Why the church and state should not be separate an Example by

Why the church and state should not be separate From the Lords infinite wisdom and mercy, he has given us men the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. He has given us a world filled with his creation to sustain and enrich our lives. He has in the words if the Bible, given us all that we need to live and prosper in the world. Need essay sample on "Why the church and state should not be separate" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed College Students Often Tell EssayLab writers: Who wants to write paper for me? Essay writers propose: Get the best writing help Of course this can be taken in the quite literal sense and in the less so. It can be said that God has given us a world perfect for our survival. The world he has given us provides us sufficient food, breathable air, and clean water among others that we need to live. However he has also given us a world that can be a bit wild at times, and it is here, that the more figurative sense of the earlier statement becomes manifest. He has given man the faculty of thought and free will. He has enabled us to survive and prosper as species by giving us superior intelligence. It is this ability, one that can be seen as mans greatest boon, which can also mean mans fall, in that it has made us into beings that covet and compete for the resources of this world, that has led man through the ages to continuously strive to bring order to his society through collectivisms more popularly known as the state. The State A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, that enforces a monopoly on the use of force. It may or may not have an organized government to exist. However, for the purposes of this paper we will assume that the state is represented at least to some extent, by the government. It will also be assumed that the state in discussion is at peace and is internationally recognized as a legitimate government. The state serves many purposes. Many would argue that the state is necessary to avoid chaos in society. Common sense would tell us that this is true. Allowing people to do as each would please would result to utter chaos. The Church For this paper, the church as in Christian doctrine is the religious community as a whole, or an organized body of believers adhering to one sect's teachings. The word church translates the Greek ekklesia, used in the New Testament for the body of faithful and the local congregation. Christians established congregations modeled on the synagogue and a system of governance centered on the bishop. The Nicene Creed characterized the church as one (unified), holy (created by the Holy Spirit), catholic (universal), and apostolic (historically continuous with the Apostles). The schism of Eastern and Western churches (1054) and the Reformation (16th century) ended institutional unity and universality. St. Augustine stated that the real church is known only to God, and Martin Luther held that the true church had members in many Christian bodies and was independent of any organization. Reasons for separation For many countries the state should be separate from the church. In countries such as the Philippines, four hundred years of colonial rule under the Spaniards have led many to believe that the state should indeed be isolated from the undue influence of the clergy. In many cases the churchs intervention in the affairs of the state and the ensuing infractions are the main reasons for separation. However, the church per se in not wholly to blame for this after all the clergy is just men subject to the dictates of their nature and is therefore prone to commit mistakes. The church in itself represents morality and goodness. It is this that we will be discussing in this paper. Why not? Steve Bonta in his paper, The State and Church should not be separate1, outlined the many reasons why. In this paper he mainly says that for the political structure of a nation to last and prosper, it is dependent on the morality and religion of its citizens. The power of the government, the reason for its establishment, comes from the individuals consent to coalesce in order to protect their God given rights. God, who is the cause and final destination of all things pertaining to man and his existence, has given us the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. This is a governments primary concern. This means that the government is there to make sure that all men get their god-given dues while avoiding the infraction to the rights of others. Another consequence of the fact that God is the Source and reason for the State is that it exists to protect these rights and thus the government is under the individual's welfare. For a government to sustain its existence, its citizens must continually adhere to the morals of the Church. After all imagine what would restrain a person if he knows that only the rules of men and not those of God govern him; if he knows that he is not accountable to a higher power than that of convention or sheer force? Our intemperate natures dictates that we be subject to rules otherwise we pave pour own ways to destruction. Republican governments under God, then, are the truest champions of Liberty. God, has created us with varied and unequal endowments of talents and abilities. Under conditions of liberty, people with equal rights use their unequal God-given skills to create a society where every individual benefits from the talents of others. Furthermore according to Bonta, the French revolution started distortions in these views; it is during that time that French declared that all sovereignty according to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the counterfeit of the American Declaration of Independence, resides "essentially in the nation. No group, no individual may exercise authority not emanating expressly there from.' This has inverted the roles that government and people play towards each other. From heron the state must reign supreme as God has been taken out of the picture. This is the primary cause of all the suffering of people from the state. Government that is subject to the whims of individuals who run it can give and retrieve the rights it has given to its people; rights that are in fact from the people. Morality is then translated into the obedience to laws that can change at any time depending on those who make it. In this country we are free to choose our religion and to practice it without fear of State persecution. This right is protected by the constitution. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.2 The establishment clause, according to Bonta was only meant to protect religion from the state. This clause clearly puts a wall of separation between the Church and the Sate. By doing this the Founders are making sure that the state shall never overleap its bounds and infringe on religion and the church. By maintaining the autonomy of religion the people of this nation is assured that their God-given rights remain intact and that they will always be upheld in the Land of the Free. Works Cited: Bonta, Steve.(2006) Why the church and state should not be separate. Opposing Views Resource Center. Thomson Gale (2003). The First Amendment. Accessed August 2, 2006.

