What I Know free essay sample

I stare at the Hamlet poster every morning in creative writing class,and it never changes. It is always the same poster, the same cast in alphabeticalorder, the same obscure message at the bottom in the same soft orange font:At Theaters Soon. I guess the posters constancy is what ropes in myeyes and ties them up like young hooves in a cattle kings ring. All else that ispermanent and palpable in the room dissolves, leaving this one vivid window intoa scene of another time, leaving me to rely on a freeze-frame of a modernadaptation of anothers historic reverie and peerless genius. Still,despite all these imaginings, I must be careful. I must be careful not to makethe boy in black (whose seat is under the spectacle) think I could be staring athim. I wouldnt want him to add my supposed incessant gaping to his tragicfreak log. We will write a custom essay sample on What I Know or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He doesnt want to believe that I am just like him. I am justlike every one of those cloaked ultraists who mope around school in their darkresistance decor. With my clean white shirt and ironed corduroys, it is twisteddiscrimination. You couldnt be like us, they say, but I will always know weshould have been great friends. The time is over now the three bellsalways sound like antecedents to department-store announcements (Customerneeds assistance in the shoe department, please ) and it is time forpsychology. I always think about my best friend in psychology because she has thesame class at the same time in Michigan. I picture her bedroom the way it waswhen I went to visit her, the profoundly green walls and the bay window withflowing tails of white and gold gossamer that frame the forever flatness ofcentral Michigan. It is a beautiful room. She hung the framed Degas poster I gaveher for her sixteenth birthday, a sort of symbol of my indomitable knowledge ofher pastimes. She is a wonderful dancer. Theres a Degas poster in creativewriting class, too, and sometimes when Im not looking into Hamlet, Ilet myself think about her. Sometimes I feel Ive begun to see howeverything in this life becomes connected, even if only for a while; even if youstill believe you can hear the fluttering recoil of things gone by. Maybe thatsthe way things stay undeniably allied, inside hopeful minds and the empty roomsof our hearts. In Spanish class I always think about my father. The way hedied, the way he was before he died, the way every window of every building inthis school district is exactly the same, but they look different now. I dontgaze through them as I used to. Now I ream the glass with pensive eyes,mysterious eyes, boring through to the outside world in a bitter, scared anduntrusting trance. My father suffered a stroke in 1993 that left him with a badleg, a cadenced walk to replace his robust stride, a cane, a stagnant arm,phantom pain, and five years of illness and anger that led to the eventualatrophy of my parents marriage. Three and a half years ago, I was theonly one with my father when he died of a massive heart attack in the very housewhere I sit and write this. Its taken me a long time to be able to fall asleephere, not counting the times Ive passed out from utter lack of rest. My sleepwas perpetually wracked by the face of my dying father that only I witnessed andabsorbed. He died just months before I entered high school. And I harbor such aninconceivable amount of guilt for all the times I had fought with him, all thetimes I had made him hang his head for the hurtful things he said. I was thedominant voice in my household because in my preteen irrationality, I couldntunderstand his illness. I know that now. I also know everything bears somepurpose, whether obvious or not, and all things happen as they must, no matterhow great the burden, or unbearable the pain. I am not sure if this personalstatement draws any admiration from you, or leads you through my subjective pathsin semi-certain terms. I have laid out all I can, and all that has any pertinenceto the real world (as much of reality as a suburban Cincinnati teen can know). Iknow what I dont know, and that has been enough for me so far.

Biography Of Henry Ford Essays - Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion

Biography Of Henry Ford Essays - Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion Biography of Henry Ford Henry Ford was one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in creating the automobile assembly line, it was his controversial characteristics and unorthodox approach towards administrating the Ford Motor Company which resulted in the conglomeration of one of the most successful corporations in the world. At the turn of the century everything was booming! The growth of the economy and stock market increased the job opportunities as well as morals. As a result of this industrial revolution, out of the woodwork came a humble yet driven man, Henry Ford. Between the five dollar/day plan, his policies on administrating the company, and his relations with his customers, Ford was often presented as a suspicious character. This controversial behavior epitomized the success of the company, it did not lead to his own downfall as many suspect. The Anti-Semitic accusations, and the belief that Ford was taking advantage of his customers, were by far overshadowed by his brilliance and strong hand in running his company. Of course, there were not always supporters of Henry Ford. If fact, there were many critics, critics who believed that Henry Ford was so controversial that it prevented the potential of Fords from becoming greater than it is today. By the mid twenties the Ford?s was already the worlds most successful automobile company, but their great reputation would soon decline. Fords $5/day plan for all employees signified the overwhelming success of the company. Many believed this success was short-lived with the new policies dealing with the workers which soon followed. With the need to increase production and lower costs, in the mid 30?s Ford cut all Ford worker?s wages in half. Workers were expected to work faster, and harder. Department heads were ordered to ban all talking and whistling while work was in progress. All of this was a ploy by Ford to make sure he knew every move of his workers, he was very possessive. Secondly, Ford began to fire older workers and hire younger workers. His ideology was that the younger workers could work more productively and more efficiently. Which in turn would send more money flowing into his pockets. What resulted was quite humorous in fact. Black hair dye became a hot seller in the Detroit area . Older workers tried to disguise their age by dying their hair black. Ford?s manipulation of his workers was immoral and unjust. There was no industrial democracy, workers were forced to do what they were told or would be out of a job. Henry Ford?s controversial behavior reflected badly on himself and on the Ford Motor Company. The Anti-Semitic views expressed by Henry Ford could never be denied. It was common knowledge in fact that Henry Ford was prejudice. He wrote an article in the Dearborn Independent expressing his ideas that Jews were the cause of many peoples problems. Henry Ford was sued by a man by the name Aaron Sapiro in the early 1930?s. Sapiro had evidence that Ford threatened himself with Anti-Semitic sentiments. Ford was recorded as saying, ?Sapiro is a shrewd little Jew. The bible says Jews will return to Palestine, but they want to get all the money out of America first. Sapiro should be kicked out because he is trash..? The result of the trial was humiliation for the Ford company and Henry Ford himself. After a hung jury in the first trial, the case was dropped when Ford wrote a lengthy retraction and apologized for his statements. Ford?s was declining in profits and production among the worlds best. All as a result of Henry Ford?s ego. Thus, by 1931 Ford lowered in the ranks, controlling only 28% of the market 2nd to GM with 31%. Henry Ford was the godfather of the automobile industry in the early 1900?s. The development of his River Rouge plant was considered a ?industrial Cathedral.? Hundreds waited month after month in front of the employment building hoping to be hired. To foreign immigrants it meant hope and a successful future. The River Rouge plant employed over 50,000 employees. Pols, Lithuanians, Germans, almost every western Europe country could be represented at the Ford Plant. Like a father Henry Ford began educational programs, teaching his illiterate employees how

Medea Essay

Medea Essay Medea and Jason are the two main characters in the play Medea. They are two different characters who have very few similarities. Medea is a passionate woman who takes relationships seriously. However, Jason is a dispassionate, hedonistic manipulator of women. These characters were once a lovely couple who loved each other. These characters are the ones who create the climax of the whole play. These two remarkable characters are exceptional for their unique traits. Medea used to show Jason her love for him by sacrificing many things for him. For instance, Medea killed many people for the sake of Jason. Jason, however, didnt help Medea at all, because he is a shallow character and a manipulator of women. For example, Medea sacrificed her reputation and life for her heartless husband, and he only gave her misfortunes. In the past, Medea was married to Jason, and he got in trouble many times. Once Jason stole the Golden Fleece from Medeas family. Medeas father chased after them but she killed her brother so the father would bury him and would not chase them. As a result, Medea killed her brother just to be with Jason. This gave her misfortunes because she could not even see her own father and had to kill her own brother. Medea is a revengeful person and a sorceress. She uses her magic to take revenge on other people. Medea made poison from her sorcery, which she uses to poiso n the present of the Princess. Then she kills Creon and the Princess to take revenge from Jason. Jason is an arrogant and hedonist person. He used other people to get power and live happier. As I said before, Jason once stole the Golden Fleece from Medeas family. Medeas father chased after them but she killed her brother so the father would bury him and would not chase them. As a result, Medea killed her brother just to be with Jason. He used Medea there to have the Golden Fleece and live happy and didnt care what happened to her. Jason is a person who is obsessed in increasing his social level and also his power. He manipulated Medea to make kill his brother when he stole the Golden Fleece from her father. Although Jason and Medea have many differences, they have few similarities. Medea and Jason are very honest persons. They express their feelings of hatred to each other without even thinking about hurting each others feelings, this is not the first occasion that I have noticed how hopeless it is to deal with a stubborn temper. (pg. 15-20). Another similarity about these characters is that they both love their own children. Medea doesnt want to kill her children but she has to because people will make them suffer if he left them alive. Medea demonstrates that she loves her children by saying oh children, oh my children, you have a city, you have a home, and you can leave me behind you, and without your mother you may live there forever. But I am going to exile to another land before I have seen you happy and taken pleasure in you, before I have dressed your brides and made your marriage beds. And held up the torch at the ceremony of wedding. (pg. 33-35). She also killed her children t o make Jason suffer. Nevertheless, Jason goes to protect his children because he is afraid when Medea dies, his children will suffer too, so he goes to save them. When he went to rescue his children, he said, you women , standing close in front of this dwelling, is she Medea, she who did this dreadful deed, still in the house or has she run away in flight? For she will have to hide herself beneath the earth, or raise herself on wings into the height of air, if she wished to escape the royal vengeance. Does she imagine that, having killed our rulers, she will herself escape uninjured from this house? But I am thinking not so much of hers as for the children-her the kings friends will make you suffer for what she did. So u have come to save the lives of my boys, in case the royal house should harm them while taking my vengeance for their mothers wicked deed. (pg. 42). Also, these two characters are very determined in their tasks. Medea shows her determination by accomplishing her task s of killing the Princess and King Creon. Furthermore, Jason is also a very determined person. He shows his determination little by little by trying to get more power. He also tries to raise his social status by marrying other Princesses from other countries. Although Medea is a loving mother who is misunderstood by many people., she is also an evil person who achieves her evil plots at any costs, even if she has to kill her own children. However, she was not like this before. Before, she was loving and caring towards a man called Jason, who abandoned her and made her into this murderess. If She had never met Jason, she could have had a better life and she wouldnt be a murderess. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on Medea topics at our professional custom essay writing service which provides students with custom papers written by highly qualified academic writers. High quality and no plagiarism guarantee! Get professional essay writing help at an affordable cost.

