“Bonny Barbara Allan” a Typical Ballad Essay

To this day, ballads are still enjoyed by some individuals; many generations ago they were at the very heart of amusement. Passed on orally, they centred such interesting subjects as tragic love. Typically, although ballads are fairly simple, in that they do not tend to focus on characterization, they have a rapid dialogue, and are usually in the form of quatrains, and rhyming in abcb. As a traditional ballad â€Å"Bonny Barbara Allan† employs these traditional qualities and conventions: it is written in quatrains with an abcb rhyming scheme pattern, employs rapid dialogues, displays a lack of characterization and deals with tragic love. The most noticeable feature of this ballad is the four line stanzas rhyming in abcb. When the second and the fourth stanza are not actual rhyme, the poet uses an approximate rhyme. We can count three actual rhymes and six approximate rhymes. The opening quatrain’s first and second stanza consists of an approximate rhyme: It was in and about the Martinmas time, When the green leaves were a falling, That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country, Fell in love with Barbara Allan. (Line 1-4) Other approximate rhyme can be found in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth quatrain as for the actual rhyme they are present in the third, seventh and ninth quatrain. The first actual rhyme is: O hooly, hooly rose she up, To the place where he was lying, And when she drew the curtain by, â€Å"Young man, I think you’re dying.† (Line 9-12) The rapid dialogues create the impression that there is a causal link between Barbara Allan and Sir John Graeme although, they never speak directly to each other. It also creates a more dramatic tone. Before each dialogue, there is an introductory stanza which breaks the actual conversation into one that is being told; without those stanzas we would read â€Å"Young man, I think you’re dying.† (Line 12), â€Å"O it’s I’m sick, and very, very sick† (Line13). We are provided with only vague time setting, season, and place. Perhaps, the most revealing is the â€Å"Martinmas time,† (Line 1) it is Christian feast observed in commemoration of the death and burial of Saint Martin of Tours and takes place on November 11. The â€Å"green leaves were a falling† (Line 2) also support the date since winter is the season trees do not have any leafs. The last indication is in the second stanza, â€Å"He sent his man down through the town† (Line 5) which suggest a small town because during the 14th century walking was the way people got by. Throughout the poem, the importance of some words is emphasized by stress and repetition â€Å"slowly, slowly raise she up† to give us the impression that even as we read he movements becomes slower and slower. Furthermore, we can identify easily the tragic love present, again another typical element of ballads. We can notice this element especially in these two particular quatrains: â€Å"O it’s I’m sick, and very, very sick, And ’tis a’ for Barbara Allan:† â€Å"O the better for me ye’s never be, Tho you heart’s blood were a spilling. (Line 13-16) â€Å"O dinna ye mind, you man,† said she, â€Å"When ye was in the tavern a drinking, That ye made the healths gae round and round, And slighted Barbara Allan?† (Line 17-20) In her stubbornness, Barbara Allan refuses to forgive Sir John Graeme for not toasting to her health even though she knows he is ill. She leaves him to die without complete peace; she holds this grudge against him until he passes away. Despite the grudge, her love is genuine and consequently she chooses to die for John. The action of dying for him is not explicitly stated, but we are not left guessing her fate for the poet uses symbolism, in particular the â€Å"bed,† to suggest a funeral. All the elements needed for it to be a typical ballad are present. The format of the stanzas, the rhyming scheme, the attention paid to characterization, the speed of the dialogues, and the tragic love all correspond to the norm.

Gender, Race and Class

Disability is the condition of inability to perform any task or activity due to the presence of any physical or mental disability. Disabilities that are found in the bodily parts of a person apart from any other mental or psychological problem are called Physical disabilities. Such disabilities include inability to speak, walk, see, hear, or write (ArticleDoctor, 2009). Mental disabilities involve the inability or abnormality in the intellectual process or mind of a person, or anything that relates to the mind or cognition.Such disabilities include the incapability to think properly, inability to understand other’s emotions or talks, and mental retardation. Whereas, learning disabilities are those in which the cognitive functioning of a person doesn’t work up to the mark for the purpose of learning and acquiring skills. This may also include the inability of building up of tacit knowledge. In such case, whatever is taught to an individual is not understood, learned, or retained by him. Now let’s discuss how and why such disabilities are found in human beings.First, genetic disability is the one that is transferred to a person through his or her parents. In such case, the genes that are found in a woman, for instance inability to hear, are usually transferred to the child. Congenital disability is the one that exists at birth and not hereditary. This may be caused due to some occurrence of problem in the development of fetus. Whereas disability that is transferred to a person from the environment or other people, is called acquired disability.

Management Issues Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Management Issues - Research Paper Example 3. My superior is never strict on the amount of work, that an individual is required to undertake. All that he needs is for an employee to carry out a considerable amount of work, that he or she has the capability of performing, to the highest standard. 4. There is instance when my superior requires me to complete my work, within a specified period of time. These instances involve when the workload is too much, and the products being processed are needed urgently. 5. My superior normally tries to make me work to my maximum capacity. In as much as he does not emphasize on the workload, he ensures that the work being done, a lot of effort has been placed in it, and it is of high quality. 6. In some instances, I normally perform some inadequate jobs. This involves instances when I am sick. In these circumstances, my supervisor is understanding and allows me some rest. However, the inadequate job that is done, well have to be redone by someone, in case it is urgent. In working out the plans of the goal achievement, my supervisor normally involves every employee under his leadership. This is for purposes of hearing their opinions and using them to develop the goal achievement plan.

Managing Change in an organisation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Change in an organisation - Coursework Example The case indicates the existence of a large internet provision company that has employed a large number of employees. In addition, it also possesses small sales stores in two other cities. With this, it is expected that the business activities should make it possible for the organization to attain its goals and objectives in an easier manner. However, it is not possible since the culture within the organization does not provide the appropriate environment for the staff members to work together as a team and achieve the organizational goal.The cultured within the organization is so relaxed to the extent that it does not allow the organization to provide satisfactory services to its customers. This is what creates the need to change and manage the different aspects so as to ensure that the quality of services provided by the organization make it possible to meet the organizational goals and objectives. In this case, the principle problem to be addressed is the culture of the organizati on in terms of management of people and the tasks within in order to maximize the services that are provided to the customers and therefore, the returns that are produced by the organization.One of the major issues being faced by this organization is the fact that the culture within it was very relaxed. This is in the sense that the employees do not have a specific dress code, they are merely employed as friends and not in an official way that is based on the merits and demerits of the job at hand.

Scheduling Across the Supply Chain Executive Summary Essay

Scheduling Across the Supply Chain Executive Summary - Essay Example Subassembly of the lawnmower occurs within the traditional manufacturing line of the company, but the solar charges follow a different manufacturing process. This patented technology was developed by the R&D department. The company purchased a small building whose only purpose was to produce the solar chargers. The executive staff wanted to maintain control of the trade secrets associated with the solar charger production. The weekly production of solar chargers is delivered to corporate headquarters. For the first six months the forecasted production of the lawnmowers is 1000 units per month. The monthly production of green lawnmower is going to follow a 3:1 production ratio. For every three electric power lawnmower produced one solar powered mower will be manufactured. The green lawnmower project underway at John Deere must consider the effects of equipment availability. The solar powered production line depends on the production capabilities of the solar battery line which is independent of the production of the mower. The equipment to produce the solar panels used in the chargers has a short life span and must be replaced on a quarterly basis. There is only one supplier of the specialized equipment. If the replacement equipment is not ready on time bottlenecks could occur. A bottleneck occurs when a low capacity part of a system creates a constraint that reduces the capacity of the whole system (Heizer & Render, 1996). The company is also having problems training personnel to work at the solar charger production facility. The time to train employees to obtain the specialized skills needed to produce these items was miscalculated. The learning curve is much slower than anticipated. The learning curve stipulates that as employees repeat a particul ar process they gain skill and efficiency and production time improvements are achieved (Chase & Jacobs & Aquilano). It is taking eight to ten weeks

Palestine and Israel crisis and its effects on U.S. Arab relations Essay

Palestine and Israel crisis and its effects on U.S. Arab relations - Essay Example The role of the United States in the peace process involving the two parties is debated time and again both by the Arabs and the Jews. The Arab countries are especially worried about the American approach and intent. They generally appear to be suspecting a geopolitical encroachment from the powerful American side combined with the interests of Israel. Even faithful American allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey do not appear to be least contented about the lingering Palestine and Israel crisis and the American role in the peace process. Thesis Statement Palestine and Israel crisis has increased geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and the Arab countries, which has made this issue multilateral and increasingly complex. Effects of the Crisis Involving the Region In general, the international community holds that American policy in this region favors Israel. The military superiority of Israel relative to any plausible coalition of the Arab parties has been primarily maintained through American military assistance.1 Since military power has played a very important role throughout the Palestine and Israel crisis, political geography of the region has been considerably changed. Israel has increased the geographical extent of its political dominion (by annexation of Golan Heights, for example). Also, it has the ability to block and encircle the West Bank and Gaza Strip at utter geographical convenience. Moreover, Israel has strategically erected and shifted Jewish settlements in the region from time to time. Israel has four widely accepted physiological divisions: Northern Coast, Central Hills, Jordan Rift Valley, and Nagev Desert.2 The topography of Palestine is relatively simple; West Bank is landlocked and hilly, while Gaza shows general features of an uneven coastal terrain.3 However, Israel’s stringent security and economic policies in regards of its settlements in West Bank and its control over the Gaza coast has complicated the political geography of th e region. Israel’s regional geo-strategic moves have adversely affected the Arab nations at large. The Arab countries are becoming more and more sensitive about their geographical borders and natural resources, which has pressurized America. America has to provide military support to the countries like Egypt and Jordan, and cautiously position its troops in and around the Arabian Peninsula. Palestine and Israel crisis is antagonizing even the non Arab countries like Iran and Pakistan. In sum, regional geopolitics is becoming very intense in the Middle East and even in South Asia. Effects Involving Mobility Annexation, blockade, settlement, evacuation, and politically motivated demographic alterations have increased the importance of mobility in the context of Palestine and Israel crisis. â€Å"The contrast between Oriental Jews and Israeli Arabs with regard to their different geographical mobility is striking. The Oriental Jews are immigrants who lost contact with their coun tries of origin, whereas the Arabs are natives who resumed ties with their people. The Orientals have a large degree of internal migration, whereas the Arabs almost none.†4 In the course of the Arab – Israeli conflict, Israel saw an influx of Jewish asylum seekers from the Arab countries while Palestinians were turned almost into refugees in their own land and strategically isolated. Moreover, during and after the World War II, thousands of Jews migrated to America and there they eventually formed a very strong socio-political lobby for Israel. This lobby has been strong enough to decide the course of American policies in the Middle East, even beyond

