The necessity of a minimum wage based on the cost of living Essay

The necessity of a minimum wage based on the cost of living - Essay Example The current minimum wage set up by the federal government in 2009 is $7.25/hour calculating up to $15, 080 for a full time worker who works 40 hours per week per year round. The federal minimum wage is categorized into non-tipped, tipped and youth. The non-tipped wage rate is higher as compared to the minimum wage rate of tipped workers. The tipped workers make tips over and above their wage therefore their minimum wage is $2.13 that is lower than the above-mentioned non-tipped rate. The youth minimum wage rate entails all the teens i.e. people below the age of 20 years and ranges between the tipped and non-tipped rate of $4.25. The economics of the world is changing posing a question on the feasibility of the minimum wage laws. The increase in inflation, unemployment rates and the economic downturn makes it difficult for the worker to maintain a standard of living that is above the poverty line. The increase in the minimum wage has been in debate over many years now with the economists questioning the viability of the law and the level of the minimum wage. Thus the minimum wage should be parallel to the cost living and as it lacks to support the living standard it should be increased to fill in the gap. Initially, the minimum wage was enacted in 1938 by the US president Franklin Roosevelt in order to protect the workers from the effects of the great depression. The law helped in keeping the workers above the poverty line, thus helping the economic through an increased purchasing power. The United States Department of Labor shows the minimum wage prevailing in all states of America. The economic and political clashes regarding the minimum wage figure has been going on since the inception of the law. The minimum wage prevailing in a state or territory can be either less or more than the federal minimum. For example, the minimum wage rate for Arizona is $7.90 whereas that of Georgia is $5.15 applicable to employers with six or

