Lean construction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Lean construction - Essay Example In fact, lean construction is set to be considered as the benchmark for other industries as it is for manufacturing currently. Effective tools and strategies can be implemented in the construction industry to implement lean and reduce waste to achieve operations efficiency through improved quality and productivity. Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction Background to study Aims and objectives Research methodology Summary Chapter Two: Literature review Production and Operations Management Project life-cycle Productivity challenges Lean production system Lean principles The concept of waste The Toyota way Lean construction Lean and strategy Lean implementation Chapter Three: Conclusions and recommendations References Chapter One: Introduction This chapter introduces the concept of lean management in production and discusses its evolution, importance, relevance in construction, aims and objectives of the study, the research methodology applied and the overall organization of the re search study. Background to study Lean concept is much appreciated, tested and practiced in industries like manufacturing, government, health care and other institutions. Lean in construction has been found to save costs and customers too increasingly prefer lean management of construction for cost savings. As there is much waste that is generated in the construction industry, implementing lean in construction industry can yield cost savings and reduce lead times for the benefit of all. It also found that present construction industry creates value at the rate of 10 percent while generating waste at the rate of 57 percent while in the manufacturing sector that implements lean, the reverse is true as it creates a value add of 62 percent and a waste of 26 percent (Sowards, 2012). Lean thinking was first applied to car manufacturing service but later evolved to be applied to other manufacturing sectors and hence been implemented in other industries as well. Lean implementation challeng es traditional business processes to improve performance to give a competitive advantage to the business. The concept of lean thinking or management is defined as â€Å"the process of continuously eliminating waste in all processes and systems† and was primarily related to production. Henry Ford first introduced this concept in his company in the manufacturing segment and later adopted it into other segments like accounting and non0manufacturign operations. The Japanese saw lean as a method to superior manufacturing through quality improvement and later started adopting it in other areas of the business processes, with the efforts and success of Toyota drawing attention worldwide (Bottirov, 2011). As other sectors including government and healthcare started implementing lean methods throughout the entire spectrum of business processes, construction industry too started considering the advantages of lean management (Bottirov, 2011). As the concept of lean management has emerge d from the production line, much of the practices, tools and techniques are readily available for implementation in manufacturing but construction being a different area than manufacturing, all of the principles and practices of lean production management do not fit into the construction industry, although there are many similarities in the processes of the two industry

Summary of Doctor Faustus Essay Example for Free

Summary of Doctor Faustus Essay Central Conflict: Doctor Faustus is unsatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge so he decides that he wants to learn how to practice magic. With the help of his friend Valdes and Cornelius teaching him magic, he starts off his career by summoning a devil named Mephastophilis. He sends Mephastophilis back to his master, Lucifer, with the offer of his soul in exchange for 24 years of service from the devil. Mephastophilis returns with the news that Lucifer accepts Faustus’s offer. He has some doubts at first because he didn’t really know if it was worth sacrificing his soul or not, but Faustus eventually agrees to the deal and signs it with his blood. With his new powers, he decides to travel to spread his fame. He goes to Rome and plays tricks on the pope by making himself invisible and stealing food. Faustus also travels to courts of Europe and the court of the German Emperor where he made antlers sprout on the head of a knight when he scoffs at Faustus’s powers while impressing Charles V the emperor. Faustus then continues on with his trickery and plays a trick on a horse trader by selling him a horse that turns into a heap of straw when ridden into a river. Eventually, Faustus bumps into all of those of whom he had tricked at the Duke of Vanholt and casts a spell on them to send them away to amuse the duke. Right before his inevitable death, the night before the expiration of his 24-year agreement, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He attempts to beg for mercy but by then it was already too late. A host of devils appear and midnight to take his soul off to hell. Protagonist: Although, this character did play a lot of tricks on many other characters in the play, I believe the protagonist is Faustus. His ambition and drive for knowledge, wealth, and power makes him willing pay the ultimate price; the sacrifice of his soul to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural power. Antagonist: I believe the antagonist is the devil, Mephastophilis. He is Lucifer’s servant and spears and handles the deal with Faustus’s soul. He threatens to transform Robin and Rafe into animals for their stupidity of summoning him. Chorus: The chorus is a bit vague in the play but there was a character that stood outside the story, providing narration and commentary. Response: The play was interesting at first but I was disappointed with how it ended because I was expecting it to have a more epic ending. I did like the little moral behind the story though. Faustus abused his powers by being cruel to everyone and playing tricks and when he begs for mercy, it was already too late. In my opinion, I think this play would be hard to pull off in a theatre setting because of all the different settings where Faustus traveled and the story plot isn’t all that interesting either.

