Chief Justice Warren

Chief Justice Warren Chief Justice Earl Warren defied the american society of the times to help make the future of the country a little brighter. His decisions were controversial to say the least, but his legacy lives on as one of the most influential of the Supreme Court in all US history. When asked what his most important ruling was, many thought the response would be Brown v. the Board of Education. And although this decision did many positive things for the civil rights movement, his response was that of Reynolds v. Sims.The 1964 case surrounded the issue of reapportionment of state and federal legislative districts. The decision of "one person-one vote," gave the citizens a voice. The number of representatives is determined by the number of people, not by the size of the land they live on. Here, Warren cited the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution to support his opinoin.Another Warren decision having to do with the fourteenth amendment is that of Miranda v.Earl Warren; Governor of California a nd Chief Just...Arizona. From this case the "Miranda warning" was created which is now known as the "Miranda rights." When arresting a suspect a number of his rights must be stated to him before being taken into custody. Specific to this case was the right to remain silent before speaking to a lawyer.Warren dealt with the first amendment when tackling the heated debate of religion in schools in Engel v. Vitale. In his decision he again clung to his strict constructionist ways. He ruled that prayer in the New York State Regent schools was illegal. It was in direct violation of the "wall of seperation" between church and state established in the Constitution.

Crystal Science Fair Project Tips and Ideas

Crystal Science Fair Project Tips and Ideas Crystals can make interesting and fun science fair projects. The type of project depends on your educational level. Here are some examples of crystal science fair projects and ideas to help launch your own creativity in choosing your own project. Make a Collection Younger investigators may want to make a collection of crystals and work out their own method for grouping the crystals into categories.  Common crystals include salt, sugar, snowflakes, and quartz. What other crystals can you find? What are the similarities and differences between these crystals? What materials look like crystals, but really arent? (Hint: Glass doesnt have an ordered internal structure, so it isnt crystal.) Make a Model You can build models of crystal lattices. You can show how lattice subunits can grow into some of the crystal shapes taken by natural minerals. Prevent Crystal Growth Your project can involve ways you might prevent crystals from forming. For example, can you think of a way to keep crystals from forming in ice cream? Does the temperature of the ice cream matter? What happens as a result of freezing and thawing cycles? What effect do different ingredients have on the size and number of crystals that form? Grow Crystals Growing crystals is a fun way to explore your interest in chemistry and geology. In addition to growing crystals from kits, there are lots of types of crystals that can be grown from common household substances, such as sugar (sucrose), salt (sodium chloride), Epsom salts, borax, and alum. Sometimes its interesting to mix different materials to see what types of crystals result. For example, salt crystals look different when they are grown with vinegar. Can you figure out why? If you want a good science fair project, it would be better if you tested some aspect of growing crystals rather than simply growing pretty crystals and explaining the process. Here are some ideas for ways to turn a fun project into a great science fair or research project: How does the rate of evaporation of the crystal-growing medium affect the final size of the crystals? You can change the rate of evaporation by sealing the container (no evaporation at all if there is no air space) or by blowing a fan over the liquid or enclosing the jar of medium with a desiccant. Different places and seasons will have different humidities. The crystals grown in a desert may be different from those grown in a ​rainforest.You will usually heat water or another liquid to dissolve a solid to grow your crystals. Does the rate at which this liquid is cooled affect the way the crystals grow? You can compare crystals allowed to cool at room temperature to those formed from cooling the liquid in a refrigerator.What effect do additives have on the crystals? You could add food coloring, flavorings, or other impurities. How do crystals grown from non-iodized salt compare with those grown from iodized salt?What steps can you take to maximize crystal size? Developing a pr ocedure is a form of experimental science. You can affect parameters such as vibration, humidity, temperature, the rate of evaporation, purity of your growth medium, and time allowed for crystal growth. The type of container used to grow your crystals may make a difference, as could the type of string used to suspend a seed crystal (or other method used to grow a crystal). Are you changing containers when crystals start to grow that could compete with your seed crystal? There are lots of things to think about! Some may have a major effect on crystal growth and others may be negligible. Does light/dark effect growth? Probably not for a salt crystal, but it could for a substance that is degraded by visible radiation. If you are up for a challenge, you can make predictions about the shapes of crystals before you grow them, based on their molecular structures and molecular geometry.