Global Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Global Business - Essay Example In this paper, the various aspects of the spread of businesses to a global level shall be outlined and their impacts on the products they offer detailed (Wild, 2009). The company to be focused on is International Business Machines (IBM). This is a public company founded in 1911 by Thomas J. Watson and Charles Ranlett Flint. The firm is headquartered in Armonk, New York. It has among the most developed global networks and serves the whole world at present (Steers, 2010). IBM has interests in the provision of services, financing, hardware, and software. Its take on the global business scene shall be outlined in the following sections. Globalization is the movement towards achievement of greater interdependence among economies and national institutions in view of their political, cultural, technological, and economic advancements. The falling barriers to trade and investing in general have facilitated globalization largely. Technology has also played an important role in oiling the wheels of the globalization locomotive. These two forces have ensured that companies all over the world can carry out business in locations far away from their headquarters. Globalization has played an important part in reducing income inequalities across the globe. Poor countries can now pay their employees’ wages that were not possible a few years ago. The availability of jobs by multinationals in foreign countries has also elevated the standards of living of people in faraway lands. Multinational corporations such as oil conglomerates have led the pack in ensuring globalization. The global business environment has enabled corp orations in the world to carry out business at a much lower cost than it was in the previous years (Ietto-Gillies, 2005). IBM has branches all over the world to oversee its operations in these countries. While headquartered in New York in the United States, it has subsidiaries in Europe whose operational

Media - A Fine Line Between Reporting the News and Creating the News Research Paper

Media - A Fine Line Between Reporting the News and Creating the News - Research Paper Example In actual sense, the journalists are the one that create the news by making them happen newsworthy. Most news organizations deliver news to the people, but they cannot always be where the news. This has led them to use the techniques of creating that could have happened. Through journalistic beats, we find the creation and reporting of news having a clear line to fill the pressures with news demand (Kenneth 45). To support this view, journalist beats being places where news events are usually expected to happen hence providing them with a steady stream of news. The crime report is usually created but not reported, example is the one that was on Toronto Star page A8 (Richard A8). This story is an example of news collected from provincial police officers and reported making it as though the journalist was at the courthouse. This excerpt from Toronto stars exhibits the way news is created and made to be reported. The w audience cannot question the news worthiness hence a fine line betwe en creating the news and reporting the news (Schudson

The history of Canadian hockey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The history of Canadian hockey - Essay Example Historians have argued for the past 2 centuries about the origins of hockey. It is generally agreed that hockey was an evolution of the game hurley that had been adapted to playing on ice. The name hockey is believed to have come from the French word "hoquet" meaning shepard's stick ("Origins and Roots"). While British historians have tried to lay claim to the game, Canadian experts flatly disagree. British historian Ian Gordon wrote in 1937 that the game of hockey was first played at Windsor Castle in 1853 by members of the Royal Family (qtd. in McFarlane 1). Still others place the origin in Europe as early as the 16th century. A painting titled "Hunters in the Snow" by Pietr Bruegel from 1565 depicts skaters carrying sticks that resemble modern hockey sticks. One of the figures is about to strike a small round object ("The Origins of Hockey"). Canadian researchers however are quick to point out that the painting does not show the skates required to be called hockey. Researchers can also date Canadian hockey earlier than the 1853 date cited by Gordon. . Hockey historian Howard Dill places the birthplace of hockey at Long Pond in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1810 (McFarlane 1). This is supported by Dr. Sandy Young's book, Beyond Heroes: A Sport History of Nova Scotia. Dr. Young refers to a quote by Thomas Chandler Halliburton who graduated from Kings-Edgehill School in Windsor in 1810. He recounts playing "[...] hurley on the long pond on the ice" (qtd. in McFarlane 2). Another anonymous student wrote of his experience at the same school and says they "used to skate in winter on moonlit nights [...] his front teeth knocked out with a hurley" (qtd. in McFarlane 2). The first documented and verified incidents of hockey seem to have been played at the beginning of the 1800s in Nova Scotia. Wherever it was originally played, it probably evolved in several places over a period of years and was spread by immigrants and migrant workers. However, there is little debate about modern hockey. The first rules to hockey were laid down in 1879 by a group of Students at McGill in Montreal (McFarlane 2). This laid the foundation for organized college games and set the stage for the future of professional hockey. The National Hockey League (NHL) was formed in Canada in 1917 (McFarlane 15). Leagues such as the Western Coast Hockey League and the Western Canada Hockey League came into existence and passed as suddenly as they came. By the end of the 1920s, six man hockey had been standardized, the forward pass was allowed in all zones, and the Stanley Cup became the exclusive right of the NHL (McFarlane 15). Hockey continued to expand during the 1930s through the 1960s attracting fans all across North America. Dominated by the Canadian teams of Montreal and the Toronto Maple Leaves, it was also successful in northern American cities such as Detroit, Boston, and Chicago. World War II impacted hockey as it did other major league sports. Transportation became a problem and many players were drafted or enlisted in the armed services. However, by 1970 professional hockey was seeing major expansion by the addition of teams all over North America. The league had operated as a six-team unit for 50 years, but had added 10 teams to their ranks in the years 1967-1972 (McFarlane 117). Teams in southern cities such as Atlanta and Los Angeles were taking advantage of hockey's

Should Rewards and Punishments Be Used to Motivate Students’ Learning Essay Example for Free

