What works in America :: Culture Cultural Essays

What works in America Jennifer Mancini's parents were born in Italy and immigrated to America just before they had two daughters, Jennifer and her sister. They left a country whose culture stressed close family ties, traditional food, traditional ways of preparing food, and strict social customs. It is Italian tradition that family stick together through the hard times; parents are always there for their children and children are always there for their parents. When the Mancinis came to America, they were forced to abandon many of their customs; in fact, all they held on to was a bit of the old language and their Italian food. Through the experiences she and her family have endured, Mancini believes that "people eventually will assimilate to a more mainstream culture over time, even if they didn't plan to or want to.Just like the old saying goes: 'When in Rome do as the Romans do.'" Although most immigrants are reluctant to stray from how they have learned to live, it will help them to give up much of the ir old ways and accept the dominant culture America has to offer. Rejecting or simply not being able to stray from one's previous culture results in negative responses from the mainstream American culture. Ronald Takaki, a professor and historian at the University of California at Berkeley, shared his view of immigration along with personal experiences in his essay entitled "A Different Mirror" Takaki, a second generation Japanese-American, describes how his appearance erected a barrier between himself and an "American." His experience begins inside a cab on the way to a conference on multiculturalism. The driver and Takaki chat for a few minutes until the middle-aged white man in the front seat notices something odd, his passenger looks foreign yet speaks perfect English. Takaki explained to the driver that he had lived his entire life in The United States and is a true-blooded American. Takaki tell us that, "Somehow I did not look 'American' to him; my eyes and complexion looked foreign" (589). The cab driver immediately assumed that a foreigner had entered his car because Takaki did not look like all the other "Americans" that ask for a ride. His eyes were slanted and his complexion a little darker than the norm, too dark and slanted to be from this country. That is the difficulty with immigration in America today. The American people often are not open enough to get past the differences found amongst ethnic backgrounds.

The Dead Child

Significant Lines1. â€Å"Why, oh why, did the memory of that dead child seek me out today in the very midst of the summer that sang?†2. â€Å"I glanced again at that astonishing splash of pink in the melancholy landscape.†3. â€Å"I studied the silent little face. A child who had loved books, solemnity, and decorous attire.†4. â€Å"I realized suddenly that it was a mass of wild roses. In June they open in great sheets all over Manitoba, growing from the poorest soil.†5. â€Å"A scent I have not much liked since the long ago June when I went to that poorest of villages-to acquire, as they say, experience.† Insightful Comments6. Each flower/rose holds a precious memory.7. Life is full of harsh moments. However the simple, yet precious things in life make up for the murky moments.8. The flowers signify the hope, found in a place surrounded by darkness. ( The light at the end of the tunnel)9. The value of a child’s memory is worth more than all the riches in the world.10. Yolande, a rose grown from the poorest soil. A brilliant, pure, and innocent rose. The theme of â€Å"The Dead Child† by Gabrielle Roy is about how a simple action can have a massive impact on our surroundings. In other words never underestimate the power of a simple action. In the story we are introduced to a group of Mà ©tis students, who are under privileged and are taught in poor working environments. Already we can see that these students do not have very much – money wise-. Despite their lack of necessities they were still able to give the gift of kindness, respect and love to their close friend Yolande.Their simple act of kindness not only changed their perspective on death but it also opened their hearts and allowed them to connect with their teacher throughout their moments of grief. By simply visiting Yolande before her burial helped the students cope with their misery and lift all the emotional weights from their tiny shoulders. Not only did they show others that Yolande was not alone but they also proved to themselves that they were strong enough to understand death. As they are picking the flowers they are reminded of the hope among them and that everything will be okay. I think the reason why this theme was used in the story is to allow readers to take the time to think about their actions and how it can affect themselves and their surroundings no matter how diminutive  the action may be- like many people say actions always speak louder than words.The face in my image is Yolande. The ribbons of colors caressing Yolande’s face represent all the feelings that were present throughout the story. Blue symbolizing sadness, white symbolizing purity, yellow symbolizes the imperfections in life and pink represents hope. The black background is the soil in which the roses grow out of and the same soil that will hold Yolande’s body where she too will become a rose. The large stream of rose petals r epresents the innocent and simple actions of the children. If you picture a stream they are usually calm and quiet but if you look closer streams are also abundant filled with life just like the students in the story.The tiny bits of roses represent all the memories the children had with Yolande; each rose petal builds a larger rose. At the end of the story the children form a circle around Yolande and console themselves by telling one another â€Å"She must have got to heaven by this time.† Or â€Å"She must be happy now.† For a child to experience such a mature feeling is not only incredible but at the same time fascinating, and so all of these emotions have engraved their names onto the rose signifying an important moment in their lives, the moment when they learnt how to cope with grief and death.As a result of their simple acts of kindness each child’s memory, feelings and actions make them a beautiful rose. All these relate back to the theme because they i llustrate all the wondrous things the children and the teacher were able to experience and achieve through a simple action despite all the emotional, and mental struggles each character went through.