Prehistoric Life During the Cenozoic Era

Prehistoric Life During the Cenozoic Era Facts About the Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic Era is easy to define: its the stretch of geologic time that kicked off with the Cretaceous/Tertiary Extinction that destroyed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and continues down to the present day. Informally, the Cenozoic Era is often referred to as the age of mammals, since it was only after the dinosaurs went extinct that mammals had the chance to radiate into various open ecological niches and dominate terrestrial life on the planet. This characterization is somewhat unfair, however, since (non-dinosaur) reptiles, birds, fish, and even invertebrates also thrived during the Cenozoic! Somewhat confusingly, the Cenozoic Era is divided into various periods and epochs, and scientists dont always use the same terminology when describing their research and discoveries. (This situation stands in stark contrast to the preceding Mesozoic Era, which is more-or-less neatly divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.) Heres an overview of the subdivisions of the Cenozoic Era; just click on the appropriate links to see more in-depth articles about the geography, climate and prehistoric life of that period or epoch. The Periods and Epochs of the Cenozoic Era The Paleogene period (65-23 million years ago) was the age when the mammals began their rise to dominance. The Paleogene comprises three separate epochs: * The Paleocene epoch (65-56 million years ago) was fairly quiet in evolutionary terms. This is when the tiny mammals that survived the K/T Extinction first tasted their newfound freedom and began to tentatively explore new ecological niches; there were also plenty of plus-sized snakes, crocodiles and turtles. * The Eocene epoch (56-34 million years ago) was the longest epoch of the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene witnessed a vast profusion of mammalian forms; this was when the first even- and odd-toed ungulates appeared on the planet, as well as the first recognizable primates. * The Oligocene epoch (34-23 million years ago) is notable for its change in climate from the preceding Eocene, which opened up even more ecological niches for mammals. This was the epoch when certain mammals (and even some birds) began to evolve to respectable sizes. The Neogene period (23-2.6 million years ago) witnessed the continuing evolution of mammals and other forms of life, many of them to enormous sizes. The Neogene comprises two epochs: * The Miocene epoch (23-5 million years ago) takes up the lions share of the Neogene. Most of the mammals, birds and other animals that lived during this time would have been vaguely recognizable to human eyes, though often considerably bigger or stranger. * The Pliocene epoch (5-2.6 million years ago), often confused with the ensuing Pleistocene, was the time when many mammals migrated (often via land bridges) into the territories that they continue to inhabit during the present day. Horses, primates, elephants, and other animal types continued to make evolutionary progress. The Quaternary period (2.6 million years ago to the present) is, so far, the shortest of all the earths geologic periods. The Quaternary comprises two even shorter epochs: * The Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million-12,000 years ago) is famous for its large megafauna mammals, such as the Woolly Mammoth and the Saber-Toothed Tiger, that died off at the end of the last Ice Age (thanks partly to climate change and predation by the earliest humans). * The Holocene epoch (10,000 years ago-present) comprises pretty much all of modern human history. Unfortunately, this is also the epoch when many mammals, and other forms of life, have gone extinct due to the ecological changes wrought by human civilization.

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 29

Personal statement - Essay Example The marriage was rocked with physical abuse inflicted in me by my so called husband and domestic violence became the order of the day in our home. Eventually I decided to move out and seek a domestic violence shelter not only for my safety but that of my child as well whom I did not want to grow up in such an abusive environment from a tender age. During that time, I had no knowledge of the legal proceedings that married couples underwent in case of divorce and hence when I was served with the divorce papers, I eagerly signed them without even knowing that it was possible for me to contest it in order to receive a fair share of property from my marriage. However, I got a lawyer later on and it is this lawyer that helped me put my acts together and gave me the strength to go on living and fighting to rebuild my life once again. I was able to stay positive and overcome several obstacles until now I can stand on my two feet and be able to support myself and my son without any support. This traumatizing period of my life taught me a lot but what I remember most vividly is how legal help can assist women undergoing what I went through and help them put their lived back together on the right track. Many give up and face so many obstacles and challenges that lead them to destitution. Lawyers committed and dedicated to their work can offer skills and logic all based on law and which can inspire and motivate the women not to give up on their lives and that of their children simply because of the traumas of that dark period of their lives. I would like to study law simply for this sole reason of assisting women undergoing difficult divorces and domestic violence cases and who have lost all hope. I would like my experience and my legal position, skills and abilities be not only an inspiration and motivator but also a stepping stone to their ultimate

Issues in International Event Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Issues in International Event Management - Essay Example Corporate sponsorship can also be defined as a part of cause marketing where organsiations try to create and enhance the goodwill along with boosting the overall revenue structure. Corporate sponsorship can be considered as a nice medium through which small and medium organisations increase their visibility and public profile in an effective and efficient manner (Barr, 1993). It needs to be mentioned that corporate sponsorships are meant to enhance the overall appeal and image of organsiations. Corporate sponsorships help in differentiating organsiations from competitors along with developing and enhancing closer relationships with existing and potential customers. It also offers a chance to highlight the products and services of the organsiation along with getting rid of the obsolete inventories through distributing it as a part of the reward and award strategy (Brynes, 1994). There is no denying that advertising enhances the appeal and reach of an organsiation by impacting and infl uencing the buying behaviour of customers. However, corporate sponsorship is an ideal way of competing with large organsiations having larger advertising budgets. In addition to this, tickets for sponsoring events can be used as an incentive for suppliers, customers, employees and other stakeholders that will not only help in enhancing the overall relationship but also earning their loyalty and gratitude that is always beneficial to survive in the competitive business environment. The discussion aims at highlighting the role and importance of corporate sponsorship in the event industry. The idea is to underpin the importance of events in the business and social environment and role of corporate sponsorships in creating mutual value by sponsoring events and programs. There is no denying that a number of events are sponsored by a number of organsiations that help in gaining mass attention along with enhancing the overall appeal and value in the short as well as in the long run. A crit ical and logical discussion over the importance of corporate sponsorship in the event industry will help in understanding the intricacies of events and corporate sponsorships in a clear and logical manner. This will also highlight the emergence of corporate sponsorships in last few years. It is important to mention that there is a close relationship between sponsors and sponsees. A sport brand sponsoring a sport event is evenly matched and linked with the event that not only enhances its image but also helps in extending its reach in a great manner. When the Cricket World Cup was held in Asia, a number of sponsors were sponsoring the event where their logos, danglers and advertisements were shown during the entire event. This created a long lasting image in the mind and hearts of viewers that also helped in strengthening the overall image of organsiations in the competitive business environment. It needs to be understood that corporate sponsorship in the event industry is mainly aim ed at enhancing the overall reach of organsiations along with extracting wide arrays of benefits and advantages. As per the report published by IEG, the sponsorship market is growing at a rate of 5% per annum with countries like the US, Europe and Asia Pacific spending a lot on sponsorship. It can be assumed that with large number of corporate organsiations in these countries and a number of events being held, corporate sponsor

A Strategy for Success of Proctor & Gamble Assignment

A Strategy for Success of Proctor & Gamble - Assignment Example They are also informed of the parameters of the problem to be solved in order to solve it appropriately. Engaging the teams in the prior activities is vital for the entire process, as it ensures that teams are handling a problem they fully understand (Hayes 36). On the contrary, the more time the team spends on the Clay Street, the more the cost to the company. Â  The key objective of the teams that visit Clay Street is to find solutions to problems facing companies. Generation of innovative products is vital for every company that seeks market advantage. P & G have realized this potential, and send teams to Clay Street develop ideas that will ensure they remain top on the market. The time the team takes at Clay Street determines the relevance of processes the team is involved. Enough time is required to ensure that the desired results for all processes are met (Hayes 24). Â  It is clear that selecting a competitive team and sending it to a separate location to ponder over a certain problem must produce positive results. It is advisable for all companies to be sending out teams to meditate upon their products in the market and the way they can improve. Facilitators would be equally important because they help the teams familiarize with the parameters of the problem (Hayes 32). The type of training with periodical training on the market trends is preferable.

Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Leadership - Assignment Example The operations function plays a significant role in transformations of inputs into finished products and services, in any successful organization. Operations are directly responsible for decisions and activities relating to design of product and delivery issues. Resourceful implementation of this goal adds value to productivity of an organization as it; determines how material resources are consumed in the production of products, checks on quantities of available inventory in line with the demand of the customers, and determines whether what is produced match the wants of customers. Continuous improvement in the efficiency of operations and functions affects the productivity of an organization in a number of ways. When referring to efficiency in organizational operations, it entails ensuring effectiveness in activities such as suitable and effective communication link between the operations and related business functions. Operations management works hand in hand with business functions such as the purchasing and marketing function; in an organization’s supply chain, in order to understand the demands of specific group of customers. The operations managers achieve this function by designing products that exactly meet the demands of customers and creation of production processes that efficiently produce these products. Meanwhile, the marketing function must properly understand the capabilities and limitation of the operations in producing the desired products and services. Moreover, the operations must work closely with purchasing to comprehend readiness o f material required, cost and quality of material and the reliability of suppliers. Therefore, operations must understand the needs of customers; ensure timely sourcing of material to support product design. Through continuous improvements in communication routines between the operations, purchasing and marketing function, the organization finds itself in a place where it produces

Leisure and toursim policy - choosen topic is future of london toursim Essay

Leisure and toursim policy - choosen topic is future of london toursim and international toursim in general - Essay Example als and evening based economic activity driven by theatres, cinemas, restaurants, bars, public houses, nightclubs and casinos, all of which attract tourists and day visitors as well as residents. [1] On the other hand, it has to be noticed that tourism is not a clear-cut sector but an all-embracing and pervasive domain of service and industrial activities. It touches upon almost all spheres of national life within the country and that is particularly the reason why a sound state policy of tourism should be essentially formulated before any significant tourism investment projects are launched. As rightly put by MacCannell, tourism is an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs (MacCannell 1992). Regarding specifically the leisure activities, it has been found that the participation of the public to them is really significant. A characteristic example could be the case of U.S. where the participati on of people of all ages in the leisure activities is noticeable. More specifically, according to the 1994-1995 National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, most U.S. residents over 16 years old participate in fitness activities (68.3%), swimming, (54.2%), and walking (66.7%) (Cordell 1999). As for Britain it has been found [7] that the types of leisure activities preferred by the public are differentiated from that of U.S. with nearly nine in ten adult viewers in the United Kingdom to watch television every day of the week in 2003, with nearly a quarter of viewers watching it for two to three hours a day. UK residents made a record 42.9 million holiday trips abroad in 2004, an increase from 6.7 million in 1971; Spain was the most popular destination, followed by France [7]. In order to define tourism policy we should primarily describe tourism. In this context, according to a broad definition [6] tourism is a service industry, comprising a number of tangible and intangible

Gallery Review - Nancy Lang Essay Example for Free

Gallery Review Nancy Lang Essay Today, the 9th of March, I have heard of the Pyo Gallery, and as soon as I heard that it was in Wangjing, I changed my plan from going to the Dashanzi District to trying the new place. It was hidden in several other galleries. I was lucky to get there before the exhibition time was over. The owner was a Korean, who kindly explained some paintings for me. I was glad to find out that they currently had an exhibition of Nancy Langs art. I have always wanted to find out more about Nancy Lang ever since I have seen her in person at the art fare I have been to, in Korea last summer. There was her trademark series of Taboo Yogini paintings of which I have seen one piece of it before. Among all of the paintings that looked similar in overall size and image, I preferred this particular painting the most. Nancy Lang is an American born-Korean Pop artist who is very young and innovative. This piece of her is named the Taboo Yogini, Swinger and has an enormous size of 210 x 175 cm. She used mixed media on canvas to create this huge piece. This painting was finished in the year 2006, when she was 27. On this humungous canvas, there is a big character in the middle which has the body of a robot and a head of a girl with some abstract and obscure figures as legs. The subject has a basket full of tennis balls in its right hand. The light-blue background is solid with no value. The most interesting aspect about this art piece is the mysterious figure placed in the center holding the viewers attention. This piece looks more like a collage than a painting with images attached on the screen. The positive space is the one and only subject on the canvas. The body, which appears to be a robot, contains the three primary colors with a considerable amount of white. These colors together form a fancy image of a childs robot toy, attracting the viewers eyes to the center of the figure, which is where the head is placed. An image of the head of a human girl is used, juxtaposing the robot body. In the figures right hand there is a basket of lime green tennis balls. In the lower part of the art piece, as the legs of the main subject there are two obscure figures that could be hardly described. On the left side there is a fan shaped quadrilateral printed on a shiny material, and on the right side there is a figure that seems like a mixture of blood vessels and bones. The objects do not seem to have any connection between them, but as a whole they get together very well forming one huge body. The negative space is painted in one tone of light-blue, which helps the subject to stand out. Unlike its visual texture the actual texture of the piece is very smooth just like a painting. Nancy Lang is famous for her mysterious art pieces and unconventional performances. She is a multi-talented young woman who wants to be famous and rich, according to her own words. She actually has played a violin in the middle of a street wearing Victoria Secret lingerie and red high heels with kabuki style makeup. In her series of Taboo Yogini, she mixes up diverse icons to create a sort of cyborg that she declares to be the ironical face of the democracies we live in. According to her, this character Yogini, which originally means a yoga trainee, points to an existence between an angel and devil. So the name of her series Taboo Yogini is in a way representing both good and bad. I think the half-robots that appear on her pieces also represent Nancy Lang herself and the various different sides of her. Nancy Langs paintings are very obscure and difficult to understand. When I first looked at this piece, I was totally blown away by the innovative design of the image. However, I could never see the ironical face of the democracies before I read the explanation. These mystical figures, which look almost like monsters, keep appearing on her canvases expanding the viewers imagination and interpretation of them. Still, I think they are insufficient to clearly deliver the authors true intention of creating such images. Nevertheless, it is impossible for one to see through the genuine mind of an author. I really like Nancy Lang and her innovative spirit. She is afraid of nothing, even the awkward stare of others.