Self Regulation Theory In Relation To Motivation Education Essay

Self Regulation Theory In Relation To Motivation Education Essay Learning and acquiring a second or foreign language can be difficult for some people and at the same time easy for others. Factors influencing this observation may be explained in terms of individual differences in Second Language Acquisition (SLA). These individuals differences may include personality, intelligence, language learning strategies, attitude, emotion and motivation. Some researchers believe that motivation may impact learners whole process of learning a second language (L2) (Gardner Lambert, 1972). One theory which has long been recognised in the field is called self-determination theory (e.g. Brown 1981, 1990), and it examines intrinsic/extrinsic motivation in L2 learning. However, there has also been a development of a more process-oriented theoretical approach namely the process model of L2 motivation by Dà ¶rnyei Ottà ³ (1998). They have highlighted the importance of developing self-regulatory strategies to manage, reinforce or sustain ones motivation during the course of learning. Accordingly, L2 self-regulation theory was later proposed by Dà ¶rnyei (2005), and the theory represents a major reformation of previous motivational thinking. This essay, therefore, will discuss the extent in which motivation plays a key role in second language learning. The focus of this essay is specifically on the linkage between self-regulation theory and second language learning, using the authors personal experience in Persian language learning as a case study. Research Objective The aim of this essay is to examine the authors experience in Persian language learning and analyse, based on self-regulation theory, to what extent motivation contributes to the learning of a second language. Methodology The essay employs a qualitative analysis based on theories and the authors personal experience in Persian language learning. First, definitions of the term motivation will be briefly demonstrated, and the most appropriate definition for this essay will be chosen. Second, theories and constructs of motivation in relation to self-regulation will be explored. Third, the role of motivation in the authors Persian Learning Experience will be evaluated based on self-regulation theory. Finally, a conclusion will be presented with a further discussion on future recommendations. CHAPTER TWO DEFINITIONS OF MOTIVATION Motivation is a broad concept, and definitions of motivation vary according to research and findings. The aim of this section is to explore several definitions of the term motivation and conclude on the most appropriate definition in second language (L2) learning which will contribute to this essay. To begin with, motivation comes from the Latin verb movere which means to move. It can be described as the driver inducing a person to take a certain action, make a decision, or invest efforts toward carrying out certain behaviours (Dà ¶rnyei Ushioda, 2011: 3). In a psychological perspective, motivation is often defined as the psychological quality that leads people to achieve a goal. For language learners, mastery of a language may be a goal. For others, communicative competence or even basic communication skills could be a goal. In a socio-educational framework, motivation to learn the second language is viewed as requiring three elements: effort, desire, and enjoyment. First, the motivated individual must expend an effort to learn the language. There must be a persistent and consistent strive to achieve success in learning such as by doing homework, practicing the language whenever there is an opportunity, etc. Second, the individual must demonstrate the desire to achieve the goal. Such individual will do all that is necessary to achieve the goal. Third, the motivated individual will enjoy the task of learning the language. Such an individual will say that it is fun, a challenge, and enjoyable, even though at times enthusiasm may be less than at other times. All three elements-effort, desire, and enjoyment-are necessary in order to differentiate individuals who are more motivated and those who are less motivated. However, each element, by itself, is seen as insufficient to reflect motivation. Some students may display effort, even though they have no strong desire to succeed, and may not find the experience particularly enjoyable. Others may want to learn the language, but may have other things that detract from their effort, etc. Motivation in Second Language Acquisition In the field of Second Language Acquisition research, motivation has been identified as one of the key factors which determines L2 achievement and attainment. Motivation initially serves as an impetus to generate learning and later as a sustaining force to ensure that the learner remains on-track with acquiring the target language (Cheng Dà ¶rnyei, 2007). According to Gardner (1985: 50), he posits that motivation in learning is based on four characteristics: a goal, effortful behaviour, a desire to attain the goal and favourable attitudes toward the activity in question. Dà ¶rnyei and Ottà ³s definition of L2 motivation (1998: 65) has a broader sense; they defined motivation as the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritised, operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out. According to Dà ¶rnyei and Ushioda (2011: 4), the by far definition that most SLA research, including this essay, would agree on concerns the direction and magnitude of human behaviour, that is, motivation accounts for: why people decide to do something (choice), how long they are willing to sustain the activity (persistence), and how hard they are going to pursue it (effort). It is important to note that although choice, persistence, effort are the three key issues allowing learners to regulate their own motivation, Ushioda (2003: 99-100) further demonstrates that in order for motivation to grow in a positive way, it cannot be seen as a progressive attempts to regulate behaviour from outside. There needs to be supportive interpersonal processes which foster the development of autonomy and the growth and regulation of motivation from inside. Thus, with this in mind, this essay will consider the issue of motivation in relation to self-regulation in the following chapter. CHAPTER THREE REVIEW OF SELF-REGULATION THEORY IN RELATION TO MOTIVATION IN SLA It has been widely accepted that motivation plays an important role not only in general academic learning, but also in the process of achieving the goal in a second language learning. According to Dà ¶rnyei (2002), L2 motivation has been seen as a dynamic construct that directs and enhances learning behaviour. There are many theories that devoted to motivation in relation to autonomy and strategy use, and two most-cited theories are self-determination theory and self-regulation theory. The self-determination theory, which was developed from the education psychology approach, examines about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in relation to the learners behaviours and regulation. It denotes a sense of choice, personal responsibility, and self-initiation of behaviours. While the self-regulation theory, a more recent development within the field of SLA research, refers to self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal goals. Other well-known related theories are Language Learning Strategies (LLS) and L2 Motivational Self System. LLS is another approach which relates to strategic behaviours and keys attribute of good language learners. This theory has been trying to establish a link between strategic behaviour and actual learning gains, to demonstrate that strategies are not culturally biased, and to explain why poor strategies user differs from good strategy users only in how they use strategies in context but not in the kinds or frequency of strategy they use (Ortega, 2009:214). Though self-regulation is a more recent alternative study that replacing the traditional emphasis on sheer frequency of strategy use. Its emphasis on the creativity of efforts employed to control ones learning processes is the main issue I would like to point out in this essay. L2 Motivational Self Systemis another important recent theory of L2 motivation proposed by Dornyei (2005). It concerns motivation especially in terms of the theory of possible selves and the self-discrepancy theory (Dornyei Ushioda, 2011). Drawing on theoretical paradigms from both motivational psychology and L2 motivational research, Dornyei (2005)s L2 Motivational Self System model has three main dimentions: the Ideal L2 self, the Ought-to L2 self, and the L2 Learning Experience. Rationale of this Essay: Self-regulation Theory in Relation to Motivation Despite the fact that there are many theories on motivation in the context of SLA, self-regulation theory seems to best fit this essay. The self-regulatory approach allows for the combined study of motivation and strategic behaviour, and of cognition and affect, under a single theoretical framework. As supported by Ortege (2009: 211) who demonstrates a clear relevance of self-regulation theory to SLA and individual differences when learning another language poses a high-anxiety and complex challenge that demands cognitive as well as affective self-regulation, and individuals differ in their capacity to self-regulate. There have been concerns about the clear-cut of LLS, as according to Dà ¶rnyei (2005: 162), there is a change of perspective that the LLS are immensely ambiguous phenomena and nothing is clear-cut about them. Furthermore, Dà ¶rnyei (2005: 190) stated that researchers started to accept that examining the LLS was not important as much as the fact that the good learners choose to put creative effort in their own learning and that they have the capacity to do so. Thus, because of learning strategies examine the outcome of these forces, I decided to draw self-regulation theory which is looking at the initial driving forces. The L2 Motivational Self System also does not fit in my context of describing a short language experience. It concerns more in terms of primary sources of the motivation to learn another language which are the Ideal L2 Self, Ought-to L2 Self, and L2 learning Experience. Review of Self-regulation Theory in Second Language Acquisition The starting point of self-regulation theory is that human endeavours are always goal-directed, intentional, effortful and voluntary (Boekaerts et al., 2006). In the face of multiple goals and ensuing environmental challenges, humans are capable of achieving the ends they choose to pursue because they are able to self-regulate their behaviour (Ortega, 2009: 211). In the context of SLA, L2 self-regulation is a process by which individuals direct their efforts, thoughts, and feelings toward the attainment of their personal goals, and self-regulation is neither a discrete mental ability nor an academic skill (Zimmerman, 2000). In other words, self-regulation involves processes, responses, and strategies that students initiate and regulate (Zimmerman, 1986) to activate and sustain both their behavioral conduct and their cognitive and affective functioning (Boekaerts, Pintrich, Zeidner, 2000; Zimmerman, 2001). Self-regulation theory became the recent developments in the field of L2 individual differences as there has been a need to reconceptualize the strategic behaviour into a theory over the past decades. The two main proponents for this urge are Dà ¶rnyei and Skehan (2003) who have pointed out that the L2 learning strategic behavior should not be limited to OMalley and Chamot (1990)s taxonomy of observed heuristic and reported mental process or Oxford (1990)s inventory of self-reported frequencies of strategy use. Then, in 2005, Dà ¶rnyei pushed forward the solution to theorizing learning strategies and claimed self-regulation theory as a framework for SLA research about strategic behaviour during L2 learning. Self-regulation Strategies Dà ¶rnyei has created a model of motivational strategies based on the psycholinguistic concept of selfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ regulation which is intended to reà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ theorize language learning strategies by examining strategic learning in the paradigm of selfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ regulation (see Dà ¶rnyei, 2005; Tseng et al., 2006). This taxonomy of strategic learning is based in the framework of motivation control strategies (Dà ¶rnyei, 2001) and consists of five categories. Dà ¶rnyei (2006) notes that his system was based on Kuhls (1987) and Corno and Kanfers (1993) taxonomy of action control strategies. The categories are defined below: 1. Commitment control strategies Commitment control strategies examine the students ability to set and reach goals in their learning. It helps to preserve or increase the learnersoriginal goal commitment. For example, students may keep in mind favourable expectations or positive incentives and rewards, or students may focus on what would happen if the original intention failed. 2. Metacognitive control strategies Metacognitive control strategies involve the monitoring and controlling of concentration, and the curtailing of any unnecessary procrastination e.g. identifying recurring distractions and developing defensive routines, and focusing on the first steps to take when getting down to an activity. 3. Satiation control strategies Satiation control refers to students capacity to control boredom and dissatisfaction in a learning task, and the ability to cope with these negative feelings (Dornyei, 2005). For example, students may add a twist to the task or using ones fantasy to liven up the task. These strategies can help to eliminate boredom and add extra attraction or interest to the task. 4. Emotion control strategies Emotional control strategies examine how learners cope with emotionally charged feeling such as stress, depression and disappointment that may hinder their language development. For example, students may use self-encouragement or using relaxation and meditation techniques. 5. Environment control strategies Environmental control strategies refer to how a student controls their learning environment in order to facilitate study. Learners with good environmental control are more aware of how their environment affects their learning and have strategies to curb these negative effects. For example, students may try to eliminate distractions or asking friends to help. Such activities will help in eliminating negative environmental influences and exploiting positive environmental influences by making the environment an ally in the pursuit of a difficult goal. CHAPTER FOUR PERSIAN LANGUAGE LEARNING EXPERIENCE Learning Context Persian Language Experience is part of the Second Language Teaching and Learning module. The aim of this language experience is not primarily for future use but to exemplify, and make more real, some of the issues connected with the language teaching and learning with which the modules deal. The instructor gives the reasons for choosing this language as follows: It is unlikely that any of the module students has learned it before. It is an Indo-Europeaen language, and so its grammatical categories, and some of its vocabulary, will be relatively familiar to students. The course runs eight weeks, covering the first six lessons of the textbook. The students will learn in romanised transcription not the Arabic script version as the purpose is to learn a limited amount of conversational Persian (Farsi), with associated grammar and vocabulary. There will be a review session at the end of each two-lesson section. (See Appendix 1 for more details) The class consists of about 30 students from various nationalities, mixed with females and males, aged approximately from 20 to 25, and all the lessons are taught in English. The instructor is the native speaker of the target language. I am a complete beginner-level learner as I have no previous knowledge in Persian language or culture. Though, I still show a great interest in learning a new language. I see this as a challenging task, and I am highly motivated by the thought of using the language as a mean of exploring Persian culture and people. Persian Language Learning Experience in Relation to Self-regulation Theory Personally, I aware that learning a second language is considered as a challenging task which requires time and effort. As I am highly motivated to use the language not just only for the purpose of the module, I developed my own goal to learn the language as much as I could within the time limit. In order to achieve the goal, keeping my learning on track is very important and the following strategies are how I regulate my Persian language learning in accordance to self-regulation theory: Commitment control strategies During the first two weeks, I was very interested to learn the language when the instructor began to introduce the lesson with an easy to remember greeting phrase. I became more motivated to learn Persian when the instructor presented about the tourist places and the culture. Hence, I made up my mind that I have to take this as an opportunity to learn the language as much as I could in order to travel to the area in the future. With this in my mind, I committed myself to buying a Persian textbook, so I would have to fully utilise the book and study thoroughly throughout the course. Metacognitive control strategies After the result of the first quiz, I became aware that maintaining my motivation through culture exploration was insufficient, and I needed to review more grammar and vocabularies periodically. In other words, I needed to structure my Persian learning by setting frequent goals. To illustrate clearly, I set mini-goals for myself to complete one or two exercises in the textbook per day. I also had a specific goal for each week that I must finish studying one chapter in the textbook before every Monday class. In the case that there were other deadlines from other courses and I could not finish one chapter by weekend, I told myself to devote a Sunday evening to complete the chapter. These mini goals provided me an opportunity to reflect and monitor my own progress each week and helped providing the motivation to focus on my tasks. Satiation control strategies During the course, I was always looking for a new inspiration or a new motivation in learning the language. I enhanced my interest by searching about tourist places or Persian culture online. I also recorded my own voice to overcome boredom while learning new vocabularies or practicing pronunciation. Emotion control strategies It was obvious that I experienced negative feelings such as anxiety, frustration, and discouragement after the result of the quiz. I avoided interacting with the instructor in the following lesson. However, I understood that I could not keep avoiding the interactions, and it would be better if I had prepared for the lesson ahead. I tried to get rid of negative feelings and cheered myself up by reminding myself about the real aim of the course, which is to point out some issues in the teaching and learning of a second language, and that the quiz mark was simply a way to reflect on my L2 learning progress. Environment control strategies As the Persian lesson runs only one hour per week, learning in class would be insufficient to achieve my personnal goal. to complete the book. Therefore, I tried to have extra lessons and/or sought out additional sources of input and interactions. I look for a good environment that have easy access to time and place to avoid procrastination such as the internet; I practice Persian pronunciation through YouTube videos and study more about Persian grammar and vocabulary through free lessons online. Self-evaluation Due to the fact that I needed to reflect on my daily progress in order to incorporate received feedback on the prospective assignment, it helped me to monitor my progress and observe my strategies whether the way I self-regulate has been improving my learning or not. In terms of commitment control strategies, I had a high amount of motivation in the beginning that I wanted to learn as much as I could. I had a very high expectation of myself and even bought the textbook in hope to study further the requirement. Although, this might not be strong enough to keep myself commit to my goal, in fact it kept me engaged in the tasks for a short period. Part of this failure was due to the fact that I did not have a definite schedule of my Persian learning and that I was distracted by other subjects. Another part might due to high intrinsic motivation, I was too ambitious to learn and did not examine my ability thoroughly. However, even though my motivation was dropped after the quiz, when I later set up the mini goals for each week, my process of learn became more structure and sustain my motivation throughout the week. In other words, these strategies help me minimizing procrastination or distraction and maximizing concentration and keeping goals in focus. This can be said that metacognitive control strategies are essential to develop a learner autonomy. As Wenden (2001: 62) demonstrates that a recognition of the function of metacognitive knowledge in the self-regulation of learning should contribute to a clearer understanding of learner autonomy, especially how it can be developed and enhanced. Wendens findings on the role of metacognitive knowledge in self-regulatory process also corroborate Chamot and OMalleys (1994: 382) observation that explicit metacognitive knowledge about task characteristics and appropriate strategies for task solution is a major determiner of language learning effectiveness . In addition to my satiation control strategies, the way that I always look for inspiration from different sources for my own learning can keep my learning on process. In my opinion, this strategy should be a way to increase my motivation when I feel procrastinated or bored. However, I found myself spending too much time browsing on the internet about Persian culture and had less time to review the task. I should be careful that it would not take up too much time of my daily Persian learning otherwise it would not be effective. So, it seems that this strategy might not be helpful to me sometimes because I can use it as an excuse to procrastinate. My emotion control strategies, particularly to my positive self-talk is also mentioned in a study by Bown (2009) that this technique helped learners maintain perspective on their language learning. It alleviated feelings of frustration or anxiety. Bown divided that learners used self-talk for two primary purposes: (a) to remind themselves of their own motivation for learning the language and (b) to encourage themselves when they felt that they were not making enough progress. The use of this self-talk also served to help learners keep their expectations of themselves realistic, as informed by their beliefs about language learning. Learners would tell themselves that mistakes are part of learning or that it takes longer to learn Russian than other languages they may have studied previously (Bown, 2009). Though it is true that the use of this strategy became effective when I had a low quiz mark, in my case it must be combined with other strategies (such as metacognitive control strateg ies) at the same time in order to completely encouraging myself. I must have a definite plan (the mini goals) to support my positive self-talk. For my environment control strategies, Wolters (1998), citing research from Corno (1989, 1993), Corno and Kanfer (1993), and Kuhl (1984, 1992), pinpoints a self-regulation technique I employed: (1) environmental control, for example a student who decides to go to a quiet place conducive to studying (225). In my opinion, the way that I always try to turn my surrounding environment into a learning environment for me makes me sometimes enjoy learning by myself rather than studying in the classroom. It helps me complete the mini goal I set for myself in each day. In addition, this can be supported by the study from Bown (2009). The findings suggested that effective self-regulation depended on the learners sense of themselves as agents in the learning process. Learners who recognized their role as authors of their own learning transformed the learning environment to meet their individual needs (Bown, 2009). CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION It is believed that motivation is essential in learning a second language as it can be a driven force for the learners to start their second language acquistion and it can be a force that sustain the learning throughout the acquisition. However, motivation, according to Dornyei and Ushioda (2011), is a dynamic and complicate factor which concerns about the choice, persistence, and effort of the learners in regulating thier own motivation. From this, motivation can be seen as a factor that correlate to the learner behaviour which can contribute to the learner autonomy. There are many theories which were developed to examine about motivation in relation to L2 learner behaviour and strategy use. Self-determination theory (SDT) is one of the theories that has a broad framework for the study of human motivation and personality. It is concerned mainly with intrinsic motivation and the way to which the individual is self-motivated and self-determined.Language Learning Strategies (LLS) is another approach which examines the strategies that the good language learner employ. The L2 Motivational Self System is another recent approach in relation to L2 motivation and the self framework. It concerns three self dimensions: Ideal L2 Self, Ought-to L2 Self, L2 Learning Experience. Self-regulation refers to the degree to which individuals are active participants in their own learning. It is a more dynamic concept than learning strategy, highlighting the learners own strategic efforts to manage their own achievement through specific beliefs and processes (Dà ¶rnyei, 2005). In the context in this essay, it is found that motivation became a critical factors on how the learner will choose the strategies to regulate his/herself and keep the learning process going in order to achieve goal of learning a second language. In other words, it can be argued that self-regulation of L2 learning is multidimensional, including cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and behavioral processes that learners can apply to enhance achievement. The deliberative, adaptive process of self-regulation enables learners to handle tasks effectively and prepares them to take responsibility for their learning (Wenden, 2001). In chapter 4, based on the Self-regulation theory, my Persian Learning Experience has been evaluated in relation to motivation. According to the four self-regulation strategies I employed, it is found that I depend much or less on motivation to regulate or control the four strategies. For instance, motivation became a crucial factor on how I use the metacognitive control strategies to change the way I learn the language. While motivation has been rarely concerned on how I chose the place to study as in the environment control strategies. Nevertheless, I could not agree more that both motivation and the four self-regulation strategies are the two essential factors that cannot be overlooked in learner autonomy and the development in the process to enhance individual learning in order to achieve the goal. Though the aim of the Persian Language Learning class was merely to experience the issues that can be raised in L2 learning and teaching, the fact that the class is conducted only one hour per week might not be enough to motivate some learners to engage during the lesson. In order to have a more effective class, the instructor could raise an awareness of using self-regulation strategies which I believe will be fruitful for the students themselves to have an opportunity to monitor their learning progress and develop their learning autonomy in L2 learning. As Hurd (2008) emphasises, awareness-raising of self-regulation in L2 learning is equally if not more important in independent learning setting (e.g. online environments and distance learning), where students lack the kind of social-affective support provided by regular interactions with other learners and the teacher, and typically may be engaging in language learning on top of full-time study and personal commitments.

