America First Hand essays

America First Hand essays America First Hand. Robert D. Marcus and David Burner. Beacon Press, 1987, 223 pgs. The beginning of the colonial period was full of troubles. America First Hand, by Robert D. Marcus and David Burner is written in distinct detail about several accounts by American colonists that are written and relay what it was like in the colonies during the first couple decades. The accounts describe how teenagers, men, and women, all in their own way, questioned society, religion, and government in order to improve themselves and have their own effects on a changing county. Marcus and Burner compare and contrast religious, political, and social issues that were dealt with during the early 1800s. The authors examined the experiences of Hetty Shepard, Ben Franklin, and Eliza Pickeny. Three Americans from very different backgrounds who all had thoughts, actions, and ideas to better themselves and hopefully better their fellow man and society. They show that people should try to better themselves based on his or her own opinions and ideas rather than rely on those of others. Miss Hetty Shepard was a Puritan girl living in New England at the height of colonization and had trouble with the Indians. She recorded a diary to describe the days as they went by. Also along with her daily acknowledgements, Hetty reveals private thoughts and inquires that show her doubts and questions concerning her strict Puritan beliefs. Marcus and Burner show passages from a diary written by Hetty Shepard about what some may call the rebellious mind of young woman. Based on her writings, others may call her the beginning of the independent, or republican, women. Men of the colonial time period did not have it much easier than women. Inventor, philosopher, printer, and ladies man extraordinary Ben Franklin was also considered. He was a writer/printer from Philadelphia, and a person who was interested in the science of humanity. Franklin in t...

Development of Telemachos essays

Development of Telemachos essays The Development of Telemakhos adult self in the first four books of The Odyssey Telemakhos clearly makes the transition from boy into man during the first books of The Odyssey. This development into a man is not so much of the body as it is of the mind. Neither is this journey completely voluntary. Telemakhos must mature in order to deal with the turbulence surrounding his household. In the beginning of The Odyssey Telemakhos is unhappy, but uninspired to do anything about his unfortunate surroundings until Athena arrives. Athena is, in many ways, Telemakhos guide during his transformation. There is a vast difference between the Telemakhos of book one and the Telemakhos of book four; in the way he speaks, the way he thinks of his family, and in his In the beginning of Book One, Homer describes Telemakhos: ...sitting there unhappy among the suitors,/ a boy, daydreaming. What if his great father/ came from the unknown world and drove these men/ like dead leaves through the place, recovering/ honor and lordship in his own domains? Athena arrives in the next line of the poem, and Telemakhos immediately begins to evolve. With Athenas presence we see a more mature Telemakhos, ready to take on his somewhat limited role as head of the household. He is sympathetic to the stranger (Athena in disguise), and hurries him away from the noise of the suitors. While making conversation with Athena, Telemakhos displays doubt that Odysseus with ever return to Ithaka but preserves the fantasy of Odysseus triumphant Telemakhos must change his temperament considerably in order to even embark on the journey to find news of his father. Athena gives him both the wisdom and the strength he needs to begin the journey. The first indication of this is when Telemakhos scolds Penelope for asking the minstrel to stop singing about the homecoming from Tr ...

