Writer's selection Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Writer's selection - Personal Statement Example She reminded me that I would become a resourceful person that everyone in the society would be looking for if I By inculcating good virtues into my lifestyle if I would inculcate good virtues into my lifestyle. As far as picking ‘Communications’ as my major is concerned, I have to admit that I had considered reasons in my mind at the time I was joining Seattle community College. In this respect, I have to mention that my very first reason was to be able to interact with all the diversified persons living in Hong Kong. Fundamentally, Hong Kong is a metropolitan with diverse cultures that are autonomous hence ‘communications’ will play a major role when it comes to meeting new people from various backgrounds. The second reason as to why I chose communications as my major is the fact that I like to get out of the comfort zone. This was particularly evident when visited Los Angeles for 3 weeks in July 2010 as an exchange student. I deemed it essential to learn certain skills of communicating with various personalities. Lastly but more importantly, I picked communications as my major is because I like communicating with people and discovering new things. When it comes to my professional experience, I find it worthy to mention that I have participated in quite a number of initiatives that have added significant value to my personal and professional life. For instance, between January 2013 and March 2013, I volunteered as a teaching assistant at ACRS (Asian Counseling and Referral Services). In that capacity and organization, I acquired excellent interpersonal and interpersonal skills. Moreover, I carried on with the volunteering work from April 2013 to June 2013 Arts Corps. I gained invaluable knowledge during the two-month period that I still hold dear to date. My third place where I gained invaluable experience was at CJR where held the position of an Education Consultant. In this position, I played several roles including

Anselm and Aquinas Perspective Essay Example for Free

Anselm and Aquinas Perspective Essay Anselm of Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas had conceptualized their own justification for the existence of God. For Anselm, he chiefly indicated his strong defense of intellectual foundations of Christianity under the concept of â€Å"ontological argument† for the existence of God. Anselm argued that the existence of God is not only in human minds but rather in reality. The idea of Proslogion had become the main argument of Anselm, which he used in order to defend his idea of God’s existence. The idea of ontological proof of had considered the concept of justifying the logic behind the existence of God. On the other hand, the ideas of Aquinas had provided significant approach of cosmological theology in order to prove the existence of God. Aquinas had utilized the five components of reason that justify God’s existence in a logical perspective. Discussion Ontological Proof of Anselm The ontological argument of Anselm considered the idea of Proslogion, which argued the logical being of God. According to the perspective of Anselm, the being of God is so evident that the definition present in the character of God is already enough to justify His existence. As stated in the book of McGrath (1998), in Anselm’s Proslogion, he offers the definition of God as â€Å"that than which no greater thing can be thought† (89). From the idea of Anselm, the existence of God came from the statement, â€Å"that than which nothing greater can be conceived. † The arguments of Anselm’s ontological proposal involve, God as the greatest possible being. Anselm argued that the notion and the nature of a being existing only in the minds of human being and society could not be considered as great or powerful. Hence, if God is to exist, He must exist in reality for Him to commence His power overall. In this logic, Anselm justified the existence of God, in not only the mind of Human beings but most of all in reality. In the perspective of Anselm, he utilized the idea of faith and logic in order to justify God’s existence. The idea of using faith gave the thought of God’s presence as determined by belief of His presence. For Anselm, in order for one to understand God’s existence, one should first believe that God exist in reality and not only in human minds. Faith had been viewed by Anselm as an important component in understanding the nature and the mystery for God’s existence. In the idea of faith, one does not have to consider the validity of truth or false in believing God’s existence, but only a simple indication of believing or not believing. In the context of faith, he argued that the existence of God is not the ones in the mind of men, but rather the agreement of faith. The human minds had their control on whether believing or not believing the thoughts of God’s existence. On the other hand, Anselm’s use of logic to prove the argument of God’s existence occurred in the concept of Proslogion. Within the logic of Proslogion, Anselm mentioned that the being of God under His characteristics of being transcendent and immanent were the main points to consider His existence. According to Hogg (2004), if God were not transcendent then there would be no reason to assume His necessity. If God were not immanent, then no one could know Him (95). Under the theology of Anselm, the concept of faith should facilitate the belief for the revelations of God’s existence, while the idea of Prologion gave rise to the logical reasoning of explaining the existence of God. Cosmological Proof of Aquinas Aquinas’ argument of the cosmological evidence of God’s existence revolved around five components, which provided the argument of his defense. In Summa Theologia of Aquinas, he argued using these five ways of justifying the existence of God under the basic thought of man’s relation with God as Creator and creation. In his first argument, Aquinas provided the â€Å"argument of motion† in order to depict the concept of change. He argued that the presence of dynamics in this motion was brought by a cause that possessed significant purpose. In addition, he mentioned that from a single cause of motion, another cause is employed, and from there, under still until the concept of unlimited causation arrived. Aquinas thought that the origin of this greater chain cannot possibly come from human nature but more significantly from God, which proved the He existed. In Aquinas’ second argument, he utilized the aspect of â€Å"cause and effect† argument that gave the idea of an event as being the effect and influenced by a cause. Somehow, the idea of the second argument had been derived from the concepts of motion wherein the cause-and-effect motion should always possess the original cause. In Aquinas’ argument, he pointed this original cause as God. In the third argument, Aquinas introduced the idea of contingent human beings, which he argued the purpose of the presence of non-necessity being (human beings) and the presence of necessity being (God). According to the perspective of Aquinas, the non-necessity being was able to come since the existence of the necessity being had always been present. Aquinas provided his declaration and personification of necessity being as God, who is the necessity being and facilitated every creation. The fourth argument of Aquinas, he proposed the idea of values origin. He considered that the values of goodness, grace, love, forgiveness, etc had all been originated from the positive background of God. The only nature that can provide the true intent of these values is God’s nature; hence, justifying the existence of God. Lastly, the fifth argument of Aquinas involved the necessity for a being to facilitate the task of supervising the creation, which can only be facilitated by God. Conclusion Within the study, the existence of God had been proven under two perspectives of Anselm and Thomas Aquinas. With Anselm’s Ontological proof of God’s existence, he defended with the two components of faith and logic. He argued that God is present not only in the human mind for God is great, and no being can be great if he only exists in the minds of men. Hence, with faith that God is existing, God indeed is existing, and because He is great, His existence is justified. On the other hand, Aquinas provided the five components that defended the existence of God. He introduced the argument of motion (God facilitated the change), argument of cause and effect (God as the very cause), argument of non-contingent being (God as the essential being), argument of the origins of values (God provided all the positive values), and lastly the argument of supervisor of creation (God sees and manages the happenings in the Earth). Works Cited Hogg, David S. Anselm of Canterbury: The Beauty of Theology. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. , 2004. McGrath, Allister E. Science Religion: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing, 1998.

All The Kings Men :: essays research papers

The amount of change people go through in their lives is remarkable. One day, you can be a devious criminal, while the next you could turn a new leaf and become a saint. The change that Jack goes through in All the King’s Men, is comparable to that of the patient who receives a lobotomy. Although Jack undergoes no physical change, the events he witnesses rock his personality, and transforms him into an entirely new man. His metamorphosis from the beginning of the story to the end has as many parallels to the faceless patient’s operation as it does differences. Besides the obvious fact that no one ever operated on Jack, there are still many differences between him and the lobotomy patient. The most significant difference, however, lies in the reason for both men’s change. Adam remarks that the man will have a completely â€Å"new personality†, and when Jack brings up the concept of baptism, Adam adds that a baptismal is different because it does not give you a new personality, it merely gives you a new set of values to exercise your personality in. Here is where Jack and the patient differs. Jack is the complete opposite. While the man will have a new personality, Jack will go on to have the same personality, but exercise it in a different set of values. The man the reader comes to know in the final pages of the novel is still recognizable as Jack. In these final pages, Jack notes that Hugh Miller â€Å"will get back into politics,† and that Jack himself will â€Å"be along to hold his coat.† One will recall Mill er as the Attorney General who resigned to keep â€Å"his hands from getting dirty.† This is a clear example of Jack’s new set of values. Jack will keep doing what he has done for so many years -working in politics - because his personality has not changed. Nevertheless, his new set of values will not allow him to work for someone who is amoral any longer. Although there are such discernible differences as the one previously mentioned, one must also realize that there are prominent similarities between Jack and the anonymous patient. The leading similarity, strangely enough, is connected to the change cited earlier. Jack’s new set of values is what is equivalent to the new values the patient receives along with his new personality. Jack