Breaking Metaphoric Shackles in Toni Morrisons Beloved :: Toni Morrison Beloved Essays

Breaking Metaphoric Shackles in Beloved      Ã‚  Ã‚   In Toni Morrison's novels, she uses her main characters to represent herself as an African American artist, and her stories as African American art, and Beloved is no exception. She does this through her underlying symbolic references to the destructiveness of slavery and the connections between the characters themselves. Syntax is also what makes this novel work, using both the powers and limits of language to represent her African American culture with simple words and name choices.    One of her main characters, Baby Suggs, uses her English with some abandon, but only after getting her message across, however simple it may seem. She might choose simplicity over complexity in speech, but her words carry the needed intensity to express herself in the little time she has left on earth (Dahill-Baue, 472-73). Baby Suggs represents the authentic black woman, having been freed from slavery by her son, Halle. "Suspended between the nastiness of life and the meanness of the dead, she couldn't get interested in leaving life or living it" (Morrison, 3).    Slavery has limited Baby Suggs' self-conception by shattering her family and denying her the opportunity to be who she wants to be, which is a good wife and mother. She is seen as wise and spiritual, even in her last days. "You lucky. You got three left. Three pulling at your skirts and just one raising hell from the other side" (Morrison, 5). What makes her so authentic is her ability to have such control over language, dismissing the "binding shackles of social codes" (Dahill-Baue, 473).    Baby Suggs is not the only main character to hint that slavery it/was an experience that could never be known exactly for what it truly was. Morrison, through all of her characters, remains willing to risk losing her main characters to a past that can be neither seen nor controlled. She uses Sethe to symbolize the border between slavery and freedom, and unexpectedly does not allow Sethe to grow in the novel and escape that painful border (Parrish, 84). Through fragmented rememories, we see that Sethe was frequently treated as an animal in her period as a slave. She once walked in on Schoolteacher giving his pupils a lesson on her "animal characteristics.