Moral Panic Is Often Citated Criminology Essay

Moral Panic Is Often Citated Criminology Essay Moral panics are essentially but not necessarily media-nduced. the media is always a major contributing factor in exaggerating and distorting actual realities  [4]  . media often fail to portray the real cause of the problem. they fabricate- or contribute to the fabrication- of a scapegoat reason thus diverting the publics attention from the real cause of a problem  [5]  . the rock n roll scene was taking place alongside the drug culture which took place during the 1950s and the 1960s. the latter raised fears that that rock and roll pushes individuals towards promiscuity and anti-social behaviour while the latter promoted the anxiety that an entire generation would become drug crazed addicts  [6]  . Cocaine first appeared in the British dance scene in the late 1915s following the imposition of restrictions on legitimate entertainment to enhance the war effort. prostitutes at the West End were indeed a thriving hub of cocaine dealing with roots from North America as evidenced by the type of slang they used  [7]   In interviews with a prostitute in 1916  [8]  the use of slang to describe cocaine shows that this was an emerging subculture with American roots. With references such as London in the grip of cocaine craze and cocaine deadlier than bullets  [9]  , cocaine was well subjected into a moral panic with Canadian soldiers were in the epicentre. The government seemed to have jumped on the cocaine moral panic wagon, motivated by cocaines adverse effects it had on soldiers and the war effort. It transformed cocaine from a useful element of pharmacopoeia to a drug that dominated the British underground drug scene. The spasmodic reaction of Britons to cocaine, and future new drugs, such as the vicious cycle of banning and emergence of new legal highs, is associated to its inability to adapt to modernity  [10]  , the fear of letting go of the status-quo which provided for their current lifestyle, the human natures apprehension of the new along with its immediate correlation with devi ance, hostily, unfamiliarity. cocaines moral panic was strongly associated not with the pharmaceutical properties of the drug itself per se but with its delinquent use, users, the lifestyle it was associated with. moral panics are often not a response to the drug itself but its by-products. They rarely take place solely because of the pharmaceutical properties of a drug and its dangerousness With cocaine possession becoming a criminal offence , the drug itself transformed within 6 months  [11]  from a miracle into a menace. cocaine moral panic was revolved mostly around women. Britain was going through major transformations at the time, one of which was female emancipation. When the status quo is shaken in a nation, its sense of established morality is shaken. That is when a nation has to take either one of two steps. Engulf itself in a moral panic or transform. The former takes place when that country is unable to transform either because it is still not ready or because it is unwilling  [12]  . are moral panics a vehicle for transformation? Definitely. Are they a convenient, constructive vehicle or a damaging and and negative one? It depends on the proportionality between the real and the perceived threat. It depends on whether there is a genuine benefit for the wider public in tackling moral panics and restoring the status quo ante? It depends whether the new status quo is unalterable and the actual process itself of suppressing and harnessing an otherwise harmless moral panic would be akin to th rowing oil into a fire thus creating a vicious cycle. It is the trigger that rouses the government into action. The West End district of London was the heart of a polymorphic hedonistic scene. It was the progressive part of London. The multitude and diversity of hedonistic services meant that people from all walks of life would meet in a place much unlike its surroundings that were characterised for their conservatism. This is Britains first ever full blown drug panic  [13]  because of fears that cocaine was threating soldiery  [14]  . Cocaine was used as a suicide method by two actress sisters in 1901 who failed to reach success in the entertainment industry. The reason being that cocaine reached common people last. Those who were firstly accustomed to cocaine were the cleverest people.. Cocaine itself was not a threat to society. Its ideological by-products were the ones that fuelled the movement behind the drug; that soldiers using it were made incapable of fighting, prostitution was threatening white womens virtue, promoting foreign threat, hedonism and moral peril  [15]  . Establishing a link between use of cocaine or in fact any drug itself, its users and the public , is the lethal combination in not only forming the cocaine moral panic but also igniting it.. Mephedrone, a legal stimulant not as dangerous as other drugs, is a prime example of this; having created a sensational media panic in the last years. Government inaction will be applauded by the libertarians across the nation.. Letting go og prohibi tion would be aligned with libertarian beliefs. Nonetheless, use will increase and the fallout costs will be vast. It will affect communities, individuals, government debt will rise. Does the public have to pay additional taxes for medical care to users? Where will the governmntThe governments main purpose is to protect the public, even if it means that a minoritys rights will have to be restricted. Rastafarianss right to use cocaine for religious purposes  [16]  since freedom of religion is a qualified right but So is the right to property  [17]  (including capital which would undoubtedly be affected by high taxes in order to accommodate drug related fallbacks by the NHS). Freedoms are two sided. acid house inadvertedly affected people who were not part of the scene. Acid house was a test to Thathcers conservative government boundaries and authority. moral panics are not self contained scenes affecting a limited number of people, a single type of subculture or an ephemeral ideology.they are constant reminders and causes of change. A test of the boundaries of each government. an intersection of between politics, popular culture and the social order  [18]  . A moral panic is an ideal way for the government to present the need for security and policing as necessary and proportionate to the alleged threat  [19]  . this simulated threat allowed the police to introduced further video surveillance, compulsory identity cards- thus allowing a policeman to instantly retrieve information about an individual by a single scan of the card-, and electronic tagging -thus enabling selective curfew  [20]  . Acid House moral panics were dealt with, as many moral panics, disproportionately by the police. the bad publicity of the press demonises them. Are they dealt with that way because their harm is disproportionately inflated? If yes then the excessive force used by the police could be justified  [21]  . If anything else, the Acid House scene, is credited with a reduction of football hooliganism; the Summer of Love  [22]  which took off in 1988  [23]  , and at Manchester; the second summer of Love with its own dance scene; Madchester .. Acid House was perceived, unnecessarily and disproportionately, as a threat to the order and governance of Thatchers government  [24]  ,  [25]  . Disproportionality seems as a prevailing commonality element among moral panics  [26]  Perhaps the acid house itself had a self-destructive effect on the youth subculture and government stepped in to protect the subculture from dancing while taking ecstacy, an activity seen deviant enough to provoke a moral panic  [27]  . Acid House can be seen as the culmination of postwar moral panics  [28]  . Each one treated with the same apprehension by the press and the law. The clash of Acid House and Thatcherism might be due to the actual dangers posed by acid house subculture. Chaos, fear, robberies and disorder , escorted every acid house event that took place in the countryside  [29]  . parties often lacked the correct licences and falied to meet the safety regulations  [30]  . Labour government sought to better re gulate the parties rather than the full-on attack by the conservatives  [31]  to prevent acid houses from evoking the notion of the rampaging mob  [32]  . Perhaps if Labours approach has been adopted for the preceding moral panics, then the dance subculture would have followed a more regulated evolutionary process, from the west end area in London, to the now, national, dispersed dance scences. Moral panics test the liberal boundaries of each government. They are most often, if not always, a step ahead. They are a constant reminder for reform. Acid House was the cause for special laws directed towards the movement itself. It was a test for the liberalism of Thatcherism. Was acid house too deviant for Thatcherism or a result of too much liberal element in the political system and government of that period  [33]  ? the Sun and the Daily Mail were biased at best while more right wing papers  [34]  not only debated the subculture movment but at times celebrated it  [35]  . Throughout the twentieth century there has been a continuity of a common distinguishing feature among the various dance scenes that emerged  [36]  . From the jazz clubs in West End through Acid House, Rave and the Dance subcultures. It was the consumption of alcohol and/or illicit drugs  [37]  . While the Acid House scene did not pose any legitimate threat  [38]  , it nevertheless induced the formation of the Pay Party Unit in 1989 and the passing of the Entertainment (Increased Penalties) Act in 1990. This attitude not only led the movement underground but put it in the hands of criminals thus opening the gates the criminal elements  [39]  . Government response failed in its objective to suppress it. it paved the way for the modern, commercialised dance scene  [40]  . Ecstasy, the then drug of choice, fell in popularity only to give way to the rise of the use of Ketamine and GHB  [41]  . Total prohibition is uncreative. It is the equivalent of the governments legislation in respone to acid house. There are much more creative ways which include a combination of the right amount of criminalisatin and legalisationin order to achieve the right balance of regulation, which unavoidably would lead to an increase in use, but reducing the development of a black market. Heroin proved that moral panics can be contagious  [42]  . Heroin, a drug more powerful than morphine, had a low profile in the UK, unlike the US which saw it as a social evil. Criminalisation thus can occur without any internal moral panic taking place. Instead, it is enough that the moral panic takes place on a governmental, international, academic, political, level. the US was a staunch defender of prohibition on a global scale in an effort to establish itself as an influential global game changer. Turkey and Egypt defended prohibition due to Islamic law. Moral panics can be global. the US started going after cannabis with a great zeal which made other countries, including the UK falsely think they have a cannabis problem  [43]  . it is the same with anti-depressants.? Reducing supply and demand for illegal drugs has been a failed enevour by every government of the day. Scientific and sociological research are put into second place. Perhaps cutting the direct link between MPs and their constituencies would allow Parliament to be unaffected by any moral panics and enforce the right measures unaffected by public opinion. Governments reactive reaction to a moral panic results often in misguided classifications. A drug going through normalisation often escapes the cyclone of a moral panic and as a result the governments regulatory grip. Tobacco and alcohol are the causes of more deaths than all the other drugs combined  [44]  . prohibition does not work but instead leads the drugs underground whilst increasing their usage and reduces their purity. It is a well-known fact. Mephedrone is a prime example of that. Nonetheless, opponents of prohibition might argue that availability would increase use. Increased use would increase trying and long term use  [45]  . a multi-faceted approach is preferred over a blanket approach. In this light, the Drugs Misues Act was right in distinguisinh between three classes of drugs. Reactively and hastily responding to a moral panic such as mephedrones shows that moral panics justification depends on how the moral panic is handled by the government. The publics di scontent will come and go, but the governemnts actions are long lasting and permanent. It is unfortunate that governments actions are so dependent on disproportionate moral panics which are rarely proportionate to the real degree of harmfulness of a drug.. Ecstacy: a moral panic was created with the death of Leah Betts from ecstasy in November 1995. Ecstasy, a class A drug under the Drug Misuse Act has a death rate of about 27 per year. the famous Sorted: Just one ecstasy tablet took Leah Betts caption that escorted a picture showing Leah Betts in a comatose condition made sensational headlines. Nonetheless, water intoxication was a major contributing factor in her death . had she had taken the drug alone she might have survived  [46]  . This part of the story did not get as much publicity. Going against the current that a moral panic creates is counter intuitive. Relatives and supporters of the victims often acquire a serene, almost angel like authority  [47]  which makes it hard to go against. Heroins moral panic contributed in labeliing of ecstasy as a class A drug while legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol reign free. This raises the question of how much should government interfere. Ecstasy is closely related to the mora l panic of the 90s and its rave scene  [48]  which were tackled by the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Ecsasy has some of the most loyal followers than most of the other drugs. Teenagers respond Similarly, many Class A drugs such as 4-MTA, LSD, heroin , and cocaine, dont even match the mortaliy rate of legal drugs such as tobacco and alcholol. The media always side with the anti-drug supporters in such a great extent that they distort facts and figures . having a default stance against any type of drug is portrayed as the right thing to do, by the media  [49]  . The involvement of the army gave the law a greater leverage in which respectable people were convicted  [50]  for supplying HM Soldiers with cocaine. Cocaine was more rare than the then veronal barbiturates but more ferocious  [51]  . It became the most common form of drug taking , after alcohol. DORA 40B drove the drug scene underground. It prohibited, for the first time the possession of , inter alias, cocaine, in Britain. War traumas that were responsible for the ignition of dance-dope workers whose lifestyle could only be maintained by them maintaining an energetic and vivacious mood throughout the night. Moral panic was made worse by the death of Billie Carleton. Whether this moral panic that culminated and made worse from this death is justified or not is not clear. Kohn claims that her death was not a direct result of cocaine overconsumption but her overuse of depressants in addition to cocaine  [52]  . It was only made worse by cocaine. this is often attributed to the increased responisbilites of women at that time that included, inter alias; working in factories for the war , driving ambulances and gaining the right to vote., kohn argues that cocaine simply opened the door to the emergence of the female psyche instead of actively adding to the whole menace. Carletons death brought the moral panic surrounding cocaine to its peak. Despite her death being attributed to the overdose of her doctor-prescribed drugs, the media focused on her use of cocaine. She was a poyldrug user.  [53]  Her death, the prohibition in the US, the death of the Yeoland Sisters in 1902, Freda Kempton in 1922, encouraged the British Government to legislate extensively against it  [54]  . there is a thin line separating an emerging moral panic from normalisation of a new drug that might be fueling the moral panic. Not criminalising a new substance in its early stages would significantly contribute to its normalisation. Criminalising legal highs would not reduce their use  [55]  . A new one appears every week  [56]  . placing them under temporary banning orders only encourages the development of new drug compounds  [57]  . The moral panic model described above is applied to many areas, inter alias; drugs, AIDS, street violence and youth crime  [58]  . Goode: The kneejerk reaction of the officials and the media to point the finger to the consumption of alchohol and the use of marijuana is a major contributing factor in associating drug use with crimes while lacking real evidence supporting their connection. Moral panics seem to engage the public in general to a greater extend that they should and an often result at the end is the passing of a law that often seeks to restrict or completely eliminate the devint behaviour. Moral panics are transicent  [59]  . the public convern regarding marijuana subsided in the 1940s the same way public convern about the prohition went away. Goode  [60]  notices that moral panics, albeit about sexual psychopathic laws, faded immediately after the passing of the relevant laws, which were nonetheless rarely applied. Perhaps a moral panic is seen by the public as a threat to the status quo of its way of living and an outcry for reforms that will ensure its survival. Goode distinguisehes the features o f a moral panic with a moral crusade. He describes the latter as promoted by activists who often lack rational and protectionist interests while descrbing the former as a product lacking a per se direct and proportionate association with the real magnitude of the threat. A moral crusade is created by activists, entrepreneurs  [61]  whereas the initiators of a moral panic might be in found in a different context, in terms of location and nature. It could be the unconscious by-product of activists, politicians, the media, and economic elites  [62]  . Cohen  [63]  identifies the main actors in a society whose reaction heavily influences and promotes a moral panic. First is the press with its exaggerate attention, exaggerated events, distortion and stereotyping  [64]  . Then its the reactive capacity and potential of the public to respond to simple raw material which will later escalate to a sensational issue. The zealous impatience of the law enforcement bodies in exercising their broad powers as demanded by the panic-crisis-scare  [65]  . Crack cocaine first emerged in the UK in 1983  [66]  . Methoxetamine Methoxetamine, a legal stimulant, used as an alternative to the banned ketamine- a class B drug- has been found in the bodies of two individuals in Leicersthire. It made the news in February 2012 and made a class B drug the next year. the ACMD pushed for crimilalisation of methexametine while acknolesging that there were no known deaths to date cause solely by its use  [67]  . Neither in the UK, in Europe nor in the rest of the world. Pushing an otherwise legal stimulant into the black market by criminalising it will harm the numbers of users who will have to face an unregulated methoxetamine of questionable purity. Despite being made illegal, it is now even more popular  [68]  . The ban has not only increased its popularity but does not deter club goers  [69]  from using it. In a study conducted by researchers at Lancaster University and Guys and St Thomas NHS foundation trust  [70]  it was found that mephedrone had surpassed all other drugs, with 27% of the gay club goers in the stud reporting that they either took it or intending to take it later that night. After being banned, a second study by the same researchers showed that the purity of the drug (mephedrone) has dropped while its price and popularity have risen despite reports that their popularity has been reduced. The sooner the government bans a drug, the sooner a new drug is invented and emerges  [71]  . This is the case especially with legal highs. the transitionary period until theyre put under the purview of the Drug Misuse Act is detrimental. People often confuse them as actually being legal forever. Often, legal is confused with safe, regulated and controlled. There are an infinite number of creating or better yet; altering the structure of an illegal drug, so as to make it legal. Barkham  [72]  suggests legalising safer drugs in order to prevent the need for alternatives. Moral pnics regarding legal highs can also be counter intuitively misdirecting the public. Calling them legal would help normalise the possibly dangerous drugs by the uninitiated members of the public and even legislators. In 2010, there were six deaths caused by mephedrone unlike cocaine which was the cause of 144 deaths. Following this, there was a media panic which prompted the control of mephedrone and related compounds under the Misuse of Drugs Act in April 2010  [73]  . Proving that mephedrone causes death is a difficult thing to do. Nonetheless, do the six deaths justify the media panic ? probably not. In addition to that, the six deaths related to mephedrone miht actually be more than a single digit figure since not all toxicology laboratories were able to recognise that substance  [74]  . Mephedrone is an amphetamine-type stimulant known for causing around one hundread deaths per year in the UK  [75]  which has been available since 2008. legal highs have been available for decades. Recent developments in social networking which facilitated the transition from closed markets to open markets made them more readily available to the public. Banning mephedrone under the settings of the Drug Misuse Act is controversial. Mephedroneis found to be more popular among clubbers even after its re-classification as a former legal high  [76]  . Even more popular than ectstacy and cocaine  [77]  , it has become, after being made illegal in april 2010, the clubbing scenes drug of choice  [78]  by being the fourth most popular drug in the UK  [79]  . It seems to have a loyal following which surprisingly did not switch to an alternative stimulant which was -still- legal. Users are willing to obtain it on the street if any other legal route was unavailable  [80]  . Mephedrone is now in the eye of the law. The moral panic that surrounded and still surrounds- the drug validly takes credit for bringing mephedrone under the purview of the Drugs Misuse Act. Do moral panics have an ultimate goal? Considering that they are an amalgatmation of the publics concerns which are reinforced and followed and even created by- media panics, successfully identifying a legit goal would be an elusive and difficult task. Whatever the goal is, stricter regulation of mephedrone, and any other drug seems to tone down moral panics. The rise of the use of mephedrone is owed partly to the increasing decrease of MDMA in ecstasy which pushes users to mephedrone which produces similar if not better experience  [8

A Burning Intellect in Fahrenheit 451 :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

A Burning Intellect in Fahrenheit 451 In the 1950 novel Fahrenheit 451, AUTHOR Ray Bradbury presents the now familiar images of mind controlING worlds. People now live in a world where they are blinded from the truth of the present and the past. The novel is set in the, perhaps near, future where the world is AT war, and firemen set fires instead of putting them out. Books and written knowledge ARE banned from the people, and it is the firemen's job to burn books. Firemen are the policemen of THE FUTURE. Some people have rebelled by hiding books, but have not been very successful. Most people have conformed to THE FUTURE world. Guy Montag, a fireman, is a part of the majority who have conformed. BUT throughout the novel Montag goes through a transformation, where he changes from a Conformist to a Revolutionary. Guy Montag has never questioned his job before the day he met Clarisse McClellan. FOR ONCE Montag is confronted with the idea that, he does NOT understand the whole truth about books.<WHAT DO YOU MEAN?> Montag meets Clarisse one day, as he is walking home from work, and they BEGIN A conversation. During their conversation Montag is questioned why books are illegal and why firemen burn the books. CLARISSE also asks him if he had ever read any of the books that he burned. His reply was that it is against the law. Clarisse even asks, "... long ago [did] firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?"(Fahrenheit 451, page 38) Montag replies by telling her that that is nonsense, and that "Houses have always been fireproof,..."(Fahrenheit 451, page 38) Here you can see how brainwashed and blinded the truth is for the people. Clarisse says good night to Montag, and right before she leaves she asks him, "Are you happy?"(Fahrenheit 451, page39) Before Montag can rep ly Clarisse is gone, and she leaves Montag pondering her question. As he tells himself that her question was nonsense, he starts to realize that he is not happy with his life. Someone else who changed Montag's thinking, changed it by their actions not by tell him anything.<YOU NEED TO EXPLAIN MORE SO THE READER KNOWS WHAT YOU MEAN.> One day the firemen got a call with an address of someone who was hiding books. The firemen, doing their job like always, went to the house to find the books and burn them.