Tobacco Addiction: Hookah

Jared Fujikuni Psych 22 April 5, 2013 Tobacco Addiction: Water Pipes An addiction is the compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance which is defined by physiological symptoms upon withdrawal. Addiction is more commonly referred to activities in a negative sense because the substance is often harmful to the user. One of the most addicting substances is nicotine, which is found within tobacco. The first thought that comes to mind when referencing to tobacco addiction is smoking cigarettes, but there are many other ways to consume tobacco such as: dip (chewing tobacco), cigars, and water pipes.Although the water pipe has been around for hundreds of years, it has only recently become popular. It has spread throughout the Middle East to Europe, all the way to North America, targeting pre-teens to young adults in college. There is an abundant amount of research done on the damaging effects of cigarettes, but as the water pipe craze is relatively new, there is still very littl e information on the health risks that this fresh social nicotine addiction may contain. The water pipe has many different street names which are a lot more exotic and alluring: hookah, shisha, boory, goza, nargile, arghile, and hubble bubble/hubbly bubbly.Smoking hookah is a sensual and relaxing experience which is often done with a group of people. This bonding social activity gives smoking a different dimension of appeal compared to the normal singular act of smoking a cigarette, but may also contribute to the development of addiction. The water pipe is often an elegant looking device resembling a flower vase that sits on a table in between the party. The group will usually be sitting comfortably around the hookah which encourages long sessions that often include over fifty puffs of the hookah.The type of tobacco that is smoked through the water pipe is called maassel, which is fermented in molasses and fruit essences. There are many different flavors that appeal to all smokers. The smoke is often sweet or minty and cooled by the water filter which makes it easy for even nonsmokers to enjoy. First the tobacco is placed within a clay bowl covered by aluminum foil which heads the water pipe. Coals are placed on top of the head to heat the tobacco. The vase of the hookah is filled half way with liquid (usually water). The smoker inhales through a tube that is connected to the vase.The smoke is drawn through the stem of the pipe and filtered through the water before going through the tube that the smoker is inhaling on. The smoker is able to inhale clouds of smoke while simultaneously drawing air over the coals which further burns the tobacco. There are many cafes and bars that are dedicated to smoking hookah. These cafes have become increasingly popular among college students and are popping up all over the United States. Hookahs are also easily purchased through smoke shops or online. Smoking hookah has become a very popular social event because of its slow p ace and relaxing feel.It allows people to partake in an activity which doesn’t require any concentration and allows them to socialize for an hour or so. It is more active than getting together for a coffee but not distracting enough to take away from a conversation. Yet the slow pace of the hookah experience is part of why it might be very dangerous. The total amount of exposure to nicotine through the prolonged smoking pattern is extremely unhealthy. Researchers from the American University of Beirut analyzed smoking patterns at a hookah lounge and reported that smokers inhaled ten times as often as a typical cigarette smoker would.Not only this, but each inhale contained about ten times as much smoke volume as a single cigarette puff. A single hookah session could have the smoke volume equivalent of one hundred cigarettes. To defend the health risks of hookah smoking, many argue that when inhaling, it is nott necessary to inhale all the way into the lungs, but to simply pla y with the smoke in the mouth like with a cigar. However, researchers have collected data that estimate absorption of nicotine and other substances contained in hookah smoke state otherwise. Despite the volume of exposure, hookah smokers are still exposed to fewer toxins than cigarette smokers. The studies indicate that hookah smokers are absorbing high levels of toxins and carcinogens that contribute to the development of heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases† (Harvard, 2008, p. 3). Hookah is often argued as a healthier way of smoking because the smoke is filtered through water, but clearly it does not filter out all of the toxins. There is still enough nicotine getting through to become addicted. The amount of nicotine that is produced by smoking hookah can vary depending on multiple variables: type of tobacco, number of coals, duration of use, and the inhaling technique.The number of coals which is related to the temperature that the hookah would be burning a t has a huge impact on the amount of toxins that are inhaled. If the coals are actually burning the tobacco instead of â€Å"baking† or â€Å"steaming† the shisha, the tar in the tobacco could be burned which is very unhealthy to inhale. Researchers found that chronic respiratory symptoms were found in younger hookah smokers rather than older ones which suggest that the younger users were smoking more intensely or not being as careful to not burn the tar.Saliva samples showed that carbon monoxide exposure was twice as high in hookah smokers as in cigarette smokers. As far as long-term health effects, there hasn’t been much research to make any solid conclusions but like in other tobacco related addictions, there was increased chance of periodontal disease, cardiovascular problems, increased heart rate and blood pressure and problems with the child of women who were pregnant while smoking. Despite the health risks (that the majority of smokers don’t even k now about), smoking hookah has a huge appeal.It is a social activity that gives bored young adults something to do as well as relaxes the body. The social aspect of the water pipe makes quitting the addiction much different than quitting smoking cigarettes. The hookah smoker is not only addicted to nicotine but also addicted to a fun activity that encourages socializing. It is easy to see how and why young adults would become addicted to smoking hookah. It is also easy to see why hookah lounges are rapidly popping up across the world as addiction equals profit. â€Å"While hookah is alluring, it also appears to be a health hazard.Clearly, there are safer ways to relax† (Harvard, 2008, p. 3). Two studies were recently done on hookah smokers. The first study wanted to figure out if hookah smoking encouraged cigarette addiction, while the other sought to decipher the demographics of those who smoke hookah based off a study done on female college freshmen. The first study was don e on students in Denmark. They tested men that were all non-smokers who occasionally smoked a cigarette but were not yet addicted. Through surveying, they discovered that the men that also occasionally or regularly smoked from a water pipe were more likely to become regular cigarette mokers. Although this is a rather weak study, it shows that the tobacco in hookah still contributes to nicotine addiction. A side point that the study made was that hookah could be a potential gateway for smoking cigarettes. â€Å"Special features such as the lower temperature of the smoke and the aromas of water pipe tobacco can contribute to enforcing this mechanism, leading toward smoking cigarettes regularly† (Jensen, 2010, p. 1256). The second study helped determine the appeal of smoking hookah. Syracuse University did a study on female freshmen at a private university in New York through online participation which was paid.The study based the results on the volunteers who had not smoked hoo kah before their freshman year. There were many factors that were predicted to determine whether the students would partake in smoking or not. The protective factors: high school GPA, religion, health value, and self-esteem. The risk factors: impulsivity/sensation-seeking, depression, anxiety, and social comparison. â€Å"†¦experimenting with hookah might be part of a normative process of seeking new experiences, as a rate of other substance use peak during the 18-25 age range† (Fielder, 2012, p. 64). Freshmen year is where students are insecure, seek self-discovery, and take risks. â€Å"†¦the transition to college is a likely time for hookah initiation given the increased freedom enjoyed by residential students, the popularity of hookah lounges in college towns, the ability of students under age 21 to get into hookah lounges but not regular bars, media portrayals of hookah smoking as exotic and trendy, permissive social norms about substance use typical of the co llege environment, and the developmental task of identity exploration† (Fielder, 2012, p. 46). All of these factor into the study and reasoning behind the engagement in hookah addiction. The study results showed that twenty-three percent initiated hookah use during their freshmen year which is not a huge percentage but there were many limitations to this study. A volunteer survey that took place at a private school that targeted women was the make-up for a limited study. The results showed that the biggest correlation with smoking hookah was alcohol intake.The other predicted factors weren’t strong enough to make a correlation. The study also showed that one-third of the surveys had already smoked hookah before their freshman year which shows the popularity. Despite the actual addiction to nicotine and the appeal of the head rush, one of the biggest aspects to smoking that is often over-looked is the smoke itself. Although the smoke is in some ways mysteriously uncontro llable, the art of the smoke cloud projecting out of the smoker’s mouth gives off a sense of creativity and ownership.The smoke is art whether it is blown out through technique such as a ring or simply as a cloud. The clouds achievable by smoking hookah are by far the largest. The water pipe’s allure combined with its targeted consumer is the perfect set-up for a generation of nicotine addicts. With still very little known about the long-term health risks, too many risk-seeking college students are falling into the social nicotine trap. It may start off as an innocent activity, but soon enough it could become a daily routine, henceforth an addiction.Harvard Medical School. (2008). Why waterpipe smoking raises concerns about addiction and other health problems. The Hazards of Hookah. Jensen, Poul Densoe. (2010). Waterpipe use predicts progression to regular cigarette smoking among Danish youth. Tobacco: Waterpipe Smoking. Fielder, Robyn L. , Carey, Kate B. , & Carey, Mi chael P. (2012). Predictors of initiation of hookah tobacco smoking: a one-year prospective study of first-year college women.

Library Science Essay

An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS),[1][2] is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. An ILS usually comprises a relational database, software to interact with that database, and two graphical user interfaces (one for patrons, one for staff). Most ILSes separate software functions into discrete programs called modules, each of them integrated with a unified interface. Examples of modules might include: acquisitions (ordering, receiving, and invoicing materials) cataloging (classifying and indexing materials) circulation (lending materials to patrons and receiving them back) serials (tracking magazine and newspaper holdings) the OPAC (public interface for users) Each patron and item has a unique ID in the database that allows the ILS to track its activity. Larger libraries use an ILS to order and acquire, receive and invoice, catalog, circulate, track and shelve materials. Smaller libraries, such as those in private homes or non-profit organizations (like churches or synagogues, for instance), often forgo the expense and maintenance required to run an ILS, and instead use a library computer system. [citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 History 1. 1 Pre-computerization 1. 2 1960s: the influence of computer technologies 1. 3 1970s-1980s: the early integrated library system 1. 4 1990s-2000s: the growth of the Internet 1. 5 Mid 2000s-Present: increasing costs and customer dissatisfaction 2 Examples 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links [edit]History [edit]Pre-computerization Prior to computerization, library tasks were performed manually and independently from one another. Selectors ordered materials with ordering slips, cataloguers manually catalogued items and indexed them with the card catalog system (in which all bibliographic data was kept on a single index card), and users signed books out manually, indicating their name on cue cards which were then kept at the circulation desk. Early mechanization came in 1936, when the University of Texas began using a punch card system to manage library circulation. [3] While the punch card system allowed for more efficient tracking of loans, library services were far from being integrated, and no other library task was affected by this change. [edit]1960s: the influence of computer technologies Following this, the next big innovation came with the advent of MARC standards in the 1960s which coincided with the growth of computer technologies – library automation was born. [3] From this point onwards, libraries began experimenting with computers, and, starting in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, bibliographic services utilizing new online technology and the shared MARC vocabulary entered the market; these included OCLC (1967), Research Libraries Group (which has since merged with OCLC), and Washington Library Network (which became Western Library Network and is also now part of OCLC). [4] [edit]1970s-1980s: the early integrated library system Screenshot of a Dynix menu. The 1970s can be characterized by improvements in computer storage as well as in telecommunications. [4] As a result of these advances, ‘turnkey systems on microcomputers,’[4] known more commonly as integrated library systems (ILS) finally appeared. These systems included necessary hardware and software which allowed the connection of major circulation tasks, including circulation control and overdue notices. [5] As the technology developed, other library tasks could be accomplished through ILS as well, including acquisition, cataloguing, reservation of titles, and monitoring of serials. [6] [edit]1990s-2000s: the growth of the Internet With the evolution of the Internet throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, ILSs began allowing users to more actively engage with their libraries through OPACs and online web-based portals. Users could log into their library accounts to reserve or renew books, as well as authenticate themselves for access to library-subscribed online databases. Inevitably, during this time, the ILS market grew exponentially. By 2002, the ILS industry averaged sales of approximately US$500 million annually, compared to just US$50 million in 1982. [5] [edit]Mid 2000s-Present: increasing costs and customer dissatisfaction By the mid to late 2000s, ILS vendors had increased not only the number of services offered but also their prices, leading to some dissatisfaction among many smaller libraries. At the same time, open source ILS was in its early stages of testing. Some libraries began turning to such open source ILSs as Koha and Evergreen. Common reasons noted were to avoid vendor lock in, avoid license fees, and participate in software development. Freedom from vendors also allowed libraries to prioritize needs according to urgency, as opposed to what their vendor can offer. [7] Libraries which have moved to open source ILS have found that vendors are now more likely to provide quality service in order to continue a partnership since they no longer have the power of owning the ILS software and tying down libraries to strict contracts. [7] This has been the case with the SCLENDS consortium. Following the success of Evergreen for the Georgia PINES library consortium, the South Carolina State Library along with some local public libraries formed the SCLENDS consortium in order to share resources and to take advantage of the open source nature of the Evergreen ILS to meet their specific needs. [7] By October 2011, just 2 years after SCLENDS began operations, 13 public library systems across 15 counties had already joined the consortium, in addition to the South Carolina State Library. Librarytechnology. org does an annual survey of over 2,400 libraries and noted in 2008 2%[8] of those surveyed used open source ILS, in 2009 the number increased to 8%,[9] in 2010 12%,[10] and in 2011 11% [11] of the libraries polled had adopted open source ILSs. [edit]Examples Open-source Evergreen Greenstone Invenio Koha Kuali OLE NewGenLib PhpMyBibli OpenBiblioÃ'Ž VuFind Proprietary Aleph from Ex Libris Innovative Interfaces Library†¢Solution, Library†¢Solution for Schools, and CARL†¢X from The Library Corporation LibraryWorld NOSA Qulto System SirsiDynix, Symphony—current version and Unicorn—a legacy system. SydneyPLUS International Capita Alto formerly Talis Alto (UK and Ireland) Virtua, former VTLS, from VTLS Inc. Voyager from former company Endeavor Information Systems, later acquired by Ex Libris (Polish) MOL, Patron and MOLIK – interface created for children (Polish) SOWA, SOWA2, SOWA2/MARC21, SOWA2/MARC21/SQLÃ'Ž Legacy NOTIS Dynix [edit]See also Library and information science portal Library computer system OPAC List of next-generation catalogs History of Library Automation [edit]References ^ Adamson, Veronica, et al. (2008). JISC & SCONUL Library Management Systems Study PDF (1 MB). Sheffield, UK: Sero Consulting. p. 51. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. â€Å"†¦ a Library Management System (LMS or ILS ‘Integrated Library System’ in US parlance). † Some useful library automation software are: KOHA ,Grennstone . LIBsis, and granthlaya. Tennant, Roy (16 April 2008). â€Å"Picking When to Jump, Part 2†. Library Journal. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 20 January 2009. â€Å"Across the pond they use the term library management systems (LMS) for what we call the integrated library system (ILS). † ^ a b Wallace, Patricia M. (1991). Gary M. Pitkin. ed. Library Systems Migration: An Introduction. Westport, CT: Meckler. p. 3. ISBN 0-88736-738-0. ^ a b c Wallace, Patricia M. (1991). Gary M. Pitkin. ed. Library Systems Migration: An Introduction. Westport, CT: Meckler. p. 4. ISBN 0-88736-738-0. ^ a b Kochtanek, Thomas R. (2002). â€Å"1 – The Evolution of LIS and Enabling Technologies†. Library Information Systems: From Library Automation to Distributed Information Access Solutions. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p. 4. ISBN 1-59158-018-8. ^ Kochtanek, Thomas R. (2002). â€Å"1 – The Evolution of LIS and Enabling Technologies†. Library Information Systems: From Library Automation to Distributed Information Access Solutions. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p. 5. ISBN 1-59158-018-8. ^ a b c Hamby, R. ; McBride, R. , & Lundberg, M. (2011, Oct. ). â€Å"South Carolina’s SCLENDS optimizing libraries, transforming lending†. Computers in Libraries. 8 31: 6–10. ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2008. pl ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2009. pl ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2010. pl ^ http://www. librarytechnology. org/perceptions2011. pl [edit]Further reading Olson, N. (2010). Taken for Granted – The Construction of Order in the Process of Library Management System Decision Making (Vol. 45). Goteborg / Boras: Valfrid publishing. [1] Rubin, Richard E. Foundations of Library and Information Science. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. , 2004. [edit]External links MARC Records, Systems and Tools : Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress Higher Education Library Technology,(HELibTech) a wiki supported by SCONUL (Society of College National and University Libraries) that covers many aspects of library technology and lists technologies in use in UK Higher Education Key resources in the field of Library Automation Categories: Library automationÃ'Ž

