An Analysis of Satrapi’s Persepolis Essay Example for Free

An Analysis of Satrapi’s Persepolis Essay Persepolis presents the Islamic Revolution in Iran through the point of view of a child who questions the most fundamental practices and assumptions of Islam. Growing in a household that frowns upon the dictates of Islamic fundamentalism at a time when there is a growing presence of Islamic fundamentalists, the point of view in the graphic book offers a different look into the local Islamic movement in Iran. Through that perspective, my understanding is that the movement placed the people within the limits of a religious fence that does not give room for questions. Challenging the dictates of the Islamic institution is also seen as a challenge to the religion itself, which in turn explains why those who openly opposed the movement were physically harmed by the advocates of the Islamic Revolution. My understanding of the impact of the Islamic Revolution in Iran is that it caused people like Marjane Satrapi’s child character in Persepolis to develop an attitude that tries to resist the forces of the movement. At least in terms of forming a household behavior deviating from the principles put forward by the movement, the child is able to question her surroundings and find the answers to satisfy her desire to be fully aware of what is happening around her. In general, I see the Islamic Revolution as a double-edged sword—while it rebuilds and strengthens the piety of the Muslims to their religion and its edicts, it also threatens to lose the devotion of those who are against some of the principles advocated by the movement. Unfortunately, the movement creates a wide gap between those who are for the movement and those who are against it, dividing the believers into two extreme opposites which defeat the essence of religion. Some of the cultural and political issues raised by Satrapi’s narrative include the negative response of Islam towards the Western societies, the conflict between fundamentalism and the changing trends in the modern world, and the issue of sacrificing or repressing individual liberty in exchange for following stringent religious doctrines. In the narrative, the parents of the child try to expose their child to the Western culture right in the midst of the conflict in Iran. They gave her posters of Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde and they drink wine in their home despite the fact that their religion forbids them to do so. Her parents are Marxists and they try to teach her about the glaring evils of the Iranian regime. These things indicate that Iran at that time was a country where there is no stability in terms of politics and culture. The fact that the Islamic fundamentalists at that time tried to repress those who were against their principles suggests the apparent conflict that creates the impression of turmoil. There was a struggle and it was one that was far from being over. The conflict between fundamentalism and the Western world present in Iran is best seen in terms of the attempt of the Islamic fundamentalists to do the opposite of what most democratic Western societies practice. While most democratic Western societies encourage their citizens to practice social liberty and freedom of expression, Islamic Iran under the clutches of the fundamentalists are trying to â€Å"veil† their society, in a manner of speaking, from the influence of the Western societies. In a way, the fundamentalists do not only discourage the Iranians from replicating the beliefs and practices of the Western societies; they also give sanctions to those who attempt to become religious subversives. Satrapi’s graphic novel comments on those issues by presenting the conflicts in Iran from the life of a little girl who, despite being a child, sees her Iranian society as a crumbling society, whose principles do not promote the interests of the people but rather promote the interests of the religion. The strip also injects a bit of humor on the issue, using language that invokes comedy along with the horror of some of the images in the strips. The use of humor indicates that the weight of the issues involved in the Islamic Revolution is so heavy that it leaves no space for the lighter side of life. Instead, the movement rejects all assumptions of gaiety in religion and culture simply because it sees those two things as entirely serious matters that require even the most harassing and physically daunting sanctions to those who stand against its way. Islamic fundamentalists are portrayed in the strip as extremely violent individuals who are more than willing to inflict harm to their fellow Muslims if only to further the goals of the movement. They are portrayed in a negative light precisely because they are seen as agents of conservative religious principles that fail to recognize the worth of individuals. They oppose those who oppose them up to the point of assaulting them if only to silence their opposition or to put an end to those who confront the movement with questions and arguments. I think that the portrayal of the Islamic fundamentalists in the graphic novel is closer to the truth than one can begin to imagine. I think that it is also honest portrayal although I am somehow tempted to believe that some of the illustrations of the fundamentalists are not fair on their part. For one, it is a fact that violence has been a part of the Islamic fundamentalist movement in the past. In fact, religious jihad is an integral part of the Islamic faith, promoting violence for the name of Allah and so as to quash the presumed enemies of the religion. Violence in protests against the religion arises because of the intolerance of the fundamentalists towards those who oppose them. I understand that, perhaps, the graphic descriptions of the fundamentalists in the strips were only part of the observations of Satrapi in her life. However, I do think that there is a deep reason as to why these fundamentalists act the way they do. I believe that their violent actions are results of their deep ties with their religion and these strong ties cannot be opposed or deposed by those who think otherwise. The nature of the antagonists in Satrapi’s graphic novel is fierce and violent whereas the nature of the antagonists in Lorrie Moore’s â€Å"How to Become a Writer† is one that adheres to convention. In a way, the antagonists in Persepolis—the Islamic fundamentalists—do not permit deviance from the status quo or from the tradition. Instead, these antagonists strongly advocate the practice of the old and traditional religious habits. They promote intolerance so that the challenges to their beliefs will not displace what they see as the proper way of living under Islamic tenets. On the other hand, the antagonists in Moore’s article exhibit conventional behaviors. They seek to influence the protagonist to follow the accepted conventions of writing because they see the protagonist’s literary style as inappropriate and technically inefficient. In forcing the protagonist to stick to the rules and convention instead of deviating from them, the antagonists limit the development of the protagonist as a writer who is not only unconventional but is also one who is a master of the freedom of expression. To a certain degree, the antagonists in Moore’s article and in Satrapi’s novel share the similar characters of intolerance and conservative attitude. They do not subscribe to the idea of changing the status quo or of allowing others to deviate from the convention because they do not find it suitable to what they are espousing. Works Cited Moore, Lorrie. â€Å"How to Become a Writer. † Self-Help. New York: Knopf, 1985. Satrapi, Marjane. â€Å"The Trip. † Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon, 2003.