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest Essay

The six psychological approaches are biological, learning or behavioral, cognitive, sociocultural, psychodynamic, and humanistic. Each approach is unique in its own way and used by psychiatrists to diagnose the problem. A biological approach is applied when the there is a known medical condition. The medical condition normally connects to mental health, and the solution comes from therapy. This particular approach looks at the whole body. The learning or behavioral approach is all about analyzing the person’s the behavior and modifying their behavior biased on their response to the environment. This approach works from positive and negatives items in their environment, and is sometimes cured by brings these elements in and out of their life to fix the problem. The events in the environment can be rewards or punishments that will influence the patients behavior. The cognitive perspective is about understand a patients thinking and understanding. How we process, store, and retrieve information influences our behavior. It is said that all problems are located in the brain, and using this perspective you can find a medical issue that is affecting how the brain is working. The sociocultural approach is when the mental health has something to do with the environment that deals with growth. The culture in which the patient is a large factor. In a psychodynamic approach an individual’s problem is inside the unconscious mind. This can be from a dramatic event that happened earlier in their life. Sometimes the cure can be from the patient themselves accepting the fact, or acknowledging that they have a problem. The final approach is a humanistic approach. This is about individual or self directed choices that influence behavior. This approach deals with the physical health of a patient to eventually cure their mental health. There is a well known philosophy that a healthy mind equals a healthy body. In this approach, a psychologist will control the patients diet and exercise to regain their mental health. The hospital used many methods on the mentally ill patients. They had group counseling scheduled every day where Mrs. Ratchet interrogated the patients and made them feel uncomfortable. The hospital also had electric shock therapy and lobotomy as other treatment methods. Also, the hospital gave the patients medicine, this is a biological approach, even though it was given to these people unwillingly. Mrs. Ratchet also allowed McMurphy to receive a vote in order to watch the ball game and she bended the rules or was too strict in order to win her position. This is a behavioral approach because McMurphy watched the baseball probably in his normal environment at home. She teased him with the thought of watching the game as a reward, then took it away. McMurphy had behavioral or learning approach. He would congratulate people when they did things he thought were good and he would yell at them when he thought they did something bad. For example, when McMurphy taught Chief how to shoot a basketball, he cheered after every point he made. The other patients looked up to and really admired McMurphy, which put him in a very powerful position. He had a strong effect on the other patients and they really admired him. Chief Bromden’s recovery began when McMurphy came to the hospital and started talking to him and making him do tasks. McMurphy worked on chief to see if he was smart enough to complete simple tasks. The first step was him raising his hands above his head at the basketball court, which was the first movement he had done in his whole time being there. Before chief wouldn’t handle directions from others very well. His next step was raising his hand to vote on watching the baseball game, which McMurphy also encouraged greatly. Later, McMurphy rounded up the patients to play some basketball. McMurphy passed the ball to Chief and he shot it, which was followed by him beginning to follow orders and run up and down the court. The final step was when McMurphy gave him the gum before Electroshock Therapy and the Chief spoke fo r the first time at the clinic. After this, chief revealed his intelligence to McMurphy. Ken Kesey was always very interested, and was very talented with the subject of psychology. In 1959 he volunteer to take part in a study named Project mkultra  , this was a CIA funded project dealing with psychoactive drugs. Some of the drugs included were LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, AMT, and DMT. This and his work at the state veterans hospital, which gave him access to LSD, inspired him to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. At the state veterans hospital, Kesey spent a lot of time talking to the patients. sometimes under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs with which he had volunteered to experiment. Kesey did not believe that these patients were insane. Kesey believed that society had pushed them out because they did not fit in the the culture, and that they just wanted a place to keep all the mentally ill. I think that Kesey was trying to convey to people at mentally ill hospitals were treated in a bad manner. He tried to show people that the mentally ill were probably sheltered away from everybody just because they were different. The hospital portrayed in the film didn’t seem to help the patients out or want them to recover and go home. They seemed to have no rights. These patients adjusted to this lifestyle and didn’t want to leave, that is a problem when the assumed goal was to improve these people’s problems. The rewards from good behavior seemed nonexistent and He also wanted to show how cruel the punishments were in the hospital. â€Å"Psychedelic 60s: Ken Kesey & the Merry Pranksters. † Psychedelic 60s: Ken Kesey & the Merry Pranksters. University of Virginia / Charlottesville, Virginia, 16 Dec. 2009. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. . I really enjoyed One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I thought the movie was genius. There were parts of humor, and it kept you interested and wondering so many things. I enjoyed that there were many main plots and side plots, like the hospital verses the patients, or the patients versus their own recovery. McMurphy was a very mysterious character, because he was crazy, and nobody could figure out if there was anything wrong with him. I though that putting him in that section of the hospital was a mistake, because he is so manipulative and high functioning that he abused all the hospital’s loop-holes. At the same time he was very good for the patients. I also enjoyed the character and all their different problems and personality differences. I enjoyed watching how Billy and the Chief progressed mentally throughout the film. I also love the thought of people breaking structure, and that is what McMurphy definitely succeeded in. This movie very closely related to psychology, because it directly dealt with people who were mentally ill. Also psychology was involved when McMurphy used his genius mind to go against the hospital in various ways. Thinking of these schemes uses a large amount of psychology. Even for the viewers, the movie left you deep in thought, with predicting and questioning what is going to happen next. This movie made you think deeply making this a very psychological movie.

Level 3 Childcare – Unit 3

Unit 3 – Supporting Children. E1.. The five pieces of legislation I have chosen are:- * The United Nations on the Rights of the Child * Human Rights Act 1998 * Children Act 1989 * Data Protection Act 1998 * Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families 2000   E2.. The United Nations on the rights of the child will influence working practices in the setting by ensuring that all  children have a safe, happy childhood despite of their sex, religion, social origin, and where and who they were born..The Human Right act 1998 will influence working practices in the setting because it has an impact on rights in everyday life such as what you do, your beliefs but it also includes the matters of life and death. There are also most rights which ensure that you don’t damage other people's rights too. The Children act 1989 will influence working practices in the setting because it includes the welfare of the child,  the parental responsibility which are dutie s, rights, powers and the responsibilities of parents in respect to their child and the welfare of a ‘child in need'.The Data Protection act 1998 will influence working practices in the setting because it maintains confidential policy  which will not harm the child unless it is a ‘need to know' basis which can harm the child in any way The Framework for assessment of children in need and their families 2000 will influence working practices in the setting because they analyze, understand and record about what is happening to children and young people in their families and information about the community they live in. E3..The United Nations on the Rights of the Child – The policies and procedures of this act will help to safeguard the children by treating them differently to treat them equally which makes them feel like they are in an safe environment in they are comfortable and happy in. The Human Right Act 1998 – The policies and procedures of this act wi ll help safeguard the children by taking their parents ‘Human Rights' into account so their parents can ensure their parents have a safe environment  where they can learn and enjoy.The Children Act 1989 – The policies and procedures of this act will help safeguard the children as the act  is about the welfare of the child which is very important, it is also based on parental responsibility which shows how the child is being looked after by their parents and what happens if they fail to do so as it can harm the child and it also tells us how a ‘child in need' whose health development is likely to be impaired, provided a service or if the child is disabled.The Data Protection Act 1998 – The policies and procedures of this act will help safeguard the children by ensuring that all the children in the setting are looked after properly by their parents/carers  and not harmed in any way possible, if so serious action will be taken by the social workers and o ther professionals. The Framework for assessment of children in need and their families 2000 – The policies and procedures of this act will help safeguard the children by keeping a record of the children and other members of their family and they also keep information about their local area/community.E4.. The United Nations on the Rights of the Child – The policies and procedures for this act promote fair, just and inclusive strategies which support the children by taking their sex, religion, social origin, and where and who they were born into account but treating them differently but equally so the child isn't discriminated and isn’t feeling left out but instead they feel welcome, supported and comfortable in the setting.The Human Right Act 1998 – The policies and procedures for this act promote fair, just and inclusive strategies which support the children by taking the parents everyday rights into consideration so they do not harm the child in any way . The Children Act 1989 – The policies and procedures for this act promote fair, just and inclusive strategies which support the children by looking at all aspects of what  can harm the child or if they have any health development to safeguard.The Data Protection Act 1998 – The policies and procedures for this act promote fair, just and inclusive strategies which support the children because they may put their trust in you after disclosing some information which may harm. If the information does harm the child then you cannot promise the child you can’t tell anyone because action will have to be taken but instead you promise the child to try to make it etter and also you must keep the child informed  of every step so they don’t feel scared. The Framework for assessment of children in need and their families 2000 – The policies and procedures for this act promote fair, just and inclusive strategies which support the children because the professi onals  keep all information about the child stored and recorded whilst keeping an eye on them which keeps them up-to-date about the child's everyday life and what is happening in their community.