Web security authentication and authorization Research Paper

Web security authentication and authorization - Research Paper Example Authentication Mechanism If a particular resource needs to be protected,using elementary authentication mechanism,Apache server sends a header including â€Å"401 authentications† in repose to the request. As the user enter credentials,consisting of username and password,for the resource to be returned as requested. Moreover, as soon as 401 response headers receive by the web browser, it asks the user to specify username and password in order to authenticate the user. Similarly, the server will check the credentials in the safe list, if they are available; the resource is made available to the user. Securing the Contents For any individual resource on a web server, the methodology for securing contents includes actions in terms of step to configure elementary authentication procedures. The first step would be to create a password file. The second step is to determine the configuration in order to obtain the file containing passwords i.e. the password file. Moreover, the first step is to determine valid user credentials, consisting of username and password. Likewise, the credentials provided by the user are matched successfully to a valid username and password lists. The password file is created on the server to validate legitimate user authentication mechanism. However, the password file is a delicate and confidential piece of information and must be stored outside of the document directory in order to eliminate any potential threats from hackers or viruses. For creating a password file, a utility names as â€Å"htpasswd† is executed. It is â€Å"htpasswd is used to create and update the flat-files used to store usernames and password for basic authentication of HTTP users. If htpasswd cannot access a file, such as not being able to write to the output file or not being able to read the file in order to update it, it returns an error status and makes no changes† (Htpasswd - manage user files for basic authentication - apache HTTP server ). This utility is located in the â€Å"bin† directory of the Apache. For instance, it is available in /usr/local/apache/bin/htpasswd. However, for the creation of the file, certain commands are executed. For example, to create a password file these commands are executed: ‘htpasswd – c /user/local/apache/passwd/passwords username’ After executing the command, ‘htpasswd ’ will prompt the user for the password. Furthermore, after providing the password, the file is created. In order to add a new user to the password list, following command is executed: ‘htpasswd /usr/local/apache/passwd/passwords testuser’ This command will add this user credentials to the password file. In addition, the user name, named as ‘testuser’ is already created earlier on the webserver. After the creation of the password file, Apache configuration is conducted with the required directives. The directives are located in an ‘.htaccess’ file, on a particular directory associated with server configuration. Web Contents Prevention In order to maintain a sophisticated web server, web content prevention is essential to ensure the safety of web contents available on the web server. Apache ‘digest authentication’ is made for this purpose. It is a â€Å"method of authentication in which a request from a potential user is received by a network server and then sent to a domain controller† (What is digest authentication? - definition from whatis.com ). The command ‘digest authentication’ is executed on the module named as ‘mod_auth_digest’. This utility will never transmit the passwords across the network. In fact, these files are transmitted via MD5 digested passwords, eliminating attacks such as sniffing the network traffic for passwords. There are some steps incorporated in order to accomplish this utility from the Apache web server. Likewise, the configuration for digest auth entication is quite similar to the basis authentication. The first step involves the creation of a password file. The command executed for the creation

How will climate change affect National Grid(UK) and how they do PowerPoint Presentation

How will climate change affect National Grid(UK) and how they do business - PowerPoint Presentation Example On the other hand, it is suggested by Koomey et al. (1997, 1) that ‘the common perception among many policy makers and industry leaders is that the twin objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting a more competitive economy are inherently contradictory’. Many efforts have been made by the states globally in order to create a mutually – accepted plan for the reduction of greenhouse emissions; however this plan has faced significant oppositions mostly because it is against of the interests of specific parts of the population within each country globally; gas emissions and pollution in general seem to serve the interests of a specific group of people who ignore the effect of increased industrial activity on a continuous basis and promote personal interests even if they are related with severe damages on climate worldwide. Current paper focuses on the activities of National Grid, ‘an international electricity and gas company and one of the larg est investor-owned energy companies in the world’ (corporate website) in terms of their relationship with the climate changes globally. More specifically, the effects of climate changes in the international context are being identified and evaluated trying to locate the relationship between the firm’s activities and the climate change as they can be observed in the firm’s daily operations specifically in Britain. Climate has changed dramatically in all regions around the world. One of the main reasons for this change has been considered to be the extremely high percentage of carbon dioxide released by industries, households and a wide range of other sources (e.g. automobiles, fires and so on). Regarding this issue, it has been found by Marland et al. (2007) that ‘since 1751 roughly 315 billion tons of carbon have been released to the atmosphere from

