of these of note was the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded by Noble Drew Ali. Ali had a profound influence on Wallace Fard, who later founded the Black nationalist Nation of Islam in 1930. Elijah Muhammad became head of the organization in 1934. Much like Malcolm X, who left the Nation of Islam in 1964, many African American Muslims now follow traditional Islam. A survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows that 30% of Sunni Mosque attendees are African Americans. African American orthodox Muslims are often the victims of stereotypes, most notably the assumption that an African American Muslim is a member of the Nation of Islam. They are often viewed by the uneducated African-American community in general as less authentic than Muslims from the Middle East or South Asia while credibility is less of an issue with immigrant Muslims and Muslim world in general. Other religions. Aside from Christianity and Islam, there are also African Americans who follow Judaism, Buddhism, and a number of other religions. The Black Hebrew Israelites are a collection of African American Jewish religious organizations. Among their varied teachings, they often include that African Americans are descended from the Biblical Hebrews (sometimes with the paradoxical claim that the Jewish people are not). There is a small but growing number of African Americans who participate in African traditional religions, such as Vodou and Santeria or Ifa and diasporic traditions like Rastafarianism. Many of them are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean and South America, where these are practiced. Because of religious practices, such as animal sacrifice, which are no longer common among American religions and are often legally prohibited, these groups may be viewed negatively and are sometimes the victims of harassment. Life events For most African Americans, the observance of life events follows the pattern of mainstream American culture. There are some traditions which are unique to African Americans. Some African Americans have created new rites of passage that are linked to African traditions. Pre-teen and teenage boys and girls take classes to prepare them for adulthood. They are typically taught spirituality, responsibility, and leadership. Most of these programs are modeled after traditional African ceremonies, with the focus largely on embracing African ideologies rather than specific rituals. To this day, some African American couples choose to jump the broom as a part of their wedding ceremony. Although the practice, which can be traced back to Ghana, fell out of favor in the African American community after the end of slavery, it has experienced a slight resurgence in recent years as some couples seek to reaffirm their African heritage. Funeral traditions tend to vary based on a number of factors, including religion and location, but there are a number of commonalities. Probably the most important part of death and dying in the African American culture is the gathering of family and friends. Either in the last days before death or shortly after death, typically any friends and family members that can be reached are notified. This gathering helps to provide spiritual and emotional support, as well as assistance in making decisions and accomplishing everyday tasks. The spirituality of death is very important in African American culture. A member of the clergy or members of the religious community, or both, are typically present with the family through the entire process. Death is often viewed as transitory rather than final. Many services are called homegoings, instead of funerals, based on the belief that the person is going home to the afterlife. The entire end of life process is generally treated as a celebration of life rather than a mourning of loss. This is most notably demonstrated in the New Orleans Jazz Funeral tradition where upbeat music, dancing, and food encourage those gathered to be happy and celebrate the homegoing of a beloved friend. Cuisine [pic] A traditional soul food dinner consisting of fried chicken, candied yams, collard greens, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the United States, such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to African influences. African American foods reflect creative responses to racial and economic oppression and poverty. Under slavery, African Americans were not allowed to eat better cuts of meat, and after emancipation many often were too poor to afford them. Soul food, a hearty cuisine commonly associated with African Americans in the South (but also common to African Americans nationwide), makes cre.

The Possible and the Potential Essay Example for Free

The Possible and the Potential Essay A Paper on Problems that a Teacher May Encounter in the Classroom Before a teacher steps into a classroom and valiantly imparts to the students whatever it is he/she needs to impart, there would inevitably problems that would be encountered. In fact, before, during and even after a lesson has been conducted and the chalk has been put away, there are bound to be problems encountered in each step. The art of teaching actually does not seem to run out of problems and yet, it is a glorious profession that only the best people on planet earth have the capability to practice. Out of all these inevitable problems, there are those problems which are more prominent than the others—and believe it or not, can easily be solved. In the three articles that are featured in this paper, there are numerous problems which they have pointed out and which can be solved by instructional means. In Holly Hansen-Thomas’ article, â€Å"Sheltered Instruction: Best Practices for Ells in the Mainstream†, she points out that sheltered instruction—a form of instruction used to teach ELL students—can also be used in teaching mainstream students. Sheltered instruction is defined as â€Å"a research-based instructional framework that provides clear and accessible content and academic language to ELLs in pre-K–12 grade-level classes† (Hansen-Thomas, 2008). This can help the potential problems that may arise in ELL classrooms wherein students of a different language are trying to learn English. Though Hansen-Thomas has specifically identified what are the things to keep in mind in ELL classes, the things that she also explained can also be applied in mainstream teaching and even other forms of pedagogy. Potential problems (or things that should be kept in mind to avoid the cropping up of problems) would centre on the instructional materials and if the teacher is competent enough to handle such materials or to even implement certain programs or curriculum. This may be seen as one of the things that would hinder optimum learning from the students if the teacher himself/herself is incapable of optimum pedagogy. The fact that there is already something wrong when the teacher fails to deliver his/her lessons well or even the strategy he/she is trying to employ would greatly reflect on the learners. Hansen-Thomas unfailingly reiterates that people who can deliver sheltered instruction for students are those teachers who specialize in such instruction. Thus, it is imperative to train and assist teachers in their professional development to solve and to even avoid potential problems in the classroom. This circumstance of incompetent teachers can be seen as a problem since time, money and effort would be wasted on all parties concerned—the teachers, learners, parents and the educational institution. Worst of all, the learners would not learn anything at all or if they do, it would be a misleading form of knowledge or skill. On the other hand, a different problem is discussed in the