Metacognitive Awareness Of Reading Strategies And Critical Reading

Metacognitive Awareness Of Reading Strategies And Critical Reading Researchers believe that awareness and monitoring of ones comprehension processes are critically important for skilled reading. Such awareness and monitoring processes are often referred to as metacognition. Recent researches show that metacognitive strategies differentiate between effective and ineffective learners i.e. the more a student knows about how he learns, the better he will learn. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability of the students. To this end, 113 third/forth year Iranian college students majoring in English translation/literature, aged around 21-36 were selected to participate in this study. They took part in a Nelson test of proficiency, and a critical reading comprehension test. They also completed a questionnaire, namely Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI). Data analysis through Pearson Correlation Coefficient formula showed that there is a significant relationship between the students metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and their critical reading ability. The findings can have implications for EFL learners and teachers in developing an authentic, interactive and learner- centered environment in their reading classes. Key words: Learning strategies, Metacognition, Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, Critical reading 1. Introduction The recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in developing critical thinking skills of students in order to improve their thinking and learning abilities and help them to succeed in their educational goals. Improving students critical thinking skills will help students: a) improve their thinking about their course work b) use sound thinking on tests, assignments, and projects in their courses c) have the strategic, analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills they need when they are at college d) have the strategic, analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills they need when they move to the workplace. The term critical thinking when used by educators has varied meanings in different contexts-whether in formal logic courses, where it has a precise meaning; when applied to arguments or in casual discussions in a faculty lounge about students struggles to grasp the course content, where the term is used more loosely to simply mean good thinking (Pierce, 2005). Before proceeding any further, an account will be provided as how critical thinking has been defined in literature: As stated by Thomson (1996), the critical thinking tradition, which derives from both philosophy and education, originates in the USA. Some of its foremost American proponents were John Dewey, Edward Glaser, and Steven Norris; in Britain, the name most closely associated with critical thinking is that of Alec Fisher. In Learning to Think: Disciplinary Perspectives (2002), Janet Donald (quoted in Keller 2008) presents a variety of approaches to thinking based on the work of different academic disciplines. She provides a working model of thinking processes in higher education in which she describes a perspective on different methods of inquiry. The working model offers a set of procedures followed by most disciplines, including: description, selection, representation, inference, synthesis, and verification. Under each topic on this inventory, then, she lists subtopics indicating their relation to the diverse inquiry methods she previously connected to academic areas. In a later summary of the most important thinking processes used generally across disciplines, she lists separately Identify the context and State assumptions, then reduces her previous set of common procedures to those of selection, representation, and synthesis. In Maclellan and Soden (2001, quoted in Keller 2008), we see the following set of critical thinking skills: a) unpacking concepts-ability to unpack or break down ideas, concepts or theories; b) recognizing contradictions-differentiating between viewpoints and counterarguments; c) development-explaining a phenomenon, joining ideas together to form lines of arguments; d) providing evidence-supporting or justifying assertions; e) examining implications of evidence-generating hypotheses about consequences or examining the relationships between key factors; f) alternative interpretation-questioning or challenging an interpretation of the evidence and offering an alternative. After the above review on what critical thinking is, now we turn to critical reading. A major issue in education today is the concern about students ability to read critically and to evaluate the material. Critical reading is taught as a sub-skill of comprehension with appropriate exercises. Critical reading enjoys several features which make it appear rooted in critical thinking. Among the features we can mention the followings listed by students counseling service of Salisbury University: a. previewing: Learning about a text before really reading it. b. contextualizing: Placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts. c. questioning to understand and remember: Asking questions about the content. d. reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values: Examining your personal responses. e. outlining and summarizing: Identifying the main ideas and restating them in your own words. f. evaluating an argument: Testing the logic of a text as well as its credibility and emotional impact. g. comparing and contrasting related readings: Exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand them better. Furthermore, Burmeister (1986, qtd in Cherney 1986) defines critical-creative reading and thinking as requiring the skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. He adds that such cognitive abilities require readers or thinkers to reason using techniques of formal logic or at least to be consciously aware of the thought processes they are using. Analysis, according to Burmeister, requires the examination of parts of the whole; synthesis is the act of combining or unifying elements into a coherent whole and evaluation requires the establishment of standards and also a judgment as to the goodness of fit of the idea. Burmeister considers evaluation to be the highest level of the cognitive domain. (p.256) The researchers assume that metacognitive strategies are among the strategies which can foster critical thinking and hence reading. However, it sounds reasonable to ask why such a relationship is felt. To answer this question an attempt will be made to clarify metacognitive strategies. Sheorey and Mokhtari (2001) state that many studies recognize the role of meta-cognitive awareness in reading comprehension, whether one is reading in the native language or a second language. Indeed, the consensus view is that strategic awareness and monitoring of the comprehension process are critically important aspects of skilled reading. Such awareness and monitoring is often referred to in the literature as meta-cognition, which can be thought of as the knowledge of the readers cognition relative to the reading process and the self-control mechanisms they use to monitor and enhance comprehension. Auerbach and Paxton (1997) and Carrell et al. (1989), for example, consider meta-cognitive awareness-planning and consciously executing appropriate actions to achieve a particular goal-to be a critical element of proficient, strategic reading. Such meta-cognition, according to Auerbach and Paxton (1997), entails knowledge of strategies for processing texts, the ability to monitor compr ehension, and the ability to adjust strategies as needed (pp. 240-41). Furthermore, Taylor (1999) defines meta-cognition as an appreciation of what one already knows, together with a correct apprehension of the learning task and what knowledge and skills it requires, combined with the ability to make correct inferences about how to apply ones strategic knowledge to a particular situation, and to do so efficiently and reliably. (p.126) To increase their metacognitive abilities, students need to possess and be aware of three kinds of content knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional. Declarative knowledge is the factual information that one knows; it can be declared-spoken or written. An example is to know the formula for calculating momentum in a physics class (momentum = mass times velocity). Procedural knowledge is knowledge of how to do something, of how to perform the steps in a process; for example, knowing the mass of an object and its rate of speed and how to do the calculation. Conditional knowledge is knowledge about when to use a procedure, skill, or strategy and when not to use it; why a procedure works and under what conditions; and why one procedure is better than another. For example, students need to recognize that an exam word problem requires the calculation of momentum as part of its solution. (Paris, Cross and Lipson, 1984. qtd. in Pressley 2002). This notion of three kinds of knowledge applies to learning strategies as well as course content. When they study, students need the declarative knowledge that (1) all reading assignments are not alike; for example, that a history textbook chapter deals with factual information differs from a primary historical document, which is different from an article interpreting or analyzing that document. They need to know that stories and novels differ from arguments. Furthermore, they need to know that there are different kinds of note taking strategies useful for annotating these different types of texts. And (2) students need to know how to actually write different kinds of notes (procedural knowledge), and (3) they need to know when to apply these kinds of notes when they study (conditional knowledge). Knowledge of study strategies is among the kinds of meta-cognitive knowledge, and it too requires awareness of all three kinds of knowledge (Pierce, 2003). Many of the current studies recognize the role of awareness in reading comprehension. Reading strategies are of interest for the way readers use them to manage their interaction with the written text and how these strategies are related to text comprehension (Rigney, 1978). Reading in second language reading suggests that strategies improve reading comprehension. Reading strategies indicate how readers conceive a task, how they make sense of what they read and what they do when reading comprehension is difficult (Singhal, 2001). Indeed researchers agree that strategic awareness and monitoring of the comprehension process are critically important aspects of skilled reading. Such awareness and monitoring is often referred to in the literature as metacognition, which is used to monitor and enhance reading comprehension (Pressley and Afflerbach, 1995; Alexander and Jetton, 2000; Pressley, 2000). Recent researchers (Cohen, 1998, Anderson, 2002, Santana, 2003) show that the strategies that mark the true differences between effective and ineffective learners are the metacognitive strategies. In spite of the fact that many of the previous studies have obtained information about learners strategies and reading process, few of them have examined readers metacognitive awareness of reading strategies ( Singhal, 2001). Considering the important role of metacognitive reading strategies in reading comprehension with suspicious eye, this study is designed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness reading strategies and critical reading ability and to view the notions of meta-cognitive awareness strategies and critical reading in the same horizon. For this purpose, we also need to have references to critical thinking because, as was mentioned above, critical reading roots in critical thinking. 1. 1. Statement of the problem For the improvement of critical reading, instructors should teach a variety of strategies that research has shown to be effective, like: generating questions and answering them, writing summaries, writing elaborations and using organizing strategies. The preceding strategies already seem to have been taken into account by Iranian teachers and learners. However, a potential problem in applying the mentioned strategies in reading comprehension can be the absence of meta-cognitive awareness about them. Hence, the researcher assumes that a set of meta-cognitive strategies can strengthen the above line of activity and foster the progress of critical reading. 1. 2. Research Question Is there any significant relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability? 3. Statement of the hypothesis The null hypothesis underlying this proposal is that there is not any significant relationship between meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability. 2. Method 2. 1. Participants A community sample of 130 male and female participated in this study in the second semester of 2010 majoring in English language literature and translation in Qom Islamic Azad University. They were all in their third and forth year. These students were asked if they would volunteer to participate in the study. Out of 130 participants who completed the questionnaires and tests, about 113 participants were accepted to participate in the study. 2. 2. Measure and Procedure The researchers visited the classes to administer one questionnaire and two tests. A total of 130 students were instructed to answer the proficiency test in one session and to the critical reading test and MARSI questionnaire at a later session. Students rated the items of MARSI, using a 5-point likert-type scale ranging from 1 (I never do this) to 5 (I always do this). From this population, some students were eliminated because they had not properly completed their questionnaires. The general proficiency test (Nelson test, 300 B) comprised 50 multiple-choice and vocabulary items. The total score of the test was 50 and one point was assigned to each correct answer. The critical reading comprehension test consisted of four passages with 4 or 5 multiple-choice items for each passage. So the 20 items were scored by one point for each correct answer. Then the score for all items were added and an ultimate score was calculated. The range of scores for this test was between 9 to 18. For scoring the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory, the procedure proposed by Mokhtari Richad (2002) was used. A score was assigned to each answer which ranged from 1 to 5: never or almost never=1, occasionally=2, sometimes=3, usually=4, always=5. Then the scores for all items were added up and an ultimate score was calculated. The range of scores for this scale was between 46 to 146. 