Relationships controlled assessment Essay Example for Free

Relationships controlled assessment Essay On the other hand, Slims relationship with Crooks exhibits a number of crucial aspects such as the fact that he uses Crooks name when mentioning or conversing with him: sure, Crooks. This indicates that Slim, unlike the rest of the ranch men, possesses morals which prevent him from abusing Crooks in the same manner as them. This is due to the merciful and benevolent character which Slim is reputable for in the ranch. Steinbeck displays Crooks attitude towards Slim as respectful but servile due to the formal way in which Crooks addresses him: Mr Slim. However, Crooks formal manner towards Slim can also be viewed as a protective mechanism because he knows exactly where he stands in the white society, therefore, he is formal in order to live up to the expectations of the relationships between black and white people, and to protect himself from their wrath. Furthermore, through the use of That wont do them no good, Steinbeck contextualises Crooks as wise and intelligent, and conjures the theme of a silent protest as Crooks does not verbalise his direct opinion of you are wrong and I know more than you because he completely accepts his status within the ranch. Adverbs such as quietly are used in reference to the way Crooks entered the bunkhouse to emphasise that Crooks understands that he is inferior to white people, so he must maintain his distance from them despite the fact that he longs for their companionship and friendship due to his intense loneliness. This is emphasised further by put his head in which displays the concrete barrier separating black and white people, and the fact that Crooks comprehends that he must not cross this barrier in order to prevent his life from being snatched away from him. Moreover, Crooks eyes are patient, revealing that patience is a regime for him within the ranch and he has grown accustomed to it. The relationship between Crooks and Lennie is by far the most captivating of all relationships. It is quite different to the relationships between Crooks and the other characters due to a range of distinct reasons; the main reason stemming from Lennie and his innocent mind. Steinbeck deliberately uses Lennie as the first white man to speak to Crooks and enter his room, with the intention of highlighting the possibilities of unity between black and white people, as Lennie is incapable of developing prejudiced views about people. He cannot judge them by the colour of their skin or by their status due to his stunted mind; he simply sees them as human beings. This accumulates the idea that racism and discrimination is instilled within people, they are not born to hate. In addition, repetition of light symbolises hope and a pathway to freedom for Crooks, and Lennie himself represents a key to unlock the door of hope and freedom within Crooks being. light also represents purity, and due to Lennies pure and innocent nature, he is drawn to this light like a magnet which pulls towards it what it is attracted to and sees friendship with another man at the end of that light. Furthermore, Steinbeck creates pathos and sympathy towards Crooks when he repeats i have a right because it emphasises the very few precious rights Crooks has and his struggle to cling onto each and every one of them dearly. In addition, pathos is created with Crooks confession as we realise that Crooks had lived the Dream before, but it was taken away from him due to the taboo of racism and the fear of his rights taken away from him similarly to his dream. In addition, Crooks constantly refers to his rights because his pride gets in his way, he cant go into the bunkhouse so why should he allow white men to enter his property whenever they wish? Crooks and Candys relationship conveys that racism exists even amongst the mere outsiders themselves, in this case the older generation (Candy). Upon arrival at Crooks door, Candy deliberately doesnt enter as he is aware of the taboo which this could cause. He is cautious of the fact that mingling with a black man would be deeply frowned upon by the white society which refrains him from entering straight away like lennie: he made no attempt to enter despite the fact that he wants some company, even if its from a nigger. This denotes the degree of loneliness which is experienced by predominantly all of the ranch men. Candy asks Crooks if hes seen Lennie and Crooks casually replies ya mean the big guy? which reiterates the bitter truth of the fact that under other circumstances; they would be very close friends as they both have a great deal in common, such as the fact that they both dont fit into the society comfortably. furthermore, Candy looks into the room blindly as he is unable to see the hope and purity as clearly as lennie. Also due to racism, foul treatment towards crooks, and the fact that he sides with the oppressors rather than the oppressed, Candys heart has formed a sinful barrier which obscures his vision from viewing the elements of purity protruding from Crooks room. Eventually, Candy is invited into Crooks room and he walks in embarrassed in contrast to the way Lennie entered which indicates that he is well aware the taboo, yet he somehow finds it shameful that he hasnt spoken against it for all these years; and now he is being invited into Crooks room by Crooks himself. Candy takes it upon himself to develop his relationship with Crooks by introducing the dream to him, this makes Crooks hopeful especially when money is mentioned: you say you got the money? and for a split second, Crooks sees a chance of a better future for himself: if you guys would want a hand he seizes the chance to probe them further into letting him participate in their dream, however Steinbeck uses ellipses to generate the idea that Crooks is an intelligent man and he is still wary of his place in the white society, so he is careful with his words and with the level of trust that he shows towards Candy. Alternatively, a sharp reality check is created upon the entrance of Curleys wife and George into Crooks room. Steinbeck brings in Curleys wife just when Crooks is beginning to turn over a new leaf with white people to lure him back to reality and erase any glimmer of hope which he may have experienced about ever reaching the same level as white people. Her sudden entrance and elimination of hope through one short yet sharp statement: any of you boys seen curley? creates a sense of pathos for Crooks as he only had hope for a few seconds, yet she managed to steal even that from him just as quickly; depicting her dominance and control over him as a white woman and also how unpredictable life can be. She also stand still in the doorway meaning she blocks his pathway to escaping the torture he endures, and she blocks out his hopes and dreams. Furthermore, Crooks switches to attacking her with his standard defence mode you got no right when she becomes exceedingly insulting, however when she snaps back with you know what i can do to you if you open your trap he stares hopelessly at her indicating that for a split second, he believed that he may have gained control over her. in addition, Crooks drew into himself and returned to his usual servile manner: yes maam as a way of confirming that he now knows where he stands in the white society and he knows that in order to survive, he must make himself invisible in order to stay out of troubles way. Similarly, George stands framed in the doorway- he, as the leader of this dream permanently blocks the significant doorway as a way of concluding that Crooks can never be part of them, except that Crooks withdraws before he is refrained from joining due to his pride which prevents him from being downgraded: well just forget it. Moreover, Steinbeck refers to the door again: Crooks looked at the door symbolising that just as lennie had brought hope into his life, that hope had been robbed from him when Lennie departed, leaving Crooks to resume his life as usual, as if nothing had happened. to conclude, Steinbeck presents and develops the relationships between Crooks and other characters as very complex and each of them explores a different theme. however, the theme of racism is present within nearly all of the relationships apart from with lennie. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE John Steinbeck section.