article of Amanda O. Latz, Kristie L. Speirs Neumeister, Cheryll M. Adams, and Rebecca L. Pierce entitled â€Å"Peer Coaching to Improve Classroom Differentiation: Perspectives from Project CLUE†. Latz et al. (2009) discusses in their article about the decrease in teacher differentiation. This may pose a problem because such method is needed in meeting all the needs, styles and levels of the students. It is commonly known that not all people are alike and this same goes on how students learn, retain learning and desire learning. Because of this diversity in students’ needs, desire to learn, level of learning, style of learning and other factors such as historical/cultural background, gender and age, there is a need to address everything (no matter how daunting and impossible it may seem) while implementing a strategy that would be fair to everyone. This is a problem for both the educational institution and most especially for the teachers since it would entail much assessment, research and preparation—and such factors are exactly the reasons why according to Latz et al. , fewer people are using differentiation on their teaching. This decrease in differentiation would greatly pose a problem for the students since their individuality as learners are not met and addressed. When this happens, naturally, only students who are targeted in the objectives of the teachers would fully take advantage of whatever strategy implemented by the teacher. This would mean that those students who are having problems in school due to behavioral problems, psychological/ mental/ emotional instability and even those who are gifted and talented to the point that they are not learning properly due to the inappropriate learning level they are in would never be solved and addressed. The lack of proper attention to their differences would prove insensitivity and maybe even laziness on the teacher’s part. Latz et al. (2009) sees peer coaching as the answer to support and catalyze teaching differentiation since it would allow help from the all the teachers to come together and cooperate to assess the individuality of the learners and come up with a game plan that would allow them to address that individuality. In the third and final article wherein Nancy Padak and Cheryl Potenza-Radis (2010) showed an example on how teachers successfully motivated readers who are struggling in their efforts to read on the same level as everyone else. In the article entitled â€Å"Motivating Struggling Readers: Three Keys to Success†, Padak et al. (2010) explained that there are students who are having difficulties in reading since they are either not motivated to read or they are ashamed of their incapability to read on the same level as everyone else. This situation is not new and can be seen as a threat to the learning of a child. Since the child would have such insecure notions about himself/herself, he/she will do anything to worm out of a situation that would entitle him/her to read in public, even to the point of being withdrawn or aloof to everyone else. Moreover, this would develop a psychological effect on the learner which would render him/her with the thinking that he/she is stupid or incapable of learning when in fact, such problem can be addressed. In the same article, Padak et al. (2010) pointed out that the answer to such problem lies in a conducive environment prepared by the teacher, the zealousness and efforts of the teacher to motivate and to teach the students to read and lastly, a routine implementation of a strategy that the students would enjoy and greatly benefit from. Reading is one of four macro-skills that is considered as a life-long skill needed for personal growth and everyday communications—if an individual cannot read or is hindered from enthusiastic reading the tendency is that the individual’s over all character would be greatly affected. To end, there are still many other examples of potential problems that may happen in the classroom and it is not up to the teacher alone to address or prevent the onslaught of such problems. It is up to the teachers, learners, parents, educational institution and even the government and the society to go on solving and preventing such problems. After all, a most educated learner who has received optimal capacity for learning would most likely mean a most efficient and valuable member of society in the future—and would not that be a pretty picture to envision? References Hansen-Thomas, H. (2008). Sheltered instruction: best practices for ELLs in the mainstream. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 44 (4), pp. 165-169. Name of Database. Retrieved: Date of Retrieval, from Website URL. Latz, A. O. et al. (2009). Roeper Review 31, pp. 27-39. Name of Database. Retrieved: Date of Retrieval, from Website URL. Padak, N. et al. (2010). Motivating struggling readers: three keys to success. New England Reading Association Journal 45 (2), pp. 1-7. ProQuest Education Journals database. Retrieved: Date of Retrieval, from Website URL.

Tv Advertising And Peer Group Pressure Marketing Essay

Tv Advertising And Peer Group Pressure Marketing Essay Children also exert a powerful influence over their parents to buy them the latest products, influenced by TV advertising and peer group pressure. TV/film and the latest toy crazes are also important drivers, so a strong stream of new products heavily supported by the media will help to ensure regular uplifts in toy sales. The big challenge is for toy retailers to avoid competing too heavily on price, so as to drive value growth in sales. This will be difficult given the slow pace of the economic recovery and the squeeze on incomes that will increase in 2011 due to austerity measures being introduced to cut the government borrowing deficit. Licensed products will continue to be a major focus of new product launches, with ranges related to new TV or film releases supplementing long-established licensed ranges that continue to be popular. Educational toys that aid learning are also likely to see growth. Nostalgic toys with a modern twist are another important area of the market and in terms of retailing the multi-channel combination of websites, catalogues and stores with a bit of added retail theatre will help drive incremental sales and reduce the heavy reliance on Christmas. This portable Mini Photo Studio is designed to steer children away from video games and towards the artistic passion of photography. The concept came with the increase in popularity of social media and photo sharing, as well as a high percentage of digital camera ownership. Market Description Mini Photo Studio is primarily focused in the market of arts and crafts products; selling a product that will help develop the creativity of the children and teenagers by learning the beautiful art of photography. Demographic Analysis of Consumers The main target market of the Mini Photo Studio is the young teenagers (9-16 years) who are interested in the artistic passion of photography. Children and young teenagers, who are aged between 9-16 years old, are generally interested in social networks, fashion, make-up, latest technology mobile phones and photography (Mintel, 2008). In addition, according to a 2008 Mintel Report the second feature used on mobile phones by young teenagers is the camera facility. Starting with 2003, young teenagers also have more disposable pocket-money to buy their own things and when shopping with parents their own decision is the most important. There are different types of consumers interested in buying the Mini Photo Studio such as consumers interested to learn or develop the photography skills, or interested in modelling which are usually connected more with the celebrity. As Mintel