Free Essays on Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol is known to many people as the â€Å"Father of Pop Art†. He brought about many examples of the modern art style that is known as â€Å"Pop art†, in various mediums, varying from silkscreen to a cable network. Not only has Warhol greatly contributed to this revolutionary style, but also in many ways, he has created it. Andy Warhol’s style was certainly part of the select first that were even labeled as â€Å"Pop†. The pop art movement began in London during the 1950’s and then quickly spread throughout nearly the entire industrialized world. Although artists did have some overlapping styles, pop art focuses more on the subject and less on style, which was left up to each artist. The main themes that are evident in all pop art revolve around modern social values. The style in which these values were portrayed varied depending on the culture and the artist. Andy Warhol used the media, which captured his eccentricities, to his advantage and that in turn helped in projecting pop art to the public. Warhol’s timing was perfect in introducing pop. He was even separated from other pop artists who were his peers because he was clearly doing different things with his subject matter. Warhol’s continued success made him the most recognizable pop artist. He worked in a period which was referred to as the golden years for art designers and magazine publishers. This period attracted some of the most desirable graphic designers. For many, Warhol was a work of art himself, reflecting back the basic desires of a consumerist American culture. One of his most famous statements was, â€Å"Every person will be world famous for fifteen minutes†. During his life, he graduated from Carnegie Institute of technology in Pittsburg with a fine arts degree. After that he moved to New York City, where he found design jobs in advertising. Before long he had begun specializing in illustrations of shoes. His work appeared in Glamour Magazine and Vogue... Free Essays on Andy Warhol Free Essays on Andy Warhol When considering the life and works of Andy Warhol, one thing is agreed upon: for good or bad, he changed the visual construction of the world we live in. By the time of his death in 1987 he was ranked on the same level with Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock as one of the three most important artists of this century. He was a working man, a social climber, a person who liked to build things, an acquirer of goods, and a known homosexual. These attributes all contributed to the interesting and complicated nature of his art. Andrew Warhola, was born August 6, 1928 in Pittsburg. He was the youngest son of Czechoslovakian immigrants. Andrew was born at the time of the Wall Street Crash (1929) and the Great Depression. Like millions of other families, Andrew’s father could not find work and his early childhood was very difficult and deprived. After several years his family’s financial situation improved and he was older he attend a commercial design course at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute of Technology. Although he was very shy and had a strong fear of failure, he did very well there. In 1949, Andrew Warhola moved to New York. After his first commission to illustrate shoes, Andrew noticed that the final ‘a’ of his name was omitted in the credits and since decided to call himself Andy Warhol (a name that he considered youthful). He quickly became a successful and highly paid commercial artist in the 1950’s but desperately wished for fame as a fine artist. He was unsuccessful in his efforts and sold few exhibits. Andrew became depressed and believed that the ‘fine art world’ had rejected his art as old fashioned and irrelevant. Andy needed new ideas to help boost his creativity. He got several ideas from a woman named Muriel Latow; a gallery owner he knew. She advised him to paint what he loved most (like money) or what everybody would recognize (soup cans and coke bottles). Andy expanded on these ideas and his pai... Free Essays on Andy Warhol Andy Warhol Biography 1928-1987 No other artist is as much identified with Pop Art as Andy Warhol is. The media called him the Prince of Pop. Warhol made his way from a Pittsburgh working class family to an American legend. Born in Pittsburgh Andy was born in 1930 in Pittsburgh as the son of Slovak immigrants. His original name was Andrew Warhola. His father was as a construction worker and died in an accident when Andy was 13 years old. Andy showed an early talent in drawing and painting. After high school he studied commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Warhol graduated in 1949 and went to New York where he worked as an illustrator for magazines like Vogue and Harpar's Bazaar and for commercial advertising. He soon became one of New York's most sought of and successful commercial illustrators. The Pop Icon In 1952 Andy Warhol had his first one-man show exhibition at the Hugo Gallery in New York. In 1956 he had an important group exhibition at the renowned Museum of Modern Art. In the sixties Warhol started painting daily objects of mass production like Campbell Soup cans and Coke bottles. Soon he became a famous figure in the New York art scene. From 1962 on he started making silkscreen prints of famous personalities like Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor. The spirit of Andy Warhol’s art was to remove the difference between fine arts and the commercial arts used for magazine illustrations, comic books, record albums or advertising campaigns. Warhol once expressed his philosophy in one poignant sentence: "When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums". The Factory The pop artist not only depicted mass products but he also wanted to mass-produce his own works of pop art. Consequently he founded The Factory in 1962. It was an art studio where he employed in a rather chaotic way "art workers" to mass-produce mainly prints and posters but also other items like shoes des... Free Essays on Andy Warhol Pop art is a movement that occurred near the end of the 1950’s. It was a reaction to the seriousness of Abstract Expressionism. Pop art emphasized contemporary social values, the sprawl of urban life, the vulgar, the superficial, and the flashy. Advertising provided a number of starting points for the subjects. A particular favorite advertisement form that Warhol likes to use was product labels. You will see quite a few examples of this in some of his work. (Grolier 1996) Warhol did most of his well-know works in a four year span from 1960 to 1964. He started out by reproducing images such as comic strips on much larger canvases. Some examples of these would be Nancy, Dick Tracy, Superman, and Popeye. He later became much more interested in reproducing labels of products and some people. This became a standard procedure for Warhol during this period. He later began to make movies and photography. (Coplans pg 47-48) At the beginning of his work, he started out with the making comic strip â€Å"reproductions.† They really shouldn’t be considered reproductions because they aren’t always an extremely accurate portrayal of the product. Some of his pieces such as the thirty-two painting collection of Campbell’s Soup Cans, are almost identical to the models he used. While others have a looser quality and are merely starting points on which to begin. (Coplans pg 47) He accomplished the mass amounts of the same subject through many methods. Sometimes he would just paint each of the subjects by hand, one by one. Other times he would use stamp molds and silk-screening. The silk-screening process is very similar to that of an intricate and sophisticated stencil. There is a screen made of fine silk or similar material that is made impermeable to all places except that of the area wanted to be colored. This is done photomechanically, a process that makes photographs into silkscreen. The silk-screening process is fairly simple. You pour ink ... Free Essays on Andy Warhol Andy Warhol is known to many people as the â€Å"Father of Pop Art†. He brought about many examples of the modern art style that is known as â€Å"Pop art†, in various mediums, varying from silkscreen to a cable network. Not only has Warhol greatly contributed to this revolutionary style, but also in many ways, he has created it. Andy Warhol’s style was certainly part of the select first that were even labeled as â€Å"Pop†. The pop art movement began in London during the 1950’s and then quickly spread throughout nearly the entire industrialized world. Although artists did have some overlapping styles, pop art focuses more on the subject and less on style, which was left up to each artist. The main themes that are evident in all pop art revolve around modern social values. The style in which these values were portrayed varied depending on the culture and the artist. Andy Warhol used the media, which captured his eccentricities, to his advantage and that in turn helped in projecting pop art to the public. Warhol’s timing was perfect in introducing pop. He was even separated from other pop artists who were his peers because he was clearly doing different things with his subject matter. Warhol’s continued success made him the most recognizable pop artist. He worked in a period which was referred to as the golden years for art designers and magazine publishers. This period attracted some of the most desirable graphic designers. For many, Warhol was a work of art himself, reflecting back the basic desires of a consumerist American culture. One of his most famous statements was, â€Å"Every person will be world famous for fifteen minutes†. During his life, he graduated from Carnegie Institute of technology in Pittsburg with a fine arts degree. After that he moved to New York City, where he found design jobs in advertising. Before long he had begun specializing in illustrations of shoes. His work appeared in Glamour Magazine and Vogue... Free Essays on Andy Warhol Andy Warhol The title of this exhibit is â€Å"15 Minutes and Counting.† It featured a variety of popular and exciting works of art from artist Andy Warhol. The title of this work could quite possibly have been a play on Warhol’s popularity with the pop art movement. Andy Warhol was considered to be and categorized as a â€Å"pop artist.† This pop art that he was famous for was very loud and untraditional in its composition. Andy explored an easy medium that was accurate when manipulated correctly and produced numerous prints. The medium was sreenprinting. Screen-printing was repetitive and dull so Andy decided to use synthetic polymer paint to spice up the backgrounds and to give each print a different spectrum of color to the uniform prints. One other medium that was skillfully used by Warhol and popular to the public was that of lithography. This was a poster-like look. Herni Toulouse Lautrec first created lithography for artistic purposes. It was originally us ed for advertisement purposes. In 1891, Lautrec did a lithograph entitled â€Å"Moulin Rouge.† This became popular to the people alive in the Art Nouveau period of history. All of Andy’s works lacked depth and shadows making them strictly two-dimensional. He used cultural icons that were popular at the time in order to preserve their limited time of fame. Andy said, â€Å"In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.† I think he meant that everyone shines in one way or another in his or her life, whether it be publically or privately. Another interpretation that I have derived from this is that every cultural icon that is preserved at the time in his artwork will eventually have their fifteen minutes passed up. Upon viewing the exhibit I discovered how hard that it was to find a piece that connected to me through our CULF class considering that I am not familiar with jazz at all. However, I decide upon Andy’s work entitled, â€Å" The Letter to... Free Essays on Andy Warhol The formal education of women artists in the United States has taken quite a long journey. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the workings of a recognized education for these women finally appeared. Two of the most famous and elite schools of art that accepted, and still accept, women pupils are the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (the PAFA). Up until the early nineteenth century, women were mostly taught what is now called a â€Å"fashionable education† (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 5). Their mothers raised them to be proper, young ladies and expert housekeepers in expectation of marriage. If these women were fortunate enough to receive some kind of formalized schooling, they were to study penmanship, limited aspects of their mother language, and very little arithmetic (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 5). Unfortunately, this small degree of education was extremely constrictive to women. I f they never married or were widowed at a young age, they really had no place to go. This form of women’s education created generations of women that were almost entirely dependent on their husbands and male relatives. During the nineteenth century, when the feminist movement was beginning, many schools were established specifically for the education of women, such as the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and also for the education of both. In the beginning, women’s art schools mostly taught pupils practical applications of art. For example, female art students often studied drawing and lithographing, in hopes that they would be hired by industrial companies as designers. The Philadelphia School of Design for Women was one of the first all women’s art schools to establish this form of education. Founded in 1844 by a woman named Sarah Peter, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women was a school like none that had come before it. Peter was a wealthy woma n o...