Free Essays on Practices Of Judaism

Judaism: Tu B’Shevat and the Bat Mitzvah The goal of my religious ethnography was to study Judaism in the Los Angeles area. Since I had no specific ideas on the kind of religious events that I could attend, I turned to my Jewish friends for help. My friend Debra informed me that very soon her mother was going to be hosting a traditional dinner for B’Shevat. Coincidentally later that week, my friend Natalie received an invitation for a Bat Mitzvah in the mail, and she invited me to come with her. I was lucky enough to be able to attend two separate Jewish events and get a more well rounded view of how this specific religion is celebrated in Los Angeles. On Friday January 21 I attended a Jewish ceremonial dinner at the home of my friend Debra’s house in Beverly Hills. It was the festival of Tu B'Shevat, which is one of the four â€Å"new years† of the Jewish calendar. This holiday is referred to as â€Å"the tasting of the tree† because it is a â€Å"first fruits† ceremony. In this specific celebration it is customary to eat a â€Å"new fruit,† one that has not been eaten in the past twelve months. Debra explained to me that most Jews do not celebrate Tu B’Shevat. It does not come from the Torah, but rather it is a part of the Jewish calendar. The reason why the Rosenberg family was having a traditional dinner is because Debra’s younger sister is in Hebrew school, and she is learning about all the holidays. Her parents think it is important for her to understand what she is learning at Hebrew school by practicing the traditions in their own home, so they try to celebrate all the events on the Jewish calendar, even if they are holidays that are not normally celebrated. Tu B’Shevat, the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Shevat, is a holiday also known as the New Year for Trees. The fifteenth of Shevat is one of the four Rosh HaShanahs (New Years) of each year. Tu B’Shevat has a strong tie to the behavior o... Free Essays on Practices Of Judaism Free Essays on Practices Of Judaism Judaism: Tu B’Shevat and the Bat Mitzvah The goal of my religious ethnography was to study Judaism in the Los Angeles area. Since I had no specific ideas on the kind of religious events that I could attend, I turned to my Jewish friends for help. My friend Debra informed me that very soon her mother was going to be hosting a traditional dinner for B’Shevat. Coincidentally later that week, my friend Natalie received an invitation for a Bat Mitzvah in the mail, and she invited me to come with her. I was lucky enough to be able to attend two separate Jewish events and get a more well rounded view of how this specific religion is celebrated in Los Angeles. On Friday January 21 I attended a Jewish ceremonial dinner at the home of my friend Debra’s house in Beverly Hills. It was the festival of Tu B'Shevat, which is one of the four â€Å"new years† of the Jewish calendar. This holiday is referred to as â€Å"the tasting of the tree† because it is a â€Å"first fruits† ceremony. In this specific celebration it is customary to eat a â€Å"new fruit,† one that has not been eaten in the past twelve months. Debra explained to me that most Jews do not celebrate Tu B’Shevat. It does not come from the Torah, but rather it is a part of the Jewish calendar. The reason why the Rosenberg family was having a traditional dinner is because Debra’s younger sister is in Hebrew school, and she is learning about all the holidays. Her parents think it is important for her to understand what she is learning at Hebrew school by practicing the traditions in their own home, so they try to celebrate all the events on the Jewish calendar, even if they are holidays that are not normally celebrated. Tu B’Shevat, the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Shevat, is a holiday also known as the New Year for Trees. The fifteenth of Shevat is one of the four Rosh HaShanahs (New Years) of each year. Tu B’Shevat has a strong tie to the behavior o...

Aristotles Tragedy essays

Aristotles Tragedy essays Aristotle defines Greek tragedy by the presence of a great mistake performed by the protagonist due to particular flaws, which leads to an inevitable sequence of events. One of the flaws is that of Hubris, the capital sin of pride, and thus the antithesis of two ethics that the Greeks valued highly. Aidos (humble reverence for the law) and Sophrosyne (self-restraint, a sense of proper limits). In Greek Literature, hubris often afflicted rulers and conquerors who, though endowed with great leadership abilities, abused their power and authority and challenged the divine balance of nature to gratify their own vanity and ambition. Aristotles Poetics both described and prescribed the structure of drama as it had evolved by the fourth century BC . One of the passages consists of this; The best plot...will consist in a change of fortune... from prosperity to misfortune, occasioned not by depravity but by some great mistake... Tragedy having this construction is the finest kind of trag edy from an artistic point of view. Aeschylus Agamemnon accompanies the description of tragedy very well, due to Agamemnons actions (which include mainly the great mistake), lack of Aidos and lack of knowledge. He fell from extreme prosperity from returning home after the war, to extreme misfortune, being killed by Clytaemnestra. The play Agamemnon fits this poetic very well and lies within the relationship of the protagonist to the inevitable sequence of events. The inevitable sequence of events starts with Agamemnon having a tremendous flaw that plagued him throughout the story of the Trojan War as well as his return to his home. This flaw starts his downfall to death by allowing him to perform the great mistake. That flaw was Hubris, the capital sin of pride. In Greek Literature, hubris often afflicted rulers and conquerors who, though endowed with great leadership abilities, abused thei...

Philosophical Quotes on Beauty

Philosophical Quotes on Beauty Beauty is one of the most intricate and fascinating topics of philosophical discussion. It has been taken up in relation to a host of other subjects, such as truth, the good, the sublime, and pleasure. Here is a selection of quotes on beauty, divided into different themes. Beauty and Truth Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all \ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. (John Keats, One on a Grecian Urn, 1819)Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated. (Albert Einstein, My Credo, 1932)The pursuit of beauty is much more dangerous nonsense than the pursuit of truth or goodness because it affords a greater temptation to the ego. (Northrop Frye, Mythical Phase: Symbol as Archetype, 1957)I must not say that she was true |Yet let me say that she was fair |And they, that lovely face who view |They should not ask if truth be there. (Matthew Arnold, Euphrosyne)Truth exists for the wise, beauty for the feeling heart. (Friedrich Schiller, Don Carlos)O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem| By that sweet ornament which truth doth give! (William Shakespeare, Sonnet LIV)If truth is beauty how come nobody has their hair done in a library? (Lily Tomlin, American comedian) Beauty and Pleasure Tis impious pleasure to delight in harm.And beauty should be kind, as well as charm. (George Granville, To Myra)Beauty is pleasure objectified - pleasure regarded as the quality of an object (George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty)The roses of pleasure seldom last long enough to adorn the brow of him who plucks them; for they are the only roses which do not retain their sweetness after they have lost their beauty. (Hannah More, Essays on Various Subjects, On Dissipation) Beauty and the Sublime Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt. (Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment)What give all that is tragic, whatever its form, the characteristic of the sublime, is the first inkling of the knowledge that the world and life can give no satisfaction, and are not worth our investment in them. The tragic spirit consists in this. Accordingly, it leads to resignation. (Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation)When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene. (Jane Austen, Mansfield Park)Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling .... When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and [yet] with certain modifications, they may be, and they are delightful, as we everyday experience. (Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful)A thing of beauty is a joy forever | Its loveliness increases; it will never |Pass into nothingness; but still will keep | A bower quiet for us, and a sleep |Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. (John Keats)

North American colonies and the United States political system changes Essay

North American colonies and the United States political system changes - Essay Example In a republican framework, such growth of groups signified corruption. The elections of 1800s showed a tendency towards party system. In 1799 the Congress introduced 19 amendments and successful introduced the tax law. Slavery became an important issue of politics with southerners and northerners having different opinions (southerners favored slavery while some Quaker groups thought it should be ended). Washington was agreed upon to be the most suitable candidate as the first Republican President and he took office in 1789. By this time two political parties prevailed – Republicans and Federalists. Meanwhile a handful of Americans thought that electoral system would be most suitable. In a monarchy any difference of opinions led to factional divisions. Meanwhile both Jefferson and Madison opposed Hamilton’s measures and criticized them to be biased towards the wealthy groups. Hamilton accused them of trying to harm the republic. Their differences went further unresolved and increased as the periodic aggression from France and Britain came up again. The French Revolution embedded a dream in the Americans to reform the republic. Above forty Democratic societies were developed between 1793 and 1800 and the members had the goals of liberalization in mind such as safeguarding people’s interests and supporting self served rulers.

Is the one-child policy in China effective Is it ethical Are there Essay - 1

Is the one-child policy in China effective Is it ethical Are there other solutions - Essay Example On the other hand, the policy allows people who have their first babies as girls to have another child but, regardless of the gender of the second child, the parents are not allowed to have a third one. For rural Chinese, access to different services is limited and the different family planning attempts are not popular in such place of China, which make 60 percent of the total population of China. The one child policy in China has negative effects and can be subjected to critical ethical consideration to find whether it is effective and any alternative step to be taken. This policy by the Chinese government has been aimed at reducing the country’s population growth rate. China is factually one of the most populated countries in the world, with an estimated population of 1,354,040,000, which is 100 million more than the world’s second largest country, India. Culturally, the Chinese community believes in the tradition of having many children. Whilst the government is concerned about the demographics of the country and planning on the resources distribution to its ever rising population, the people are concerned with how they need to maintain their culture. As a result of the ever growing population, the government has increasingly strengthened its policies and measures to a point of introducing the one child policy. This is a strict measure by the government which is aimed at reducing the number of the young generation and subsequently increasing the number of the aging population. Data available on the Chinese population is worrying ev en to the government itself. The figure 1,354,040,000 does not include the island of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau which are governed as administrative districts of China. One child policy in China also called the family planning policy was designed to limit the number of children couple in different areas can get and the different conditions of that can allow different people to have more than

Social Awarness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Awarness - Essay Example In a way some sick audience may become victims to such ill movies, which hasn't got any social message. The movies which are actually made for entertainment if causes damage to the society must not be made available to all except to adults under strict rules and regulations. I would to like to take the movie Frankenstein as part of subject to evaluate. This was originally a novel written by Mary shelly, which was later made as a movie. The title name Frankenstein (Victor Frankenstein) is a name of a scientist who is obsessed and crazy of creating life in a dead body. The very first intention of the director to make a horror movie of such genera is it self a matter of concern. It is not that such movies should not be made but basing the total movie on a point like regeneration of human life is unethical and paranoid. Not even the very own base of the movie, the way the movie is made clearly indicates the mediocre and harming the society's nature towards the humanity. He spent many years to acquire dead bodies from grave and also by torturing animals. After ten years of wild goose chase he was finally ready to induce life into his creation. Frankenstein asks his assistant (Fritz) to bring a brain from the university. He drops the normal one and steals a criminal's brain from a dead body. Finally Frankenstein manages to put life into his imagination.