Report says Celebrity endorsement is apparently more influential among children than among adults, with almost a quarter of parents claiming that their child/children aged 12+ are influenced by some kind of celebrity/pop/ sports star. The above characteristics of consumers were among the top factors that came with the increase in popularity of social media and photo sharing, as well as a high percentage of digital camera ownership. With the main focus on creating a product designed to increase the creativity of the teenagers and to keep them away from the use of the video games, which according to Mintel, parents are concerned that video games can become addicted to their children, so it is beneficial for us to focus on this type of consumer. The consumers are those whose attitudes, behaviours, and use of goods are significantly important for their personal development and interest. They make brand choices based on new trends and celebrity endorsements. In fact, according to Mintel Children claim to place heavy emphasis on their own opinion when making purchasing decisions, with around 4 in 10 children claiming to be confident about their own opinions. Therefore any use of celebrities must not appear to dictate or lecture to children, instead allowing them to make informed purchase or usage decisions. This is especially important among older children, who are exerting their independence.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Essay -- English Literature

The Caucasian Chalk Circle - Plot Notes. Scene 1 Representatives from two kolchos villages meet to decide who should have control of a valley that was taken from the Galinsk kolchos by the Rosa Luxemburg kolchos during the war. They argue it out and finally agree on a proposal from the agronomist in favour of the Rosa Luxemburg keeping the valley as they could put it to better use. A singer is invited to perform a story to help them with their problem. This is called "The Chalk Circle" and starts in scene two. Scene 2 The singer introduces the governor, Georgi Abashvili and his family and entourage. We also meet Prince Kazbeki outside the church. Everyone goes into the church. When they return Prince Kazbeki has set up an ambush to capture the governor who is killed. The governor's wife runs away leaving behind her son. In the mean time we meet Grusha Vachnadze, a kitchen maid, and Simon Chachava, a soldier of the palace guard. Simon proposes to Grusha, who accepts, and but he then has to leave with the governors wife to protect her. Grusha sees that the child, Michael Abashvili, has been left behind, and, against her better judgement, takes him away with her to protect him. Scene 3 The singer tells us that Grusha is heading to the northern mountains with the child. She tries to buy her way onto a caravansary with two rich ladies by pretending to be rich herself, but the gives herself away by making up some beds. She is forced to run away to avoid the police. The singer tells us that Grusha is being followed by the Prince's Ironshirts. The Ironshirts are loud and crude, particularly the corporal. Grusha leaves Michael on the doorstep of a peasant woman's house. The peasant woma... ...ds before he was killed. Halfway through the trial Azdak loses interest and sees an old couple who want to divorce. Before he signs their divorce papers he goes back to Grusha's trial. He uses the test of the chalk circle, which involves standing the child in the middle of a circle and each woman trying to pull him out. Grusha lets go, the trial is repeated and she lets go again crying that she doesn't want to hurt him. Azdak gives Michael to Grusha and sends Natella away, declaring that her money will go to build a park for the children. Azdak signs a divorce for Grusha and her husband instead of the old couple and then steps down from his position as judge. Simon agrees to stay with Grusha and Michael and Azdak disappears. The singer declares that the moral of the story is that everything should go to those that are good for them.Document1

The War on Terrorism is an Attack on American Civil Liberties Essay

The War on Terrorism is an Attack on American Civil Liberties After the attacks on 9/11 our country has been forced to confront the issue of terrorism.   The war on terrorism has ignited a war on our civil liberties.   Our civil liberties have been affected by the passing of the Patriot Act, the violation of privacy, and an increase in racial profiling. Civil liberties have been affected immensely by the Patriot Act.   A brief definition of the Patriot Act is; uniting and strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism.   The Patriot Act modifies the rules on searches.   It allows third party holders of your financial, library, travel, video rental, phone, medical, church, synagogue and mosque records. These records can be searched without your knowledge or consent provided the government says it's trying to protect against terrorism.   The FBI only needs to say the search will protect against terrorism and they don't need probable cause or evidence.   A judge has no authority to reject this application.   The person doesn't have to be a terror suspect themselves as long as the government's purpose is an authorized investigation to protect against internal terrorism.   The Patriot Act also violates everyone's constitutional right to privacy.   The ACLU shows a funny b ut scary illustration of what the government can do with the information they obtain by violating the right to privacy.   Basically, the Patriot Act allows the government to monitor anyone and everyone's life whenever they choose.   While some say the Patriot Act violates civil liberties, it was designed to support the effort against terrorism. The Patriot Act also created a counter-terrorism fund and increased funding for... ...on Terrorism Has Not Eroded Civil Liberties."    Civil Liberties: Opposing Viewpoints.   Ed. Auriana Ojeda.   New York: Greenhaven Press, 2004.    * * Campbell, Geoffrey.   A Vulnerable America: An Overview of National Security.   Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2004. * * Cassak, Lance, and Milton Hewmann.   Good cop, Bad cop: Racial Profiling and Competing Views of Justice.   New York: PeterLang Publishing, 2003. * * Lithwick, Dahlia, and Julia Turner.   "From a Guide to the Patriot Act."   Slate.   1994.  Ã‚   * * Nielson, Arrah.   "Profiling needed for airport security."   The University Daily Kansan.   27 August 2003.   1 November 2004.    * * Terris, Bruce J.   "Ethnic Profiling is Necessary."   Civil Liberties: Opposing Viewpoints.   Ed. Auriana Ojeda.   New York: Greenhaven Press, 2004.   

Essay --

In 1999, INJAZ was established as a non-profit organization that seeks to inspire and prepare youth to become productive members of their society and accelerate the development of the national economy, helping them realize their full potential. Since its inception, INJAZ has benefited over 850,000 youth throughout its various programs, bridging the path from academia to the job market. Our Programs INJAZ brings 46 programs to public schools, universities, community colleges, and various social institutions. Programs are both curricular and extra-curricular and focus on such themes as financial literacy, work skills, leadership, entrepreneurship, career development, and inspiration. INJAZ’ programs aim to develop students' sense of personal ambition and passion for achievement through a diverse spectrum of courses, inspirational activities, volunteer projects, internships, competitions, and opportunities to gain real work experience and training before leaving the education system. Our Students INJAZ reaches out to Jordanian youth across the kingdom, a...