Confederatesin the Attic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Confederatesin the Attic - Essay Example The American civil war happened over one hundred and sixty years ago, and is considered the deadliest war in American history. It pitied the southern states, where slavery was legal and northern states,who wanted to abolish slavery. It should be noted that the the southern side wanted to secede from the union. The southern states depended on black slaves to work on their large plantations, while the economy of the north depended on industries, at that time in history. In his travels through the south the memories of the lost cause are remembered and acted. Using humor and wit, the writer looks at the divines in America, several years after the end of the civil war, be it race, gender and class among others. The writer finds a problem with the way that the war means to the black and white people. This is clearly shown in the writers travels, where he encounters the case of two young men on the issue of what the flying the confederate flag means. In this case a black guy shoots another young man, because he is driving around town with the confederate flag. To the white people the flag is a symbol of pride, black people view it as a form of division along the racial line in America. The question here is whether some people use the flag as a way of showing one race being superior to the others or not. There is no denying that race remains a major issue in America today, not only in the south. The family of the white man who was shot is given money and honored as the last martyr of the confederate, shows how much the ongoing racial strife is , using imagery. The issue of race also comes into play, on whether we should look at the war from a defending the rights of the southern state or the rights of slave who worked in horrific conditions and led terrible lives. The question here is whether to take pride in the efforts of ancestors who wanted to fight in order to continue with slavery. The reason why black people view the war as meaningless is because millions of bl ack people would continue to live in servitude. On the other hand, white people see the victory of the North to have taken their right to having slaves work in their plantation. This obsession with reenacting, to be a way of escaping the past. The re-enactors in this book go through a lot in order to relieve the path of their ancestors who fought the great civil war. The south has very different lifestyles and heritages from the rest of the country. This explains the stereotypes towards the south. This region of the United States may be viewed by some as an area where people romanticize historical events and refuse to move on . An example of an old southern tradition is that of southern belles. This term refers to women from the south upper class, who possess certain lady-like characteristics and natural charm, though most people do not believe they still exist. In his book, Tony Horwitz travels through small museums, where he reportedly finds the minnie ball that transferred semen from a rebel soldier to the womb of a southern belle. Elsewhere, the writer befriends re-enactors, who literally live and breath the civil war in every possible sense. The main re-enactors that the author ended up being close to, and appears on the cover of the book, is called Robert Lee Hodge. They take the practice so seriously, so that just like actors they relieve every moment, just like it could have happened centuries ago. Some of the

Thornton's Strategic Choices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words - 1

Thornton's Strategic Choices - Essay Example At that time, he might have not realized that the foundation of his shop was actually the foundation of an international business, which would continue to grow in the coming decades, and his products would reach many countries. His two sons, Norman and Stanley, joined their father and started conduct many of functions, such as manufacturing, packaging, retailing and others, in-house. During the 1920s, the shop started attracting customers from distant areas and the benefits of constant product innovation became apparent to Thorntons (Allen, 2010, p. 85). During the 1970s, the company slowly started expanding into the neighbouring countries of Europe and Australia. By the year 1972, the exports to these countries accounted more than 0.3 million pounds. Impressed with the gains made through exports, the company decided to enter into US market with the long-term expansion plan of setting up 100 stores in the next decade (Mullins and Walker, 2009, p. 390). Although, the company would hav e to later close down the purchased shops and abandon these plans because of failures in the US market. By the late 1980s, Thorntons had established itself as a strong brand name in UK with 170 company owned shops and 100 franchised outlets. Thornton had become an important brand name of chocolate at High Street. Thornton had now become a public company, with impressive share performance (Thornton and Bishton, 2009, p. 258). Business Model and Operations Thorntons only has a 1 percent market share of the confectionary market and claims to be having a 6 percent share of the confectionary gift market according to the statistics from the year 2009. Nevertheless, the company is the biggest manufacturer and retailer of specialist chocolates in the UK market. The company’s core product is boxed chocolates and it believes that its core competency lies in the manufacturing of these chocolates, with the help of quality ingredients and company owned recopies (Mullins and Walker, 2009, p. 390). The in house manufacturing method is largely labour intensive. The company relies on outside suppliers for packaging, basic liquid chocolate and solid chocolate bars (noncore business). In order to make up for sales during low seasons, the company would go on to sell ice creams and greeting cards as well but in selected outlets, mostly franchised. The company places special attention on the freshness of its product, in order to provide a unique customer experience (Thornton and Bishton, 2009, p. 258). As mentioned earlier, Thornton has been distributing its product to the customers in two different ways. First, the company owned stores, which were costly to acquire or obtain and to maintain in the long term as well. However, the company could ensure greater control over the business and in terms of interaction with