Elevator Observation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Elevator Observation - Research Paper Example However, observation can also be an act of noticing or an act entailing attentively. Observation is the habit of noticing or the act of noting and recording something. By this, one can strongly say that observing is the act of noting and recording something after a keen study. Keen observations are necessary in different parts or field of working. For example, a teacher needs to observe the growth of his/her students or a doctor needs to observe the progress of his/her patient. By so doing, they are able to gauge what to do next on the patient or students. They are able to know, if they are taking an excellent turn in terms of recovering and performance or a wrong turn that needs more attention and help (Ellis, 2007). Additionally, observation is an important aspect in the world we live in. With keen observation, we are able to make wise decisions that will be of much help to us. However, observation is the key ingredient of making wise and reasonable decisions; it also helps in comi ng up with good ideas, be it socially or businesswise. Observation helps a person make evident conclusions concerning different issues in life. This is because it influences the kinds of conclusion people make in a part of lives, whether good or bad. On the other hand, if one makes a wrong observation, then he/she is able to make the wrong conclusions about an issue or matter depending on the kind of the observation. In addition, it is good to pay keen attention to whatever one is observing in order to make the right conclusions or decisions on the issue or matter concerned. This is to avoid making quick judgments, decisions or conclusions that have no basis. Additionally, many brilliant or prosperous people, at one point of their lives, made a keen observation and were able to come up with wise ideas that helped the world as a whole (Ellis, 2007). Without observation, many things would not have prospered in many countries. However, this shows us how observation is important in our lives and the world as a whole. What is participant observation? Participant observation is a type of research mostly used in cultural anthropology. However, its interest is to gain intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals or people for a given time or period during a certain activity. The observer, in this case, has to participate or play a role amongst the group of people that he/she is observing. By this, the observer is able to create an intimate relationship with the group of people or individuals, and this will help him in his observation because he/she will not feel like a stranger during the observation process. Familiarity between the observer and the group of people or individuals grows with time. This helps in the efficient communication between the observer and the group of individuals or people. In addition, this makes it easier for the observer to ask questions easily and the group of people or individuals to an answer without hesitation (Ellis, 2007). Ho wever, the chances of the group of people or individuals answering falsely to the questions asked are very few. This is due to the good relationship created between the observer and the group of people or individuals. On the other hand, the key principle of this observation is not for the observer to observe, but to find a role to play and identify with among the group of people or individuals. However, this kind of observation is necessary where the group of people or individuals do not want an association with anyone who is not of their own. For example, many organizations and criminal entities do not want any kind of study on them or observations. In this case, observers tend to pose like one of their own in order to get the necessary information they

Networking researh paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Networking researh paper - Essay Example Other requirements include wireless networking adapter or a PC card adapter, a modem and a network hub. In case of wide-ranging wireless networking, it is always wise to use an HP Network Assistant â€Å"to validate your wired and wireless network settings† (Hewlett-Packard Development Company). Wireless networks are based on IEEE 802.11 standards which is a set of standards developed by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) to carry out WLAN technology with specifications or protocols like 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n having frequency bandwidth of 2.4, 3.6 and 5 GHz. Setting up a Wireless Network at Home Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) allow a user to connect to a local area network through wireless networking, like a small network in a house or an office. The user does not have to waste time in adjusting wires, cables and plugs. He can take the system he is working on anywhere he wants inside the house or inside the range of access points. Thus, setting up a WLAN saves time and money wasted on setting up cables. Computers inside WLAN can be networked together through simple configuration without the need of having them connected through wires. How to Set Up? It is important to have respective service packs installed in our PCs. â€Å"A service pack is a collection of updates and fixes† that should accompany with the operating system (Fisher 2010). If we have Windows Vista operating system, then we must install Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Similarly, for Windows XP, we should install Windows XP Service Pack 3. The main purpose of service packs is that they save us from security breaches like network intrusion, viruses, Trojan horses, and etcetera. Equipment Required One should go for the wireless equipment that supports 802.11g because the performance is high with this protocol. Such equipment is also called Wi-Fi which confirms that the equipment belongs to the 802.11 family. Since all current high speed wireless n etworks are using IEEE standards, especially 802.11g, the term Wi-Fi is used to distinguish wireless networks from other traditional wired networks. We would first need a broadband internet connection which is a high speed connection, very fast as compared to a dial-up connection using a telephone line. Then, we need a modem. For a wireless network, a cable modem is recommended which is a device that enables high speed internet connectivity. Afterwards, we would need a wireless router, that is, a device that will facilitate the flow of data traffic between all the PCs that are to be networked together. Fourth, we will need to know if we are already having a built-in wireless network adapter in or PC or not. Most laptops today have built-in wireless network adaptors which save one from buying an external adapter. If we do not have this, they we will need to buy adapters for all the computers we want to be networked together. If we have laptops, we should buy PC card-based adapters an d in case we have desktops, we should buy USB adapters. It would be wiser to go for the network adapter that is manufactured by the same vendor that manufactured the router. Procedure We should have the cable modem and the router hooked up to the wall. The modem is to be connected to the broadband internet