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel Essay

Recipes in Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel The kitchen has long been associated with the mandatory or compulsory servitude of women. â€Å"Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen† remains the most limiting of the stereotypically masculine preferred roles for women. Cecilia Lawless contends that culinary endeavors, like cooking and creating or following recipes â€Å"is traditionally considered a gendered discourse – the woman’s domain, hence marginalized – and therefore not a discourse of empowerment† (Lawless 262). However, women writers around the globe are finding newfound power in the domestic domain of the kitchen by creating a truly feminine discourse replete with recipes, cooking, and therapeutic female-to-female communication. Janice Jaffe claims that in particular, â€Å"a number of Hispanic American and Latina women writers seem to be reclaiming the kitchen† (Jaffe 218). Jaffe’s statement, validated by a 1984 conference dedicated to the writings of Latin American and Latina women entitled The Frying Pan by the Handle, supports the proclamation of the importance of the kitchen for all women writers. She goes on to describe the naming of The Kitchen Table Press in 1981, an U.S.-based organization for women of color. She explains that â€Å"the name was chosen ‘because the kitchen is the center of the home, the place where women in particular work and communicate with each other† (219). The commonality among the above-mentioned works of women writers around the globe is that they are â€Å"reclaiming the kitchen as a space of creative power rather than confinement† (219). The remarkable prominence of female authorship in culinary narratives can be attributed in part to the acknowledgement of a tradition: recipe fiction provides a means by which women authors can pay homage to what they have received from their foremothers. That lineage becomes especially important for today’s society that has allowed for the mass exodus of women from the kitchen. Today’s economy demands that to achieve and maintain a comfortable standard of living, women must enter the workforce, alongside their mates. This migration ultimately leaves little time for the culinary arts, as the experience of food is largely reduced to the acquiring of basic sustenance. As a result, for many people, food has lost its pleasure and intimacy, transposed as it is to fast-food restaurants and microwave miracles. Once convenience foods had become the â€Å"order of the day,† however, culinary romances could function in a contrary action as a means of preserving the Epicurean arts and affirming a matriarchal realm. For both writers and readers, then, these narratives develop a means of both remembering and honoring the lives of our foremothers as most of us hurry about from one meeting to the next, a Big Mac on a food tray, in our cars. (Lawless) In Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel begins each chapter with a list of ingredients for one particular recipe. She, however, does not index them, or any of the other recipes that she includes, and thus ensures that her book more closely resembles a true cookbook journal than do those written by culinary writers. As the kitchen has traditionally been of little concern to men, very few of them have written or participated in the creation of receipt collections and subsequently in culinary narratives. Their domain was, and largely still is, that of labour,6 though noticeable exceptions to this avoidance are the many world-class chefs who are male. Typically, throughout patriarchal history, men would go to work, while women would stay at home and prepare the food. Until recently, this pattern has been fairly constant, men have functioned outside the home, and women have tended to function inside it. It is my opinion, then, as a consequence, when men wrote, they wrote about things they knew about or desired—often as not, those things outside the kitchen. This paper discusses such an example of the kind of culinary empowerment and creative reclamation in Laura Esquivel’s magical realist novel, Like Water for Chocolate. In this text, Esquivel creates a character that has the ability to induce emotional and physical reactions with the food she prepares. By means of mystical subconscious desires and commands. Esquivel’s protagonist affects the minds, hearts and bodies of those around her, and she also elicits physical responses from her own body. Denied the possibility of emotional love and physical, sexual experiences due to family tradition, Tita struggles to repress the desires of her body and heart by means of mental fortitude. By pitting her mind against her body, Tita suffers internal chaos and turmoil, but her subconscious and her body doesn’t let her submit or surrender. Only by freeing herself from familial restrictions that forced her to negate her physicality can Tita begin to develop to a sense individual agency and self. By breaking out of her cultural confines, she creates a new site of power for herself, one that will eventually unite her body, heart and mind into one complete and whole being, exercising total control of her life, her love and her destiny. Laura Esquivel’s novel of recipes and romance, a parody of the mid-nineteenth century women’s magazines that included â€Å"recipes, home remedies, and. often, sentimental novels in monthly installments† (Ibsen 137), chronicles the birth, life and death of Josefita â€Å"Tita† de la Garza. Like Water for Chocolate begins with the story of how Tita precipitated her own birth, a strong indication of her power as an individual. Tita was so sensitive to onions, any time they were being chopped, they say she would just cry and cry; when she was still in my great-grandmother’s belly her sobs were so loud that even Nacha, the cook, who was half-deaf, could hear them easily. Once her wailing got so violent that it brought on an early labor. And before my great-grandmother could let out a word or even a whimper, Tita made her entrance into this world, prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amidst the smells of simmering noodle soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and of course, onion. (Esquivel 5-6) However, shortly after her birth, the reader learns of Tita’s utter lack of power to direct her destiny. The book postulates that the reason Tita â€Å"was already crying as she emerged,† results from the fact that â€Å"maybe†¦she knew then that it would be her lot in life to be denied marriage† (6). Her mother decreed that as the youngest daughter, Tita was destined to remain unmarried and care for her mother, Mama Elena, until her death. Unfortunately for Tita this meant that she must resist her body and heart’s desire to â€Å"experience love† (12). The novel, most frequently categorized as a parody, can also be classified as both Postmodern and Post-Revolutionary. It is Postmodern in its attempt to subvert and undermine the epigraph addressed to Latina women: â€Å"To the table or to bed: You must come when you are bid† (Esquivel). Maria Elena de Valdes elaborates on the statement in this way: A verbal image emerges of the model Mexican rural middle class woman. She must be strong and far more clever than the men who supposedly protect her. She must be pious, observing all the religious