Strategic Plan Internal Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strategic Plan Internal Analysis - Essay Example The bargaining power of buyers is high and consumers have access to more options in the mobile market characterized by the introduction of affordable smartphones from companies like Samsung and executive devices from Apple which have proved to be of high innovative power compared to BlackBerry. These companies have lured customers with user friendly technologies enabling their devices to be useful in all communication and productivity purposes. The availability of more choices for consumers has reduced the power of Blackberry to demand for higher prices for its products. Carriers like Verizon and Telus purchase in large volume in order to meet their subscribers demand. When the demand of an item declines like in the case of Blackberry, vendors are forced to enter into contracts with other manufacturers to ensure demand is met and shift from low-profit grossing brand is addressed economically. Despite the fact that there are barriers to competition established by the government in the Canadian business market, the consumers’ ability to choose their products is reflected in the orders booked with suppliers like Blackberry by an individual telecom carrier (Levi, 2011). In the competitive smartphone world, Blackberry lagged behind one or more phases in the adaptive cycle of innovation due to misalignment. This happened after the launch of the iPhone, a product customers considered mobile innovation meeting customer expectations in both design and capabilities. The 2007 iPhone design was extremely intuitive and user friendly, a competitive product that is responsible for declining sales towards 2010. Additionally, An android platform was then introduced by Google and focused on a user interface design for their operating system. In 2008, Levi (2011) reports that Blackberry introduced the Blackberry Storm smartphone to face the competition and offer consumers an optimal experience and a better design. Unfortunately, this

