Racism, Prisons, and the Future of Black America Essay -- essays resea

Racism, Prisons, and the Future of Black America I came upon an article bearing the above title after entering the word ‘race’ into my web browser search bar. After skimming through the article, I became interested in the topic and decided it would be worthy for using in my Race in the Media Analysis. The topic mentioned is that of the staggering number of Blacks within American prisons. In the year the article was published (2000), the number of incarcerated Blacks were slightly over half of the entire American prison population of roughly 2 million. According to the author, Manning Marable (a black man), that meant that 1 out of every 35 blacks are in prison. These figures astonished me and made me curious as to the cause of such disturbing statistics. However, I had a notion of possible causes. I would expect to find that the reason for such large numbers is based upon poverty, and the amounts of Blacks that grow up in ghettos. If blacks make up the majority of inhabitants of America’s poorest neighborhoods, than that would be an obvious answer. It is my belief that people are more or less products of their environments, and if you grow up where there is poverty and crime, you are likely to remain poor and become a criminal. If a man or woman feels that there are no opportunities for them to make a decent living through an ethical job, then they will naturally look towards crime as a solution. It is simply a survival instinct. After reading the article, it became appare...

Fading Christian Relevancy Exposed by Sallie McFague Essay -- Religion

My first encounter with Sallie McFague’s article was jarring: her eco-feminist metaphorical approach to theology is somewhat unexpected to those unfamiliar with Religious Studies. Yet I suppose I have misjudged much of this field of study by unfairly coming to expect either wholly traditional or wholly radical claims. McFague’s approach, however, seems relatively moderate and reasonable in all its assertions, and its neo-Derridian deconstruction had my inner cultural analyst bursting with excitement. Aching to break away from the patriarchical tyranny of classical Christian theology, she is committed to a drastic reconstruction of traditional Christian dogma. At first I wondered as to her motives: was this deconstruction fueled by a second-wave feminist desire to overthrow patriarchy, or the wishes of a tree-hugging ecologist on a mission to save the natural world (as suggested by her book’s title, Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age)? Apparently neither. It is after the first few paragraphs that McFague brings clear relevancy to her writing. She argues that the common interpretation of Jesus’ resurrection serves to negate God’s omnipresence. Traditionally it is understood that the resurrection represents a â€Å"personal, bodily translation into another world† (259) though which one can join the Savior. Thus while awaiting a later holistic reunion with God, one’s earthly, bodily present is in â€Å"between-time†, in limbo, lacking God in space and time. Thus McFague fears such an interpretation for its indirect implications: God, then, is not ‘omnipresent’ – He is only par tially, selectively present. (260) She proposes, then, that the resurrection tale no longer be held as a mythology of transcendence, but rather as a â€Å"promise of G... ...e need for metaphorical theology. The particular appeal of McFague’s style is, then, not necessarily her argument nor her logic: rather it is her open-minded approach to such controversial matters. For as McFague herself would openly admit, â€Å"there are, of course, different understandings on what is ‘better’† (265). Notes: [1] I particular enjoyed McFague’s observation that â€Å"a model is a metaphor with ‘staying power’† (278) as I have often wondered at what point a religious metaphor, such as ‘God as Father’, becomes accepted enough that it becomes used in the vernacular. [2] McFague’s ‘metaphorical theology’ very much reminds me of George Carlin’s attempts to rejuvenate an outdated Jesus in Dogma. McFague, like Carlin’s Cardinal Glick, is trying to ‘re-package’ and ‘sell’ faith (or rather, The â€Å"Buddy Jesus†) by preventing a need, and relevancy, for religion.