Political systems and economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political systems and economics - Essay Example The society is viewed as a mesh of different people vying for different interests, that the art of reasoning, ruling and governance among the others, is essential to unify the society to act to a common vote, to pursue a certain interest. It explains how the governing political body and its directives affect the collective behavior of the players in the society Economics' parameters are set on scarcity, the use of incentives, the application of efficient economic tools and models, all to satisfy and suffice human's current and future wants and needs. Economics lies on maximizing and making sound decisions to make efficient use of existing scarce resources. Nothing in life is free, as explained by the concept of opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the value foregone in pursuit of another activity or good of interest. Everything individuals do has a tradeoff. An individual's Economic decisions are motivated by incentives, a mechanism which motivates decisions and activities. Economics is different from political systems in the sense that, economics could go on forever without laying a hand on it to make it work; and in its continuity, it is only susceptible to its own natural dynamics. Politics now depends on the intervention and control of men. While economics seeks to explain occurrences through long-wearing principles, politics is just mainly an experimental, temporary tool in human affairs. "One (economics) is amoral, the other (politics) is moral" ("Economics versus Politics"). Both political science and economics acknowledges the participants in the society's selfish interests, that, control of which is delivered by laws and punishment in lieu of political science, and motivated by incentives and disincentives in lieu of economics. Economics, unlike political science though, is tackled like one of the exact sciences through the use of models, equations and numerical treatment to explain or forecast the situations governing and a society. ("Economics versus Politics") The book chapter is posing the challenges of the economic environment, and such may be seen as problems to solve, to outwit. QUESTION 2: Feudalism is a socio-political system wherein land and land-based assets determine an individual's social status. Land ownership entitles the owners of the manors-now equivalent to villages-exclusive rights to their lands, spending decisions with their money and other assets and administering homage for their serfs and vassals ("Feudalism and Medieval Life"). Serfs, peasants, vassals and landlords are the primary movers in the social structure and the king played only a representative role in the society. Serfs are the tenants sustained by the landowners. They are at the foot of the social structure. They serve their landowners who are responsible for their sustenance. He's devoid of tangible property and his marriage is subject to the landowner's permission ("Feudalism and Medieval Life"). Vassals are the more privileged than serfs. They have a certain amount of freedom although they live poor lives. They comprise 10-60 families living on a community. Landlords or barons ruled the manors, which pertains to the villages during the Middle Ages. The landlords serve as the local administrator of their lands and numerous serfs and vassals serve and protect him, as he is also accountable to them. Due to the Black Plague, The hundred year war and the

Assessment Individual workbook (70%) 3000 words Assignment

Assessment Individual workbook (70%) 3000 words - Assignment Example For instance, the government’s ‘Mortgage Support Policy Scheme’ supports home owners who have fulfilled the set criteria to pay back their mortgages by offering around 80 percent of total interest assured. This policy will somehow decide part of Bryant homes’ policy; the more individuals who find the money to pay back mortgages, the more houses would be sold but by increasing demand. Economic: The general economic view for the last six quarters has been that of a contracting financial system. Even with the small intensification attained, the majority of sectors of the economy are still suffering from the outcomes of the recession. The result, together with increasing unemployment level, is that individuals have smaller amount money to use, and are likely to spend their restricted resources on necessary products. This invariably indicates that the high-end market where Bryant homes is represented may suffer, which is not the case of lower-end market. Nonetheless, the government has made attempts to ensure ascertain that additional credit is accessible to individuals via the banks â€Å"by issuing bailout funds† (Barlow et al, 2003, p. 139). These developments indicate that the company may have to sell its significant stock of developed houses at prices quite below to what was actually estimated, with the purpose of raising cash and enhance liquidity. Social: The business has started societal campaigns to support learning, secure operational environment and job assurance to the individuals. Social factors play a critical role in influencing the policies Bryant homes adopts since alteration in â€Å"patterns of living may dictate what sort of houses increase in demand† (Pan et al, 2007, p. 190), for instance, family focused houses rather than flats. Technological: The role of technology in the accomplishment of any business in aggressive markets of today cannot be disregarded. The company invested huge amounts during the last year to improve the

The influence of payment cards on currency demand in United Kingdom Essay

The influence of payment cards on currency demand in United Kingdom (2001-2010) - Essay Example There are many things that can be seen when the major effects of money demands are debated with the use of empirical analysis. These factors have a clear impact over how things work in the economic terms around the globe. The modern world is the new place for investing money in new things, and when money is to be invested, a lot of research and analysis is required to base the decision upon. There are many factors at play, with a great many implications that need to be considered. For this reason, factors like increasing globalization, along with other things like growth in capital markets, as well as the ever changing (yet flexible) forex exchange rates, are playing a very important role for the many people who are making new discoveries in the already present literature. Most of the time, money bankers and other analysts are not focusing their attention on the major factors that drive business on an international basis; however, with the presence of these factors, these researchers and analysts are paying all due attention towards central banks, their powers, and the factors which have an impact on them to understand money demand analysis.. Making a demand for money is not the only thing that is being put into account; however, these analyses and estimations about money demands can also be problematic. Studying such analysis is not always an easy job. Investment of money cannot always provide anyone with good returns. Demand and supply rules are the basics of any economic system and of trading. Same goes for money as well. For this reason, you are taking money into account when you consider the different routes for money to change hands. Hence, you can take cash or bank deposits into the equation. In short, money could be M1, M2 or M3, depending on t he situation. There are other terms which are regularly given to accommodate the flow of money into an economy. When you consider interest-bearing assets, then the M1 can be given the definition of store of value, and when transactions are done, then the M1 will be denoted as the liquidity. Hence, the fine line between transactions and interest-bearing assets can be taken into account. Thus liquidity can help money rotation while interest amount can take care of the other factors. There is a great deal of demand when the other major things are considered, and for this reason, the capitalist society [believes that the formation of a person’s wealth should be given utmost importance. Hence, in the bigger economies or the macro-economies, holding of wealth is usually not equal. This creates transaction motives and asset motives. Further classifications can also show the micro-economic

Assessment Individual workbook (70%) 3000 words Assignment

Assessment Individual workbook (70%) 3000 words - Assignment Example For instance, the government’s ‘Mortgage Support Policy Scheme’ supports home owners who have fulfilled the set criteria to pay back their mortgages by offering around 80 percent of total interest assured. This policy will somehow decide part of Bryant homes’ policy; the more individuals who find the money to pay back mortgages, the more houses would be sold but by increasing demand. Economic: The general economic view for the last six quarters has been that of a contracting financial system. Even with the small intensification attained, the majority of sectors of the economy are still suffering from the outcomes of the recession. The result, together with increasing unemployment level, is that individuals have smaller amount money to use, and are likely to spend their restricted resources on necessary products. This invariably indicates that the high-end market where Bryant homes is represented may suffer, which is not the case of lower-end market. Nonetheless, the government has made attempts to ensure ascertain that additional credit is accessible to individuals via the banks â€Å"by issuing bailout funds† (Barlow et al, 2003, p. 139). These developments indicate that the company may have to sell its significant stock of developed houses at prices quite below to what was actually estimated, with the purpose of raising cash and enhance liquidity. Social: The business has started societal campaigns to support learning, secure operational environment and job assurance to the individuals. Social factors play a critical role in influencing the policies Bryant homes adopts since alteration in â€Å"patterns of living may dictate what sort of houses increase in demand† (Pan et al, 2007, p. 190), for instance, family focused houses rather than flats. Technological: The role of technology in the accomplishment of any business in aggressive markets of today cannot be disregarded. The company invested huge amounts during the last year to improve the

Instructions on how to hypnotise a person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Instructions on how to hypnotise a person - Essay Example Hypnosis is a condition that is linked with the psychological behaviors where it affects the lives of the people on which it is acted upon in a manner that shows clearly the marked distinctions in their thinking mindsets and behavioral patterns. There seems to be an altered state of consciousness at certain times within this whole hypnotic activity but the same holds true for only a small fraction of people. The hypnotic indications as well as the subjective alterations within the human mind can be achieved with hypnosis. However there a number of controversies that goes in line with the art of hypnosis the world over. Without a shadow of a doubt, hypnosis is a form of hysteria and the people who experience hysteria can be hypnotizable. However this is just a solitary claim and with the recent research it has been proven time and again that nearly all human beings can be hypnotized. The manner in which a person can be hypnotized rests largely with the act of inducting a hypnotic state within him/her. We cannot just fathom a single basis on which we can rest our claim that the same is the proper way of inducing a hypnotic state however for this act to be effective, a number of practitioners have started to employ the calming verbal methodologies, usage of difficult triggers and lastly the inclusion of devices which are mechanical in nature. Hypnotherapy is the term which is used for the description of hypnosis within a therapeutic setting. A number of these hypnotherapists refer to this act as the practice related with â€Å"clinical work†.