The work of ONE religious agency working for world development Essay Example for Free

The work of ONE religious agency working for world development Essay Analyse and explain the work of ONE religious agency working for world development During the period of the Second World War, thousands of Europeans were made homeless. Seeing that an organisation called the British Churches Ecumenical Refugee Council was set up for help in 1944. Later in the September of 1945, the organisation was named Christian aid, and became a department of British council churches. These churches were all non-Roman catholic. Shortly the organisation began helping on a wider scale, providing help for more and more less developed countries. It now works for over 60 countries aiming to renovate their lives, by bringing people to the thoughts of helping themselves by getting them to learn and work. Christian aid puts Jesus teachings into practice by helping anyone in need as if they were their neighbours. In order for organisation to be successful and to achieve their aims to its best a lot of money is needed. This money comes from many fund raisings, such as the Christian aid week. Christian aid week has been known as a nation wide charity event that takes place in May each year, since 1957. The towns are divided up the leader churches, and each house in the selected areas is presented with a Christian aid charity envelope for a week and by the end of the week they are collected back in. These envelopes contain a short story and information leaflet explaining what and where that particular fund is going to be used on. Fund raisings from the year 2000 to 2001 had 22% out à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½53,143,000 was raised by the Christian aid week. The rest of the 78% was raised up by other incomes such as the general donations (which also provided 22%); legacies (12%), government and other grants(27%), emergency appeals(11%), denominational appeals(2%), and remaining 4% come from other incomes. Many of the extra fund raising events are taken place throughout the year by churches and individuals supporting events like sponsor walks and jumble sales etc. Furthermore, Christian aid has created their own website for people to give donation online, also providing people with latest disaster news, charity events and other information. Christian aid supplies help in two major ways, emergency aid and long term assistance. Firstly the emergency aid, Christian Aid has a disaster fund to deal with natural disasters and refugees; these generally take priority over to the long-term aid, as without it individuals can die. Therefore when ever there is a natural disaster, such as a flood, storm, earthquake or a volcanic eruption, Christian aid will respond without any delay. On the incidents as such, the type of help Christian aid provides the victims with first aid, food and water supply, antibiotics and shelter etc. Recently, the Christian aid has supplied food, water and tents to war refugees of Iraq. Also more recently Christian aid team had to raise over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½320,000 for the current crisis in Ethiopia for up to 12.6million people needing food aid, wanting 1.5 million metric tonnes of food aid in 2003. Further 3million people were required close monitoring. More challenging for the Christian aid team are the long term aid projects that the organisation aspires to end in a success. These projects are mainly aimed for development for the third-world countries, as there are more day to day problems. The projects that they undertake are first carefully studied to find the accurate cause that occurs a particular problem. For instant, if some kind of illness has occurred because of lack of clean water, then the organisation will supply them with clean water and health care and probably give people enough knowledge to cope for themselves in future if same sort of incident happens again. Christian aid has funded a group of health-workers who have built a basic drugs factory in Bangladesh, which the country could not afford to import. More help from Christian aid is taking place in Lesotho where the charity is financing a local Christian agriculture school that is studying the process of how to increase food goods by reducing soil erosions and bringing in new, low-costing and useful farming system. Christian aid spends up to 5% of their budget on decent educations and churches of Britain about the requirement of development needed in the third world. Further more, for the lack of education Christian aid published a quarterly newspaper called the Christian aid news and various other educational resources. These include the current developments of the world and any most recent projects and their information. The information includes the persuasion for the readers to see the right side, for example, in two weeks the amount of money that is spent on armoury and war equipment to destroy lives is enough to give everyone the four basic enough food, clean water, shelter and education for a whole year. Christian aid observe its purposes of helping all sorts of people to help themselves so that they will not have to relay themselves on others. Despite the consequences of religion and race, the organisation helps for improvements in developing countries.

