Is There Anybody Out There. Maia Szalavitz, Author Of

Is There Anybody Out There? Maia Szalavitz, author of Unbroken Brain, points out in an article about our finger-pointing mentality on drug abuse, â€Å"Addiction is one of the most serious health problems we face today, and as of 2010, more than 23 million people have an addiction to drugs, and according to the National Institutes of Health, these addictions contribute to more than 100,000 deaths per year.† Drug abuse is a major problem in the United States and throughout the world as more and more people become addicted every day. When you hear the words drug addict you think of desensitizing terms, like â€Å"junkie† or â€Å"crack head†, and when you see someone pan handling for money on the street, passed out, or swaying in a doorway you likely†¦show more content†¦They are often people who were issued pain medication by a doctor which resulted in a dependence on the drug. According to results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 2.4 mil lion Americans used prescription drugs non-medically for the first time within the past year, which averages to approximately 6,600 initiates per day. This population would seek help if not for the fear and shame they feel about being labeled as a drug addict. These stigmas perpetuated by people believing that addiction is a character flaw or a sign of weakness can create such fear in a person that they won’t ever get the help they need. They worry about losing their jobs or family, so they opt to go without treatment despite the consequences to their health, which could eventually lead to death. In the â€Å"Addiction† article published by the Gale group it states that â€Å"According to the CDC, in 2013 more than sixteen thousand people died from prescription opioids, an increase of 50 percent in three years.† Addiction does not discriminate; it makes no distinction between a person’s age, sex, color, or financial circumstance. However, the stigma s urrounding addiction and drug use leaves many Americans unwilling to help fund better treatment. Health insurance is also a major component in whether a person can pursue treatment for addiction. Even when health insurance does cover treatment, there might not be an available treatment center or

Comparison Between Pericles’ Funeral Oration and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Adress Free Essays

Address are two of the greatest and most memorable speeches ever given. Despite the fact that the two speeches were given some two thousand years apart, there are remarkable similarities between the two, including content, length, and the situations in which the speeches were given. The majority of speeches that were given in President Lincoln’s time tended to be extremely long. We will write a custom essay sample on Comparison Between Pericles’ Funeral Oration and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Adress or any similar topic only for you Order Now It was not uncommon for a person to speak about the dead for three straight hours. Knowing this, it is not surprising that those who heard the speech were both shocked and somewhat outraged. Was it disrespectful that Lincoln chose to speak about those who fought for their country and for freedom and died for approximately five minutes instead of the usual three hours? Many thought so at the time. However, today it is perhaps the best-known speech in United States history.The Bostonian (newspaper) recognized the impact that it would have on the American people immediately, â€Å"The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech. † Lincoln’s speech is still remembered, one hundred and fifty years later, although it has not stood the test of time as Pericles’ Funeral Oration has. Pericles’ Funeral Oration, although much longer than five minutes, is extremely short compared to speeches given in 400 BC.We do not know if the Athenian people received this speech well or not, but regardless it has gone down as one of the greatest and most powerful speeches of all time. The purpose of Pericles’ speech was to honor the people who died for Athens and their surviving families. It also was to speak of Athens and all that they have accomplished as a nation and how excellent and rewarding democracy is. The purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to speak about the dead; to dedicate a monument for those who have died and that there is unfinished work (in the United States).There is some evidence to support that Lincoln looked at Pericles’ Funeral Oration prior to writing his speech. The indication that he read Pericles’ speech is not the fact that the speeches are written about similar topics. Another indication is that there are records of congress charging an account of Pericles’ a reference to the Funeral Oration to Abraham Lincoln. The most compelling evidence is that there are parallels in the ideas that the two speeches exhibit.This could be because Lincoln was familiar with Pericles’ funeral oration, or it could be that they were in similar conditions of war when the two speeches were delivered and the similarities are coincidence. Both Lincoln and Pericles express that their ancestors are the ones who are responsible for their nation’s success Lincoln and Pericles’ had similar ideals, like all men are created equal. â€Å"We throw our city open to all, and never exclude anyone† (Pericles’ Funeral Oration). When Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address during the American Civil War, Lincoln’s goal w as to give everyone equal rights How to cite Comparison Between Pericles’ Funeral Oration and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Adress, Papers