The Chac Mool Statues of Mexico

A Chac Mool is a very specific type of Mesoamerican statue associated with ancient cultures such as the Aztecs and Maya. The statues, made of different types of stone, depict a reclined man holding a tray or bowl on his belly or chest. Much is unknown about the origin, significance, and purpose of the Chac Mool statues, but ongoing studies have proven a strong link between them and Tlaloc, Mesoamerican god of rain and thunder. Appearance of the Chac Mool Statues The Chac Mool statues are easy to identify. They depict a reclining man with his head turned ninety degrees in one direction. His legs are generally drawn up and bent at the knees. He is almost always holding a tray, bowl, altar, or other recipient of some kind. They often are reclined on rectangular bases: when they are, the bases usually contain fine stone inscriptions. Iconography related to water, the ocean and/or Tlaloc, the rain god can often be found on the bottom of the statues. They were carved from many different sorts of stone available to Mesoamerican masons. In general, they are roughly human-sized, but examples have been found which are larger or smaller. There are differences between Chac Mool statues as well: for example, the ones from Tula and Chichà ©n Itzà ¡ appear as young warriors in battle gear whereas one from Michoacà ¡n is an old man, nearly naked. The Name Chac Mool Although they were obviously important to the ancient cultures that created them, for years these statues were ignored and left to weather the elements at ruined cities. The first serious study of them took place in 1832. Since then, they have been viewed as cultural treasures and studies on them have increased. They got their name from the French archeologist Augustus LePlongeon in 1875: he dug one up in Chichà ©n Itzà ¡ and mistakenly identified it as a depiction of an ancient Maya ruler whose name was â€Å"Thunderous Paw,† or Chaacmol. Although the statues have been proven to have no relation to Thunderous Paw, the name, slightly changed, has stuck. Dispersion of the Chac Mool Statues Chac Mool statues have been found at several important archaeological sites but are curiously missing from others. Several have been found at the sites of Tula and Chichà ©n Itza and several more have been located in different excavations in and around Mexico City. Other statues have been found at smaller sites including Cempoala and at the Maya site of Quiriguà ¡ in present-day Guatemala. Some major archaeological sites have yet to yield a Chac Mool, including Teotihuacà ¡n and Xochicalco. It is also interesting that no representation of the Chac Mool appears in any of the surviving Mesoamerican Codices. Purpose of the Chac Mools The statues — some of which are quite elaborate — obviously had an important religious and ceremonial uses for the different cultures that created them. The statues had a utilitarian purpose and were not, in themselves, worshiped: this is known because of their relative positions within the temples. When located in temples, the Chac Mool is nearly always positioned between the spaces associated with the priests and that associated with the people. It is never found in the back, where something revered as a deity would be expected to rest. The purpose of the Chac Mools was generally as a place for sacrificial offerings for the gods. These offering could consist of anything from foodstuffs like tamales or tortillas to colorful feathers, tobacco or flowers. The Chac Mool altars also served for human sacrifices: some had cuauhxicallis, or special recipients for the blood of sacrificial victims, while others had special tà ©hcatl altars where humans were ritualistically sac rificed. The Chac Mools and Tlaloc Most of the Chac Mool statues have an obvious link to Tlaloc, the Mesoamerican rain god and an important deity of the Aztec pantheon. On the base of some of the statues can be seen carvings of fish, seashells and other marine life. On the base of the Pino Suarez and Carranza Chac Mool (named after a Mexico City intersection where it was dug up during road work) is the face of Tlaloc himself surrounded by aquatic life. A most fortunate discovery was that of a Chac Mool at the Templo Mayor excavation in Mexico City in the early 1980s. This Chac Mool still had much of its original paint on it: these colors only served to further match the Chac Mools to Tlaloc. One example: Tlaloc was depicted in the Codex Laud with red feet and blue sandals: the Templo Mayor Chac Mool also has red feet with blue sandals. Enduring Mystery of the Chac Mools Although much more is known now about the Chac Mools and their purpose, some mysteries remain. Chief among these mysteries is the origin of the Chac Mools: they are found at Postclassic Maya sites such as Chichà ©n Itzà ¡ and Aztec sites near Mexico City, but it is impossible to tell where and when they originated. The reclining figures likely do not represent Tlaloc himself, who is usually depicted as being more gruesome: they could be warriors who carry the offerings to the gods they were intended for. Even their real name – what the natives called them – has been lost to time. Sources: Desmond, Lawrence G. Chacmool. Là ³pez Austin, Alfredo and Leonardo Là ³pez Lujan. Los Mexicas y el Chac Mool. Arqueologà ­a Mexicana Vol. IX - Num. 49 (May-June 2001).