The Organizational Structure Of Management Levels Information Technology Essay

The Organizational Structure Of Management Levels Information Technology Essay This chapter contains a discription of the various methods to be used to gather information from the client and customer in other to meet up to the requirement provided when developing the system for the client and others problems assoiciated with the current system. On the completion of this chapter, various requirement will be gathered and analysed and based on these requirement, the system will be developed. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF WELLCARE SHOPPING MALL The mall management is a hierarchal top-to-bottom clear cut system that has clearly defined boundaries. The shopping management follows the standard four-level management levels (Top, Middle, Low and Operational Management Levels). The system is described in full below. TOP LEVEL MANAGEMENT: This level of management, being the pinnacle in every organization is made up of CEO, and Managing Directors Board Meetings are held monthly and the malls monthly profit rankings are discussed among other issues pertaining to the store. At the Board meetings, long range plans for the store are drawn up, and are then broadcast into the store by the Managers then to other departments in the store. MIDDLE LEVEL MANAGEMENT: The Managers of the mall has people under him (he represents the Board of Trustees at the store) who implement the long range plans that the Board has set out to achieve for the store. By breaking up the plans into more realistic year or monthly plans, and dividing the objectives among the departments, the managers also at this level oversees the affairs of the mall. Listed here are the Middle Level Management level personnel at the store: Human Resource Manager, Facilities Manager, Store Manager, Purchase Manager, Sales Manager, Finance Manager, and Front Office Manager. LOW LEVEL MANAGEMENT : For the smooth day-to-day running of the hotel, the managers of each department put in place supervisors, team leaders, group leaders to watch and oversee the actions being carried out daily by the operational level staff. Some of the personnel at this level actually work along with the operational level, but cannot be classified with the operational level because of their level of information and access. OPERATIONAL LEVEL MANAGEMENT: The personnel at this level are the staffs responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the hotels objectives. Sales personnel, cleaners, Store clerks, Drivers, Sales marketer, Security officers, and Store clerks all fall under this category. An organizational chart showing the various levels of management at the mall is shown on the next page. FACT-FINDING TECHNIQUES The listings of fact-finding techniques are as follows: Interviews: Of all the techniques employed this is considered the most effective for obtaining information due to its flexible nature as interviewees are able to give proper clarification where such is required and more detail is easily obtainable using this method. Therefore in order to gain a wholesome grasp on the working of the current system certain staff and customers of the store were selected since the customers are the ones to be affected by the project it was necessary to obtain their opinions. Interviews allow us to study the reactions of the interviewees and judge if their responses are unbiased and knowledgeable. Much relevant information was obtained from the interviews conducted with the staff of the store. However this process was carried out over the internet as arranged by the client. Questionnaires: The purpose of distributing questionnaires is to obtain a broader scope of the operations of a store from the views of both the staff and customers of the store. Due to the fact that the staff of the store are numerous it is cumbersome to attempt to interview all of them but it is necessary to ensure that a good number of staff participate in the exercise. It is also not possible to interview all the customers of the store but it is necessary to obtain a broad base of input from the customer because they are the ones to utilize the software which will be designed. Due to these constraints the only technique available is to fill the stated requirements by distributing questionnaires to the various respondents. Since most of the questions in the questionnaires have a restricted set of answers the information obtained using this method is generally more precise. Observation: The purpose of observing at first hand the shopping operations of the store is to get as much personalized information as possible by discovering what is actually happening as opposed to what is supposed to happen. In conducting interviews and surveys it is possible that respondents might not be entirely forthcoming with the true answers but by observing what is actually going on, direct fact will be gathered from the shopping process. INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE DETAILED RESULT DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM HOW THE CURRENT SYSTEM WORKS Based on the facts gathered from our facts finding process, the current manual based shopping system being operated by wellcare shopping mall Abuja can be summarized as follows: There are two main purpose why customers comes into the store that come; the first type of customers are those who want to find information about a product, while the second type of customers are those that want to purchase a product. The current system does have arrangements for both types of customers. MAKING AN ENQUIRY FOR A PRODUCT When customers walks into the store and want to make enquiry about a particular product, the customer then walk up to the shopping attendants to make enquiries. If the enquire is something that can be immediately treated (e.g. the description of a particular product), the shopping clerk can handle on the spot without consulting her subordinates or superiors. If however the customer wants to find out things that exceed the jurisdiction of the clerk, it is mandated for her to refer the customer to the front office manager who then handles the case, and since this also exceeds the boundaries of the shopping system. PURCHASING A PRODUCT Customer who purchase a product in wellcare shopping mall are put through five (3) process that make up the current shopping system. The first process involves customer searching for a products and adding searched products to the shopping basket. These can only be done by searching for products based on product categories in the store. The second process involves the customer paying for the product and specifying the means of payment. Two main modes are encouraged. These means are: payment by cash and payment by cheques. The third process is simply printing out the shopping receipt for the customer. The shopping receipt will contain fields which include Product