Managing in a global society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing in a global society - Essay Example Hofstede (1980) refers to culture as a collective mental programming of a group of people belonging to one region, which is difficult to change; in such settings specific culture becomes institutionalized in their family and educational structures, religious organisations, government, law, literature and even scientific theories. This is highly apparent among people belonging to one nation, in the form of national culture, which manifests itself even in organisations. Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’s dimensions explain how cultural differences impact management and leadership styles in different regions of the world; in addition, these analyses help in understanding why certain HRM practices and policies have differing impacts on employees of one multinational company operating from different regions of the world. House et al. (2004) have extensively studied cultural variations and their impact on societal functioning and leadership based on study conducted on 62 nations, r esulting in development of additional dimensions. This project emphasizes the need for effective international and cross-cultural communication, collaboration, and cooperation for effective practice of management and also betterment of human condition in order to thrive in the globalizing world markets and cultures. Hofstede’s work related to culture reveals that financial and management aspects related to an organization and nation are largely influenced by social values. Secondly, this study also revealed that corporate culture of an organization is largely influenced by its founders’ national culture. (Rowley & Lewis, 1996). Hofstede’s (1980) project... Increased competition and globalization in recent years have challenged many organizations to look for new locations, new markets, and new ways of doing business. This has opened up many opportunities for the organizations in terms of business models, diversified workforce, and provided economies of scale.Extensive research work and evidences in the areas of human resource policies and practices with respect to approaches used in managing people are attributed to various determinants of cross-national similarities and variations. Management and leadership styles are greatly influenced by national and societal cultures. For multinational organizations to succeed, it is important that the management is well informed of these differences; further HRM practices with respect to motivation, performance management and leadership should be modified to suit the local cultures. In the present situation, it is necessary to acquire a thorough understanding of national cultures and societal pract ices would be required for any organization to set up subsidiaries at multinational locations. This will help in formulating human resource policies and practices that are aligned with similarities and variations of national and organisational cultures in order to achieve effective management. All the managers involved in setting up operations at new locations should be trained on these aspects of intercultural differences.