requirements of a virtuous daughter, wife, and mother. She must exercise great care to keep her sentimental relations as private as possible and. most important of all, she must be in control of life in her house, which means essentially kitchen and bedroom, or food and sex. (de Valdes 86) In a similar vein. Joanne Saltz describes the historical context of the Post-Revolutionary novel by claiming that, the text is one in which the Mexican Revolution reverberates, overturning literary and social conventions of form, the position of women in society, their social conduct and the regulation of their bodies, and at the same time debunking the feminist myth of the superwoman. (Saltz 30-1) In this atmosphere of change for Latina women in Mexican history, one must align oneself with either the traditional view of women and their place in society described by de Valdes, or the more modern position toward women as depicted by Saltz. The opening pages of Like Water for Chocolate follow a Postmodern/Post-Revolutionary. Mexican literary tendency to ascribe â€Å"the fundamental aspects of the liberal hero/heroine as living a life of ‘sacrifice, abnegation (denial of one’s desires), martyrdom’ in the hope of vindication at some time in the future† (Schaefer 83). That sacrifice and abnegation will be forever present in Tita’s life is evident by Mama Elena’s decree, but Esquivel cues her reader that the character of Tita will also achieve martyrdom and vindication with her statement that. â€Å"Tita did not submit† (Esquivel 11). Her subtle hint that Tita would not quietly agree with her mother’s â€Å"family tradition† (11). promises to create underlying tension and open conflagration between the two as Tita attempts to redefine the stifling traditional roles for women which Mama Elena so closely follows. In addition to the â€Å"enforced celibate destiny† (Lawless 262) of Tita, Mama Elena dominates and dictates almost every aspect of her children’s lives, as well as the management of the ranch house.   Several examples of the matriarch’s total domination and unquestionable authority appear throughout the novel. Tita remarks that, â€Å"in the De la Garza family, one obeyed -immediately† (Esquivel 12). When met with any form of disobedience. Mama Elena is quick to â€Å"correct† the offender, who is usually Tita. When presents with a suspiciously unruly look on her daughter’s face, â€Å"Mama Elena read the look on her face and flew into a rage, giving Tita a tremendous slap that let her rolling in the dirt† (27). Instances of her physical and mental abuse consistently permeate the entire work, and the character of Mama Elena is portrayed as efficiently violent and destructive. Tita relates that, â€Å"unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating. Mama Elena was a pro† (97). Tita reveals the feelings of defeat and domination she experiences at the hands of her mother in the following passage. Mama Elena was merciless, killing with a single blow. But then again not always. For Tita she had made an exception; she had been killing her a little at a time since she was a child, and she still hadn’t quite finished her off. (49) Tita despairingly attempts to please her mother to no avail â€Å"no matter how hard Tita tried she always got an infinite number of things wrong† (94). Mama Elena’s strict adherence to cultural, traditional and familial mores, like those taught to all young Mexican girls from â€Å"Carreno’s manual of etiquette† (39), serves as the primary source of Tita’s servile confinement in the ranch house. Her mother is linked with the traditional. Europeanized version of middle class women in Mexico, a model that Tita cannot follow. In Mama Elena’s defense, the reader later learns of the possible source of her tyrannical reign in the household. After her death, Tita discovers some old love letters, while going through her mother’s possessions. Apparently, the true love of Mama Elena’s life was not her husband. Mama Elena had loved a black man, but propriety forbid their relationship. Upon learning the real reason for her mother’s perpetual anger, Tita begins to understand what a wretched existence her mother led. Esquivel describes Tita’s newfound sympathy for her mother: â€Å"During the funeral Tita really wept for her mother. Not for the castrating mother who had repressed Tita her entire life, but for the person who had lived a frustrated love† (138). Enforcing her will upon her daughters is Mama Elena’s attempt to compensate for her own lack of sexual agency. When Tita learns of the source for her mother’s anger and frustration, she sympathizes with her mother’s plight. Unfortunately, this discovery comes only after Mama Elena’s death. During her lifetime, Tita’s relationship with her mother is less like mother/daughter and more like master/servant. Faced with this unsatisfactory relationship with her mother, Tita turns to the indigenous Indian cook. Nacha, as a substitute mother, a natural turn of events given that Nacha’s domain was the kitchen where Tita was born and cared for as an infant. Esquivel writes that, â€Å"thanks to her unusual birth, Tita felt a deep love for the kitchen, where she spent most of her life from the day she was born† (6). When Mama Elena’s milk dries up, it is Nacha who takes over the feeding of the baby girl who â€Å"grew vigorously and healthy on a diet of teas and thin corn gruels† (7). The narrator maintains that this â€Å"explains the sixth sense Tita developed about everything concerning food.† and that the kitchen â€Å"was Tita’s realm† (7). When she is no longer allowed to play in the kitchen with her sisters, Nacha became her only friend and playmate. Through her time in the kitchen with Nacha, Tita receives the unconditional love that should have been provided by her mother. Indeed, Tita’s fondest memories of her time spent with Nacha include such maternal activities as â€Å"the way she braided her hair and tucked Tita in at night, took care of her when she was sick, and cooked what she craved†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (168). Nacha also serves as an invaluable teacher to Tita, who benefits from her culinary expertise, prowess with herbal remedies, and inventiveness with household tips. Within the narrative of the novel â€Å"Nacha serves as the good mother substitute in contrast to the bad biological mother† (Lawless 264). This binary serves to support Kristine Ibsen’s claim that â€Å"the narration privilege: the ancient oral tradition of female knowledge bequeathed to Tita by Nacha over the artificial rules of conduct, upheld by Mama Elena and reproduced by Rosaura† (Ibsen 140). This oppositional relationship between the â€Å"female knowledge† of Nacha and Tita and â€Å"artificial rules of conduct† followed by Mama Elena and Rosaura produces numerous conflicts and volatile situations throughout the narrative, beginning with Rosaura’s wedding in February’s installment. From her magical realist birth episode in January’s installment of the novel, Tita subconscious powers increase in potency during the February chapter. In this chapter the reader first learns of Tita’s ability to influence the minds and bodies of others subconsciously through the food she prepares. Tita helps Nacha with the cooking, and obligingly assists with the preparation of the wedding feast for her older sister, Rosaura. Forbidden by Mama Elena to marry