Economics & study Essay

Economics is the study of how individuals use scarce resources to satisfy their needs (Lee, et al). There are a number of concepts that are associated in learning economics. These include limited resources, opportunity cost and trade-offs among many other factors of consideration. To understand and be able to make wise decisions in the purchasing of any good and service, one should better understand these concepts of economics. They are also imperative in the production of goods and services which is the primary aim of studying economics (Salaman, 1). Money and time are resources that are finite (Lee, et al). They are therefore called limited resources. A scarce resource is a resource that has a high demand and therefore proper decision making is needed to ensure that they are used optimally. Economics involves the distribution of resources so that they can satisfy individual needs. Money is scarce because it is limited in supply and therefore it should be used wisely to satisfy human needs (Lee, et al). For instance, if an individual has $ 500 in the pocket, he will choose to pay for his rent rather than buying beer for himself. Time on the other hand is an economic resource and one needs to decide well on what to do at a certain time and what to do at other times. In our daily lives, we often make decisions that impact the purchase of goods and services. These decisions depend on what our needs are and what are the resources that are at our proposal. Making decisions in economics is a very vital stage when it comes to purchasing of goods and services (Salaman, 1). An individual should make a decision that he or she will not regret when the scarce economic resource runs out. To make a good decision, one should really understand some concepts in economics like the price theory. Price theory makes one understand the prices of commodities that are in the market. When one understands the price theory, he or she can make the correct decision on what to buy at what price without incurring many losses. Opportunity cost results after careful decision making (Lee, et al). It is the cost which is equivalent to the value of the best alternative that an individual sacrifices in doing something else. By making a choice in whatever an individual does in life, he or she must incur opportunity cost. It can either be a marginal benefit or a marginal cost. For instance, an individual may have choices of either joining a masters program or getting employed in a company paying him $ 100,000. If the person decides to go for the masters program, his opportunity cost will be $ 100,000. Marginal benefit is defined as the benefit that is got by adding one extra unit in the level of activity (Lee, et al). Marginal cost on the other hand is the extra cost incurred by adding an extra unit in the level of activity. Generally, since all consumers are assumed to be rational, they tend to minimize marginal costs and maximize marginal benefits. The difference between the two gives the net benefit. Trade-offs on the other hand is closely related to opportunity cost although it reallocates the amount of time or money to be spent (Cage). This implies that there is that money that is set aside for spending on maybe house expenses. By buying less of what is not necessarily important and buying more of what is necessary, one shall have incurred a trade-off. It involves reallocation of money or time from what had been planned on (Cage). In conclusion, the study of economics helps individuals to determine on the type of choices they are to make in their daily lives. Deciding on what good or service to purchase may call for one to understand the concepts of opportunist cost, trade-offs and most importantly, have the knowledge of the scarce resources that are available to him or her. Works Cited: Cage, Michael. The differentiation trade-off and marketing to values. 2010. Web July 14, 2010 from http://www. entrepreneurslife. com/thoughts/entry/the-differentiation-trade-off-and- marketing-to-values/ Lee, Kylen, et al. The scope and methods of economics. September 17 2006. Web: July 14, 2010 from http://www. econguru. com/introduction_to_economics/scope-method. html Salaman, Graeme. Decision making for business: A reader. London: SAGE Publication Ltd, 2002.

Free Essays on Fall Of Ancient Egypt

Next came the Persian conquest. Cyrus the Great of Persia marked out Egypt as part of the world he planned to master; but he died before accomplishing that portion of his designs. His son Cambyses advanced against Egypt just as the aged Aahmes died, and the Persians thus encountered a new and untried sovereign, who made little resistance against them. The story of Persia's dominion over Egypt has been already told. It is true that Cambyses and his successors took the title of Pharaoh and that the Egyptian priesthood included them among the dynasties of Egyptian sovereigns. But the Persians held the rank of Pharaoh only as one among their many honors; they dwelt in their own country and ruled Egypt by governors as a conquered country. The long line of independent monarchs who had held the throne of ancient Egypt as their chief glory and their seat of empire vanished with Aahmes. Alexander, the famous Grecian conqueror, won Egypt when he defeated Persia. Indeed, the Egyptians hailed him as a deliverer. He worshipped their gods, accepted the title of "Pharaoh" with solemn respect, and caused Egypt to profit greatly by his favor. He founded the celebrated city of Alexandria at the western mouth of the Nile, naming the city after himself and planning to have it supersede Tyre as the commercial metropolis of all the eastern world. In the division of Alexander's empire among his generals, which followed after his death, Egypt fell to Ptolemy, the son of Lagos. His family, the Ptolemies, ruled Egypt as independent monarchs for nearly three centuries, making of it a sort of Greek-Egyptian kingdom. Its fortunes fluctuated, without marked extremes, in the constant struggle for power which occupied the various Greek kings whom Alexander had thus left in control of all the East. This era of the Ptolemies is to be reckoned on the whole as one of the more fortunate periods of Egyptian life. At no time was the Nile valley actually invaded, ... Free Essays on Fall Of Ancient Egypt Free Essays on Fall Of Ancient Egypt Next came the Persian conquest. Cyrus the Great of Persia marked out Egypt as part of the world he planned to master; but he died before accomplishing that portion of his designs. His son Cambyses advanced against Egypt just as the aged Aahmes died, and the Persians thus encountered a new and untried sovereign, who made little resistance against them. The story of Persia's dominion over Egypt has been already told. It is true that Cambyses and his successors took the title of Pharaoh and that the Egyptian priesthood included them among the dynasties of Egyptian sovereigns. But the Persians held the rank of Pharaoh only as one among their many honors; they dwelt in their own country and ruled Egypt by governors as a conquered country. The long line of independent monarchs who had held the throne of ancient Egypt as their chief glory and their seat of empire vanished with Aahmes. Alexander, the famous Grecian conqueror, won Egypt when he defeated Persia. Indeed, the Egyptians hailed him as a deliverer. He worshipped their gods, accepted the title of "Pharaoh" with solemn respect, and caused Egypt to profit greatly by his favor. He founded the celebrated city of Alexandria at the western mouth of the Nile, naming the city after himself and planning to have it supersede Tyre as the commercial metropolis of all the eastern world. In the division of Alexander's empire among his generals, which followed after his death, Egypt fell to Ptolemy, the son of Lagos. His family, the Ptolemies, ruled Egypt as independent monarchs for nearly three centuries, making of it a sort of Greek-Egyptian kingdom. Its fortunes fluctuated, without marked extremes, in the constant struggle for power which occupied the various Greek kings whom Alexander had thus left in control of all the East. This era of the Ptolemies is to be reckoned on the whole as one of the more fortunate periods of Egyptian life. At no time was the Nile valley actually invaded, ...

How to Speak Like a Italian Like

How to Speak Like a Italian Like If you want to learn Italian, forget your native tongue. If you want to speak Italian like a native, then spend some time in Italy speaking only Italian. If you want to read Italian, then pick up an Italian newspaper and peruse whatever section interests you. The point is, if you want to achieve competency in Italian, you must think like an Italian- and that means getting rid of the helpers that are real hindrances and standing on your own two (linguistic) feet. Bilingual Dictionaries Are a Crutch Speaking English to your friends is a waste of time if your goal is to speak Italian. Making grammatical comparisons between English and Italian are worthless. It sounds counterintuitive, but in the end, each language has rules and forms that are unique and sometimes illogical. And translating back and forth in your head before speaking or reading is the ultimate fools errand that will never lead to real-time speaking competence. Interact With Native Speakers So many people approach language as a science and get completely tongue-tied- witness the e-mail questions this SiteGuide receives daily about obscure Italian grammatical points and textbook recommendations. Learners obsess over minutiae, as if Italian could be dissected, instead of speaking Italian and interacting with native speakers. Imitate them. Mimic them. Ape them. Copy them. Let go of your ego and make believe youre an actor trying to sound Italian. But please- no books with something else to memorize. That turns off students immediately and is not effective in the least. Ignore English Grammar If there’s one bit of advice I can offer to anyone studying Italian, regardless of your level: Stop thinking in English! Ignore English grammar- you’re wasting a lot of mental energy trying to translate literally and construct sentences according to English syntax. In a letter to the editor in The New York Times Magazine, Lance Strate, an associate professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in The Bronx reinforces this point: ...it does not follow that all languages are equal, and therefore interchangeable. If this were true, the translation would be a relatively simple and straightforward affair, and learning another language would involve nothing more than learning to substitute one code for another, much like using Roman numerals. The truth is that different languages differ in highly significant ways, in grammar as well as vocabulary, which is why each language represents a unique way of codifying, expressing, and understanding the world. We do not become fluent in a new language until we stop translating and simply start thinking in the new language, because each language represents a distinctive medium of thought. Let Go of Your Fear of Making Mistakes Your goal should be to communicate, not sound as if you have a Ph.D. in Italian grammar (you’ll never do it, anyway, since there are only a small number of native Italians who are that well-versed in the intricacies of their own language. But certainly, most of them can communicate their every emotion, fear, want, and need.). Your biggest mistake, and what will hold you back, is using English as a crutch and being afraid of opening your mouth wide and singing that lovely language called la bella lingua. At the risk of sounding discouraging, a lot of language learners just don’t get it, and never will. It’s similar to taking dance lessons. You can put cut-out feet on the floor with numbers on them and take lessons from an expert, but if you don’t have rhythm, and you don’t have that swing, you’re always and forever going to look like a klutz on the dance floor, no matter how many lessons you take and how much you practice. So what do you do if you’re not a good dancer and weren’t born with natural rhythm? Scripted Responses Learning scripted responses in foreign languages is unproductive. Every textbook for beginners devotes many pages to dialogue that’s stilted and simply doesn’t occur in real life. So why teach it?! If you ask a person on the street Dov’e’ il museo? and he doesn’t respond according to the script you memorized, then what? You’re stuck, because there is an infinite number of potential responses, and none of us has enough time on the face of this earth to memorize them. And that person on the street is going to keep on walking because he’s headed to a great pizzeria. Learning scripted responses in foreign languages encourages a false sense of confidence. It doesnt translate into real-time speaking competence nor will you understand the musicality of the language. It’s like looking at a musical score and expecting to be a master violinist just because youve memorized the notes. Instead, you have to play it, and play it again and again. Likewise with the Italian language. Play with it! Practice! Listen to native Italian speakers and mimic them. Laugh at yourself trying to pronounce gli correctly. Italian, more so than many languages, is musical, and if you remember that analogy it will come easier. There is no secret, no Rosetta Stone, no silver bullet when it comes to learning a language. You have to listen and repeat ad nauseum. You will make a quantum leap in learning Italian when you abandon your native tongue and disengage from the grammar that you implicitly learned when you were a child.