Free Essays on ESOL Activities

SCHOOL-WIDE ACTIVITY: Latonya Baldwin In this activity, every class level will be responsible for selecting, researching and presenting a different country. In the research, they are to find out where the country is locate, what is, if any, the official language of that country, religion, type of educational system job market, types of food eaten there and if any holidays are celebrated there. This would be the perfect opportunity for older class levels children to teach and share information with the younger one’s as they work together in teams. Procedure: 1. In each classroom (grades 1-5) write the names of 7 different countries three times on a sheet of paper. Mix up the countries and have each student to draw a name from the hat. After everyone has received a country have them to group together according to the country that they pulled out of the hat. (same countries together) 2. Have everyone that have a country, meet in the cafeteria the next morning before classes (all grade levels) and group together according to their country. There should be at least 20 -25 students per country for grades 1-5 (depending on the number of students that each class has). 3. Have a mediator or group guide (teacher) meet with each group (country) and explain to them that are to collect information regarding that country. Break down the groups into sections: internet information group, drawing and coloring of flag and map of country, food selection, etc. 4. Allow the children to meet both during class time and before or after school to gather, put together and study their information that they collect. 5. During the week of Christmas break, which is the largest celebrated holiday in America, have the children to put on a school-wide presentation of their countries. Each group should put together a presentation of their country through music, song, dance, poetry, puppetry, or any other way they choose to present their ... Free Essays on ESOL Activities Free Essays on ESOL Activities SCHOOL-WIDE ACTIVITY: Latonya Baldwin In this activity, every class level will be responsible for selecting, researching and presenting a different country. In the research, they are to find out where the country is locate, what is, if any, the official language of that country, religion, type of educational system job market, types of food eaten there and if any holidays are celebrated there. This would be the perfect opportunity for older class levels children to teach and share information with the younger one’s as they work together in teams. Procedure: 1. In each classroom (grades 1-5) write the names of 7 different countries three times on a sheet of paper. Mix up the countries and have each student to draw a name from the hat. After everyone has received a country have them to group together according to the country that they pulled out of the hat. (same countries together) 2. Have everyone that have a country, meet in the cafeteria the next morning before classes (all grade levels) and group together according to their country. There should be at least 20 -25 students per country for grades 1-5 (depending on the number of students that each class has). 3. Have a mediator or group guide (teacher) meet with each group (country) and explain to them that are to collect information regarding that country. Break down the groups into sections: internet information group, drawing and coloring of flag and map of country, food selection, etc. 4. Allow the children to meet both during class time and before or after school to gather, put together and study their information that they collect. 5. During the week of Christmas break, which is the largest celebrated holiday in America, have the children to put on a school-wide presentation of their countries. Each group should put together a presentation of their country through music, song, dance, poetry, puppetry, or any other way they choose to present their ...

That Elusive Will o the Wisp

That Elusive Will o the Wisp That Elusive Will o the Wisp That Elusive Will o the Wisp By Maeve Maddox A quaint, but still useful term of interest to writers is the expression will o the wisp. The literal sense of will o the wisp is a phosphorescent light that occurs over marshy ground. It flits about and, according to observers, seems to retreat as one approaches it. The Latin term for this mysterious, elusive light is ignis fatuus [Ä ­gnÄ ­s fÄÆ'chÃ… «-É™s], foolish light. The will in will o the wisp is from a personal name: Will (William) of the wisp (like Jack olantern). The wisp is a lighted bunch of straw. Various legends have sprung up to explain the phenomenon. A common story is that a very wicked man (Will or Jack) was so bad that, not only was he rejected by Heaven, the Devil didnt want him in Hell, but did give him a coal from the eternal flames that he could carry about with him as he wandered the earth. Because the will o the wisp constantly retreats from anyone who tries to catch it, it has acquired the figurative meaning of something that misleads or deludes; an illusion. Here are some uses of the expression in different contexts: The hunt for the Great American Drama continues. It might be well for some of those who are still in pursuit of this will-o-the-wisp to pause long enough to discover the Great English Drama, the Great French Drama, the Great Spanish Drama, the Great Italian Drama, or even among the moderns the Great Norwegian or German Drama. NY TImes, Oct. 14, 1906 Global warming: Chasing a â€Å"Will o’ the Wisp† while ignoring a real monster in the sky headline, BrookesNews.com Aug. 27, 2007 Rather than jettisoning the New Economy in a will-o-the-wisp search for another magic formula, we ought to treasure what it does well. LA Times, July 3, 2001   Do you see that absolutely gorgeous creature over there with half the room surrounding them in awe-struck admiration? That is the local Will-O-the-Wisp (WOW) charming the pants off of everyone while delivering almost nothing. (The Will-O-the-Wisp Abnormal Personality) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Slang Terms for Money"Owing to" vs "Due to"5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation

Hiring Trends Show Older Workers in Demand

Hiring Trends Show Older Workers in Demand According to U.S. News and World Report, 70 percent of human resource experts believe older workers have a strong work ethic. Based on the number of adults over the age of 50 who are part of the workforce, this assessment seems accurate. For older Americans seeking employment, the need many companies have for their skills and experience makes finding a job easier. How Have Workforce Age Dynamics Changed?Companies are hiring more workers age 50 and older, and this trend is growing. Even before the Great Recession, mature workers age 65 and older were working than in the past. However, with fluctuations in the economy came a decrease in pension plans and other forms of worker security. This evolution opened the floodgates to older workers since it helped to level hiring practices. The number of older workers increased, and replacing them with workers who have the same level of skill and experience is difficult. A shortage of qualified workers is continuing to grow, and estimates indica te this will continue in the years ahead.Why Older Works Are SoughtAccording to the Society for Human Resource Management, workers over 50 show greater job engagement than younger workers. This is a key ingredient in a company’s growth. Other factors favoring older workers are their experience and skill subset, according to 77 percent of employers questioned. Assembly line workers between the ages of 50 and 65 have increased productivity due to a decrease in errors. Seventy-one percent of employers also said that older workers exhibit greater professionalism, a trait that is highly valued. An AARP study, done in 2015, showed that older workers have lower turnover rates and that company cost to train new workers is decreased.Baby Boomers Are Part of the WorkforceSome older workers are unable to retire due to economic considerations, while some have grown children to support. In addition, some want to stay engaged and feel working is a means to that end. This need has resulted in many workers seeking employment. Getting a job with the growing number of companies who seek older employees means setting up a plan to accomplish that. Since older Americans are computer literate, according to the Pew Research Center, the search for full-time or part-time jobs for seniors is done online. Searching job sites can be time consuming, and developing a job search strategy is important.TheJobNetwork Can HelpOlder workers who wish to search job sites online might be interested in TheJobNetwork’s platform. By setting up a profile listing skills, experience and job preferences, searching is consolidated and takes less time. This job search site lets you look for jobs in your field, and jobs are constantly updated, ensuring that a listed opportunities are available and new jobs are posted on a 24-hour basis. In addition, you can post your resume, listing your education, training and skills, and the platform will search for jobs as they become available that match yo ur qualifications.Matches are ranked according to how closely they match what you want.Searching TheJobNetwork may help the older worker find the type of job he or she is looking for online. Using this platform may help you bring your skills and experience to a company that would benefit from your presence.