his true love (Tita), Pedro agrees to marry her older sister just to be near Tita. In despair and suffering from a broken heart, Tita weeps into the cake batter and later into the bowl of icing. Nacha tastes the icing to ensure that Tita’s salty tears have not affected the flavor. The flavor was unaffected, but surprisingly, â€Å"Nacha was overcome with an intense longing† (Esquivel 34). She went to bed crying and was unable to get out of bed the next morning. Later that day, after eating the wedding cake, everyone at the reception was â€Å"flooded with a great wave of longing† (39), then they began weeping. Inexplicably, under some sort of â€Å"strange intoxication† all of the guests began â€Å"collective vomiting† (39). Rosaura accuses Tita of ruining her wedding day by poisoning her cake, but only Tita knows that â€Å"she had added only one extra ingredient to the cake, the tears she had shed while preparing it† (41). There was no corroboration for her story because Nacha dies overnight from remembered sorrow; her heart broken years before when Mama Elena refused to allow her to marry her own true love. The emotional state of Tita, made corporeal by her tears, transferred itself through the cake and into the hearts and bodies of those who ate it. As Lawless describes it, â€Å"Tita herself has become incarnate in the food† (Lawless 265). Tita’s ability to cause emotional and sexual longing in others subversively serves as a reminder of the bodily urges and corporeality that have been denied Tita. Yet, this preliminary experience of affecting other people†s emotions and bodies through her cooking appears to go unrecognized by Tita, who continues to prepare the family’s meals. When her body is burning with unrequited love and lust for Pedro, she prepares quail in rose petal sauce using the roses that Pedro had given her as a gift. While handling the roses, Tita pricks herself on a thorn and her blood mixes with the sauce. As the family eats the dish that evening, Tita’s sister Gertrudis is sent into a state of overwhelming lust akin to spontaneous combustion. What follows equates to a psychological sexual experience between Tita and Pedro. On her the food seemed to act as an aphrodisiac: she began to feel an intense heat pulsing through her limbs. An itch in the center of her body kept her from sitting properly in her chair. She began to sweat, imagining herself on horseback with her arms clasped around one of Pancho Villa’s men. She got her handkerchief and tried to wipe these sinful thoughts from her mind as she wiped away the sweat. But it was no use, something strange had happened to her. She turned to Tita for help, but Tita wasn’t there, even though her body was sitting up quite properly in her chair; there wasn’t the slightest sign of life in her eyes. It was as if a strange alchemical process had dissolved her entire being in the rose petal sauce, in the tender flesh of the quails, in the wine, in every one of the meal’s aromas. That was the way she entered Pedro’s body, hot, voluptuous, perfumed, totally sensuous. With that meal it seemed they had discovered a new system of communication, in which Tita was the transmitter. Pedro the receiver, and poor Gertrudis the medium, the conducting body through which the singular sexual message was passed. Pedro didn’t offer any resistance. He let Tita penetrate him to the farthest corners of his being, and all the while they couldn’t take their eyes off each other. He said, â€Å"Thank you. I have never had anything so exquisite.† (Esquivel 51) In this rose petal episode, Tita’s powers to invade and affect the bodies of others bears a striking resemblance to the Catholic tradition of communion, de Valdes notes the significance of the encounter in this way: â€Å"This is clearly much more than communication through food or a mere aphrodisiac; this is a form of transubstantiation whereby the rose petal sauce and quail have been turned into the body of Tita† (de Valdes 87). When the â€Å"body of Tita† enters Pedro and Gertrudis, they are powerless to stop its effects on their own bodies. Gertrudis continues to suffer an internal burning heat, and she exudes the heavy, heady scent of roses. When she attempts to take a shower in order to quell her burning desires, she sets the shower stall on fire. By coincidence, as she runs naked from the flaming shower stall, a rebel soldier in a nearby city following an irresistible scent of roses, rides in on horseback and sweeps her away with him. Gertrudis and Juan passionately and skillfully make love on galloping horseback, enacting what Tita and Pedro could only dream of doing together. Held to strict cultural and familial standards that neither could breach, the two lovers continue to suppress their physical attraction for each other. The rose petal episode marks the escalation of Tita’s mystical subconscious ability to transfer her emotions into the food she prepares, which produces psychological and physical reactions in the bodies of the people who consume her culinary products. The episode also serves as a subversive parody of Catholic discourse, which is historically associated with the hierarchical dualism of mind and body, devaluing carnal appetites. Esquivel instead â€Å"both acknowledges the authenticity of the female sex drive in women, who according to tradition, are asexual, and highlights the social conventions that punish women for acting on that drive† (Saltz 35). In April’s installment, Tita subconsciously influences her body’s reproductive processes when she miraculously produces breast milk for Pedro and Rosaura’s baby. Tita actually birthed Roberto as â€Å"she was the only one present at the birth of her nephew† (Esquivel 71), and she instantly falls in love with the child. Esquivel writes that, â€Å"the baby’s cries filled all the empty space in Tita’s heart. She realized that she was feeling a new love: for life, for this child, for Pedro, even for the sister she had despised so long† (73). Rosaura falls very ill from the childbirth and cannot nurse Roberto. Unfortunately, the wet nurse they found for the child is killed after one month’s time. The baby desperately needs milk, and although â€Å"she knew it was completely dry† (76), Tita offers her sister’s child her supposedly empty breast. Incredibly, the child sucks happily at Tita’s milk-giving breast, despite Tita’s incapacity to understand or believe what was happening. After all, â€Å"it wasn’t possible for an unmarried woman to have milk† (76), but mysteriously, it was possible for Tita. In another subversive stab at Catholicism, Esquivel depicts the virgin Tita as the virgin mother Mary, able to produce a child and breast milk for that child without ever having â€Å"known† a man. Tita subconsciously wishes to be the child’s mother so badly that her body responds rather appropriately by magically providing her with breast milk for the baby. In the same manner in which Nacha had taken over the maternal duties of Tita, so Tita acts as a substitute mother to Rosaura’s child: â€Å"it was as if the child’s mother was Tita, not Rosaura. That’s how she felt and acted† (78). Tita cares for Roberto as if he were her own child, hers and Pedro’s. After all, without her mother’s interference, she would be the wife of Pedro and the mother of Roberto. Having Roberto in her life made her subservient confinement to her mother bearable. She thinks to herself, â€Å"What did her fate matter, when she had this child near her, this child who was as much hers and anybody’s? Really, she did a mother’s work without the official title, Pedro and Roberto were hers and that was all she needed† (79). However, due to her mother’s control, Tita fails to empower herself through her substitute motherhood. Mama Elena suspects that Pedro and Tita secretly have an indecent relationship, and she sends Pedro, Rosaura and Roberto away from the ranch. Without Tita’s breast milk, the child dies, and Tita is overcome with grief. She has nursed and mothered the child, but then she loses him completely. Interestingly, Tita equates the loss of the child with the destruction of the only place she feels an element of control – the kitchen. When she learns of Roberto’s death, she â€Å"felt the household crashing down around her head† and hears â€Å"the sound of all the dishes breaking into a thousand pieces† (99). When Mama Elena scolds Tita for having a reaction to the news and commands, â€Å"First work, then do as you please, except crying, do you hear?