Ethics of Accountants and Auditors Essay -- Ethics, Business

In the past there have been several cases in the business environment related to the practices of accountants and auditors who have violated the trust and confidence of the public. A number of studies have been conducted in order to identify the potential factors resulting in unethical, biased or inappropriate decision making and judgments by the professionals. The aim of this paper is to review two relevant academic articles and evaluate the reliability of the claims and assertions made by the authors. The paper follows a critique style in order to gain some knowledge of the topic and enhance skills for a critical assessment of the information provided in research papers and published journals ( Behren & Losen, 2005). The research paper of Pflugrath, Martinov-Bennie & Chen (2007) aims to analyze the impact of organizational codes of ethics on the accountants’ and auditors’ judgments and professional decision making skills. The research which was conducted on a sample of 112 professional accountants and auditing students, indicates that the codes of ethics positively influence the judgments of professional accountants but do not affect the students’ judgments. On the other hand, the paper by Shafer, Morrid & Ketchand (2001) is based on the research that was carried out with professional auditors regarding the impact of their personal values on their ethical judgments and behavioral intentions. The study concludes that personal values do not affect the ethical considerations and judgments of professional auditors. However, the knowledge and the understanding of moral intensity exert an impact on the judgment ability of the professional accountants. Pfflugrath, Martinov-Bennie & Chen (2007) conducted the study basing their d... ...des of ethics which are being set and exercised within the business environment and the perceptions of moral intensity which affect the judgments of the auditors. There are other determinants, as discussed by the articles, like the clients’ pressure and personal interest which may affect the quality of judgments and decision making in the fields of accounting and auditing but it would be shortsighted to ignore the 2 factors that are being discussed. Ethical judgment largely depends on the exercise of codes of ethics which provide autonomy to the auditors and accountants to work in the best interest of the business and not at the discretion of the client’s orders. Moreover, such codes of ethics, if exercised appropriately, may affect the values of auditors and accountants leading to the better and more independent from financial considerations business judgments.

How Piaget’s Work Influenced Instruction and Curriculum Development Essay

Piaget’s theory of intellectual development states that children go through four stages as they grow and develop. These stages are the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operations stage. In the sensorimotor stage, young children use their senses to explore their world. They look, touch, see, smell, and listen to the things in their surroundings and at the same time, they develop what Piaget refers to as object permanence which means that the child is able to retain an image of what he or she experiences such as round objects and pain. Toothman cites Piaget as saying that this stage is composed of substages which are the schemata stage, assimilation stage, and accommodation stage. ( Toothman, n. d. , n. p. ) In the schemata stage, the child develops a mental structure of the things he or she sees around him or her and tries to see which objects bet fit the mental structure. The child then proceeds to the assimilation stage where a child incorporates new information in the existing schema. For example between one ball and another ball, the child may notice that the other ball makes noise when shook. The child then moves to the accommodation stage where he or she makes adjustments in the schema to fit in the object. In the The next stage is the preoperational stage where young children develop a mental representation of the things they experience. For example, they may mentally symbolize animals as having four legs such that anything that fits this mental representation is considered by the child to be an animal. This stage is also accompanied by the use of language. After the preoperational stage, the child goes through the concrete operational stage. According to Hermann, ( Hermann, 1964, p. 250) the child is able to perform mental operations such as classifying objects and arranging them in a particular order. In the last stage which is the formal operations stage, young children learn to think in an abstract manner, reason in a hypothetic manner, and think about thinking. Cherry cites Piaget as saying that the role of deductive logic is very important at this stage where the child determines outcomes for given hypothetical situations based on a general principle. (Cherry, n. d. , n. p. ). Cherry further adds that â€Å"children at the formal operational stage of cognitive development are often able to quickly plan an organized approach to solving a problem. † The work of Jean Piaget has greatly influenced the way schools design their curriculum or program of instruction as well as the way children are taught. Their curriculum of instruction are based on Jean Piaget’s four stages of intellectual development. Teachers as well as school administrators have put great emphasis on manipulatives, language experience, hands-on activities, and discovery oriented instruction. Young children who are in the sensorimotor stage are given plenty of experiences to use their hands and eyes to understand the things around them. For example, in math, young children in this stage are taught how to count using small blocks or understand the different shapes by using toys which teach them how to fit an object into its correct slot or space. In teaching science, teachers do not allow their pupils or students to be mere observers; they are encouraged to touch, feel, smell, hear, and taste. For example, in a lesson about the leaf, young children are not only shown what a leaf is but they are able to experience the leaf by touching or smelling. It is in this manner that children are able to develop a concrete idea of what leaf is. When children reach the preoperational stage, the curriculum and method of instruction changes. Here the teacher helps the young children develop mental images of the things around them by using pictures and words. For instance, the teacher may show the young children a picture of a living organism with four legs and tell them it’s an animal using the word animal. It is here that children are also able to associate words with pictures of objects. In math, teachers do not only teach their pupils how to identify one shape from the other but also associate a word with its respective shape. For instance, the math teacher may show his or her pupils a square and at the same time, say the word square. Adjustments are made in the curriculum and method of instruction as children reach the concrete operational stage. The curriculum and the teacher focuses more on nurturing the abilities of young children to perform mental operations using objects. In the language class, for instance, young children are taught how to arrange the letters of the alphabet in the correct order using blocks. In math, children learn the correct sequence of numbers by having them arrange each flash card containing a number in the correct order. It is also in this stage that children are taught how to solve simple problems using their power of reasoning. The teacher may hold one big ball and one small ball and ask the pupils which ball is big and which is small. In their young minds, the pupils try to see the discrepancy between the sizes of the two balls. In language, young children are able to discover the appropriate initial sound for each letter in the English language. As children enter the formal operations stage, the teacher is already aware that the child is already ready for work that involves abstract thinking. In math for example, children are taught how to solve numeric problems in a step-by-step manner. In science, young children come up with possible answers to problems that might be posed by the teacher and systematically prove their answers through experiments.

