Profession of Arms Essay

Characterizing the Army as a profession is a widely debated issue. Some attest that the military employs a small cadre of professionals, yet this does not qualify the entire vocation as a profession. Others are not so kind and paint a picture of mindless robots simply following orders. The debate rages because it is fundamentally difficult to find an absolute definition for a profession. This troublesome task is further exasperated because the trust of the public ultimately certifies a profession. Nevertheless, the principle characteristic that remains constant to all professions is that they possess a guiding ethic that controls the effective application of their expertise.1 The Army constitutes a profession because it possesses an ethical framework that is intrinsically present within the institution. As it relates to a professional ethic, all professions possess a code that governs the moral, ethical and legal activities of their members. For example, The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics holds to the Oath of Hippocrates.2 This oath is Western civilization’s expression of the ideal conduct of a physician.3 Lawyers also take an oath of office that anchors them to the ethical practice of their craft. This code of ethics provides parameters for lawyers on how they should conduct their affairs and matters ranging from client confidentiality to conflict of interest.4 Similarly, all members of the United States Army swear or affirm an oath upon initial entry. The Oath of Enlistment or the Oath of Office marks the beginning of each Soldier’s military service and their commitment to a higher ethic. This oath is the bedrock of the Soldier’s moral and legal principles. The Army Values, the Soldier’s Creed and the Warrior Ethos exemplify the pinnacle of the Army’s organizational ethic. Some might argue that many organizations have a similar ethic, yet they are not a p rofession. Why are athletic teams that incorporate and enforce team rules, not considered professions? Another issue concerning the Army professions ethical barometer stems from comments made by senior Army officials like General Maxwell Taylor, the fifth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to him, as long as a man performed his duty he  was fine. â€Å"For [GEN] Taylor, a good [S]oldier, even a good [O]fficer, could be a bad man.†5 What these dissentions fail to consider is that the Army, or any profession, does not singularly apply its ethic to the daily living of its members. Concerning the members of an athletic organization, it must be understood that one does not ethically hit, pass or throw a ball. Athletes do not apply ethical guidelines in the performances of their sports. Conversely, GEN Taylor fails to realize how private character affects the ability to command troops. One cannot compartmentalize the ethic of professionals into private and public sectors. Professionals apply their ethic to the application of their craft on behalf of the society they s erve. 6 Soldiers, like all members within a profession, must exercise their ethic in the execution of their work, not just in their private lives. Although, a universal criterion to qualify a particular vocation as a profession is difficult to quantify, the possession of a guiding ethic is common to all professional definitions. The Army is a profession because throughout its ranks it has continued to operate within the ethical framework it has set forth for itself. The Army, as a profession, demonstrates not only that it possesses ethical cannon, but is committed to operating by it. The Army Values, the Soldier’s Creed and the Warrior Ethos are the natural outpouring of these ethical cannon. Regardless of these facts, it remains unique to a profession that they cannot simply declare themselves a profession.7 The public reserves the right to determine so. Americans will only continue to regard the Army as a profession based on our effective and ethical application of landpower.8 Des pite many ethical failings, the American people recognize that the Army possesses the courage to hold its members ethically accountable and therefore legitimize itself as a profession of arms. Bibliography Pbs.org,. ‘NOVA | The Hippocratic Oath Today’. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 12, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html. Robinson, Paul. Ethics Training And Development In The Military. Ebook. 1st ed., 2007. Accessed September 11, 2014. http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/07spring/robinson.pdf. Training and Doctrine Command, â€Å"An Army White Paper: The Profession of Arms,† 8 December 2010, 2. http://www.benning.army.mil/armor/content/PDF/Profession%20of%20Arms%20White%20Paper%208%20Dec%2010.pdf U.S. Department of the Army. The Army Profession. Army Doctrine and Training Publications 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Army, June 13, 2013. Accessed September 11, 2014. http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adrp1.pdf. YourDictionary.com,. ‘Code Of Ethics Examples’. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 11, 2014. http://examples.yourdictionary.com/code-of-ethics-examples.html.

