The shining houses essays

The shining houses essays The Shining Houses by Alice Munro is a classic story which portrays the simple yet innovative idea of conflict between old and the new and the human reaction to everyday change. Both sides of the story (tradition and diversity) have very strong feelings of what they expect to be done which leads to a fierce and controversial conflict between the two parties. The main character, Mary, is caught in the middle of the argument forcing her to make and take an opinion, a forced opinion that everyone will encounter at some point of their life. The role of the old in the story is portrayed by Mrs. Fullerton, the longest living residence of the community. Her attitude towards change closely relates to the oldest generation living today. These people grew up in the early 1900s during a time when life was described as simplistic and calm, but now with the extreme advances in technology many of these people are unable to cope of accept the new ways of life. Even though she is being ambushed by all things new, Mrs. Fullerton continues to fight the oppression she is being subjected to with her strong will and old time ways. Mrs. Fullertons house is described in the story as something unique, a one of a kind left in a world of conformity. Many people view change as just destroying the already perfect world to create an easier life for a minority group. Her only source of income is being seriously threatened as her own egg business cannot compete with the new environment of grocery stores and supermarkets. Change, symbolized in the new shining houses is described as an awful disgrace to the earth for the damages to the ground and the environment described as being placed in the wounds of the earth and resulted in leaving the earth raw. Alice Munro does a wonderful job of making The Shining Houses as true to life as possible. She is able to do this by the point of ...

Competition or Bust essays

Competition or Bust essays The world in which we live is a extremely competitive environment. It is nothing less than a doggy-dog world, where only the strong survive. It was become a fast-paced ruthless business environment. Those who cannot cut it can pack up their bags and find a job shining shoes on the streets. However, we strive in our economy for this competition. Competition, although vicious at times, has many positive effects on our economy in a whole. The most important benefit of a competitive environment is the creation of incentive for change. Since firms are in competition to sell their products or services, they must continuously keep a competitive advantage over the market. In order to do this they must constantly react to meet the improvements made by other companies in their products and services. For instance, Nintendo when it first started was very profitable for a while selling its game player, but when Sony came out with a 32-bit player which intern took allot of the business away from Nintendo. So as a reaction of Sonys new player, Nintendo created a 64-bit version, that was even better in all aspects of Sonys play station. It is a continuous cycle to make companies products better than the other. Without competition what incentive would there be? Atari might still be the number one game player, because there is no one else to come up with a better idea in that product line. Competition forces people to learn more and be more creative with there knowledge. Most of the technology that we have created in the last century has been form companies trying to out do each others product line. Another very important aspect of a competitive market is the affect on price. Prices are lowered in this environment. A firm has to be competitive with the prices of other close substitutes. If a Coke was two dollars for one can while Pepsi sold theirs for fifty cents, then Coke would loose mo ...

The 1990s and Beyond

The 1990s and Beyond The 1990s brought a new president, Bill Clinton (1993-2000). A cautious, moderate Democrat, Clinton sounded some of the same themes as his predecessors. After unsuccessfully urging Congress to enact an ambitious proposal to expand health-insurance coverage, Clinton declared that the era of big government was over in America. He pushed to strengthen market forces in some sectors, working with Congress to open local telephone service to competition. He also joined Republicans to reduce welfare benefits. Still, although Clinton reduced the size of the federal workforce, the government continued to play a crucial role in the nations economy. Most of the major innovations of the New Deal and a good many of the Great Society remained in place. And the Federal Reserve system continued to regulate the overall pace of economic activity, with a watchful eye for any signs of renewed inflation. The economy, meanwhile, turned in an increasingly healthy performance as the 1990s progressed. With the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism in the late 1980s, trade opportunities expanded greatly. Technological developments brought a wide range of sophisticated new electronic products. Innovations in telecommunications and computer networking spawned a vast computer hardware and software industry and revolutionized the way many industries operate. The economy grew rapidly, and corporate earnings rose rapidly. Combined with low inflation and low unemployment, strong profits sent the stock market surging; the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had stood at just 1,000 in the late 1970s, hit the 11,000 mark in 1999, adding substantially to the wealth of many though not all Americans. Japans economy, often considered a model by Americans in the 1980s, fell into a prolonged recession a development that led many economists to conclude that the more flexible, less planned, and more competitive American approach was, in fact, a better strategy for economic growth in the new, globally-integrated environment. Americas labor force changed markedly during the 1990s. Continuing a long-term trend, the number of farmers declined. A small portion of workers had jobs in industry, while a much greater share worked in the service sector, in jobs ranging from store clerks to financial planners. If steel and shoes were no longer American manufacturing mainstays, computers and the software that make them run were. After peaking at $290,000 million in 1992, the federal budget steadily shrank as economic growth increased tax revenues. In 1998, the government posted its first surplus in 30 years, although a huge debt mainly in the form of promised future Social Security payments to the baby boomers remained. Economists, surprised at the combination of rapid growth and continued low inflation, debated whether the United States had a new economy capable of sustaining a faster growth rate than seemed possible based on the experiences of the previous 40 years. - Next Article: Global Economic Integration This article is adapted from the book Outline of the U.S. Economy by Conte and Carr and has been adapted with permission from the U.S. Department of State.