Personal Plan: Reflection Essay

I was shocked at how closely my career interests and my results were matched. Previous to these career building plans we have been doing, I was almost entirely sure I had chosen the right degree to pursue. Now after doing these activities, they have helped solidify that my career choice is definitely appropriate for me, and it aligns with my skills and strengths as well. For instance; researching, is my second largest strength. I already knew that I loved to investigate and dig deeper into things, particularly human behaviors. Therefore, Psychology is the perfect major for me because it is aligned directly with my skills, strengths, and interests. I had never really put much thought into my strengths before, per-say. When I would consider strengths and competencies I would mostly think about general skills, like reading or math. I never considered such things as; adaptability or innovation, to be a skill. Now that this activity has put my certain strength into perspective, I think my results match up really well with my competency skills. I knew already that I was good at taking initiative and investigating situations but, it did surprise me however, to find out I did fairly well at adapting to change. I do not personally think I am fabulous at this particular skill, so having a visual aid to help add depth and meaning to each of my own personal strengths and competencies is wonderful. SMART goals are a very efficient way for me to break down my long-term goals into shorter, more specific and measurable ones. Using SMART goals as a part of my personal plan helps me set milestones to see what needs to be achieved; by what time, and in which order, so I can reach my ultimate goal. They have taught me how to use a rewards system for achieving my goals. This way, I am training myself to; work now and play later, so to speak. Exploring in depth what each of my competencies truly means, trying to recognize, and practice them to the best of my ability will help build on the skills I already have. For example: organization is one of my personal strengths, so when I catch myself in a situation where I am applying this skill, I will now try and recognize and build on it. Asking friends and family to point out certain strengths and weaknesses will also help me build on each skill because I will have, at that point, be made conscious to the fact that I am utilizing a certain strength. From there I can apply different strategies as to build on each skill, or lack thereof, and improve each one. I think it is important to focus on both your strengths and weaknesses. If you solely focus on your strengths, then you are not building on, or learning any new competencies. If you focus only on your weaknesses, it might start to have a negative effect on you and any progress you might be trying to make. I will personally be putting more effort into building up the competencies that I am currently weaker in than others. I clearly know now, what my ultimate strengths are and I can see where I have the ability to do some things more efficiently than others. So I feel it is important for me to work on both my strengths and weaknesses, just to pay extra attention to the things I am not fabulous at, and build on them. As well as recognize my strengths and how to exercise them to my fullest potential or ability.