The Inheritance of Loss Essay

The Inheritance of Loss Essay As might be expected from the rich input of her cultural background, Kiran Desai, daughter of the author Anita Desai is a born story-teller. Her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998), is a fresh look at life in the sleepy provincial town of Shahkot in India. At 35 years old, Desai is the youngest woman ever to win the prize and was already highly acclaimed in literary circles for her first novel Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard which won a Betty Trask award  [2]  when it was published in 1998. She spent eight years writing her second novel The Inheritance of Loss  [3]  . Much has been made of the parallels between the book and Desais family history but its not an autobiography. Desai herself has said that in places its about experiences within her family such as the experience of immigration and going back to India. Kiran Desais second novel The Inheritance of Loss can be viewed as a Diasporic  [4]  novel. The various themes which are intertwined in the novel are globalization, multiculturalism, insurgency, poverty, isolation and issues related to loss of identity. The issues and conflicts mentioned in the novel are portrayed in a subtle and intriguing manner through the central characters. The theme of Diaspora in the world of literature describes loss of identity and isolation witnessed by the Indian writers who are settled abroad. Writers like Salman Rushdie  [5]  , Vikram Seth  [6]  and Kiran Desai have given insight into what it means to travel between the West and the East. The novel is set in modern day India, and the story is narrated to depict the collapse of established order due to insurgency. In her novel, Desai portrays excellently the issues of poverty and globalization not being an easy solution for problems of trapped social middle classes. The story revolves around the inhabitants of a town in the north-eastern Himalayas, an embittered old judge, his granddaughter Sai, his cook and their rich array of relatives, friends and acquaintances and the effects on the lives of these people brought about by a Nepalese uprising. Running parallel with the story set in India we also follow the vicissitudes of the cooks son Biju as he struggles to realise the American Dream as an immigrant in New York. Like its predecessor, this book abounds in rich, sensual descriptions. These can be sublimely beautiful, such as in the images of the flourishing of nature at the local convent in spring: Huge, spread-open Easter lilies were sticky with spilling antlers; insects chased each other madly through the sky, zip zip; and amorous butterflies, cucumber green, tumbled past the jeep windows into the deep marine valleys. They can also be horrific, such as in descriptions of the protest march: One jawan was knifed to death, the arms of another were chopped off, a third was stabbed, and the heads of policemen came up on stakes before the station across from the bench under the plum tree, where the towns people had rested themselves in more peaceful times and the cook sometimes read his letters. A beheaded body ran briefly down the street, blood fountaining from the neck   [7]   The Inheritance of Loss is much more ambitious than Hullabaloo in its spatial breadth and emotional depth. It takes on huge subjects such as morality and justice, globalisation, racial, social and economic inequality, fundamentalism and alienation. It takes its reader on a see-saw of negative emotions. There is pathos which often goes hand in hand with revulsion for example in the description of the judges adoration of his dog Mutt, the disappearance of which rocks his whole existence, set against his cruelty to his young wife. There is frequent outrage at the deprivation and poverty in which many of the characters live, including the cooks son in America; and there is humiliation, for example in the treatment of Sai by her lover-turned-rebel, or Lola, who tries to stand up to the Nepalese bullies. Against these strong emotions however, Desai expertly injects doses of comedy and buffoon-like figures. One of these is Bijus winsome friend Saeed, an African (Biju hated all black people but liked Saeed), with a slyer and much more happy go lucky attitude to life. Whereas Biju finds it difficult to have a conversation even with the Indian girls to whom he delivers a take away meal, Saeed had many girls: Oh myee God!! he said. Oh myee Gaaaawd! She keep calling me and calling me, he clutched at head, aaaiiiI dont know what to do!! Its those dreadlocks, cut them off and the girls will go. But I dont want them to go!  [8]   Much of the comedy also arises from the Indian mis or over-use of the English language. Result equivocal the young Judge wrote home to India on completing his university examinations in Britain. What, asked everyone does that mean? It sounded as if there was a problem, because un words were negative words, those basically competent in the English agreed. But then (his father) consulted the assistant magistrate and they exploded with joy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Bose, the Judges friend from his university days is a wonderfully optimistic but pompous individual, made all the more ridiculous by his over-use of British idioms Cheeri-o, right-o, tickety boo, simply smashing, chin-chin, no siree, hows that, bottoms up, I say!  [9]   An original and modern aspect of Desais style is the almost poet-like use she makes of different print forms on the page: she uses italics for foreign words as if to emphasize their exoticness and untranslatability and capitals for emphasis when someone is angry, expressing surprise or disbelief (a natural development of the netiquette that to write in capitals is like shouting). Published to extraordinary acclaim, The Inheritance of Loss heralds Kiran Desai as one of our most insightful novelists. She illuminates the pain of exile and the ambiguities of postcolonialism with a tapestry of colorful characters: an embittered old judge; Sai, his sixteen-year-old orphaned granddaughter; a chatty cook; and the cooks son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one place to another in miserable living conditions. The novel is set partly in India and partly in the USA. Desai describes it as a book that tries to capture what it means to live between East and West and what it means to be an immigrant, and goes on to say that it also explores at a deeper level, what happens when a Western element is introduced into a country that is not of the West which happened during the British colonial days in India, and is happening again with Indias new relationship with the States. Her third aim was to write about, What happens when you take people from a poor country and place them in a wealthy one. How does the imbalance between these two worlds change a persons thinking and feeling? How do these changes manifest themselves in a personal sphere, a political sphere, over time?  [10]   As she says, These are old themes that continue to be relevant in todays world, the past informing the present, the present revealing the past.  [11]   The book paints the act of immigration and how the postcolonial war creates despair resulting in a sense of isolation inherited by each character in the novel. In a generous vision, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, Desai presents the human quandaries facing panoply of characters. This majestic novel of a busy, grasping time-every moment holding out the possibility of hope or betrayal-illuminates the consequences of colonialism and global conflicts of religion, race, and nationalism. The novel is set in 1986 in India at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga, where the Indian border meets that of Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim, and Bhutan, and where people of many classes and cultures collide in their shared struggle to survive. Kiran Desais novel presents the story of one family as a symbol of the global issues related to colonization and the resulting search for identity. As we read the novel, we meet the retired judge, Jemubhai Patel, whose isolated house near the foot of the mountains is home also to his beloved dog Mutt and his cook. The judge and the cook have lived together in apparent symbiosis for many years when the judges orphaned granddaughter, Sai, comes to live with them. Her arrival marks the beginning of the conflicts that defines the novel. Also central to the story are Gyan, Sais Nepali tutor, and Biju, the cooks son, who has travelled to America in hopes of escaping poverty and making enough money to eventually rescue his father from servitude. The central conflict of the novel revolves around the Nepalis fight to gain education, health care, and other basic rights in India. Early in the story, a group of young insurgents storm the judges house and steal his rifles, literally robbing him of the signs of his Western education and professional occupation. When the tutor, Gyan, with whom Sai has begun a romantic relationship, joins the insurgency. Sai finds herself caught in the middle of a war of class and caste discovers that she has also become a symbol of wealth that Gyan despises. While Gyan and the insurgents are fighting a battle for rights and freedom in India, Biju, the cooks son, is fighting for his own survival and struggling to maintain his identity as he adapts to life in the U.S. As he hops from one menial job to the next, Biju discovers that Americas opportunities are not as plentiful as he expected, and he has given up a servants life in one country just to find the same