A Family Supper by Kazuo Ishiguro Essay

Theme: is the conflict between generations in changing Japan. Meaning †¨the ways of past generations are giving way to new values that have not been fully developed in the younger generations. One exanple of this being that suicide, carried out in the face of defeat have now lost of its meaning and honor in younger generations. His mom is the ghost The fugu fish and the story of Mr. Watanabe and his family are subtle hints about the end of the story, foreshadowing. Are you moving to California THEME Symbols: Fish, mom, ghost Fugu is a fish caught off the Pacific shores of Japan. The fish has held a special significance for me ever since my mother died after eating one. The poison resides in the sex glands of the fish, inside two fragile bags. These bags must be removed with caution when preparing the fish, for any clumsiness will result in the poison leaking into the veins. Regrettably, it is not easy to tell whether or not this operation has been carried out successfully. The proof is, as it were, in the eating. Fugu poisoning is hideously painful and almost always fatal. If the fish has been eaten during the evening, the victim is usually overtaken by pain during his sleep. He rolls about in agony for a few hours and is dead by morning. The fish became extremely popular in Japan after the war. Until stricter regulations were imposed, it was all the rage to perform the hazardous gutting operation in one’s own kitchen, then to invite neighbors and friends round for the feast. At the time of my mother’s death, I was living in California. My relationship with my parents had become somewhat strained around that period and consequently I did not learn of the circumstances of her death until I returned to Tokyo two years later. Apparently, my mother had always refused to eat fugu, but on this particular occasion she had made an exception, having been invited by an old school friend whom she was anxious not to offend. It was my father who supplied me with the details as we drove from the airport to his house in the Kamakura district. When we finally arrived, it was nearing the end of a sunny autumn day. â€Å"Did you eat on the plane?† my father asked. We were sitting on the tatami floor of his tearoom. â€Å"They gave me a light snack.† â€Å"You must be hungry. We’ll eat as soon as Kikuko arrives.† My father was a formidable-looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows. I think now, in retrospect, that he much resembled Chou En-lai, although he would not have cherished such a comparison, being particularly proud of the pure samurai blood that ran in the family. His general presence was not one that encouraged relaxed conversation; neither were things helped much by his odd way of stating each remark as if it were the concluding one. In fact, as I sat opposite him that afternoon, a boyhood memory came back to me of the time he had struck me several times around the head for â€Å"chattering like an old woman.† Inevitably, our conversation since my arrival at the airport had been punctuated by long pauses. â€Å"I’m sorry to hear about the firm,† I said when neither of us had spoken for some time. He nodded gravely. v â€Å"I see.† â€Å"We were partners for seventeen years. A man of principle and honor. I respected him very much.† â€Å"Will you go into business again?† I asked. â€Å"I am. . .in retirement. I’m too old to involve myself in new ventures now. Business these days has become so different. Dealing with foreigners. Doing things their way. I don’t understand how we’ve come to this. Neither did Watanabe.† He sighed. â€Å"A fine man. A man of principle.† The tearoom looked out over the garden. From where I sat I could make out the ancient well that as a child I had believed to be haunted. It was just visible now through the thick foliage. The sun had sunk low and much of the garden had fallen into shadow. â€Å"I’m glad in any case that you’ve decided to come back,† my father said. â€Å"More than a short visit, I hope.† â€Å"I’m not sure what my plans will be.† â€Å"I, for one, am prepared to forget the past. Your mother, too, was always ready to welcome you back– upset as she was by your behavior.† â€Å"I appreciate your sympathy. As I say, I’m not sure what my plans are.† â€Å"I’ve come to believe now that there were no evil intentions in your mind,† my father continued. â€Å"You were swayed by certain†¦influences. Like so many others.† â€Å"Perhaps we should forget it, as you suggest.† â€Å"As you will. More tea?† Just then a girl’s voice came echoing through the house. â€Å"At last.† My father rose to his feet. â€Å"Kikuko has arrived.