Intermediate Management Accounting past paper Essay

Intermediate Management Accounting past paper - Essay Example Nevertheless, the target profit margin is seen to rise substantially from a low of -0.004% in year one to 10.25% in year three. (b) Issues facing firms like KZ in making decisions on the costs to cut in order to meet the specified target income level. Costs relevance: It could be difficult for firms like KZ to associate all the costs involved to products. This makes the firm continue incurring costs that do not directly involve production hence eating on the margins. Cost classification: The firm has not classified its costs appropriately. For instance, marketing costs are classified as fixed costs and such costs are required to be consistent with sales made in a given year. In this regard, during year 2 and year 3, KZ sales were the same despite difference in marketing campaign undertaken. The marketing campaign should therefore be consistent with the amounts allocated in a given year. ... 27,000,000 Years Cash inflows in ?’000’ Discounting rates 17% N.P.V Year 0 (27,000) 1 (27,000) Year 1 1,454 0.855 1,243 Year 2 4,009 0.731 2,931 Year 3 3,904 0.624 2,436 Year 4 3,799 0.534 2,029 Total (18,361) Recoveries at the end of year 4: Technology estimated re-sale value – ? 8,000,000 Reimbursement by customers - ? 2,000,000 Total – ? 10,000,000 Net present value of recoveries = 10,000,000 x 0.534 = ? 5,340,000 Total Net Present Value (N.P.V) in ? ‘000’ = (18,361) +5,340 = (13,021) (b) Comment: Investment in the product should not be undertaken since it has a negative NPV. The net present value does not represent a proper assessment of the value of the new product since the objective of calculating NPV is to establish whether the project is viable. Question 11 Roles and limitation of transfer pricing in managing divisional firms Roles Transfer pricing refers to the price at which services or goods are transferred between different units of the same organization. However, the degree in which transfer pricing contributes to firms profitability or covers costs is a matter of policy. The main role of transfer pricing includes optimization of group’s profitability by supporting goal congruence, motivate divisional managers of both buying and selling divisions to engage in business with one another, facilitate realistic performance appraisal of different divisions, preservation of autonomy of divisional managers and also plays a significant role in facilitating decision making. Transfer pricing leads to operation of different division whose profits are assessed separately. The management of a division becomes simpler and coordination of sales, production and pricing decisions are also eased. The principal types of transfer pricing includes: Cost-based

World Water Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

World Water Wars - Essay Example It all starts with rain pouring down on soil, the soil soaking some of it to replenish the plants and trees and some to replenish the ground water supply. The leftover rain water is drained back into the sea which again is heated by the sun creating water vapors which again turn into heavy clouds that provide rain. So where did it all go wrong? Why the never ending cycle is not enough to supply famine regions of Africa with fresh drinking water? These are the questions that actually change our perception about water because now water is not a natural resource available for one and all by God but a valuable commodity, privately owned and exploited for corporate profit. Further on, the perception that building more and more dams would solve our problem after watching the documentary is completely reversed. Dams are nothing but elements choking the river nutrients from flowing further. 2) Blue Gold: World Water Wars The documentary (Bozzo, â€Å"Blue Gold: World Water Wars†), ske tches a realistic picture of what the world is beneath the veil of glamour, advance technology and looming structures of corporations. It creates awareness regarding the importance of water and the depletion of it as our most important resource. Not visible to the common eye, water is going to be the reason of potential conflicts and the United States has already created a new world map defining the conflict regions. These conflicts will turn into World Water Wars. Ninety seven percent of our planets water is salt water and only three percent of it is fresh. The conflict is between those regions who own that three percent and those who wished that they could own it. Wishes do come true. The government decides to privatize water and in the process creates giant water firms that are now influencing from water prices to foreign policies. The documentary (Bozzo, Blue Gold: World Water Wars†) is a wakeup call for all of us who are still under the illusion that water is the last thi ng that could trouble us, since we have all the pools, fountains and lakes around; how could we possibly be having a water crisis? 3) The crisis At first like in the Mayan civilization, civilizations prospered around water and strategically populated around areas that would fulfill their water requirements. However, as the world advanced the system was reversed and water was adjusted to according to where we lived instead of us adjusting to where it was. This has developed a huge problem for us and for the generations to come. We have polluted the water to such an extent that no matter what huge water corporations say; even the bottled water that we drink is polluted. Poisonous water of Mexico full of wastage flows to landscapes that grow crops sold back to us; in short our daily food intake includes the poisonous water whether we like it or not. Increasingly, dangerous water diseases are more deadly than any other disease. The fact that our fresh water source is depleting at a fast er pace has forced us into obtaining ground water at a faster rate not giving it enough time to be replenished. Natural disasters are also a reason of our increasing dependency on aquifers. Excessive pumping of aquifers may lead to disastrous events such as giant sinkholes forming in Florida. The fact that we pump billions of gallons of water every day is decreasing our ground water reserves and is putting more pressure on sea; the result of it is tsunami and earthquakes. Also now more rain does not permeate in the ground because it is covered with paved roads therefore again creating pressure on the ocean. 4) Creation of water company giants Suez, Veolia, RWE, Thames, Coca Cola, and Nestle are powerful water companies who have privatized vast volumes of water that was at first a

THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM Vs. THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION SYSTEM Pre-K Assignment

THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM Vs. THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION SYSTEM Pre-K to 12 GRADE ONLY - Assignment Example educational system is the fact that geographic and cultural differences can have a profound effect on the way that information and education in general is imparted to the shareholder. Obviously this is evident in a range of cultures and even on the micro scale between one county or region to the next; however, it is particularly evident between the United States and Europe. Understanding some of the key determinants as to why this has taken place to the extent that it has is both important and helpful to the educator as it provides a clear level of analysis into the means by which one system establishes itself based upon a different set of values and approaches than another. As a function of this particular level of inquiry, the analysis will seek to view the issue from a historical and sociological approach as well as viewing the different methods in their native environments and seeking to draw inference with regards to the means by which a combination approach is observed and how it ultimately functions. By seeking to integrate with the reader on all of these levels, it is the hope of this author that the educator will not only be made aware of key differences between the United States and European model but that they will also be able to seek to understand a few of the benefits and shortcomings that each model exhibits as a means of incorporating further strength into their own classroom or research experience. As a function of this, the first aspect of the key differentials that exist among the systems of the United States and Europe’s educational models is to seek to understand how and why a seemingly homogenous culture that was more or less established by Europeans has strayed so greatly from the European model of education. One does not need to look very heard to understand that the two greatest reasons for this are geographic separation as well as the result of the Revolutionary War. As a function of the fact that the population of the United

Data Set Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Set - Essay Example What is the range of a set of data? Refers to the difference between the highest and the lowest data values of a given data set What is another name for the lower quartile? The first quartile What is the lower quartile? It divides the lower fourth of the data set from the upper three fourths What are the other two names for the middle quartile? The median, the second quartile What is the middle quartile? It refers to the overall median term of a given data set What is another name for the upper quartile? Third quartile What is the upper quartile? It is the median of the data values in the upper half of a data set What is the 5 number summary of a set of data? low value, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, high value What is a box plot? Refers to plot that shows the five number summary visually with a rectangular box enclosing the lower and upper quartiles, a line marking the median and whiskers extending to the minimum and maximum values. The term standard deviation sounds really scary, but it is not really a horrible monster what is it a measure of? It is a measure of spread or variation What is the formula we use to find the standard deviation of a set of data? standard deviation=√(sum of (deviations from mean)^2/total number of data values-1) What is the range rule of thumb? It is the relationship between the standard deviation and the range given by

How to find a good job Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How to find a good job - Essay Example I believe that following a few easy rules will help everyone to become successful in their search for a proper job. To begin with, let’s find out what a â€Å"good† job means. For most people the best position is the one with the highest salary. But do not be confused by this global delusion. A real â€Å"good† job should be a combination of 3 most important factors: money, pleasure and time consumption. To be more persuasive I would like to illustrate you some examples. Imagine that you have successfully found a well-paid job, but it just does not suit your preferences. If a person does not like what he or she is doing, than he or she will not be dedicated to the job, they will not fulfill it properly and, in the end, they might get fired. Now think about another situation. You were lucky to find a well-paid job that you really enjoy doing. But the problem is that it takes all your spare time and you do not have any opportunity simply to have a rest. After first few weeks of such intense work you will be tired and exhausted and will think about leaving such a job. Furthermore, a â€Å"good† job should imply career growth. We are all mature people and everyone should think about future prospects when choosing a job. All the pains and dedication at work must be rewarded somehow, and the best way to do this is promotion. So, a proper job is also the one that ensures encouragement and stimulation in a form of career growth. Now, as we have figured out what a â€Å"good† job is, it is time to hunt for it. You should be aware that we all live in a world of extreme competition. Job market is pretty severe and we do not have a choice, except for adjusting to its tough conditions. Even if you are a good and skilled professional, an employer will not come and knock at your door one day with an offer of a wonderful job position. You will have to search for it yourself, attend dozens of job

Data Set Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Set - Essay Example What is the range of a set of data? Refers to the difference between the highest and the lowest data values of a given data set What is another name for the lower quartile? The first quartile What is the lower quartile? It divides the lower fourth of the data set from the upper three fourths What are the other two names for the middle quartile? The median, the second quartile What is the middle quartile? It refers to the overall median term of a given data set What is another name for the upper quartile? Third quartile What is the upper quartile? It is the median of the data values in the upper half of a data set What is the 5 number summary of a set of data? low value, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, high value What is a box plot? Refers to plot that shows the five number summary visually with a rectangular box enclosing the lower and upper quartiles, a line marking the median and whiskers extending to the minimum and maximum values. The term standard deviation sounds really scary, but it is not really a horrible monster what is it a measure of? It is a measure of spread or variation What is the formula we use to find the standard deviation of a set of data? standard deviation=√(sum of (deviations from mean)^2/total number of data values-1) What is the range rule of thumb? It is the relationship between the standard deviation and the range given by

