Tuesday, November 26, 2019

My Perception of Marriage and Family Essays

My Perception of Marriage and Family Essays My Perception of Marriage and Family Essay My Perception of Marriage and Family Essay The family is the basic component of our society. Society came from families that multiplied and united years before. Society was formed by a form of social contract in which families volunteered to be parts. When we talk of society, we cannot help but reflect to the idea of family. The two concepts are corollary. It is the family that first teaches us how life should be lived. The family is the basic molding institution of each of us. It greatly influences our lives and the way we view life.I am from a typical Asian family which I consider a traditional type of a family. Asian family can be seen as a functional family in which every member has its own function. The father is the one tasked to find means for the whole family to survive and he is the one in charge in majority of the decision making process. The mother on the other hand, is the one who is tasked to raise the children and to do household chores while the father is out working. The children’s function is to take e ducation and when at home, they will help the mother in cleaning the house and in preparing food for the arrival of the father.As a person coming from a traditional Asian family, I greatly consider my plans of marriage someday as patterned to the structure of which my parents upheld with just some considerations. I look at my father as somewhat my ideal husband and I view my mother as the person that I want to be but aside from duplicating my mother’s service to my family, I want to be a working mother someday. My family context has a strong influence on how I view and want to live life as a whole but then again, I’m also capable of knowing the needs that may arise in building my own family. I find it necessary for me to work someday in order to lessen the burden of working to the shoulders of my husband.Basically, my family’s definition of a family and how it functions is a product of social construction. â€Å"Social constructs are institutionalized entity or artifacts in a social system, invented or constructed by participants in a particular culture or society that exist because people agree to behave as if it exist, or agree to follow certain conventional rules, or behave as if such agreement or rules existed† (wikipedia.org). As a person coming from a typical Asian family, I also came from a particular Asian context having its own set of social constructs. Social constructs are perceived maxims of people that were put into convention and transformed into social beliefs that will influence people with their daily actions. My context is the reason why my understanding and plan of a family in the future is greatly patterned to the family I came from. The sets of social constructs are somewhat the basis of rightness of my decisions. The lives of people became always intertwined with these sets of beliefs such as I’m intertwined with the kind of family I came from. Social constructs dictate the lives of people. How people ac t depend on the set of social beliefs they have.Social constructs also undergoes evolution. It changes and grows from time to time. This is due to the fact that people’s mind are so rich and full of possibilities. It is capable of conceptualizing new ideas for what they perceived as for the improvement of what they aim for. Social constructs are dynamic because the minds of people are also dynamic. This is the reason why I am also open to be a working mother just like a mother from other types of family. I don’t hinder myself to other perspectives as long as it’s of good help in improving my way of life. It is part of being human that we create standards on how to live life better but it is also part of man’s nature to grow and be open for betterment.Therefore, even though I am from a traditional family and the context I came from greatly influenced my line of thought and understanding of marriage and family, I am still open and receptive of things that I deem to be right and appropriate and things that can improve my way of life due to my capacity to rationalize.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Airplane Ears