† Despite our difference in years, my sister and I had always been close. Seeing me again seemed to make her excessively excited, and for a while she did nothing but giggle nervously. But she calmed down somewhat when my father started to question her about Osaka and her university. She answered him with short, formal replies. She in turn asked me a few questions, but she seemed inhibited by the fear that the questions might lead to awkward topics. After a while, the conversation had become even sparser than prior to Kikuko’s arrival. Then my father stood up, saying: â€Å"I must attend to the supper. Please excuse me for being burdened by such matters. Kikuko will look after you.† My sister relaxed quite visibly once he had left the room. Within a few minutes, she was chatting freely about her friends in Osaka and about her classes at university. Then quite suddenly she decided we should walk in the garden and went striding out onto the veranda. We put on some straw sandals that had been left along the veranda rail and stepped out into the garden. The light in the garden had grown very dim. â€Å"I’ve been dying for a smoke for the last half hour,† she said, lighting a cigarette. â€Å"Then why didn’t you smoke?† She made a furtive gesture back toward the house, then grinned mischievously. â€Å"Oh, I see,† I said. â€Å"Guess what, I’ve got a boyfriend now.† â€Å"Oh, yes?† â€Å"Except I’m wondering what to do. I haven’t made up my mind yet.† â€Å"Quite understandable.† â€Å"You see, he’s making plans to go to America. He wants me to go with him as soon as I finish studying.† â€Å"I see. And you want to go to America?† â€Å"If we go, we’re going to hitchhike.† Kikuko waved a thumb in front of my face. â€Å"People say it’s dangerous, but I’ve done it in Osaka and it’s fine.† â€Å"I see. So what is it you’re unsure about?† We were following a narrow path that wond through the shrubs and finished by the old well. As we walked, Kikuko persisted in taking unnecessarily theatrical puffs on her cigarette. â€Å"Well, I’ve got a lot of friends in Osaka. I like it there. I’m not sure I want to leave them all behind just yet. And Suichi†¦I like him, but â€Å"I’m not sure I want to spend so much time with him. Do you understand?† â€Å"Oh, perfectly.† She grinned again, then skipped on ahead of me until she had reached the well. â€Å"Do you remember,† she said as I came walking up to her, â€Å"how you used to say this well was haunted?† â€Å"Yes, I remember.† We both peered over the side. â€Å"Mother always told me it was the old woman from the vegetable store you’d seen that night,† she said. â€Å"But I never believe her and never came out here alone.† â€Å"Mother used to tell me that too. She even told me once the old woman had confessed to being the ghost. Apparently, she’d been taking a shortcut through our garden. I imagine she had some trouble clambering over these walls.† Kikuko gave a giggle. She then turned her back to the well, casting her gaze about the garden. â€Å"Mother never really blamed you, you know,† she said, in a new voice. I remained silent. â€Å"She always used to say to me how it was their fault, her’s and Father’s, for not bringing you up correctly. She used to tell me how much more careful they’d been with me, and that’s why I was so good.† She looked up and the mischievous grin had returned to her face. â€Å"Poor Mother,† she said. â€Å"Yes. Poor Moth er.† â€Å"Are you going back to California?† â€Å"I don’t know. I’ll have to see.† â€Å"What happened to†¦to her? To Vicki?† â€Å"That’s all finished with,† I said. â€Å"There’s nothing much left for me now in California.† â€Å"Do you think I ought to go there?† â€Å"Why not? I don’t know. You’ll probably like it.† I glanced toward the house. â€Å"Perhaps we’d better go in soon. Father might need a hand with the supper.† But my sister was once more peering down into the well. â€Å"I can’t see any ghosts,† she said. Her voice echoed a little. â€Å"Is Father very upset about his firm collapsing?† â€Å"Don’t know. You never can tell with Father.† Then suddenly she straightened up and turned to me. â€Å"Did he tell you about old Watanabe? What he did?† â€Å"I heard he committed suicide.† â€Å"Well, that wasn’t all. He took his whole family with him. His wife and his two little girls.† â€Å"Oh, yes?† â€Å"Those beautiful little girls. He turned on the gas while they were all asleep. Then he cut his stomach with a meat knife.† â€Å"Yes, Father was just telling me how Watanabe was a man of principle.† â€Å"Sick.† My sister turned back to the well. â€Å"I can’t see any ghost,† she said. â€Å"You were lying to me all that time.† ]†But I never said it lived down the well.† â€Å"Where is it then?