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Essay

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution - Essay Example Market penetration pricing strategy will introduce Hall detergent at a lower price than the other detergents already existing in the market. The introduced products will come in different packages, each of which will have its price depending on the amounts packaged. The company is aware that it is exploring a competitive market segment where lowering prices at the entry stage will enable the company to acquire its own market niche. Once the detergent has gained a significant share of the market, the company will pursue other strategies and reduce prices accordingly. Market penetration is going to attract people who have never used the detergent before. The company aims at attracting new customers to use Hall detergent for their daily household activities such as washing and cleaning. The penetration pricing strategy will help the company to create a high market share for the new detergent. By using market penetration strategy, the company is going to create the presence of its produc ts in the consumers’ mind. This pricing strategy will create goodwill for the brand name of the detergent and will consequently make them positively attached to the product for a long time. The strategy will create a room for cost reduction and control right from the initial manufacturing stage to the end user. The increase in cost controls will help the company to increase profit margins throughout the channels of distribution and gain a competitive advantage against other companies manufacturing detergents. The tactics that the company is going to adopt in penetration pricing will include price competition and value pricing. The company will employ competitive pricing strategy tactic to penetrate the market already occupied by other players, as well as to set pieces according to the prices of similar detergents in the market. The competitive tactic is aimed at creating a distinction for the Halls detergent from the other detergents in the market. The Hall detergent is going to have a lower cross price elasticity as well as price elasticity, which will increase the demand for the detergent. Competition pricing strategy will create a room for the customers to explore the features of the hall detergent. This product has been made of high quality ingredients to ensure that cleaning becomes a fun activity. The effortless usage of the Hall detergents is the main feature that the company seeks to market using penetration and competition pricing strategies. The competitive pricing strategy will give the customers the right to choose between varieties of products as the company has a chance of displaying their products with high quality features at a lower price. In competition pricing strategy, a seller offers low products produced with low costs. However, the company will not use less quality ingredients in its bid to sell products at a lower price or control prices. The company will produce the Hall detergent with strict quality control and assurance. Once the product has gained its market share, the company will employ a value based pricing tactic. According to Boone and Kurtz (2010), value based pricing tactic will compare the quality and prices of the competing products in the market. The strategy will only work for goods that that are relatively low priced.

Understanding Terrorism Essay Example for Free

Understanding Terrorism Essay The word terrorism is derived from the word terror which means to instill fear or cowardice in someone. It also means to carry out acts that are considered inhuman with an aim of punishing or making life difficult and unbearable for the recipient of the terrorist acts. Terrorism is broad in its scope and it is for this reason that there has not been a specific definition for it. Even though there is yet to be a universally agreed definition of terrorism, there seems to be a unanimous agreement on the key components of terrorism. Some of these components include coercion and violence. Many studies have been conducted to unearth what causes terrorism, the tactics used by terrorists and targets for terrorist attacks. This discussion seeks to delve even further to find out what aspects drive terrorism (Lockyer. 2003). Objectives of Terrorist attacks There are a number of objectives with which terrorist attacks are committed. The main aim as already mentioned is to instill fear in the target party. Acts of terrorism are meant to make one afraid so that they do not continue with a particular state of affairs that may not be favorable to the attackers. Terrorism therefore is used to ensure that there is widespread fear (Lockyer. 2003). Terrorist attacks are also meant to create attention especially in the media so that the group responsible for the terrorist attacks can be recognized. Acts of terrorism are also carried out as a way of weakening; embarrassing and harassing the government through its security agencies by making it appear powerless and repressive. As a result, the government ends up overreacting and is thus subjected to public ridicule (Gus. 2009). Thornton, in his book, Terror as Weapon of Political Agitation, argues that one of the main objectives for terrorist attacks is to build morale within the terrorist group. Whenever they carry out the deadly attacks, the terrorists feel that their impact in the society is felt and this makes them feel significant within their organization. Terrorism groups also engage in their dubious activities as a way of provoking some form of response or feedback especially from the government. It is thus sometimes used as a way of making known the grievances of a particular group to the government (Bernard. 2007). Tactics Terrorist groups have a number of tactics they use in carrying out their activities. Their tactics are such that they are not easily suspected by the law enforcement agencies. Terrorism mainly comes as a result of unresolved conflict especially between the terrorist group and the government in power. The terrorist group therefore attempts by all means to frustrate any efforts by the government. This they do in a number of ways. Some of these tactics include religion fanaticism where people are sort of brainwashed to join certain religious groups which tend to control the manner in which people think and make their decisions. They therefore brainwash people into thinking that the government in power do not have their best interests at heart and this leads to rebellion against the government by the people (Lockyer. 2003). At times, terrorist groups can declare open opposition to the government of the day, as a tactic of carrying out their motives. For example, the very recent attack on the capital city of Uganda, Kampala, is said to be linked to Al Shabab who are opposed to the provision of peace keeping troops in Somalia. Other tactics include depriving the population of their basic economic needs so as to lead to a public outcry. At times, the terrorist groups can impose that there should be only a certain form of government as opposed to the form of government that currently governs a certain country. For example, in Somalia, the Al Shabaab group has been very opposed to the government of Somali and they have made several attempts to take over the government (Gus. 2009). Targets There are various targets that a terrorist group may have depending on their motives. It also depends on the ideologies and beliefs held by the group. For example, a terrorist group that is opposed to a certain religion will always target areas that are frequently visited by that group. If it is a multinational company that is at the center of controversy, then top officials may be targeted by the terrorist groups (Bernard. 2007). New Terrorism This term was coined after the September 11 2001 attacks which resulted to death of at least 3,000 people. Although there is not much that has changed in terms of tactics and objectives with the coming of new terrorism, it is believed that this new concept is more destructive than the former. This is because, while old terrorism aimed at creating attention and making known to the society that the group exists with as little damage as possible, new terrorism aims at creating destruction that is devastating and they will go to any measure to achieve their motives. This means that they objectives of terrorism have changed with coming in of new terrorism (Gus. 2009). Something else to note is that new terrorism is quite organized unlike old terrorism. New terrorism has a hierarchy of command and there are various ranks which move horizontally rather than vertically. New terrorism is also bended on religion more while old terrorism was bended on political ideologies. With several recent attacks being linked to the Al Qaeda group, these distinctions seem quite true. However, looking at the two concepts from a critical point of view, we note that indeed there is not much difference especially in terms of tactics and target. The new terrorism may seem to have changed the manner in which the dubious activities are carried out, but the underlying principles still remain the same (James. 2010). Role of the Media in Terrorism The media is a powerful tool of communication especially to the public. This is so because it is able to reach multitudes of people which other forms of communication may not be able to. For this reason, the media has for along time been used by terrorists to advance their propaganda and other terrorism activities. A good example is that of Osama Bin Laden who has always used the media to communicate the threat and hate messages by the Al Qaeda group (Gus. 2009). Due to the number of people the media is able to reach at any given time, the role played by the media either in stopping or encouraging terrorism is quite tremendous. The language used by the media for instance, when they are reporting on terrorism matters greatly. The words they choose will depend on how the audience of the news will react. A couple of studies have been carried out to establish the relationship that exists between the media and acts of terrorism. On more than one instance, the relationship between the media and terrorism has been described as a symbiotic one. This means that they depend on each other either wholly or partly and that none of the two is considered complete without the indulgence of the other. The symbiotic relationship exists in this manner that terrorist groups usually use the media to pass their message across to the target groups. On the other hand, when the media receives information from the terrorist groups it is treated as exciting as it will catch the attention of the public hence the media becomes popular (Bernard. 2007). Janny de Graff, in his book Violence as Communication, asserts that more often than not journalists tend to adopt the language of their sources. This means that whenever a journalist interviews a terrorist, there is a high possibility that the journalist will unknowingly pick the language of the terrorist. If then the journalist will use the same language to report to the public, there are high chances that such a report will result into a public uproar (James. 2010). Terrorism has major impacts on any given country. It is therefore important that governments of all countries guard jealously against terrorism to ensure that all their citizens are protected. Terrorism has seen great countries especially in the Middle East tumble down. It is not possible to overemphasize the importance of guarding any country against terrorism. It is one of the main ways of ensuring that a country does not fall apart References Adam, Lockyer. (2003). The relationship between media and terrorism, New York: Routlegde. Martin, G. (2009). Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues, New York: SAGE. Phillips, B. (2007). Understanding terrorism: building on the sociological imagination, New York: Paradigm Publishers. Poland, J. (2010). Understanding Terrorism: Groups, Strategies, and Responses. Washington: Prentice Hall.