Water Security Concept And Factors Environmental Sciences Essay

Water Security Concept And Factors Environmental Sciences Essay Water security simply means availability of water and secure rights to use potable water for the present and future generations. Water security has been recognised as being important enough to be enshrined in UN Human Rights Resolutions and is now a cornerstone of the UNs Millennium Development Goals  [1]  . The concept of water security includes regional and global availability of water, environment issues, access issues and water stress. Water insecurity is all pervasive in the South Asian region, visible in conflicts and tensions erupting within and across countries. Therefore, the need to integrate water security as a key component of human security is crucial. Availability of Water. Water is widely distributed on Earth as freshwater and salt water. The bulk of the water on Earth is regarded as saline or salt water, which amounts to over 98% of the total water on Earth. The remainder of the Earths water constitutes the fresh water; this also happens to be very unevenly distributed. Nearly 70% of the fresh water is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland. Besides this, most of the remainder is present as soil moisture, or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater not accessible to human use. Only less than 0.1% of the worlds fresh water (~0.007% of all water on earth) is accessible for direct human uses  [2]  . This is the water found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and those underground sources that are shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. Water Consumption. The six billion people of Planet Earth use nearly 30% of the worlds total accessible renewal supply of water. By 2025, that value may reach 70%. Yet, at present billions of people lack basic water services and millions die each year from water-related diseases. Some believe that fresh water will be a critical limiting resource for many regions in the near future. About one-third of the worlds population lives in countries that are experiencing water stress. In Asia, where water has always been regarded as an abundant resource, per capita availability declined by 40-60% between 1955 and 1990. Projections suggest that most Asian countries will have severe water problems by the year 2025. Water Security. Water security is an elusive concept, but consensus is beginning to emerge in the world community as to its dimensions, its parameters, and the best approaches for its achievement. The Second World Water Forum Ministerial Declaration (2000), endorsed that water security implies the following:- Human access to safe and affordable water for health and well-being. Assurance of economic and political stability. Protection of human populations from the risks of water-related hazards. Equitable and cooperative sharing of water resources. Complete and fair valuation of the resource. Sustainability of ecosystems at all parts of the hydrologic cycle. Dimensions of Water Security The issue of water security has several dimensions such as competing uses, degradation of quality and scarcity. World Bank defines it as a combination of increased productivity and diminished destructivity of water. In the past, the competition for water has triggered social tensions and conflicts between water-use sectors and provinces as the domestic demands for water has forced governments to plan and invest in grand water projects such as the River-Linking Project by India and Three Gorges project by China. The water profile of the region with complex interdependencies implies that internal dynamics within a nation may now increasingly manifest itself in an inter-State dimension. Water is arguably one of humanitys most valuable resources and that is why all ancient civilizations grew along rivers be it the Indus or the Nile. It has come under increased demand due to rapid population and economic growth and may become a constant source of conflicts both within the countries as well as between countries. South Asia is an apt case study of water both as a source of cooperation and as well as conflict. The concern for water is more pressing in the South Asian mainland consisting of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Nepal. The China factor and impact of its water policies has added another dimension to the problem. Water scarcity is a serious and growing problem throughout the world, and the twin pressures of Population Growth and Climate Change will only intensify this problem. The United Nations estimates that the number of people living in water-stressed countries will increase from about 700 million today to more than 3 billion by 2035  [3]  . The developing world alone will be home to 90 % of the 3 billion people expected to be added to the global population by 2025. It is estimated that by 2025, over half of the worlds inhabitants will be directly affected by water scarcity. Most of them will live in either China or India. China has access to about 7% cent of the worlds water resources, but is home to around 20% of the global population, while India possesses around 4% of water resources with only a slightly smaller populace  [4]  . Both countries, along with eight other Asian nations and 47% of the worlds people, are heavily dependent on the Tibetan Plateau for water. Any water policies for the region therefore will have a transnational impact. Measured by conventional indicators, water stress, which occurs when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use, is increasing rapidly, especially in developing countries like India and China. According to the 2006 Human Development Report  [5]  , approximately 700 million people in 43 countries live below the water-stress threshold of 1,700 cubic meters per person. By 2025, this figure will reach 3 billion, as water stress intensifies in China, India, and South Asia. Factors Determining Water Security The scale of the ever-present societal challenge of achieving and sustaining water security is determined by many factors, of which three stand out. First there is the hydrologic environment, the absolute level of water resource availability, its inter- and intra-annual variability and its spatial distribution, which is a natural legacy that a society inherits. Second, there is the socio-economic environment, the structure of the economy and the behavior of its actors, which will re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ect natural and cultural legacies and policy choices. Third, there will be changes in the future environment, with considerable and growing evidence that climate change will be a major part. These factors will play important roles in determining the institutions and the types and scales of infrastructure needed to achieve water security. The Hydrologic Environment Relatively low rainfall variability, with rain distributed throughout the year and Perennial River  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ows sustained by groundwater base  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ows, results in hydrology that is relatively easy to manage. Achieving a basic level of water security is straightforward and requires comparatively low levels of skill and investment (primarily because water is suf ¬Ã‚ cient, widespread and relatively reliable). Dif ¬Ã‚ cult hydrologies are those of absolute water scarcity (i.e. deserts) and, at the other extreme, low-lying lands where there is severe  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ood risk. Even more dif ¬Ã‚ cult is where rainfall is markedly seasonal or where there is high inter-annual climate variability. With increasingly dif ¬Ã‚ cult hydrology, the level of institutional re ¬Ã‚ nement and infrastructure investment needed to achieve basic water security becomes signi ¬Ã‚ cantly greater. Not coincidentally, most of the worlds poor face dif ¬Ã‚ cult hydrologies. A legacy of trans-boundary waters, hydrologic and political or a trans-boundary hydrologic legacy can signi ¬Ã‚ cantly complicate the task of managing and developing water to achieve water security owing to inter-jurisdictional competition both within and between nations. While this is clearly apparent in federal nations with some state sovereignty over water, it is particularly acute in the case of international trans-boundary waters. Re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ecting this complexity, the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses was under preparation for twenty seven years prior to adoption by the UN General Assembly in 1997 and has not been entered into force. Many of todays trans-boundary basins are the result of 20th Century colonial borders that cut across watersheds and created international rivers, particularly in South Asia. The Socio-Economic Environment Water Infrastructure and Institutions. Investments in water infrastructure and institutions are almost always needed to achieve water security. Countries with dif ¬Ã‚ cult hydrology will invariably need more infrastructure and stronger institutions, with the development of each of these being greatly complicated where waters are trans-boundary. In almost all societies, man-made assets have also been developed, from simple small-scale check dams, weirs and bunds that became the foundation of early cultures, to, at the other end of the scale, investment in bulk water management infrastructure typically developed by industrializing countries, such as multipurpose dams for river regulation and storage and inter-basin transfer schemes. Macroeconomic Structure and Resilience. The structure of economies plays an important role, with more vulnerable economies requiring more investment to achieve water security. Historical investments in water management institutions and infrastructure, the economys reliance on water resources for income generation and employment and its vulnerability to water shocks will all be relevant. Risk and the Behaviour of Economic Areas. In the poorest countries, where survival is a real concern for large parts of the population and there are few functional social safety nets, economic actors tend to be extremely risk averse, investing only after there is signi ¬Ã‚ cant demonstration of returns. Countries with dif ¬Ã‚ cult hydrology, such as India and Pakistan may well face the highest risks; yet have the most risk-averse populations, the lowest infrastructure investment and the weakest institutions. Climate Change Climate change is making water security harder to achieve and sustain. Global climate change is likely to increase the complexity and costs of ensuring water security. Overall, climate change is expected to lead to reduced water availability in the countries that are already water scarce and an increase in the variability with which the water is delivered. This combination of hydrological variability and extremes is at the heart of the challenge of achieving basic water security. The water security challenge will therefore be compounded by climate change and it will require signi ¬Ã‚ cant adaptation by all countries. This will particularly be the case in poor countries which lack the institutions and infrastructure to manage, store and deliver their water resources and where climate change will be superimposed on existing and in some cases extreme vulnerabilities. According to various scientific reports, by 2050 Himalayan glaciers will have receded by 27.2%. Slow depletion of these glaciers would greatly reduce the river water flow especially to India, intensifying existing problems of water scarcity and competition. Similar changes will affect the 11 Asian countries to which Himalayan waters flow  [6]  . A 2009 Purdue University study, predicts an eastern shift in monsoon circulation caused by the changing climate, which today causes more rainfall over the Indian Ocean, Bangladesh and Burma and less rainfall over India, Nepal and Pakistan. This shift raises serious concerns for the countries expecting decreased rainfall. Summer monsoon rainfall provides 90% of India`s total water supply and as the effects of climate change become more pronounced, agrarian populations in India and Pakistan dependent on monsoons and glacial melt for irrigation will be profoundly affected. International Conventions on Water Sharing Water knows no boundaries and flows in keeping with the lay of the ground, requiring Riparian International Water Laws to govern the non navigational use. The 1815 Law for the Navigational Use of International Waters secured the vital sea lines of communication between the western countries and the colonial powers. Ironically, no such laws were created for management of the river courses. United Nations General Assembly Convention. In 1966, the International Law Association adopted the Helsinki Rules, which provide a set of guidelines for reasonable and equitable sharing of common waterways. In 1970, the United Nations General Assembly commissioned is own legal advisory body, the International Law Commission (ILC), to study Codification of the Law on Water Courses for Purposes other than Navigation. The first formal attempt to manage the riparian waters was the 1997 Draft United Nations Convention, which is yet to be ratified by the requisite number of countries. The convention has been criticized as it is practically impossible to have one convention that would incorporate all possible scenarios, as also a specific convention would be unacceptable to all members of the UN as needs and demands defer from region to region and country to country. Generalized Principles of Trans-boundary Water Allocation Water has become a significant source of conflict and has led to differing perceptions between various states such as the Arabs and Israelis, Americans and Mexicans, and among all ten Nile basin co-riparians. The generalized principles to mitigate problems of water allocation include Absolute Sovereignty, Absolute Riverine Integrity, Limited Territorial Sovereignty and Economic Criteria  [7]  . These can be summarized as under:- Absolute sovereignty is based on hydrography and implies unilateral control over waters within a nations territory while the doctrine of absolute riverine integrity emphasizes the importance of historical usage, or chronology, and suggests that every riparian has a right to the waters that flow through its territory. Limited territorial sovereignty reflects the right to reasonable and equitable use of international waters while inflicting no significant harm on any other co-riparian while the principle of economic criteria uses the market to allocate water among competing users in an economically efficient manner. Approaches to Water Security In trying to understand the various actors and their approaches on the issue of water, it is important to recognise at the outset that there are plurality of actors in the water sector-the state which includes governments, bureaucracy and the state machinery, who can also be termed the managers and the market; civil society organisations and groups; water communities or water users; and knowledge institutions. Each group is characterised with its own strategies and approaches, and within each group there are differences and variations. Technology Solutions. As the demand for this scarce resource increases daily, it has become an urgent necessity that water should be conserved and wastage of this scarce resource should be minimized. Some of the important techniques such as rainwater harvesting, recycling, infrared or foot operated faucets, drip irrigation method etc economise the usage of water but there is a requirement to evolve technology solutions to this crisis. Drainage Basin Approach to Water Security. Drainage basins are an essential, if not the only factor in reducing water stress. They have also been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important. It is therefore natural to manage water resources on the basis of individual basins because the drainage basins are coherent entities in a hydrological sense.

Freud And The Unconscious Essay -- essays research papers

Freud was particularly interested in the psychoanalytic school of thought and the founder of psychoanalysis. He believed that our unconscious minds are responsible for many of our behaviors. According to Freud, he thought that there was a significant relationship between slips of the tongue and what we are actually thinking. Today these are called Freudian slips. Similarly he believed that we get information, like our fears and wishes, out by just merely saying what comes to mind. He was able to tell a lot about people, including their past experiences, how they were feeling, and what they wished and feared, just by simply encouraging them to speak whatever came to mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In sitting down and tape recording myself speaking about anything that came to mind, a lot of unconscious thoughts about myself were revealed. I noticed myself speaking of things that I normally wouldn’t have. For instance, I spoke of God, death, and negative things about my friends. I also said a lot of stuff that really made no sense at all. An exact piece of what I recorded myself saying was, â€Å"I don’t care. That’s just the way I am. I don’t give a shit. It’s like†¦ I don’t know. Die. Maybe God will. Yeah†¦ maybe. Ha. Butterflies. Stand on walls, do that dance. Yeah†¦ Buddy’s cool. Stop. No. Eva. Duh. She’s†¦ so fucking stupid. Ugh. Drink. Yeah right. Who cares? It’s little.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  &...

social engineering Essay -- essays research papers

Pedophilia in short is the desire of an adult for sexual contact with children. Pedophiles have been known to molest children only hours after being released from a lengthy prison sentence. In some instances, they kill their victims in order to cover up their crimes. Over the years, society has implemented many attempts to contain pedophilia including such measures as incarceration, therapy, and even castration. Few of these have proven successful. Pedophilia poses an alarming problem for society, particularly the children who are the victims of the sexual abuse. According to Bertrand (2005) â€Å"In the United States, up to 500,000 cases are reported each year, and many more go unreported. In 1990, this crime cost over $2 billion -- and this figure does not include psychotherapy for the child... social engineering Essay -- essays research papers Pedophilia in short is the desire of an adult for sexual contact with children. Pedophiles have been known to molest children only hours after being released from a lengthy prison sentence. In some instances, they kill their victims in order to cover up their crimes. Over the years, society has implemented many attempts to contain pedophilia including such measures as incarceration, therapy, and even castration. Few of these have proven successful. Pedophilia poses an alarming problem for society, particularly the children who are the victims of the sexual abuse. According to Bertrand (2005) â€Å"In the United States, up to 500,000 cases are reported each year, and many more go unreported. In 1990, this crime cost over $2 billion -- and this figure does not include psychotherapy for the child...