Airplane Ears Airplane Ears Airplane Ears By Maeve Maddox Filip from Sweden has a question about an unpleasant accompaniment to flying: My question is simple but yet hard to explain. Its about the phenomenon blocked ears, or cap of the ears or whatever you might call it. You know when you land with an airplane and you feel theres pressure inside your ear and after a while . . . the bubble bursts. I guess you understand what it is Im referring to. So, my question is, what is it really called? . . . Whats right, in both English and Latin? I certainly know what Filip is referring to. Once my ears remained blocked for more than a week after a flight. Thats when I began carrying a big package of gum when flying. I chew furiously at take-off and upon landing. That seems to do the trick for me. No more blocked ears. Since I didnt know the medical term for this phenomenon, I decided to call it airplane ears. Apparently thats a term that other people use. Heres the definition from the Mayo Clinic site: Airplane ear is the stress exerted on your eardrum (tympanic membrane) and other middle ear tissues when the air pressure in your middle ear and the air pressure in the environment are out of balance. You may experience airplane ear at the beginning of a flight when the airplane is climbing or at the end of a flight when the airplane is descending. These fast changes in altitude cause air pressure changes and can trigger airplane ear. Airplane ear is also called ear barotrauma, barotitis media or aerotitis media. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Avoid Beginning a Sentence with â€Å"With†At Your Disposal6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Consultancy Management Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consultancy Management Techniques - Essay Example Such management techniques have led to high expectation in terms of making decisions at the corporate level (JLR, 2015). JLR has invested a lot of resources in research and development.The decision to invest resources of an organization requires contemplation.Information used to make decisions in JLR can be found in the internal systems of the company. Most organizations have been increasingly been relying on MIS to collect data on their employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders of the business. Consequently, transactions made are recorded in the systems of the company (JLR, 2015). The data collected will then be mined and translated into meaningful information that will be used to make decisions (Laudon and Laudon, 2004). To arrive at proper decisions, the data that is accustomed to the best alternative should be credible. The issue of quality data is very imperative since managers may settle for wrong decisions. Given the authority that has been bestowed to senior managers, they cannot afford to make bad decisions. Managers make capital investment decisions that require them to be very careful before making a step. As a result, the data that is availed to them to interpret so as to make decisions must be of high quality. Data can be termed to be of high quality it meets a number of standards. It should easily be interpretable. Further, there must be free from errors, must be reported in time for decisions to be made it time are among the standards used to assess the quality of data (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). The role of Management Information System is to provide managers with valuable information that can be used to make decisions. In most cases, the information collected must be properly organized. Usually, the data have been in a raw state making it necessary for it to be so that it can be easily interpreted. The most relevant information that is

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The perception eassay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The perception eassay - Essay Example Self-concept affects the formation of the style of behavior and human activity. In other words, it largely determines the dynamics and direction of development of the person. Psychologists study self-concept from different perspectives. Thus, the assessment of oneself as a whole as good or bad is considered to be general self-esteem, and the assessment of the achievements in selected activities is called private. It is essential that private evaluation may develop unevenly. Factors that affect the self-concept can be viewed from different perspectives, so-called the particular others and generalized others. In addition, we can divide it into actual (what has already been achieved) and potential (that one is capable for). It may be adequate, when the opinion of the person currently coincides with the fact that he really is. The person properly correlates his capabilities and skills; he is sufficient critical to himself, analyzing his failures and successes, trying to set goals that can be achieved in practice. Examining the progress he uses not only his own point of view, but also trying to predict how other people would react. In those cases when a person evaluates himself not objectively, when his opinion of himself differs from what is considered by others, self-concept is often inadequate, and is divided into overcharge and undercharge one. When self-concept is inadequate, a person has a misconception about himself, idealized image of his personality and capabilities, of his value in others` eyes. Based on the written above, I can describe my self-concept as adequate. Im not trying to please others too much, but at the same time I do not forget that my opinion is not considered as the only right. I can be described as a person, who understands what self-esteem feeling is. I know my rights as a human being, and do not

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Freud vs Rogers Essay Example for Free

Freud vs Rogers Essay Freud’s theory of psychopathology begins with an analysis of the development of a person. Part of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis looks at the growth and development of erogenous zones or parts of the body that are the sources of tension or excitation. These erogenous zones include the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and gential stages. Freud believed that at any of these developmental stages a person could deal with a failure in the instinct development or a fixation. Fixation occurs if an individual has a fear of going to the next stage because they receive too little or too much fulfillment in their current stage. Moreover, there are three different personality styles that may come about due to a fixation. In oral personality, a fixation at the oral stage causes a person to be narcissistic and only interested in themselves. The anal personality shows a tendency to show orderliness and cleanliness. Finally the phallic personality has men attempting to reach masculinity complex and women to be exhibitionistic and flirtatious. Consequently, a phenomenon associated with fixation is regression which is an individuals desire to regress back to an earlier point of development. Stress is an optimal condition that triggers regression. On the other hand, Rogers had a different way of understanding what the causes psychopathology. Rogers believed in the self-actualizing tendency which is a move towards completion or fulfillment of potentials. He understood this to be a primary motivating drive to reach one’s full potential and come to realize actual self. He believed that incongruence between the real self, the self â€Å"I† believe to be and the ideal self, the self â€Å"I† want to be, differ significantly. This lack of balance causes anxiety.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Wisdom Leads to Suffering in Brave New World by George Orwell Essay