Pointless death in war Essay Example

Pointless death in war Essay Example Pointless death in war Essay Pointless death in war Essay Good Evening/Morning Teachers and fellow students, today is the day that marks Wilfred Owens Inclusion into the War Poets Hall of Fame. Owens poetry was different to that of some other types of war poets of his time because he was courageous enough to make his attacks on the government and the significant loss of life. His Ideas and techniques are presented throughout the two poems Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth. Owen explores the truths of war in these poems through themes such as; war as the horrific and savage scene it is, the disparity between reality of the battlefield and the perception of what war is at home. Owen shows the devastation of war on the human being and soul, not only the physical but the mental effects of war. The soldiers are influenced by government propaganda, they are told to die for their country; the betrayal, conspiracy and devastating loss of innocent youth. Owen is able to portray these truths through his powerful poetry. Throughout his poems he uses allusions, guttural consonants, onomatopoeia and other techniques to create powerful messages that war is, to quote Owen himself, to hell and back. Dulce et Decorum Est brings the realisation that war is not as it is portrayed to the public, but the allusion that the government gives to the country. This is shown through the title Dulce et Decorum Est. This title means that it is sweet and honorable to die for ones country this allusion throughout the poem shows through irony and sarcasm that it is the The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori. This shows how war is everything but sweet and honorable it is about the death and horror brought into peoples lives. War equals death. The description of the soldier drowning in the blood of his froth corrupted lungs certainly negates this. Owen shows the unknown fact that men are dying for their country in a horrible way. Owen is hiding it in another language, just as the government was hiding the truth from their country, letting people kill themselves. This is very different to the poets during Owens time, as he was not glorifying war, but exposing the devastating affect war had on humankind. This is used in conjunction with the disparity between war on the battlefront and the corruption of the perception of a courageous and glorious place to be. In the poem Anthem for Doomed Youth, Owen illustrates his theme of the devastating loss of youth. The title to brings to mind the hope of a song of praise, but Owen uses this to his advantage. He emphasises his theme through the words Anthem, Doomed Youth in the title of the poem are juxtaposed to highlight the brutality reality of war. The word Youth normally brings to mind happiness and joy. Owen places Youth next to the word Doomed which illustrates to the audience the stress and hopelessness of the youth during war. The word Anthem usually associates with a patriotic song or song of praise, Owen draws to mind the fact that these boys have nothing to sing about during the chaos of war. Owen effects the thoughts and feelings of people that have not experienced war for what it is, the major loss of innocent lives. Owen shows the significance of his poetry through the title, giving the audience a sense of feeling for the poem. Owen uses visual representations in Dulce to show the mental and physical effects on the soldiers going through the punishment of war and how this changes the young soldiers. The harshness of the simile bent double like old beggars illustrates how the soldiers look, showing them as crestfallen and disheartened, bent. This is not how soldiers are normally depicted they should have their heads held high and marching tall. Owen shows how the young men of war have now become old beggars; they have aged and are begging for their lives; lives that may be taken away from them at any time. This along with an ecstasy of fumbling shows the urgent need for the salvation of ones life. The ecstasy of fumbling to put on their gas masks shows the audience how the soldiers have been forced into the bent and begging state to save their lives. The soldiers are beyond exhaustion, they have to find the energy to put on their gas mask or they will face death. The innocence of youth has been lost. Some have lost their lives; others have lost their mental state. Owen also shows the mental effects on the young soldiers as they are killed and thrown away to die through the poem Anthem for Doomed Youth. Owens main theme is the fact that the young soldiers do not get the proper funeral they deserve. The opening line What passing bells for those who die as cattle? the use of this rhetorical question illustrates numbers of soldiers massacred as if they were cattle, shredding the blood of youth, their pain, and death in large numbers. Owen uses onomatopoeia and personification in the bombs to represent the harshness of the battlefield, as the soldiers had to endure the sounds of wailing shells as they brutally diminish the soldiers mind. Owen compares the funeral at home compared to the funeral on the battlefield. The holy glimmers interpreted as tears, in the eyes of the soldiers, and funeral bells are replaced with the sounds of weapons firing. Owen shows that during war soldiers deaths are seen to be insignificant. Owen shows the insignificance of human life and the mental horrors as young men are brought to tears, the devastation of war and the savage mean to kill people. The use of Guttural consonants throughout Owens poem Dulce et Decorum Est are shown through words such as guttering, choking, drowning the use of t k and d emphasise the harshness of war. These words describe how a young soldier is dies in war; there is nothing smooth and flowing about the death of a soldier. It tells of the death of a young soldier just because he wasnt quick enough to put on his gas mask. The harsh sound when these words are spoken help set the theme of a pointless death in war. This coupled with the present participle, ing make the poem powerful to the reader showing that the scene is not in the past, its happening now, putting the reader at the scene of the horror and illustrates the urgency and death of the battlefield. Owen used this to convey his message to the home front, to show the effects of war through the harshness of his language, depicted with the loss of innocent life within our society. Owen uses onomatopoeia in Anthem through stuttering rifles rapid rattle this line demonstrates the continuing slaughter of men. The use of the word rapid infers not only the speed of the guns but the speed of which lives are being taken away. The use of onomatopoeia is also used in conjunction with alliteration in the rifles rapid rattle. This line depicts the sound of the guns. Also how the line not easily orated, and this implies that it is a hard time, a time of disparity. The sounds of guns fire also replaces the grieving people you would normally find when a death occurs. Owen significantly changes the audiences opinion of the war showing that there is no time to grieve when people are dying quicker than a gun can fire. Through the use of harsh consonants in his language, Owen conveys his message of hardship for soldiers during war, the loss of innocent lives, the reality of the battlefield and the horror and savagery of war. In conclusion Wilfred Owen uses many complex themes that show the world the significant horrors of war, major losses of war and the disparity of the battlefield and the effects of war at home. Throughout Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth Owen has shown several techniques to justify his arguments to the audience and what has just been illustrated to you. Based on the crux of the arguments presented, I trust that Wilfred Owen will be included into the War Poets Hall of Fame.

Revolutionary War-Kings Mountain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Revolutionary War-Kings Mountain - Essay Example The results for Britain had grown through the efforts of its forces that enabled them to control Carolina and Georgia.1 The next step was to create forts in the captured places to attract the attention of the Loyalists. With the developments in the campaigns in the southern part of America, more efforts were placed in that portion. The troops of Britain were slowly getting few in numbers so the British leaders had seen the South as the good place for implementing a strategy. They had thought it as a good idea since a lot of immigrants were lived there and many slaves were captured. In short, they thought that many Loyalists reside in the southern portion. Their expectations did not meet the reality because it turned out that their supporters were fewer than the figures they had estimated. The failed plan had led them to continue the campaign towards Carolina with a weak army. That is not all because British forces had also encountered guerilla wars in the places that they had already held. Militia had attacked those bases that had weakened the colonizer even more.2 The occurrence did not stop the rebels to pursue the war and gain the freedom that they wanted to get. In response, they attacked the supply deliveries and stocks of the British forces. An attempt was made to attack the British forces when General Horatio Gates had created a force composed of untrained people. The force met the British in Camden where the untrained American force was chased away by the British force. The encounters happened many times until the Americans won against Britain in Cowpens, South Carolina. The Battle of Kings Mountain occurred when the British forces tried to take control of the Southern part of America. They had done so because they thought there were a lot of Loyalists there. The sad fact is that the estimate was wrong and British forces faced hardships in gaining full control of the south. One of the battles that happened there wherein Britain lost was the Kings

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Personal Statement Example That is why I have always advocated charity clinics and free consultations for those in need whenever I have the time to spare. The volunteer service and hospital based training I did in India allowed me to treat medical cases that helped enhance my patient diagnosing skills. These were on the job experiences that came in handy when I came over to the US for further training. Although only a student under the supervision of internal/family medicine physicians, I am currently being allowed to develop my skills by working alongside them in clinical trials while I continue to pursue the requirements to complete my medical residency in the U.S. This type of interaction with both patients and fellow physicians has certainly come a long way in honing what I hope to be world class physician skills in the future. I know very well that I need to keep myself physically and emotionally well-rounded as well if I am to continue serving my patients to the best of my abilities. That is why I always take the time during my very busy work week to stay fit with various sports activities like tennis. I also make sure to set aside my weekends to reconnect with my family. These activities will help me deal with the high pressure job of being a doctor and has translated into continuously improving and evolving medical skills for my patients. I have been taught b