Paper Bag

JoAnna Baugh Greg Bade English 40322 11, September, 2012 Paper bag Essay If you were to give me a paper bag and told me to place three or four things that represented who I am inside of it, I would not know where to start. There are so many things that I could fit in a paper bag that describes me. I think that these three specific items will represent me the most. The first item that I would place inside of the paper bag would be a coffee cup from Starbucks because I am an avid coffee drinker. I have tried to drink coffee straight without creamer or sugar but to no prevail.The taste, in my honest opinion, is revolting and there is no flavor if you do not add anything to your coffee. I also plan on owning my own coffeehouse in the distant future. I have always been involved in culinary arts. My mother got me into it when I was two and ever since then it is all I have been passionate about. I was even in a culinary program when I was in high school and instead of just learning how to c ook; it gave me the opportunity to experience what it would be like to work in something similar to Starbucks.Sure, there were times where I thought I could not take anymore, but I got through it and even through the chaos I enjoyed every moment. For my next item, I would choose the music score from Wicked, one of my favorite musicals. My friends at church would go on and on about glorious it was, so I wanted to see what they were getting all worked up about. I went on YouTube that night and listened to the soundtrack, falling in love with it instantly. Although I am getting more affiliated with more and more musicals, Wicked will always be number one.Another reason why I would add a music score is because I love to sing. Especially whenever my mother plays a song on the piano that I know the words to. The final item I would place inside this paper bag would be a pencil. There are so many things I have done with a pencil, but whenever I have a pencil in my hand, I am writing. I am c urrently writing a few stories and I have a short story in mind that I would like to bring to life. My sister is to blame for my passion for writing.I would always see her writing down whatever she could think of which inspired me to do the same. Ever since that day, writing has become much easier to me, especially free writing. Each item I have put inside of my paper bag has one thing in common. They are all things that I love. I love to drink coffee, if it is flavored of course; I love musicals, mainly Wicked, and to sing; and I love to write. If that does not describe who I am, then I do not know what does.