Should Rewards and Punishments Be Used to Motivate Students’ Learning Essay I believe that rewards and punishments do play a key part in sustaining children’s interest and motivation to learn. However, I feel there are other key factors and methods that could be used to greater effect and am inclined to disagree with the question at hand. a) There are many educational theories on the topic of motivation but I believe the Self-Determination and Self-Efficacy theories cover some key aspects that deserve to be mentioned. The Self-Determination theory, in a nutshell, discusses the extent to which people validate their actions upon reflection and engage in them willingly. It assumes that every individual seeks personal development and undertakes challenges to build up their self-esteem (Rochester, 2008). According to Eggen and Kauchak, learners have three ‘innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness’. The need for competence suggests that learners have to feel confident in their ability to match up with their peer’s performances, with determining factors like praise and attributional statements regarding the reasons for their performance. The need for autonomy basically talks about learners wanting to feel in control over their learning environment; this can be achieved by pushing them to be committed to their goals and providing detailed feedback after assessments. Finally, the need for relatedness stems from learners wanting assurance with regards to their relationships with the people around them and feeling deserving of care and respect. Eggen Kauchak, 2007) The Self-Efficacy theory is similar to the Self-Determination theory in certain aspects; basically, it focuses on learners’ confidence in their capability to achieve success, which in turn determines how you tackle challenges. (Wagner, 2008) The four factors influencing self-efficacy are past performance, modelling, verbal persuasion and psychological state. Past performances, the most important factor of the four, determine a person’s initial confidence in handling the task at hand while modelling gives learners a sense of the benchmark expecte d from them, thus giving them greater confidence in their preparations. Verbal persuasion, when used appropriately, can help spur learners on when they are in determining their progress and, eventually, their success. (Eggen Kauchak, 2007) What impact do these two theories have on learners’ motivation to learn? To put it simply, both theories believe that by acknowledging their innate needs and boosting their confidence, learners will most likely be more motivated to learn. Learners aged 7-11 are in the concrete operational stage and are ‘increasingly conscious of cognitive capacities and effective strategies’ (Berk, 1999); this means that they are more aware of what they can do based on their current level of ability as well as what can be done to improve their performance. Hence, it would make sense that we should aim to build up their confidence such that they can truly perform to the best of their capabilities. There are, of course, some concerns about there being over-confidence as a result of being ‘overly-encouraged’. Also, there is a limit to the effectiveness of verbal persuasion in really motivating students to press on with the task at hand. (Eggen Kauchak, 2007) However, a crucial point to note is that any effort to boost their confidence is to increase their self-belief, to believe that they can succeed if they put in the necessary amount of effort; that way their mindset towards challenges will be a much healthier one. Thus, the Self-determination and Self-Efficacy theories show that rewards and punishments need not be the sole factor in motivating learners. ) The Self-Determination and Self-Efficacy theories discussed earlier were schools of thought belonging to cognitive theories of motivation. The use of rewards and punishments in classrooms is a behavioural view of motivation. It states that learning is a ‘change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience’ and thus, ‘an increase in studying or learning behaviours is viewed as evidence of motivation’. ( Eggen Kauchak, 2007) There is some debate over the effectiveness of using rewards in classrooms and whether it really boosts learners’ motivation to learn. On the one hand, some argue that using rewards can lead to a whole host of problems, the first being that rewards give learners the wrong impression about the true meaning of learning and undermines their ‘motivation to be involved in an activity for its own sake’, or intrinsic motivation. Others believe that behaviourism alone does not fully account for learners’ motivation as they rely on extrinsic motivators, or ‘motivation to engage in an activity as a mean to an end’, meaning that cognitive factors like learners’ expectations are not accounted for. Eggen Kauchak, 2007) According to Berk, ‘children think in an organized, logical fashion only when dealing with concrete information they can directly perceive’ (Berk, 1999); this indicates that using methods based on behaviourism, namely rewards and punishment, will not serve much purpose in helping learners deal with abstract concepts and higher-order skills. Rather, methods base d on cognitive development could be used to greater effect. Also, the presence of so many variables in today’s learning environment means that the success of using behaviourism-based strategies is quite beyond our control. All this only serves to affirm that the use of rewards and punishments would not necessarily be effective in motivating learners’ learning. On the other hand, Piaget’s explanation of knowledge acquisition shows that behaviourism does indeed aid cognitive development; Piaget himself believed that knowledge is ‘constructed or created gradually, as maturing individuals interact with the environment’, or constructivism in simple terms. By rewarding or punishing learners, their physical learning environment is affected, which in turn has an impact on their creating and re-learning of new knowledge. Indeed, by making use of rewards for tasks that learners do not find too intrinsically appealing, like word problems and emphasising greater competence as the reason for rewards, learners could indeed be more motivated to learn. Eggen Kauchak, 2007) Hence, it might be best to acknowledge that while rewards and punishments may not necessarily be the most effective way to motivate learners, it would not be ideal to eradicate them from teaching strategies too. Thus, the emphasis should be on appropriate implementation of rewards and punishments so as to motivate learning. c) There are many different strategies that can or should not be in place to facilitate the motivation of learners and they fall under different approaches: cognitive, humanistic and behaviourism. One critical cognitive theory known as the Expectancy ? Value theory suggests that learners feel encouraged to participate in a task only to the point where they believe they will succeed multiplied by the importance they feel this particular success is worth. The Expectancy ? Value theory has two influencing variables: expectancy for success and task value. To help learners be more confident about their chances of success, we can try to change their opinion of the challenge a particular task poses as well as their preconceptions of their own abilities. This can be done by nurturing expectations of success by providing just enough assistance for learners to make headway on challenges. Also, we can enhance the task’s value by increasing intrinsic interest, the tasks importance and utility value. To achieve this, tasks will have to be linked to real-world situations and appeal to learners in terms of its usefulness and novelty. A simple way of achieving this would be to make use of ‘concrete examples’ to raise enthusiasm and stress the specific usefulness of the task. (Eggen Kauchak, 2007) What should not be done, then, in the terms of cognitive theories? According to Eggen and Kauchak, there is another influencing variable that influences learners’ perception of a task’s value: cost. It is defined as the ‘negative aspect of engaging in a task’. There can be emotional and psychological costs that hinder learners performing according to their true abilities (Eggen Kauchak, 2007) and it is up to the teacher to be aware of the situation and help to the best of her abilities. Metacognition, the ‘ability to think about thinking, to play with thoughts and to monitor and deploy mental effort strategically’ (Forsyth, Forsyth, Schickedanz, Shickedanz, 2001), is almost like multi-tasking; learners have to juggle many different kinds of thought processes. It is crucial in the all-round development of learners and the presence of emotional or psychological costs in their learning environment can have an adverse impact on their motivation to learn. Thus, it is vital that teachers do not ignore the presence of these factors. The humanistic view of motivation has to do with our desire to achieve maximum potential as humans. (Eggen Kauchak, 2007) We look to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to help explain motivation from a humanistic viewpoint. Maslow believed that basic needs lower down the pyramid have to be fulfilled before needs higher up the pyramid can be fulfilled. (Hierarchy of needs, 2007) What this means is that teachers have to create a positive and secure learning environment to satisfy learners’ basic and growth needs. By treating everyone in the same positive manner by focusing on their ‘intrinsic worth’ and viewing them as ‘developing human beings’, one can be assured that learners will find the motivation to learn. However, critics of Maslow’s theory argue that insufficient research has been conducted to support these claims and that his hierarchy of needs does not always hold true as individuals can achieve higher needs, like aesthetic appreciation, without fulfilling their basic needs. With disability becoming an ‘emerging priority’ in Singapore, there is an even greater need to ‘succeed in valuing and practising a cohesive spirit’ so as to ‘meet future challenges’ (Lim, Thaver, Slee, 2008); which is why it is vital for teachers to ‘treat students as people first and learners second’. Eggen Kauchak, 2007) By striving to create an inclusive classroom, it will be easier motivating learners. Finally, we come to behavioural views of motivation. Earlier in the essay, rewards and punishments were said to be behavioural methods. This can be done in a learning-focused environment, which ‘emphasizes effort, continuous improvement and u nderstanding’. To do that, we can help learners to self-regulate their behaviour and structure the learning environment using climactic and instructional factors. When self-regulation takes place, learners will take more pride in their work and be more committed to the goals they set. Teachers can aid the process by modelling responsibility and help learners set guidelines in place. Climactic variables like encouraging success and handling challenges also play a key role in creating a motivating environment. By providing sufficient help in challenging tasks and highlighting the reasons for assignments, the learning environment will be better suited for motivation to learn. Instructional variables are key to capturing learners’ interest, which determines how much effort they place on the task in turn. Involving students in personalized tasks and providing detailed feedback helps to build their intrinsic motivation to learn and succeed. (Eggen Kauchak, 2007) In any classroom, there will always be distractions that threaten to impair any carefully-laid lesson plans. Thus, learners should not be left out of the drawing up of classroom rules and expectations; they would then be familiar with any signals from the teacher indicating a disturbance or lack of attention. Also, not every interruption needs to be addressed immediately; by ignoring minor disruptions occasionally, it serves as a subtle cue for the offender to not resort to similar tactics to gain attention. (Divaharan Wong, 2008) Teachers should not get into the habit of jumping into a new topic immediately too, as a novel introductory focus (an appealing and scaffolded structure of the lesson) will appeal to learners’ interest and prior knowledge, thus motivating them intrinsically.