Number, Product Name, quantity, amount paid and method of payment. The customer checks in the next day if the payment mode is cash, or two days after if the payment mode is by cheque. Based on these facts gathered from our facts finding process, the current manual based shopping system being operated by the wellcare shopping mall in Abuja can be somewhat summarized and represented in a process modeling diagram to illustrate or show how the current system works. PROCESS MODELING Description of the current system using Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Below is a Data Flow Diagram that shows the physical information flow within the current system at the context level. The basic organization structure is decentralized control. By referring to the Context Diagram (see Figure 1), we can see the current system is constituted of the main SHOPPING SYSTEM interacting with three entities; Customer, Bank and the Store Information System. Entity Description Customer The customer is every person that comes to the shop regarding shopping and product enquiry. Whether it is to make enquires, or to buy a product, or to pay for a product. Mall Information System This Refers to the front desk and customer services section of the store. Information regarding the store is kept in store information system. Bank When customers opt to pay by cheque, the store sends the cheque details to the bank for verification and the cash is then sent back to the store database. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE GENERAL SYSTEM PROCESSES From the Context Diagrams, we can see that the current shopping system has 3 main entity: Customer Bank Shopping information system and below is an ER (Entity Relation Diagram for the current shopping system). PROBLEMS OF THE CURRENT HOTEL RESERVATION SYSTEM IT IS TIME CONSUMING With the current shopping system a lot of time is required to go through the shopping process even for regular shopping customers. It takes customer time to search for product category by category especially if the customer. IT IS TEDIOUS In the current system is very tedious and stressful for both the sales representatives and customer because of the queues often encountered in trying to pay for a product in the mall. The morale of the front office staff is usually reduced after a full days work as they are likely to feel fatigued. IT IS NOT AUTOMATED The current system requires constant supervision and personnel presence to run effectively. The absence of this (supervision) hinders the system and wades off prospective customers as well as taints the reputation of the store. However, the problem involved here is that more attention is given to the shopping process and other areas are neglected because the staff required to manage them are supervising others. THE CUSTOMER HAS LIMITED OPTIONS Here the customers does not get adequate information regarding different product and other important information, as a result these the store might loose their prospective customers. UNRELIABLE The current system has many flaws in its implementation. Flaws such as over out of stock of products, number of product supplied, poor defined specifications, poor documentation. Most of these are caused by the human factors that implement the system. TAKES UP SPACE Data is usually stored in hard copies( in filing cabinets) thus requiring valuable office space:- Since the current system makes use of office files and filing cabinet to store records of product, suppliers and staff, a lot of space is required to accommodate large volume of these records. DATA INSECURITY With the current system, records and other important information are prone to theft, unauthorized manipulation and lose due to fire. These files can even be easily accessed by unauthorized people. IT IS COST INTENSIVE The current system requires lots of funds to maintain its smooth operation due to the purchase of paper, stationeries, filing cabinets, phone bills, e.t.c LIMITED CONTROL OVER PURCHASED ITEMS The current system makes it difficult/tedious for the customers to have control over purchased product for example returning and asking for refunds for an already purchased product. SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS OF CURRENT SYSTEM RE: IT IS TIME CONSUMING The proposed system aims to achieve a record time of 3-6 minutes for registered customers and 6-10 minutes for new customers depending on the customer shopping items. Also, with the customer account module running, the customer need not submit his details every time, he just supplies his user ID and his details are automatically uploaded. RE: IT IS TEDIOUS Since the number of customers to come to the sales would reduce, front office staff fatigue is less likely to occur, and as a result, the morale towards work of the staff would increase. Also, the customers would not have to go through the burden of queuing to lodge. RE: IT IS NOT AUTOMATED The proposed system would be developed in simple everyday language, thus making it simple for any body that can read and use a computer to book a room online. Also, staff supervision is not required for the receptionists and other front office staff, this is because the customer details are simply uploaded to the computer in the hotel, and can be opened by a simple mouse click. RE: THE CUSTOMER HAS LIMITED OPTIONS The new system would not only have information concerning the new system, it would make it possible for the customers to ask questions online and have their answers mailed to them. Thus making the enquiry process easy and increasing customer satisfaction. RE: UNRELIABLE The new system is computer based and thus the issue of human factor does not come up. The computer works with the principle GIGO (Garbage-In-Garbage-Out) which means the computer only supplies what the user had given before. RE: TAKES UP SPACE Since the new system is computer based, space requirement would be a very trivial issue because files would be stored in your computer hard disk. This means there is no need to have physical storage locations. RE: DATA INSECURITY In the proposed system, data security is very important as access specifiers would be made available at virtually every level of information. RE: IT IS COST INTENSIVE Since the system is computer based, the only form of paperwork needed would be printing sales report at the end of every month, which is normal and nothing compared to the tedious paper work which currently is being used. The computerization thereby means that the hotel would no longer have to budget so much money for provision of stationary anymore. RE: LIMITED CONTROL OVER RESERVATION The proposed system provides the customers the flexibility to control their reservations. Customers can modify their reservation at any point before the check in time. They can even cancel reservations without loosing their money as opposed to the current system where the customer looses 50% if he/she does not lodge.