† We both looked around at the trees and shrubs. The daylight had almost gone. Eventually I pointed to a small clearing some ten yards away. â€Å"Just there I saw it. Just there.† We stared at the spot. â€Å"What did it look like?† â€Å"I couldn’t see very well. It was dark.† â€Å"But you must have seen something.† â€Å"It was an old woman. She was just standing there, watching me.† We kept staring at the spot as if mesmerized. â€Å"She was wearing a white kimono,† I said. â€Å"Some of her hair had come undone. It was blowing around a little.† Kikuko pushed her elbow against my arm. â€Å"Oh, be quiet. You’re trying to frighten me all over again.† She trod on the remains of her cigarette, then for a brief moment stood regarding it with a perplexed expression. She kicked some pine needles over it, then once more displayed her grin. â€Å"Let’s see if supper’s ready,† she said. We found my father in the kitchen. He gave us a quick glance, then carried on with what he was doing. â€Å"Father’s become quite a chef since he’s had to manage on his own,† Kikuko said with a laugh. He turned and looked at my sister coldly. â€Å"Hardly a skill I’m proud of,† he said. â€Å"Kikuko, come here and help.† For some moments my sister did not move then she stepped forward and took an apron hanging from a drawer. â€Å"Just these vegetables need cooking now,† he said to her. â€Å"The rest just needs watching.† Then he looked up and regarded me strangely for some seconds. â€Å"I expect you want to look around the house,† he said eventually. He put down the chopsticks he had been holding. â€Å"It’s a long time since you’ve seen it.† As we left the kitchen I glanced toward Kikuko, but her back was turned. â€Å"She’s a good girl,† my father said. I followed my father from room to room. I had forgotten how large the house was. A panel would slide open and another room would appear. But the rooms were all startlingly empty. In one of the rooms the lights did not come on, and we stared at the stark walls and tatami in the pale light that came from the windows. â€Å"This house is too large for a man to live in alone,† my father said. â€Å"I don’t have much use for most of these rooms now.† But eventually my father opened the door to a room packed full of books and papers. There were flowers in vases and pictures on the walls. Then I noticed something on a low table in the corner of the room. I came nearer and saw it was a plastic model of a battleship, the kind constructed by children. It had been placed on some newspaper; scattered around it were assorted pieces of gray plastic. My father gave a laugh. He came up to the table and picked up the model. â€Å"Since the firm folded,† he said, â€Å"I have a little more time on my hands.† He laughed again, rather strangely. For a moment his face looked almost gentle. â€Å"A little more time.† â€Å"That seems odd,† I said. â€Å"You were always so busy.† â€Å"Too busy, perhaps.† He looked at me with a smile. â€Å"Perhaps I should have been a more attentive father.† I laughed. He went on contemplating his battleship. Then he looked up. â€Å"I hadn’t meant to tell you this, but perhaps it’s best that I do. It’s my belief that your mother’s death was no accident. She had many worries. And some disappointments.† We both gazed at the plastic battleship. â€Å"Surely,† I said eventually, â€Å"my mother didn’t expect me to live here forever.† â€Å"Obviously you don’t see. You don’t see how it is for some parents. Not only must they lose their children, they must lose them to things they don’t understand.† He spun the battleship in his fingers. â€Å"These little gunboats here could have been better glued, don’t you think?† â€Å"Perhaps. I think it looks fine.† â€Å"During the war I spent some time on a ship rather like this: if your ship was struck by the enemy, all you could do was struggle in the water hoping for a lifeline. But in an airplane– well, there was always the final weapon.† He put the model back onto the table. â€Å"I don’t suppose you believe in war.† â€Å"Not particularly.† He cast an eye around the room. â€Å"Supper should be ready by now,† he said. â€Å"You must be hungry.† Supper was waiting in a dimly lit room next to the kitchen. The only source of light was a big lantern that hung over the table, casting the rest of the room in shadow. We bowed to each other before starting the meal. There was little conversation. When I made some polite comment about the food, Kikuko giggled a little. Her earlier nervousness seemed to have returned to her. My father did not speak for several minutes. Finally he said: â€Å"It must feel strange for you, being back in Japan.† â€Å"Yes, it is a little strange.† â€Å"Already, perhaps, you regret leaving America.