Presentation of female characters in a streetcar named desire and the worlds wife free essay sample

The presentation of female characters plays a very significant role in both A Streetcar Named Desire and The World’s Wife and though these texts express similar ideas about women, there is also substantial differences. Tennessee Williams’ ASCND, tragic first produced in 1947, sets his female characters within the patriarchal society of post Second World War New Orleans society. Williams’s uses his female protagonist Blanche Dubois to explore the female repression that was present in the late 1940’s before radical feminism made an impact in the 1960’s. In contrast, Carol Anne Duffy’s TWW published in 1999 is a sequence of dramatic monologues that reconstruct well-known fictional and real life female characters and their experiences from sources as diverse as biblical texts, fairy tales and even legends. Duffy is a feminist writer who gives her personas modern voices that express their perspectives, identities and relationships. She subverts the idea of male authority, which was long enclosed in traditional patriarchal western societies by employing a range of key ideas she promoted through decades of radical feminism. We will write a custom essay sample on Presentation of female characters in a streetcar named desire and the worlds wife or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The presentation of female characters and heterosexual relationships in both texts are likely to be affected by the writer’s own homosexuality and there is also evidence of biographical elements in their narratives. While it is possible to explore these texts from different literary theoretical perspectives such as Marxists or psychoanalytical criticism, a feminist critique is likely to be most productive to explore the depiction of female characters within both texts. Female critiques would recognize the direct depiction of female characters in both Duffy’s poems and Williams’ play and how reliant and subordinate females were towards men in the time of renewed conservatism. However, they would also pick up the varying extent in the portrayal of both. In ASCND, females such as Eunice, Stella and the protagonist Blanche Dubois are presented as vulnerable and most importantly dependent on a male figure. Dependency was a very controversial topic in the 1940’s and this is presented in ASCND through the character of Stella. â€Å"When he’s away for a week, I nearly go crazy†. This quote defines many women of the 1940’s and  the effect a male authority had in their life. However, not only does Stella run back to Stanley for emotional support but for financial support as well when she says, â€Å"this morning he gave me ten dollars to smooth things over†. It seems to me that women in the 1940’s were almost easy to be bought and manipulated by men just like how a prostitute is given money after sex. It volumes the inequality in 1940’s marriages, as the idea of financial control was given to the man of the house. Similarly, another scene where Stella depicts extreme dependency on Stanley is when she forces herself not to believe that Stanley had raped her sister when she says, â€Å"I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley† and Eunice replies, â€Å"don’t ever believe it. Life has to go on. No matter what happens, youâ€℠¢ve got to keep on going†. Women were seen as incomplete if they were not married in the male supremacy that was present and internalised in society. After the women’s movement, women were allowed more positive outcomes and were awarded a voice unlike women during patriarchy. ‘Anne Hathaway’ is a poem supposedly about Anne Hathaway expressing her emotions when William Shakespeare deserted her. She uses power in her language to convey her strong emotional attachment towards him the same way Stella nearly goes crazy when Stanley is away from her. In this poem, Anne seems to ‘luxuriate in the images of language, the female body and lovemaking’. She is the assonance and he is the verb. This poem expresses her intense pleasure with Shakespeare when she describes her ‘body now a softer rhyme to his, now echo, assonance; his touch a verb dancing in the centre of a noun’. Here she is still thinking about their glorious love making by expressing intense passion. The persona conveys that loving him will remain central in her world as she makes her head the casket of her emotions as she Refuses to construct herself as a victim and devotes the rest of her life to him because she knows that she won’t be able to live without him just like women and their way of life in the 1940’s patriarchal societies. However, Duffy contrasts the issue of sexual reliance when the persona in ‘Little Red Cap’ discovers that she doesn’t need a man in her life and that she can be independent. Unlike most female characters in ASCND, she finds her own poetic voice and disposes of him in her life in a forceful and dynamic way by taking an ‘axe to the wolf’ as she stitched him up and ended ‘dinging, all alone’. In the 1940’s, many women were subjected to violence as a result of dependency. Violence and dominance brought out desperation in women in a society where there was a failure of feminism. The callousness of men was seen as an acceptable part of marriage within patriarchy and in ASCND, violence in Stella’s relationship radiated from the start. Scene one starts with clear elements of violence when Stanley ‘heaves the package at her’ to cook. Right from the beginning, the dominance of males is portrayed and when Stella ‘laughs breathlessly’, it shows that women didn’t really have the power of rejecting orders or standing up for themselves. Philip C. Kolin said, ‘She runs away, he chases her; she comes back with him, they make up and make love’. This expresses Stella and Stanley’s cycle of life after the time of abuse where ‘Stanley charges after Stella’. Even though Stella warns Stanley, ‘You hit me, i m gonna call the police’, she acknowledges that ‘abuse’ as a part of her life when she says, â€Å"I have told you that I love him†. This portrays mental toughness in her as well as vulnerability and reflects back on the lack of female rights all women of the mid 20th century’s had and their pragmatic approach to abuse. Mister Connors English classes-feminist criticism/Essay called: ‘small female skull’: patriarchy and philosophy in the poetry of Carol Anne Duff/y/Philip C Kolin- Eunice Hubbell and the feminist Thematics Of A Streetcar Named Desire In TWW, Duffy displays violence in her poem ‘Mrs Beast’ where her female persona takes control and makes the male the victim. This contrasts to the violence in ASCND because men are usually the ones that inflict it rather than the female whereas in TWW, it’s the woman who expresses her lack of compassion violently. Mrs Beast uses violent imagery to express her dominance over the man as she adopts male behaviour quickly. â€Å"Do this, harder† and â€Å"Do that. Faster† connects to Blanche telling her sister what