The Handmaids Tale

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale happens in a post Cold War society tormented by fruitlessness. Atwood presents the peruser with â€Å"The Republic of Gilead†, the Christian religious government that ousted the United States government. Described by a lady renamed Offred, the peruser gets a thought of a future wherein ladies are no longer ladies, however are exclusively required for multiplication. Atwood utilizes an arrangement of jargon set up under the Republic of Gilead so as to control and dehumanize ladies and men all through the content. Under this new society ladies are efined under their sexual orientation roles.No longer are ladies permitted to hold Jobs, make a salary, or have command over their body. Men then again are alluded to by their military position. Ladies are then positioned into the gathering wherein the Republic of Gilead discovers fitting. Some sent off to recreate youngsters, others to work and sit tight for a moderate merciless demise. Offred is the thing that the Republic of Gilead names a handmaid. A handmaid's sole reason for existing is to create a kid for tip top groups of the Republic. Handmaids are taken from their own garments and are compelled to wear all red.A floor length dress that gives the handmaid no shape, red shoes, and red gloves. The shading red is amazingly representative towards their situation in the public arena. The red garments could be deciphered in a large number of ways. Red is the shade of a ladies' menstrual blood. Subsequently the wearing of red considers the handmaids one of only a handful scarcely any rich ladies among society. Be that as it may, in history red has been a marker of sexual sin. The handmaids are basically engaging in sexual relations with wedded men. All handmaids are promptly deprived of their original name and put under ownership of the commander.Offred gets this name since her officer's name is Fred, and she is â€Å"of† Fred. This is the Republic of Gilead's method of actually dehumanizing and taking the handmaid's from any personalization. I looked into the meaning of the word â€Å"handmaiden†, and it is characterized in that capacity, â€Å"A handmaiden is an individual house cleaner, female worker, or a subordinate thing†. Under this new society, these ladies who can deliver life, are actually alluded to as â€Å"things† and â€Å"possessions†. In the start of this new society handmaidens show up at a spot called â€Å"the red center†.It is here they figure out how to be prepared by what the Republic of Gilead names â€Å"Aunts†. Aunties endeavor to advance the handmaid's as a fair Job and position in the public arena. The term â€Å"aunt† is properly utilized and applied by Atwood all through the novel. Their Job is to prepare, change and exhort handmaids so as to set them up for their new life. One action the auntie's utilized in endeavor to program and control the handmaid's was â€Å"t estifying†. It was during this time handmaid's told their obvious â€Å"faults† from their past lives and was then insulted for it.Offred reveals to one handmaid's story from â€Å"testifying thusly, â€Å"It's Janine, telling about how she was assaulted at fourteen and had an abortion†. Different handmaids serenade as one guaranteeing it is â€Å"her shortcoming, her deficiency, her fault†. Offred clarifies how during the last time Janine recounted to the story she burst into tears. Nonetheless, during this weeks affirming she promptly assumes liability tor being assaulted asserting, â€Å"It was my tault It was my own shortcoming, I drove them on†. The auntie's have finished their Job by controlling the handmaids into accepting that an assault was wanted.Upon entering an administrator's home there are no longer aunties, however â€Å"Marthas†. The Handmaid's Tale is bound with scriptural references all through the whole novel. Atwood's uti lization of the name â€Å"Martha† comes legitimately from a story in Luke 10:38-42 in which Jesus goes to visit his mom Mary and Martha. While Mary sits and tunes in to Jesus speak, Martha is excessively occupied with the entirety of the obligations she needed to achieve. This is actually what the Martha's are seen doing while at the same time working in the leader's home. The Marthas, Cora and Rita, are to satisfy every single household job in the house, precisely likeMartha had done in the book of scriptures. While Marthas deal with the house, the administrator's spouses are not expected to do likewise. Spouses are better than all ladies, and it is clarified to Offred immediately. In any case, while living in the authority's home it is evident that despite the fact that the handmaidens are constrained into a circumstance undesirable, so have the spouses. Spouses are to lay with the handmaiden while the administrator engages in sexual relations with the handmaiden. Named as , â€Å"the function', this occasion is genuinely scarring towards the two females in the situation.After one of the services Offred even ponders, Which of us is it more awful for, her or me†. The demonstration of the â€Å"ceremony' legitimately shows how the Republic of Gilead has dehumanized both low positioning and high-positioning ladies. Sex is no longer performed for affection and energy, however just to deliver a youngster. On one hand, Offred has no state over her body and what is befalling her. Offred even expresses, â€Å"It's just within our bodies that is significant. The outside can turn out to be hard and wrinkled for all they care†. Then again, the leader's significant other, Serena Joy, needs to lie there while her better half engages in sexual relations with another woman.While managing those battles appear to be out of line and out of line, other ladies are more regrettable off. Twisted infants, sterile ladies and previous women's activists are not given an opportunity in this general public. Signified with the names of â€Å"unwomen† and â€Å"unbabies†, they are sent to â€Å"the colonies†. The provinces are puts in which agribusiness is delivered and furthermore a position of destructive radiation and contamination. The Republic of Gilead promptly sends them there on the grounds that they have no utilization for them in their incomparable society. The Republic of Gilead doesn't just abuse ladies, however men too.Offred's ormer companion Moira disclosed to her in detail the states, â€Å"All of them wear long dresses like the ones at the Center, just dim. Ladies and the men as well, Judging from the gathering shots. I get it should unsettle the men wearing a dress†. Under this general public, in the event that you don't accommodate their principles, you are regarded pointless. Atwood likewise utilizes certain jargon to characterize certain strict customs that occur all through the novel. â€Å"Pr aywaganzas,† â€Å"Salvagings,† and â€Å"Particicutions† are a couple of the customs used to control handmaidens into rehearsing the social orders convictions. The Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale happens in a post Cold War society tormented by barrenness. Atwood presents the peruser with â€Å"The Republic of Gilead†, the Christian religious government that ousted the United States government. Described by a lady renamed Offred, the peruser gets a thought of a future wherein ladies are no longer ladies, yet are exclusively required for propagation. Atwood utilizes an arrangement of jargon set up under the Republic of Gilead so as to control and dehumanize ladies and men all through the content. Under this new society ladies are efined under their sexual orientation roles.No longer are ladies permitted to hold Jobs, make a pay, or have command over their body. Men then again are alluded to by their military position. Ladies are then positioned into the gathering where the Republic of Gilead discovers fitting. Some sent off to repeat youngsters, others to work and hang tight for a moderate unfeeling demise. Offred is the thing that t he Republic of Gilead names a handmaid. A handmaid's sole reason for existing is to deliver a youngster for world class groups of the Republic. Handmaids are taken from their own garments and are compelled to wear all red.A floor length dress that gives the handmaid no shape, red shoes, and red gloves. The shading red is amazingly emblematic towards their situation in the public eye. The red dress could be deciphered in a huge number of ways. Red is the shade of a ladies' menstrual blood. Along these lines the wearing of red esteems the handmaids one of only a handful not many rich ladies among society. Be that as it may, in history red has been a marker of sexual sin. The handmaids are basically engaging in sexual relations with wedded men. All handmaids are quickly deprived of their original name and put under ownership of the commander.Offred gets this name since her administrator's name is Fred, and she is â€Å"of† Fred. This is the Republic of Gilead's method of truly d ehumanizing and taking the handmaid's from any personalization. I looked into the meaning of the word â€Å"handmaiden†, and it is characterized accordingly, â€Å"A handmaiden is an individual house keeper, female hireling, or a subordinate thing†. Under this new society, these ladies who can create life, are truly alluded to as â€Å"things† and â€Å"possessions†. In the start of this new society handmaidens show up at a spot called â€Å"the red center†.It is here they figure out how to be prepared by what the Republic of Gilead names â€Å"Aunts†. Aunties endeavor to advance the handmaid's as a respectable Job and position in the public eye. The term â€Å"aunt† is fittingly utilized and applied by Atwood all through the novel. Their Job is to prepare, change and exhort handmaids so as to set them up for their new life. One movement the auntie's utilized in endeavor to program and control the handmaid's was â€Å"testifying†. It was during this time handmaid's told their evident â€Å"faults† from their past lives and was then provoked for it.Offred discloses to one handmaid's story from â€Å"testifying in that capacity, â€Å"It's Janine, telling about how she was assaulted at fourteen and had an abortion†. Different handmaids serenade as one guaranteeing it is â€Å"her shortcoming, her deficiency, her fault†. Offred clarifies how during the last time Janine recounted to the story she burst into tears. Notwithstanding, during this weeks affirming she im