The Rise in Penal Populism | Dissertation

The Rise in Penal Populism | Dissertation Abstract Since the mid-1970s onward, the vast majority of Western countries have experienced a significant plus continual rise in their incarceration rates, leading to the problem of overcrowded prisons. We examine the extent to which the ‘incarceration boom’ of many modern societies can be attributed to the phenomenon of penal populism. Specifically, we argue that some short-lived actual crime waves during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially generated a small amount of rational penal populist sentiment among the public, it is the strong divisions within the increasingly heterogeneous public (both politically and ethnically), the central government, and the popular media industry of many democratic developed nations which have ultimately sustained the growth of both penal populism and prison population numbers. Furthermore, we focus on the types of crime that are most commonly targeted by strong penal populist sentiments in the public and criminal justice system, and suggest that all such categories of crime can be fundamentally linked to the cultural ‘purification’ of children which has taken place in virtually all Western societies during the latter half of the twentieth century. Finally, we consider the limitations of penal populism, referring to those few post-industrial states where such populist punitiveness has been largely resisted, and postulate what the end-stage consequences of a penal populist movement spanning over the past three decades are likely to be. 1. Introduction The term ‘penal populism’ denotes a punitive phenomenon that has become characteristic of many modern industrial societies, especially within Western liberal democracies since the late twentieth century onward, whereby anti-crime political pressure groups, talk-back radio hosts, victim’s rights activists or lobbyists, and others who claim to represent the ‘ordinary public’ have increasingly demanded of their governments that harsher policies and punishments be enforced by the relevant organs of the criminal justice system (e.g. law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, legislators, etc.) in order to combat the perceived rise in serious crime rates (Pratt, 2006). One direct consequence of the increasingly severe ‘tough on crime’ measures – such as ‘Life means Life’, ‘Three Strikes’, and ‘Zero Tolerance’ policies – exercised in many economically advanced countries from the mid-1970s onward has been an unprecedented rapid rise in the incarceration rates of these respective nations, leading to the problem of overcrowded prisons. The United States epitomises the tempo of the modern change in national imprisonment rates, and currently has the worst problem of prison overcrowding on a global scale. Indeed, ‘American incarceration numbers [have] increased fivefold between 1973 and 1997’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p63). More recently, ‘in 2004 the United States surpassed Russia in incarceration rates to become the world leader. With 2.2 million individuals inside (assuming a U.S. population of 290 million in 2004, that is an incarceration rate of approximately 759 adults in prison per 100,000 residents of the United States) and upwards of 7 million individuals either on parole, probation or awaiting trial, 1 in every 33 people in the U.S. is currently under state control and the number is growing’(State-Wide Harm Reduction Coalition, 2005). Clearly, an interpretation of the widespread incarceration rise must be able to accurately explain its rapidity, extent, and endurance on a global scale. There are two principal explanations for why such a large number of developed countries have experienced an ‘incarceration boom’ over the past three decades. Both theoretical models assert that it is changes in penal policies plus sentencing practices, rather than simply significant increases in crime rates alone, which are the primary factor responsible for driving prison population growth, but there is considerable disparity between the two theories about the causes of penal policy changes. One ‘crime wave’ hypothesis posits that actual rising crime rates in many Western countries, including the vast expansion of drug crime during the late twentieth century, have resulted in a greater rational public demand for the criminal justice system to take more severe punitive measures against convicted dangerous criminals (i.e. those offenders who pose the highest threat to public safety and social order; the criminal offenders most commonly targeted by penal populism in modern societies shall be considered in detail below), such as a more frequent use of incarceration with longer custodial sentences. In contrast, the second ‘political opportunism’ hypothesis suggests that many majority government parties have intentionally overstated the size and severity of the national crime problem in order to heighten public fears or instil ‘moral panic’ over perceived (as opposed to actual) rising crime rates, which are merely a political artefact, and subsequently utilise harsher crime control policies to win electoral favour (Caplow and Simon, 1999). Importantly, irrespective of which mechanism has in actual fact been operating across numerous advanced industrial states, and has led to the observed excessive growth in prison population sizes, both explanatory models can clearly be regarded as strongly related to the presence of penal populism. The critical difference between the two theories is whether the main original source of those penal populist sentiments can be accurately considered to be the public or the state, or both. According to the first model, which may be described as the public-induced penal populism hypothesis, it has been the persistent public demand for the government to impose harsher punitive measures on convicted criminals which has primarily caused the fast-paced escalation of incarceration numbers in many modern nations. In other words, the criminal justice systems in these countries have largely been exercising a regime of penal excess because constant pressure from a large sector of the public (in response to an actual rise in crime rates) has compelled them to do so. In comparison, the second model, which we may refer to as the state-induced penal populism hypothesis, postulates that within many Western countries the government parties in power have often created and sustained an artificial appearance of rising crime rates in order to instil widespread public anxiety. Subsequently, the majority government (and individual politicians) can be observed by the public to be apparently controlling the perceived illusory crime problem, such as through adopting and enforcing ‘tough on crime’ measures, and thereby attain public popularity to secure their party’s (or their own) success in the next general election. The second model further suggests that the government is not the only state institution in developed nations which benefits from overstating the scale of the dangerous crime threat, but that there are also large rewards for popular media outlets or news companies willing to do so. It is argued by many criminologists that within almost all democratic Western countries, the central government and the popular media, which are both fragmented into multiple competing party’s or companies, are highly dependent on addressing and reporting criminal activity that specifically victimises ‘ordinary people’ in order to retain electoral votes and public ratings, respectively. Hence, the state-induced penal populism hypothesis proposes that politicians and media outlets lead rather than merely follow or passively represent the public opinion: the public only supports or appears to ‘demand’ the government’s harsher punitive policy strategies because the same national government and popular media industry (as two powerful state institutions) have manufactured a compelling false image of prevalent serious crime which has instilled strong penal populist sentiments in a large proportion of that public. The central aim of the following examination is to determine which of these two distinctive theoretical positions is most likely to be correct. It is of course possible that the public-induced penal populism mechanism primarily operates in one developed nation, while in another Western country it may be the state-driven penal populism process that is predominant. However, to the extent that the relatively recent phenomenon of globalisation has resulted in many common economic, social, political, and cultural practices being widely adopted by a number of modern industrial states, one may plausibly expect a similar (if not identical) mechanism of generating penal populism to be present in the developed nations affected by prison population growth, especially with regard to the United States and Western Europe. At the outset, we may hypothesise that although some short-lived real increases in Western crime rates during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially triggered some rational penal populist sentiments among the public of these modern societies, it has been the combined interaction of both political opportunism and media opportunism which has acted as a powerful vehicle in numerous modern societies for distorting the public’s common view of the national crime problem, and ultimately for sustaining the growth of both penal populism plus prison populations, regardless of how those crime rates may have subsequently changed (and in most developed countries they have steadily declined). One fundamental feature of the modern incarceration surge over the past three decades that is observed in virtually all countries affected by rapid prison growth is the significant proportion of these prison populations that has become comprised of racial minorities, including both of resident ethnic groups and of non-citizen illegal immigrants. As one study (O’Donnell, 2004, p262) remarks, ‘one factor that accounts for rising prison populations across Europe is the incarceration of ‘foreigners’. It is likely that prison accommodation in the Republic of Ireland will be used to hold growing numbers of failed asylum seekers, at least pending deportation. It is also inevitable that the composition of the prison population will change as members of minority groups begin to appear before the courts on criminal charges’. In terms of the racial minorities imprisonment trend in the United States, Caplow and Simon (1999, p66) assert that ‘it is undeniable that the incarcerated population is disproportionately composed of minorities (especially African Americans and Hispanics), and that the disproportion has increased during the period of rising imprisonmentThe period of rapid growth in incarceration rates has seen a significant increase in the proportion of minorities in the inmate population, especially among drug offenders, the fastest growing segment of that [prison] population’. As is the case with most Western European countries, the United States prison sector has also experienced a mass round up of illegal immigrants or non-citizens during the last three decades, who in 2003 made up 40% of federal prisoners (State-Wide Harm Reduction Coalition, 2005). Ultimately, therefore, it is apparent that the incarceration boom in many developed countries has primarily affected various racial minority populations present within these nations. It is the cumulative incarceration of racial minorities that is significantly responsible for the prison overcrowding problem commonly observed. Thus, one crucial question that we must address in the following study is what has caused (and continues to cause) the increased imprisonment of racial minority populations, relative to the incarceration rate of the racial majority host population (typically white), within the modern industrial societies affected by prison overcrowding? Specifically, we shall seek to determine whether pervasive ‘penal racism’, indicated by a greater tendency in developed nations for both the law enforcement system to arrest and subsequently for the criminal justice system to imprison ethnic or non-white defendants compared with white ones who have committed the same offence, is sufficient to explain the large racial differentials observed in incarceration rates, or not. The methodology of the following study consists entirely of literature-based research and analysis. 2. The Origins of Penal Populism: Real Crime Waves versus Political and Media Opportunism It is widely acknowledged that the prevalent public sentiment in many developed countries to ‘get tough’ with criminals has played a central role in catalysing the incarceration surge which has occurred in these nations since the mid-1970s onward, an influential social movement that is referred to as penal populism. Furthermore, whether one regards the source of that penal populism as stemming from a rational public response to actual rising crime rates or, conversely, as triggered by public exposure to political and media manipulation, the measured strength of the public’s demand on their respective democratic governments to impose harsher punitive measures on convicted criminals has remained consistently high over the thirty year period of vast growth in incarceration numbers. For example, with regard to the United States, one study notes that the time series of public responses to the survey question of whether courts are too lenient has remained highly stable since 1972 (Caplow and Simon, 1999). The significant temporal correlation in many modern industrial states between the onset of strong public desire since around the mid-1970s for more stringent crime policies and the period of rapid prison population growth is a clear indication of the vital part that penal populist sentiments have played in causing prison overcrowding. One may plausibly argue that the strong growth of penal populist sentiments in most advanced industrial societies over the past three decades has been initially generated by temporary real increases in crime (including the rapid expansion of a drug-crime economy during the 1980s) and sustained by an increased reliance of governments on implementing harsher crime control measures (rather than more effective social welfare policies) to gain public support plus secure electoral favour. Accordingly, we intend to demonstrate that penal populism in developed nations is a product of both short-lived actual crime waves and manipulative political opportunism. Indeed, one would theoretically expect the two factors operating in conjunction to result in a significantly larger escalation in incarceration rates (as is in fact observed) than would occur if only one of these forces was present in isolation. As one study has observed, ‘tough on crime’ policies produce prison population increases only to the degree that offenders are available to be imprisoned (Zimring and Hawkins, 1991). Conversely, an increase in crime rates would also not produce a corresponding increase in imprisonment rates unless some suitably punitive crime control measures were in place. During the last thirty years there has also certainly occurred in many Western countries a greater dependence of competing popular media companies, both television and the press, on selectively reporting dangerous (i.e. worse than normal) crime on an almost daily basis, simply in order to maintain or increase viewer and reader ratings. By portraying the national crime problem as more severe and more prevalent than in reality, individual popular media outlets (e.g. tabloid newspapers) in developed nations have become more appealing to public viewers than their quality media counterparts (e.g. broadsheet newspapers) who often object to distorting or manipulating the reporting of crime news. Since the late twentieth century onward, crime news has become a fundamental component of the public’s staple diet. As Pratt (2007, p68) suggests, ‘the reporting of crime is inherently able to shock [and] entertain, sustaining public appeal and interest, selling newspapers and increasing television audiences. Furthermore, the way in which crime is used to achieve these ends is by selective rather than comprehensive reportingHowever, it is not only that crime reporting has quantitatively increased; there have also been qualitative changes in its reporting: it is prone to focus more extensively on violent and sexual crime than in the pastThese qualitative and quantitative changes in crime reporting can be attributed to the growing diversity of news sources and media outletsAs a consequence, both television and the press have to be much more competitive than used to be the case. Their programmes have to be packaged in such a way that they become more attractive to viewers than those of their rivals and competitors’. Evidently, given that it is typically the most popular newspapers (such as the tabloid press in Britain) which feature the greatest number and severity of crime stories, it means that the most common representations of crime, portrayed in ‘the form of randomised, unpredictable and violent attacks inevitably committed by strangers on ‘ordinary people’, reach the greatest audience’(Pratt, 2007, p70). Thus, it is clear that within modern society the potential benefits to popular media outlets from inaccurately amplifying the danger plus scale of national crime in the public’s perception are equally as large as the rewards for politicians willing to do so. With regard to addressing the (largely fabricated) immediacy of the criminal activity problem, therefore, media opportunism and political opportunism are proximately linked in virtually all post-industrial countries where penal populist currents are strongly established. As well as magnifying the size of the dangerous crime problem, the popular media in many Western countries further continually seeks to undermine the current sentencing practices of the criminal justice system, regardless of how harsh they have become over the past three decades. In the same way that the crime stories reported by the popular media are scarcely representative of the actual nature of everyday crime within developed nations, the court stories followed are rarely illustrative of everyday sentencing practices. According to Pratt (2007), that media misrepresentation then reinforces the common public opinion that courts are too lenient, even though they have become significantly more punitive, in addition to fuelling the widely held public sentiment that the crime rate is constantly escalating when recent statistics indicate that crime is in fact steadily declining in most modern societies. Thus, in its reporting style, crime analysis by the Western popular media has become ‘personalised’ rather than ‘statisticalised’, since: 1) it prioritises the experiences of ordinary people (especially crime victims) over expert opinions 2) News reports are more prone to focus on the occasional failings of criminal justice officials as opposed to their many successes. Indeed, in the vast majority of modern societies, the ‘citation of criminal statistics has become a code for softness on crime and callousness towards its victims’(Pratt, 2007, p88), which simply provides the popular media with further scope to legitimately overstate the scale and severity of everyday crime in developed states. For these reasons, the media outlets in many Western countries have played a significant role in facilitating the continual growth of penal populist sentiments among the public. 3. The Transient Growth of a Drug-Crime Economy in Developed Countries It is highly pertinent that the vast expansion in drug crime within many Western nations during the late 1970s and 1980s coincided precisely with the onset of rapidly escalating incarceration rates in these same countries. As is asserted, ‘the growth in nondrug crime has simply not been sufficient to sustain the rapid growth of imprisonment. By the 1970s there was already an active culture of drug use and networks of drug importation/sales in the United States, but their economic importance increased in the 1980s due to new products and distribution strategies, especially for ‘crack’ cocaine. That transformation in the marketing of illegal drugs coincided with political decisions to intensify the punishments for drug crimes. The result was an enlargement of the population available for criminal justice processing’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p71). It is crucial to acknowledge, therefore, that in any modern industrial society there is not a rudimentary causal link between a greater public desire for severity in criminal sanctions and a sustained growth in incarceration numbers; other conditions must be present. Specifically, ‘a key condition is a large pool of offenders available to be imprisoned’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p93). Although there had also been documented transient increases in the number of offenders committing nondrug crimes such as violent crime, property crime (larceny), and sex crime in modern societies during the 1980s, these numbers tended to fluctuate in cycles over time, and could not account for the continual rise in incarceration rates observed. In contrast, the number of drug crime offences had remained consistently high throughout the 1980s in virtually all developed countries that have experienced an incarceration boom. However, in most Western nations the total drug crime rate then started to steadily decline during the 1990s largely due to the much harsher punishments being imposed on drug crime offenders (both petty and serious) by the criminal justice systems in these states. One valid explanation for the persistently high rate of drug crime during the 1980s is the ‘economic base’ principle. Specifically, while the average monetary yield of larceny, violence and sex offences is very low, drug crime represents one of the only categories of felony where the potential financial returns are extremely high, and that provides a strong economic incentive for individuals living in poverty. Hence, drug smuggling and trafficking are the only illegal activities capable of providing a solid economic base for a large criminal population in modern society. The initial cost of goods is low and law enforcement efforts sustain high retail prices, thereby ensuring large profit margins (Reuter and Kleiman, 1986). Since the 1980s, drug crime has certainly been targeted by penal populist sentiments in many Western countries affected by a public expectation for greater punitiveness, largely irrespective of how the drug crime rate has subsequently changed in these developed nations, but it is evidently not the only category of felony that has become a common target of penal populism. Sex offences (especially against children), violent or abusive crimes (once again, even more so when the victims are children), and youth crime are three other important types of crime that in late modern capitalist states have characteristically become subjected to a public desire for penal excess. We shall examine in detail at a later stage below what these specific four categories of crime have in common and why they are such typical targets of penal populist sentiments in developed liberal societies. 4. The Increased Dependence of Governments on Crime Control as a Source of Popular Credibility The rapid proliferation of drug crime in many Western countries during the late 1970s and 1980s was accompanied by a great loss of public confidence in the social welfare programs implemented in these same nations. As Pratt (2007, p95) asserts, ‘the visible presence of drug addicts in these countries had become a symbol of misplaced welfarism and tolerance, now believed to be corroding their economic and social fabrics’. Furthermore, the short-lived growth of general crime waves in many modern societies during the late twentieth century led to a significant decline of public assurance in the competence of their respective governments to control the state. As one study remarks, ‘the international crime waves of the 1960s and 1970s helped diminish the prestige of national governments all over the industrial world, by calling into question their capacity to maintain social order. The increase of crime rates at a time of increasing government efforts to help the poor undermined many of the traditional arguments for welfare, and helped confirm the view of many conservatives that efforts to help the poor only made circumstances worse by eliminating incentives for self improvement’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p88). It is difficult to determine whether the crime wave was caused by expansions in welfare programs or merely coincided with them. The main point is that in addition to the direct relationship between high rates of crime and demands for punitive governmental responses, the crime wave may have indirectly diminished the prestige of and public demand for welfare-oriented government (Caplow and Simon, 1999). Thus, it is argued that during the 1980s many Western governments shifted the priority of their domestic agendas away from welfare policies toward crime control policies. Initially, it was most often right wing conservative politicians that promoted ‘tough on crime’ punitive measures, making crime a political issue and gaining public support. However, Lappi-Seppà ¤là ¤ (2002, p92) suggests that mainstream opposition (i.e. left wing) parties are then forced into advocating punitive policies as well, because although these left wing parties want to ‘distance themselves from the populist programmes of the right wing movements, there is one area where they do not like to disagree – the requirement of being ‘tough on crime’. No party seems to be willing to accuse another of exaggeration when it comes to measures against criminality. Being ‘soft on crime’ is an accusation that no [governmental party] wants to accept. And it is that fear of being softer than one’s political opponents which tends to drive politicians, in the end, to the extremes of penal excess’. It is plausible to argue, therefore, that constant competition between opposing governmental factions for public favour in liberal democracies has created an ‘punitive arms race’ of political opportunism, whereby each party is compelled to promote plus (when in power) implement increasingly more radical punitive policies – irrespective of the actual level of crime that the country is experiencing – in order to avoid appearing weak on crime and consequently losing valuable electoral votes to their political opponents who are prepared to be more severe on criminals. Clearly, such an opportunistic punitive arms race occurring within the governments of developed nations would lead to an exponential increase in the prison population numbers of these countries, and ultimately to prison overcrowding. That political mechanism may at least partly explain why so many Western countries which have experienced a large decrease in crime rates since the mid-1990s and into the early twenty-first century have still reported a rising prison population. For example, Pratt (2006, p1) observes that since 1999 Labour led coalition governments in New Zealand have strongly adhered to Britain’s New Labour ‘approach to crime and punishment, even using the famous phrase ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ in its election manifestoes of 2002 and 2005. As a consequence, while [New Zealand’s] recorded crime rate has dropped by 25% in the last ten years, its imprisonment rate has increased to 189 per 100,000, one of the highest of Western countries’. Yet it is not only the divisions (i.e. in terms of competing parties) within Western democratic governments that have catalysed the increased political focus on crime control, but also the growing number of divisions among the public itself. Indeed, modern society in many developed nations (such as the United Kingdom and the United States) has become increasingly heterogeneous since the late twentieth century, and consequently the number of bases of division within these societies has expanded. For example, the members of a diverse post-industrial society are not only partitioned along the traditional parameter of social class, but are also strongly divided by a number of dichotomous value-based issues that are characteristic of ‘post-materialist’ politics such as abortion, gay rights, animal rights (e.g. fox hunting), mass immigration, school prayer, and capital punishment where it still exists (Caplow and Simon, 1999). These value- or identity-based issues are intensely contested over in modern societies by well-organised pressure groups on either side of the bipolar political spectrum. These issues are bipolar or dichotomous in the sense that they are non-negotiable with no ‘middle ground’; one either supports abortion rights or one opposes them. Hence, public division on these post-materialist issues is inevitable. One important consequence of the heterogeneous publics of Western countries becoming divided by such a multitude of value conflicts during the 1970s onward is that government parties had difficulty finding any issues to build successful election campaigns on that would appeal to a vast majority of the public. Harsher crime control appeared to be a clear choice as a singular issue that large sections of the modern public are united in consensus on. As is stated, ‘Unlike most values issues on the left or right, crime control seems to cut across the political spectrumPoliticians seeking to build viable majorities inevitably turn to the few issues that can bring people together in the new political landscapeThat is why election campaigns continue to focus on crime and punishment issues even when opposing candidates agree in their support of punitive anticrime measures. Faced with voters who split on so many issues and who are profoundly sceptical about the ability of government to improve their lives through welfare-oriented interventions, the mode of governing that commands the broadest support – punitiveness toward criminal offenders – is understandably [valued by governments]’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p83). Ultimately, therefore, while short-lived actual increases in crime rates during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially triggered the rise in imprisonment rates in a number of developed countries, political opportunism (in the sense of governments capitalising on populist punitiveness) has arguably sustained the incarceration boom in virtually all Western nations affected by prison overcrowding, regardless of how those crime rates may have subsequently changed. 5. The Target Crimes of Penal Populism There is a high degree of uniformity across all Western nations that have experienced an incarceration surge over the past three decades in the types of crime that are most commonly subjected to strong public demand for harsh punitive sanctions. Generally, the four most frequent felony targets of penal populism are: Drug crime; Sex offences, especially when the victims are children; Child abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological), and; Youth crime. Correspondingly, these have also been some of the fastest growing segments of prison and boot camp populations in many developed countries during recent years. One fundamental property that the above four categories of crime have in common is that children are extremely vulnerable to the effects of all of them. We may validly question why children have come to occupy such a central place in the penal populist sentiments of modern industrial societies. Pratt (2007, p96) remarks that ‘crime control policy driven by penal populism targets ‘others’, not ordinary, ‘normal’ peopleGiven the nature of populism, we should expect that crime control policy will gravitate towards easy and familiar targets, for whom there is likely to be the least public sympathy, the most social distance and the fewest authoritative voices (if any) to speak on their behalf: tho