Gender Analysis of “The Tigers Bride” by Angela Carter Essay

The short story_The Tigers Bride_ raises thought provoking concepts around gender through a plot both alike and unlike traditional Beauty and the Beast. The role of both genders is explored and true freedom questioned within the bounds of society. The text delivers a powerful and even handed message to the genders that constraints are merely a construct, a mask which can slip and shatter when pressure is applied. Angela Carter sketches a bleak setting, and equally bleak outlook for the female protagonist, caught in a powerless, debased and objectified position of social standing. Agency is firmly placed with The Beast, and the father, opening with the line; ‘My father lost me to The Beast at cards’. Objectified from the outset for her beauty, the narrator is declared a ‘treasure’ by both men and a ‘pearl beyond price’ by her father. The barb is deepened with Christmas, the day of items named as the day of her birth. Her nickname ‘Christmas rose’ gives rye commentary on the traditional symbolism of the rose, which re-emerges later stained with her blood, representing the loss of innocence at the hands of the patriarchy much as her mother before her who ‘did not blossom long’. Despite her predicament the narrator represents herself and her gender atypically to binary stereotype with a cynicism and wit that cuts through the flaws of the hegemonic dominated society around her. Receiving a rose from The Beast, she calls it ‘unnatural and out of season’ and tears it apart whilst being bartered as an object in the card game. Her disdain for her predicament and surrounds are powerless in these early stages and are blended with a sadness ‘you think there is no winter but forget you take it with you’. The narrator fast becomes a heroine to the audience, through a nurtured appreciation of her budding inner strength. This is emphasised by the stark contrast to the insipidness of the father and veiled vulnerability of The Beast. The windup soubrette doll becomes a leading symbol of the dehumanising ideals of society on the female gender with the heroine  likening herself to the doll, initially. The valet’s statement ‘surrounding ourselves for utility and pleasure with simulacra is no less convenient than for most gentlemen’ casts light on the hegemonic expectation of society. However the heroine’s character grows in strength with every denial to The Beast and her rejection of society’s expectations of ‘her skin as her sole capital’ she acts on this through her rejection of the gifted diamond earrings. Role reversal occurs when The Beast himself unclothes in vulnerability ahead of the heroine. Transformation is near complete when she views the soubrette in a new light and intends to send the doll back to perform the stilted role of father’s daughter, realising that true freedom from the limitations of society means shedding and joining the ‘beasts’. The text proposes that gender constraints are a construct and are not limited to the suppression of female power. The bounds of society on The Beast and his estate are also evident and ironically his visage, scent and abode is criticised by the heroine as failing to comply with expectations. Her animosity towards The Beast is likely birthed in her predicament, his mask a reminder of the too perfect hegemony she detests. However The Beast conducts himself with a subtleness and dignity that can be afforded to no human in the story. Contrasting The Beasts behaviour with the character of the father or the viscous rumours of the nursemaids highlights the authors point that the limitations gender and society have created hamper the full potential of character. The Beasts compassion and coyness suggest an inner subordinate or complicit form of masculinity, the hegemonic persona forced, donned as disguise to conform. The story outlines an ideal place; ‘nothing human lives here’, a place where identity is essential to being not performed as a requirement. The message is bittersweet; the escape to freedom in a new skin is a relative exile from society; a clear rebuke to a society which forces such drastic methods upon the genders to avoid cultural ideation. Bibliography: Carter, Angela, (1996). The Tiger’s Bride. In Carter, Angela, Burning your boats : the collected short stories, (pp.183 – 201). London: Vintage.