Cultural Phenomenon of the Celebrity: Hermeneutic Analysis

Cultural Phenomenon of the Celebrity: Hermeneutic Analysis New ways of thinking can often illuminate new ideas that would not come to light using our conventional and most natural modes of reasoning. We can be stretched in dynamic ways by altering our methods or approaches to our thinking. Several methods of thinking include exploration of the unconscious, symbolic systems, radical Synthesis, hermeneutic analysis, among others. For me, the hermeneutic form of thinking has the most unsettling effect upon my mind. A hermeneutic approach has experience a revival in recent times in the wake of influential thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and others. These hold a significant place in the present intellectual climate in the Western world. For this essay, I decided to use a hermeneutic approach to analyze a particular cultural phenomenon. Cultural phenomena are of vital importance for study since they represent aspects of human nature (en masse) that are impossible to extrapolate independently. Not only are they interesting to stu dy, but they maintain continual interest for elites and common people alike. It is not a stretch to state that these phenomena successfully capture the population’s imagination. In this particular essay, I will look at the cultural phenomena of the celebrity using hermeneutic analysis. The hermeneutical way of thinking, in this case, won’t apply to a given text but rather to the social phenomenon of â€Å"celebritydom†. By thinking about social phenomena in a hermeneutical way, one can look at a subject that rarely gets such scrutiny and hopefully begin to find understanding as to why our societies are so enthralled by the celebrity narrative. The development of a new form of â€Å"celebritydom† can be understood in a new way by understanding the context, audience, media sources, and other hermeneutical factors. First of all, we will begin to think about the context of celebrities in the past. There has most obviously been a shift in Western Society in the development of the celebrity. It has not been an overnight shift by any means, but it has been significant. The most outstanding example of recent changes in the nature of celebrity is the professional celebrity—a celebrity with little reason to be revered or famous. The prime example would be the infamous Paris Hilton. Although a notable heiress to her parent’s fortune, she has become a celebrity in her own right through self-promotion. There are countless heirs to various fortunes that will never be known. This kind of character, however, is unprecedented, even in the 20th century. Most celebrities came into being through some sort of accomplishment, i.e. film, music, politics, sports, etc. Or, they became celebrities by association, such as royalty. The amount of coverage allotted to celebrity-esque storylines has grown exponentially. Entire television channels are devoted to the ceaseless coverage of ce lebrity’s lives. A whole subclass of photography has developed in the â€Å"paparazzi,† known for being the epitome of the dog-eat-dog line of work. Not to mention the countless â€Å"tabloids† that line the newsstands. These are some of the basic contextual factors that surround the modern celebrity phenomenon. Another factor for thinking about this social phenomenon is the audience. The audience for the development of new celebrities that must be analyzed if one is to use a hermeneutical strategy. The audience for much of celebrity press and concern has largely not changed in type, but likely has changes in how broad the appeal is. It would have been impossible to imagine that Clark Gable’s personal life would have been known or a concern for Middle East youth fifty years ago. Today, however, in all corners of the world they not only know the names of key celebrities but also their storylines of gossip. I remember being asked in a remote village in Albania about the future of â€Å"J-Lo† and Ben Affleck’s relationship if they got married. Obviously this change has a lot to do with the digital revolution—opening up a large part of the world to a previously unknown celebrity world. It also betrays the fact that the same phenomenon is at work in these non-Western c ountries as is here in the West. Knowledge and a pursuit of information about Western celebrities could also reveal an admiration of the culture of celebrities by the non-West, but often times these elements remain even in countries predisposed to hate the west. Although many citizens of these said countries likely separate the politics and the culture of the West, a large majority still do not. There is an effect of â€Å"can’t help but look† type psychology in regards to coverage of celebrities. Just like in the West, many in these societies likely think the coverage is superfluous and or wrong. Although a judgment has been made concerning the validity and morality of celebrity coverage many remain to have a working knowledge of the ins and outs of Hollywood love life. These ‘stories’ seem to do something for us en masse. Using further hermeneutical strategies, we will now turn to the sources for the coverage of celebrity gossip and the like. If one is to exit the supermarket on a given day he or she is given the opportunity to be swiftly educated in celebritydom. The print media is a key source of information on celebrities. This seems to be chiefly centered on magazines; the newspaper medium seems to inadequately address the goals of celebrity coverage. The magazine provides the opportunity for vivid pictures, small pithy commentary, and quick entertainment. It is glitzy, stylish, and most of all fast. Whereas one may need to have some backround in Middle Eastern politics in order to find parts of the newspaper engaging, the celebrity magazine can bring the glamour and scandal of the celebrity phenomenon with little or no education. The celebrity magazine is an odd mix of â€Å"posed† shots of red carpet entries into various galas, possibly a celebrity interview/photo shoot, and scandalizing pictures kindly provided by the paparazzi. This seems to be a winning combination of glamour, personal interest, and scandal. The second main conduit for the celebrity phenomenon is the television medium. As mentioned before, â€Å"E!† is an entire channel devoted to the coverage of celebrity life. This is not to mention the countless celebrity news shows, and their subsequent spoofs. Celebrity news shows use a similar format compared to that of their magazine cousins. The show usually features some sort of personal interaction with a celebrity, praising the glamour or character of a particular celebrity, and (of course) the mandatory scandal. These shows have produced celebrities in their own right out of the mere reporting on celebrities. The prime example is Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest is the epitome of the ultimate host, having hosted the top twenty for years on a radio station in Los Angeles, been an E! â€Å"anchor,† and most famously the host of American Idol. Seacrest has become a celebrity by merely reporting on celebrities. Both media types—that of magazine and t.v.—have wo rked in conjunction. One reports on the other and vice versa. One makes the other. Using a hermeneutical strategy to look at the social phenomenon of the celebrity has brought to light several profound new ideas for me. The first is what celebrity coverage does for us. I have come to the conclusion at various times that humans have at all times needed a common narrative in their social relationships. In days gone by, this narrative could be sustained by regional parochial concerns. A village would find a bond in the fact that their story was shared, they lived close to one another, married into each other’s families, etc. The gossip and glory of a small town would sustain its people. Yet, as society has diversified, fragmented, pluralized, etc. it has lost that local connection that is vital for human connection. At the most basic social level, we need something to talk about—a common ground. Human connection is essential for the flourishing of human life. Celebrity coverage, professional sports, and other modern social phenomena seek to fill that voi d. In a time when we increasingly find our human contact in less connected or natural ways, such coverage give us a cultural common ground. We can gripe about the fortunes of Liverpool or quip about the Beckham family to absolute strangers and they will likely be able to track with our line of thought. Celebrity narratives give us a common ground for humor, social reflection, and allusions. In order to have fulfilling communication we must have some sort of shared story, even if these stories are plastic in nature. Our society has inevitably become more diverse, global, and connected. This has inevitably lead to an erosion of parochial concerns, and pushed us to socially evolve in order to maintain human connection. We have found common social narrative in the celebrity. Their story has become a common story for us. Their divorces, their cheating, their success, their money, etc., have all become a commentary about our own lives. This line of thought leads me to an additional hermen eutic conclusion concerning celebrity coverage and its reflective nature. We are not interested in celebrities just because they happen to be successful but because they are reflective. Celebrities embody our hopes and dreams, fears and pitfalls, and desire for detachedness. The populace not only celebrates celebrity success, but also celebrates celebrity failure. There is a lust for failure as much as there is for success in the interest in these lives. It is interesting to note that the most famous celebrities are those where there are equal portions success and failure. This is important. Without adjoining failure these celebrities fail to capture people’s imagination. Too much success and too much failure both trigger a lose of interest in the given celebrity. Celebrities find themselves in a proverbial catch-22, trying to allow promotion while not being raked through the coals. The most successful in this respect have allowed both. The reality about celebrity coverage is that we are not interested because these people are necessarily glamorous (there are a lot of unknown glamorous people to be found). We are interested because celebrities create for us a narrative for self reflection and self understanding. Having used hermeneutical techniques such as analyzing the context, audience, media sources, etc., I have come to some interesting new ideas and understanding about a key phenomenon in our society—the celebrity. In previous times, I have been rather perplexed as to why we care so much about these lives. Yet after thinking about the topic using hermeneutical analysis, I have come to several profound reasons as to why this is so.