Representation of Masculinity in Billy Elliot Essays

Representation of Masculinity in Billy Elliot Essays Representation of Masculinity in Billy Elliot Paper Representation of Masculinity in Billy Elliot Paper Essay Topic: The Piano Lesson Jacky is doing his best as a lone parent, but is pre-occupied with the ongoing strike, so Billy is left tending to himself and his Grandma (Jean Haywood). At all times Jacky rules his house with a stern hand and has the same prejudices towards ballet as every other typical man in the country. So, when he finds out that Billy has been skipping his Boxing lessons and going to Ballet instead he is furious. Jacky reasons that Ballet is for poofs and that boys should be doing boys stuff like football and wrestling. One critic wrote that the movie is a catalyst for shifting attitudes and prejudices in the western world where male dancers are considered effeminate or queer. Ballet is a threat and blow to ones masculinity in peoples minds. Billy Elliot breaks through that prejudice and claims ballet to be an art that transcends gender. Jacky is under immense pressure, he can no longer support his family and his masculinity is compromised and he cannot fulfil the role of breadwinner. This is further emphasised when he breaks down in tears in the scene on Christmas day, which shows Jacky, Billy and His Grandmother in the picture. The mantelpiece is centre screen and this highlights the family feel, it is lightly decorated with tinsel this indicates there financial dire straits. On the whole, the audience gets the impression that Billys father has been overwhelmed by life in general. Jacky has had to cope with the loss of his wife and deal with the burden of the financial consequences as a result of the strike. Times are so bad that in order to stay warm, Jacky is forced to chop up his wifes piano for firewood. On the night of Christmas, Billy and his friend Michael sneak into the Gym. Billys friend Michael is close to adolescence and is becoming aware of his sexuality, this is implied by his secret pastime of wearing his sisters clothes and his mild attraction to Billy. Billy Elliot plays on the stereotype of homosexual men being very feminine; this is further accentuated by his need to wear a tutu in the Gym. It seems that his main purpose in the film is to establish Billys heterosexuality. In the centre of the boxing ring, a confined area usually reserved for two combatants to do battle becomes an arena for ballet. Billy begins to dance and show what he is really capable of by dancing to the music in freestyle. Whilst Billy is dancing he is stopped for a brief moment by his father Jacky whose face expresses a deep disapproval. However, in defiance, Billy carries on dancing is further fuelled by his frustration at his father for his tyrannical attitudes towards ballet. The camera is always on Billy who is cast in the spotlight whilst the background is faded away in black. This scene shows Billy to be the true star and protagonist. Jacky is emotionally moved after witnessing Billys performance and runs away with a silent pride and incentive to support his son and his new found love. In the context of the film, there is a great hatred towards the scabs. The mineworkers, who have decided not to strike and carry on working down in the mines, are regarded as the lowest of the low. So, it is one of the key moments of the film when Jack decides to go back down the pits in order to fund Billys ticket to London. Just as he is about to sign on, his son Tony (Jamie Draven) and his own sense of disgrace stop Jacky from committing this unforgivable act of duplicity. Billys brother, who is older by some number of years, also works in the mines. The first impression that the viewer gets of Tony is that of a stereotypical big brother, who would give his younger sibling a slap round the head just for listening to his record collection. However, there is a lot more to Tony then just the big brother slant. Tony, who like his father, is on strike against the closure of the mines. He is young and hot headed, and prepared to go to the extremes in order to achieve his purposes. This is evident when he tries to arm himself against the riot police who are an imposing and faceless opposition, were deployed to stifle the protests made by the striking workers. Tony who is somewhat of a working class rebel, he has been hardened from working in the mines and can be very aggressive, this is evident in the scene where Tony and his father meet a non-striking mineworker in the supermarket. An action totally justified by the cause of the striking miners. Tony, like his father, has found himself in a position where he has had to cope with the possibility of losing his entire future. He is emotionally unequipped with the ability to express himself properly so he does so by using the strike and picket lines as a medium to release his locked away emotions. Tony shares the same attitudes towards ballet that everyone else in the community has and he is deeply displeased to find that his younger brother has taken it up as his main pastime. I think that Tony sees this as just another problem, and this affects the relationship between he and Billy. Only when Billy gains acceptance and support from his family does Tony finally rebuild his bond with Billy. After Billy gains support from his family, it seems that the entire community is feels the repercussions and all of their anti-artistic, anti-intellectual not to mention anti-gay prejudices disappear with Billys elation. However unrealistic this seems, I feel it is a dramatic device to emphasise the acceptance and the broadening horizons of the Billys family. Some of the characterisations tend to be overly simple and stereotypical. For example, Billy friend Michael who is coming to terms with his homosexuality leans far to much towards the old stereotype of gay men wearing womens clothes and being a right sissy. Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry has woven into the cloth that is his debut piece a recurring Swan Lake theme. In one scene, where Billy is visiting Mrs Wilkinsons house he is upstairs with her daughter Debbie. The walls of her room are adorned with wallpaper that is covered with swans. Later Billy and Debbies talk is followed with a pillow fight, which results in several of the pillows ripping and feathers filling the room like some sort of mystical snow storm. The Middlesborough transporter bridge is featured symbolising the industrial might of the North, which is falling into rapid decline, this is juxtaposed with the musical score of Tchaikovsky written for Swan Lake. All of these references give the audience ammunition to make the connection with the old allegory of the ugly duckling that turned into the beautiful swan. The director also added various other images that denote the situation that mining communities were faced with. For example, Daldry pictures a large billboard advertising a state-of-the-art washing machine. The mise-en-scene shows a very satisfied handsome young man on the advert. The caption on the board reads, Your every faithful washday slave. In the poor and gritty community of Billys town, a luxury of a washing machine is almost unheard of and the idea of a man doing it is even more rare. The advert is not at all representational of the people in Billys town. The price of the machine alone is enough to make it an unattainable item, but also the new man pictured within it is pure fantasy to the people of Everington. When Billy and his family find out the good news that he has gotten into the Royal School of Ballet, Jacky rushes down to the local Workingmans club, only to find that the Union had finally given up. Jacky and Tony later follow this scene in their overalls and safety gear going back down into the pits via an elevator. This is perhaps symbolic of their situation, no secure job and literally going down the lift toward social depression and financial hardship. In the context of the film, the plight of the miners strike is just a background detail that aids the narrative. However, it is worth reading into as it gives the audience a means to understand their situation. In 1979 the Thatcher government was elected into power. This was on the basis of an anti-collectivist program of economic reform and social discipline that was to bring devastation to the north of England over the whole of the 1980s. In England, the North became seen as an enemy within, a phrase actually used to describe the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers). Billy Elliot has a very one sided point-of-view of the miners strike of 1984-1985. Thatcherism had an adverse effect on the north of England, the policy by which the free market approach to politics and economics rewarded the individual over the wider community, basically increasing the gap in between the rich and the poor. However, if Thatcher had given in to the Unions, England might not be in the state of prosperity that it currently is. The economic rebirth that England now enjoys is owed to Thatchers long-term strategy and ruthlessness she showed in carrying out her job. This waning industrial background that Billy Elliot is set against could be compared with that of The Full Monty. In The Full Monty, an example of postmodern bricolege combing Ealing humour with social realism is a story about male unemployment in a depressed industrial city. The men in the film are struggling to come to terms there ever-changing masculinity or for some it seems lack of it. The two main characters are Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and Dave (Mark Addy). In the film, after finding out about the Chippendales are performing in the Mens working bar Gaz is greeted with a poster depicting several muscular semi-naked men covered in oil. Obviously threatened by this show of physical masculinity he immediately attacks the most important aspect of any mans manhood, his penis. Gaz makes a comment on what sort of women would attend such a spectacle only to find that his best mates wife is in the club watching the strippers. Gaz immediately remarks that Dave should put his foot down a forbid his wife from going to such a thing, he adds I saw you hovering and I let it go, implying that Daves masculinity is undermined by carrying out conventional house-wife pursuits. The Full Monty in terms of masculinity addresses a slightly different aspect in comparison to Billy Elliot. Both of the films share a specific style of communities; the stories of each revolve around communities and proceedings that are of direct consequence of the socio-economic realities of the places they are set. The communities represented have both experienced redundancy on a large scale as a result of Thatcherite reform. In The Full Monty the characters are striving to re-establish their own masculinity, this is achieved by being able to overcome the bigotries from within the community and to fulfil the role of the provider. An intrinsic principle of manhood and masculinity in the film is to have your dignity and respect of your family and peers. Billy Elliot on the other hand, copes with a very different part of the masculine make-up. It deals with establishing your own identity and treading your own path through life. Billy Elliot is structured around the motif of escape; this involves rejecting the aggressive attributes of masculinity as portrayed by Tony, and replacing it with the desire to escape the constrictions of what is seen as violent, masculine culture of the working class. It is Billys escape into dance which he describes as a feeling of fire, of electricity in the body, everything else is forgotten that allows him to define his masculinity in a way that you would hardly ever find in a male dominant community such as Everington. This masculinity seems more manly than ever at the end of the film, in which Jacky and Tony go to the opening night of Billys rendition of Swan Lake. The audience watches in anticipation as the entire screen is taken up by a huge and muscular back of a ballet dancer, the areas that surround the adult Billy (played by professional ballet dancer Adam Cooper) are mainly dark, stressing the importance of his role. Then finally as the opening of the performance has just begun, Billy makes a climatic leap into the air. This is juxtaposed with his fathers tears of pride. The end of the film ultimately underlines that masculinity has many forms and features, and is thus defined by the persons attributes and actions rather then the environment they inhabit.