Compare/Contrast Works of Edgar Allan Poe Essay

Edgar Allan Poe’s view on poetry is that all poems must be a creation of beauty. In his eyes, depression and sadness is beautiful. He thinks that the death of a young beautiful woman is itself full of beauty. Poe’s way of beauty is a one of a kind compared to other poets and writers. In both â€Å"Annabel Lee† and â€Å"The Raven†, Poe writes about this so-called beauty. In â€Å"Annabel Lee†, a young man is mourning the death of a beautiful young lady. Even though the woman had died quite some time ago, the man is still in melancholy. He misses her terribly and constantly thinks of how she was she was tragically taken from him by the angels who were jealous of their love, and by her family who didn’t think the he himself was capable of bringing her to a final resting place. He loved Annabel Lee more than any other human can love another. â€Å"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling, my life and my bride, in her sepulcher there by the sea, in her tomb by the side of the sea.† This quote shows how much this man loved her, by sleeping next to the tomb every night. In â€Å"The Raven†, a man, most likely older than the man in â€Å"Annabel Lee†, mourns the death of his love whom he called â€Å"Lenore†. Lenore, like Annabel Lee, had died several years earlier. In â€Å"The Raven†, man hears tapping on his chamber door and sees the curtains slowly swaying. He believes that it can be no other than Lenore. Unfortunately for him though, it is only but a bird. A large, black bird known as the Raven. A raven is usually symbolized as something dark and sinister. Throughout the poem, the man is tormented by his lost love, Lenore, who came back in the form of a Raven. Although the men in these two stories are similar because they both mourn for their loved ones, they are also different. The man in â€Å"The Raven† may be sad about his lost, but his love cannot compare to that of the man in â€Å"Annabel Lee†.In these two short stories, the two main characters, as mentioned before, are very much alike, yet at the same time different. They both lose the woman of their life and they both are still in mourning. Poe’s poems are  usually about such sorrow and sadness, and it is this that makes his poems beautiful.

Company Analysis: Hampton Machine Tool Company

The questions for the Hampton Machine Tool Company are given below. Please prepare for submission questions 1 and 2 only. That is, please submit your balance sheet for December 31, 1979 and income statement for the four month period, September through December 1979, requested in question 2 below (your income statement should not be monthly; it should cover the entire four months). Please also prepare, but do not submit, the remaining questions.1. Why can't a profitable company like Hampton repay its loan on time and why does it need more bank financing? What major developments between November 1978 and August 1979 have contributed to this situation?2. Based on the information in the case, prepare a projected income statement for the four months Sept. 1979 through Dec. 1979 and a pro forma balance sheet as of December 31, 1979. (Your income statement should not be monthly. You should make one covering the entire four months.)3. Critically evaluate the assumptions on which your forecas ts are based. What developments could alter your results? Is Mr. Cowins correct in his belief that Hampton can repay the loan in December? 4. Based on the information in the case, prepare a projected cash budget for the four months, September through December 1979. Do the cash budgets and pro forma financial statements yield the same results? Why, why not? Hint: they should.Another hint: Do not rely on the statement on page 6, ―†¦our engineering estimates indicate that we expect to earn a profit before taxes and interest of about 23% on sales on these shipmentsâ€â€". Instead using the accounting relation in Q#2 (footnote below) when constructing your income statement. 5. What action should Mr. Eckwood take on Mr. Cowins' loan request? What are the major risks associated with the proposed loan? What other alternatives does Mr. Eckwood have and what are the pros and cons? What would you do?6. Why did Hampton repurchase a substantial fraction of its outstanding common st ock? What is the impact of this repurchase on Hampton's financial performance? Critically assess Hampton's dividend policy. Do you agree with Mr. Cowins' proposal to pay a substantial dividend in December?With Cartwright, we had a relatively simplistic situation, particularly as it concerns inventory: only one class of inventory was represented, not the typical threesome of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. (Presumably Cartwright was not adding much value to the raw materials, just selling them through, although—on the contrary—the case seemed to indicate that the company manufactured some door frames, trim, etc.)For Hampton, you might find helpful a basic accounting relationship: beginning inventory + purchases + other outlays – cost of sales = ending inventory;  solving for cost of sales (and recognizing that end – begin inventory is change in inventory), Cost of sales = purchases + other outlays – change in inventory. (Note t hat there are a couple inventory types to include.)Additional sub-hint: the ―other outlaysâ€â€" amount to $400K/mo. There are other expenses that should also be kept in mind when generating the pro-forma income statement. Company Analysis: Hampton Machine Tool Company The questions for the Hampton Machine Tool Company are given below. Please prepare for submission questions 1 and 2 only. That is, please submit your balance sheet for December 31, 1979 and income statement for the four month period, September through December 1979, requested in question 2 below (your income statement should not be monthly; it should cover the entire four months). Please also prepare, but do not submit, the remaining questions.1. Why can't a profitable company like Hampton repay its loan on time and why does it need more bank financing? What major developments between November 1978 and August 1979 have contributed to this situation?2. Based on the information in the case, prepare a projected income statement for the four months Sept. 1979 through Dec. 1979 and a pro forma balance sheet as of December 31, 1979. (Your income statement should not be monthly. You should make one covering the entire four months.)3. Critically evaluate the assumptions on which your forecas ts are based. What developments could alter your results? Is Mr. Cowins correct in his belief that Hampton can repay the loan in December?4. Based on the information in the case, prepare a projected cash budget for the four months, September through December 1979. Do the cash budgets and pro forma financial statements yield the same results? Why, why not? Hint: they should.Another hint: Do not rely on the statement on page 6, ―†¦our engineering estimates indicate that we expect to earn a profit before taxes and interest of about 23% on sales on these shipmentsâ€â€". Instead using the accounting relation in Q#2 (footnote below) when constructing your income statement.5. What action should Mr. Eckwood take on Mr. Cowins' loan request? What are  the major risks associated with the proposed loan? What other alternatives does Mr. Eckwood have and what are the pros and cons? What would you do?6. Why did Hampton repurchase a substantial fraction of its outstanding common s tock? What is the impact of this repurchase on Hampton's financial performance? Critically assess Hampton's dividend policy. Do you agree with Mr. Cowins' proposal to pay a substantial dividend in December?With Cartwright, we had a relatively simplistic situation, particularly as it concerns inventory: only one class of inventory was represented, not the typical threesome of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. (Presumably Cartwright was not adding much value to the raw materials, just selling them through, although—on the contrary—the case seemed to indicate that the company manufactured some door frames, trim, etc.) For Hampton, you might find helpful a basic accounting relationship: beginning inventory + purchases + other outlays – cost of sales = ending inventory;Solving for cost of sales (and recognizing that end – begin inventory is change in inventory), Cost of sales = purchases + other outlays – change in inventory. (Note tha t there are a couple inventory types to include.)Additional sub-hint: the ―other outlaysâ€â€" amount to $400K/mo. There are other expenses that should also be kept in mind when generating the pro-forma income statement.