† â€Å"A little. Not so much. I didn’t leave behind much. Just some empty rooms.† â€Å"I see.† I glanced across the table. My father’s face looked stony and forbidding in the half-light. We ate in silence. Then my eye caught something at the back of the room. At first I continued eating, then my hands became still. The others noticed and looked at me. I went on gazing into the darkness past my father’s shoulder. â€Å"Who is that? In the photograph there?† â€Å"Which photograph?† My father turned slightly, trying to follow my gaze. â€Å"The lowest one. The old woman in the white kimono.† My father put down his chopsticks. He looked first at the photograph, then at me. â€Å"Your mother.† His voice had become very hard. â€Å"Can’t you recognize your own mother?† â€Å"My mother. You see, it’s dark. I can’t see it very well.† No one spoke for a few seconds, then Kikuko rose to her feet. She took the photograph down from the wall, came back to the table, and gave it to me. â€Å"She looks a lot older,† I said. â€Å"It was taken shortly before her death,† said my father. â€Å"It was the dark. I couldn’t see very well.† I looked up and noticed my father holding out a hand. I gave him the photograph. He looked at it intently, then held it toward Kikuko. Obediently, my sister rose to her feet once more and returned the picture to the wall. There was a large pot left unopened at the center of the table. When Kikuko had seated herself again, my father reached forward and lifted the lid. A cloud of steam rose up and curled toward the lantern. He pushed the pot a little toward me. â€Å"You must be hungry,† he said. One side of his face had fallen into shadow. â€Å"Thank you.† I reached forward my chopsticks. The steam was almost scalding. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"Fish.† â€Å"It smells very good.† In the soup were strips of fish that had curled almost into balls. I picked one out and brought it to my bowl. â€Å"Help yourself. There’s plenty.† â€Å"Thank you.† I took a little more, then pushed the pot toward my father. I watched him take several pieces to his bowl. Then we both watched as Kikuko served herself. My father bowed slightly. â€Å"You must be hungry,† he said again. He took some fish to his mouth and started to eat. Then I, too, chose a piece and put it in my mouth. It felt soft, quite fleshy against my tongue. The three of us ate in silence. Several minutes went by. My father lifted the lid and once more steam rose up. We all reached forward and helped ourselves. â€Å"Here,† I said to my father, â€Å"you have the last piece.† â€Å"Thank you.† When we had finished the meal, my father stretched out his arms and yawned with an air of satisfaction. â€Å"Kikuko,† he said, â€Å"prepare a pot of tea, please.† My sister looked at him, and left the room without comment. My father stood up. â€Å"Let’s retire to the other room. It’s rather warm in here.† I got to my feet and followed him into the tearoom. The large sliding windows had been left open, bringing in a breeze from the garden. For a while we sat in silence. â€Å"Father,† I said, finally. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Kikuko tells me Watanabe-san took his whole family with him.† My father lowered his eyes and nodded. For some moments he seemed deep in thought. â€Å"Watanabe was very devoted to his work,† he said at last. â€Å"The collapse of the firm was a great blow to him. I fear it must have weakened his judgment.† â€Å"You think what he did†¦it was a mistake?† â€Å"Why, of course. Do you see it otherwise?† â€Å"No, no. Of course not.† â€Å"There are other things besides work,† my father said. â€Å"Yes.† We fell silent again; the sound of locusts came in from the garden. I looked out into the darkness. The well was no longer visible. â€Å"What do you think you will do now?† my father asked. â€Å"Will you stay in Japan for a while?† â€Å"To be honest, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.† â€Å"If you wish to stay here, I mean here in this house, you would be very welcome; that is, if you don’t mind living with an old man.† â€Å"Thank you. I’ll have to think about it.† I gazed out once more into the darkness. â€Å"But of course,† said my father, â€Å"this house is so dreary now. You’ll no doubt return to America before long.† â€Å"Perhaps. I don’t know yet.† â€Å"No doubt you will.† For some time my father seemed to be studying the back of his hands. Then he looked up and sighed. â€Å"Kikuko is due to complete her studies next spring,† he said. â€Å"Perhaps she will want to come home then. She’s a good girl.† â€Å"Perhaps she will.† â€Å"Things will improve then.† â€Å"Yes, I’m sure they will.† We fell silent once more, waiting for Kikuko to bring the tea.

Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: a Bibliography

Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: A Bibliography By Sharon Verba July 20, 1997 Those women who struggle without giving up hope, herald the impending change†¦ : change in attitude for both men and women as they evaluate and re-evaluate their social roles†¦. -Rosemary Moyana, â€Å"Men & Women† Rereading, willful misreading, and de- and re-coding are tools used in African literature and womanist or feminist discourse to challenge â€Å"canonized ‘literature'† that tends to black out Black and blanch out Woman. -Kofi Owusu, â€Å"Canons Under Siege† T]he collective effort has to emerge from the ranks of those whose life is theorized. -Sisi Maqagi, â€Å"Who Theorizes† Feminist criticism of African literatures is a steadily growing field. The following bibliography includes articles and essays in English and French which examine African literatures (fiction, poetry, drama and oral literature) from a feminist or womanist per spective. It does not include, unfortunately, criticism in other languages — such as Wolof, Xhosa, Zulu, Portuguese, German, or Arabic — due to my own inability to read those languages.Also, authors whose works are originally written in languages other than French or English, such as Ngugi wa Thiongo's plays and the novel, Devil on the Cross, and Nawal al Sa'dawi's works, may be under-represented in this bibliography, as criticism often tends to be written in the language of the work being addressed. The first sections of this essay will present overviews on two key issues for those interested in both feminism and African literatures: the current ebate over the role of feminist criticisms in addressing African literatures, and an examination of the changes which have developed over the past decade in the ways feminist criticism approaches African literatures. This examination will trace these changes from 1985-1996 by considering articles which represent the ongoing ev olution of feminist criticism in this field. Finally, this essay also includes a section which explains my methodology and sources in compiling the bibliography, and a section offering hints for future searches, especially of online indexes. Feminist Criticism and African LiteratureMany issues of concern to feminist/womanist thought are raised and addressed in these articles. (1) Among the issues taken up in the state of feminist theory and criticism are the importance of feminism as a literary critical method; the representation and mis-representation of women in literary texts; the education of women; the access of women to the economic means of survival; motherhood; women in the domestic sphere; women as part of their communities; women's role in politics and revolution; sexuality; and the direct treatment of women by men, and men by women.Underlying this array of specific interests are questions of gender in representation and of the reality or realities of life for women in Afr ica–past, present, and future. The arguments found in the articles in this bibliography present a multiplicity of views, a few of which may even be anti-feminist, but all of which make gender a basis of discussion, and all of which offer much for the consideration of feminist thought with respect to African literatures.The state of feminist literary criticism/thought in Africa â€Å"now† is the direct focus of several of the articles, although all of the articles could be said in some degree or another to be a part of this particular debate. I put â€Å"now† in quotations, because these articles cover a broad range of time–1980-1996– and those which focus on this particular topic present an evolving discourse. Two collections of essays in particular are noteworthy for their presentation of a range of ideas on feminism and literary criticism in Africa: Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature (1986) and South African Feminisms: Writing, Theo ry and Criticism 990-1994 (1995). Ngambika includes twenty articles which focus on the representation of women in African literature. Taken together the articles provide an invaluable overview of the types of feminist criticism being applied to African literatures in the mid 1980s, although most do not focus on the issue of feminism as a critical method. One essay in this collection proves a notable exception. In the collection's introductory essay Carole Boyce Davies(2) does write of the tension found in the works of many critics of African literatures, especially female critics.These critics, she says, work out of a growing awareness of the requirement to balance both â€Å"the need to liberate African peoples from neo-colonialism and other forms of race and class oppression, coupled with a respect for certain features of traditional African cultures,† and â€Å"the recognition that a feminist consciousness is necessary in examining the position of women in African societi es† (1).Davies then outlines the issues of women writers in Africa (including the relatively small number of women writers) and the presentation of women in fiction written by African men, as well as the development of an African feminist criticism. In her treatment of the latter concern, she lists four major areas which African feminist critics tend to address: the development of the canon of African women writers, the examination of stereotyped images of women in African literature, the study of African women writers and the development of an African female aesthetic, and the examination of women and the oral tradition (13-14).While Davies acknowledges the objections African women writers and critics have to the term â€Å"feminist† and discusses womanist theory, she focuses on