3. Data analysis To carry out the statistical analysis of the study, several statistical techniques were utilized: to calculate the reliability of the Nelson test, the Cronbach alpha (a) formula was utilized. In order to estimate the reliability of the critical reading comprehension test, the Cronbach alpha (a) formula was utilized. Considering the point that the participants will be assigned interval scores both for their meta-cognitive awareness and critical reading ability, the statistical analysis was Pearsons product Moment Coefficient of Correlation. Also, the reliability index of the translated version of MARSI was assessed by applying Cronbach alpha (a) formula. After administrating the instruments with the main subjects of the study and correcting the papers, the ultimate scores on critical reading comprehension test and MARSI were calculated and entered into SPSS. 3. Results In order to be certain of the homogeneity of the participants of the study in terms of language proficiency, a general language proficiency test (Nelson test) was utilized. The test was extracted from Nelson English language tests by W.S. Flower and Norman Goe (1976). It composed of 50 multiple choice grammar and vocabulary items. Through the pilot study, the reliability of the Nelson test was estimated and the following result was achieved: Table of reliability statisticsof the Language Proficiency Test (Nelson) Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .899 50 As it is noticed, the reliability of the Nelson test was estimated as .89 through the pilot study among 42 students, so the test enjoyed the acceptable reliability. The present study, also used a new self report measure, the Meta cognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari Richard, 2002), which is designed to assess adolescent and adult readers awareness and perceived use of reading strategies while reading materials. According to the author of MARSI, the major purposes of developing of this inventory were to devise an instrument that would permit one to assess the degree to which a student is or is not aware of the various processes involved in reading and to make it possible to learn about the goals and intentions he or she holds with coping with reading tasks. As a result of employing this inventory, the second statistical procedure was to estimate the reliability of the translated version of Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) administered to the subjects in the pilot study. Table of reliability statistics of the translated version of MARSI Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .799 30 According to table 4. 2., the reliability index of the students answers to the MARSI, assessed by applying the Cronbach alpha (a) formula, was 0.79. In order to assess the participants ability in reading critically, a test of reading comprehension, extracted from a model TOEFL, was applied. The reliability of this test administered to the subjects in the pilot study was estimated to be: Table of reliability statistics of critical reading comprehension test Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .748 18 It is necessary to add that in order to validate the critical reading comprehension test, basically four steps were taken such as checking the content validity, face validity, criterion related validity, and construct validity. The procedure for each step can be found in the following in details. The test was compiled according to the recommendation of Alderson and Urquhart (1984). Four different texts were selected. The texts were found from among the materials suggested for preparation of language learners for TOEFL test. Of course it was evident that not any passage could qualify: the passages had to be of an independent entity and understandable without a larger context. However, the main principle in text selection was to find text types that Iranian students of English were likely to read critically. I also consulted my supervisor to ensure the content validity of the passages and also to get confident that the questions could not be answered without reading the passages critically. The texts found were also sent to my advisor to make sure if there were any specific issues to be reconsidered. At the end of each passage, four or five questions were asked. Answering to the questions would be almost impossible without reading the test critically. The text chosen represente d the following text types: a scientific text from a field relevant to Chemistry; a text containing materials about body language and communication; a passage about the sinking of the luxurious ship, Titanic ; a biographical passage about an influential citizen of the United States, John Muir. In addition to improving the test items through item analysis (item facility, item discrimination and choice distribution), the face validity of the test was examined in qualitative terms. The students in the pilot study were asked to state their reasons for estimating the reading test as being critical or not. The comments (40 students) were rather divided. Some disliked the test but many of them liked it. Those who liked it wrote that it required imagination, and cleverness and a few compared taking the reading test with doing philosophical reasoning. Those who disliked the test mostly argued that it required to test other abilities besides language proficiency (e. g. imagination). Some complained that the test was too difficult and that they could mainly perceive the structure of the sentences. For criterion related validity, the researcher followed the same procedure as Assar (2008). With the help of the Nelson language proficiency test and by running correlation between these sc ores and those obtained from the improved reading test, among 32 students who participated in the pilot study, the concurrent validity of the test was established with an index of 0.71. Finally the critical reading test was construct-validated. To this end, the researcher took a process oriented approach following the picture depicted by Hirano (2008) and devised a questionnaire based on the discussed issues found in the literature on critical thinking and reading. The questionnaire was piloted among 40 students. First, they took the critical reading comprehension test, and immediately after they were asked to answer the questions in the questionnaire. Through a frequency count, it was discovered that the test had led to a critical reading successfully. The following table shows the result of the students answers to the fifteen questions in the devised questionnaire by the researcher based on the discussed issues found in the literature on critical thinking and reading. The results in the Mean column show the average score for each of the fifteen questions calculated based on a liker scale for each question ranging from 0 to 3. Table of reliability statistics for the reliability of critical reading questionnaire Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .624 15 It is necessary to mention that after the reliability of the questionnaire for process validation of the reading comprehension test was calculated, the researcher tried to revise some of the questions. It is, therefore, hoped that further studies through the revised questionnaire will provide more reliable results. Finally we come to the research question, which was concerned with relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability of the students. To investigate this question, the Pearson product correlation coefficient was run. The result of statistics is presented in the following table: According to the above table, correlation is significant at the 0.01 level. By using Pearson product correlation coefficient formula, the correlation between the two variables was estimated as .70. That is, there is a significant relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (MARSI) and critical reading ability. The results have been illustrated in the following scatter plot graph: Graph/Scatter plot for Correlation coefficient between critical reading ability and meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies The above scatter plot illustrates the correlation coefficient between critical reading ability and meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies including 113 subjects. Variable 1 (Y axis) is related to meta-cognitive awareness of reading strategies in an interval scale up to 130; variable 2 (X axis) is related to critical reading ability in an interval scale from zero up to 20. 4. Discussion This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (MARSI) and critical reading ability of Iranian students majoring in fields of English translation and literature. The statistical results proved that there is a significant relationship between the two variables of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability. So the present study has found evidence that good and poor students are significantly different in their awareness and perceived use of metacognitive strategies. That is, the more a student knows about how he learns, the better learner he will be. Therefore, helping students to be more aware of their metacognitive reading strategies plays an important role in not only developing their critical reading ability but also in their general reading comprehension ability. The results of this study can be compared and contrasted with those of other researchers. For instance, findings of the present study are in congruity with the study conducted by Parson (2002) whose major purpose of his study was to investigate the strength of the relationship between the use of metacognitive strategies and critical reading ability of the students. It was conducted, specifically, to test the effectiveness of a teaching procedure designed to improve critical reading ability by training students in metacognintive strategies. He discovered that the students who were instructed with this metacognitive training package (questioning, summarizing, predicting and speculating on the authors intended tone and purpose) should become more aware of their own mental processes and will demonstrate not only increased critical reading ability, but also increased general comprehension ability. Also, qualitative improvement noted in subjects strategy use provided sufficient evidence fo r further study into the effectiveness of this training procedure. Furthermore, the findings could indirectly support Icmezs (2009) findings who suggests that in a critical reading course, developing a competence in critical reading skills evokes curiosity and the novelty essential for students with high levels of proficiency. Finally, we can conclude that our findings here is in line with what Ajideh (2009) suggests, that poor readers in general lack effective metacognitive strategies and have little awareness on how to approach to reading. They also have deficiencies in the use of metacognitive strategies to monitor for their understanding of texts. In contrast, successful L2 readers know how to use appropriate strategies to enhance text comprehension. 5. Conclusion As mentioned previously, among the tools that students use to learn a second language, learning strategies have been given a crucial role in all academic studies. Language learning strategies have been known as a factor that differentiates successful language learning from unsuccessful language learning. In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the necessity to examine human personality in order to find solutions to the perplexing problems in language learning. It is evident that a student uses language learning strategies while he is under the influence of many linguistic, cognitive, and affective factors. Thus, such an intertwined network can provide an answer to the wide individual differences within the classroom. Also, the ability to critically analyze written materials has long been recognized as being crucial to the educational process. In this study, it has been tried to explore the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and critical reading ability of the students. With respect to the research question, it was found that when the students show more metacognitive awareness of strategies, they can read more critically and therefore it is more probable that they score higher on reading comprehension test. Based on the results, it can be concluded that there is a meaningful relationship between the students metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and their performance on critical reading comprehension test. Therefore, metacognitive strategies could provide the missing link between cognitive processes and critical reading ability. Metacognition refers to ones awareness of and control over his/her own mental processes (Brown, 2007). Consequently, it is worth mentioning that the relationship demonstrated here is only part of a complex picture, which reveals just some of the factors operating in mind of our students that warrant investigation. It should be mentioned that language learners strategies and their effect in the process of learning is a highly complex issue. Therefore, metacognitive strategy awareness may not be just the only aspect of this achievement in learning; rather, we need to investigate other types of language learning strategies and look at what helps the students to increase their ability in achieving the best results. 6. Implications The present study has found evidence which supports previous research findings that demonstrated that good and poor students are significantly different in their awareness and perceived use of metacognitive strategies. That is, the more a student knows about how he learns, the better learner he will be. Therefore, helping students to be more aware of their metacognitive reading strategies plays an important role in not only developing their critical reading ability but also in their general reading comprehension ability. So based on the above results, the finding of the study can have implications for teachers in reading classes. To be more specific, training good readers means more than just improving their knowledge about language structure and general study skills, and it needs raising their awareness of metacognitive strategies for critical reading. Also the results in this study may have implications for reading comprehension assessment. As mentioned before, critical reading skills are essential for the students with high level of proficiency. That is the higher the level of proficiency, the higher the ability for critical reading. Therefore, one of the factors to be included in the assessment of language proficiency can be the ability to read critically especially at higher level of proficiency.