life in new country, where he faces constant poverty and exploitation. He even notes that, through poverty in America is substantially less severe than poverty in India. Desai presents the similarities between the judge, Gyan, and Biju- as they fight to find their identities and reconcile themselves with their histories. The characters in the novel are bewildered and disillusioned by the world, with no initiative to speak of, nor any capacity to learn; quite often theyre not even paying attention. Almost all of characters have been stunted by their encounters with the West. As a student, isolated in racist England, the future judge feels barely human at all and leaps when touched on the arm as if from an umbrella intimacy. Yet on his return to India, he finds himself despising his backward Indian wife. Arguably the most beautiful portions of the book are the nuggets Desai paints of the cooks son Biju who gets by on the barest of bare from one minimum wage job to the other in New York City. In the Gandhi cafà ©, the lights were kept low, the better to hide the stains. It was a long journey from here to the fusion trend, the goat cheese and basil samosa, the mango margarita. This was the real thing, generic Indian, and it could be ordered complete, one stop on the subway line or even on the phone: gilt and red chairs, plastic roses on the table with synthetic dewdrops,  [12]  Desai writes when she describes one of the Indian restaurants Biju works at. What bind these seemingly disparate characters are shared historical legacy and a common experience of impotence and humiliation. For the characters in The Inheritance of Loss, escape is impossible and misery is birthright. Sais parents before they die are filled with the same loneliness as their daughter; the son whose mother was bidding farewell earlier in this review botches his goodbye, and we learn that Never again would he know love for a human being that wasnt adulterated by another, contradictory emotion (37). (The son grows up to be the judge, arranged into a loveless marriage that descends into rape and other abuses.) The cook is an old man with no fulfillment in his own life, desperate that his son do better than he did; this pressure is eventually Bijus undoing. Sais tutor before Gyan is Noni, a spinster who never had love at all (68). And so on, for the entire cast. Its an old story: Certain moves made long ago, we are told, had produced all of them (199). They are, if you like, variations on an absence of dignity: children, criminals, and buffoons. And too often thats all they are or at least the rest is hidden, the civilised sheen of Desais prose obscuring the extent of the violence done to their lives by circumstances. The plot of the novel is fascinating; however, its real charm lies in its atmospheric descriptions and in quirky characters with whom the reader quickly identifies. Desai is careful observer of behavior, both in India and in the US, with a fine eye for details which bring her character and narrative to life. She presents details dispassionately, illustrating her themes without making moral judgments about her characters. Here there are no saints or villains, just ordinary people trying to lead the best lives they can, using whatever resources are available to them. Intensely human, Desais characters, like people from all cultures, make huge sacrifices for their children, behave cruelly toward people they love, reject traditional ways of life and old values, rediscover what is important to them, suffer at the hands of faceless government officials, and learn, and grow, and make decisions, sometimes ill-considered, about their lives. Dealing with all levels of society and many different cultures, Desai shows life humor and brutality, its whimsy and its harshness, and its delicate emotions and passionate commitments in a novel that is both beautiful and wise. The books language, scenarios and juxtapositions are funny, threatening, vivid and tender all at the same time. The comic element always intertwined with irony, as characters struggle with a world bigger than themselves, a world that only ever seems to accept them partially, and rarely on their own terms. The novels elaborate structure takes the reader into the world of Nationalism and migration, which seems contemporary and timeless, familiar and unpredictable. Chapters alternate between India and US, juxtaposing the slow pace of life in the hills with the frantic movements of an illegal migrants existence, maintaining a degree of suspense until discontinuous narratives collide. Kiran Desai writes an elegant and thoughtful study of families, the losses each member must confront alone, and the lies each tells himself/herself to make memories of the past more palatable. It is also true that the book does not have a sense of the movement that has shaped the subcontinents history- in this case the freedom struggle and the movement for Gorkhaland. The backdrop to the action in the novel is political unrest in Kalimpong where Nepali Ghurkas are campaigning at first quite quietly and then with increasing force for an independent Ghurkaland. The uprising brings a new wave of change to the main characters as conditions become significantly worse and much of what theyve come to take for granted is brought into doubt. Desai has been condemned by local people in Kalimpong for portraying them as ignorant and violent and for being condescending. The book has a growing sense of despair and decay as if the people, like the houses they live in and the property they own, are succumbing to the damp and mould of a monsoon season. The Inheritance of Loss is a very inward-looking novel, with far more internal monologues and passages of description than exchange of dialogue, which despite the rough patches mentioned above plays to Desais strengths. As in much of immigrant writing, Kiran Desai is an outsider to all the worlds that form a part of landscape. She is merely the observer passing through. But, her knowledge of alienation makes protagonists search for a sense of belonging more real. The inheritance of loss depicts in its many details the tragedies of a third world country just free from colonialism. The main theme of the novel also appears to be the influence of the West on India and how Indians are wounded by the policies of the West. These influences have oppressed and degraded India. Against the gigantic backdrop of the Himalayas, so savage with beauty and yet the stillness of its towering ranges directly draws upon the boring and mundane life of its characters with tumultuous inner sides and shades. The novel gives us delectable details of the beauty of the natural world. The sound of the wind, the pattering of the rain , the gurgling of pipes, the creaking and clattering of an old house Cho Oyu, the happy snoring of the faithful and happy dog Mutt, sometimes makes reading so refreshing that one can breathe the very crisp Himalayan air and feel surrounded by the looming dark forest. Ms Desai has presented in this book such lovely details that many a times it feels so much like our world.The novel depicts very well in Jemubhai the dilemmas of post colonialism. The judge Jemubhai perfect manners and demeanor is very much British but he cannot get himself free from the shackles (which he thinks to be so) of traditional Gujrati and Indian mentality. He feels guilty of ill treating his wife Nimmi, of shoving away the holy coconut throwing in the water custom. He seems to be a man who is caught, caught between the past and the present, between his days in London and his slow and mundane life in the crumbling house Cho Oyu, between his daughter and his grand daughter, Sai, between the Nepalis struggling for their land and freedom and his own British world of thick volumes of English Literature, of crones at teatime and the choice of white sauce and brown sauce for dinner and his lovely dog Mutt. But soon Kalimpong becomes the hub of activities. The Nepalis struggle to get their own rights and land slowly creeps into the lives of the characters, the cook, the judge, Sai, Noni, Lola and gnaws and questions their very being.. The movement does not even spare Biju the cooks son in America who comes back only to be robbed of all his money and belongings. But yet the reader finds a quaint satisfaction in the union of father and son in the backdrop of a disturbed land of Kalimpong. At least Biju feels safe and at peace compared to his lonely life as a waiter thrown from one restaurant kitchen to another. The progress of the human heart is clearly depicted in Sai. Her yearnings and passion for Gyan, the long wait , the quarrel of English values and Nepali struggles only make her realize and look at life more closely, the very human soul which had been quite frozen and regularized with strict orders in the missionary convent school in Dehra Dun. The novel though rich with details and presenting a picturesque mosaic of life, at times falls prey to monotony and boredom. The darkness and the inner conflict sometimes weigh too much upon the mind and soul. But thats what a good writer should be capable of and Ms Desai has been very successful in touching and stirring the depths of human emotion and thought. A very contemplative work and a must read for all connoisseurs of literature The novel is amazing in many ways. The picture of India drawn is intricate and fascinating. The characters are complex and the writing is simply stunning. However, the whole picture painted in this story leaves no room for hope, no room for joy, no room for even tiny bit of beauty.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