Adderall: Is Medication the Answer? Essay -- Essays Papers

Adderall: Is Medication the Answer? When growing up, nothing is more frustrating then giving your best effort in your school work and continuously being unsuccessful. The effect it can have on a child is very damaging. Students may feel inadequate and non-intelligent in the classroom setting growing up, not to mention, being confused all at the same time about why school is such an ongoing battle for them. Why are these children trying so hard and never having any success? It is more and more common today; more than ever we see children having these problems inside and outside of classrooms all over the world. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can become very problematic in a child’s life, especially when it is unknown that they have the disorder. In fact, â€Å"ADHD is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood† (Power, et al). It can affect a child’s ability to learn immensely. In fact, these children may be perceived as someone they w ish not to be by others: the class clown, or one who just does not care about school when this is the farthest thing from the truth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, common symptoms of ADD are inability to sustain attention and concentration, and to be easily distracted and impulsive. All of these effects are seen also with ADHD in addition to high levels of activity and inability to control these inappropriate levels of activity. When a child is struggling with symptoms of either ADD or ADHD it would be easy to understand the problems the child faces in the classroom. Luckily there are prescription stimulant medications out there that can help aid these problems, calm the symptoms, and allow the easily-distracted chil... ...niable. Those who are biased against the use of medication need to re-evaluate the facts. There is no solid proof that danger exists with these medications that are so commonly used in millions of young people’s lives. It easy to see why parents would be skeptical when considering the medication for their child; however, when there is proof that this medication is actually causing harm then there might be some reason to believe that it should not be used. Medications such as Adderall are essential in the lives of those affected by attention disorders. For the millions diagnosed with ADD/ADHD there are possibilities of much success once stabilized on medication. School should be something that is enjoyable not an endless, frustrating battle. With the help of medication those affected by ADD/ADHD now have possibilities of success that would never have existed before.

Is the Body Ownable :: Philosophy Papers

Is the Body Ownable The way Jennifer Church approaches the issue of body ownership in â€Å"Ownership and the Body†, it sounds as though that we own our bodies is a given fact, and the controversy is over what follows from this and why it is important to have a discussion of this fact. I, however, intend to argue that it is a bad move to allow for the idea of self-ownership (or any sort of ownership of subjects), that it is more likely to perpetuate problems than to solve them to think in this way, and that the belief in the possibility of body/self-ownership is rooted primarily in linguistic ambiguities (â€Å"property† vs. â€Å"properties†, different senses of â€Å"mine†, etc.). Mine We will begin with the seemingly innocuous assertion, â€Å"my body is mine†. 1[1]This is a truism only if â€Å"mine† is not construed as â€Å"being that which I own†. I do not own my mother, my boss, or my sneeze. In some cases, â€Å"mine† only means that something pertains to me, not that it necessarily belongs to me in the sense in which a product of my labour might. Surely a slave who says, â€Å"my master,† is not trying to reverse the relationship (a relationship which is, by my account, illegitimate to begin with). Now, Church does want to allow, in a sense, for me to be able to own my mother. She certainly would allow my mother, initially, to own me.2[2] One can make a claim, by her account, to some degree of ownership of another person based on the extent to which that person has become part of one’s self.3[3] Her example for this is the right that one’s close friends and relatives have to make decisions for one who is incapacitated. I do not see how the concern of close ones can be taken as a form of ownership. While we hope that it is our closest friends and family who will look out for us when we are unable to look out for ourselves, in no way are they granted the rights that one would have over property.4[4] I take ownership to include unrestricted private use of an object. Of course my definition excludes the possibility of owning a Is the Body Ownable :: Philosophy Papers Is the Body Ownable The way Jennifer Church approaches the issue of body ownership in â€Å"Ownership and the Body†, it sounds as though that we own our bodies is a given fact, and the controversy is over what follows from this and why it is important to have a discussion of this fact. I, however, intend to argue that it is a bad move to allow for the idea of self-ownership (or any sort of ownership of subjects), that it is more likely to perpetuate problems than to solve them to think in this way, and that the belief in the possibility of body/self-ownership is rooted primarily in linguistic ambiguities (â€Å"property† vs. â€Å"properties†, different senses of â€Å"mine†, etc.). Mine We will begin with the seemingly innocuous assertion, â€Å"my body is mine†. 1[1]This is a truism only if â€Å"mine† is not construed as â€Å"being that which I own†. I do not own my mother, my boss, or my sneeze. In some cases, â€Å"mine† only means that something pertains to me, not that it necessarily belongs to me in the sense in which a product of my labour might. Surely a slave who says, â€Å"my master,† is not trying to reverse the relationship (a relationship which is, by my account, illegitimate to begin with). Now, Church does want to allow, in a sense, for me to be able to own my mother. She certainly would allow my mother, initially, to own me.2[2] One can make a claim, by her account, to some degree of ownership of another person based on the extent to which that person has become part of one’s self.3[3] Her example for this is the right that one’s close friends and relatives have to make decisions for one who is incapacitated. I do not see how the concern of close ones can be taken as a form of ownership. While we hope that it is our closest friends and family who will look out for us when we are unable to look out for ourselves, in no way are they granted the rights that one would have over property.4[4] I take ownership to include unrestricted private use of an object. Of course my definition excludes the possibility of owning a