Solomon spoke once, after a life filled with great wisdom of nature- chochmah tata’ah- that all of life exists for vanity, that purpose erases itself from existence and man is left with only a mean, purposeless life. Orwell, in 1984, realizes in his work that insight gained of the workings of a dystopic society, leads only to the discovery of purposelessness- the reduction of life to something other than that it purports to be. Orwell’s attack of wisdom takes shape through his usage of juxtaposition in character description, the telling nature of Winston’s state post-discovery, and a most mystifying metaphysical description: the peril of knowing too much. In the same way that Solomon captured the essence of chochmah tata’ah, the wisdom of the external, so Winston gains more knowledge of the external world, in the same way that Solomon (or a Qohelet pretending to be him) wrote of despair issuing from wisdom in Ecclesiastes, Winston finds himself suffering more than the people around him, due to his wisdom. In 1984, Doublethink forces the entire society, both the proles (because of their intelligence quotients) and the higher echelon of people (in order to keep power), into a stupor which leaves the without any knowledge of their situation in life, and completely- obliviously- happy. Though Orwell paints a picture of a crumbling world, the people within see no need to improve it because the simply choose to ignore problems. The people around Winston find themselves duped into believing blindly, without wisdom, and are content while Winston, aware of his surroundings, constantly struggles. Orwell’s message here screams to t he reader that knowledge leads to pain. Winston, strolling to work one day, sees a man with a twitch- fightin... ...fering and death of the combatants. The only outcomes of increased knowledge and wisdom of the external- chochmah tata’ah, exist as oppression and death. Orwell, though speaking out against the oppressiveness of societies, argues more strongly that humanity’s gain of wisdom about corruption leads only to suffering. The author of 1984 brings these points to fruition in his character analysis, and his analysis of reality itself. In the same way that Adam sampled the fruit of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and gained only death, the addition of wisdom to the human consciousness leads only to suffering. The epic told to represent this story by Orwell ends with the argument that â€Å"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.† (4), the argument that when ignorance is lost, suffering and weakness follow. Work cited: Brave New World, by George Orwell.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

American Folk Art

Visiting the four on-line sites devoted to â€Å"Gilded Lions and Jewelled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel† helped me to enhance my knowledge of Jewish woodcarvers art, and I was also provided with excellent opportunity to explore the works of American and European artists. I found out that American art has contributed developing of distinct Jewish culture within American boundaries. The works of art presented at the sites are really exuberant and refine as they reflect the history of transformation and, what is more important, of survival of cultural heritage.The exhibitions presented amounts more than one hundred works and objects, as well as documentary photographs of synagogue arks and carved gravestones, carousel animals and sacred carvings. I learned that Jewish immigrants had to struggle to balance their observant life with reality as it was difficult for them to adjust to new environment. Nevertheless, the most interested information I learned is about the histor y of carousels and carousel animals – lions and horses.My favorite image (see picture) is a standing horse with jeweled trappings made by Marcus Charles Illions. The horse is wooden, painted and decorated with glass eyes and jewels. Illions is known to create the most animated carousel animas and his horses seemed exhausted from their eternal gallop tempers. The horses were often entailed with wild eyes and they were flying in the air. Carousels gained popularity in American and one of the possible reasons is that they were designed by diverse generation of immigrants who added distinct features to horses and lions.The carousel industry flourished in urban centers of New York and Philadelphia as those regions were characterized by mass immigration from countries with strong carving traditions. Mostly, carousel animals were designed by Italians, Germans and Eastern Europeans. Works Cited http://www. folkartmuseum. org/default. asp? id=1869 http://www. gildedlions. org/ http:// www. gildedlions. org/carousels. html http://www. gildedlions. org/welcome. html