Keynesian Vs Real Business Cycle School - 741 Words

Economists have always had differing views on whether government stimulus packages help or hurt the economy when it’s in a recession. This stems from the same schools of economic theory as mentioned in the response to the first question above – Keynesian vs Real Business Cycle school. On one end you have the Keynesian philosophy, where government fiscal intervention during a recession is deemed necessary. It’s intention is to keep consumer spending afloat by way of public spending or altering the tax policy to help improve the flow of capital. On the other end you have the Real Business Cycle school (RBC) sharing beliefs that increased spending, borrowing, and inflation are the reasons that we’ve gotten into a recession. The RBC economists consider that the way to improve the economy it to get rid of the debt as well as malinvestments that lead to wasted capital and economic losses. In Christina Romer’s â€Å"Fiscal Policy in the Crisis: Lessons and Policy Implications†, one of her first lessons brought to the table was how fiscal policy action does indeed have a quantifiably substantial effect on output and employment. The evidence presented was that which David Romer and she took presidential speeches and reports that identified tax changes for purposes of reducing deficit – not countercyclical reasons. The study revealed that after these exogenous fiscal policy events took place, changes to output and unemployment followed. Meaning, if there were expansionary or contractionaryShow MoreRelatedEssay about Divisions of The Field of Economics1407 Words   |  6 Pagesyou to assess your companys position in the business cycle as needed. Economics works hand-in-hand with corporate strategy. While strategy addresses the â€Å"how† and â€Å"why† of business decision-making, macroeconomics tries to pinpoint the â€Å"when† o f strategic decisions. 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The Side Effect Of Drug Therapy - 1800 Words