Observing Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication is the process of communicating that is characterized by the absence of words but rather communicating, sending and receiving messages via bodily language, styles, and symbols. I tried to observe this type of communication in the park with a particular male and female as a target subjects. A young man, possibly 20 yrs of age and a woman, more or less of the same age group, were ‘conversing’ in the park at 5 PM in the afternoon. I use the term ‘conversation’ loosely here. Using the concept of proxemics, parks would be classified under the group, public territory, but I note that, generally speaking, such places would have no control on the behavior of the people; people there would exceed territorial rights with regards to their behavior. Without thoughtful analysis, the first idea that had entered my head was that the man and the woman were in a relation but apparently I cannot make a concluding statement about this. Physical appearances suggest informal relations as suggested by their casual appearances. Both were wearing pants with the female wearing a pink tank top and the male wearing a faded statement shirt. There is a high possibility that their meeting was not business or work associated. I disregarded Monochromatic time schedule in favor of Poly-chronic time schedule since the subjects conversation and appearances were evidently personal. Kinesic communication of the subjects— facial expressions, body movements, gestures, and posture ­Ã¢â‚¬â€reveal one important thing; the subject’s conversation was neither intimate but rather harried, constrained and angry. There was an obvious lack of touch between the two which would denote ‘friendship’ or ‘love’. The woman was gesticulating her hands wildly, and at some point in time, she was waving her right hand at the right empty space indicating that she was ‘emphasizing’ something to the man. Her shoulders were not slumped but rather posed upwards indicating a highly constrained emotion. Her feet was braced apart and she walking around wildly. Her face was clearly angry; her brows were drawn together in a frown and most probably her nostrils were growing bigger or flaring up, with her irises dilating indicating, a high emotional state. The sides of her mouth were slanted downwards as she was talking clearly indicating a negative emotion. Her curly hair was moving with the movement of her mouth. Blood was rushing to her face which makes her face really look red indeed. When the male was talking, she was ‘rolling her eyes’, indicating mockery and disbelief to what the person was saying. She was intentionally trying or trying to appear like she was not listening to the other person was saying when she was looking away at the other direction. The male subject was equally angry. His stance, shoulders upwards were poised for a fight but he was defensive as indicated by the arms that were crossed high on his chest. When he was not talking, his lips were drawn in tight line and he was highly attentive what the female was saying because ‘he did not remove his eyes from her’. His eyes were in slits, indicating anger and at some point, he was also gesticulating his hands indicating that he was forcefully explaining something to the female. I observed that proxemics for the park as a space was clearly loosely defined as to the public territorial usage; the subjects were clearly using the space for ‘personal’ purposes. Movement and body position of my subjects hinges towards negative emotional responses, ost specially that of charged anger. The subjects exhibited negative attitudes, and mostly involuntary non-verbal communication. All messages transmitted between the two were conscous and deliberate and not subliminal; their conversation was intended to say something and both were equally aware of it. Bibliography Argyle, M. (1988). Bodily Communication. Madison: International UP.