When I was younger, I would often return home to a familiar question: So, what did you learn today? My answer would always be "nothing" or "stuff." As I look back, I never lied, yet, I never told the whole truth. Many people think that you don't know anything with only 18 years of experience; I think they're wrong. I've learned a lot about myself and others from the relationships I have built throughout the years. I believe my most important lessons were "people" lessons. Those are the ones which could never be taught out of a book or in a lecture; you have to go out and experience them for yourself. I have learned that you'll never know the answer if you don't ask the question. People like you for who your are, even if you wear watermelons on your head at homecoming, tight black leather pants for a fashion show, or get decked out in your parent's old polyester clothes for Disco Day. Everything is a give and take situation and we can never give enough. If you want to be heard, first you must listen. We are all different, yet very much the same. Everything I have just said can be ...

English as a Foreign Language Essay

The resources chosen for this exercise are a song and a series of related pictures. The pictures are images that contain science fiction-like elements which would be of interest to this elementary group within the demographic of 20 to 45 years. The lesson created for the students using these materials appeals to the development of their aural receptive skill, as the song lyrics contain many shorter phrases and sentences and phrases that students of that level are likely to be able to understand. It therefore combines audio with visual stimulation in order to create a greater impact of the students’ learning capacity. Objective: The students will function in an English-speaking role by become a member of the audience for an authentic aural experience. This reflects an attempt to move away from the Grammar Translation Method (Brown, 2000, p. 16). The students are expected to be able to understand the lyrics contained in the song with the help of several scaffolding exercises. Students will experience the reinforcement of words, phrases and grammatical constructions that have previously been taught. They will also learn new words and phrases, as well as observe authentic ways in which native English speakers sometimes bend the rules of Standard English. The reinforcement activities used in the lesson (repetition, scrambling, etc. ) will aid the production skill of speaking as it allows the hearer the opportunity to try to say the word or phrase and the repetitions done within the song (chorus/refrain). They will give the student opportunities to try and retry pronunciation until perfection is achieved. Rationale: 1. The interest of the students in music is expected be piqued by the lead-in exercise. It aids them by capturing and keeping their attention fixed on the task. Because â€Å"a complex task such as language learning involves [all methods] of learning, from signal learning to problem solving,† this task seeks to stimulate the students’ faculties so they are prompted to use all their resources (visual, aural and reasoning skills) to figure out what happens in the song (Brown, 2005, p. 91-92). 2. Students are asked to look at the pictures being generated and create an order for the story in order to keep their minds on the task and engaging their interest in it. It also gets them thinking about the possible vocabulary related to the topic. The students are given the chance to make predictions about the story in an effort to encourage their speech in English the translation of ideas into a language other than their native one. When they have practice translating their own thoughts into English, it makes each successive attempt to do so easier. This task also focuses on visual reception. 3. This task focuses on aural and visual reception, as the teacher says the name of the objects as he/she shows its picture. However, the task also aids oral production in that it identifies and unites the visual representation of the word in print with the sound it has when a native speaker uses it. This is as opposed to learning vocabulary in isolation, as according to Ausubel, â€Å"people of all ages have little need for rote, mechanistic learning† (qtd. in Brown, 2000, p. 63). The pictures act as a method of scaffolding via which the students are able to better understand (or learn) the words being spoken. 4. The pre-teaching exercises have laid the foundation and now facilitate the gathering of the gist of the song in its first playing. The scrambling of the lyrics acts as a means of scaffolding these elementary learners and helps them to know what they are to listen for. This is done so that students are able to get the broad understanding during the first viewing, and this frees them to listen for details in the second listening. It also gives them a chance to use new words and phrases they may have picked up during the exercise and aids in the clarification of details that students might have misunderstood. 5. Students are required to read various sentences and phrases of the song in order to reinforce their ability to speak the language and to make predictions about grammar and diction. It also gives them a chance to say the word in the way a native would pronounce them rather than adhering too closely to a phonetic representation of the words/phrases. It also gives them the opportunity to query new words or phrases they heard in the film. Repetition of the song also reinforces listening comprehension, especially as it regards hearing the details. Later, the collaborative listening and speaking (in pairs) allows the students to pool their resources in constructing a coherent English reconstruction of the lyrics. This gives students a chance to learn from each other. It puts the language even more into the context of social interaction—building on the idea that â€Å"language is behaviour, that is, a phase of human activity that must not be treated in essence as structurally divorced from the structure of non-verbal human activity† (Pike, 1967, p. 26). The activity also gives them practice speaking the language to each other and prepares them informally for their oral presentation assignment. 6. The oral presentation is focused specifically on the oral aspect of using the English language. The students are expected to put their own thoughts together in the form of a story and translate their ideas into an English medium. In this way, they are encouraged to speak the language so that native and non-native speakers will be able to understand. Because this part of the lesson is an extension, it allows them to use some of the words and phrases they have learned in the lesson. 7. The flexi stage of the lesson also provides the students with the collaborative help that will enhance their ability to express themselves. Because they have a choice in what they present, their interest is likely to be sustained (Brown, 2000; Scrivener, 2005). The assignment also allows them the time and freedom to locate new words and phrases that will aid their articulation of their ideas. This also encourages learning of new English words, phrases and grammatical constructions. The task also provides a means of productive discussion and extension without overwhelming the students. References Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. White Plains: Pearson Education. Pike, K. (1967). Language in relation to a unified theory of the structure of human behavior. The Hague: Mouton Publishers. Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning Teaching. New York: MacMillan.

Liu Bolin?”the Invisible Art, the Repeat and the Lost

Bridge: Critical Reading & Writing Assignment Liu Bolin†the Invisible Art, the Repeat and the Lost Liu Bolin, a Chinese artist who has mastered the power of invisibility and successfully used it to gain an international reputation. As the most known â€Å"invisible man†, Liu Bolin stands out by blending in. The Invisible Man includes controversial photographs such as the image of Liu Bolin's face replacing that of Mao's in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, and several scenes against iconic Chinese national monuments like the Temple of Heaven and famed Nine Dragon Wall (hiding in the ity series).Coming after the fame from â€Å"Hiding in the City' series, Liu Bolin continued using exactly the same form to work on photographs of hiding in different cities, such as â€Å"Hiding in New York†, â€Å"Hiding in California†, and â€Å"Hiding in Italy'. Even Though Liu Bolin's â€Å"The Invisible Man† series has won accolades for the art powerhouses and there is p raise all over the international media, almost all of his photographs essentially repeat the same techniques and concepts, and protest the history, culture and pride of his own country. The Infinite RepeatArtist Liu Bolin began his â€Å"Hiding in the City† series in 2005, after Chinese police destroyed Suo Jia Cun, the Beijing artists' village in which he'd been working. With the help of assistants, he painstakingly painted his clothes, face, and hair to blend into the background of a demolished studio. Since then, the so-called â€Å"Invisible Man† has photographed himself fading into a variety of backgrounds all over Beijing and many other cities. Spot him embedded in a Cultural Revolution slogan painted on a wall, or spy him within tiers of supermarket shelves stocked with soft drinks.The process of all these works has never been changed since 2005: Liu stands still for hours as his assistants paint him to match his surroundings, which helps him to disappear in the scene. And things became even meaningless when Liu Bolin blended himself in New York, California and Europe. He is Just a tourist, who takes pictures as he travels in different city, but invisible as people always see in this works. When I'm looking at Liu Bolin's art works in the exhibition at Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, I feel like I was lingering in a small circle and could not get out.I was drowned in the numerous fell-alike photos, which have extremely similar backgrounds, scenes, mood, colors, subjects, and the same person†Liu Bolin, who is the artist himself. In the series Dragon Panel, there are nine photographs of Liu Bolin blending into the colored wall witn traditional Chinese dragon sculptures . Besides the ditterent colors of the paint coating and the movements of the dragons, which is literally not the point, all of these photos have the same perspective, same lights, same size and same Liu Bolin blending in at the same position in each photo.It's really easy to tell that many of his works are Just repeat of himself. He painted himself to fade in the magazine rack in Beijing (2011) and New York (2013). If I have to say there is something different, it would be the languages on the magazines when people look at the photos very close. Super market seems like another inspired place for Liu Bolin as he painted himself so many times to blend in soft drinks, fast noodles, toys, and vegetables†¦ which happened in different years since 2009. There is a photo named â€Å"in front of red flag† (2006) caught my eyes in which he is blending in ChineseNational Flag. Not surprised to me, in 2007, he blended three families, which look similar, into the same background†the Chinese national flag, and named those work â€Å"family'. At the same year, he created another work using American national flag and named it â€Å"American National flag†. Single countries can't satisfy Liu, in 2008, he created another work name â€Å"UN f lag† using the UN flag. A few examples â€Å"Hiding in the City' series, the Dragon Panel 2010, 4 of 9: Magazine Rack, form â€Å"Hiding in New York† 2013 and â€Å"Hiding in the City' 2011: Super Market from â€Å"Hiding in the City' series 2011, 2010, and 2009:Cereal, Made in China, and Panda, â€Å"Hiding in New York† series 2013: In front of Red Flag and Family, â€Å"Hidng in the City' series 2006, 2007: The American National Flag and the UN flag, â€Å"Hidng in the City' 2007 and 2008: The very important part of Liu Bolin's works is silently against the iconic Chinese national monuments like the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, the Palace Museum and famed Nine Dragon Wall (hiding in the city series). He had photographed himself to all over the scenic spots and historical sites where represents the time-honored istory and culture of China and are the treasure and pride for an ancient civilization.The concept is as still as the form, he wants to compel people to ponder the contentious relationship between the individual and society by silently commenting on modern sociopolitical conditions in China, because â€Å"l was a meaningless person, according to society,† Liu says. By repeating the same techniques and subjects in almost all of his photographs, Liu Bolin is well playing the â€Å"hero† of opening â€Å"China's national identity' and at the same time for tacit protest against the government, which Just caters to the values of the estern world.It's actually not a new trick to capture the attention of art moguls, spectators and critics for some artists who cannot get social recognition by the mainstream culture in their countries or communities. Recently, this â€Å"invisible man† who cannot even speak a complete sentence in English seems like living a pretty good life out of his country. In most of the interviews, Liu expresses so many times about how hard it is for people like him to survive in China an d his meaningless position in that society.However, as long as I was born in China nd raised there for twenty years, his experience most sounds like a story of a typical loser who got above himself with advanced degrees but has no ability to adapt to the real world after graduation. Just as what he said in an interview (his words were translated), â€Å"after graduating from school, for a long time I had no family, no Job and no love in my life. During those four years without love and income, I felt I had been dumped by this society and that I had no position within it. I was meaningless in this environment.