The Anarchiste in Walden Two by Skinner Essay -- Psychology

In this time we must fully realize the true origins of our society, not the so called â€Å"party line† they feed us. True, while few of us find sanctuary in hidden places, what place is there for we strangelings? Is absolute equality truly a good idea? In our new world, our Walden Two, we are taught from an early age to behave, to conform. From our glass cages at birth, to our debuts at age seven, to our eventual marriages, all we do is in the name of a peaceful, simple existence. We are taught that anger is not allowed, faith in God is not allowed, anything harmful is forbidden! I ask of you, is this truly a life, much less, a life worth living? Now life was not always like this. Life used to be full of emotions, both dark and light. Pain and suffering were not to be avoided, but embraced. Can we really create true art through the same emotions again and again? Can we have unique lives if, like our sheep, we only follow what the prior generation and the one ere that tells us what is and what is not? Shall we continue to spread out our message, this ‘true’ message of peace and simplicity? In our origins we survived alongside the old ways; we meant to keep ourselves separate. We were taught how to survive, how to function as the Waldenites taught us, alongside the supposedly troubled outside world. Our world knows not the beauty any longer that the old one held. We are base, functional creatures, only doing what we are told to in hopes of reward, in a hope of praise. However, if that is not given, do we really care? Is there a point in keeping our society as such, much less spreading this tale of peace and love and harmony? How this worked, none of us know. Did we slowly overtake the old ways? Did Frazier’s... ...on of the Anarchiste, we believe that man must feel pain, must know himself before others, must know his own pain and suffering to truly live. To reason out all of this jumbled mess; their utopia, their dreamland, is in essence flawed. The basis they reasoned from, while, in essence true, was poorly executed. The only end that a utopia can come to is disaster. Espicially in this, their Walden, where the individual is ignored and distroyed in favour of the greater good. Is this greater good, this ease of living worth the sacrafice of small bits of oneself? We, the Anarchiste stand by the fact that no, it is not, nor shall it ever be so. Pain and suffering are the basis of life, they are the measure by which we know we are truly alive, and more so, above the sheep in our pasture, the cattle in our dairy. Rebel, refuse, this drab non-life! Viva la Anarchiste! The Anarchiste in Walden Two by Skinner Essay -- Psychology In this time we must fully realize the true origins of our society, not the so called â€Å"party line† they feed us. True, while few of us find sanctuary in hidden places, what place is there for we strangelings? Is absolute equality truly a good idea? In our new world, our Walden Two, we are taught from an early age to behave, to conform. From our glass cages at birth, to our debuts at age seven, to our eventual marriages, all we do is in the name of a peaceful, simple existence. We are taught that anger is not allowed, faith in God is not allowed, anything harmful is forbidden! I ask of you, is this truly a life, much less, a life worth living? Now life was not always like this. Life used to be full of emotions, both dark and light. Pain and suffering were not to be avoided, but embraced. Can we really create true art through the same emotions again and again? Can we have unique lives if, like our sheep, we only follow what the prior generation and the one ere that tells us what is and what is not? Shall we continue to spread out our message, this ‘true’ message of peace and simplicity? In our origins we survived alongside the old ways; we meant to keep ourselves separate. We were taught how to survive, how to function as the Waldenites taught us, alongside the supposedly troubled outside world. Our world knows not the beauty any longer that the old one held. We are base, functional creatures, only doing what we are told to in hopes of reward, in a hope of praise. However, if that is not given, do we really care? Is there a point in keeping our society as such, much less spreading this tale of peace and love and harmony? How this worked, none of us know. Did we slowly overtake the old ways? Did Frazier’s... ...on of the Anarchiste, we believe that man must feel pain, must know himself before others, must know his own pain and suffering to truly live. To reason out all of this jumbled mess; their utopia, their dreamland, is in essence flawed. The basis they reasoned from, while, in essence true, was poorly executed. The only end that a utopia can come to is disaster. Espicially in this, their Walden, where the individual is ignored and distroyed in favour of the greater good. Is this greater good, this ease of living worth the sacrafice of small bits of oneself? We, the Anarchiste stand by the fact that no, it is not, nor shall it ever be so. Pain and suffering are the basis of life, they are the measure by which we know we are truly alive, and more so, above the sheep in our pasture, the cattle in our dairy. Rebel, refuse, this drab non-life! Viva la Anarchiste!

Nothing of Importance Happened Today Essay -- History Great Britain En

Nothing of Importance Happened Today On July 4, 1776, King George III of Great Britain wrote in his diary: â€Å"Nothing of Importance Happened Today†. Due to the length of time it took for news to reach London from America, King George could not have foreseen how ironic those words would become. The same could be said of those involved in the events surrounding the crash of an airborne object in Roswell, New Mexico on a hot July night in 1947. HOW IT BEGAN: A Crash in Roswell, New Mexico ON-THE-SCENE EYEWITNESSES DESCRIBE CRASH AND UNUSUAL WRECKAGE On the night of July 4, 1947, William Woody, who lived east of Roswell, was outside with his father at their ranch, when they saw a brilliant fiery object plunge to the ground (IUFOMRC). On the morning of July 8th, Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox, who along with W. W. â€Å"Mac† Brazell, found the crashed object on the J. B. Foster sheep ranch near Corona, 85 miles northwest of Roswell. Brazell, who lived on a nearby ranch, had notified the sheriff the day before about the crash (AJ). Wilcox called Major Jesse Marcel, Intelligence Officer at the nearby Roswell Army Air Force Base[1], informing him of his find. Marcel, joined by Sheriff Wilcox and Sheridan Cavitt, Counter-Intelligence Officer from the Roswell base, raced to investigate the crash site (Jaroff). Brazell, waited near the crash site while Wilcox, Marcel, and Cavitt investigated the crash site, and later reported that Wilcox described the crash site to him, including details of wreckage with undecipherable characters and markings on some of the debris, which had been scattered over a large area (IUFOMRC). Glenn Dennis was working as a mortician at Ballard Funeral Home in Roswell. Dennis reported receiving phone ... ...ork. 18 Feb. 1994. Fleck, John. â€Å"Bringing ‘Roswell Incident’ Back to Earth†. Albuquerque Journal. Tuesday, July 31, 2001. Handy, Bruce. â€Å"Roswell or bust: a town discovers manna crashing from heaven and becomes the capital of America's alien nation.† Time, June 23, 1997: p62. IUFOMRC: International UFO Museum and Research Center. â€Å"The Roswell Incident†. Jaroff, Leon. â€Å"Did Aliens Really Land?† Time Magazine, July 23, 1997. Megadeth. Hangar 18. Los Angeles, California: Capitol Records, 1992. Roswell Chamber of Commerce. â€Å"Roswell UFO Festival - 2002 - Calendar of Events† USAF: United States Air Force Web Information Service. â€Å"Roswell Report: Case Closed† June 24, 1997. [1] Prior to 1948, the United States Air Force was a branch of the United States Army, and at the time of the Roswell crash, was still known as the United States Army Air Force. Nothing of Importance Happened Today Essay -- History Great Britain En Nothing of Importance Happened Today On July 4, 1776, King George III of Great Britain wrote in his diary: â€Å"Nothing of Importance Happened Today†. Due to the length of time it took for news to reach London from America, King George could not have foreseen how ironic those words would become. The same could be said of those involved in the events surrounding the crash of an airborne object in Roswell, New Mexico on a hot July night in 1947. HOW IT BEGAN: A Crash in Roswell, New Mexico ON-THE-SCENE EYEWITNESSES DESCRIBE CRASH AND UNUSUAL WRECKAGE On the night of July 4, 1947, William Woody, who lived east of Roswell, was outside with his father at their ranch, when they saw a brilliant fiery object plunge to the ground (IUFOMRC). On the morning of July 8th, Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox, who along with W. W. â€Å"Mac† Brazell, found the crashed object on the J. B. Foster sheep ranch near Corona, 85 miles northwest of Roswell. Brazell, who lived on a nearby ranch, had notified the sheriff the day before about the crash (AJ). Wilcox called Major Jesse Marcel, Intelligence Officer at the nearby Roswell Army Air Force Base[1], informing him of his find. Marcel, joined by Sheriff Wilcox and Sheridan Cavitt, Counter-Intelligence Officer from the Roswell base, raced to investigate the crash site (Jaroff). Brazell, waited near the crash site while Wilcox, Marcel, and Cavitt investigated the crash site, and later reported that Wilcox described the crash site to him, including details of wreckage with undecipherable characters and markings on some of the debris, which had been scattered over a large area (IUFOMRC). Glenn Dennis was working as a mortician at Ballard Funeral Home in Roswell. Dennis reported receiving phone ... ...ork. 18 Feb. 1994. Fleck, John. â€Å"Bringing ‘Roswell Incident’ Back to Earth†. Albuquerque Journal. Tuesday, July 31, 2001. Handy, Bruce. â€Å"Roswell or bust: a town discovers manna crashing from heaven and becomes the capital of America's alien nation.† Time, June 23, 1997: p62. IUFOMRC: International UFO Museum and Research Center. â€Å"The Roswell Incident†. Jaroff, Leon. â€Å"Did Aliens Really Land?† Time Magazine, July 23, 1997. Megadeth. Hangar 18. Los Angeles, California: Capitol Records, 1992. Roswell Chamber of Commerce. â€Å"Roswell UFO Festival - 2002 - Calendar of Events† USAF: United States Air Force Web Information Service. â€Å"Roswell Report: Case Closed† June 24, 1997. [1] Prior to 1948, the United States Air Force was a branch of the United States Army, and at the time of the Roswell crash, was still known as the United States Army Air Force.