Globalization and Boundless Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Globalization and Boundless Market - Essay Example It is the productivity of every nations combined. Information on world's outputs is based on economic data obtained from different countries through international regulatory institutions like the International Monetary Fund, who is involved in the monitoring of economic and financial developments (IMF, 2008) and the World Trade Organization, who oversees nearly 150 countries and 97% of world trade (WTO, n.d.). The indices can be represented by the regular economic parameters such as Gross Domestic Product or Gross World Product (GWP), per capita production, employment rate, and others. World production is greatly affected by trading. Without trading a nation would not strive to produce more of its products where it has comparative advantage. Without the demand from other countries, every nation only produces goods enough for the domestic need. Oil producing countries, for instance, strive to generate greater productivity because of world demands for oil. Food and other agricultural supplies are needed by countries who cannot produce them due to climatic conditions. Other countries provide surplus of labor and expertise. Because of this, world trade is an essential component for increase in world's production. In fact volumes of world trading is a good indicator of the soundness of the world's economy. When world trading is low the world economy is generally down. General pattern of international trade International trade, which forms the bloodstream of the world economy, represents the flow of goods and services from one nation to the other. There are several patterns suggested in terms of trading or import-export arrangements. One of the patterns is that, the nation who lacks the capability to produce a good needed by its constituents buy it from another nation who produce or specialize its production due to comparative advantage such as lower production cost or availability of raw materials. Likewise, the nation that has surplus of a particular product can supply it to others in need. Dean (2004, 312) referred this arrangement as inter-industry specialization. Another pattern referred by the same author describes the intra-industry specialization (313). Two nations who specialize the same industry trade their products. As an example, the US and Japan both manufacture cars but they both trade their respective cars models. Import and exports, however, have their controls and limitations based on regulations and standards. Different countries have their own product quality indices, trade taxes, and other barriers. Attempts however were made to unify regulations and eliminate barriers to world trade. These resulted to the forming of the World Trade Organization. With the molding of the WTO the world embark in a global exchange of goods and services from agricultural to high-end industrial outputs with limited restrictions. As part of its advocacy the World Trade Organization claimed, "It is the only international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible." The Consequence of no-trading Trade sanctions sometimes happen in the world scenario. It occurred many times in the history as a consequence of disciplinary actions against a hostile