Staffing Organization for a Gourmet Coffee Shop Assignment

Staffing Organization for a Gourmet Coffee Shop - Assignment Example I am planning to initiate a gourmet coffee shop next to a college campus in Washington, DC. During the week days, hours of operation will be from 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. and start at 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekends. The coffee shop is planning to have 3 store managers and 10 coffee servers. Below is my first part of the Staffing Organization that contains ways I plan to staff and manage the business for the next 3 years, and run it profitably. 1 The type of relationship I will establish between the coffee shop and employees from a legal perspective affects the duration that I will have them in the coffee shop. I will apply the indefinite duration employment contract in recruiting workers. They will have to sign a contract that defines their existence in the shop. In this contract, their continuous offering of service will be intended to last for an indefinite time (Smith & Smith, 2012). The contract has rights and responsibility that have to be followed and adhered to, for exampl e, the right to be informed when being terminated. I believe employees will work to their perfection to avoid losing a job. The type of relationship will augment the coffee shop’s profit. I will not be subjected to pay employees fixed amount of money for duration, but for efforts put in the business (Smith & Smith, 2012). ... The employment policies that define the salaries, promotions and hiring of employment are audited frequently to find out whether they are advantageous to workers. I will make sure that all information on promotion opportunities of the company reaches every employee. I will make an effort of identifying and removing barriers that deter a leave or absence from work so that employees can relax when needed (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2010). I will create effectual communication field with employees where they can air out their issues openly to be looked at. Lastly, I will train and promote hard working staffs to a higher echelon; hence, encourage them to put more efforts in their work. 3 External factors hindering staffing of the coffee shop include the modern complex technology that requires extensive and intensive edification to operate them efficiently (Koontz & Weihrich, 2007). The public is an external factor that hinders staffing since workers are required to adhere to high ethical stand ards when dealing with the public. Legal and political constraints affect staffing of coffee shop since they are obliged to follow government laws that guide the business operation. Recruiting and selecting workers is an external factor influencing staffing since it is difficult to get hardworking workers who are profit oriented (Koontz & Weihrich, 2007). Competition is a core factor that affects staffing. I will want to have innovative workers who make business boom and became a top class coffee shop. Lastly, the trade unions affect the staffing because of their requirements they want business organization to possess. 4 The plan will involve, analyzing the current labor supply, forecasting

Personal Statement for Urban and Regioanal Masters degree

For Urban and Regioanal Masters degree - Personal Statement Example My immediate plan is to take admission in an institute from where I can get a high quality education in urban and regional planning. My long-term goal is to serve the nation as a skilled project director by achieving a high post in some well-known organization. As I have studied urban development in my bachelors, I want to do further in this field by gaining perspectives in many areas, such as, historical preservation, planning law, economic development and transportation planning, and emergency preparedness planning in order to diversify my knowledge base and be able to apply new approaches to my work. With the knowledge I would attain with this degree, I would use my credentials to become a professional planner working in both development and policy streams and eventually become a planning executive supervising a large public organization in either Canada or the United States. As far as my professional experience is concerned, I have cultivated professional planning technical experience based on my interest in land use planning and have attained positions with progressive responsibilities. I have also been working within a public organization since graduating university. I have also gained leadership and teamwork experience by participating in some notable organizations, such as, Geography students association, Pre-Law society, model united nations society, and Sigma Nu fraternity kappa beta chapter. I wish to become a master’s degree candidate at your institution because I want to gain an accredited planning education from a prestigious university in order to remove any limitations in my career progress. My academic skills and relevant professional experience make me a suitable candidate to get admission in this university. I am sending this statement of purpose to get an opportunity to pursue my degree from this university. Having a