With so many concerned about the side effect of drug therapy it led to many seeking alternative treatments such as cognitive therapy. This is when the patient talks to someone else when they have one of their episodes they can calm down and begin associating that memory with other things making the memory fade and replacing its trigger with something positive(therapeutic recreational journal). Another therapy that is commonly talked about is the eye movement desensitization therapy( EMDT). EDMT is eight phase treatment in which the psychologist helps the patient target a painful memory such as being in war and seeing things that emotionally scared the individual and studies the eye movements that happened when talking about the painful†¦show more content†¦By going out of a limb there are more and more types of therapies that are being tested and proven to help those that suffer from PTSD. PTSD is diagnosed through the statistical manual of mental disorders that is published by the American psychiatric association. The DSM-5 asks a series of questions that you base on your experiences from the previous two weeks since you ve taken the test. Some of the question are things such as â€Å"have you had little interest in doing things such or are you sleeping less than usual?†, and â€Å"are you drinking more than usual or taking any unprescribed medication?† All post traumatic stress disorder patients must experience these three different types of symptoms: re-experiencing symptoms, avoidance and numbing symptoms, and arousal symptoms. Re-experiencing symptoms are symptoms that involve reliving the traumatic event that is causing memories that are effecting you daily life.This is a required symptom in order to be truly diagnosed with PTSD, because if the memory only reoccurs a couple of times then it no longer effects you it is said just to be normal memory e ven though at the time it seemed traumatic it does not have the same effect as PTSD on the brain. There are many things that could cause PTSD, experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Even though many believe that you must experience the trauma the effect of watching something so traumatic happen to someone else can have the

British Civilization free essay sample

After the Partys election victory 1979 it became a regular item in the vocabulary of media comment on British politics. It also spawned a cottage industry of academic analyses. A minimalist definition of Thatcherism would push three themes: it is the most convenient shorthand description of what Conservative governments did between 1979 and 1990; it suggests that what they did had a heavy ideological or doctrinal base; and it implies that all the Conservative administrations in this period were dominated by their leader, Mrs Thatcher. Much of the practice of Thatcherism is contested and debated. The classic interpretations of Thatcherism are rooted in the period of Mrs Thatchers first two administrations, 1979 to 1987. Three emerged, all of which were associated with the predominant elite political cultures of the time, namely, the Thatcherite, ‘middle opinion’, and neo-Marxist. For Thatcherites the origins were the Conservative Partys delayed realization that the post-war consensus was responsible for Britains decline in both economic and international status terms. Thatcherites argued that by the end of the 1970s Britain had reached the stage of ‘last chance saloon’: without the radical change of course instituted 1979 Britain would have sunk to the status of an ungovernable ‘banana republic’. The most important initial objective was to defeat inflation. After that the goals were the creation of a more competitive economy, raising Britains status in the world, changing the ‘hearts and minds’ of the British people regarding the scope of government, and the defeat of British socialism (that is, the Labour Party). All this, the Thatcherite interpretation argued, had been achieved by 1987. In short, Thatcherism was a success. The principal cause of this success was Mrs Thatcher herself. It was her convictions, drive, and authority, which had ensured that Thatcherism had developed as a coherent doctrine, consistently and comprehensively applied, and one which suffered no serious ‘U-turns’. Middle opinion, which in Britain at the time ranged from the left wing of the Conservative Party (the so-called ‘wets’) through the Liberal/Social Democratic Alliance, to the right and centre of the Labour Party, rejected all this. It did not deny the short-term successes of the Thatcherite project, but it did emphasize the huge cost of those successes to the country and to particular groups in society. The moderate, and modern, social democratic consensus of the post-war period had been replaced by the politics of an ideology rooted in the harsh and outmoded principles of nineteenth-century laissez-faire, the contemporary manifestation of which was the economic doctrine espoused by Thatcherism and labelled monetarism. Inflation, so middle opinion argued, had been defeated, but only at the cost of mass unemployment and deindustrialization. Public expenditure and the size of the public sector had both been cut, but only at the cost of weakening the welfare state and creating vast profits for privatization speculators. Moreover the traditional and essential intermediate associations of British democracy, the trade unions, the professions, the civil service, and local government, had been fatally weakened. Finally, the foreign policy of Thatcherism was rejected both for its style, ‘megaphonic diplomacy’, and its substance, too close an attachment to Reagans America and too hostile an approach to the European Community. For middle opinion the principal force behind this awful revolution, and hence its principal actor focus, was Mrs Thatcher, who had hijacked the Conservative Party, rejected its ‘One Nation’ doctrine, and who crudely and cruelly dominated her cabinet colleagues. The neo-Marxist camp had been the first to spot this awful potential of Thatcherism. Hence in many ways their interpretations reflected the complaints of middle opinion. They, too, accepted that Thatcherism was an exceptional phenomenon in terms of post-war British political development. They, too, accepted the short-term successes of this revolution and its costs, especially to the working class. They, too, objected to the special relationship with the Reagan administration. But they went further than the simple negative hostility of middle opinion. Neo-Marxists were fascinated by, and envious of, the excesses of Thatcherism. Here was a party elite which actually pursued the interests of its class supporters. Here was a party elite which knew what had to be done to bring about a revolution in post- fordist Britain. Because of these concerns the neo-Marxist camp tried to analyse Thatcherism rather than simply praise or attack it. As a result it was far less interested in telling stories about Mrs Thatcher or providing dreary accounts of particular policies. It was far more interested in considering the global and domestic structural context in which Thatcherism operated and the governing techniques it employed to protect or promote its various projects. After 1987 the provision of ‘big-bang’ interpretations of Thatcherism became a less popular exercise. First, there is general agreement that Mrs Thatchers third administration made a number of serious mistakes, mistakes which eventually led to Mrs Thatchers resignation. Examples commonly cited are the poll tax, welfare state reforms, the return of inflation, and policies towards the European Union. Secondly, even during the classic period of interpreting Thatcherism there were sceptics who denied its developmental exceptionalism, its ideological coherence, and its operational consistency. By the early 1990s this approach had assumed greater importance. In other words, commentators began to stress increasingly the implementation policy failures of the Thatcher-led governments. Finally, in the light of the problems encountered by John Majors governments, it could be argued that the wonder is that anything was done at all between 1979 and 1990.