Brave New World is Possible essays

Exciting modern lifestyle is Possible articles The story is set 600 years past the time of Ford. The individuals have had the opportunity to be innate enough that no suspicion of the word opportunity remained. The world is one government ran by ten world pioneers and the individuals appreciate life liberated from war, disdain, destitution, infection, and torment. The researchers have everything about to the point of irritation. Normalization and progress are esteemed regardless of anything else. In this general public, youngsters are liable to mind programming and that is the thing that makes it work. As a kid, one is viewed as an honest brain ready to learn, yet at the same time not certain on the contrast among good and bad. In Brave New World, Mr. Cultivate clarified, We . . . fate and condition. We empty our children as mingled people, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage laborers or future [World controllers]. Indeed, even from the origination of egg and sperm, they control the way wherein every individual goes. Those controlling the way had been pre-chosen in controlling pre-choices. The ceaseless circle makes this conceivable. Hypothetically, in pretty much every angle, Brave New World could work. That depends on the way that at some point around the time of Ford the atomic bombs removed the greater part of humankind. Those that remained were placed into camps that later on transformed into savage reservations. The victor exploited this and made for the world another populace of hereditarily changed individuals. These individuals were molded from birth to know the methods of Ford. The sort of psyche control methods utilized may not be successful, yet surely the presentation of free love and medications dealt with that. The across the board acknowledgment of free love would not work on the off chance that it werent for the methods of cleansing and the three-month time frame ladies can every so often experience. In any case, the periodic sentimental simply cannot get being glad, and when that happens they are managed... <!

I Wrote an MIT Application Essay on Getting a B in Calculus

I Wrote an MIT Application Essay on Getting a B in Calculus Hello Internet! I had a very writing major day, which is to say that I spent this morning sitting in 1369 Coffee on Mass Ave writing new scenes for ThesisNovel before I sent the first fifth of it off to my advisor. Much idyllic, such hipster, wow. To play to stereotype, I even Instagrammed my food. (In my defense, the latte art deserved preservation.) The protagonist of ThesisNovel is a high school senior who’s just about to start the college application process, which might be an intensely familiar situation for some of you. But it’s a little further away for me, so in the interest of researchâ€"and inspired by a bunch of other bloggers who’ve recently written about their own application experiencesâ€"I decided to look for the essays I actually wrote when I applied to MIT. They were surprisingly hard to locate. They hadn’t survived the transfer to my most recent laptop and could only be found in my old Hotmail, for one thing. For another, I didn’t actually put “MIT” in the subjects or bodies of the emails with my essays attached, which were mostly sent to my dad so I could get a second opinion on what I’d written. The emails were instead titled things like, “Have a present I am sleeping in ish” or, “Thingumagig” or, “It was proofread and everything!” or simply, “Oh Friend!” Past me was exuberant, but she is not very helpful to present me. Past me had also been unintentionally prepping for this processâ€"the college application process in generalâ€"for a very, very long time. (A lot of it was unintentional, because I’d ingrained expectations from the cultural climate in which I grew up. All those internalized standards became a huge huge issue for me later on, which is another story altogether.) Ceri and Joel wrote great posts recently about feeling unprepared, or being told they were unprepared, to apply to MIT, which you should definitely check out. I also felt unprepared to apply to MIT, but not because I’d had it hammered into my head by a counselor or a website that I wouldn’t be able to get in, just because you are never fully prepared to apply to MIT. I knew it wasâ€"theoreticallyâ€"possible that MIT would accept me, but MIT is a reach school for everyone and it’s difficult to anticipate what’ll happen when you apply, for better or for worse. (The story about the applicant who built a fully functional nuclear reactor in his garage is worth a read. Spoilers: he didn’t get in, but a bunch of other applicants, none of whom built a nuclear reactor, did. Just shows you don’t need to go overboard to be accepted here.) I did know what I wanted out of a college experience, and I was also intensely familiar with how to approach college applications. That was something  we all took way too seriously in my family. College Search 2KChel kicked off with a three-day, six-school driving tour of schools of the Northeast, spring break of sophomore year of high school. Yep, that’s right. One school info session/tour in the morning, lunch break, one school info session/tour in the afternoon. Sophomore year. Im unquestionably grateful that I have parents who cared enough about my education to take me around to schools like that, but heres a note to all you other parents out there: do not do this. Three days of back to back college tours is just too much. Your kids will temporarily hate you, they will barely remember the schools, and theyll still give you a hard time about it six years later. Take this example: by the time we wound our way down to Wesleyan, I flat out refused to go on the walking tour, although I was eventually persuaded to get out of the car to attend the info session. Thats how tired I was. “I think we passed fields back there,” I said. “Fields with cows in them? I don’t want to go to school in the middle of nowhere.” “We’re not in the middle of nowhere,” said my mom. “Cows,” I repeated meaningfully. My parents went on the walking tour without me. Apparently Wesleyan was very nice. I didn’t apply there. Spring Break College Trip Extravaganza I did go visit a few more out-of-state schoolsâ€"I’m from Maryland, and didn’t want to stay close to homeâ€"but we never structured trips like that again. My dad and I would venture out casually on long weekends or during breaks. Some of the schools I saw were more competitive than others. As College Search 2KChel progressed, I developed some criteria for my ideal college, which were that a) the school had to be in or near a city, but not completely integrated in (a la NYU) and b) there had to be an engineering or computer science program. (The school having a prestigious name was not a criterion because I strongly believed then, and believe now, that it’s possible to find collegiate happiness any number of ways, in any number of places.) Most of the schools I applied to were not engineering-focused; I wanted to do computer science, but I didn’t want to be surrounded only by computer scientists. I also wanted to have options if I decided to switch majors. MIT was the exception to that rule. Before I first visited the campus (which I did on day one of Spring Break College Trip Extravaganza, so I wasn’t tired yet), I didn’t think I would even apply. I didn’t think I would like it. But the admissions presentation was so engaging, and the tour guide we got so quirky-wacky (when describing the rules for pets on campus, she said, “No dogs, but some dorms allow catsâ€"although I do know someone with a very slobbery ‘cat,’ if you know what I mean”) that I was won over almost immediately, in spite of the grey spring drizzle. I didn’t dream of applying to MIT my whole life. I only figured out that I might be happy going to college there the summer before my junior year. And then I balked, because if I applied there to study computer science but changed my mind and opted to pursue writing, my other primary interest, would that be possible? Or would it be feasible to double major in those things if I wanted to? (Answer: yes. Oh, past me, you didn’t know what was coming to you.) Thankfully, Boston isn’t a bad drive from my town and we have family friends in the area who were happy to put up with us put us up for a few days, so I headed back to campus about a year later to find out the answer. I was able to meet with a couple of professors in the writing and literature departments who assured me that humanities at MIT were very much a thing, and Anne Hunter of course 6 fame, who told me that double majoring was also possible, and often done. One of the lit professors I spoke with remembered me and ended up becoming my freshman advisor a year later, after I was admitted. Now for a reality check: that wasnt necessary. None of that was necessary! You dont have to talk to professors before you apply. (Can you imagine if you did? Professors would never get any work done.) I didn’t do any of that to help get me into MIT, just like I didn’t take any of the classes I took in high school or participate in any of the extracurriculars I participated in to get me into college. I took those classes and did those activities because they made me happy (maybe I also thought that it was normal to juggle a lot of stuff, since all my friends were doing that too), and I did that re-visit to make sure that MIT would make me happy if I got in and decided to go there. I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to do those things, but I didn’t do them to look good on an application. I did them for me. Thats what they call applying sideways, which is explained in  more detail in the nuclear reactor blog post I linked above. Anyway, the short of all that is that I knew what I was getting into by applying to MIT. I knew what I’d do if I got there, or I thought I did, and I also knew getting in would be an uphill climb. Oh, and first I had to go through that whole application part. I have a close friend who had MIT as a goal school since she was very young. She applied early action and I didn’t, but we were accepted together, and since I took a year off but she stayed to MEng we’re still in school together, as we have been since the fourth grade. I find that unbelievably cool. At the time we were applying, I compared myself to her and ended up feeling very self-conscious. We were both in our schools International Baccalaureate program, but she took an extra science class as her elective; I took music. I’m fairly sure she took AP Computer Science, and I didn’t because I didn’t have room in my schedule; I wanted to sing in the choir. It was as if anyone was tailor-made for this school, it was her, or so I assumed. (Edit: this comment thread is important! Apparently she was also comparing herself to me.) English classes were never her favorite, and close literary analysis didn’t always click for her, but I thought MIT, as a place that puts a lot more public emphasis on math and sciences, wouldn’t look down on her for that. Me, though, I had a B in Calculus. My B in Calculus shouldn’t have been at all embarrassing, and it isn’t looking back on it, but it was at the time because I’d long considered myself a person who was Good at Math and Got A’s in Math and I thought that was the kind of person that MIT would wantâ€"a person who Got A’s in Math. Apparently past me was so hung up on this B that she dedicated one of her 250-word responses to it. I discovered that response in my email this weekend. This was the question I chose to respond to: 12c) Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? Let’s say, for the sake of not being totally embarrassing, that past me chose to focus on the “something important that didn’t go according to plan” part. (Something Important: Operation Calculus. The Plan: A. How It Went: B.) There were more significant challenges in my life up to that point than getting an A in math class, but none of those were resolved in a way that would really shed light on me as a person, or so I believed. I thought my Calculus experience would. Here is the story behind the B, the one that I wrote about: I got the B in Calculus based on the work I’d done that semester, but managed to get an A on the final exam, taken later. I wrote about how I loved math, and how struggling with concepts that I’d never encountered before really threw me for a loop because I was used to math coming easily to me. But did past me take this sitting down? No! Well… not in the end! Because after half a semester of math not working out, I finally decided to put in some quality time with my teacher and a tutor to figure out what I wasn’t getting. And I did that not because I necessarily needed to get an Aâ€"I still closed out the semester with a B, after allâ€"but because I wanted to understand the math. That final exam, even though it didn’t affect what went on my transcript, showed that I did, but more importantly it reflected the effort I put in to reach that ultimate understanding. That was the most valuable thing, the effort. Even though the grades issue was pretty trivial in the scheme of things, the point of that response was that I didn’t give up when faced with concepts that were new and confusing. That’s something of paramount importance at MIT, where new and confusing things are thrown at you all the time and you’re expected to take them as they come. From what I’ve seen here, that willingness to work at problems until they make sense is more valuable than raw aptitude. That’s something that’ll carry you through your four years here. I don’t think any single essay or short response or grade or SAT score got me into MIT, but even though I chuckled at past me for worrying so much over a Bâ€"I’ve struggled to earn B’s here!â€"I can’t see how those 250 words would have hurt my chances. Maybe they helped. In the end, MIT let me in. There are other things about my application process that Ill want to bring up later, but here’s the moral for tonight: that thing, or those things, that you think will hold you back from getting into MIT? Maybe they won’t. Maybe if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, you’ll see that those things say something else about you that matters more. Maybe no AP classes were offered where youre from, so you found other ways to challenge yourself. Maybe you have a few grades that you don’t think are up to snuff, but you worked really hard for them, either because the material was new or because life was difficult then, and you earned them. It happens all the time. Perseverance is the key. Creativity. Flexibility. Passion. A jumble of other nouns, none of which are perfection. So get out there and tell your story, warts and all. You might be pleasantly surprised. If you like, you can now follow me, or just ask me questions, on the Tweets.