to do. Mrs Beast expresses that women had to be ‘kept out of sight’ which links to ASCND when men dominated space. However I feel like in Mrs Beast, ambiguity is created because throughout the poem, the persona does display women provocatively and prostitute like. This is a reflection to Blanche or maybe even her own sexuality. In ASCND, Williams’ protagonist, Blanche, tries to construct a faà §ade when she arrives in New Orleans to deceive people in thinking she’s a completely different person in order to protect her past and keep it private because she knows that it will affect the way people view her and judge her if they found out. In the patriarchal society of the 1940’s, one’s sexual image was a very polemic point. Blanche may have constructed herself as a soft person and created an identity which requires one to be â€Å"soft and attractive†, but underneath the whole faà §ade, her main aim was to have her ‘existence admitted by someone’ and have a â€Å"One night’s shelter†. She puts herself on display mainly to alleviate her loneliness. Blanche’s hinted admission and past situation seemed like a threat especially when Stanley informed Mitch about her past. Blanche feels like the dark is the only way in which she can feel comfortable in her own skin when she tells Mitch, â€Å"I like it dark. The dark is comforting to me†. Her avoiding the light proves her insecurities and that it’s not just her looks that she is trying to hide but emotional scars also from finding out she was ‘married to a homosexual’ at a young age then having experienced his death therefore ‘Being discharged by Mr graves for illicit sexual advances to pursue her pupils’. Blanches trying to construct her southern belle image was clearly not the ‘sober truth’ but an illusion especially for Mitch as ‘It is Mitch that prospects soar’. Blanche refers to Mitch as ‘the man she wants to pursue her’. Philip C Kolin- Eunice hubell and the feminist thematics of a streetcar named desire Leonard Berkman-The tragic downfall of blanche dubois Carol Anne Duffy has presented her characters with personal independence and a voice unlike Williams. However, creating a different identity to fit in was very common in her poems. In ‘’Mrs Quasimodo’, Mrs Quasimodo feels a lot of self disgust as she feels like she needs to change herself in order to be loved. This poem reinforces the fact that Blanche also thought that she needed to create a fake identity to cover the truth, as it would ruin her future. Just like Blanche, Mrs Quasimodo feels like one needs to be â€Å"perfect, vulnerable and young† and â€Å"to be slim, be slight† have your â€Å" slender neck quoted between two thumbs†, be â€Å"beautiful with creamy skin, and tumbling auburn hair† in order to attract likewise to Blanche who doesn’t like being seen in the light. However, the contrast between Duffy’s poem and Williams’ play is that in Duffy’s poems, women always fight back and retain their poetic voice. Mrs Quasimodo destroys what she loves, not just as an act of empowerment but as an act of destruction. In ‘Mrs Quasimodo’, the female character ended up depicting female independence when she ‘pissed’ on what she loved in the sense that it’s over forever, whereas in ASCND, Williams’ characters had no choice but to obey male figures in a male dominated time period. Sisterhood played a major role in patriarchal societies because women needed that sincere support besides just the financial support from their partners. In ASCND, Eunice is a friend to the Dubois sisters from the beginning. She almost plays the role of a caring mother as her ‘maternal attributes offer a significant source of trust’. This is proven when Eunice tells Blanche â€Å"She got the downstairs here and I got the up†. The fact that they share a house proves their sincere bond and offers reassurance. Eunice’s guardian attributes are proved when Stella ‘runs upstairs to Eunice as a daughter would run home to her mother for protection and counsel’ When Stella decided to send Blanche to an asylum, Eunice and plays a major role ‘in turning Blanche over to the doctor’ and ‘passing on her responsibility, the role of the kind, nurturing stranger, to an individual who has the manners and grace Blanche needs and honors.’ Eunice does offer a strong feminine alternative to Stanley’s ‘male physicality’ and this is very much needed in Stella life as a form of protection. Stella sending her sister to an asylum could also be a link made to Williams’ own sister, Rose, that went to an institution which reflects back to his own personal life. There are many links made to TWW because in Duffy’s poems, most female characters end up standing up for themselves and finding their own poetic voice and in ‘Demeter’; the persona expresses a new beginning for her and her daughter. Deep sympathy is expressed her just like Eunice’s support towards Stella. Demeter is the mother of Persephone and here, a form of  security and love for her daughter is portrayed. ‘Demeter expresses that the air softened and warmed as she moved’ which proves love in the same way compromised sisterhood reinforces protection and support in ASCND. A lot of feminine imagery depicts a more feminine and caring side to women of the 1960’s after the period of radical feminism. ‘Demeter’ shows a mothers love for her daughter just like Stella’s love for her older sister and ending the poem with ‘the small shy mouth of a new moon’, it reflects back to Blanche’s new beginning. Another example of female support is ‘’Queen Herod’. Queen Herod is a fierce tribute about the persona liberating her daughter from the next generation of male dominance. She is trying to break free from roles that were adopted within patriarchy and fight male oppression when she says, â€Å"kill each mother’s son. Do it. Spare not one†. This is a subversion of reversal. She does it to protect her daughter just like Stella tries to protect her sister. Philip C. Kolin- Eunice Hubbell and the Feminist Thematic of a Streetcar Named Desire In conclusion, these two pieces of texts express female characters in completely opposite ways. Duffy shows that woman can be independent and empowered as equal human beings. I also feel like Duffy has uses various poems to give assertive voices to women that originally didn’t have one. Moreover, even though some female characters feel victimized in a Duffy poem, the majority of them fight back successful and gain their poetic voice. However, Williams uses his characters to explore societies expectations in the 1940’s and it shows that Stella conforms to the social expectations of women and accepts violence as a ‘part of life’ in order to stay with who she wants to be with, whereas Blanche stays away from conventional female roles and creates herself a faà §ade and looks at life the way she wants it to be. Finally, I think that both these poems have different ways of depicting women mainly due to the time periods that they were written. ASCND was written before radical feminism and TWW was written after.