Frank Sinatra Essay -- Biography

Frank Sinatra was widely known from coast to coast. He was definitely one of the most popular stars of his era. (3) He, not only was a singer/ song writer, but as his career grew he shifted smoothly into acting and dancing. Ole Blue Eyes was an American icon who was capable of charming his way through each decade that rolled by. He had a sound that carried like no other. His soft voice could sweep women off their feet and right into his arms. Ole blue eyes had an extraordinary talent and sure did not waste it. It all started when Italian immigrants, Martin and Natalie Sinatra gave birth to a baby boy on December 12, 1915. On that night Francis Albert Sinatra was born not breathing. His grandmother decided to hold him under water. Thankful, he began to gasp for air. Even since the beginning Frank made his way through unfavorable odds. Martin, Sinatra’s father, was a firefighter for the city of Hoboken, New Jersey. Frank’s mother, Natalie or she was often referred to as Dolly, was an amateur singer; who often played at clubs and social events. (1) As Frank grew so did his love for music. His first real passion for music came when his uncle gave him a ukulele. On hot summer nights Sinatra would sit out on his front porch while playing and singing to family and friends. Frank never had to take singing lessons. His wonderful gift came from the Lord. Were they lived was a rough neighborhood so Frank had to be on his guard almost all the time. To protect himself, he decided to take up boxing. Later on he would become a competetent boxer. (1) Frank Attended Demarest High School. He was a generous, but pugnacious person. These characteristics would follow him throughout his entire life. He competed in all... ...e and alcohol abuse. Frank Sinatra’s career spanned for more than fifty years. He ventured from recordings, film television as well as countless performances in night clubs, concert halls, and sports arenas. (3) He was truly the first modern pop star. The audiences who grew up with him and his music were complemented by adoration from younger generations. They have all made Ole Blue Eyes one of the most outstanding popular singers of the 20th century. His smooth style transcends through all generations and can survive the cold hard fact of time. He was able to withstand the great shifts in the time eras. He was a creative and gifted man who charmed the world with his blue eyes and beautiful smile. No matter how you see him; the starry eyed boy next door, the bruised romantic, or the smooth cosmopolitan man he was and always will be Frank Sinatra.

Genetically Food Essay

An arguable statement about genetically engineered food being the means to end hunger around the world is gaining momentum as the population continues to increase and people continue to die of starvation. In the biotech world, what is known as agricultural biotechnology, supporters believe that this could guarantee and maintain food security for the hungry. On the other hand many people have concerns over consuming genetically engineered food. Many foods on the market today contain some part of GM (genetically modified) food. Approximately 85% of corn, 91% of soybeans, and 88% of cottonseed are genetically engineered which are used on food for human consumption. (http://truefoodnow. org/campaigns/genetically-engineered-foods/) The question remains on whether genetically engineered food safe? Various groups do not deem biotechnology as the answer to ending world hunger but they consider poverty to be the reason for the shortage of food worldwide. In order to discuss the possible advantages or disadvantages of genetically engineered food, it must be defined. Genetic Engineering as defined by Merriam-Webster is a group of applied techniques of genetics and biotechnology used to cut up and join together genetic material and especially DNA from one or more species of organism and to introduce the result into an organism in order to change one or more of its characteristics. The term Genetically Modified is commonly used term to describe food that has been modified in a laboratory to produce preferred traits such as resistance to pest and diseases, increased nutritional value, and much more. Farmers have been crossbreeding animals and plants for years to produce desired traits but this traditional form can be a lengthy process and not very accurate at times. Using a laboratory for genetic engineering not only can they yield the traits being sought after but can do it in a much faster rate and with more accuracy. In 2008, GM crops were planted on an estimated 308. 8 million acres worldwide, a year-over-year increase of 26. 