Movie Review The Movie Right Away - 1737 Words

Taking a first look at the movie, The Campaign directed by Jay Roach with starring actors like Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakas one would think that the movie right away is a comedy. It is a hilarious movie there is no argument about that. Will Ferrell who plays congressman Cam Brady and Zach Galifianakas who plays Marty Huggins go head to head as they run for office to represent the city of Hammond, North Carolina. Throughout the race to be elected Cam and Marty pull of comical stunts to hurt and prevent the public from voting for each other on election day. The viewers of the movie see these actions taken by Cam and Marty as amusing but when you look deeper and past the funny moments the film is criticizing actual politics in America. Many of the ridiculous things that happen throughout the movie also took place with people in office and even presidents of the United States. One way that this movie parodies real-life politics emerges from a scene where Cam Brady is running unoppo sed and is in court registering for the ballot. While he is in the court room he shows his campaign manager a picture of himself and the picture was of a part of his body only males have. He then goes on to tweet the picture to a female he is talking to. This is almost identical to a situation that took place in New York. A member of the United States House of Representatives named Andrew Weiner experienced a sexting scandal. Weiner also sent a sexually inappropriate picture on his twitterShow MoreRelatedMain Theme Of Shrek1274 Words   |  6 Pages Shrek The movie Shrek is a fairytale that you can watch with family. It’s a movie that not only entertains, but it also teaches valuable lessons. Shrek puts the viewers in awe and gets them excited, so this movie is definitely worth watching! One of the main themes in this movie is the acceptance of people for who they truly are. 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The First Act Of Hamlet By William Shakespeare - 1447 Words

Hamlet Throughout the first act of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, clothing imagery is used to illustrate the common theme of â€Å"is versus seems.† The clothing references made with Laertes, son of Polonius, Gertrude, the queen of Denmark, and Hamlet, the protagonist of the play, come to either reflect the character’s true feelings, or highlight the differences between what the character feels and what emotion they display. Before leaving to France, Polonius, counselor to the king, advises his son Laertes to buy fine, impressive clothing because clothing often represents the man who is wearing them and by donning impressive clothing, it makes the wearer seem more impressive than he may actually be. Additionally, the same shoes that Gertrude wears whenâ€Å"lovingly† following Hamlet Sr., the former king of Denmark, are worn again to her wedding with Claudius. The shoes highlight Gertrude’s true feelings toward Hamlet Sr. because by wearing them with both Haml et Sr. and Claudius, she displays her insensitivity towards Hamlet Sr. and her blunt acceptance his death. In contrast to Laertes and Gertrude, Hamlet wears black clothes to mourn his father’s death, not just because he should seem like he is upset, as is suggested by Gertrude, but rather because Hamlet actually is, wholeheartedly, mourning over the loss of his father. While many characters in the play mourned for the late King Hamlet superficially, Hamlet truly feels upset and his clothing reflect this sadness. The clothingShow MoreRelatedUse Of Scenes From The First Act Of Hamlet By William Shakespeare Essay1362 Words   |  6 PagesFiras Al Mahrouky David R. Glimp ENGL 3000 02 November 2016 Essay #2 Shakespeare often constructs and uses scenes to drive the events of his plays. 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Digital Fortress Chapter 9 Free Essays

Systems security technician Phil Chartrukian had only intended to be inside Crypto a minute-just long enough to grab some paperwork he’d forgotten the day before. But it was not to be. After making his way across the Crypto floor and stepping into the Sys-Sec lab, he immediately knew something was not right. We will write a custom essay sample on Digital Fortress Chapter 9 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The computer terminal that perpetually monitored TRANSLTR’s internal workings was unmanned and the monitor was switched off. Chartrukian called out, â€Å"Hello?† There was no reply. The lab was spotless-as if no one had been there for hours. Although Chartrukian was only twenty-three and relatively new to the Sys-Sec squad, he’d been trained well, and he knew the drill: There was always a Sys-Sec on duty in Crypto†¦ especially on Saturdays when no cryptographers were around. He immediately powered up the monitor and turned to the duty board on the wall. â€Å"Who’s on watch?† he demanded aloud, scanning the list of names. According to the schedule, a young rookie named Seidenberg was supposed to have started a double shift at midnight the night before. Chartrukian glanced around the empty lab and frowned. â€Å"So where the hell is he?† As he watched the monitor power up, Chartrukian wondered if Strathmore knew the Sys-Sec lab was unmanned. He had noticed on his way in that the curtains of Strathmore’s workstation were closed, which meant the boss was in-not at all uncommon for a Saturday; Strathmore, despite requesting his cryptographers take Saturdays off, seemed to work 365 days a year. There was one thing Chartrukian knew for certain-if Strathmore found out the Sys-Sec lab was unmanned, it would cost the absent rookie his job. Chartrukian eyed the phone, wondering if he should call the young techie and bail him out; there was an unspoken rule among Sys-Sec that they would watch each other’s backs. In Crypto, Sys-Secs were second-class citizens, constantly at odds with the lords of the manor. It was no secret that the cryptographers ruled this multibillion-dollar roost; Sys-Secs were tolerated only because they kept the toys running smoothly. Chartrukian made his decision. He grabbed the phone. But the receiver never reached his ear. He stopped short, his eyes transfixed on the monitor now coming into focus before him. As if in slow motion, he set down the phone and stared in open-mouthed wonder. In eight months as a Sys-Sec, Phil Chartrukian had never seen TRANSLTR’s Run-Monitor post anything other than a double zero in the hours field. Today was a first. TIME ELAPSED: 15:17:21 â€Å"Fifteen hours and seventeen minutes?† he choked. â€Å"Impossible!† He rebooted the screen, praying it hadn’t refreshed properly. But when the monitor came back to life, it looked the same. Chartrukian felt a chill. Crypto’s Sys-Secs had only one responsibility: Keep TRANSLTR â€Å"clean†-virus free. Chartrukian knew that a fifteen-hour run could only mean one thing-infection. An impure file had gotten inside TRANSLTR and was corrupting the programming. Instantly his training kicked in; it no longer mattered that the Sys-Sec lab had been unmanned or the monitors switched off. He focused on the matter at hand-TRANSLTR. He immediately called up a log of all the files that had entered TRANSLTR in the last forty-eight hours. He began scanning the list. Did an infected file get through? he wondered. Could the security filters have missed something? As a precaution, every file entering TRANSLTR had to pass through what was known as Gauntlet-a series of powerful circuit-level gateways, packet filters, and disinfectant programs that scanned inbound files for computer viruses and potentially dangerous subroutines. Files containing programming â€Å"unknown† to Gauntlet were immediately rejected. They had to be checked by hand. Occasionally Gauntlet rejected entirely harmless files on the basis that they contained programming the filters had never seen before. In that case, the Sys-Secs did a scrupulous manual inspection, and only then, on confirmation that the file was clean, did they bypass Gauntlet’s filters and send the file into TRANSLTR. Computer viruses were as varied as bacterial viruses. Like their physiological counterparts, computer viruses had one goal-to attach themselves to a host system and replicate. In this case, the host was TRANSLTR. Chartrukian was amazed the NSA hadn’t had problems with viruses before. Gauntlet was a potent sentry, but still, the NSA was a bottom feeder, sucking in massive amounts of digital information from systems all over the world. Snooping data was a lot like having indiscriminate sex-protection or no protection, sooner or later you caught something. Chartrukian finished examining the file list before him. He was now more puzzled than before. Every file checked out. Gauntlet had seen nothing out of the ordinary, which meant the file in TRANSLTR was totally clean. â€Å"So what the hell’s taking so long?† he demanded of the empty room. Chartrukian felt himself break a sweat. He wondered if he should go disturb Strathmore with the news. â€Å"A virus probe,† Chartrukian said firmly, trying to calm himself down. â€Å"I should run a virus probe.† Chartrukian knew that a virus probe would be the first thing Strathmore would request anyway. Glancing out at the deserted Crypto floor, Chartrukian made his decision. He loaded the viral probe software and launched it. The run would take about fifteen minutes. â€Å"Come back clean,† he whispered. â€Å"Squeaky clean. Tell Daddy it’s nothing.† But Chartrukian sensed it was not â€Å"nothing.† Instinct told him something very unusual was going on inside the great decoding beast. How to cite Digital Fortress Chapter 9, Essay examples