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Sand Casting Techniques

MME 3210 Materials Processing Techniques Laboratory Assignment – Sand Casting of an Aluminium 13wt% Silicon Alloy 1) Process Attributes Waste shown yellow* Waste shown yellow* After taking part in the sand casting laboratory session it was made clear that the process possessed many advantages and disadvantage, both from the process itself and from the final part produced. Observing the process step by step it was noted that the tasks carried out by the operator were not very difficult (i. e compacting sand, pouring liquid metal) and so giving the advantage of only requiring a low skill level.However, although the process did not involve a large amount of skill it was observed to be very labour intensive and took a long time to complete one cycle of the process (around 30mins). Having a long cycle time is clearly a disadvantage as time is money in the manufacturing industry but this could be slightly reduced if multiple moulds were prepared simultaneously. Another advantage obs erved during the sand casting procedure was that the equipment used was not very expensive and unlike other casting processes the mould was reusable.With only a low capital investment needed this would make short production runs viable. Probably the most noticeable disadvantage to the sand casting method was the low material utilization. In the labs example (seen left), almost a third of the material used is lost to the riser, runners and feeder. Particularly in today’s waste conscious culture this can cause many problems, however it can be tackled by better design. 2) Process Problems Shrinkage: Shrinkage defects in the final product are usually the result of a feeding defect.As shrinkage naturally occurs during the solidification process, if liquid metal is not sufficiently fed through the feeding system to compensate then it will result in an indented surface. The surface defect was clearly shown in the lab example (shown left). A shrinkage defect normally occurs on the la st part to solidify, so logically in the labs case the shrinkage occurred on the surface of the thickest part Furthermore the big defect problem of a surface sink was observed in the sand casting lab session (shown left).A sink such as this would give major dimensional inaccuracies and would probably have to be redone as it would be unsuitable and uneconomical for further processing. Solution: One way in which an engineer could reduce the effects of shrinkage is to design the mould to compensate for the shrinkage during solidification (i. e making the mould larger). Also due to shrinkage being mainly associated in being a feeding problem, the redesign of the feeding system would reduce the set back. Making the feeding sprue thicker would ensure that the system continues to feed liquid metal to the cavity, thus preventing shrinkage.Furthermore utilizing a uniform part thickness would also tackle the problem reducing residue stresses and leading to uniform cooling. Rough Surface Textu re: The defect causes an undesirable distorted surface finish and is formed due to the texture created from the compacted sand used to create the mould cavity. The effect was observed in the part created from the lab session and can be seen right. Solution: The rough surface effects created from the mould sand can be significantly reduced by using sand with very small grain size.Particularly for the face sand which lines the surface of the mould cavity, if the grains used are very fine then surface finish will be improved dramatically. Porosity: The defect of porosity occurs because of the liquid metal used to create the part can hold large amounts of dissolved gasses. As the liquid metal solidifies, the materials new solid form can no longer hold these gasses and so they form bubbles. These bubbles can be generated both on the surface of the material and internally, thus they effect the strength of the materials solid form and resulting in a decrease in mechanical properties.Effect s of porosity shown above* Effects of porosity shown above* In the lab example holes were added in the sand to allow gas and moisture to escape, however effects of porosity were still clearly visible. Solution: The solution to eliminating the undesirable effects of porosity is based around minimizing the amount of gas that is in the liquid metal. One way in which gas inclusion to the liquid metal can be reduced is to minimize the effects of turbulence experienced during the filling process.Similarly to solving the problem of shrinkage, this can be solved by redesigning the filling system. The design used in the lab example used the bad design set up. With the sprue placed at the top of the mould cavity, the liquid metal flows fast splashing in to the mould cavity below and resulting in turbulence and gas inclusions. If the good design set up is implemented then the liquid metal will flow slower and because runner is fed into bottom of the mould cavity with several gates, splashing w ill be significantly reduced, turbulence minimised and