4 million acres. (Turk & Bensel, 2011) There are currently 25 countries growing genetically engineered crops. (Turk & Bensel, 2011) In 1994 the first genetically engineered whole product, a tomato, went on the market. (Whitman) This not a new technology but people are becoming more aware of what they are in taking with their food. Supporters of GM food say that these foods pose no risk and are not different from conventional foods. As Tietel and Wilson stated in their book, Genetically Engineered Foods: Changing the Nature of Nature: What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Planet, would you want to be on a jetliner and open your morning paper as the plane is taking off see that they are just now doing test to determine whether or not the new model plane you are in is safe? Of course not, one would hope that all testing has been done prior to the plane being put into use. Our government, scientists, and researchers who support the concept are willing to allow genetically engineered food into our diets without sufficient testing being done to understand any long term effects. Numerous environmental groups feel that genetic engineering must be discarded due to the unknown effects they may have on humans. Some of the main arguments against GM foods are what environment hazards they may cause, the health risk to humans, and economic concerns. Genetically modified food is already present in some many food sources that we ingest; one would have to ask if there disadvantages to producing and utilizing genetically engineered food? Like anything else that is done there are hazards associated with the process and they must be addressed. The FDA set forth guidelines for testing to ensure the safety of bioengineered food. In 1994 they also established a consultation process to assist developers in meeting the safety standards set forth in their guidelines. (Bren, 2003) The problem many protestors of GM food see is that the consultation is not mandatory and is only on a volunteer basis. Nothing guarantees that all companies are using the volunteer process although the FDA believes they all are. A main safety concern involving genetically modified crops is the danger of introducing allergens and toxins into these foods. The news will report on huge jumps in childhood food allergies, but the reports fail to consider the link between the changes in America’s diet. (Smith, 2007) In the 1990s a study was done showing that people who were allergic to nuts had an allergic reaction to soybeans that had been altered using a protein found in Brazil Nuts. Some people have severe food allergies to nuts and reactions can be life threatening. The only way to conclusively test for allergies is by human consumption. Opponents of GM food state the people are being used as guinea pigs. (Smith, 2007) Incidents such as the allergic reactions to GM soybeans shows how vitally important it is to label products that have been engineered. Governments and factions that back genetically engineered foods don’t feel labeling are necessary because they say there is no significant difference between GM food and unmodified food. â€Å"If genetically modified food is going to be a success, we have to market it, not hide it,† said Elbert van Donkersgoed, executive director of the Christian Farmers’ Federation of Ontario. (Strathdee, 1999) Consumers have the right to be informed. Organic foods are labeled; beef that has been grass fed only and contains no hormones are labeled, as well as eggs that were produced by cage free chickens. Everything has a label saying what it is made of except when it comes to GM food. By not labeling GM products it makes it seem as if there is something to hide about them. Fears over what genetically modified crops may do to the environment have activist condemning corporations for putting profit over possible hazards. Herbicide-tolerant crops are designed to tolerate herbicides that are used to kill unwanted plants such as weeds but can also kill the crop. These types of are commonly known as Roundup ready because they are designed to resist Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide, known as Roundup. (Turk & Bensel, 2011) The worries is that weeds will cross-breed with the Roundup ready crops and create a super weed that will be hard to kill. Now the weeds that died when treated with Roundup are now resistant just like the crops. Having super weeds would force companies to come up with different chemical compounds to combat the issue possibly causing new toxins to be released into the environment. Roundup ready seeds become useless and now farmers lose money because they can’t keep the weeds out of their crops. Not only do you worry about cross-breeding the possibility of cross-pollination can happen from one farmer’s field of GM crops to another farmer’s field of non GM crops. Farmers have been sued because companies feel slighted saying that GM seeds were used and they received no money from it. Moral questions are raised whether it is truly about the money are helping to produce better food sources? Along with herbicide-tolerant crops, you also have insect-resistant crops that have pesticides inserted to help with pest control. Just like with herbicide-tolerant crops, you run the risk of insects mutating and no longer being affected by the pesticide. DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) which was developed in the 1940s was used to fight insect-borne diseases such as malaria, typhus, and others that effected crops and animals as well. For awhile it was affective on mosquitoes but some species became immune to and rendering it ineffective. It was eventually banned due to be harmful to humans and the environment in the United States. Using crops that have pesticides in them we run the risk of pesticides becoming useless. Besides the health and environmental hazards, there are also economic concerns as well. Making genetically modified food is costly and lengthy process and agricultural companies are looking to make a profit. They patent their products and technologies so that no one can violate their rights and use them. Consumers worry about prices been driven up by the patents and farmers and poorer countries not being able to pay for them. With all these negative aspects that I have mentioned it no wonder that so many are against the use and genetically modified crops. Consumer advocates see that most companies seem to be in it for the financial gain and not to end world hunger. Not every aspect involving genetically modified crops is bad. They contain some very good attributes that may be able fix the supply and demand for food for the world’s growing population. Food would no longer be a scarce commodity and the supply could be increased to meet the demands of a growing population. The main advantages of bioengineered crops are the ability to incorporate pesticides