The Eve of St. Agnes Is built up of a series of deliberate contrasts Essay Example

The Eve of St. Agnes Is built up of a series of deliberate contrasts Paper This is a passage from earlier in the poem, and refers to the Beadsman, an ancient holy man who prayed for the souls of sinners all his life. It uses contrasts of colour, sound, and also life and death. In the first line, the music is described as soft, however the trumpets are later described as snarling. On one hand, this gives the trumpets themselves life, but it also makes them seem somehow unwelcoming, harsh and angry. The silver trumpets also contrast with an earlier description of Musics golden tongue. Is the prelude soft, warm and golden or cold and silver? Normally Keats refers to music as a beautiful thing, however it seems the Beadsman is annoyed and angered by it. His stony, cold silence is invaded by the chaotic music when the doors are opened, again a reference to the contrasting outside world breaking in, and contrast between the icy cold stone walls of the chapel and the rich, glowing warm chambers outside. Keats then goes on to describe the carved stone angels in the chapel, not still, lifeless and frozen, but somehow alive and ever eager-eyed, waiting for guests with almost flowing hair blown back. However, beneath all these images of liveliness and music, there is an underlying sense of absence and emptiness. People hurry to and fro preparing, the glowing chambers are ready to welcome people, the angels are ever eager, watching for someone or something, but nothing happens. The whole castle seems frozen in time, perpetually waiting to come alive, and it is only in the next paragraph that life and chaos bursts inside. Then by the bed-side, where the faded moon Made a dim, silver twilight, soft he set A table, and, half anguishd, threw thereon A cloth of woven crimson, gold, and jet: We will write a custom essay sample on The Eve of St. Agnes Is built up of a series of deliberate contrasts specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Eve of St. Agnes Is built up of a series of deliberate contrasts specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Eve of St. Agnes Is built up of a series of deliberate contrasts specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer O for some drowsy Morphean amulet! The boisterous, midnight, festive clarion, The kettle-drum, and far-heard clarionet, Affray his ears, though but in dying tone:- The hall door shuts again, and all the noise is gone. There are two main contrasts here; that of colour and light again, but more importantly the contrast between the outsiders loud, merry revelry and Porphyros silent and perverse desire to keep Madeline asleep. Notice how the moon is no longer bright and glaring, but faded and dim. There is no glamour or brilliance in this passage, and Porphyros intentions are clearly not at all wholesome. The imagery here is very real; you can almost sense the pure silver blue light shrouding the sleeping maiden, and the dim purity of her room being invaded by the passionate and deep crimson, gold, and jet. Whereas the first half of this stanza is full of still, silent and pale images, the second half describes the loud, chaotic music from the feast penetrating the silent sanctum of her room. The wicked Porphyro begs for a Morphean amulet, Morpheus being the God of sleep, and when the hall door is opened, he becomes afraid that Madeline will awaken and ruin his twisted, voyeuristic fun. In this passage, we really see the other side of Porphyro; that which has no chivalric morals, and acts like a thief in the dark, coming to rob her nest. In other passages, he has been honourable at least on the outside, speaking of courtly love and marriage, and swearing upon the saints, but here we see the true, scheming Porphyro. However, there is an underlying foreboding and sense of death in this passage. Even before Madeline awakes, the sky is already fading into darkness, the twilight is no longer bright and the one element of life, the music, is described as in dying tone as the hall door shuts it out. This is probably the first unsettling hint that no matter how young, innocent and beautiful you are, nothing is really sacred, and the cold death of outside is a constant reminder to this. Behind what seems on the outside a classic romantic tale of love having no bounds, wooing in secret and beautiful colours, music, and courtly love, lies the story of a man lacking morality, and looking to corrupt the innocence of a helpless beautiful maiden.

Diversity In An Organization Example

Diversity In An Organization Example Diversity In An Organization – Coursework Example DIVERSITY IN THE ORGANIZATION By Diversity in the Organization Diversity in an organization can be referredto as a combination of various qualities that are distinct from the organization’s practices (Phillips & Gully, 2013). Therefore, diversity can basically be composed of factors such as ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation, marital status, race, gender, and religious background among others. To facilitate the creation of diversity in an organization that is traditionally homogeneous, managers should increase the workers awareness of and involvement in the various workforce diversity issues, monitor the work progress and focus on work data, set aggressive but achievable targets and eliminate miscommunication whilst ensuring close coordination among the workforce. Doing this will provide cohesiveness and unity within the organization thence making it easier to carry out the diversity process.The top management play a huge role in the development and implementati on of organizational diversity. Thus, there is need for top level management support in order for organization’s diversity to become a success. For instance, the managers must display a strong commitment towards the set diversity structure or program, they must also receive diversity training for the purposes of addressing factors such as stereotypes, myths, and other organizational barriers as well as cultural differences that may interfere with the work performance of employees. Likewise, the management must recognize diversity as part of the organization’s strategic objective thus linking it to other organizational goals. Furthermore, managers have also a duty to stress the importance of diversity throughout the organization and they should be held accountable for meeting the set goals and objectives for diversity.There are various problems that may accompany the implementation of diversity in an organization. For that reason, managers should be aware that, first, m any employees prefer doing their work in homogeneous groups and thus they would tend generally avoid and resist change. Besides, there is the challenge of poor communication due to the diverse work environment brought about by the different factors such as multiple ethnicities, sexes, age groups among others. To ensure that these challenges do not affect the success of diversity implementation in an organization, managers should possess good leadership skills as well as other skills such as change management, communication, organizational development, evaluation and assessment, and psychology among others. ReferencePhillips, J., & Gully, S. M. (2012). Organizational behavior: Tools for success. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Test-Taking Tips and Strategies