The Effects of Reagan and Bush’s Policies in El Essay -- Foreign Polic

The Effects of Reagan and Bush’s Policies in El Salvador and Iraq United States foreign policy, since the Cold War, has been driven by ideology: good versus evil, capitalism versus communism, and democracy versus totalitarianism. America’s foreign policy objective from 1945 to 1991 was to contain communism, prompting Cold War calculus – the enemy of your enemy is your friend. The United States, following Cold War calculus, allied with unscrupulous leaders opposed to communism, like the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua, the Reza Shahs in Iran, the dictator Franco in Spain, and the elite in El Salvador. Reagan’s belief that the Soviet Union was the Evil Empire committed him to support the brutal military regime in El Salvador, which he justified as protecting national security. Since September 11, the new American enemy is terrorism. To eliminate terrorist organizations, Bush has invaded Afghanistan and Iran. Bush has continued the precedent of ideology-induced foreign policy by justifying the invasions as introducing civilizati on to the primitive Middle East and simultaneously protecting American interests. Bush, like Reagan, has intertwined ideology with national security. Reagan’s intervention in El Salvador was driven by ideology, but was justified as protecting national security, whereas Bush’s invasion of Iraq was prompted by national defense, but was promoted as American ideology. Defending National Security The United States justified its involvement in El Salvador as protecting American national security, a notion fueled by anti-communist ideology. Reagan believed the FMLN (Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation), the radical leftist guerilla insurgency in El Salvador, threatened the U... ...31-5.html November 17, 2003. [6] â€Å"September 7, 2003 President Addresses the Nation† http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031031-5.html. November 17, 2003 [7] â€Å"National Security Advisor Dr. Rice Remarks to National Legal Center† http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031031-5.html November 17, 2003. [8] â€Å"Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Is Lying About The Reason For War An Impeachable Offense?† John W. Dean. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html November 5, 2003. [9] 160 [10] National Security Advisor Dr. Rice Remarks to National Legal Center† http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031031-5.html November 17, 2003. [11]â€Å"Iraq Democracy Watch: Report # 1 on the Situation in Iraq.† The Iraq Foundation. http://www.iraqfoundation.org/news/2003/isept/26_democracy_watch.html. November 5, 2003.

John Brown :: essays research papers

How the Actions of Governor Wise and the State of Virginia in the Case of John Brown may be easily Justified.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After months of planning, John Brown and his twenty-one “soldiers'; marched into the strategically located town of Harpers Ferry with the goal of starting a slave revolt which would lead to the abolishment of the institution of slavery. Within hours Brown and his followers had taken several hostages, and gained control of the armory, the arsenal, and the engine house. The following days consisted of skirmishes with the towns people and the arrival of the United States Marines. After a brief confrontation the Marines easily captured Brown and his few surviving followers. On October 27 the trail of John Brown began. Only five days later the trial came to a rapid conclusion, with the jury finding Brown guilty on all charges. Two days later Brown was sentenced to death. His execution followed precisely one month later, on December 2nd. Clearly, Governor Wise and the state of Virginia acted justly and fairly when they tried John Brown and executed him for his dee ds at Harpers Ferry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Brown was born on May 9, 1800 in Torrington Connecticut. When he was about five years old, his father moved the family to Hudson Ohio. There, John was filled with the heavy anti-slavery sentiment that was present in that area. This, combined with personal observations of the maltreatment of blacks and the influence of Calvinism, started John Brown on his crusade to abolish slavery. While still living in Hudson he married Dianthe Lusk and began to raise a large family. To support his family he worked as a farmer, tanner, and surveyor. In 1849, John Brown moved with his second wife Mary Ann Day, and their seven children to North Elba. He planned to aid the free blacks living in Garrit Smith’s colony, dubbed “Timbucto';, adjust to the hardships of farming in the Adirondacks. After realizing the impossibility of this task, John left, and followed the abolitionist movement to Kansas where five of his sons were already stationed. Here in Kansas, Brown c ontinually struggled to become financially secure, but gained “a reputation as a ferocious opponent of slavery'; (John Brown’s Raid). This reputation was greatly enhanced when Brown and his sons led a brutal mission against the proslavery population, which resulted in five innocent proslavery settlers being mutilated and murdered. After staying in Kansas for a while longer, Brown returned to the North where he gave many speeches and fund raising meetings based on the abolishment of slavery.

Learning to Speak: Reflections of a Learner in ENG 100 :: Essays Papers

Learning to Speak: Reflections of a Learner in ENG 100 This summer, after I was informed that I had been offered a teaching assistantship, I was terrified. I was not sure that I was capable of teaching students about a discipline in which I still possessed such a conscious doubt of my own abilities. For most of my life I was what you might call a non-achiever. When my parents strongly suggested that I enroll in college (the other option being to leave the house) everyone around me just sort of held their breath waiting for my inevitable failure. Then a strange thing happened. I passed my classes, and even enjoyed them. I had always wanted to be an English major. In high school it was the only class that I enjoyed. I loved reading and writing about literature. There was something in the words of struggle and sadness that so many authors wrote about that gave my life meaning through a context of the joy and sorrow that are inextricably linked to living. Despite this, when it came time to choose a major in college, I steered clear of English, my thoughts filled with the intimidating associations of stodgy professors who deconstructed every sentence on a page, bantered using esoteric verbs, and deemed students the flawed population, and that they, erudite and pristine, were socially obligated to instill a fraction of their wisdom into these malleable minds of the naÔve, or just plain stupid. I did not want to willingly submit myself to a major where I perceived I would be subjected to daily criticism of my intelligence. Throughout college, I changed majors several times, each time considering English, but turning away for fear of failure. When I graduated, after a period of complete indecision, I decided that I was going back to school and getting a degree in English. This strange, motivating desire to possess an English degree consumed me, and I knew that I had to prove to myself that I was capable of earning this degree. I had to prove to myself that I could overcome this hurdle. It is funny how one obstacle can create in our minds this wall of fear. So much of life is learning to overcome a fear that often dictates our decisions, desires and dreams.

How and why did USA become involved in the Vietnam War Essay

In march 12, 1947 with the truman doctrine and the newly introduced policy of containment usa decided to award itself with status of policeman of the world giving themselves a permission to intervene anywhere in the world when they consider it is neccessary. This was the policy that allowed them to interpose in vietnam. Vietnamese people under the leadership of ho chi mihn, founder of viet minh defeated french at diem bien phu who had controll over whole indochina (thailand, vietnam, combodia, laos). Although usa was sending aid to french they didn’t help much because president eisenhower has just been elected to end the korean war therefore he didn’t want to involve usa in another conflict. However after french defeat and the devision of vietnam into north which was communist and south usa started to realize the danger of communism spreading into asia and saw vietnam as a puppet in hands of ussr and china. in convinction that responsibility for the ‘domino effect’ will be theirs if they won’t do anything. n 1954 usa prevented the re-uniting free elections from taking place, foreboding uniting vietnam under communist goverment. this time they showed their resilient attitude, considering their disapproval with ussr, not holding free elections in their sattelites. nevertheless there were no elections and usa picked up anti-communist diem to become a president of south vietnam. This decision led to many protest especially from buddhist monks since diem was ignorat to their religion and culture, he himself being christian. uring his reign he forbade any elections and set members of his family into important positions. his corruption and way of controling south vietnam was the reason for more and more people joining the national front for the liberation of south vietnam, the viet cong. although usa didn’t agree with his governance after his murder they continued to support his equally corrupt successor. Meantime, in usa after kennedy’s assasination new president was elected with completely different attitude. b johnson seemed more considered about vietnam and sent more and more military personel, the so called ‘advisors’ to vietnam. During his leadership he achieved the tonkin gulf resolution under suspicious coincidences of the tonkin gulf incident, giving him ultimate power to launch immediate attack or start war without the need of consulting the idea with senate or advisors. lbj was the most involved president in vietnam war and he started the open war with vietnam. When advisors were not enough and the infiltration of north vietnamese in south vietnam became with increasing number of attacs intorelable problem, in march 1965 lbj decided to launch the operation rolling thunder, bombing of the North Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh’s trail which was the major mean of supplying south vietnam by Viet Cong. within a short time usa realized that this tactics is not appropriate but they were in convinction that easing would signal their weakness. n addition this operation lasted for eight years where high explosives, herbicides to destroy the jungle and defoliant agent orange were used and more bombs were dropped on vietnam than on germany by all the allies during the second world war. despite the growing objections johnson launched full-scale war with the first conventional warfare in ia drang valley which both sides considered as victory. Although americans inflicted greater losses than they have suffered (a:300 v:2000), vietnamese held their position s. This way the war continued for number of years marked with unsuccessful negotiations with main problem of diplomacy frequently undermined by military activity at a critical moment. In 1967 in south Vietnam were held the ‘free’ elections but without any communist party. Thieu was elected with a low vote but finally usa could say they are defending democratically elected goverment. in following years after the failure of previous operations, operations search and destroy was introduced which main aims were defending us bases, launching search and destroy missions. Another operation, an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the peasant was also complete failure, highlighting the main American problem – misapprehension of the culture of Vietnamese people. The Vietnam war being the first televised war hugely influenced it and seeing the happenings in vietnam many student protests took place in usa, especially after the Mai Lay massacre which shocked people being the evidence that something in this war has gone wrong. n 1967 increase of bombing by more than 50%, generals still requsting more men and viet cong still holding their positions even advancing (the tet offesnive 1968) and more than 3 000 000 casualities made johnson slowly realize that this war he will not win. In 1968 johnson after many absurd years of fighting informed public that usa will halt bombing, awaiting peace talks. the president has given up ending this terrible mistake and resignated, Vietnam finally became free, united and communist.