† (99). Tita brazenly confronts her mother for the first time in her life. Tita felt violent agitation take possession of her being: still fingering the sausage, she calmly met her mother’s gaze and then, instead of obeying her order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming wildly. â€Å"Here’s what I do with your orders! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of obeying you!† (99) Suffering greatly from grief and depression and a broken nose at the angry hands of Mama Elena, Tita crawls up into the dovecote and has a breakdown. The entire June installment describes her time of healing with the help of Dr. John Brown. Tita refuses to speak for six months, and when questioned by the doctor as to why she wouldn’t speak to him, Tita uses a piece of phosphorus to write the words, â€Å"Because I don’t want to† (118). The narrator applauds Tita’s initial efforts at selfhood when she informs the reader that, â€Å"With these words Tita had taken her first step toward freedom† (118). Only by breaking the stifling rules of conduct and doing what she wants to do instead of what she should do, will Tita develop a sense of self and control over her life. John proves to be of invaluable assistance to Tita during her period of convalescence in his home. His saintly patience with her. coupled with the comforting presence of his grandmother’s ghost, a Kikipu Indian, help Tita regain a sense of stability, inner strength, and an eagerness to live outside the confines of her mother’s convent-like ranch house. â€Å"Her first step toward freedom,† away from her mother and toward selfhood, appears to be short-lived when Tita, who has recently agreed to marry John, leaves the safety and security of his home and returns to the ranch to care for her ailing mother. Mama Elena is so embittered by what she considers to be Tita’s blatant disobedience and dishonor to the family that every morsel of food prepared by Tita leaves an unbearably bitter taste in her mouth. To counteract the supposed poisoning of her food, Mama Elena drinks large quantities of ipecac syrup every day, which soon brings about her death. Knowing the misery of her mother’s life of unrequited love and unfulfilled corporeal desires. Tita â€Å"swore in front of Mama Elena’s tomb that come what may, she would never renounce love† (138).   Little did she know that Tita would soon test her own proclamation. Mama Elena’s death brings Pedro and Rosaura, who is pregnant with her second child, back to the ranch.   Tita, engaged to John, still madly loves Pedro, who confesses his love for her. Pedro rationalizes with Tita that now that Mama Elena was dead, they could have a relationship. Tita and Pedro do consummate their love, despite Pedro’s marriage to Tita’s sister and despite Tita’s engagement to John Brown. Soon after their first lovemaking encounter in the bathing room of Mama Elena, Tita begins to suspect that she is pregnant. At this point in the novel, Tita again exercises incredible subconscious influence and control over her body when she causes her body to spontaneously abort the lovechild. Corresponding to the condition of her pregnancy, the ghost of Mama Elena appears to berate Tita and her behavior. Mama Elena’s ghost curses Tita, her behavior and the unborn child she carries: â€Å"What you have done has no name! You have forgotten all morality, respect, and good behavior. You are worthless, a good-for-nothing who doesn’t respect even yourself. You have blackened the name of my entire family, from my ancestors down to this cursed baby you carry in your belly!† (173) Tita’s problems are only compounded when she tells Pedro of her pregnancy, who is thrilled to learn that he and Tita would soon have a child together. He proposes that they run away together, but Tita cannot bring herself to hurt her sister and niece by abandoning them that way. She also felt perpetual fear that â€Å"any minute some awful punishment was going to descend on her from the great beyond, courtesy of Mama Elena† (198). Indeed, the spirit of Mama Elena again descends on Tita to mock her situation and remind her of her indecency and unthinking immorality. When Tita confronts the ghost of her mother, she finally rids herself of her mother’s presence and her antiquated traditional ideals of propriety by telling the ghost that she hates her. As soon as Tita frees herself from the confining restrictions of her mother’s domination, she experiences a spontaneous and sudden miscarriage/menstruation. As the ghost faded away, a sense of relief grew inside Tita’s body. The inflammation in her belly and the pain in her breasts began to subside. The muscles at the center of her body relaxed, loosing a violent menstrual flow. The discharge, so many days late, relieved all her pains. She gave a deep peaceful sigh. She wasn’t pregnant. (200) The act empowers her in two ways. First, by eradicating the remnants of her mother’s dominion over her. Tita has simultaneously provided herself with a temporary reprieve from the impending disastrous effects that her pregnancy would have had on the rest of her family. Secondly. Tita rejects the biological maternity of Mama Elena, in essence aborting herself from her dead mother’s womb. Her psyche directed her corporeal reproductive functions by eliminating the problems associated with her pregnancy.   