Article Analysis on Mate Selection Essay

The entire article is based on evolutionary psychology and the title of the article is Mate Selection criteria: A trait desirability assessment study of sex differences of Serbia. The entire paper examines the predictions from socio-structural perspective and evolutionary on sex differences in the mate selection in Serbia. There were a total of 127 respondents that were taken from Serbia and the respondents were mainly college students. The method of Likert scale was used and they were questioned about 60 behavioral traits and personality traits. Differences were obtained on the basis of perceived desirably of strengths, self pity, fragility, thinness’s and beauty. The males in this study consider these traits as more desirable and the females valued strength of the male positively. Female respondents are more concerned with the physical appearance of their partners. Similarly, in this study females are also concerned about the socio-economic class of males. A generalized approach cannot be used in this study because Serbian people are distinct in their culture. Similarly, in this study both sexes are attracted with each other on different factors like sexual attractiveness, beauty, socio-economic factors etc. The purpose of the researcher was to evaluate the sex differences in Serbia. However the actual hypothesis of this research paper is based on the functionality of mate selection criteria that is based on the perspective of subordinate position of women. The entire research was carried out by Bojan Todosijevic, Snezana Ljubinkovic, and Aleksandra Arancic (Todosijevic, Ljubinkovic, & Arancic, 2003). The research was headed by the department of psychology which belongs to the University of Novi. As far as the findings of this research is considered quantitative analysis is used in this the entire research to evaluate the findings of this research. Findings of this research depicts that the traits that are assessed are sincerity, tenderness, passion, maturity, intelligence and etc. The desirable traits among both the sexes are courage, thinness, talent for sports, beauty, elegance, aggressiveness and etc. Both the sexes agree on the general ordering of the traits but the research have identifies certain significant differences statistically. Males consider the traits of self-pity, thinness, beauty; fearfulness as more desirable and the probability of these traits are less than 0. 1. Findings suggest that men scored quite higher on the former items and the character traits were considered to be more desirable by the females. Discussion of the topics with respect to the article The topic of selecting a life time companion and the topic of comparison levels can be related with this research paper (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2007). Certain traits are discussed in this research paper and the through different statistical tools the results are evaluated. In both the topics of the text book the traits are discussed and both the topics evaluate that effectiveness of traits. The phenomenon of how to select an appropriate life partner is discussed and what should an individual do when he/she is selecting its soul mate. Similarly, the other topic of comparison levels discusses the comparison levels between the two sexes. In this research paper research is conducted on the traits of males and females and how both of them select their partners based on these traits. The phenomenon of Likert scale is used in the entire research. Conclusion The hypothesis in this research paper was formulated on the basis of evolutionary psychology. The results of this paper depicts that males give more preference to physical attractiveness of their potential mates. On the other hand women consider socio-economic factors like success in job, capability to earn and wealth related factors as important. The traits that are discussed in this research paper are dependent on culture and it varies with culture to culture. All the traits are evaluated in this research and generalized results are attained from the study (Todosijevic, Ljubinkovic, & Arancic, 2003). The hypothesis that was derived with higher socio-economic interpretation that was related to women should be considered as less important as compared to the hypothesis on evolutionary psychology. In the entire research paper different traits were evaluated and results were achieved through Likert scales. Before reading the article one cannot depict that which traits are more important for women and for men and since the entire article talks about traits and their effectiveness that is the reason why it becomes quite easy to filter out which traits are necessary for men and which are important for women. Statistical analyses are used in this article which helps the reader in finding the viability of the results. This article can definitely help an individual in selecting its partner and after reading this article one can check the traits discussed in this article with the traits that are present in his/her partner or the traits which he/she desires for (Todosijevic, Ljubinkovic, & Arancic, 2003). References Anderson, S. , & Sabatelli, R. (2007). Family Interaction: A Multigenerational Developmental Perspective. Allyn & Bacon. Todosijevic, B. , Ljubinkovic, S. , & Arancic, A. (2003). Mate selection criteria: A trait desirability assessment study of sex differences in Serbia. University in Novi.

Both Dr Faustus and the pardoner share an obsessive greed Essay

Both Dr Faustus and the pardoner share an obsessive greed. For Faustus we are fascinated by his greed to rival God in terms of power and knowledge, but repelled by his methods in which to pursue this, which leads him to sell his soul to the devil. Why would one go to such lengths to have his â€Å"most desires[†¦ ]of power, of honour, of omnipotence†, it is this fact that repels us from Faustus as his methods are immoral. But we are fascinated by the disastrous effects it has upon Faustus, inevitably leading him to Hell, moreover, within the 24 years that he had to fulfil his desires, he doesn’t do the extravagant things he claimed he was going to do such as to â€Å"fill the public schools with silk† or â€Å"ransack the ocean for orient pearl†, highlighting that pursuing greed inevitably leads to a person’s demise. The same can be said in the Pardoner’s tale, in which three peasants find an old man who they mistake for death in which he leads them to a true where they find gold. There obsession can be easily connected to human nature which undermines our fascination to their situation, because it could happen to anyone. It’s common to want to be superior in wealth to others, competition drives advancements, so in that respect, we are not fascinated by the Pardoner’s tale. Another viewpoint would be that we are fascinated by the Pardoner’s tale because we can easily connect to it, the same being for Faustus. Furthermore, the Pardoner himself is a fascinating character because of his blatant contradiction. He openly tells the pilgrims that he sells â€Å"relikes† made of â€Å"cloutes and of bones†, rags and bones in which he deceives people to buy them. But the message of the tale is that the obsession of money leads to death, however the pardoner openly admits his obsession of money. Faustus is obsessed with knowledge. He would stop at nothing to gain all the knowledge in the world which is why he becomes depressed when Mephastophilis only presents him with one book which has the answers to his questions, â€Å"O thou art deceived†. Because Faustus is so fixated on acquiring all the knowledge there is to know, he doesn’t expect it to be all in one book. This repels us from Faustus because to acquire this knowledge he goes to extreme lengths, in this instance, selling his soul to the devil for 24 years. When the story was first published in 1604, the audience would of definiately been repelled by this because selling ones soul to the devil would be of been a serious sin. Modern interpretations would be more liberal to the fact that Faustus sells his soul, but in a country where around 80% are Christian, a modern day audience would still be repelled and deem it immoral to go to such extreme lengths. What fascinates us about Faustus is his greed to rival that of God, not the methods he does to acquire this, but the fact that he has this desire. He openly challenges God, yet openly praises God and heaven, â€Å"when I behold the heavens, then I repent[.. ]thou hast deprived me of those joys†. There is a constant battle with Faustus between his obsession with power and his religious beliefs. He wants to â€Å"go forward† in terms of knowledge but to an extent where he becomes isolated from God because he is so driven by his obsession. Christopher Marlowe highlights that following greed will inevitably lead to downfall and Faustus’s downfall was being too obsessed with power and knowledge which lead him to sell his soul in desperation for this. Also, for the 24 years that he had before his soul would be taken he could have fulfilled his desires, instead performing petty illusions for the emperor calling him â€Å"my gracious lord†, highlighting that even with immense power he still follows the social rules of life. Which in effect show the limits of man, as with so much power, Faustus is still limited to the restrictions of his mind. Also, being obsessed with greed will lead ultimately lead to failure, Faustus is blinded by short term gains, not taking into account long term implications, â€Å"do give both body and soul to Lucifer†, he sells his soul to the devil which is for eternity, not realising this, only to please himself for 24 years. The same can be said in the Pardoner’s tale, in which the peasants become obsessed with money when â€Å"they founde of florins fine of gold†. Earlier in the Pardoner’s tale, the Pardoner states that â€Å"Radix malorum est Cupiditas† – Love of money is the root of all evil. Foreshadowing grave consequences for the peasants who find the gold, in which their obsession for the gold leads them to kill eachother off, even forgetting their oath of becoming brother, â€Å"and ech of us bicomen others brother†. When blinded by greed, the three peasants only think about themselves, which highlights the damaging effects of an obsession for wealth. It’s our basic instinct to want to be better than others and the peasants are exhibiting this behaviour. Because it’s common for people to want to be wealthier than others, the message is not unique which undermines our fascination with the story. However the person telling the story is fascinating because he openly contradicts himself, he proudly tells of his schemes to exploit poor people’s fears for money which evidently works as he makes â€Å"an hundred mark†. Why he tells of his exploitative ways is fascinating, because he openly tells the other pilgrims without fear, but as seen, the bartender finds his methods bitter, â€Å"thou woldest make me kisse thyn olde breech, and swere it were a relik of a seint†, the host points out that the Pardoner would sell his old underpants and claim it to be a relic which is why we’re repelled by the Pardoner because his methods of acquiring such wealth is deemed wrong, even as a modern interpretation.