Moral Standards In Advertising Media Essay

Moral Standards In Advertising Media Essay Ethics of advertising can be defined as ethical activity, corresponding not only to law but also to moral principles. Although the normal ethics considers implementation of laws as a basic or minimal level, ethical side of advertising actually goes far beyond the simple implementation of laws. The basis of ethical decisions is formed on a series of concepts: obligations to the society, accountability to both internal (company or client) and external (publicity) parties, and latent intentions of advertising. While advertising is pervasive being an element of the environment, ethical advertisers are responsible for taking into account the expected and possible unintended consequences of their activities. One of the fundamental principles of the free market society is that consumers make free and informed choice. It is consumers who vote with their money and determine the behavior of companies. Advertising is the function of business, which transfers this principle into practice. By definition, consumers cannot make an informed choice without information obtained from advertising. It is no wonder that truth in advertising is regarded as one of the central ethical principles of doing business. In other words, everything said in the advertisement should correspond to the reality. Challenging this rationale, advertisers sometimes deal with ethical problems with the way advertising is created and executed. Often, the question concerns the borders of permitted activity in using such prevalent in advertising approaches, as inflation (exaggeration of the merits of the advertised goods or services), metaphor and hyperbole. For example, an advertisement, running that restaurant X situated in East Side is the best Italian restaurant in the world, is strictly speaking, hardly true. But the advertisers are hoping that they are dealing with an audience, well versed in advertising (i.e. the audience, disillusioned about the main purpose of advertising to sell the advertised product and the means to achieve this goal). Such an informed, sober-minded audience can make allowances for the usual exaggeration in advertising. This means that advertising may, without violating ethical standards, contain symbols, illustrations, similes and metaphors enhancing its assertions. However, the situation is much more serious with advertising which deliberately deceives or misleads the consumers. Deceptive advertisement latently provides only partial information on products or contains statements about the price which mislead the consumers. The same concerns advertisement containing accurate information, but presented in an incomprehensible for the consumer form, or in an integrated form inside a newspaper or magazine article, or as part of a television or radio program. Many consumers also fear that some types of advertising are influencing the subconsciousness. Since these messages get to the consumer bypassing the consciousness and sensory perception, they are often not only unethical, but also illegal, because they can manipulate the freedom of consumer choice. Despite the fact that studies have shown the ineffectiveness of subliminal techniques (e.g., the notorious 25-second frame), the public is still suspecting advertisers in the wide use of such techniques. Ethical issues also arise in the case of participation of celebrities in advertising. Famous sports and movie stars can significantly affect the decision making process of the consumers. Therefore, officially thereve been developed specific recommendations for the creation of such advertising in order to make it more ethical. The character of advertising should be a user of an advertised product, and his statements must fairly reflect his personal opinion. All statements made by the character must have actual proof. Concerns about advertising with celebrities are so great that in some countries such as Canada, it is prohibited for certain product categories, such as alcoholic beverages and certain childrens products. Criticism is also justified in cases of some advertising methods, in particular, playing on fear of consumers. For example, advertising of a certain kind of cereal containing oat and bran was built on fears of cancer. However, these products do not factually contain more fiber than many other natural foods, and they increase the chance to prevent only one kind of cancer, whereas the advertising considered the prevention of cancer in general. Such advertisement can be considered misleading, manipulating the audience and exploiting the feelings of consumers. At the same time, the visual part of the advertisement deserves no less than the text. Since consumers typically pay more attention to images than to the text accompanying them. In particular, the claims involve the fact that the advertisement shows the product bigger than it really is. Another example of unethical imaging is the way advertising depicts women. Using models for the advertisement, advertisers also apply special methods of processing images, allowing characters to look perfect, with absolutely no pigment spots and wrinkles. This actually presents a process of forming an ideal image, unattainable in real life. Attempts of female consumers to become similar to those ideal models finally ends in disappointment, feeling unhappy, loss of self-esteem, inferiority complex, and even guilt. Models are tall and extremely slim; in an effort to be like them, some young women and girls being unable to do anything with their height, direct all their eagerness to their extra pounds, s ometimes bringing themselves to anorexia. Heated discussion also surrounds the image of women in advertising of household goods, where they invariably appear as the main executors of domestic work, showing them on the sidelines of family decision making process. Women are also often unethically shown as sexual objects, but nowadays this aspect is complexified by the modern tendency to depict men in the same way, together with the ambiguity of child images in advertising. Sometimes kids are shown in sexual poses with the provocative make-up, and half-dressed, while new styles of advertisement try displaying certain parts of human body as the main objects of the image, which is only emphasizing sexuality. Older people represent another group of people, harmed by stereotypes which generate from advertising. Feeble, trembling, wrinkled old people, unable to solve simplest tasks, are being targeted with advertising humor. However, this advertising image of elderly people is often very far from reality, in which the elderly lead a ctive and interesting life. Many advertisers state that advertising does not create reality, but only holds a mirror which reflects the society. But if that was true, we would see the images of various social groups in the advertisement. However, the characters (with both genders) of most of the advertisements in North America and Europe are young, slim, smart and extremely athletic. While some advertisers are beginning to realize the importance of different cultural groups, the number of ads with black skin people is growing; but the characters of Asian, and Hispanic origin are still met relatively rarely. Advertising also never positions disabled people, and the elderly are participating only in advertising of dentures and nutritional supplements for elderly people. In addition, certain segments of the population could perceive everything shown in the advertisement as the reality, or misunderstand the special conditions or precautions on the proper use of advertised goods (immigrants, some elderly consumers, children, people lacking education, etc.), which shouldnt be just used for the benefit of a company. A well-known example is the case of advertising offering children to call Santa Claus on a pay telephone numbers beginning with 900. Many children (including those staying at home after school without their parents) called on those numbers without realizing the size of bills that could come for such a conversation. Moral standards of advertising are based on the principles of freedom of choice and freedom of action. These principles come from the belief in the benefits of the free market economy. Informed consumers have freedom of action; they regulate the business activities of companies with their individual purchase decisions. Consumers right to freedom of choice is consistent with two other principles: freedom from coercion and freedom from harm. Advertising should not use unfaithful techniques in order to persuade consumers or manipulate them, pushing to a bad choice. Faithful advertising, which imparts accurate information, is an indispensable condition for consumers; informed decisions about products and services. Nowadays, advertising detached from unethical standards may be unique and sets the standard for the industry. It has value to both clients and consumers. Thus, the terms ethics of advertising and moral standards in advertising are not just a combination of mutually exclusive co ncepts, but without a doubt, present normal business practices.

Queen Liliuokalani Essay -- Liliuokalani Hawaii Polynesian

Queen Lili'uokalani had ambitious plans for the nation of Hawaii, and wanted to see the rightful power of the monarch restored. Even though she was doing what she thought was best for the people of Hawaii, her dream was never meant to be. She would become known as the last queen ever to reign over the Hawaiian Islands. In the beginning, Hawaii was unknown to any humans. Polynesians eventually came across its islands, and decided to make it their home. In the early days, each island was ruled by a chief, and many times the islands were in conflict with each other. Centuries like this passed, but then "in 1782, [Queen Lili'uokalani's] cousin Kamehameha set out to conquer and unite the islands". Thirteen years later, in 1795, Kamehameha finally fulfilled his vision of a unified Hawaiian state, and he became king. The nation was then to be ruled by Kamehameha's sons. (Guzzetti 10) Queen Lili'uokalani's biological parents were Chief Kapaakea and Chiefess Keohokalole. Because it is a Hawaiian custom to give children to other couples for raising, as the Hawaiians believed it brought different families closer together, Lili'uokalani was given to Paki and Konia. She attended the Royal School, where she met many people, some who became friends, and some who she had already been acquainted with, such as her foster sister, and her biological brother, who would eventually be her predecessor, King Kalakaua. (Guzzetti 10, 12, 28) The Royal School was a new experience for her. At home, she was used to walking around barefoot and wearing as little as possible to keep cool in the warm Hawaiian climate. Because the school was administered by the Cookes, who were missionaries from New England, she had to wear western clothing, meaning she ha... ...illed and Lili'uokalani began to have more patriot feelings for the United States, instead of resentment. She even had the flag of the United States flown over her home, and the Hawaiian one lowered. 1917 Not much later, Lili'uokalani died at the age of seventy-nine. Works Cited Daws, Gavan. The Illustrated Atlas of Hawaii. Honolulu: Island Heritage, 1970. Day, A. Grove. Hawaii: Fiftieth Star. New York: Meredith Press, 1969. Day, A. Grove. Hawaii and Its People. New York: Meredith Press, 1968. Day, A. Grove and Ralph S. Kuykendall. Hawaii: A History. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1961. Guzzetti, Paula. The Last Hawaiian Queen: Liliuokalani. New York: Benchmark Books, 1997. Pratt, Julius W. Expansionists of 1898. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1964. Tabrah, Ruth M. Hawaii: A Bicentennial History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1980.