Social Theories essays

Social Theories essays Sociology has been defined s the scientific study of human interaction and, as such, is accepted as a scientific activity (Leming 1997). Social science aims at discovering and explaining observed events of and in nature by means of a framework that can be tested. The goal of sociology is, therefore, to produce a body of knowledge that will provide a body of knowledge that will provide not only an understanding of the causal processes influencing human behavior but also enable sociologists to predict social behaviors (Leming). As a science, it pursues observable and provable regularities and explains these regularities by means of a set of observable and provable propositions or statements of relationship (Leming). The very effectiveness or success of sociology lies precisely in the explanatory and predictive power of this body of knowledge derived from The basic components or elements of a theory are a conceptual scheme, a set of propositions that states the relationships between variables, and a context for verification (Leming). The conceptual scheme consists of ideas that possess abstract properties not yet immediately verifiable by direct sensory observation. It also has a system of interrelated statements of relationships between variables, which seam the parts of the concept together. The conceptual scheme and the statements of relationships are joined together and organized under a paradigm (Leming). A paradigm is the basic image of a particular subject matter within a science and serves as context for the verification (Leming 1997). It defines what should be studied and asked, how the questions should be posed and the rules to observe in interpreting the answers that will be obtained. It is the broadest unit of consensus within a science, which subsumes, defines and inter-relates the examples and/or variables, theories, methods, and instruments within it (Leming)...