Exploration Notes- as Level Drama and Theatre Studies Essay

1) Discuss and compare the exploration of characterisation in Metamorphosis by Steven Berkoff and (A Doll’s House). Draw your own practical understanding of the skills used including use of language and voice to portray character. In our practical sessions of Modelling Gregor in â€Å"Metamorphosis†, we thought about how we would physically see Gregor. To do this, we had to individually create the shape of Gregor with our bodies. We all started off thinking about it really literally- â€Å"How would a beetle look?† rather than thinking about how our body represented Gregor and his feelings towards society. We then expanded on our thoughts about Gregor and then tried to empathise with him and think about how we would look if we were in his situation. My finished individual beetle was crouched/curled up on the floor on my side with my head down, hidden away- this represented Gregor’s vulnerability (a beetle on his back is helpless and cannot move, but a beetle has a hard shell which protects him; I was half and half because with my head down, I didn’t want to be seen by society and I was ashamed of what I had become however with my front/underside slightly showing, I was exposed to society and helpless but because you could see my back/shell, I was half protected by family- I think that throughout the show this would change and I would end up completely on my back because the family does end up abandoning/killing Gregor) , one of my arms was in a jerky/awkward position and the other was outstretched away from my body- the jerky arm represented Gregor changing and being abnormal and different, the outstretched arm however showed that I was reaching for someone to help and save me from what I was turning into; my legs were limp, lifeless and in an awkward shape to show that I was, again, turning into something new and weird but could not move and physically get away from it. After we made our individual beetle, we then worked in partners and modelled them into Gregor. I decided to use props for this (I used a chair). Hana (my model Gregor) ended up being positioned on her side, with her head under the chair and one of her arms reaching out onto it, her legs were crooked and awkward to show that she couldn’t move from her pain. After that, we raced our â€Å"beetles†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Hana lost.. but this showed that Gregor was in a good position because he found it difficult to manoeuvre himself and get away from what was happening to him- his movement was limited and awkward when he did so. Hana then modelled me, she had me stood up with my legs wide open (showing vulnerability) and one of my legs turned in and that knee bent (which looked awkward, abnormal and hard to move), my head was dropped and my stomach was contracted in. She placed my arms out to the sides in awkward positions, which was quite physically demanding as I was holding the position. We then used these positions for a scene of Metamorphosis. The dream scene; we incorporated our ideas of how Gregor felt and moved into this scene. We decided to have a narrator and an actor onstage being Gregor. I tried to capture the essence of Gregor’s franticness yet vulnerability in the way I directed Hana as Gregor. I did this by changing the speed and dynamics of how she was moving; this matched the way I was narrating as I also changed the tempo, dynamics and pitch of my voice to really capture how Gregor’s character felt. To create the family we thought about the physical features of a beetle and applied them to the metaphors of the family. We ended up putting Mr Samsa in the middle, seeing as he is the heart of the family; we then had Gregor again in the middle with his arms over Mr Samsa almost saying that he is protecting him and the family with his income but he is still exposed to society and therefore vulnerable. We had Mrs Samsa knelt in front of Gregor and Mr Samsa looking straight forward with a blank expression almost as if she hasn’t got much to say about the situation and is just disregarding Gregor. Greta was at the very front of the beetle as the antenna, looking out for Gregor and being his sense of feeling. The legs of Gregor were made up of society, but reaching out and away from the beetle and from Gregor. We also (as a practical exercise) held hands as a whole group and twisted ourselves into a character from the play each†¦ this ended up looking abnormal, as the family’s situation is and a lot of it also looked quite painful but we were as one as a unit, as the family is. In order to characterise Nora in a Doll’s House, we used the techniques of Stanislavski because A Doll’s House is a much more naturalistic play compared to Metamorphosis. We started with a focus exercise in which we lay down on the floor and concentrated only on our breathing and our body contact with the floor. We then got thought about some key words to describe Nora’s character and tried to focus on each of them individually, letting each emotion overwhelm our bodies. We then were counted down to stand up and walk around the room as Nora, showing her feelings through non- verbal communication. We also created some tableaux of the family in a dolls house. For this we used visual, aural and spatial techniques. 2) Discuss and compare the Visual, Aural and Spatial elements and the use of non-verbal communication techniques to present issues and ideas in both plays studied. Make reference to your practical work. Visual, aural and spatial elements either have an iconic or symbolic reference. Iconic is always visual, for example a prop; it is iconic because it is what it is and only serves its primary function (e.g. a stool is a stool and is used for sitting on etc.) However a symbolic reference is something that represents something and has a metaphor behind it (e.g. a chair could be symbolic for a particular person). Metamorphosis is an extremely abstract play and the visual, aural and spatial techniques used are very important. The play is commonly set with Gregor at the back on a platform above everyone else, slowly becoming more and more deformed. This is a very visual thing and represents the time’s changing and matters are slowly getting worse and worse for the family. The fact he is higher up than everyone else as well could also symbolise the fact he is hanging over everyone’s head and is a burden on the family. His height could also represent his status and the fact he is the cause for everything happening on stage and when he changes, everything else does as well. Another common way of positioning Gregor is to have scaffolding angling up to the back of the stage like this: This gives perspective; it also makes Gregor look further away but because of the angle, you are drawn in, giving a stronger emotional impact on you as an audience member. The scaffolding itself makes the whole aesthetic of the performance seem more skeletal; which Gregor is also slowly becoming. It is also, obviously, very structured which contradicts how the family’s situation is in the play. In the script it says that every prop is mimed other than 3 black stools places equidistantly of each other for the family to use. I think these proxemics show how the family are as a unit and detached from Gregor. In order to explore and interpret this, we created a series of 10 tableaux. In these 10 tableaux, we used visual, aural and spatial elements to show the subtext of the plot- we mainly focussed on the family and how Gregor’s change affected the family. We used a ladder laid down on its side for scaffolding in which Gregor spent a lot of the time in various awkward ways, becoming more and more deformed and trapped as the tableaux progressed. We thought we should only use the organic sounds from our movement and the ladder for our performance to represent the tension and how awkward the situation/plot/subtext was. In the changeover of each tableau, we decided to move a chair gradually towards the back of the stage to represent Gregor slowly distancing from his family. One element of these tableaux I was quite proud of was the proxemics of each member of the family compared to Gregor and the ladder/scaffolding. This is said ladder; as you can see, there is a divide across it. We used this as a barrier stopping the family from getting to Gregor; apart from in one tableau where we â€Å"broke† this barrier and Greta reached out to Gregor through the partition. Gregor was slowly becoming more and more deformed into the corner during the tableaux. Greta reaching over through the barrier to Gregor. Mrs Samsa reaching over to Greta trying to stop her from â€Å"breaking the barrier†. Mr Samsa: Back turned to Mrs Samsa and Greta (and obviously Gregor, wanting no part of it) Gregor was slowly becoming more and more deformed into this corner during the tableaux. We also used visual, aural and spatial techniques when studying A Doll’s House. Unlike Metamorphosis being abstract, A Doll’s House is much more realistic than Metamorphosis and therefore uses lots of props which are all in one way or another, symbolic of something and metaphorical. As a class we discussed the characters and props and what they may metaphorically represent: * Christmas Tree- The family’s relationships falling apart simultaneously with the pine needles falling off the tree. It could also show that looks can be deceiving because of the fact that while this tree is looking beautiful, the family is deteriorating. * Door- Freedom when Nora leaves. Trouble when she enters from the unknown outside world. * Dr Rank- Society hiding their decay. * Money- Power and all things bad and poisonous. * Nanny- The calm, security and support of Nora and the children. * â€Å"Skylark†- Nora is just a pretty singing bird with no other purpose than looking beautiful. Also the fact that a skylark cannot speak words, this is reflected in Nora; she is not allowed an opinion or it is not heard. * Stove- The characters always go back to it (especially Nora), this could stand for support and forgiveness, the warmth of friendship and loyalty because it is always there. * Macaroons- Nora’s deceit. * Lamp- The light of truth. * The Doll’s House- Nora is a kept woman, everyone’s play thing†¦or so they assume. It is actually Nora who plays with and manipulates the characters around her. Again, looks can be deceiving. Another way we explored visual, aural and special elements in A Doll’s House was when we studied the Tarantella scene. A tarantella is a traditional Italian folk dance. It gets its name from the venomous spider, the tarantula and it is supposed that when one gets bitten by this spider, the victims needed to engage in a frenzied dance in order to prevent death or disease, using very rhythmical music. Now, in context with A Doll’s House, I believe that the reason a Tarantella is danced by Nora is because she is trying to rid herself of the poison from Torvald, Krogstad and maybe even Dr Rank; or she could be trying to rid herself from lies she’s told as this is her poison. We re-enacted the tarantella scene with the proper script. We played with spatial awareness of characters, use of voice and visual effects. Nora’s movement gets gradually more and more frantic and her speech also more frantic and louder and high pitched. Torvald moves with purpose but in a much more organised and authoritative way compared to Nora; he is always keeping his eyes on her and making sure she does it ALL correctly. Mrs Linde comes in from side stage quite discretely, says her line to Nora then moves slowly and almost mysteriously to a chair in the LDF corner. Dr Rank, playing the piano, cannot keep his eyes off Nora but is fairly wary of Torvald’s presence so near him. Nora used a shawl while she was dancing which added to the visual effects and at the end of the dance she threw the shawl on the floor as if her freedom of dance had gone and the poison had come back. We then performed our own interpretive dance for the subtext of the tarantella and the whole play without any script work. We started with Torvald controlling Nora, almost as a puppeteer- for this we used music box doll music. The music then ran into Kashmir by Bond which starts with quite a distorted wave of sound which we used to show Nora slowly changing and fighting back with Torvald. Throughout the dance, Nora got stronger and less poisoned- instead, the poison was transferring into the other characters. After Nora had kicked Torvald to the floor, Mrs Linde came in and started controlling him alongside Torvald; after having liaised with Nora, she became poisoned and slowly deteriorated to the floor. Dr Rank then came into the picture, stepped over Torvald to get to Nora. They danced together until she pushed him away and transferred the poison. Finally, Nora ended up sat down on the floor, looking around almost like a child who had just broken all of her toys. Aurally, there is one very poignant moment in A Doll’s House where the door is slammed at the end by Nora. This gives the play a final point of closure where Nora has gone and has gone for good. Similarly in Metamorphosis, when the apple is thrown into Gregor’s back, this is a definitive sound of the end of the main plot. 3) Evaluate your understanding of the practitioners studied and their influences on Metamorphosis. Use your interpretation notes to aid this question making reference to the practitioners, playwright, and your own practical exploration. Leslie Steven Berkovitch, better known as Steven Berkoff, was born on the 3rd August 1937 to Russian Jews. He came from a poor family and because of their descent; he never fitted in as a child and found it hard to be a part of a group of friends. Growing up in the East End of London is a gritty, tough time for most people let alone someone of the likes of Berkoff. He was a badly behaved child and got kicked out of school a lot. You could argue he was the original â€Å"East Ender† until he then moved to New York- he lived in a 1 bedroom flat, shared with 3 other families (who were also outsiders in New York). Wherever he travelled, he could never fit in and never found anywhere to call home. He grew up to resent his family and moved back to London at age 13. As an outsider, a Russian Jew living in London, he wanted to be a gangster. He was in a stage of identity crisis where didn’t know where to belong and after being so badly influenced and behaved, he ended up in a young offenders prison which obviously made him extremely angry! After this, he changed his name to Berkoff because he didn’t want to be seen as a Jew or associated with his roots. He brought a whole new movement to British playwriting in British society. These plays he wrote commented on equality and people- they were often based in the home. When he came out of prison, he decided to go over to Europe and learn the skill of tailoring like his father had done. During his stay, he was given the book â€Å"Metamorphosis† by Franz Kafka. When he read this, he could instantly make connections between himself and Gregor. After this, he went back to the East End and started writing plays. Unlike his fellow playwrights John Osbourne and Edward Bond, he believed drama should still be abstract. Berkoff was influenced by Greek theatre; he was a â€Å"Megalomaniac of theatre styles† who loved over exaggeration and the use of masks to rid people of their identity. He loved the use of chorus (voices together) and poetic verse because it takes things out of context. I was inspired by Brecht and his political (borderline social) take on drama and the use of gestus and satire. He also like Artaud and his theatre of cruelty and the way he used the senses and sounds to put over metaphorical messages. He then travelled to France and worked under Lecoq who was a mime artiste and physical theatre worker and trained with him until he decided to move back to London. When he got back to London, he built up his manifesto of theatre. TOTAL THEATRE. Total theatre Greek theatre (chorus, unison, exaggeration), theatre of cruelty (loud sounds, harsh, gritty images and metaphors) and epic theatre (Brecht- teaches a message, gestus, stereotypes, alienation). Berkoff moulded all these ideas together and created his characters as comic and caricatures. Using the whole of the body was very important to him as he was an extremely physical director, well demonstrated with the character of Gregor in Metamorphosis. As a practitioner, Berkoff also wrote plays as well as acted and directed. He liked using lots of language and words (almost Shakespearian). He was extremely articulate and using beautiful language he talked about the gritty East End and reality of life. To put Berkoff’s views into practice, we had to pretend to be in love with a chair. We exaggerated our love and feelings and the chair was like a metaphor for our lover. We then had to flip our mood and become angry with the chair; it got us all to think how people would stereotypically act with someone you loved and then hated. We also had to pretend we were at a picnic on our own, slowly becoming more and more exaggerated with our eating and drinking, and gradually more grotesque. It really got us to focus into it and get into it, so when it was time to â€Å"fake wretch†, I actually felt physically sick! We also practiced slow motion. This was very physically demanding, like how Steven Berkoff would have directed. It was very important to control your movements but not forget that when you sped up the movements, they should look exactly the same as the slow ones. 4) Evaluate your understanding of the practitioner studied and his influence on A Doll’s House. Use your interpretation notes to aid this question making reference to the practitioners, playwright, and your own practical exploration. Henrik Ibsen was born in Norway in 1828 and died in 1906. He was from a well to do Merchant family, however his father’s fortunes took a significant turn for the worse and he ended up a moody, nasty man and turned to alcoholism which he then took out on his family. Ibsen subsequently, only wrote about money and marriage as this was influenced from his own life. His plays were seen as scandalous to many of his era because they were always touching on sensitive subjects like human rights. This then influenced many other playwrights and novelists such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller and James Joyce. He is one of the founders of modernism in theatre. During his time, despite failing to achieve success as a playwright, he gained a lot of practical experience at the Norwegian theatre company. His play â€Å"A Doll’s House† is a realistic drama that highlights the cultural conflicts of the 19th century. The play was very controversial when it was first published as it was sharply critical of 19th century marriage norms. Her ended up having to change the ending of the original script because the leading actress didn’t like the idea of having to act out abandoning her children. It also manifests Ibsen’s concerns for women’s rights and human rights in general. This was widely considered as a landmark in the development of what would soon become a highly prevalent genre of theatre- REALISM. Realism was consequently realised. It wasn’t however until the likes of Stanislavski came along that realism became so well known and loved. He wanted a sense of realism in his work and he wanted his actors to really connect with their character. In his eyes, the actors WERE the characters. He believed REAL ACTORS=REAL ACTING. We used Stanislavski’s techniques to get into our roles when studying A Doll’s House. We began with a focus exercise, lying on the floor and zoning out our thoughts. We then thought about our character and let their feelings overwhelm our own like Stanislavski would have got his actors to. We then connected with their emotions, felt how they felt and immediately after, acted out a short scene between Nora and Torvald. This helped us all enormously because got us to lose out inhibitions and focus entirely on the story, situation and emotions of the characters. 5) Discuss the Social, Historical, Cultural and Political content of the texts studied and compare the impact on an audience and on yourself as a student of drama. In Metamorphosis, the social, historical and cultural background is made apparent in a number of ways throughout the play. Franz Kafka (the author of the original novel) took his inspiration for the characters from his own relationship between himself and his father. Unforgettable images of dislocation seem to represent both the madness of the modern world and his own desperate neurosis. Similarly, Berkoff wasn’t very close with his father. Practitioners like Brecht and Artaud influenced his work- this is clearly visible in Metamorphosis as he took Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and gave it Brecht’s Epic Theatre attributes. Berkoff’s own unique style created this play incorporating his personal passion of mime and the genre of expressionism. Acknowledging what I know about both Berkoff and Kafka, it is blatent that the Social, Cultural, Historic and Political aspects in terms of the two writers were their personal experiences of suppression from society, the culture they were brought up in (Kafka brought up in the a Jewish community and Berkoff brought up in the lower class and status he was born into by Russian Jews). Metamorphosis can be seen as a reaction against society and its demands. Gregor’s physical separation could represent his alienation and understandable desire. He was crushed by authority and routine and had been imprisoned by social and economic demands: â€Å"Just don’t stay in bed being useless . . .† It prevents the forthcoming rebellion of the son against the father. Gregor had become strong as a result of his father’s failure. He destroyed his father’s self-esteem and took over the father’s posts and duties within the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence takes place in reverse: son becomes weak, and father kills him. Gregor is shown as a symbol of anxiety and alienation who is a lonely character, isolated in his own mind from the community and true friendship (much like Kafka and Berkoff). Looking at where Gregor’s values were anchored: servant to the needs of an oppressive boss in order to meet the needs of a family that continuously exploits him. The metamorphosis was inevitable. Metamorphosis shows the views and attitudes of society. It isn’t necessarily the one we live in today, but looking at it from a historical point of view it could have been representing the society in the nineteen hundreds (1915) when metamorphosis was first published. Kafka was born in Germany and could be referring to the time of the war, and how the Jewish communities were discriminated against. In A Doll’s House, patriarchal ideals were supported and reinforced by a social structure in which women had very little political or economic power. They were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent upon men and especially dependent upon the institutions of marriage and motherhood. Motherhood within marriage was considered a woman’s highest possible achievement. It was a social responsibility, a duty to society, and therefore, a full-time job. Mothering was no longer something that came naturally, but was something that had to be learned. High infant mortality rates, particularly in urban areas, were solely blamed on mothers. Working class mothers were labeled neglectful, when in truth they struggled with both child care and feeding a family. The plot concerns the collapse of a middle class marriage. It sparked debates about women’s rights and divorce. It was considered innovative and daring because of its focus on psychological tension instead of external action. It also created a new acting style that required emotion be conveyed through small, controlled gestures, shifts in action, and pauses and it was groundbreaking in that it caused drama to be viewed as social commentary and not just entertainment. For me, I think that these factors in both plays have different effects on me because in A Doll’s House, the living situation is so much more common these days compared to the monstrosity it was back when it was written. I feel like I can however relate to Nora and how she’s feeling because she is quite feministic like myself. I become quite confused when thinking about how Metamorphosis affects me because it’s obviously a very abstract play but I can empathise with Gregor and moreover Greta because she just wants to help her brother but the higher members of the family won’t let her.