Je Ne Sais Quoi, That Indefinable Thing She Has

Je Ne Sais Quoi, That Indefinable Thing She Has Je ne sais quoi is a French idiomatic expression used so much in English that it has made it into the leading English dictionaries. In other words, it has been assimilated into the English language. Merriam-Webster describes je ne sais quoi as something (such as an appealing quality) that cannot be adequately described or expressed, as in This woman has a certain je ne sais quoi that I really like. In French, Larousse calls je ne sais quoi a thing one wouldnt know how to define but whose existence is understood intuitively. Je Ne Sais Quoi in French In French, the expression je ne sais quoi literally means I dont know what. It is often used for its literal meaning, not as an idiom. For example: Jai fait la vaisselle, le mà ©nage, le rà ©passage, et je ne sais quoi (dautre) encore. I did the dishes, the house-cleaning, I ironed, and I dont know what else. How the French Use It But the French also use it as we do  in English: a quality you cannot describe. We connect je ne sais quoi to the adjective describing it with de, like this: Cette fille a je ne sais quoi de fascinant. There is something fascinating about that girl. Note that the adjective is always masculine singular, even if the sentence refers to a girl or a  feminine noun. The adjective should agree with je ne sais quoi, which is masculine, singular. Two Spellings in French Or we can also use it,  as in English, as a noun: un je ne sais quoi or hyphenated as un je-ne-sais-quoi. Both spellings are correct. And we often use it with certain,  as in English: Elle avait un certain je-ne-sais-quoi de spà ©cial : lexpression de son regard peut-à ªtre. She had a certain special je ne sais quoi - the expression in her eyes perhaps. Finally, in spoken modern French, the je and the ne glide together, making the expression sound like jeun say kwa. A Word About Spelling This is a common expression that is recognizable in its correct spelling of  je ne sais quoi. It is even in English-language dictionaries. So there really is no excuse for misspelling this classic phrase as jena se qua, etc., as some anglophones tend to do. Just look it up in the dictionary. That woman with the special something will thank you. Sources Je-ne-sais-quoi. Larousse. Je ne sais quoi. Merriam-Webster, 2019.

Changes in the US and national poverty rates Essay

Changes in the US and national poverty rates - Essay Example It means that 37.3 million people were poor in the year 2007 and in the year 2006 the figures touched upon 36.5 million poor people (DeNavas-Walt, et al 2008). As per the figures published in the Bureau of Census report, nearly 43.6 million comprised of all shades of Americans, were facing deep poverty in the year 2009. It has increased comparatively if we take into account the poverty of 39.8 million in the year 2008. This has increased 15.1% in the year 2010. In the year 2009, it was 14.3% (DeNavas-Walt, et al 2010). A chart is displayed as under showing the census report regarding poverty ratio increase. The poverty ratio reportedly varies from segment to segment. In white, it is 9.9 percent. In Blacks, it is 27.4 percent. The people living, in deep-rooted poverty is around 6.7 percent. The increasing poverty rate speaks itself, the ineffective economic policy by the incumbent of present regime and the incumbent of yester regimes. The recession and multiple challenges of employment have a direct bearing on poverty numbers. According to the Census Bureau, household income declined by 2.3 percent between 2009 and 2010. Since 2007, household income declined by 6.4 percent. The number of male who were on full time job, year around decreased by 6.6 million since 2007 and the number of female who were on full time job, round the year decreased by 2.8 million. The government assistance although mitigated some of the worst affects (DeNavas-Walt, et al 2010). In accordance with the census, nearly 3.2 million people have been benefited from Social Security Insurance. However, food stamp program was not accounted for. These figures portray only a small portion of families and communities throughout the country who at the hands of poverty suffered a lot in terms of mental and physical health. Center on Budget, Policy and Priorities impressively highlighted, the misery of people living in poverty (DeNavas-Walt, et al 2010). It is evident

A Brief Biography of Mark Twain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Brief Biography of Mark Twain - Essay Example From this research, it is clear that despite his apparent success, Mark Twain sought higher standing and increased wealth, especially as it concerned the eastern states. After a brief correspondence and engagement, Twain married Olivia Langdon of New York in 1870. He lived with Olivia in Buffalo from 1869 to 1871, during which time tragedy once again struck Twain, as their first born son Langdon died of diphtheria at two years of age. They would go on to have three daughters, two of which who would also die under tragic circumstances at a relatively young age (before 30). In 1976 Twain published the masterful The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, demonstrating that he had not lost touch with his Missouri roots despite his risen status and wealth. Between this time and the time he published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Twain appeared his high-browed associated with tales such as The Prince and the Pauper in 1881. Sadly, the last fifteen to twenty years of Twain’s life were extremely troubled. He faced financial ruin from bad investments and a failed publication house (Kirk 29) and suffered from depression from the time of his daughter Susy’s death of meningitis in 1896 until his death in 1910. Twain’s death occurred 6 years after the passing of his wife Olivia while he was lecturing abroad (Cox 10). At the time of his passing Twain was considered a national treasure and he would go on to be credited by throngs of professionals as the father of American literature.