inclusion of gasses eliminated.Good design Good design Bad design Bad design 3) Advantages for using Aluminium – Silicon alloy having 13wt% Si: * Aluminium alloys supply reasonably high tensile strength in relation to density, compared with other alloys such as cast steel. * Corrosion resistant in normal environment. * High fluidity of composite melt provides easy transfer and pouring of material to mould (demonstrated in lab shown below). * Utilizes a Eutectic system, reducing defects such as porosity. * Silicon within eutectic results in: Increased corrosion and wear resistance. * Reduced thermal expansion coefficient. * Improved casting and machining characteristics. *Increasing silicon content within alloy will magnify these properties accordingly * Different Al and Si within Eutectic act as a hindrance to dislocation movement. * On part completion, alloy material can be easily polished and painted for an aestheticall y pleasing surface finish. 4) Nucleation Solidification does not happen instantaneously but occurs by a process of nucleation and growth.All pure crystalline solids have a given melting temperature (Tm), although when above this temperature the material will be in a stable liquid state, if cooled to a temperature equal to Tm then the material will start to crystalize. This usually involves some degree of undercooling for crystal nuclei to form. Free Energy Of system Free Energy Of system From the graph above it can be seen that by increasing the undercooling ? T, the free energy also increases ? G. Gets steeper as T is decreased Gets steeper as T is decreased There are different types of nucleation, homogeneous and heterogeneous.Although homogeneous almost never occurs in real life it can be used to build a model of the more realistic heterogeneous nucleation. Heterogeneous occurs on an existing nucleant but unlike homogeneous the nucleated cap is a solid rather than a sphere, thus less atoms are required. Process usually requires liquid to wet the nucleant surface. Growth For growth to be sustained, the temperature of the melt must be less than the melting point. The speed in which growth occurs can be controlled by the amount of undercooling applied, with a large amount of undercooling resulting in rapid growth.In addition the growth also depends on how fast latent heat is removed during crystallization. Both these aspects contribute to the temperature gradient of the melt which affect crystal formation. Constitutional Undercooling Usually caused by non-equilibrium concentration gradient, constitutional undercooling is more likely to be found in alloy casting rather than in pure materials. Seen in the diagram right, the amount of constitutional has a large impact on the type of crystal growth. Looking at the solidification of Al 13% Si, it would be expected to solidify under eutectic solidification.Due the fact that it is a composition of two materials, alum inium and silicon, and that during the lab the material solidified at a single temperature (room temperature). Furthermore it also provides the lowest melting temperature for the materials used. This is an energy savings in a production area. 5) From the many defects created during the creation of the lab example part it was clear that something in the process needed to be changed in order to produce a part of a more acceptable quality.As highlighted earlier, a main area for improvement was with the method of delivering the liquid material to the mould, particularly focusing on the design of the feeder. The current feeder design used is very basic and can be seen right. The set up uses a thick single vertical cylindrical shaft with a very small taper, delivering liquid metal directly to the cavity via a single runner. Concentrating on feeder design, one way in which defects can be reduced is by supplying the cavity with a smooth constant volume of flow.As the current feeder is very thick, the material is delivered very fast to one area of the cavity causing turbulence and inclusion of unwanted gas. This undesired effect could be minimized by changing the set up of having one large feeder to possibly 3 smaller ones. The use of multiple feeders would allow a more evenly distributed and constant metal flow. In addition the angle of taper could be increased to assist constant volume flow. Cavity Cavity Multiple feeders Multiple feeders Each of the feeders used should be reduced in thickness as much as possible, still maintaining the desired flow rate.This is important as although deliverance of material is critical, the amount of waste material must be reduced as much as possible. Although only visual inspection was applied to the produced lab part, if it was discovered that the defects main cause was that of impurities within the solidified material than the Cosworth ‘’upward fill’’ system could be employed. Due to its upward fill the p rocess eliminates the problem of impurities within the liquid melt and impurities that sink or float are discarded. References http://www. acetake. com http://www. rheocast. com www. electrochemsci. org/papers/vol4