Mastering a Skill

In this paper we shall deal with the skill of listening to people. There is more to listening than merely hearing the expressions people speak out. A great deal goes into listening. It is a compelling and extraordinary entity, an ingenious energy. It is listening, not talking which are a talented and immense responsibility, and the creative job. (Ueland, 1992) Excellent listening ability implies that one who is listening never disrupts when somebody is speaking, carefully listens, and does not give any view. (Lindeberg, 2004)Analysts and other specialists dealing with the subject of interpersonal communications maintain that listening is the art that can build or shatter a bond. Listening is very crucial since, eventually we human beings are built around relationships and at times it is equally imperative to know the person as to what he is trying to convey. (Kline, 1996)True listening produces admiration, affinity and belief among the speaker and the listener. While we are listening , it builds us, propels us to unwind and enlarge. Thoughts really start to develop within us and enliven. People feel cheerful and gratis while they are listened to. Plus the genuine listener is greatly adored, attractive compared to the talker, and the person is greatly efficient, and gets trained more and contributes in a better manner. (Ueland, 1992)Those who are good listeners permit their subjects to talk without inhibition, cautiously recording what the actual matters appear to be. In place of giving their self views, they attempt to delve more into the areas of concern by putting pertinent incisive queries to cheer them to develop on their ideas. In doing so, the speakers often solve problems on their own by elementary inspiration or group thinking methods. (Lindeberg, 2004)Undoubtedly the listeners possess their self thoughts; however they are do not impose their concepts upon others. According to them, the most ideal means to give a solution to societal issues remains for p eople to attempt to appreciate one another. Moreover, the wish to offer an atmosphere in which everybody are able to discover the problems and think of novel concepts and explanations. In this manner, friction is lessened which obstructs constructive change.It has the ability to strengthen people to work in a collaborative manner to look for useful answers which will be the best in the interest of the society in its totality. (Rural southern voices for Peace) It is important for the spouse to listen to one another, your parents, your children, your pals; to people who love you and also the ones who hate you, those who irk you and also your adversaries. It will be like a small marvelous act, and might be a great one indeed. (Ueland, 1992)In business, in particular, employees wishes and react in a better manner to, their superiors who they consider are listening to what they are trying to convey. Moreover, this will raise the productivity and the difficulties will be sorted out in an efficient manner, in case people attempting to provide an answer to issues are cheered to clarify the concerns and begin solving prior to giving of advice starts.Concentrating on listening assists the talker as well as the listener to remain calm and assist them to settle down at the time of handling an emergency or talking about a subject which is high on emotion. (Wilson, 2005) In the opinion of Chief Executive Officers and Chief Operating Officers of companies both big and small, substandard listening is the foremost difficulty in their organizations. Besides, they state that listening is the communication proficiency which is mainly important for achievement. Their suggestion is worthwhile, as a lot of formal researches have yielded the same outcome: Listening is important in office. (Kline, 1996)Understanding to listen to the staff of one’s organization can assist to better the inter relationship within the subordinates and fellow employees, persuading them to stay encou raged and committed to the company and the future. (Lindeberg, 2004) A senior employee who has good listening powers will command better self-confidence and self-image as their working will be better with others. (Wilson, 2005) Majority of the staff at different stages across their profession will sense the necessity to speak to their supervisor regarding some matter running through their mind.There are some brimming with excellent business concepts, some are laid up with sentiments that they are not attended properly, while others have problems with their colleagues, and there are some who desire to alter their career track. Managers who schedule time to sit with their staff regularly and use better listening proficiencies normally command more control of their groups compared to those who do not have such. (Lindeberg, 2004). Better listening results in better remembrance of vital information, leading to lesser communication breaks and less errors. Listening with compassion assists to find out means to render the work atmosphere conducive and beautiful so as to appoint and prevent attrition of high-quality people. (Wilson, 2005)A lot of listeners commit the blunder of not hearing the person who is attempting to speak, such that they are able to give their self views or just hear them talk. The outcome can be cause harm to the self-confidence of the person who is attempting to offer his communications, resulting in the person to feel misinterpreted, overlooked, and insulted by the senior’s apparently absence of regard. (Lindeberg, 2004). In the corporate world, lack of listening to people who are the actual workers a leader not just undermines ingenuity, but also squeezes enthusiasm by lessening the sense of accountability, authority, and value. (Wilson, 2005)To conclude, listening with empathy is required to be specialized and understood. Getting trained to use the listening proficiencies definitely needs one to work hard. Moreover, assuming actually e xpertise consumes a lot of time and following – precisely one’s whole life. However, the endeavor is certainly valuable. It results in more security, increased output, speedier learning and improved relationships.ReferencesKline, John A. (1996) Listening Effectively. Air University Press: Maxwell Air Force Base,Alabama.Lindeberg, Teri. (May 2004) The Benefits of Listening. The Well. No: 2.Rural southern voices for Peace. How It Works. Listening Project: US and International Trainingand Resource Center.   Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.listeningproject.info/how.phpUeland, Brenda. (1992) Strength To Your Sword Arm: Selected Writings by Brenda Ueland.Holy Cowl Press.Wilson, Bruce. (2005) Practical Benefits of Better Listening for Leaders and Teams. Business Listening. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.businesslistening.com/leadership_listening-skills.php Mastering a Skill Skill, as commonly understood, is the ability that enables a person to do something well. It is acquired and not something that people are naturally endowed with at birth. There are varieties of skills as there are different tasks requiring a wide range of expertise; but if there is only one skill that people should learn and cultivate in life, it is the skill of communication. It is very important that marriage is said to be a failure when there is no open communication between the couple.It has been said also that lack of communication skills render a team leader ineffective in his leadership, and thus weaken the whole team. In the workplace where disputes are common, a good communication – if secured at different sections – can resolve and even prevent misunderstandings. The art of speaking and listening are both crucial in all relationships. Business dealings involve verbal and non-verbal communication. From manner of dressing which makes an initial impression, to t he manipulation of words when introduction and persuasion begin, these are all that communication is involved.Because it is a skill, every person must have the opportunity to acquire, develop and make a thorough improvement on his/her ability to communicate. Everyone starts at a minimum pace, where language and the other parts of this process of interaction are learned slowly and most times, are taken for granted. It is inevitable though that problems or conflicts arise due to the diversity or dissimilarity that people communicate. People learn that there is a need to understand each other – the many ways that make every person different contributing to the difficulty of understanding each other better.This is the raison d'à ªtre, the basis that communication skills must not only be acquired and developed; it essentially must be mastered. People just don’t communicate, they must communicate accurately if possible, and effectively. By this, individuals are adept  in delivering a clear message. Explicit message can still be misunderstood, in as much as there are still many ways of interpreting anything that which is significant to the recipient. To decode a message requires that two people have similar cultures or that they have the same reference from which to decode a message.There are only a few who will not agree that skillful communication is one of the most decisive features in either of a person’s business or personal life. Nevertheless, it more than just an ability to convey a message or letting one be understood. It is an art form; one that is rich and beautiful for any person to aim to master (Roselli, 1996). Specifically, from the moment a child is conceived and growing in the womb, to the time he/she is born and until the remaining breaths that he/she takes, tremendous forms of communication situations beset a human being.This includes: crying when hungry or wet or uncomfortable for a baby, a child admiring another’s to y, being angry when provoked, asking the teacher to repeat the statements she just made, proposing to a girl, instructing and reminding one’s children or bargaining with the kids over curfew or some privileges, making a long distance call, or making negotiations with a superior. These are all identifiable situations that incur more than just the ability to use symbolic language. It must require mastery for every person to circumnavigate every situation in his/her life (Roselli, 1996).Mastery entails understanding and comprehending the basic nuances of an aspect or thing in life. It is a necessity that every person must have the understanding and comprehension of the basics of communication. It implies that the three elements essential to communication or the three skill areas must be possessed by everyone. These are behavior, content and interaction. When a human being imparts his ideas or desires, he/she imparts these through a certain behavior. â€Å"Behavior reflects the physicality of communicating† (Roselli, 1996).It is how one communicates. Content refers to about what one is actually communicating or the words that one says while interaction skills takes â€Å"fully into account who you are communicating with, the flow between you and others, and how skillfully you manage that flow† (Roselli, 1996). When the nuances of communication are scrutinized, people notice that communication is not that simple: it is complex and it exacts something from people. Consequently, it also demands to be mastered.However, though it is an art form, it does not entail that a person must set aside time in a day or week, or physical space in order for a person to fit it into place to develop it into his/her life. There are no paraphernalia or special gadgets required for one to be able to start in its mastery (Roselli, 1996).   Ã¢â‚¬Å"All that is required besides your everyday communication situations are a sincere effort to practice a few skills in ea ch of the three skill areas, some reliable feedback, and most importantly, your sustained attention and awareness,† according to Roselli in his article Mastering the Art of Communication.To become a good and effective communicator, a person needs practice with meaningful feedback. An instructor can help modify the person’s responses appropriate to the situations that are required in various settings. The workplace undergoes overwhelming changes while the family systems are even undergoing the same.This is the reason that knowledge, proficiency, skill in communicating must not only be acquired, this must be developed to a mastery level. This ensures that whatever transformations that are constantly occurring within the life of a person, he/she is equipped to meet these challenges because he/she understands better and can convey and interpret the barrage of messages around him/her better.Reference:Roselli, Peter. 1996. Mastering the Art of Communication. Cor Communication s Llc, Ca. Accessed through http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Rosselli1.html

Rwanda Reaction Essay essays

Rwanda Reaction Essay essays It is disturbing to know that a lot of people do not care what decisions the government make as long as they do not affect them in a negative way. Even though our government is one of the most powerful and influential governments in the world some people just don't care. It is alarming to know that our government consciously made a decision to deprive a group of people from help that would have stopped genocide from happening. It is understandable that not everyone is raised as a catholic, or if they are, do not live a strict catholic life. But as Catholics we know that what happened in Rwanda was a terrible incident. In the Catholic Social Teachings it teaches us about the Dignity of the human Person, and how everyone is made in the likeness of God, and no one should have their dignity stripped from them just because of their race. A quote from the Catholic Social Teachings best describes how killing of a person is wrong: "Life, especially human life, belongs to God; whoever attacks human life attacks God's very self." Nevertheless even if someone was not a Catholic and did not believe in any divine power, they too would agree that what happened at Rwanda is terrible. As a human being we are obligated to respect everyone and anyone. Every person no matter their way of life, or situation has rights that everyone must respect. It is evident that everyone agrees the massacre of a group of people is wrong no matter how you look at it. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it talk about the rights that every person has a right to. I feel that articles 3, 4 and 5 relate to Rwanda the most. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. They had no intentions in helping the Tutsis, instead they were focusing on the safe return on the United States citizens that where working in Rwanda. It was obvious that the U.N. would just leave Rwanda be, when one senior U...