M. Carey Thomas

M. Carey Thomas M. Carey Thomas Facts: Known for: M. Carey Thomas is considered a pioneer in womens education, for her commitment and work in building Bryn Mawr as an institution of excellence in learning, as well as for her very life which served as a model for other women. Occupation: educator, president of Bryn Mawr college, pioneer in womens higher education, feministDates: January 2, 1857 - December 2, 1935Also known as: Martha Carey Thomas, Carey Thomas M. Carey Thomas Biography: Martha Carey Thomas, who preferred to be called Carey Thomas and was known in her childhood as Minnie, was born in Baltimore to a Quaker family and educated in Quaker schools. Her father, James Carey Thomas, was a physician. Her mother, Mary Whitall Thomas, and her mothers sister, Hannah Whitall Smith, were active in the Womens Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). From her early years, Minnie was strong-willed and, after a childhood accident with a lamp and the subsequent convalescence, a constant reader. Her interest in womens rights began early, encouraged by her mother and aunt and increasingly opposed by her father. Her father, a trustee of Johns Hopkins University, opposed her wish to enroll at Cornell University, but Minnie, supported by her mother, prevailed. She earned a bachelors degree in 1877. Pursuing post-graduate studies, Carey Thomas was allowed private tutoring but no formal classes in Greek at the all-male Johns Hopkins. She then enrolled, with her fathers reluctant permission, at the University of Leipzig. She transferred to the University of Zurich because the University of Leipzig would not award a Ph.D. to a woman, and forced her to sit behind a screen during classes so as not to distract male students. She graduated at Zurich summa cum laude, a first for both a woman and a foreigner. Bryn Mawr While Carey was in Europe, her father became one of the trustees of the newly created Quaker womens college, Bryn Mawr. When Thomas graduated, she wrote to the trustees and proposed that she become the president of Bryn Mawr. Understandably skeptical, the trustees appointed her as professor of English and as dean, and James E. Rhoads was appointed president. By the time Rhoads retired in 1894, M. Carey Thomas was essentially performing all the duties of president. By a narrow margin (one vote) the trustees gave M. Carey Thomas the presidency of Bryn Mawr. She served in that capacity until 1922, serving also as dean until 1908. She stopped teaching when she became President, and focused on the administrative side of education. M. Carey Thomas demanded a high standard of education from Bryn Mawr and its students, influence by the German system, with its high standards but less freedom for students. Her strong ideas directed the curriculum. So, while other womens institutions offered many electives, Bryn Mawr under Thomas offered educational tracks that offered few individual choices. Thomas was willing to be more experimental with the colleges Phoebe Anna Thorpe school, where John Deweys educational ideas were the basis for the curriculum. Womens Rights M. Carey Thomas maintained a strong interest in womens rights (including work for the National American Woman Suffrage Association), supported the Progressive Party in 1912, and was a strong advocate for peace. She believed that many women ought not to get married and that married women ought to continue careers. Thomas was also an elitist and a supporter of the eugenics movement. She endorsed strict immigration quotas, and believed in the intellectual supremacy of the white race. In 1889, Carey Thomas joined with Mary Gwinn, Mary Garrett, and other women in offering a large gift to the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in exchange for ensuring that women would be admitted on an equal basis with men. Companions Mary Gwinn (known as Mamie) was a long-time companion of Carey Thomas. They spent time together at the University of Leipzig, and maintained a long and close friendship. While they kept details of their relationship private, it is often described, though the term wasnt used much at the time, as a lesbian relationship. Mamie Gwinn married in 1904 (the triangle was used by Gertrude Stein in a novels plot), and later Carey Thomas and Mary Garrett shared a house on campus. The wealthy Mary Garrett, when she died in 1915, left her fortune to M. Carey Thomas. Despite her Quaker heritage and childhood emphasizing simple living, Thomas enjoyed the luxury now possible. She traveled, taking 35 trunks to India, spending time in French villas, and living in a hotel suite during the Great Depression. She died in 1935 in Philadelphia, where she was living alone. Bibliography: Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. The Power and Passion of M. Carey Thomas. 1999.

Trokosi As Modern-Day Slavery in Africa Research Paper

Trokosi As Modern-Day Slavery in Africa - Research Paper Example he definition of slavery under the supplementary convention since the families are bound to the conviction that they are subjected to suffering from a disease and deaths until they offer the virgin girl to please the gods. On the other hand, they decide to offer the virgins for acquiring luck and fortune. In fact, there are estimates of more than five thousand trokosi slaves in Ghana, and other twenty nine thousand and thirty five thousand slaves estimated to be in other countries. Therefore, trokosi is a practice that has become a component of traditional obsession associated with gods and spirits in sacrament things and shrines priests. In Ghana, trokosi practice is originated from Ewe ethnic groups since seventieth century in Togo and Benin, whereby trokosi was considered a ritual in 1600s. In fact, they offered used offer virgin girls the war gods in order to please them and in return, they would acquire victory. Therefore, the warriors visited the religious shrine in order to of fer these girls as sacrifices while the priests of trokosi shrines had a conviction that this would communicate to the gods. Modern Trokosi Practice Trokosi in the modern day is has taken a slight which is depicted through the of story a nine-year old girl named Abla Kotor, whereby she is forced to go to southern Ghana in concurrence due to a crime that was committed by her father (Aird, 2012). Abla was born as a result of a crime committed by her father is raping his niece; thus, Abla was bound to pay for her father’s crime. In this case, she is forced to be a savant to Ewe priest in a way of appeasing the gods. Therefore, her parents decide to offer her as a slave, and she is subjected to a lot of tribulation such as physical and sexual abuse. Nevertheless, she decides to humiliate... Trokosi" As Modern-Day Slavery in Africa However, the girls are mistreated, and there are restricted to interact with others, thereby providing sex and labor to the priest. On the other hand, they are denied to access education, ample food and health services. In fact, they live in a harsh condition in a way that defines the slavery under the constitution of Ghana and slavery convention. Nevertheless, the paper will focus on exploring the issues associated to Trokosi as a modern form of slavery in Africa, whereby various issues associated with this form of slavery will be explored. The paper will also discuss effort made through reforms in order to alleviate the problem faced by these girls. Therefore, the paper will begin by discussing Trokosi practice based on the data gathered from different literatures in order to offer a basis of understanding the issue. The paper proceeds by offering relevant background information on the issue in order to facilitate the understanding the issues in a reliable way. In the next section, the paper will focus on exploring the reforms and challenges faced in the process of alleviating the problem. Moreover, the paper will focus on exploring the practice of trokosi in the Ghanaian context since it is one of the African countries severely been affected by this problem. Another form of opposition to the process eliminating trokosi practice emanates from people with the perception of the process being an attack to against their religious beliefs.