Without this impediment, Tita and Pedro continue their relationship, under an agreement made with her sister to keep their relationship hidden from Esperanza, the second child of Pedro and Rosaura, and the rest of the community. Their love affair lasts for many years, and culminates on the wedding day of Esperanza and Alex, the son of Dr. Brown. As usual, Tita prepares the meal for the feast, and labors terrifically to make chiles in walnut sauce. After many clandestine and secretive years, Tita and Pedro have finally fulfilled their portion of the terms of discretion now that Mama Elena and Rosaura were dead, and Esperanza would be leaving the family home. Upon her departure, Tita and Pedro would be free to love each other openly. This thought plays upon Tita’s mind as she prepares the chiles, and after eating them, the guests at the reception become incredibly amorous toward their partners. Tita and Pedro especially felt this condition. They knew that â€Å"for the first time in their lives† they could â€Å"make love freely† (242). Entering the â€Å"dark room,† which has been prepared for the lovers by the caring ghost of Nacha, the two are overcome with passion. For Tita, their lovemaking brings her to the brink of the â€Å"brilliant tunnel† that John had warned her about. During her stay with Dr. Brown. Tita learns of his grandmother’s theory concerning the â€Å"spark of life† in each of us in which she said that, each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves; we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love: the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. (115) This theory comes with a strong caution from Dr. Brown in which he warns against lighting all the matches at once because â€Å"they would produce a splendor so dazzling†¦and then a brilliant tunnel would appear before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning us to regain the divine origin we had lost† (117). If an individual were to light all the matches, see the tunnel, and follow its path, the body would die. Because she wanted to â€Å"explore these emotions many more times,† Tita â€Å"checked her passion† (243). Unfortunately, the lovemaking so consumes and enthralls Pedro that he â€Å"died at the moment of ecstasy† (244). Determined not to be left alone, Tita decides to join him. She remembers the lesson taught to her by John and exercises mental control to bring about the desired physical condition – death. She eats candles and envisions the times she and Pedro spent together, â€Å"their first kiss, the first caress, the first time they made love† (245). Engaging in this suicidal mental masturbation, she reignites the flame inside of herself achieving an â€Å"amorous climax† (245), and joins Pedro who stands waiting for her in a tunnel of light. Love triumphs in death because, â€Å"Never again would they be apart† (245). Just as she induced her own birth, Tita instigates her own death, exercising total control over her body, her love and her destiny. She unites the emotional, mental and physical factors of her being in order to achieve a self-determined level of happiness in her life. The struggle for Tita’s has been arduous and exacting to the point of her death, but she acknowledges that fulfilling one’s desires was an effort worth taking. Life had taught her that it was not easy; there are few prepared to fulfill their desires whatever the cost, and the right to determine the course of one’s own life would take more effort than she had imagined. That battle she had to fight alone, and it weighed on her. (168) In this statement, Esquivel echoes the historical Post-Revolutionary realization of many Latina women writers that â€Å"social change so often requires individual sacrifice† (Schaefer xiv). The realization followed social disillusionment with â€Å"Utopian promises for ‘healing’ both physical and psychological wounds† (xiii). Through her powerful and empowered presence in the kitchen, Tita creates a lasting narrative, which becomes a sort of recipe, â€Å"a how-to book on surviving a mother’s tyranny, or finding love in the midst of familial and social struggle, or returning to the paradiscal home† (Lawless 263). Once denied the body and its pleasures, Tita ultimately owns and controls her body and its functions, refusing to quietly submit to cultural constructs and restraints. Through the use of magical realism’s blurred boundaries, Esquivel creates for Tita â€Å"a new terrain†¦not a room of one’s own, not a merely public or private self, or a domestic realm – it is a space in the imagination which allows for the inside, the outside, and the liminal elements of in between† (268-9). For Tita, it is a space that allows her to be a whole, unified, balanced woman. In this way, Tita creates a new self, one comprised of equilateral elements of mind, heart and body, which contribute to a condition of self-satisfaction as a being of both corporeal and psychological desires. However, the fact that her self-creation can only be found in death negatively impacts the suggested availability of personal freedoms for women. Is it only in death that women can be truly free of cultural and familial restrictions and demands? Some would agree, but others envision alternatives. Ibsen claims that by â€Å"proclaiming women as a source of energy in their own right, the absolute of the dominant order are undermined and an alternate order is posited† (Ibsen 143). In Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, the dominant order of the hierarchy of mind versus body is displaced, and replaced with a balanced, fulfilled, and whole woman who refuses to submit passively to rules that don’t apply to her. By including recipes within texts such as Like Water for Chocolate, authors invite the reader to become a part of a specialized community. By sharing her secrets with the audience, the author establishes a level of communication and trust that rises above mere reader response, permitting the reader potentially to take what the author has written and prepare the very meal described in the text s/he has just read. In this recipe sharing, audience participation can move to a whole new level. If the reader were to prepare one of the prescribed dishes and to enjoy the food, one could argue that she would perhaps appreciate the book more because its sensory pleasure would then have transcended the limitations of the written text and moved onto the palate and provoked further association. Conversely, should the reader be disappointed with the meal, it is also possible that the reader’s enjoyment of the text could be significantly diminished. Thus in allowing the text to become inter-active, the author redefines the boundaries between text and reader. As the majority of culinary narratives are written by women and are by and large for women, a distinctive feminine voice emerges from these texts, allowing for the creation of a female literary vehicle. This vehicle provides a means to tell the female experience and combined with its inclusion of recipes and cooking instructions, is gradually becoming a popular and innovative new form of writing. References Esquivel, Laura. (1992). Like Water for Chocolate. A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. Trans. Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. New York: Doubleday. Ibsen, Kristine. (1995). â€Å"On Recipes, Reading, and Revolution: Postboom Parody in Como agua para chocolate.† Hispanic Review 63.2: 133-46. Jaffe, Janice. (1993). â€Å"Hispanic American Women Writer’s Novel Recipes and Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para chocolate† Women’s Studies 22.2: 217-30. Lawless, Celia. (1997). â€Å"Cooking, Community, Culture: A Reading of Como agua para chocolate† In Recipes for Reading. Community, Cookbooks, Stories, Histories, ed. Anne L. Bower. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Saltz, Joanne. (1995). â€Å"Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para chocolate: The Questioning of Literary and Social Limits.† Chasqui: 30-37. Schaefer, Claudia. (1992). Textured Lives: Women, Art and Representation in Modern Mexico. Tuscon and London: U ARIZ Press. Valdà ©s, Marà ­a Elena de. (1995). â€Å"Verbal and Visual representation of Women: Como agua para chocolate/Like water for Chocolate. † World Literature Today 69.1: 78-82.