Test-Taking Tips and Strategies Of all the stressors that come with earning a degree in higher education, taking a test – or exam, rather – often causes the most stress. Tests are rarely simple, most always a challenge, and, worst of all, the student hardly knows what to expect – even those who  have done their work, studied hard and prepared well for the exam.  The key to successful test taking, however, is preparation and avoiding carelessness when taking the test. How to Write a College Research Paper Taking a test demonstrates the student’s ability to understand their course material and use that knowledge ina pragmatic way. There are two kinds of tests: objective tests –true/false, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank; andsubjective tests – short answer, essay, oral exams. Regardless of the student, their approach to taking tests, intelligence, skill level, or if they have a proclivityfor performing well on tests, here are a few suggestions for the student who wishes to excel on tests. Test-Taking Tips and Strategies Improve test-taking abilities by looking at old tests. When preparing for any test, the student should review previously taken tests to be aware of areas that may require more attention. Each test a student takes in some way prepares them for the next – especially the Final exam. Be early, early, early. The day of a test, the student should one, get up out of bed at an early hour, early enough to get a good, healthy breakfast before reviewing last-minute notes. Also, the student should arrive early to the test-taking site to avoid any stress or panic. Visualize. It’s a health practice for the student to imagine a successful test – literally envisioning themselves going slowly and successfully over each question, performing each in a confident, competent manner, and finishing every question calmly, thoroughly, with the least amount of stress as possible. Be alert, sit upright and, if possible, choose a comfortable seat/chair and location. A great deal of the student’s success in taking a test depends on their ability to stay focused, alert and comfortable. Stay relaxed, confident – and keep a positive attitude. Like visualizing success, the student must not let their negative thoughts cause a poor test performance. They should keep reminding themselves they are doing their best, will pass the test with flying colors, and get on with their day. A few deep breaths also help to maintain focus and composure. Read the directions carefully and avoid making errors due to carelessness. Most tests do have a time limit; however, it is more than beneficial when the student reads all directions Have a strategy. Answer questions in a strategic order, depending on the student’s strengths/weaknesses, comfort level, and understanding of the content. The student may want to answer easy questions first, as sort of a warm-up, which may build confidence, then answer questions with the most point value. On objective test questions, eliminate incorrect answers: This works with multiple-choice questions, true-false questions, etc. If possible, make very broad outlines for essays. This helps the student visualize their written answer, serving as a makeshift formula for a response. If time allows, look the test over once more. Rather than turning in their test right after they’re done with it, the student should hold on to their test as long as possible. They should check to make sure they’ve answered every question to the best of their abilities and not made careless, pointless errors, have mismarked answers, and so on. Also, the student may find pertinent, helpful information, or even an answer to a question, at a different part of the test. Three Steps to a Great College Essay

Introduction about cell cycle by emphasizing DNA replication Research Paper

Introduction about cell cycle by emphasizing DNA replication - Research Paper Example Evidently, there is a need to ensure that DNA replication occurs only once per cell cycle to prevent daughter cells having inappropriate copy numbers and other potentially fatal errors (Byun et al, 2005, Lou et al, 2008, Kurth& Gautier, 2010). This means that DNA replication is tightly controlled by a number of different cell elements, including RCs and the cyclin-dependent kinase (CdK) known as Cdc28p (Drury, Perkins &Diffley, 2000). The CdK family is important in cell cycle regulation as they phosphorylate proteins involved in cell cycle checkpoints. During the assembly of RCs at an origin, a family of proteins (Mcm2-7) becomes associated with the DNA (Randell et al, 2010, Lydeard et al, 2010), a mechanism that requires the origin-recognition complex (ORC) and Cdc6 (cell division cycle 6) (Randall et al, 2006). The loading of Mcm2-7 helicase onto origin-proximal DNA for replication is directed by the ORC and Cdc6, initiated by sequential ATP hydrolysis (Randall et al, 2006). This occurs at a precise time during G1 in part due to the mechanisms of Cdc28p (Drury et al, 2000), which plays the dual function of preventing RC formation and initiating the replication of DNA within the cell cycle (Drury et al, 2010). Cdc6p is also important in the cell cycle because it prevents DNA re-replication, as without it there may be multiple rounds of DNA re-replication without the mitosis event (Drury et al, 2010). It is possible to judge which phase of the cell cycle a cell is at through levels of Cdc6p: high during G1 and then gets phosphoryl ated during the S phase (Rizzardi& Cook, 2013). Perkins, Drury &Diffley (2001) showed the importance of CDC6 by introducing mutant alleles of the CDC6 gene. Two major transformants of CDC6 were chosen. CDC6-d1 ensured that the cell could not progress onto S phase, as there was abnormal assembly of the pre-RC complex. CDC6-d2 ensured that

How to Interact with Customers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

How to Interact with Customers - Essay Example In this particular case, it has to be highlighted that the issues faced by the consumers on the purchase of the products of the company’s sales’ department needed solutions. This makes the customers and consumers of the products call up to the customer service department. It is to be highlighted and mentioned that when the customers opt to call up the customer service executives of the company, they are in drastic and urgent need of help and support. The process of customer care executives asking them about their sales transaction details are bound to heighten the frustration level of the consumers and customers since it adds up to the delay in getting the desired solution. It also needs to be taken into consideration that in some cases, it might so happen that the customers may not have the sales transaction details at their immediate disposal. This might result in the process of being avoided or getting delayed in terms of getting a recommendable solution to their pro blem. In order to tackle this issue, the company can focus on implementing technology-based upgrades in its customer services. To start in the most traditional way, it can be said that the company goes for an upgrade of their entire customer support software. The new software should be having a feature which will allow the customer service representative to simply type the consumer name and id and thereby pull up the relevant details associated with their individual transaction. However, in the scenario, the company wants to quicken the process of tackling the issue, the company can focus on analyzing the customer queries that are commonly asked by the consumers and customers. It has to be said that the company will need to utilize the tactic of ‘listen and engage’. In order to start with the process of listening to the consumers and customer needs, the company needs to analyze the most frequently asked queries of the consumers. Once, the common queries are being identi fied, the company can focus on the process of designing a special section on the website with the label of frequently asked questions or (FAQs). The company can also opt for designing a user community-based page, which can be integrated with the company’s website. While talking about positioning the page, it has to be mentioned that the page should be placed in the portion of the website which will talk about the frequently asked questions. Also, the consumers who have purchased products from the company’s sales department has to be communicated about the existence of this page through email. This will help the consumers to deal with the product related issues, by asking fellow buyers and users of the same product. By having these particular features in the website, the company will be empowering the customers to troubleshoot their own set of product-related problems on the basis of self help. The self help feature will help in a great way to eradicate the need of call ing the customer service representative at all times. This is sure to provide a great amount of boost in regards to tackling of the issues related to the frustration level of the customers, since it will not be necessary from them to provide the details of their sales transactions at the first place.  