the idea of a developing African feminist theory which will not only perform the balancing act mentioned at the beginning, but continue to address the major issues she has outlined. Seven years later, in the 1993 publication A History of Twentieth-Century African Literatures, Davies and Elaine Savory Fido contributed a chapter entitled â€Å"African Women Writers: A Literary History. In it, they examine African women writers and their writings, focusing especially on the styles and genres used by these writers. Included is a brief segment on â€Å"Feminism and African Women Writers† as well as a separate section on â€Å"Criticism and African Women's Writing. † In the section on feminism, they note the continued reluctance of many African women writers and critics to be labeled as feminists because of the overtones of westernization the term carries, but they also point out that most African women writers are committed, in the words of Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, â€Å"as a writer, as a woman and as a third world person† (339).This triple commitment encompasses much of the politics of African feminism, as well as womanism, whether the labels are accepte d or not. Fido and Davies conclude: â€Å"The role and history of feminist politics or activism on women's rights in Africa is a discourse which African women are studying and clarifying for themselves† (339). One of the places in which this discourse can be seen is South African Feminisms: Writing, Theory and Criticism 1990-1994.South African Feminisms presents a collection of articles on feminist literature and criticism, including and expanding the debate on feminist criticism of African literatures which was part of the special issue Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa 2 (1990). M. J. Daymond's introduction gives a good overview of the issues raised in the collection, including the debate over feminist criticism and the development of an African feminist theory.The section â€Å"Theory and Context† includes eight articles originally published from 1990-1993. Taken together, these articles constitute an excellent sampling of some of the issues and trends in African feminist criticism, including Sisi Maqagi's â€Å"Who Theorizes? † in which she questions the ability of white critics, African or non-African, female or male, to develop a theory which will adequately address the issues of black African women, rather than appropriating those issues, and the voices which raise them.Jill Arnott, in an article entitled â€Å"French Feminism in a South Africa? Gayatri Spivak and the Problem of Representation in South African Feminism,† contends that difference, which can often lead to misrepresentation, can also at times lead to accurate and insightful work: â€Å"to power a genuinely dialectical interaction between two vigilantly foregrounded subject-positions,† but only with an awareness of the position of ifference and a consciousness of the act of representation (87). Desiree Lewis, in â€Å"The Politics of Feminism in South Africa,† counters that such a conscious and effective use of difference may we ll be impossible, as long as there is a political climate in which white female academics are attempting to hold on to their power within the academy, at the expense of black women.In the same article she also points out that unless black working class women can make their statements about the current â€Å"oppressive orthodoxies† and do so without creating, as she argues Western feminism has, another oppressive orthodoxy, there may be no way out of the current impasse. Changes in Feminist Criticism of African Literature Although some of the articles included in this bibliography, like those above, examine feminist literary criticism as a topic, most focus on literary concerns: texts, authors, or issues.In the seventeen years this bibliography spans there are shifts in the coverage these concerns are given. Critical analyses of individual authors naturally both broaden and deepen over the years, especially as an individual author's body of work grows or is reclaimed from obsc urity. In general, in the 1990s there are fewer works of criticism that examine several authors and more which focus on individuals and their work than there were in the 1980s. Also, the topics focused upon subtly shift over the years. Images of women in the works of†¦. † could be the subtitle for many of the articles written in the 1980s as feminist critics examined representations, or misrepresentations, of African women in literary texts. At the same time these critics raised the question of the role of African authors, male and female, in expanding and/or correcting such representations. These concerns are still addressed; indeed, the feminist criticism on these topics is, like the criticism of specific authors, expanding and deepening.To highlight these changes, I shall examine here some of the collections and representative individual articles which have been produced over the years, beginning with the landmark collection Ngambika, which was published in 1986, follo wed by Women in African Literature Today in 1987, articles by Kofi Owusu and Elleke Boehmer in 1990, the 1990 issue of Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, Essays on African Writing 2: Contemporary Literature published in 1995 and The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature in 1996.All of the articles in the first section of Ngambika overtly tackle the issue of the representations of women in the works of African authors. Carole Boyce Davies writes one of these articles: â€Å"Maidens, Mistresses, and Matrons: Feminine Images in Selected Soyinka Works. † In it, she argues that Soyinka often offers