Employability Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Employability Portfolio - Essay Example I oversaw many facets of the business and lead cross functional teams to successful. This maybe a challenging aspect because I want to manager bigger teams such as QA, developers, and sales department. As a young commerce student, this experience has taught my vital aspects regarding my job field. Since I am planning to be a future business analyst or a project manager, I can implement the methodologies that I acquired from this position in the future. As a future business analyst, I am learning about the daily procedures that must be conducted in a timely fashion. Furthermore, I am truly acquiring the true essence of corporate America that I wanted to experience as a Student. Accounting no doubt is a hectic job that truly requires hard work, dedication, and patience. I can safely say that this experience was critical towards my learning curve as I continue to explore careers after graduation. Explain for each skill selected in Part one the circumstances (e.g. work, academic study extra-curriculum activities, personal circumstances, etc. ) that have led you to gain it. The word limit is a maximum of 300 words. A prominent experience that really defined my moment at my internship was when I created a widget for my organization. Caregivers.com works a lot with SEO, which has been the focal point of my internship. As a business analyst, I created a widget that would track analytics across the web. After doing a gap analysis, I realized that the SEO churn rate was lucrative. Without a doubt, many academic theories are prevalent in my internship. For instance, how does one account for payments that are charged with interest or late fees? Do some of the assets that the company possesses depreciate? If so, which type of depreciation is used? All these are critical components that are acquired through accounting classes and then later applied at this internship. Furthermore, the concept of embedding internal controls

The Two Dominant Political Parties of the United States of America Essay

The Two Dominant Political Parties of the United States of America - Essay Example All the variances in people figures have affected, modified and changed the political approaches and arena over time. The original thinking of great minds in the early civilization of America either no longer exists or has been aptly altered or transformed. In sum, the multi-faceted US landscape resulted in the growth and development of its politics being intertwined with the ethnic compositions of the social order. Despite these factors, it is very significant and interesting to observe that the American internal political influence is shared by only two dominant parties, the Republican and the Democratic, unlike in other free sovereignties where run-off elections are an ordinary scenario caused by multi-party rumbles not giving a majority vote for any party at first instance.. Of course, there are other groups (like the Libertarian, the Constitution and the Green parties) moved by different ideological or causal beliefs but these are seemingly petty pockets which do not require much attention. The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the US. Historically, its founding dates back to as early as in 1790 after those who followed the great George Washington started to struggle for national prominence.4 Ironically, the first president himself did not belong to any political party and he was vocal about being against the establishment of one.5 While the Democratic Party of today is commonly perceived to be liberal, its roots were not exactly identified with that perception. The passing of time together with so much changing of the guards has introduced dilutions. In the early stages of its organization, the foremost pillars of the Democratic Party, while divided, were not totally against slavery and racial discrimination. But if we go back to the 1960's, Democrat Robert F. Kennedy was a moving proponent who vigorously supported the doctrines and actions of Martin Luther King albeit there were charges of inappropriateness on the part of the former anent eliciting pr ivate information from the latter. Be it also noted that the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a true disciple of Luther King and one shining embodiment of the civil rights movement, has been a long-time stalwart of the party. On the other side of the coin, we have the Republican Party which was founded resultant of in-house fighting among the original democrats of the post-George Washington era. Among its major crusades during infancy stage, slavery and racism were condemned. In contrast, however, perception of Republican icons say another thing. Thus, Republican Ronald Reagan was criticized so much for his alleged racist and discriminatory stance despite the fact that he made into law the observation of a national day honoring Martin Luther King and the fact that he appointed the first woman Supreme Court justice. Reagan,

Review of You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon Essay

Review of You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon - Essay Example The author, Siobhan Fallon has invested in these stories a variety of emotions, realism and conciseness, which is prominent in the writing style and the tone used by the author. This book, â€Å"You Know When Men are Gone† movingly makes the citizens of the United States of America and its readers, recall, remember and pay tribute to the numerous sacrifices made by officials and staff of the naval, land, marine and the air forces of the country and not only the officials but also their parents, wives and children as well. This shows us that the sacrifices, like charity, when in the armed forces, begin at home. This book makes extensive use of different elements of literature, namely denotation and symbolism and these are used at numerous places, across all the stories. â€Å"Fallon provides a full three-sixty on military life, taking readers into the daily existences of both the women left behind to manage the mundane details and minor crises of domestic life and the loud-tal king, cursing, dreaming-of-home men who, knowing that they cannot control what happens while they’re away, grapple with the undeniable possibility that when they do finally return to home and family, they won’t find the same home and family they left† (Schinsky).   This book despite its very clear and denotative message of the absence of the military personnel from home, possesses a certain connotation. Set in the very secure colony of Fort Hood as well as the Green Zone in Iraq, the symbolism in this book by Fallon focuses on the world within the all the stake holders of war, especially the men fighting, the women waiting and the children crying. The stories in this capacity are inarguably out of the ordinary and attention grasping. This is not because of the fact that they are informative, emotional and heart wrenching but because they shed light on the truth—the profound, expressive truth of all the stakeholders of war and all those involved in these stories. This is because of the reason that the write Siobhan Fallon pursues first the complete realism of the life and surroundings of her book’s character. This she does through the prose which is concise and reverberating, later attaching with it a connotation. Therefore, the collection of short stories, received much praise from the masses and they exceeded expectations of all those who read them, primarily because of the fact that these stories were merely a narration by the author about her personal experiences. Each one of the short storiesput forth a varied theme, ranging from the partsthat military personnel, their staff and their colleagues must fulfill, regardless of the degree of command or the location, wherever they are, home or combat. This novel makes the readers aware of the elusive control that the military transmits even over the most apparentlyinsignificantfacets of time, how lengthy the grass may grow in the front yard, and the superiorand significant par t that is played by the families of these military personnel in each other’s lives. The family network, as described in the book is so inter woven that the families start feeling a certain sense of dependence upon each other. The author of this short stories collection Siobhan Fallon has taken great care of very intricate and seemingly lesser important matters. The author here has been very cautious and

Contemporary Business Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contemporary Business Analysis - Essay Example All major assets, even land, lost their values overnight. The entire world seemed at a loss about what to do. The major financial heads all over the world started thinking about he steps that should be taken to avoid such an incident to occur again. When the matter was observed, the major reason that was seen which led to the recession was found to be too mush lending done by the banks all over the world, particularly US. The question of the day was what to do to avoid this kind of crisis. One of the popular suggestions given was the requirement by central banks to private banks to increase their reserves that are held at the central bank. The suggestion was given much thought because it held many positives. Firstly, even if private banks again engross themselves in over lending in the future, the reserves held at the central bank would be more than enough to bail out the economy before the stage of recession is reached. The reserves would not only provide stability to the monetary system, but would also stop inflation from reaching massive heights, and would also allow banks and other major financial institutions, which are affected first in case of recession, to remains stable and in power to control the situation. Secondly, the major advantage of increasing reserves would be to save the common man from the repercussions of recession. We saw the examples of how people are affected. They lose their jobs, can't afford a lot of thing due to high prices, find their major assets like homes and investments losing value, and have to face the harsh life of bankruptcy. This eventually leads to fall out of entire economies. If federal reserves are in place then this whole scenario can be avoided by injecting liquid money in the economy at regular intervals so that inflation does not rise rapidly. Also the monetary base will help in keeping the value of assets intact over longer period of time. Thirdly, for private banks, let us first study all the positive implications. In the recession, the institutions most adversely hit are private banks, as they do not have the backing of governments like central banks; and also they are the ones that have all their assts as loans to individuals (Ganley). So when the value of assets fall or when people declare bankruptcy, they are the ones who take the hit as now they don't have any way to regain their money. By increasing the federal reserve base, the banks also have more security against their loans getting defaulted. Also, it was seen in many examples that banks have to declare insolvency or even bankruptcy, observing that the collateral on their bad debts have now lost all of its value. In such a case, the reserve base could be helpful to the banks such that they can maintain their base and have even a small amount of that base to have as liquid strength. Now let us discuss the negative implications of such a requirement. First of all, the private banks may be reluctant to go for such a measure. A bank is an institution that has to keep its profits high and its shareholders happy. If the reserves were to rise, then the banks will have less money to lend (Harrington, 2009). This would mean less money to gain interest from, which directly says less income earned by the banks (Harrington, 2009). As we know now that retail banking has become the key aspect in a bank's operations, therefore such a measure can hurt the profits of the bank tremendously. Second, as

The Two Dominant Political Parties of the United States of America Essay

The Two Dominant Political Parties of the United States of America - Essay Example All the variances in people figures have affected, modified and changed the political approaches and arena over time. The original thinking of great minds in the early civilization of America either no longer exists or has been aptly altered or transformed. In sum, the multi-faceted US landscape resulted in the growth and development of its politics being intertwined with the ethnic compositions of the social order. Despite these factors, it is very significant and interesting to observe that the American internal political influence is shared by only two dominant parties, the Republican and the Democratic, unlike in other free sovereignties where run-off elections are an ordinary scenario caused by multi-party rumbles not giving a majority vote for any party at first instance.. Of course, there are other groups (like the Libertarian, the Constitution and the Green parties) moved by different ideological or causal beliefs but these are seemingly petty pockets which do not require much attention. The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the US. Historically, its founding dates back to as early as in 1790 after those who followed the great George Washington started to struggle for national prominence.4 Ironically, the first president himself did not belong to any political party and he was vocal about being against the establishment of one.5 While the Democratic Party of today is commonly perceived to be liberal, its roots were not exactly identified with that perception. The passing of time together with so much changing of the guards has introduced dilutions. In the early stages of its organization, the foremost pillars of the Democratic Party, while divided, were not totally against slavery and racial discrimination. But if we go back to the 1960's, Democrat Robert F. Kennedy was a moving proponent who vigorously supported the doctrines and actions of Martin Luther King albeit there were charges of inappropriateness on the part of the former anent eliciting pr ivate information from the latter. Be it also noted that the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a true disciple of Luther King and one shining embodiment of the civil rights movement, has been a long-time stalwart of the party. On the other side of the coin, we have the Republican Party which was founded resultant of in-house fighting among the original democrats of the post-George Washington era. Among its major crusades during infancy stage, slavery and racism were condemned. In contrast, however, perception of Republican icons say another thing. Thus, Republican Ronald Reagan was criticized so much for his alleged racist and discriminatory stance despite the fact that he made into law the observation of a national day honoring Martin Luther King and the fact that he appointed the first woman Supreme Court justice. Reagan,