A Study On The European Identity

A Study On The European Identity Although the concept of collective identity is a post-colonial phenomenon, a few nations would describe themselves under a collective identity before the modern times of the 19th Century. In fact, Europe is historically unique in terms that it has been the people living in the continent of Europe who have persistently described themselves as Europeans since the 17th Century (Pagden, 2002). Indeed, European Union emerged as the most important attempt for creating a supranational entity in the Continent and the best example of a Pan-European common identity as even the words Europe and the European Union are being used as synonyms by millions of people every day. Nevertheless, an uncertainty of a common identity has always been the case for Europeans throughout history and the physical as well as social borders of Europe has never been distinctly known for centuries which are full of wars, tensions, competition and blood. Today, the same problem continues to exist and many believe that it is the major factor blocking the efforts for achieving a fully integrated Europe, as the definition and frontiers of a common European identity is still unknown. Indeed, one of the most important issues of the European integration from a socio-political perspective is the vague concept of a common European identity including prospects of European Union Citizenship. Although a common European identity had been long around for centuries, these are fairly new issues in relevance to the half a century long history of todays European Union. However, I believe how the common European identity is defined is very important for the future steps of the integration process, as nowadays the EU is undergoing transformation towards a political union with an aim to become a global actor in the international political arena. What shall be the elements of a common European identity, how shall it be formulized if it is to become a suc cessful construct which would define Europe correctly to end the efforts that lasted for such a long time? I believe a triumphant common European identity must include the concrete and symbolic realities and it must be rooted to the diversity of cultures which had been created by the long history of Europe (DAppollonia, 2002). Otherwise, if it remains as a form of thin identity suggested by Habermas (2006), the problems and uncertainties of European identity as well as the poorly functioning European Union citizenship is most likely to exist in the Unions foreseeable future. In fact, a common European identity can only be successfully constructed by taking into account all the ambiguities, contradictions and developments in form of a unity in diversity principle which can be applied to the reality of Europe rather than building a shallow and artificial construct as it seems to be today. Theoretically, a united Europe in political terms is made possible if a united Europe in cultural terms is established through formulating a collective common identity which may only be conceived as a coll ection of multiple and complex values created by complicated dynamics of Europes long history. Nevertheless, a united Europe in cultural terms shall not mean a homogenous and strictly ordered European society; rather the European identity shall celebrate Europes long tradition of diversity. Another important question is how should European Union citizenship be defined and what should be the frontiers of cultural implications of such a political formulation. Considering the wide cultural diversity and long history that the individual members of the European Union had share in the European continent, a collective identity may prove to be far too complex to construct, so one may argue that a common European identity is still an illusion. Although Europeans have a successfully formed a common economic and increasingly political union, they are still far away from the desired level of cultural unity and a common identity which seems to be an alarming factor for the next stages of the European integration. Nonetheless, European Union citizenship is an area open to developments and it might be used as a critically important tool by the European Union leaders to accumulate a common European identity, only if it is formulized correctly. The critical point on the debate of Europe an Union citizenship is that the dominant Classical Model of Citizenship is based on the structures of nation-state and that is why this model cannot be applied to the European Union, as it is a whole different level of organization. On the other hand, Post-National citizenship is a modern approach to the issue of European identity and it is suitable to Europe in order to reach its goals of unification and deepening through building a stronger common identity in the 21st Century. This paper is organized in several sections. European identity from a historical perspective is analyzed in the first part; the current status of European identity and the issue of national identities in contrast to the common European identity is discussed in the following part; a new European identity and suggestions for a new formulation is given in the third part; a brief history of European Union efforts and progress on building a common identity is examined in the fourth part; and finally the aspects of European Union Citizenship is discussed in the fifth part of this paper. After all, this paper argues that a common identity in form of a collective European identity is clearly necessary for the Union at this stage of integration, and it is a crucial element for the future of the European integration project especially as our world is getting smaller as well as more fragmented simultaneously due to the complex dynamics of international relations every day at the age of globalization. European Citizenship is very much connected to the issue of European identity and it is the key to achieving such a strong common European identity when it is formulized as a Post-National phenomenon. The Europeans must derive their power from the diversity of their cultures by building a thick identity for Europe rather than a thin identity which consists of merely political rights; yet the Europeans shall not overlook the uniqueness of the Continent and the similarities they share in comparison to the rest of the world emphasized by the Unity in Diversity principle. Today, it is time for the Europeans to unite under one roof in socio-political terms, complete the long standing task of defining the boundaries of the European civilization by establishing a common and collective European identity in order to carry on the progress of the European integration project in a globalized world. Nonetheless, the question of possibilities of the Europeans to achieve such a high level of cultural as well as political unity remains a question and it is subject to a whole different level of research. However, often seen as a regional product of globalization itself, I believe the European integration project cannot progress any further without achieving a common European identity which is more critical than ever today in order to overcome the challenges of globalization in the 21st Century. Identity has always been a problematic concept because it is uncertain, fluid and highly flexible. Identity is the way to define ones self and to differentiate from the others. If taken literally, identity means equal, identical. Identity is not static but dynamic, and it can be defined in different ways in different circumstances. Identity is construct, which cannot be constructed immediately but only in time. It is not a fixed, constant and pre-given entity; while identity formation is heavily dependent on how one is perceived by the others. Identification implies belonging or membership, in turn which implies the exclusion of non-members (Bretherton Vogler,1999: 236).In other words, the sole purpose of identity is to separate self from the others in a sense. Moreover, identities are multiple in nature, or even kaleidoscopic. A person may have a single identity, but it will be made up of many levels of loyalty and identification (Von Benda-Beckmann Verkuyten, 1995: 18). Meanwhile , identities change, because they are based on perceptions, which themselves change over time and environment; as it is possible to identify ones self with more than one thing at a time such as class and gender, or religion and age. Therefore there are various elements of ones identity and these various elements in an identity may well be contradictory (Von Benda-Beckmann Verkuyten, 1995: 12). On the other hand, a collective identity means the attitudes, which all members of that group have in common in their thoughts and behavior; which differentiates them from the other (Munch, 2001: 137). Collective identities can provide existential meaning for people, thus they are primary means of unity in a society which give additional stability especially during periods of upheaval. Collective identities can generate a degree of continuity between individuals and their social environment, and can confer social recognition and approval (Von Benda-Beckmann Verkuyten, 1995: 24). Therefore, collective identities are defined mainly by culture from a historical point of view rather than biological genes, ethnicity, nationalism or simple political rights. Finally, It they are used to construct community and feelings of cohesion and holism, a concept to give the impression that all individuals are equal in the imagined community (Strath, 2002: 387). From the perspective of political scie nce; there are two types of political identities: a civic identity and a cultural identity. The cultural definition of political identity entails a sense of belonging of an individual towards a particular group which can mostly defined by its uniform cultural or ethnic values. On the other hand, the civic definition of political identity involves with the identification of an individual mostly in form of citizenry with a political structure, which includes political institutions, rights, duties and rules (Bruter, 2004: 26). Therefore, a cultural European identity implies a reference to Europe as a continent, a civilization and a cultural entity whereas a civic European identity implies a reference to the political and institutional aspects of European Union identity largely in the form of EU citizenship. Europe has always been more of a mental construct than a geographical or social entity (Lowenthal, 2000: 314). Europe has no natural frontiers both in geographic and sociological terms. Therefore it had never been easy to acquire a singular definition of European identity because the borders of Europe had always been dynamic, and no one knew where Europe started and Europe ended (Pagden, 2002). A European identity is an abstraction and a fiction without essential proportions (Strath, 2002: 387). The concept of a European identity is an idea expressing artificial notions of unity rather than an identity of equality. In this sense, the concept of European identity is inscribed in a long history of political reflection on the concept of Europe. From the perspective of history, Europe has been united as a singular entity in various settings for a number of times in its past such as the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Napoleonic Empire, and arguably the Nazi Third Reich. Identity was only conceptualized as a macro-level collective phenomenon by the intellectual elites of Europe; on the other hand, for the rural masses of Europe, identity was a local term associated with the micro-level, rarely the nation and never an incident as large as the continent of Europe (Pagden, 2002). In different period of history, a common European identity had been defined on different basis. In the Middle Ages, Christianity was the main defining characteristic of European identity, whereas in modern times, the emergence of the nation state, periods of nationalism and afterwards democracy and secularism has been the common characteristic of the Europeans. Meanwhile, Christianity lost its dominance yet it arguably remained as one of the important components of European identity. Today, the European Union similar to the continent of Europe can be characterized by overlapping and unclear boundaries. From a geographical perspective, the EU has fuzzy boundaries due to the ongoing enlargement processes since the 1970s (Risse, 2003: 490). Although the geographical borders of Europe are not objectively defined particularly in the east, a state without a geographical relevance to the European continent cannot become a part of the European Union, even if it shares the EUs collective values and norms. Moreover what adds to the uncertainty of Europes borders is that boundaries of the EU may change according to different policy fields such as the Schengen includes the non EU member Norway but at the same time it does not include the EU member state the United Kingdom. Therefore, first of all the lack of solid geographical boundaries weakens efforts of the EU to be seen as a singular entity by its own people (Castano, 2004). On the contrary, diversity shall be the main c haracteristic of European identity from a cultural point of view. Religious and cultural heritages including Roman law, political democracy, parliamentary institutions, Renaissance humanism, rationalism, romanticism characterize the common identity of the Europeans (Smith, 1992). On the other hand, there are undeniable socioeconomic, cultural, national and ethnic differences among the member states of the European Union. Nevertheless, this reality is reflected in the motto of the Union which is unity in diversity from a positive point of view. A collective political culture is an important feature of the common European identity. The Greeks gave Europe the science and philosophy and the Romans gave it the idea of single continent and unity which created Europes strong cultural and political origins. The diverse and multiple cultures of the ancient Europe shared a single identity as they were brought together under a common system of Roman law. The people of Europe also shared a common language, Latin, and after Europe slowly converted to Christianity they acquired a common religion. Christianity has been a crucial part of the European identity and it played a key role to create its internal cohesion and to designate its relationship with the rest of the world. Further references are made to Europes identity besides its heritage of classical Graeco-Roman civilization and Christianity; such as the ideas of the Enlightenment, Science, Reason, Progress, Industrialization, Democracy and Individualization as the core elements of this claimed European legacy (Wintle, 1996: 13-16). Hellenism, Romanticism, welfare society and cross-fertilization of diversity can be added to this list (Garcias, 1993: 7-9), while one may argue that Europes core values include its commitments to an undivided continent, to individual freedom, and to the universalism of humanity (Havel, 1996). However, this unity never reached to the point of sharing a common European culture. A single body of citizenry or a common cultural identity could not be reached even in the peak of Europes history of unity. When the differences within Europe are emphasized, they are often in the form of unity in diversity; religious differences such as Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christianity, and linguistic differences including Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages are obvious; yet they are seen as correlated, Catholic-Romance, Protestant-Germanic, Orthodox-Slavic, and essentially are underlying the major ethnic cleavages and conflicts in the history of Europe. Anthony Smith is among the scholars who are skeptical of the possibility of a common European identity because they could not find a common culture across the European continent, and even more critically they claim that Europe lacks of a shared set of myths, experience and symbols; these elements which they find crucial to create po