Microsoft is acquiring LinkedIn! What do you think it means for you

Microsoft is acquiring LinkedIn! What do you think it means for you Today Microsoft and LinkedIn announced that Microsoft will be acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. LinkedIn shares jumped 47% following the news, while Microsoft shares slipped slightly by 3.2%. This deal comes on the heels of a weak performance by LinkedIn in the first part of the year, from which the social media platform was already starting to recover. I am no business acquisition expert, but I do see that Microsoft might benefit from a wide social networking platform. LinkedIn’s millions of members will give Microsoft a huge audience into which they can tap for their cloud business. For LinkedIn, the acquisition seems to be a boon. LinkedIn’s CEO and other employees will stay in place and the company will retain their autonomy, at least for now. I’d like to open up a discussion here. What do you think about this deal? What are the pros and cons for Microsoft? For LinkedIn? What do you think this new structure will mean for you as a LinkedIn user? What are your fears about having Microsoft as LinkedIn’s new owner? What might the future look like with Microsoft behind the curtain? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment area below!

Patton Lessons in Leadership by Alan Axelrod Essay

Patton Lessons in Leadership by Alan Axelrod - Essay Example The main focus of the said work is the collection of the knowledge and the lessons brought about by George S. Patton, one of the most successful military general in the US. The most significant of the said concepts is the application suggestions to the corporate America even in the absence of war (Axelrod, 2001). The ideas of George S. Patton can be considered innovative but unconventional for his time. Although this is the case, upon the study of the published work, a significant affirmation regarding the feasibility of the ideas can be considered as the driving force for the popularity of the presented concepts and ideas. The views of Patton covered an extensive variety of experiences he related to leadership in any form, specifically the needs of the present era (Axelrod, 2001). One of the most evident attributes of Patton is his confidence to execute his decisions and views, a character that can be considered to have an important role in his capability to achieve goals, act upon what he planned and motivate his people. When one observes a leader such as Patton, at some point, following his goals and views can be inevitable. This can be attributed to his achievements during his leadership. The different concepts in leadership based on Patton can be related to the leadership image, communication in the organization, setting up of priorities, teamwork, performance, loyalty and achievement. The ideas presented in the published work mainly revolve in the corresponding applications of the concepts and methods Patton applied in military leadership during the war and the needs of the corporate world in terms of leadership. One of the ideas is projected in the development and upholding of the image of the leader. According to Patton, to be able to achieve success as a leader, the image for the people to follow is one of the most important factors.

Role of Elders in the Asian Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Role of Elders in the Asian Culture - Essay Example Families, communities, societies, and nations have been promoted by the elderly people during their lives. More importantly, children are educated, cared, and nurtured by the parents and elders in the Asian culture. Therefore, parents deserve comfort, love, and respect throughout their lives from their youngsters and children. In other words, caring and respecting elders and parents is the moral and ethical obligation of children in the Asian region. In this regard, it is the responsibility of elders to take care of their youngsters, love them, and keep guiding them throughout their lives. On the other hand, American or British culture allows the individuals to start making their own decisions in their adolescent age, which is very contrary with the norms and values of the Asian culture. For instance, teachers are often allowed to be strict with the young students in Asian schools, or elders often treat youngsters in a harsh way, which is very different, as compared with the American culture. (Blackkaby, 1998) In brief, role that is played by old people is affected significantly by the cultural differences, as role and respect changes to a higher extent in different cultures. (Huntington, 2000) In East-Asian culture, a notable tradition is specifically practiced in this region, which is referred as filial piety. China, Japan, and Korea are some of the cultures that have the dominated practice of such practice. Care for the elderly is the most imperative and foremost obligation of this tradition. (Lee, 2004) Moreover, elderly people in these cultures play a guiding role to nurture their youngsters in an emotional, as well as, spiritual manner. In the Asian context, parents and elders must provide shelter, care, and assistance to the youngsters in emotional, as well as, financial manner, which is once again, contrary to the Western culture, which obligates