Contemporary Business Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contemporary Business Analysis - Essay Example All major assets, even land, lost their values overnight. The entire world seemed at a loss about what to do. The major financial heads all over the world started thinking about he steps that should be taken to avoid such an incident to occur again. When the matter was observed, the major reason that was seen which led to the recession was found to be too mush lending done by the banks all over the world, particularly US. The question of the day was what to do to avoid this kind of crisis. One of the popular suggestions given was the requirement by central banks to private banks to increase their reserves that are held at the central bank. The suggestion was given much thought because it held many positives. Firstly, even if private banks again engross themselves in over lending in the future, the reserves held at the central bank would be more than enough to bail out the economy before the stage of recession is reached. The reserves would not only provide stability to the monetary system, but would also stop inflation from reaching massive heights, and would also allow banks and other major financial institutions, which are affected first in case of recession, to remains stable and in power to control the situation. Secondly, the major advantage of increasing reserves would be to save the common man from the repercussions of recession. We saw the examples of how people are affected. They lose their jobs, can't afford a lot of thing due to high prices, find their major assets like homes and investments losing value, and have to face the harsh life of bankruptcy. This eventually leads to fall out of entire economies. If federal reserves are in place then this whole scenario can be avoided by injecting liquid money in the economy at regular intervals so that inflation does not rise rapidly. Also the monetary base will help in keeping the value of assets intact over longer period of time. Thirdly, for private banks, let us first study all the positive implications. In the recession, the institutions most adversely hit are private banks, as they do not have the backing of governments like central banks; and also they are the ones that have all their assts as loans to individuals (Ganley). So when the value of assets fall or when people declare bankruptcy, they are the ones who take the hit as now they don't have any way to regain their money. By increasing the federal reserve base, the banks also have more security against their loans getting defaulted. Also, it was seen in many examples that banks have to declare insolvency or even bankruptcy, observing that the collateral on their bad debts have now lost all of its value. In such a case, the reserve base could be helpful to the banks such that they can maintain their base and have even a small amount of that base to have as liquid strength. Now let us discuss the negative implications of such a requirement. First of all, the private banks may be reluctant to go for such a measure. A bank is an institution that has to keep its profits high and its shareholders happy. If the reserves were to rise, then the banks will have less money to lend (Harrington, 2009). This would mean less money to gain interest from, which directly says less income earned by the banks (Harrington, 2009). As we know now that retail banking has become the key aspect in a bank's operations, therefore such a measure can hurt the profits of the bank tremendously. Second, as

Working in the kitchen area Essay Example for Free

Working in the kitchen area Essay The advert could also include other material that might attract a wider net of suitable candidates. For example, it might briefly outline the philosophy of the organisation, its positive attitude to disabled people, or its commitment to family friendly policies.  In general, the advert should be presented so that it captures reader attention, arouses interest in the company, creates desire and incites readers to action. A good advertisement will attract prospective candidates but deter those who would be unsuitable to meet the specifications of the job. It is also essential that the job advert conforms with equal opportunities legislation. There are several different methods used by businesses to compile a short list of candidates. Most typically, applicants are asked to return curriculum vitae (CV), a completed application form or a letter of application. Sometimes they are asked to supply two, and occasionally all three, of these different means of job application.  These applications are then used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of applicants, which allow the business to draw up a short list to go through to the final stage of the selection process. At this point, there is a further piece of recruitment documentation used within the interview process a form of recording and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate during the interview. This is considered as part of an in depth look at interview techniques. The whole interview process is very important for McDonalds because they want their organisation to attract and recruit the highest calibre people available.  Having recruited them its crucial that McDonalds then go on to develop and motivate them, meaning they can perform to their highest potential. McDonalds are keen to give recognition to their staff and reward them according, this then motivates them to work harder and achieve more with McDonalds, this is done by giving them a employee discount card, they also give them service awards every 3, 5, 10, 20 years you have stayed with McDonalds, each time they will get something special, such as a holiday trip, more time off work, McDonalds will then hope that this scheme will keep employees on board for many years, as theres always something else for the employee to achieve, having employees stay longer for McDonalds is also a priority so for them, this is because it saves a lot of money as they dont have to go through the recruiting and training process, for employees to stay longer they will try to recruit friends or family members of existing employees. Another scheme they use to give recognition and to motivate staff is employee of the month / year awards. This rewards consistent hard workers by giving extended holidays and by also putting their name, picture and McDonalds location on a plaque with other contenders for the award, McDonalds know there are other fast foods stores potential employees could join, so thats the reason why McDonalds offer competitive pay and benefits to their staff, for instance in the first year alone McDonalds offer 3 pay reviews, so if a member of staff has excelled they will get an pay rise as an incentive to work, added to this they also get a private healthcare and free life assurance after 1 year. At McDonalds the staff can become bored due to the repetitiveness of the work, therefore McDonalds need to ensure that their employees are motivated and there is good morale, otherwise they can potentially suffer of poor performance, as a result poor performance can lose the business a lot of money and may deter customers away from there branch. So to make sure employees are happy with their job McDonalds may consider introducing job rotation to the member of staff if they feel he/she is capable. E.g. more outgoing people are more suited to working on the tills and checking over customers, while less talkative or those who can handle pressure are better suited to working in the kitchen area.  Motivating staff isnt just about incentives, it has much to do with the way employers treat and manage staff.