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Shooting an Elephant Essays

Shooting an Elephant Essays Shooting an Elephant Essay Shooting an Elephant Essay â€Å"Shooting an Elephant† is a story written by George Orwell in 1936. This story takes place in Burma, one of the colonies of the British Empire.   Orwell found himself at the receiving end of the insults of the people of Moulmein in Lower Burma as subdivisional police officer. People sneered at him although they obeyed the rules. Orwell does not like his job there because he does not like working for their oppressors- the British.Orwell hated imperialism and he was convinced of its nature one day when he encountered an incident involving an elephant that caused trouble at a bazaar. He went to investigate the commotion, bringing his rifle. Along the way, he was informed that the elephant was already tame. Her just had an attack of â€Å"must.†He was informed that the elephant had now strayed in the paddy. As the people saw him walking, they followed him. Slowly there was a big crowd following him. It grew to about 2,000 people who were now behind him. As he saw the elephant, he thought that his â€Å"must† was now wearing off and that the best thing to do was just to leave it alone. Thoughts went through his mind on what the best thing to do and even if he did not like to shoot the poor elephant since it no longer seemed harmful, still, he had to do it because all the people in the village followed him and rooted for him to shoot it down. He had no intention to kill an elephant. But with the people expecting him to shoot it, he seemed to have no option but to do as the crowd wishes or else he would be so unpopular to them.In a final look at the excited crowd, he shot the elephant. Death came slowly to the old elephant. He shot it several times. The crowd shouted in approval. He learned later that the natives had stripped the meat out of the elephant. He knew that he did the act only because he did not want to look like a fool.The solution, which Orwell was not able to do at all in his situation, was to take a good look at the people an d the circumstances that was causing him to suffer and then uncover the beliefs that led him to do the action that he felt compelled to do. He was forced to shoot the elephant because he had to protect his image. In the end, he felt like a puppet   because he just did what the crowd wanted him to do.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

11 Facts You Should Know about Halloween

11 Facts You Should Know about Halloween The U.S. is a society of consumers, and an economy based primarily on consumer spending, so its no surprise that Halloween is celebrated in  consumerist ways. Lets take a look at some interesting facts about Halloween consumption, with data from  National Retail Federations Halloween Headquarters, and consider what they mean from a sociological perspective. 171 million Americans- more than half the entire national population- will celebrate Halloween in 2016.Halloween is the nations third favorite holiday, but second favorite for those between the ages of 18-34. It is  less popular with older folks, and more popular among women than men,   according to a 2011 Harris Interactive poll.Not just for kids,  Halloween is an important holiday for adults too. Nearly half the adult population will dress in costume for the occasion.Total U.S. spending for Halloween 2016 is expected to reach 8.4 billion dollarsan increase of more than 3 billion dollars since 2007. That includes $3.1 billion spent on costumes, $2.5 billion on candy, and  $2.4 billion on decorations.The average person will spend about $83 celebrating Halloween.About a third of all adults will throw or attend a Halloween party.One in five adults will visit a haunted house.Sixteen percent will dress their pets in costume.In 2016 costume choices among adults differ by age brack et. Among Millennials, Batman characters take the number one spot, followed by witch, animal, Marvel or DC superhero, and vampire. The number one costume among older adults is a witch, followed by pirate, political costume, vampire, and then Batman character. Action and superhero characters are the top choice for children in 2016, followed by princess, animal, Batman character, and Star Wars character.Pumpkin wins the top spot for pets, followed by hot dog, bumble bee, lion, Star Wars character, and devil. So, what does all this mean, sociologically speaking? Halloween is clearly a very important holiday in the U.S. We can see this in not only the patterns in participation and spending  but in what people do to celebrate the holiday. Early sociologist Émile Durkheim observed that rituals are occasions upon which people in a culture or society come together to reaffirm their values, beliefs, and morals. By participating in rituals together, we activate and reaffirm our collective consciencethe sum of those beliefs and ideas we share in common,  that take on a life and force of their own due to their collective nature. In celebration of Halloween, those rituals include dressing in costume, trick-or-treating, throwing and attending costume parties, decorating homes,  and going to haunted houses. This raises the question of what values, beliefs, and morals are reaffirmed through our mass participation in these rituals. Halloween costumes in the U.S. have evolved away from the holidays social origins as taunts and mocking of death, and toward popular culture. Sure, witch is a popular costume for women, and zombies and vampires are also in the top ten, but the variations of them trend more toward sexy than scary or evocative of death. So, it would be false to conclude that the rituals affirm values and beliefs of Christianity and Paganism. They point instead to  the importance placed on having fun and being  sexy in our society. But, what also stands out to this sociologist is the consumerist nature of the holiday and the rituals. The primary thing we do to celebrate Halloween is buy stuff. Yes, we go out and get together and have fun, but none of that happens without first shopping and spending moneya collective 8.4 billion dollars. Halloween, like other consumerist holidays (Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter, Fathers Day and Mothers Day), is an occasion upon which we reaffirm the importance of consuming in order to fit in with the norms of society. Thinking back to Mikhail Bakhtins description of medieval carnivale in Europe as a release valve for the tensions that arise in a highly stratified society, we could also surmise that Halloween serves a similar function in the U.S. today. Currently economic inequality and poverty are at their greatest in the nations history. We are faced with an incessant onslaught of terrible news about global climate change, war, violence, discrimination and injustice,  and disease. In the midst of this, Halloween presents an attractive opportunity to take off our own identity, put on another, shake off our cares and concerns, and exist as someone else for an evening or two. Ironically, we may be further exacerbating the problems we face in the process, by perpetuating the hypersexualization of women and racism via costume, and  by handing our hard-earned money over to already wealthy corporations that exploit laborers and the environment to bring all the Halloween goods to us. But we sure have fun doing it.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Research Paper ( Fine Art) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