P. S. I Love You Analysis

The movie I chose was P. S. I Love You. To begin with, I chose this movie because I have not seen it yet, but I have heard from my friends that it was a movie that I cannot miss out on. Reading the captions of the movies, it seemed very interesting and as soon as I was done with the movie, I gladly found it interesting. P. S. I love you had a unique plot compared to other love movies, after reading the synopsis I could automatically relate this movie with Chapter one on â€Å"Myth of the right one†. P. S. I Love You introduce its self with the daily lives of Holly Kennedy (the main character) and her husband Gerry Kennedy, a happily married couple going through their up and down stages of their marriage. Until Gerry dies of a brain Tumor, it takes Holly about a year to get over, but the movie narrates her life throughout the year. Holly and Gerry were married for 10 years and she got married at the age of 19, so we can say she married an age where she believed that Gerry was the right one and there would be no other like him. After the death of Gerry, Gerry understood that it would be hard for Holly to get over him so on his last few days before his death he writes several letters instructing her what to do as a last request. Holly received her first letter shortly after Gerry’s funeral on her 30th birthday. Gerry along with Holly’s friends are determined to to make Holly move on from the widow stage and be herself. Throughout the letters (which he had arranged for after his death) Gerry ends them by saying P. S. I Love you. The letter are supposed to encouraged Holly to move on by going out more and spending more time with her friends (Denise and Sharon), but her friends are afraid that the letters are keeping Holly tied up. In one of the final letters, Gerry arranged Holly, Denise, and Sharon, to his home town in Ireland. Once in Ireland, the girls are having fun at a local pub Gerry had recommended them to. At the pub, Holly meets a singer who strongly reminds her of her dead husband Gerry and ends up liking him, but by coincidence he happened to be one of Gerry’s best friends. Throughout the Ireland trip Holly finds out that Denise was having a baby and Sharon is getting married, so it caused Holly to emotionally relapse into herself and get depressed once again. Weeks later in New York Holly believing she was done with her letters until she received her final one from her mom when she was crying to her about how hard it was to go on without the love of her life. But in the last letter Gerry says his final good bye and tells Holly to move on and be herself and to think about what she was before she met Gerry (an Art Major). Eventually Holly finds out she has the talent to design women shoes. As Holly starts her own line of shoes we see that she gained a new confidence and it allows her to finally accept herself for what she has and for her friends to finally experience happiness. So the movie ends by Holly taking her mother to Ireland and as the film ends it shows the audience with a scene where she finally abandoned the fear of falling in love again and has opened up her life to the journey that awaits her. The Character I’m choosing in the movie to explain the problem that the character is facing is Holly. At the beginning of the Movie before Gerry died, Holly believed that he was â€Å"the one†, but then after his death, she goes on a journey that Gerry had left planned for her. Throughout the Journey Holly meets other men and fights her fear of falling in love again, believing that only Gerry was â€Å"the one†. At the end of the movie Holly learns how to accept Gerry’s death and meets a new man. If I were to choose a chapter from the book â€Å"A Daring Promise†, it would have to be the first chapter. As I was explaining throughout the whole essay, Holly is in the category of â€Å"Myth of the Right One†. She believes that there’s only one Gerry out there even after his death, until finally after a year of going through Gerry’s planned letters and other events, she finds a new man, that changed her image of â€Å"the right one†. So is there really only one right one for us? The book tells us that there isn’t such thing as one love, it’s just a myth. Based on the text, I can state that â€Å"One Love† is really a myth. There is more than just â€Å"One Love†. To obtain â€Å"One Love† both partners must always be communicating and come to agreements. In my opinion many people at first believe in only â€Å"One Love† at first because they have not had many relationships. We must come to our senses that nobody is perfect and we have to accept both the good and bad of a person. If you and your partner are willing to make sacrifices, then together you guys can make changes and have the same love for each other and being more united. If there is something I have learned from this assignment, it would be about marriage. I have never experienced a dead wife but I would assume that anyone who loves their partner would go have to go through what Holly did. Throughout the movie I also learned that getting married and losing a husband or getting divorced can affect everything around your life. When Holly was with Gerry they would always argue about when to have kids and when to move out of the apartment, but when Holly was single she lost her main balance of her life and things were pretty hectic in the beginning, until she finally had the support of her family and friends. Marriage is a great responsibility. I have also learned in class that you cannot change a person unless that person is willing to change.