You Can Write a Successful Argumentative Essay if You Practice a lot

You Can Write a Successful Argumentative Essay if You Practice a lot You are to take into consideration all the nuances to create a really worth and effective argumentative essay. Your assignment should include some key elements, which help the audience to get ideas from your perspective. Sometimes you can lack experience in this kind of writing, so you can look through useful tips below, which will surely help you succeed. Choose an appropriate topic The very first step you should make is to find a good topic for your assignment. Look through some topic lists and select those, which can be discussed from different points of view. What is more, the topic should completely coincide with your interests, this will give you inspiration for better writing. However, your interest can`t make the entire image of your essay. A strong argument is needed as well. This means, you should take into consideration the position you can take, reasoning and evidence, which you can provide. Your beliefs should be proven in a logical way. If you have found a topic, think on the arguments and evidence you can use to support your ideas. Think on both sides of your topic When you have made up your mind concerning the topic of an essay, think not only about the point of view you are going to support but the opposite one as well. Keep in mind that you should present them in your essay, so this plays an important role. Provide evidence Sometimes students can misinterpret arguments, as they imagine them like two people, who are too emotional and speak loudly to each other. It`s not the way, which works in the academic writing. Each of your arguments should be supported by strong evidence, proof, and whether to add emotion or not, is up to you. You shouldn`t create a great drama in your essay. Just give evidence concerning both sides and then make it clear, why one of them is better, providing stronger and logical proofs as well. Writing an essay When you have gathered all necessary information, which is the basis of your essay, the next step is writing itself. The structure of an argumentative essay is similar to other assignments, you are to include there an introduction, main body paragraphs and a concluding paragraph. The length depends on your assignment requirements. Topic introduction The introductory paragraph of your essay should include the topic of your assignment, a brief explanation of what you are going to write about and, of course, a solid thesis statement to show what idea you will support through the entire essay. Present two points of view You are to show to points of view in the body paragraphs, they are to be supported by evidence and logical assumptions. It`s a good way to start with the description of a counter-side and then proceed to the idea you support. Show persuasive evidence why your point of view is a correct one. You should think well on the evidence you use. You can insert statistics, studies, quotations. Make your position clear for readers. Moreover, re-state your idea in the conclusion as well. Some additional useful tips Don`t be emotional, your arguments may sound irrational.Make your conclusion a logical one but not emotional.Your evidence should be real, don`t make up them and don`t use unreliable recourses.Make citations in a proper way.Get ready to defend your side, so learn all strong arguments of the opposite side as well.