Cultural Erasure Essay

The Caribbean can be many things to many people: a geographic region somewhere in America’s backyard, an English-speaking outpost of the British Empire, an exciting holiday destination for North Americans and Europeans, a place where dirty money is easily laundered, and even an undefined, exotic area that contains the dreaded Bermuda Triangle, the mythical lost city of El Dorado, the fabled Fountain of Youth and the island home of Robinson Crusoe. Enriched by the process of creolization, the cosmopolitanism of the average Caribbean person is also well recognized: ‘No Indian from India, no European, no African can adjust with greater ease and naturalness to new situations’ (Lamming 1960, 34). As a concept or notion ‘the Caribbean’ can also be seen to have a marvellous elasticity that defies the imposition of clear geographic boundaries, has no distinct religious tradition, no agreed-upon set of political values, and no single cultural orientation. What, then, is the Caribbean? Who can justifiably claim to belong to it? Of the various peoples who have come to comprise the region, whose identity markers will be most central in defining the whole? For not all citizens of a nation or a region will be equally privileged and not all will have equal input in the definition of national or regional identity. In other words,  because power implies a process of social negotiation, and because power is unequally distributed in social groups, some parties to the process will be more represented than others. This is where the notion of erasure is tied to any appreciation of identity, and played out in the history and politics of colonization and decolonization in the Caribbean. As might be imagined, the colonially-conditioned divisions of race and gender figured (and continue to figure) prominently in the entire process and bring to mind Bob Marley’s advice to Caribbean people: ‘emancipate your minds from mental slavery’ (Redemption Song). Erasure is in large part the act of neglecting, looking past, minimizing, ignoring or rendering invisible an other. Rhoda Reddock (1996) examines the academic and political consequences of erasure at the level of ethnicity, and draws attention to four (among many other) neglected minorities in the Caribbean: the Amerindians of Guyana, the Karifuna or Caribs of Dominica, the Chinese in Jamaica, and the  Sindhis and Gujaratis in Barbados. Although some of these are indigenous and some have lived in the Caribbean for hundreds of years, they are commonly overlooked, even by those who today claim ‘authentic’ Caribbean roots and a commitment to the region as an integrated whole. In this essay I focus on three recent studies that address the ways in which identity and erasure have come dialectically to embody several erased peoples and groups of people in the Caribbean. I begin with the contributions of Sandra Pouchet Paquet, who focuses on the heyday of colonialism, slavery and women in Caribbean history, and laments the fact that ‘The female ancestor is effectively silenced if not erased’ (Paquet 2002, 11) in the writing of that history. To this end she cites Carole Boyce-Davies and Elaine Fido, who, in assessing the literature and historiography of the region, also spoke of ‘†¦ the historical absence of a specifically female position on major issues such as slavery, colonialism and decolonization, women’s rights and  more direct social and cultural issues’ (1990, 1). Next I examine the contributions of Geert Oostindie and Inge Klinkers (2003), who move from the slave period and colonialism proper and begin to discuss the uneven dismantling of colonialism in the various Caribbean countries, and its persistence in others. In the process they focus on erasure at the wider sub-regional level of groupings of countries. Thus, Oostindie and Klinkers protest the common academic and political tendency to assume that the Caribbean is principally an English-speaking group of countries; a tendency that simultaneously erases or minimizes the presence and contributions of other Caribbean peoples. These authors charge that while this erasure is undeniable in the cases of the Spanish- and French-speaking Caribbean, it is particularly evident with regard to the Dutch Caribbean. For while much has been written on the wider region generally, it is ‘seldom with serious attention to the former Dutch colonies of Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba’ (2003, 10). And as they go on to argue, most general histories ‘tend virtually to neglect the Dutch Caribbean’ (p. 234). This ‘neglect’ is synonymous with erasure and constitutes a major obstacle for anyone wishing to develop a truly comprehensive understanding of the entire region. Finally, there are Smart and Nehusi (2000), who invoke the idea of erasure and the attempt by African-ancestored people in the Caribbean, but especially in Trinidad, to resist erasure and reclaim their identity. Smart and Nehusi look at efforts of Afro-Trinidadians to forge a diasporic identity in which culture (Carnival) is the centrepiece of African, ancestral lore. Thus, in describing the trade in African slaves and the institution of New World slavery as ‘the largest crime in human history,’ Nehusi speaks of the Maafa, or the African Holocaust, as a terror that has been hushed up: ‘one part of that crime has been the attempt to forget, to pretend that it did not happen and to present a history ethnically cleansed of all traces of this genocide †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Nehusi 2000, 8). Very much in line with the thinking of Smart and Nehusi, Paquet views slavery as a crime and speaks of the ‘depravity of the slave owner’ (p. 42) as she applauds the efforts of Mary Prince to expose the horrors of the system: ‘Prince lays bare for public scrutiny the criminality of slave owners and the legal system that endorses their conduct’ (Paquet 2002, 41). In developing his argument Nehusi hints at a conspiracy or historical hoax which witnessed the abandonment of  black Trinidadians and their treatment as ‘non-persons by a continuing Eurocentric system which refuses to recognize them and their traditions as valid and refuses to recognize the history of struggle, mainly by Afrikan people.’ (Nehusi 2000a, 11). To this Ian Smart adds that ‘Africans all over the globe who have been subjected to white supremacy must be engaged unremittingly in the struggle for liberation in order to be made whole again’ (Smart 2000b, 199). This notion of being ‘made whole again’ speaks directly to the idea of erasure and the recapture of lost identity. Sandra Pouchet Paquet is principally concerned with two things: (a) finding the Caribbean identity and (b) autobiography as a literary genre. She uses the latter to pursue the former. Autobiography does not only tell a story of the biographer, but of the very society and community that shaped and nurtured her/him. So it is not simply a personal recounting of episodes that have shaped one’s life; but if properly written, autobiography can give valuable insights into the social worlds of the various storytellers. To this end Paquet exposes the ‘historical silencing of the female ancestor’ as evidenced in the ‘discovery and republication of the nineteenthcentury narratives of the Hart sisters (Elizabeth and Ann), Mary Prince, and Mary Seacole between 1987 and1993’ (2002, 13). These women bring to light what an inadvertent male scholarship had previously buried: a strong female culture of resistance both before and after emancipation. Unlike similar approaches, this work is careful not to essentialize women. Instead it is sensitive to their individual differences while weaving together common strands in their biographical experiences and narratives to produce a common story of erasure, resistance and strength. In her words they ‘throw light on the idiosyncrasies of a female culture of resistance in the Caribbean before and after emancipation’ (Paquet 2002, 13). Focusing on the signal contributions  of strong women like Elizabeth and Anne Hart, Mary Seacole and Mary Prince, who prepared the way for future leading male Caribbean writers such as C.L.R. James, George Lamming, Derek Walcott and V.S. Naipaul, Paquet does not mince words. In fact she openly acknowledges the unconscious impact of patriarchy, even on those men, and the ways in which they too contributed to the alienation, erasure and misrepresentation of women in Caribbean literary culture (p. 73). Clearly reflecting different social trajectories and individual strengths, the narratives of these four women nevertheless contain and speak to essential elements in the forging of a Caribbean identity. Dialectically, their efforts to reverse erasure through resistance culminated in a powerful story of struggle, setback and triumph of the human spirit. The Hart sisters, whose father was a free black, a plantation owner and a slaveholder, both married white men of influence. This gave them an important measure of social capital and they were able to use their religion (Methodism) and social status as the bases from which to promote ideas about racial equality and the empowerment of women. Mary Seacole was a unique woman for her time. The child of a free black Jamaican woman and a Scottish officer, she always set her sights on the wider world beyond Jamaica, and in time she became a creole ‘doctress’, a traveller and adventurer, entrepreneur, sutler and hotelier. The idea is not to romanticize her accomplishments for Seacole was human and vulnerable, and she betrayed all the contradictions of a woman placed in that age and time: resistance, accommodation and admiration for imperialism which contained ‘the civilizing values she professes to honor’ (Paquet 2002, 56). For while she railed against the injustices of race and sex discrimination she did not directly chal- lenge the idea of a British empire as much as she struggled ‘to redefine her place in it’ (p. 56). Seacole could thus be seen as a prototype of the modern-day Afro-Saxon. Then there was Mary Prince, a slave woman who did not have the privileges of the Hart sisters or of Mary Seacole, and thus has a  different take on the colonial situation. Comparing the two Marys (Seacole and Prince), Paquet writes that Prince embodied ‘an embryonic nationalism formed in resistance to slavery’ while Seacole reflected ‘an acceptance of colonialism after slavery’ (p. 52). Mary Prince was a rebel in spirit and action, and her life story is partly a struggle against erasure that illuminates another dimension of the contradictions of the time: Mary Prince was a ‘West Indian slave marooned in England by laws that made slavery illegal in England, while it was still legal in the colonies’ (p. 31). And as Paquet reports, the erasure and contradiction continue even in the twentieth-century male texts referred to above that are ‘devoid of reference to her resistant, militant spirit’ (p. 32). Though generally muted (erased) the voice of the black woman becomes audible in the narrative of Prince whose ‘individual life story establishes and validates a slave woman’s point of viewâ€⠄¢ while simultaneously serving as the foundation for ‘selfidentification and self-fulfilment in anticipation of the historical changes’ that would later follow in the wake of emancipation (p. 33-4). Thus, viewed together, the autobiographies of the Hart sisters, Mary Seacole and Mary Prince afford us an insight into the practical and intellectual worlds of very different women, and into their multifaceted struggles whether as slaves, as women, as free coloureds, as rape victims, and finally as silenced products of colonial brutality. In humanizing themselves through their autobiographies these women are able to expose the dehumanizing conditions under which so many millions were erased. Another key motif in Paquet is that of home and its relationship to errantry, travel, departure and return. These are central themes in Caribbean literature and reflect the post-colonial condition where the forced migrations associated with slavery and indentureship are the backdrops against which post-colonial peoples now seek to establish diasporic existences and to fashion a new ‘way in the world’. The initial trauma of forced removal from their ancestral lands has led to a spirit ual yearning for rootedness and symbolic return to home. Further, the yearning in question is best represented in the notion of primordialism, for it is only at home that one supposedly finds the acceptance and security from which to begin to negotiate one’s way in the world. Thus, ‘travel as exploration and transforming encounter turns on the quest for El Dorado, the lost world, the aboriginal landscape, identity,  origins, ancestry psychic reconnection, and rebirth’ (Paquet 2002, 196). Viewed in this way the Caribbean is both home and an African diasporic home away from home, and to this end Paquet invokes Wilfred Cartey, Carole BoyceDavies, Claude McKay, George Lamming and Edward Kamau Brathwaite to make the case for a ‘holistic Caribbean’ that comprises ‘a culturally diverse yet traditional’ culture block that stresses ‘the genealogical connection with Africa’ (p. 745). While departure could be non-voluntary or forced (slavery), Paquet also focuses on voluntary departure, as in the Caribbean migrant to England or some other metropolitan centre. Often for economic reasons, it is a sort of voluntary exile in Lamming’s thinking, that has given rise to scores of Caribbean diasporas in various Eu ropean metropoles. London, Berlin or Toronto is really a twice-migrant; first from Africa and second from the Caribbean. The connection to an African home is the centrepiece of much contemporary Afrocentric politics, but that connection is largely mythical and imagined, although many commentators seem willing to forget this fact. This speaks directly to the idea of home and belonging as articulated by two unapologetic Afrocentrists, Ian Smart and Kimani Nehusi (2000). For example, there is Nehusi who sees home as ‘a nurturing place, a space of spiritual, psychological, social, and physical comfort, freedom, security and satisfaction, and ultimately confidence, because we know that we will be understood there †¦ humans feel at home only when they can be themselves in culturally familiar ways. Home is therefore †¦ a space that not merely permits but encourages us to be our own selves and in which we are ‘easy’ – not merely familiar, but comfortable too (Nehusi 2000a, 1-2). This essentialist and romantic theme of ‘Africa as home’ is picked up by  Smart who treats all black people as Africans and affirms that the ‘African mind is one that deals with the big picture. The African mind is fundamentally driven by and towards holism’ (Smart 2000a, 51). And apparently unmindful of the process of creolization, Smart goes on boldly to assert that ‘[t]he core of Caribbean culture is the African heritage’ (2000a, 70). All of this is by way of setting the stage for the claim that Trinidad is an African country whose central cultural marker is the Carnival. According to Smart, Nehusi and several of the contributors to the volume in question, Carnival is an African festival that has become the national festival of Trinidad: ‘Carnival is â€Å"a black thing†, a Wosirian (Osirian) mystery play that was celebrated annually in Kemet (Ancient Egypt) from the very dawn of history’ (Smart 2000a, 29). Lamentably, however, the African origins and the signal contributions of Africans are bring erased by a class and colour conspiracy to wrest the