( Fine Art) - Research Paper Example This therefore implies that art is relative and differs greatly with the region either of origin or of representation. The metropolitan Museum in New York therefore stocks artifacts from diverse cultures among the most common of the current exhibits are The Sleeping Eros, Birds in the art of Japan and Plain or Fancy among many others. The above artifacts have unique features that set them apart from the rest. Additionally, the creators of such works employ different artistic features to ensure that the above artifacts communicate effectively and draw the attention from their audiences. Each of the three artifacts has specific placing and draw relevance to specific cultures. However, the modern society is integrated and culture therefore is increasingly difficult to distinct between the different social groupings. This requirement by the modern consumers of art works dictates the use of familiar and modern features that best earn the artifacts familiarity with the modern audience. Owi ng to such features as time and the social stratifications, the different artifacts possess distinctive features, which readily set them apart in terms of both their time of production thus their target audience. The Sleeping Eros for example is an iconic artifact in the museum, one of the oldest and among the finest. Set during the Bronze Age in the human history, the artifact consists of pure bronze. Man had identified a number of metals throughout the evolution history. The discovery of bronze was an integral period in the development of man since with bronze, man could make very strong and durable (Semper and Harry 33). Bronze was therefore the only essential tool man had, he artifact is therefore also made of bronze and set in the early times. The sleeping Eros is a simple artifact, which simply depicts a sleeping male child with curly white hair lying on his left arm but with a wing. The simplicity of the creation makes it easier to understand and is typical of the timing of t he artifact. At such early periods, man had not developed sophisticated features that could influence the development of more sophisticated artifacts. However, in its simplicity owing to the use of bronze, which was arguably easier to manipulate, the artifact conveys complex social features of the early Greek society. The hair of the Eros among other pertinent features sets it to the early Greek culture. Its other intricate features such as the wing and the missing left arm set it in the supernatural world thereby earning it some elements of divinity. Plain or fancy is yet another beautiful artifact, which just as the name depicts a comparison of two iconic artifacts bound into one. It is a painting of two different jugs. One of the jugs is earthen while the other is metallic. The difference between the jugs is conspicuous yet it becomes increasingly difficult to select which is more beautiful. In such a simple creation, the artist manages to conceal his intended meaning in the cont ours of his creation. The relativity in the comparison of the two jugs is also applicable in the analysis of the message that the artist communicates in his artifact (Foster and Judith 51). It is evident that the artifact compares a number of features of both the earthen jug and the metallic one. In the history of man, the use of earthenware was characteristic of the