st-national identity (Smith, 1992: 72-73). Furthermore, Europe lacks of a shared historical and cultural content as which is the largest source of division among Europeans. Other obstacles to a common European identity include linguistic diversity and its tripartite religious division. In fact, a major difference among EU countries is the persistence of linguistic diversity, even though in practical level English has become the dominant language in Europe. Language does not only have an instrumental but also an emotional dimension and peoples sense of nationality is often tied up with their mother tongue (Guibernau, 2001: 192). On the other side of the debate, scholars such as Michael Wintle are more optimistic on the possibility of creating a European identity. Indeed, the existence of the EU identity in the form of converging education standards, educational exchanges, and the organization of a European civil society is already established in most parts of Europe. Wintle argues that a European identity was previously already created during the high Middle Age (Wintle, 1996: 19-22), and it can be easily established today considering the forces of globalization. For now, the major success of the EU in fostering its identity has been limited with the increasing free movement of people across European borders, which has accelerated since the 1985 and formalized in 1990 Schengen accords parallelly correlated with the rising impact of globalization. Increased interaction among peoples of Europe would also encourage cultural exchanges and this could foster a stronger sense of a shared community. Education and hi gh culture shall play a key role in European Unions cultural policy, because these two factors have an important effect on the creation of the EU identity. Education is obviously one of the crucial dimensions in any attempt to develop the future identity of the EU or at least more understanding and convergence among Europeans; high culture unites Europeans against the low culture which separates them. After all, the development of the EU identity will be the outcome of a long process in which bottom-up as well as top-down initiatives are likely to be employed (Guibernau, 2001: 183-184). The idea of Europe as well as the identity of Europeans are constructed over time with processes of contention and bargaining. Gerard Delanty argues that a European Culture is not an entity with cohesion and fixed boundaries, but a floppy concept, with no clear borders and with internal opposition and contradictions, discursively shaped in contentious social bargaining processes (Delanty, 1995; 1999). In other words, the images of Europe do not exist as a natural phenomenon but are discursively shaped by internal as well as external forces (Strath, 2002). A basic step in the process of creating a collective identity is to defining itself in relation to the other. Central to ones identifications are images of others. Likewise any identity, European identity necessarily contains a demarcation from the non-European. This is natural to all distinctions, and they are both inclusive and exclusive. The boundaries of Europe can only be drawn and the identity of Europe can only be realized in the mirror of others. Indeed, Europe does not exist without non-Europe and that non-Europe does not exist without Europe. Many centuries ago, the Europeans defined people living in the north as uncivilized and people living in the south as oriental (Pagden, 2002). Furthermore, the Greeks labeled the non-Greek speaking people as barbarians, even if that word would surely have a different meaning by that time. In nearer times, although the Russians shared many features with a European society including the same religion, it could not reach the formal limits of a Romanized civilization thus perceived as a barbaric empire or the orient, depending on the time. Moreover, European belief of its superiority relied on the common features of European societies such as science and liberal arts. Thus the rest of the world could only be portrayed as actors in relation to Europe, in other words always remained as the other. According to Delanty, Europe has been always invented and reinvented on the basis of division and strategy for the construction of difference from the other starting from Christian identity against Islam in the Middle-Ages, after that in the colonial politics to the New World, and to the ethnic minorities in the contemporary European Union (Delanty, 1995). Therefore, historical experience suggests that the new European identity may be constructed on the other which may be the United States, the East, Islam or the European past itself. Samuel Huntington has argued that religion provides the best common means of historically distinguishing between Europeans and the other, especially in terms of the confrontation between the Judeo-Christian tradition and Islam (Huntington, 1996). However, at the same time, the separation between Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Western variations of Christianity has, for a long time, been crucial in establishing a division between Western and Eastern E urope; partially reinforced in the Cold War, divisions between Catholicism and Protestantism and separation between North and South (Guibernau, 2001). Today, the European Union is frequently argued to be a fortress for the other and the EU is often referred to as a Christian Club, because historically all states on the continent of Europe had Christian societies. The Ottoman Empire was the greatest enemy of European states as well as Christianity in the Middle Ages; which made Islam the primary charactersitic of the other for Europeans from the perspective of history. Today, the accession dialogues of Turkey into the European Union raise wide public opposition in Europe while the European Union officials make constant efforts to prove their allegiance to non-religious, non-ethnic but solely liberal and non discriminatory Copenhagen Criteria independent from historical aspects of the other which has actually been extensively used to define the European identity. Finally, Europe is unique because it has possessed an identity as a cultural space which gave birth to political unions throughout its history. However, it has never succeed ed to constitute a single nation-state or a unified ethnic group. Although the European Union with its single currency and supranational political and legal institutions changed these historical facts to an extent, it is only possible with the means of a common European identity which will carry Europe to the next stage of integration which it always aimed but failed to achieve during its long history. Nevertheless, history has already proved that it will surely be hard to overcome uncertainties of a common European identity at the level of the masses. Over the past millennium, the advancements of European civilization gave rise to the elites living on the continent of Europe who feel increasingly attached to Europe as a whole and shared dreams of a united continent. However, Europe as a realm sharing a common history as well as a common destiny has been largely abandoned by fixed prejudices on often nationalistic and ethnic grounds. National interests and biases at local, national, and global levels have prevented the masses of European people from viewing themselves collectively (Lowenthal, 2000: 315). However, today, forces of globalization, advancements in communications technologies and media transmission of everyday popular culture now promotes the sense of being European among larger segments of society other than the European elites. Although a truly trans-European society is still in its infancy, many of its essential elements are already in place this time largely due to the forces of globalization. Most European states a re increasingly democratic in reality; their economies are for the most part market driven; their popular culture grows more homogeneous as communication technologies expand under the forces of globalization in the 21st Century (Waterman, 1999: 23). Therefore, Europe is at the stage of defining its identity today; however which criteria are being deployed to define Europe, Europeans, Europeanness and their respective boundaries is critically important. A common European identity must be constructed by defining and understanding the historical roots of outstanding features of the European society in relation to the notion of citizenship, which will be discussed in depth in the following parts; developed in the past over the land of Europe. For sure, Europe is being redefined as a result of a complex set of processes, but an important question is what sort of Europe is emerging from them? There is certainly a structured symmetry in the perception of the European Union as the coincidence of a homogenized socio-political space, a unified regulatory space of an EU super-state, a singular European civil society surpassing existing national and regional differences in culture and identity (Hudson, 2000). In some respects there has been progress towards such an ideal of European civil society. For example, the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights have had an important role in defining acceptable standards across Europe. The issue of European identity and the criteria used to denote Europeans is clearly a critical one for the political and social integrity for the European Union. Europe will exist as an unquestionable political community only when European identity permeates peoples lives and daily existence (Demos 1998). Identity is a key issue which is continuously changing and thats the reason why it is so hard to define especially in a world of f ast changes in the 21st Centurys globalization. The member states of todays enlarged EU have become multi-ethnic and multi-cultural societies with various structural phenomenon ranging from the immigrant community of France to Post-Communist yet ethnic communities of the Central and Eastern European states. As the EU expanded eastwards in the last two rounds of enlargements, the issue of defining a European identity became even more critical for sake of integrity and stability of the Union. One conception of a singular European identity would see it constructed through a process similar to that involved in the creation of national identities in the 19th and the 20th Centuries. Ironically, while the aim was to create those national identities in the past, the challenge that Europeans face today would be to transcend them for the creation of Europeannes. However, the current trends at local European level are quite different from the interests of Europeanists at the supranational level. There are pressures from nation states and their citizens to resist any further transfer of national sovereignty as well as erosion of national identity (Hudson, 2000). In fact, the success of extreme right wing political parties in important European countries such as Austria and France may be seen as a sign of the reappearance of dangerous nationalist and racist ambitions which the peoples of Europe have most probably experienced more than any other continent in the world history. Eric Hobsbawm has proclaimed that nationalism is dead (Hobsbawm, 1990). On the contrary, Llobera argues that national identities are certainly not eternal, but the time of their demise has not yet arrived (Llobera, 2003). In fact, national identities are still dominant in Europe. Recent surveys show that, people in Europe prefer maintaining their national identity and sovereignty, but increasing number of people have accepted European identity in addition to their national identities. Therefore, European nationalism is another important component of a common European identity and it has been a major ideological tool for unifying nation states as well as the Europeans as a whole throughout Europes history. To start with, the European Union, with its both intergovernmental and supranational characteristics represents a far different type of state-organization than a classical nation state. The main distinguishing characteristics of the EU from the nation-state are the absence of a shar ed language, a uniform media, common education system and a central state structure (Shore, 2000: 64). Furthermore, the powers of the EU rely on the sharing of sovereignty of its member states. European unification is a progressive method of limiting individual nation states to practice any kind of harmful nationalism and this is makes up an important part of the European identity. At this point, nationalist Euroskeptics may argue that building a common Europe and an identity for it means destroying nations. However, a general feeling of Europeanness and loyalty to Europe in a cultural sense, does not need to conflict with national identities (Andreani, 1999). A successful construct of European identity must include the concrete and symbolic realities created within time. The European states have not always been nationalist through Europes long history. The definition of nationalism counts on the idea of nation and territory; while the definition of a European nationalism depends on the historical and ideological evolution of the European nation states and aspirations for a post-national Europe. In fact, the aspirations that underlie in the roots of the foundation of the European Union are parallel to European cosmopolitanism in the 18th and the 19th centuries. From the Enlightenment to the beginning of the ECSC after the Second World War; European nationalism found two separate meanings: one as an antinational Pan-European idea of a new united Europe that limits the sovereignty of the nation states, and the other as a pro-national ideology to create or legitimate new nation states (DAppollonia, 2002). Historically, cosmopolitanism reflected intentions for a European unity, and gave rise to anti-national European nationalism. European nationalism was characterized by the will to protect the European interests and its supremacy from non-Europeans as well as protecting Europe from itself by creating a federation. It can be argued that economic development, commercial prosperity, intellectual-supremacy and military power were the factors making Europe homogeneous and created a united European identity beyond national borders to an extent. Some intellectuals as well as economists believe that the nation state is an outdated political and economic entity, and nationalism is merely an expression of old prejudiced and narrow-minded ideas. European nationalism defined itself similar to the nation state through common identity and culture, territory, historical memory building, and economic and political objectives to defend self-interests. The defensive conception of European nationalism o n the other hand had always been a driving factor, yet the pro-nationalist ideologies had been the major cause underlying the wars of modern times. As Europe was divided into aggressive nation states, the idea of Europe had increasingly converged. Although the wars were dividing factors themselves, their interpretations by the Europeanists became powerful unifying factors for Europe. The irony of European nationalism is that it depends on the memory of events that divided rather than united the continent (DAppollonia, 2002). Although it used the same definitions of nation and Europe with the anti-national European nationalism from time to time, it remained limited to the strict logic of the national framework. Transnational solidarities were necessity to establish European unity under either a supranational or an intergovernmental structure. For some intellectuals, European nationalism was the only way to protect the autonomy of nations and the liberty of the individuals. Conceptualizing of the European Union citizenship and creation of the Committee of the Regions in the EU were seen as efforts of the Pro-national European nationalists. These forms of European nationalism rejected the form of narrow nationalism while it showed ambitions to reinforce the intermediary actions between state and individual, between th