festival from its original African founders. In essentialist language, these authors assume that Trinidad means African, that African means black, and that black means poor or working class (Smart 2000a, 63). Thus, the non-black presence in the Carnival, whether as masquerader, bandleader or owner, or costume designer, is all part of the Eurocentric (which is code for white and upper class) attempt to silence and erase the African. For one contributor, Pearl Springer, the consequence is that the Carnival has been reshaped in such as way that the African presence in the national festival is erased or reduced to that of a street vendor and ‘hired hand’ that does the physical labour in making the mas (Springer 2000, 22). Nehusi is in full agreement with this take on erasure of the black person: ‘Afrikan Trinidadians have been abandoned, declared nonpersons by a continuing Eurocentric system which refuses to recognize them and their traditions as valid and refuses to recognize the history of struggle †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (2000a, 11). Another contributor, Patricia Alleyne Dettmers, invokes the universal African and has no difficulty speaking of ‘Africans †¦ born in Trinidad and Tobago’ (2000, 132). Of particular significance here is the fact that these Afrocentric commentators who rail against the erasure of Africans and the suppression of African identity, simultaneously engage in their own erasure of the East Indian, the Chinese and other ethnic groups in  Trinidad (Allahar 2004, 129-33). Thus, in the same volume, Patricia Moran, affirms that ‘the Caribbean woman is basically African’ (2000, 169). As is clear, like the wider Caribbean region as a whole, the books and authors under review here are not free of contradiction and ambivalence. For the Afrocentric case put forward by writers like Smart and Nehusi (and their five co-authors) clearly looks past the well known erasure of the East Indians’ presence and contributions they have made to such countries as Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname. For this reason David Trotman wrote sarcastically of Trinidad’s supposed multi-racial paradise on the eve of independence (1962) and the racially coloured anticipation that filled the Trinidad air at the time: ‘it was a multi-racial picture from which the Indian seemed strangely absent’ (1991, 393). Trotman speaks of the privileging of African traditions to the neglect of Indian ones, and takes issue with one calypsonian, whose calypso titled ‘Portrait of Trinidad’ only identified the Afro-associated elements of steelband, calypso and carnival as national cultural achievements. This led Trotman wryly to observe: ‘In this portrait the Indian is painted out’ (p. 394). Paquet also laments this erasure as it is articulated by George Lamming and V.S. Naipaul (2002, 176, 189-90). The authors of the studies contained in Smart and Nehusi (2000) speak ideologically to what supposedly binds the community together, for example, common blood lines, common ethno-cultural experience, common collective memory, common African origins and so on. I say supposedly for much of this idea of community cohesiveness is rather mythical or fictional. It is part of the essentialization of Africa and Africans that is common among Afrocentrist commentators, and in the process all others are erased. Further, in the move to homogenize and essentialize Africans, they conveniently ignore those social and structural features that divide the community. I am thinking here of internal, class, colour, economic, and  political inequalities within, say, the so-called African diasporic community, not to mention ideological cleavages related to religion, inter- and intra-ethnic rivalries. Given the role played by myths of ethnic descent in the invoking of national unity and cultural identity, Smart and Nehusi problematize the political dimensions of cultural nationalism as it applies to the Trinidad carnival. They give cultural nationalism a colour – black – which means there are major implications for those who are defined out of the societal culture, for example, those who claim East Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, etc., descents. To affirm that Carnival is Trinidad’s national festival implies that the so-called Indo-Trinidadians, who, for whatever reasons, do not see carnival as their national cultural marker, are somehow less than full Trinidadians. In the minds of black nationalists, then, the carnival, which was born in Africa, is the supreme African festival and belongs entirely to black people, who, regardless of where they were born, are Africans! Africa is home for all Africans. This is why Smart depicts the Trinidad carnival as ‘the quintessential African festival’ (2000a, 72), and Nehusi sees the street parade segment of the celebration as symbolic of the Africans’ reclaiming their physical, spiritual and cultural freedom: ‘Possession of the streets was a sign of Afrikan possession of self, a spiritual re-connection with ancestors through millennia of cultural practice, a liberation through expression of impulses carried in genes for uncounted generations †¦.’ (2000b, 96). Some critics have charged that the foregoing constitutes part of the larger racist agenda of those black nationalists who want to define carnival in ethno-racial terms: ‘Trinbagonians can then rightly claim their festival as â€Å"we thing† only because it is a â€Å"black thing†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Smart 2000a, 72). The loose invoking of the royal ‘we’ must not be taken as referring to all Trinbagonians, however, for it is tied to the deliberate erasure of the East Indian. Thus, the contributors to the volume in question can be seen as endorsing the myth of merry Africa and spinning tall tales of racial identity and solidarity among Africans the world over. They are unequivocal in their claim that Africa is the cradle of human civilization and the source of ancient human history. In spite of these facts, however, contemporary history is said to be written and produced by white supremacist barbarians bent on erasing the major contributions of Africans. Thus, Alleyne-Dettmers essentializes ‘barbaric Europeans’ (2000, 139), and both Smart (2000b, 199) and Moran (2000, 174) condemn what they refer to generally as ‘European barbarism’, while Olaogun Adeyinka speaks more specifically of the ‘heroic struggles of Africans’ to liberate themselves ‘from Spanish, French and British barbarism’ (2000, 111). Patricia Moran wants to rewrite history for she fears that there is a conspiracy on the part of what she calls ‘white bandits’ and those ‘Aryan marauders’ (p. 175), who, even today, would steal ‘we thing’, which is carnival and steelband! In the assertion of an absolute African identity there is the absolute erasure of the East Indian and other ethnic groups that comprise the society. As the foregoing assessment of Smart and Nehusi (2000) suggests, in the public’s mind, the term Caribbean brings immediately to mind the English-speaking countries of the region and their African-descended populations. Somewhat less immediate are the Spanish-speaking countries of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Even less immediate are the French countries (provinces) of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and the independent, French-speaking country of Haiti. Then there is the almost forgotten, erased, Caribbean: the Dutch-speaking Netherlands Antilles and Suriname. Although scholarship on the Caribbean has devoted considerable attention to the situation of East Indians in Trinidad and Guyana, and their erasure at the hands of both the colonial authorities and the various ‘black’ governments that inherited the seats of power following independence, not much is known about their counterparts in Suriname and other parts of the Dutch Caribbean. In fact, when addressing Caribbean studies generally, Suriname and the other countries of the Netherlands Antilles are usually an  afterthought; a curious appendage of the better-known English- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. This leads to an incomplete picture of the region for if one were to assess the situation of the East Indians in the Caribbean, the Surinamese case seems to parallel that of Trinidad and Guyana, but the lessons learned in the latter were lost on the former. Indeed, in the years leading up to Suriname’s independence (1975), the East Indian population had the same fears and misgivings as their counterparts in Trinidad and Guyana a decade and a half earlier. And if political independence in these two countries was black in complexion, the social and political erasure of their East Indian populations could be expected to be repeated in Suriname. Thus, Gert Oostindie and Inge Klinkers wrote that: ‘quietly the Hindustani population were only afraid that those who would receive independence (i.e. the Afro-Surinamese) would use this for the enlargement of their own political power’ (2003, 112). As a consequence the East Indians generally opposed independence and opted for continued colonial dependence on the Dutch (p. 103, 112). For Oostindie and Klinkers (2003), then, this is only one reason why any comprehensive attempt to understand the history and sociology of the Caribbean must include the contributions that the Dutch countries have made to the shaping of the region’s wider culture and politics. Yet one must not homogenize all the Dutch countries, for Suriname and Aruba, for example, are quite politically, socially and culturally distinct. And whereas the sentiments of ‘black power’ informed the political sensibilities of Curaà §ao’s population, the ‘political elites of Aruba had always tended to emphasise the Euro-Amerinidian roots of their island as opposed to the African character of Curaà §ao’ (2003, 122). Indeed, as these authors point out, after losing Indonesia the Dutch lost most of their appetite for empire and appeared to retain their Caribbean possessions only reluctantly. And after the independence of Suriname, an  unusual situation was presented whereby the mother country seemed willing to free itself from the responsibilities of Empire, but the colonies in question would not let them off the hook (p. 116, 145). This is reminiscent of what Rosemarijn Hoefte and Gert Oostindie call ‘an example of upside-down decolonization with the metropolis, not the former colonies, pressing for independence’ (1991, 93). As Oostindie and Klinkers convincingly argue, whereas in the British West Indies (BWI) the sentiment for independence was strong in the 1950s and 1960s, this was not the case in the French West Indies and the Dutch West Indies (2003, 46-7). Suriname was the exception, but it was continental and not part of the socalled Antilles or Netherlands Antilles. In the case of the United States, Puerto Rico was a mixed bag with a significant proportion desiring statehood and an equal number preferring the continuation of the status quo, while an insignificant minority has always favoured independence. The US Virgin Islands, on the other hand, has never had any pretensions at independence of any kind. What is most striking about all these non-sovereign Caribbean states today (the remaining British Overseas Territories, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Curaà §ao, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Bonaire and Aruba), is that they have a higher standar d of living than the independent states, which leads some to make the perverse claim for continued colonization. The fact of the matter, however, is that all the economies in question are almost totally subsidized by the mother countries so local or indigenous economic development is virtually nonexistent. The higher standards of living are thus quite precarious and artificial and could crash any time the colonial power decided to withdraw. This led to the obvious conclusion that because: ‘from the Dutch side, millions of guilders are pumped into the Antilles and Suriname on a yearly basis,’ it would be far more preferable that ‘today rather than tomorrow that the Netherlands would get rid of the Antilles and Suriname’ (Oostindie and Klinkers 2003, 116). But as noted by Paquet earlier, decolonization is intimately tied to identity, whether juridical or socio-cultural, and wrapped up in the complex Caribbean traditions of errantry, travel, migration and return. So following  the insights of Derek Walcott, after all the travel is over, return to home is on the agenda; but ‘home’ is a nuanced Caribbean with African sensibilities. Further, because finding self is the prerequisite to finding home (Paquet 2002, 171, 173, 186-7; Smart and Nehusi 2000), and because self- knowledge leads to self-realization (Paquet 2002, 184, 187, 191), identity and belonging are inextricably tied to (political) action. Thus, in the case of the remaining British Overseas Territories, there is the ongoing debate over citizenship, passports and legal rights that led to the clumsy creation of a category of ‘British dependent territory passport holders’. This has given rise to what Oostindie and Klinkers call a group of persons with ‘a form of paper identity’ that has turned them into ‘citizens of nowhere’ (2003, 195). The same applies to the Surinamers and other Antillean peoples, who want to retain their distinctive Caribbean cultural identities, but who, mainly for economic reasons insist on retaining Dutch passports, Dutch citizenship, and all associated rights and privileges. And just as growing economic problems (unemployment) and social problems (racial discrimination) led the British in the 1960s to restrict free movement of British subjects from the former colonies to the metropolis, the French sought to encourage economic development in Martinique and Gua deloupe in order to reduce the numbers of those emigrating to France, and The Hague has made similar attempts to limit the numbers of Surinamese and Antilleans who have claims on Dutch citizenship. Once more the parallels are compelling but the consequences of erasure prevent them from being fully grasped. Another instructive parallel that seems lost in the erasure of the Dutch Caribbean concerns the idea of regional federation or integration. When Jamaica decided to pull out of the federation of the ten British West Indian territories in 1961, Trinidad’s Eric Williams announced that 1 from 10 leaves naught, implying that the idea of federation was dead (Knight and Palmer 1989, 14-15). For their part the Dutch Antilles, which are composed  of six islands, were faced with an almost exact dilemma when Aruba was granted ‘separate status’ in 1996. With continental Suriname already independent, Aruba’s status aparte led to a virtually identical sentiment of ‘one out of six would leave nil’ (Oostindie and Klinmkers 2003, 122), and seemed to end all hope or talk of Antillean independence. Based on the forgoing it is clear to see how the Caribb ean, both historically and in contemporary times, is a political project subject to the power politics of entrenched interests, whether of a class, race or gendered nature. Further, as social groups strive to root themselves and to establish identity markers, such politics will see the erasure of some and the promotion of others. The three studies reviewed here highlight dimensions of the colonial period in the Caribbean as well as the politics of decolonization and the politics of nation building in the modern age. 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