Mafia Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Mafia way of life may seem like a romantic updated version of the western movie played out on the streets of the big cities where the good guys and the wise guys who share the same instincts and values do battle before an enthralled public but it is actually very different. The Mafia is really just a group of uneducated thugs making money by victimizing the public. Initially, the Mafia was setup as a prominent supplier of bootlegged liquor, but it has spread into many different areas of crime. During this research paper I will discuss three aspects of the Mafia which are crime, structure and decline in leadership. The Mob siphons off public funds, rigs contracts, corrupts unions which many hard working people with legitimate jobs are a part of, smuggles drugs, and runs illegal gambling rings. These are some of the ways the Mob negatively affects our community and harms innocent citizens. Any illegal activity that brings in big money the Mafia is part of. Union corruption has been the primary focus of many federal investigations and by the end of the 1980’s, four unions, the Teamsters, Longshoremen, Laborers, and Hotel and Restaurant Employees union, had all been identified as mob dominated. Not only does the mob find money makers in the United States, they finds ways to bring money to them from other countries. Alien smuggling generates more than $3 billion a year for the mob. Mobsters will kill without remorse and threaten anyone who won’t go along with what they are doing. To keep free from the arm of the law "corrupters nullify the law-enforcement and political processes primarily by outright bribery and other rationally designed forms of ‘influence’ such as contributions to political campaigns and promises to deliver votes in a particular area." One might think that corruption and bribery is not a problem, but one noted political analyst suggests that "the underworld" contributes 15 percent of the 3 costs of local and state political campaigns which causes one to think that the mob may have a strong hold on many powerful politicians. Mafia involvement with legitimate business’s affects the public in many ways. Respectable bankers have become unwitting allies to the Mafia and most of the securities stolen in the United States during the last two decades are lying safely in the vaults of respectable banks, hypothecated for legi... ...ol. 5. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1997. Art. 29. McGarvey, Robert. "Global Organized Crime." American Legion Feb. 1996: 16. Crime. Ed. Trudy Collins. Vol. 5. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1997. Art. 64. McKillop, Peter. "The Last Godfathers?" Newsweek 6 Feb 1989: 25. Mueller, Tom. "Cosa Nostra." The New Republic 15 Apr. 1996: 17-18. Norland, Rob. "The ‘Velcro Don’: Wiseguys finish last." Newsweek 13 Apr. 1992: 34-35. Pistone, Joseph D., and Richard Woodley. "Undercover with the Mafia: ‘Respect’ Was the Watchword." Palm Beach Post 10 Apr. 1988: 1E. Crime. Ed. Trudy Collins. Vol. 4. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1993. Art. 8. Reid, Ed. The Grim Reapers. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1969. Reuter, Peter. "The decline of the American Mafia." Public Interest Summer 1995: 89-99. Crime. Ed. Trudy Collins. Vol. 5. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1997. Art. 49. Viviano, Frank. "The New Mafia Order." Mother Jones May-June 1995: 45-54. Vulliamy, Ed. "Mafia INC." World Press Review Dec. 1992: 11-16.