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A lot of people assume that one’s daughter is a lot like their mother, and a lot of times that is true, in some aspects. I can tell you that my wisdom and common sense came from my mom. My sense of humor, my laugh, my eyes, and my strength also came from my mom. My mom is the reason I have chosen the career path I have chosen. So, I have a lot of traits in resemblance of my mom, the only trait I lack is her addiction. Growing up I imagined my life to be perfect, as I guess all children usually do.But as the years went on, I slowly began to realize that my life was far from perfect. At eight years old, my parents split up and I was forced to move to the DFW Metropolis to live with my grandparents. Living there I began to realize that my mother wasn’t who I thought she was. She was hardly ever home, her and my grandmother were fighting continuously when I had always known of them to be the best of friends. The fighting escalated more and more, year after year until finall y my mom had enough and we left.I was in fifth grade at the time attending a middle school in the area and my mom and I had left my comfort zone to move in with her friend from work, which was probably the worst decision ever made. While living there I found out that my mom was an alcoholic. Her absence started to occur more often. I would spend my nights lying wide awake in bed waiting for her to get home from where ever she spent her nights; I would call her over and over again until she answered the phone and told me she was on her way back home. I had discovered my mom was far from perfect and so was my life.After a disagreement occurred between my mom and her friend, we were on the move once again. This time we actually got our own place, a one bedroom apartment further away from my grandparents. I was forced to change schools, my first year in middle school. The apartments we lived in were located right behind the school, which was a huge convenience to my mom considering she no longer had to wake up early in the morning to take me to school, this way I could just walk. Living alone with my mother was a fearful life for such a young kid.I never knew what was going to happen. There was always people over late at night, my mom and her friends would lock themselves in her room for hours and not even bother to let me come in with the sound of a knock. I was invisible to her. I would wake up in the mornings with her past out on the couch, surrounded my empty beer and liquor bottles, the house reeked of a skunk odor, and there were pipes on the end tables of the couch. I spent my mornings cleaning up after my mother in fear of someone finding out what I was living with and taking me away.Little did I know, no matter what I did, sooner or later I would be taken away. One night in November, 2003 my mom had taken me over to her friend’s house for dinner. While upstairs watching television, I heard my mom call up to me telling me that we’re leaving. As I walked down stairs I saw that my mom was crying when she walked out the door, whenever I followed her outside she was on the ground convulsing in to an epileptic seizure. The cops and ambulance were called and they had found prescription pills in her purse that were not made out to her and accused her of taking them.After my mom went to the hospital my aunt came and got me and I spent the night with her. The next morning after I woke up, my grandparents were over at my aunt’s house. Everyone, excluding my mom was sitting around the kitchen table talking. As I entered the room they all got quiet and my grandma had asked me to sit down. My grandmother then asked me how I would like to come back and live with them. I was confused. She had not mentioned my mother coming back just me. So, I asked. â€Å"What about my mom? † She answered me. â€Å"Your mother can no longer take care of you.She is sick and needs to get help. † For some strange reason at twelve yea rs old, I understood exactly what she was talking about. I accepted the offer and by that night, I was back at my grandparent’s house. Living with my grandparents made me feel more at ease, I was put back in to my original schools with my original friends and I still got to see my mother here and there. Seeing here every once and a while made me believe she was better. She was happy when I saw her, she wasn’t so upset, she looked beautiful all the time, and she looked like my mother.But all of that was a show. By the time I was in the eighth grade, my mother had slowly became a stranger in my life and when I found out she was arrested and charged a year and a half in prison due to drug charges, my mother was no one in my life. I got letters pretty frequently from her, asking how school was, telling me how sorry she was to have put me through what she did, explaining to me her passion for God that she had picked up on while being locked away, but no matter how many lett ers she wrote to me, I could never find it in me to respond.By the time I received her tenth letter or so, I was tired of getting them. I finally wrote her. I wrote her a one paged, short and sweet letter, explaining to her that I was fine and so was everyone else, I told her school was good, and I answered all of her questions she had written me in her previous letters. Then, I went on to say that I no longer wanted any contact with her until she grew up and realized how to be a mom. That was the first and only time I spoke to my mom while being in jail.After a year and a half went by and my mom got out, I was already a freshman in high school and living my life with no worries. I did see her on the day she was released, I gave her a hug and a kiss and told her that I loved her and always would but my mind had still not changed. That was the day she informed me that I had my mothers attitude. â€Å"Like mother, like daughter† she said and I cringed at the though of being lik e her. My mom had decided on her own, without a judge or a probation officer forcing her to do so, to move in to a sober living home.Of course I was proud of her and happy for her, but I was not getting too excited due to the face that I was not convinced she was sober. It wasn’t until her one year sobriety celebration that I realized this was the real deal this time. My grandparents were slowly, but surely forgiving my mother for what she had done, and so was I. A year went by and my mother stayed sober, two years went by and my mother was still sober, a few months before her third year of sobriety my mom had asked if I would do her the honors by giving her, her third year sobriety chip.I was stunned at the thought, horrified to say the least. I had no idea what I was going to say, but I accepted and I am more than happy today that I did so. I wrote a little speech for that night, and when I stepped up on to the platform and stood in front of the microphone, looking out at a ll the addicts, seeing my mom looking up at me, I then realized that I finally had my mother back. I took a deep breath and I started to speak and I broke down in to sobbing tears. I finally got control of myself and started to speak and simply spoke out two sentences, â€Å"Three ears ago today, I lost my mother to drugs and alcohol.But I am happy to say that not only do I have my mom back, I have my best friend back. † I would proudly say I am just like my mother today. I would go on to explain that I share the same compassion, strength, courage and wisdom as my mother does. I do not cringe at the comment of â€Å"like mother, like daughter†, I accept it and cherish it because I now idol my mom. I had a rough childhood, and even a rough beginning into adulthood, but I can honestly say that I would not change a thing that has happened to me.