and herbicides into the seed, being able to increase the nutritional value to better meets the needs of the impoverished, pharmaceutical purposes, cold and drought tolerance, and phytoremediation. Crop losses for farmers from insects can ravage them financially cause famine for third world countries. Due to the threat of insects farmers use a lot of chemicals to protect their crops. Chemicals have proven to be harmful to the environment, animals, and humans. Agricultural waste has polluted water ways and damaged some ecosystems beyond repair. Genetically modified crops with pesticides added into them reduces the need to spray large amounts of chemicals that pollute the air and water. Similar to crops altered with pesticides, herbicide-tolerant plants reduce the amount of herbicides used keep crops from being killed by them lessens the destructive outcome on the environment. Spraying herbicides is very time consuming and often will take multiple sprayings to be affective. Expenses associated with treating crops are reduced and agricultural waste is nearly eliminated. This transforms to savings for consumers and makes food more affordable for those living in poverty. Certain areas of the world are prone to drought while others may have unexpected frost. Scientist and developers have created an anti-freeze gene that will keep crops from dying off in during a cold snap. With climate change and weather becoming unpredictable this technology will benefit so many. In countries like Africa that dessert conditions farmers will be able to grow crops that are able to survive long periods without rain. States that receive snow and freezing temperatures as earlier as October will be able to yield crops after the first frost. Everyone has seen the commercials on of the starving children asking to you to give just thirty cents a day to help feed them. Children featured are malnourished and living off nothing more than rice and water. Where poverty is so far spread in underdeveloped countries and people’s diet only consist of a few items, they still lack the necessary nutrients that are needed for survival. Consequences of not getting a balanced diet full of vitamins and minerals will cause many to die or suffer other ailments that are preventable with vitamins and minerals such as blindness. What if the rice may possibly be altered to add in the vital missing vitamins and minerals? The nutritional value of the food could be enhanced to include beta-carotene which is vitamin A, that would fix the deficiency and keep people from going blind due to the lack there of this vitamin. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of â€Å"golden† rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene. (Whitman, 2000) There millions of people around the world in undeveloped countries and are impoverished and unable to afford life saving vaccines and medicines. Vaccines and medicine are costly to produce and sometimes require certain storage conditions which a lot of countries don’t have where the poor live. Scientists are growing plants that will produce anti-bodies to fight heart disease, cancer, and tooth decay. (Bren, 2003) Not only that, they are also experimenting with fruits and vegetables that contain vaccines. This would make them so much easier to ship, store, and administer compared to traditional ways. Countless lives may possibly be saved. Survival of the human race and the ending of pointless suffering is great advantage to biotechnology. Humans have caused so much pollution to the planet. Numerous ecosystems have been destroyed and thousands of species are now extinct. Phytoremediation is the altering of plants such as trees to help clean up heavy metal contamination from the soil. The roots would soak up contaminates and clean the soil so that it becomes viable once again. Pollution plagues society in almost everything we do. Biotechnology is the wave of the future. Advocates of GM food truly feel that the technological advances ought to be seen as beneficial and way to end global hunger and help the environment. Famine and malnourishment could be things of the past. Picture a world where everyone has enough food to eat, afforded medicines, and vaccines, and the environment is cleaner due to less chemicals being used. Scientist and researchers are always looking for ways to better the planet for the survival of mankind for generations to come. The issue arises is that there are still so many unknowns with genetically modified food. Further test need to be conducted to fully conclude that no long term effects exist and that is safe for humans and animals. The answer to world hunger is staring us in the face and through proper education we should not be afraid to use it. References http://www. epa. gov/pesticides http://www. merriam-webster. com http://truefoodnow. org/campaigns/genetically-engineered-foods/ Bren, L.(2003). Genetic Engineering: the Future of Foods? FDA Consumer; Nov/Dec 2003; 37, 6; Research Library Core pg. 28 Marshall, M. (2012). GM food: The Case For The defense. New Scientist, 216(2886), 8-9. Smith, J. (2007). Genetically Engineered Foods May Cause Rising Food Allergies—Genetically Engineered Soybeans Retrieved from http://www. responsibletechnology. org/gmo-dangers/health-risks Strathdee, M. (1999). Group demands mandatory labeling of genetically altered food. Canadian Press News Wire. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/359528626? accountid=32521 Thomas, L. Of, T. P. (2002). Genetically altered food creates labeling dilemma for the industry. St. Louis Post – Dispatch. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/402087128? accountid=32521 Teitel, M. , & Wilson, K. (1999). Genetically Engineered Foods : Changing the Nature of Nature: What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Planet. Park Street Press. Turk, J. , & Bensel, T. (2011). Contemporary environmental issues. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc Whitman, D. (2000). Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? Retrieved from http://www. csa. com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview. php.