Ethnography on People Who Do Hot Yoga

Yogis For many people with hectic, stressful lives, relaxation means zoning out in front of the TV at the end of the day or getting some extra sleep at the end of the weekend, but for a certain group of people relaxing does not include this. These people are called yogis; those who achieve relaxation through the art of meditation, breathing, stretching, and finding inner peace. In today’s fast paced society it is hard to find a way to fully relax because people are constantly being forced to push their minds and bodies to the limit, which can result in high levels of stress.Rather than fighting against life’s hardships, people who practice yoga value deep relaxation in order to be free of stress and live each day in peace and harmony without being thrown out of balance by the ups and downs life may bring. As a college student living in today’s fast-paced society life’s obstacles frequently challenge me, which usually leads to great amounts of stress. Watch ing TV, sleeping, and working out are all ways to help me cope, but these activities never seem to fully get the job done. I never thought that this horrible sequence of stress would find and ending, until I experienced my first hot yoga class.I decided to do my ethnography on the subculture of yogis to find out how these people step out of society’s craziness and enter into a world of relaxation by connecting their bodies and minds. Lucky for me, one of my close friends, Jamie Mack, is someone who takes immense pride in yoga. I was able to talk to her about how yoga helps her free her stress and also get a first hand experience of a yoga session myself. It was like any other Sunday here in Lawrence; I woke up around 12:30 PM exhausted from the night before, and automatically thought of all the homework I had to complete.One of the assignments I needed to get done by the end of the day was going to observe my subculture for my ethnography essay. In the interview I conducted w ith my friend Jamie, she explained to me, â€Å"Yoga I s the best remedy for stress. A part of the practice in yoga is clearing your mind, and it is a great stress relief. † (Jamie Mack, interview) Like other yogi’s, Jamie practices yoga in order to be free from stress, and that was exactly what I needed. What could be a better day to relieve my stress than a Sunday? So, I picked up my phone to call Jamie and find out the name and directions to the place where she practices her yoga.She told me that the yoga place was named â€Å"Bikram Yoga†, which is another name for hot yoga. She also told me that I should arrive to the class about fifteen minutes before the session started in order to stretch and relax my mind. Yogis feel that it is key to relax their minds before a session begins because it helps them later when they are trying to achieve their inner peace. At 2:30 PM, my friend Caroline and I left our dorm to go see what this whole â€Å"yoga† thing was about. We arrived at Bikram Yoga fifteen minutes before three just like Jamie told us, and saw that it was a small little place pushed into the corner of the shopping strip.Caroline and I ran out of the car, and into the studio. We got in there and were automatically welcomed with big smiles and greetings from the two women standing behind a desk in the little room. One of the women asked us if we had ever been there before or if we had ever done a hot yoga class, but it was quite obvious that it was our first time since we both showed up with no mats or towels and everyone else who walked in seemed to have both of these items with them. When we explained to her that it was our first time, she introduced herself as Kimbo and handed us two forms to read and fill out.One of the forms was asking who recommended us to Bikram Yoga, and the other was asking us to initial statements that proved we would be respectful throughout the session by not talking and not bringing in our cell p hones, which are both actions that would interrupt the peace. The reason that we weren’t allowed to talk and bring our cell phones in is because yogis believe that one must forget about what is going on in the world outside of the room they are practicing and relaxing in. Also, the use of cell phones is a big contributor to high levels of stress in people. In an article, â€Å" Stress of Cell Phone Use Disturbs Sleep, Mood,† Dr.Z writes about the effects of cell phone usage and how it increases people’s stress. He explains, â€Å"A major prospective study over a period of one year of young adults who used their cell phones frequently reveals significant disturbances to sleep patterns, increased stress symptoms, and an increased incidence of clinical depression. † (Dr. Z) A cell phone is something that pushes people to use their minds and can cause a lot of problems. People who do yoga don’t want this fast-paced society to get to their heads, so the y choose to exclude anything that will stop them from achieving peace and relaxation.We sat down on a colorful little bench to fill out our forms, and we both agreed to be respectful during the session. While Caroline was still filling out her forms I took a look around the entrance room. There were a lot of peace signs, Buddha’s, and flowers, which made the scenery calm and peaceful. These types of decorations are all a part of achieving inner peace. Peace signs stand for peace, Buddha’s are looking to achieve peace, and flowers are always peaceful and welcoming.Yogis value peace because they are people who are always striving for harmony and balance to reach inner peace. When we were finished paying her for the session, we were given a mat and a towel so that we could properly participate. People who do hot yoga value their mats and their towels because these are two things that serve as artifacts that the value as a subculture. Without the mats their feet would slip al over the place since the heat makes their feet sweat and it would make it a lot harder for one to reach a level of relaxation that will help relieve stress.The towel is necessary to have by their sides at all times in case they need to wipe their faces off when their sweat gets out of control. As we walked down the narrow hallway to the room Kimbo had directed us to go to we heard he shout, â€Å"don’t forget to leave your shoes, coats, and any other belongings outside of the room. Oh and go in with as little clothing as you feel comfortable in. † I looked at Caroline and we both didn’t understand what she meant by that. As little clothing as possible? But why?We knew it was going be hot in the room since it was called â€Å"hot yoga†, but I guess we just didn’t understand exactly how hot this room was about to get. We opened the door to the room, and right away I thought I was going to pass out from the smell of dirty gym socks and sweat that circulated around it. The room was bright orange. Not the kind of orange that would make me sick looking at it for the ninety minutes I was going to be in there for, but the kind of orange that made me feel like I should be lying out in a tropical island.A very relaxing room besides the smell, but no one else seemed to care about it so I just chose to ignore it. The people didn’t care about the smell because they were there for one reason and one reason only; to relax their minds and become free from any stress they were having. It didn’t matter to them that this building was small and ugly, or that the room was hot and smelly because when they go there they are doing something that most people don’t, and that is not letting society’s fast-pace get to their heads. There were so many people in his small room. There were both men and women, tall, short, skinny, fat, eighteen or sixty with just one thing in common besides the fact that they all love yoga; th ey were all wearing very minimal clothing. Caroline and I were the two with the most clothing on and all we were wearing was spandex shorts and tank tops. This was a place where no one was judged on what their body looked like and every single person was respected for why they were there, not what they looked like. Everyone was talking to each other as if they had known each other for a while.Caroline and I placed our mats down close to the door we had walked through and the looks we received were nothing but nice. This made us feel welcome in a place where we knew no one. I loved it there already, and couldn’t wait for the instructor to come in, and for the session to start. After about ten minutes of waiting for the instructor she had finally arrived. It turned out that Kimbo, the nice lady from the front desk, was the instructor for that day’s hot yoga session. She opened up the door to the room and shouted, â€Å"hello my lovely people! I was amazed by the spirit this woman had running through her because it gave off a positive vibe. It is important to stay positive throughout a yoga session because people who do yoga feel that the positive energy is another way to relieve stress and bring harmony. Everyone in the room turned towards the front and smiled back to her as she walked up there to lead the class. Caroline and I just followed everyone else’s lead by also turning to the front. Kimbo started off by asking Caroline and I to move to different spots of the room so that we would be surrounded by people knew what they were doing.We moved our things and ended up on opposite sides of the room. My new neighbors all introduced themselves and smiled to me. Their positive attitudes towards me made it clear that they wanted me to succeed in my first session. These people are all very caring and would be happy for anyone who gives yoga a chance. They are a rather inclusive group of people as the want everyone to experience the goodness of letting not letting stress get to the head. Kimbo raised her arms high up in the first position, and everyone knew to stand up; the session had started.We began by reaching up for the sky, exhaling and inhaling deep breathes. These are the breathing routines that start off each session to get the body relaxed and ready to start. It is crucial in yoga that one keeps breathing and knows how to control their breathe because it is key to connecting the body to the mind, which results in high relaxation. I was now ready to go, and so was everyone else in the room. There were many positions that we covered, and for each one there were two sets which helped because I was able to watch the experienced yogis do the first one and then join in on the second set.From the book written by the creator of Bikram Yoga, Bikram Choudhury write, â€Å"Through the practice of yoga, you integrate your body and mind in a perfect union. † (Bikram, 32) He created these specific positions so that peop le who practice yoga will use their bodies as a way to connect to their inner self. These positions we were doing required a lot of flexibility. In my interview with Jamie, I asked if this yoga class required flexibility, and she responded by telling me, â€Å"You don’t have to be anything to do yoga, you just have to be willing to try it. I didn’t quite agree with her statement because I thought that the positions would be very hard to do if one isn’t flexible enough. What I came to find out was that even though these positions required flexibility, it was something that one would have to work on. In yoga you aren’t pushed to the limit like you are in our fast-paced society, rather you are told to preform everything to your own comfort zone, and that helps people who do yoga free their stress.As we would reach our arms up high, Kimbo would peacefully repeat, â€Å"You are a flower blossoming in the midst of a beautiful summer,† which kept everyon e happy and in the mind state of peace. As I mentioned before, positivity is key in yoga. These words that Kimbo kept repeating kept the positive energy flowing throughout the room. This kind of language is what gives yogis the strength to balance out their down sides in life. The heat in the room was getting higher and higher, and I wasn’t sure if my body could handle it.I plopped down on my mat to take a quick breather, ripped off my tank top, and joined the rest of the women in the class who were wearing only a sports bra and spandex shorts. The scorching heat made it clear to me why people weren’t wearing a lot of clothes in the beginning of the session, and it seemed to me as if sweating was the main goal of this class. I looked around the room and noticed that everyone else was also dripping sweat. There were times where I would look around the room and see people raising their arms for a position, and sweat would drip down from them just like a shower head drips water after you turn it off.Every time I would sit down on my mat to take a break and wipe off my sweat, Kimbo would look at me, smile, and say, â€Å"You’re doing great! † She was one of the greatest motivators I had ever met because she did it in such a peaceful manner. Though my face was beat red, my eyes were basically tearing from the heat, and I thought I was going to faint, her positive attitude is what kept me going and even though I wanted to bee-line straight out that of that door, she gave me the strength to stay and finish the session.It was finally 4:45 and though it had felt like I had been in that room for hours, it had only been for ninety minutes. Kimbo turned off the lights and told us to lay straight on our backs with our eyes closed. Two minutes later she left the room and said, â€Å"Namaste,† and everyone replied back in unison, â€Å"Namaste. † Unaware of what this word meant, I just decided to go along with it, but didn’t s ay anything. In an article titled â€Å"The Meaning of Namaste† Aadil Palkhivala writes about and explains the deeper meaning of the gesture Namaste.He let his readers know that, â€Å"Usually, it is done at the end of class because the mind is less active and the energy in the room is more peaceful. The teacher initiates Namaste as a symbol of gratitude and respect toward her students and her own teachers and in return invites the students to connect with their lineage, thereby allowing the truth to flow—the truth that we are all one when we live from the heart. † (Palkhivala) Basically, this gesture ends the session and creates the final connection of peace to the mind while the mind is fully relaxed.While everyone was still lying there, I immediately sprinted out of the room to grasp a breathe of any kind of air besides the air in that room. Never in my life has room temperature air felt so good, and I was able to breathe normally again. As I waited for Carol ine to come out of the room many people who had just left the session approached me, telling me that I did a great job for my first time and that I should definitely consider coming back because yoga is one of the best things that has ever happened to them.These people enjoy yoga because they are able to step away from their hectic lives, and go into a place where they can fully relax their minds and not think about anything that would be getting was one of the most challenging, yet relaxing and peaceful activities I have ever experienced. In my interview with Jamie I asked her what one could expect in a typical yoga class. She told me, â€Å"Expect to sweat, but mostly expect to doubt yourself during the session and to feel absolutely incredible once your done. (Jamie Mack, interview) It turned out that she was exactly correct. In a short period of time I was able to achieve inner peace and full relaxation by doing yoga and trying to connect my mind and body. All of the stress tha t I had when I woke up earlier that morning had quickly vanished as I felt like I was on top of the world. Homework usually brings me down and puts me under a great amount of stress, but the yoga class took that negativity away. At that point I was living stress free, just like a yogi.People who practice yoga live life to the fullest while not letting their negative stress get to their heads. Most people in this fast-paced modern world we live in would appreciate time to fully relax their minds and bodies that are constantly being pushed to exceed their limits, the only problem is they don’t know what the real meaning of relaxation is. Yogis understand the concept of relaxation and value it as they strive everyday to be free of stress to live life in harmony. Works Cited: Choudhury, Bikram.Bikram Yoga: The Guru behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment. New York: Collins, 2007. Print. â€Å"Stress of Cell Phone Use Disturbs Sleep, Mood. † Stresshacker. Web. 09 May 2012. . â€Å"The Meaning of â€Å"Namaste†Ã¢â‚¬  The Meaning of Namaste. Web. 09 May 2012. . â€Å"Why Practice Yoga? † Why Practice Yoga? Web. 09 May 2012. .