Les Croix de Bois Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Les Croix de Bois - Research Paper Example Also, portrayed is the courage shown by soldiers in the face of insurmountable odds. Such unwavering commitment is a necessary pre-requisite for success in war. Once commitment wavers, the war is half lost. Even the most accommodating movie can not capture all the realities of the battlefield. Our feature film is; thus, constrained by several factors among them time (Bernard). The film is one hundred and ten minutes long. Among the realities that did not make the cut is the role of women in war. However, they shall at least get a mention in this paper. The paper shall be brought to a close by studying how the inclusion or seclusion of some aspects relating to the war tie up with traditional French customs (Dorgeles 76). Among the most glaring omissions in Croix de Bois is the role of women. This is even starker considering that the status of the modern day French woman is highly elevated relative to that of the male. However, things have not always been the same. At the beginning of the 18th Century, there was the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. One of its famous authors was the French philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau. According to this leading scholar, women had a leading role in family affairs compared to their male counterparts. They had to breastfeed and educate their children. This was hardly a progressive attitude towards gender relations. As a consequence, even in the film Croix De Bois, women are virtually anonymous. The understanding then was that their place was the home and, therefore, they had no business in the battlefield (Rousseau). However, not even in French history has it always been the case that the place of the women is only in the home. A remarkable exception for instance is Joan of Arc. She inherited a lost battle from Charles VII and miraculously managed to do what her predecessor had failed. She drove away the English and secured an important victory at Patoy, in 1429. It might still be argued that Joan of Arc did this with the help of supernatural powers. Conversely, the fact that this supernatural being chose a female figure to accomplish such a huge fete is in itself a confirmation that women can handle the rigours of battlement (Strachan 246). The movie Croix De Bois censures women as far as their role in the battlefield is concerned. All the cast in the movie are male, for example. They include Fouillard, Gilbert Demachy, Sulphart, Caporal Breval, Vieuble, Brouke, and several others. We witness the fact that women can engage as well as men in combat. As a result, the assumption that their place is only the home is not accurate. Another role that has been performed well by women during war is that of nursing wounded soldiers (Strachan). The case of Florence Nightingale is now legend. She ably provided her services to the soldiers wounded in the Crimean war. This challenges the French notion that women were not up to the task of war. Very important in Croix De Bois is the socio-cultural impact of the war. W ar although it happens many miles away can still affect society. Several problems accompany war. One of them is that the young men (Gilbert Demachy in the movie), and increasingly women, who engage in war usually have families to provide for at home. If they die at war, as is the case in the film, their families are left unattended. There shall be increase in cases of single parent families or even orphans. This directly impacts on society. Crime might

Tokugawa period until 1868 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tokugawa period until 1868 - Research Paper Example In fact, there had been no hiatus between high class and lower class cultures (Ng). Further I Ching scholarship which had achieved its highest status during the Tokugawa period and its aspects of yin-yang wu-hsing had also impacted on Tokugawa’s cultural aspects. The flower arrangement popularly known as Kado or Ikebana traceable to pre-Tokugawa period namely Kamakura period (1186-1336) had developed as a Buddhist art. It had been associated with nemustu (chanting to Amida Buddha) and renga (linked poetry) during the Muromachi period (1392 -1573). It came closer to chanoyu during the sixteenth century. The flower arrangement had been the most popular during the Tokugawa period. The yin-yang wu-hsing principle representing harmony of the universe was depicted in the flower arrangement relating to I Ching concepts of yin-yang, san-ts’ai associated with the three powers of heaven, earth, and man, and wu-hsing. The flower arrangement with three divisions was symbolic of hea ven, earth and man (Ng). Thus, the religions were the roots of Japanese culture and Tokugawa was no exception. Now the broad aspects of Tokugawa’s culture having been briefly examined, this paper will narrow down its research of Japanese Tokugawa’s culture to Theatrical forms (Kabuki) in the following pages. Kabuki Kabuki is depicted by the three Japanese characteristics referring to ‘dance, music and craft or skill’ as depicted below. Figure 1. (Source: creative-arts.net). Originally Kabuki was associated with â€Å"tilted† or â€Å"out of balance† characters depicted as ‘exotic’, racy, or debauched’. Though its origin comes from temple dance, Kabuki’s earlier recorded history shows much of its association with... The period between the ascendancy and the fall was the period of isolation of Japan from the rest of the world. The 268 years under the spell of Tokugawa clan had been characterized as ‘static political, social and cultural life’. Family structure, political structure and social class structure along with many values and ideas remained constant during the 268 years of Tokugawa rule. During this period, Buddhism and Confucianism had been rejected. The native religion Shinto re-emerged. The culture of Tokugawa period is indeed overwhelming with the Kabuki players surviving the period of seclusion and rigors of Tokugawa’s clans over more than two and a half centuries. The seemingly vulgar culture alleged to have been portrayed by Kabuki plays actually had been well intended as revealed in the above account of Nishiyama and Groemer. Otherwise, they would not have survived. The popularity of Kabuki amongst the lower classes had its own repercussions. The crowds gathering at the performance places often used to turn boisterous that Shougun had to ban the actors and dancers from towns and permitted them to perform only at the remote places close â€Å" pleasure quarters† in 1608. Kabuki’s early history shows that there had been links between such places of entertainment and theater as a source of entertainment at the places of pleasure for the common man popularly known as ukiyo (floating world). The actors of Kabuki Theater were social outcasts and theater managers were kawara kijiki (riverbed beggars) until 19th century when the actors were accorded the status of artists.