How Music Effects Emotions On People Psychology Essay

How Music Effects Emotions On People Psychology Essay I made a decision to pick up music on the day that I found out how amazing music was. I sat into a band practice where they played a piece called Fire Dance. Ironically, when the band started playing, I had a brief scene of a calm ocean, with ripples of waves coming towards me. As the band continued, and as the music got louder, faster and more intense, I experienced fierce and powerful ocean waves crashing down on each other. This is possibly due to the clashing of cymbals that always happen right after the band reaches the peak of its crescendo. I use the term experienced because I not only had an image of it, but I also became engulfed by emotions that had so suddenly sprung out from nowhere. The most expressive words that I can use for the emotions I had felt from the music and image are grace, power and majesty. I was so overwhelmed by the majesty of the music that I cried a few tears and I had slight breathing difficulties because my chest had felt tight. This was all new to me . I had no prior music training and neither did the music trigger any past memories. I had finally understood why people become musicians. I glanced around after the band finished playing, and realised that I was the only one who was affected by the music. I was somewhat embarrassed by my reaction. So far, this is my most vivid and interesting experience brought to me by music. There are two positions on how music effects emotions on us. One is the cognitivist view which supports music as appearing to evoke emotions, the brain acknowledges the emotions in the music, but the listener does not experience any actual emotions (Thompson,2009). The other is the emotivist view which supports the idea of emotions being induced by music, and these emotions are felt, which is observed by physiological arousals (Storr, 1992). Music presents emotions through the characteristics of music (such as musical contour, tempo and modality). These characteristics mould the type of emotions experienced by the listener (Kivy,1980,Thompson). One theory suggests music as a language, where various emotions are brought across by different types of musical intervals. For example, an augmented fourth expresses distress, while a major third can express happiness (Cooke, 1959)/(Thompson, 2009). Upon hearing the sounds, the brain interprets it as music, and evaluates or appraises the music to create physiological responses (Zajonc, 1980, Thompson). The arousal of the autonomic nervous system is the response of an animal to an environmental stimulus. This includes changes in breathing rate, heart rate and blood pressure. Since this similar response may also be observed after an exercise, they do not necessarily represent an emotional response. Therefore, cognitive processing is required to link arousal with music, in order to form an emotional experience (Mandler, 1984, Thompson). It is to be noted that this point of view incorporates cognitive reasoning into the emotivist position, but do not support the cognitivist position. Humans have an innate arousal response to unexpected occurrence of events. According to Mandler, composers have the ability to generate increases in arousal by manipulating the expectancy of the listeners, and this ability differentiates music from other stimuli (Mandler, in Thompson, 2009). The expectancy theory explains that deviation of music from the expectations of the listener creates tension/arousal, which is, as discussed above, emotion. Music preference is related to the degree of arousal. It is found that a balanced/moderate degree of incongruity is most preferred, as high incongruity makes the music confusing and unpleasant, and no incongruity makes the music predictable and boring. In other words, deviation from expectancy is directly correlated to degree of arousal, and music of moderate levels of incongruity is considered most pleasant (Berlyne, in Thompson, 2009). These perceived sound patterns (music characteristics/incongruity) of music are experienced by emotions (M eyer, 1956). Experiments have proven emotions are induced by music. Sloboda (1991) conducted a survey on music and physical responses. The results show that many people experience emotions when they listen to music, and some of the emotions experienced include shivers, laughter, tears, racing heart, sweating (Thompson, 2009). A blind experiment was conducted by Rickard, Nikki (2004) to investigate the presence of a difference in physiological arousal between more and less emotionally powerful music (EPM). 21 healthy participants (12 males, 9 females) with varying ages (mean of 25.5years, standard deviation of 8.48) were given music treatments of 3 experimenter-chosen music treatments, and 1 EPM of the individuals choice. The individuals EPM was open to any music genre, but was standardised to a limited duration of 5 to 10 minutes. The other 3 fixed music treatments were: relaxing music, arousing music and a non-musical film scene that will induce intense emotions. Each individuals gender, personality and level of musical experience was noted, but was found that none of these factors produced any significant contribution that can change the level of physiological arousal (Rickard, 2004). Tests were done before and after administering each music treatment, by using saliva sampling, questionnaires, event recorder and sensor electrodes attached to the body to measure various physiological responses. This was to test for hormone (cortisol) production levels, skin temperature and conductance, heart rate, chills and muscle tension (Rickard, 2004). The results taken from the skin conductance and number of chills per minute displayed a very significant increase in arousal for the EPM. It also shows that EPM produces very high levels of physiological arousal, and less EPM produced less arousal. No meaningful conclusions could be found from the other recorded data due to the presence of high variability of results (Rickard, 2004). Studies of Music on Heart Rate Other studies have also found that heart rate, breathing rate, skin conductance are all affected by musical stimulus. Heart rate increases when people are exposed to music with fast tempos and rhythm, loud volume, or any other type of music that stimulates the auditory nerves; and slow tempos and rhythm, smooth melodic harmonies, depressing, sedative and relaxing music will decrease heart rate (Bartlett,1996). Studies of Music on Skin Conductance Producing similar results to Rickards experiment, 4 studies on skin conductance have produced a positive relationship between the change of skin conductivity, and enjoyment (liking) of the music (Bartlett, 1996). However, one experiment found no change in skin conductivity when the subject was indifferent to the type of musical stimulus administered (Davis, 1934). Studies of Music on Respiration Rate One study found an increase in breathing depth/amplitude when there is a greater liking for the music as well as an increase of the music volume (Ries, 1969). Another study tested on pre-mature infants showed an increase in respiration rate with stimulative music, and decrease with sedative music (Lorch et al, 1994). The majority of these studies shows support for the emotivist position. Rickards experiment should be showing positive relationships in all tested areas. A larger group of subjects should be tested on in order to reduce the variability of results. In relation to Rickards experiment and my experience, my EPM would be the Fire Dance piece, and i stand to support the emotivist position as i had exhibited high levels of physiological arousals. Although Rickards experiment was unable to conclude the results of respiratory rate, other studies of respiratory rate (by Ries and Lorch et al) have shown a positive correlation with stimulative music. Although tears were not one of the arousal tested in Rickards experiment, Slobodas survey explains that it is also a type of physiological arousal from EPM. Rickards 4th treatment of administering the subjects own EPM, the study on respiration rate (Ries) and studies on skin conductance all show positive influence of subjective music on the extent of physiological arousal. A common example of the subjectivity of music preference is an event where one individual is highly aroused by a piece of music, but another who had listened to the same music is unaffected (Addis, 1999). However, the skin conductance test (by Davis, 1934) done with subjects who had no particular liking or dislike for the music that was played to them (not stimulating enough), did not produce any significant changes in physiological arousal (related to expectancy theory). This can help explain the reason i found myself the only one affected in the band room that day. To extend our understanding of why in my experience, the music was able to induce beyond emotions, we can first investigate on how common/rare that this kind of experience takes place by conducting surveys on the public. Some interesting survey questions would be: Have you ever experience images coming into your mind when you listen to music?, Are these images related to your past experiences or do they have no relation at all?, one would think that it would be more common and easier for music to access into our episodic memory and draw out a past experience, but what if random images that come purely from the music itself are actually more common? Is one even more common than another? Another idea would be to conduct an experiment that has 2 aims. The first is to observe any relationship between the extent of how emotionally powerful the music is, and images that are brought to them by the music (if any). The second aim is to investigate if music training actually conforms the types of images seen because of the characteristics of music, and this is done by comparing if those with no musical training would experience images that are not related to what the composer is trying to create, more often than their musically trained counterparts . I suggest that this experiment to be done on two separate groups of participants, the musically trained and those with no musical training. The experiment could be done by choosing subjects who have the same character (e.g. introvert or extrovert) so that the music played to them would be emotionally powerful. It has been found that people of similar character like similar music. Subjects chosen should also come from a range of ages (e.g. from 20-60 years old) so that any relationship found would not be limited to one type of generation. Since we have already chosen the subjects according to a certain character, the music that we chose should have different complexities, to cater to different individual EPM (between each individual, and also for those with musical training background) according to Berlynes inverted U shaped preference-complexity graph (Thompson, 2009). In order for us to find out which music played is the most emotionally powerful to each individual, we can test for the extent of physiological arousal (similar to Rickards experiment). The more emotionally powerful the music is, the greater the physiological arousal. For example, the experiment is done on subjects who are introverts whose favourite genre is classical music. The treatment would be a range of classical music from different composers, and with different complexities. The first treatment given should be the least complex and progresses as the next music is played. The experiment conducted must be a blind experiment, i.e. subjects do not have prior knowledge to the aim of the experiment. After presenting each music, subjects would have to answer questions such as How much do you like the music (selecting from a range of 0-10)?, How did you feel when you listen to the music? and Did any images come to your mind? What images did you see? . We can declare the experiment successful, if the results are able to show a pattern where the more emotionally powerful the music, the higher chances of seeing images. Or if we discover that music training do limit musicians ability to experience a variety of images (or even emotions) created as a res ult of certain characteristics of music that had been taught to create a certain scene. This experiment would probably need to be done on a great number of subjects since it is not common for music to produce images in our minds. In a nutshell, music is interpreted in the brain, and the evaluation and appraisal creates emotions by physiological arousals. Different emotions are induced by the discernment of varying sound patterns. The emotivist position is being supported by results from the various research as well as my experience. However, my experience went beyond mere emotions into images produced by music. Future research could be done to better understand how this is caused.

Eulogy for Grandmother :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Grandmother My grandmother was a truly amazing person. She was brilliant, compassionate, and outgoing, a fantastic dancer with a sense of humor, and without any ego at all. In other words, exactly like me! Seriously, though, we have a lot in common. Among other things, I inherited her curly hair, her mind for trivia, and her obsession with books and music... She preferred mystery novels and jazz standards, while I liked science fiction and rock n' roll, but those differences are only skin-deep. Like she always said, "I guess that's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream." (She preferred butter pecan.) That reminds me of one small difference between us: she was an amazing cook, while I still have trouble boiling water. Meatballs with all-day sauce, stuffed shells, followed by icebox cake... It was all so good. You could walk into her apartment and pass out from the smells alone. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. And when I'd walk home from elementary school and let myself into her empty apartment, there would always be a note on the TV, telling me that there were cookies and milk in the fridge. It's the little things... I always knew that she was thinking about me. As we both grew older, we grew even closer. I did some pretty terrible things in high school, but she always took my side, even when I was clearly in the wrong. She defended and protected me, mostly from my mom. Years later, at my wedding, she serenaded us in a garden in Cambria, accompanied by a jazz band. She sang, "It had to be you, wonderful you... It had to be you." She had such a beautiful singing voice, and I swear, she must have known the lyrics to every single song written before 1959. We shared a dance afterwards. Even though I was taller than her, she still made me feel like a little boy, as we danced cheek-to-cheek. It was the best day of my life. When I think of her, I think of her warm embrace. On my bad days, she would hold and comfort me. Grandma would wrap me in her arms and protect me from the rest of the world, and make me feel that everything was going to be all right. Even in her hospital bed, holding her hand and listening to her soft breath, I wanted to kick my shoes off and be hugged by those safe, strong arms. Eulogy for Grandmother :: Eulogies Eulogy Eulogy for Grandmother My grandmother was a truly amazing person. She was brilliant, compassionate, and outgoing, a fantastic dancer with a sense of humor, and without any ego at all. In other words, exactly like me! Seriously, though, we have a lot in common. Among other things, I inherited her curly hair, her mind for trivia, and her obsession with books and music... She preferred mystery novels and jazz standards, while I liked science fiction and rock n' roll, but those differences are only skin-deep. Like she always said, "I guess that's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream." (She preferred butter pecan.) That reminds me of one small difference between us: she was an amazing cook, while I still have trouble boiling water. Meatballs with all-day sauce, stuffed shells, followed by icebox cake... It was all so good. You could walk into her apartment and pass out from the smells alone. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. And when I'd walk home from elementary school and let myself into her empty apartment, there would always be a note on the TV, telling me that there were cookies and milk in the fridge. It's the little things... I always knew that she was thinking about me. As we both grew older, we grew even closer. I did some pretty terrible things in high school, but she always took my side, even when I was clearly in the wrong. She defended and protected me, mostly from my mom. Years later, at my wedding, she serenaded us in a garden in Cambria, accompanied by a jazz band. She sang, "It had to be you, wonderful you... It had to be you." She had such a beautiful singing voice, and I swear, she must have known the lyrics to every single song written before 1959. We shared a dance afterwards. Even though I was taller than her, she still made me feel like a little boy, as we danced cheek-to-cheek. It was the best day of my life. When I think of her, I think of her warm embrace. On my bad days, she would hold and comfort me. Grandma would wrap me in her arms and protect me from the rest of the world, and make me feel that everything was going to be all right. Even in her hospital bed, holding her hand and listening to her soft breath, I wanted to kick my shoes off and be hugged by those safe, strong arms.