only stereotyped images of women which fall into one of three categories: the foolish virgin in rural settings, the femme fatale in urban settings, and the masculinized matron.Those characters which fall in the latter category, in Davies' opinion, come closest to being non-stereotypes, but even they are drawn with â€Å"no depth† (81). The â€Å"foolish virgins† and the â€Å"femme fatales,† Davies argues, fill only the roles of stereotypes and symbols, possessions or trophies to be won away from Western influences by African traditions, or, more threateningly, these women are seen as dangers which can distract and destroy.Davies acknowledges that Soyinka sometimes shows women briefly in a positive light but notes that â€Å"throughout Soyinka's works one finds the kernel of positive portrayal of the female image which is never fully realized† (85). Davies concludes with the argument â€Å"that the artist has the power to create new realities;†¦ women as neither victors nor victims but partners in struggle† (86). Davies' article is representative of the criticism which examines the image of women in African literatures. That is, she carefully addresses the concerns of the author (i. e. he need for recognizable symbols) as she argues against the relegation of women solely to symbolic roles, asking for characterizations which do not â€Å"[reinforce] a negative perception of self to the female viewer/reader and, concomitantly, a condescension in the appraisal of women on the part of the male† (78). In the years following the publishing of Ngambika, several journals and monograph series devoted to African literatures published issues on women as authors of or characters in African literatures. One of the first was the Women in African Literature Today issue of African Literature Today (Vol. 5). Like Ngambika, this issue contains many excellent articles, almost all of which are written from a feminist perspective. I would like to discuss two of these articles as representative not merely of this particular collection, but of the feminist criticism on African literatures being published at this time. In â€Å"Feminist Issues in the Fiction of Kenya's Women Writers† Jean F. O'Barr list three main categories of feminist concerns in the fiction of Kenyan woman writers: â€Å"how female children become women; †¦ what marriage means for women;†¦ here women's work fits into their lives† (57). O'Barr notes that the women authors she analyzes â€Å"all write from the woman's point of view, sharply underscoring the idea that the female perspective †¦. may be different from the male perspective on the same topic† (58). O'Barr analyzes the works of Kenya's female authors from a sociological approach, hoping to establish a stronger image of the social lives of Kenya's women than is possible from the works of male authors. She concludes that Kenya's women find themselves in a quadruple bind: â€Å"they see themselves performing traditional roles†¦ ithout traditional resources†¦ while at the same time they are undertaking modern activities†¦ while being denied access to modern support systems† (69). While O'Barr looks at the fiction of Kenyan women in order to locate the reality of w omen's lives, Katherine Frank attempts in the controversial article â€Å"Women without Men: The Feminist Novel in Africa† to find a radically feminist future for African women. Frank endeavors to place African women writers into the Western feminist mold by speaking of their work as a more radical extension of the Western feminist tradition.In speaking of â€Å"the contemporary British or American novel† she claims â€Å"our heroine slams the door on her domestic prison, journeys out into the great world, slays the dragon of her patriarchal society, and triumphantly discovers the grail of feminism by ‘finding herself,'† (14). She argues that in comparison African novels by women go far beyond their Western counterparts, refusing to â€Å"dabble in daydreaming about enlightened heroes or reformed, non-sexist societies,† (15). Frank finds that the â€Å"feminist† writers of Africa portray women not only as taking on active and shared roles wit h men, but as finding â€Å"a destiny of their own. †¦ destiny with a vengeance,† (15). Frank contends that Mariama Ba, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Ama Ata Aidoo's novels are, in their feminisms, â€Å"more radical, even more militant, than [their] Western counterpart[s]† (15). But Frank's interpretations place African heroines on a path which is not different, but rather the same, if more intense, than the one taken by the British and American heroines she notes above. Frank stresses that in these novels women find only pain and degradation in their relationships with men, but on their own and in their relationships with other women they find â€Å"female solidarity, power, independence† (33).In her interpretation, Barr neglects to note examples in which the future is shared by men and women. For example, when she speaks of Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter, she focuses on Ramatoulaye and Aissatou's friendship and the â€Å"world they create apart from me n,† (20). While this in itself glosses over the complex (and by no means completely negative) relationships these women have with the men in their lives, she also does not speak of Ramatoulaye's daughter and son-in-law, and the hope Ramatoulaye finds in their relationship.In this article, Frank does not acknowledge a difference between demonstrating that a woman's worth is not inextricable from her relationship with men, that a woman can take care of herself, as Ramatoulaye discovers, and an actual desire to live a life without men. However, controversial as some of her interpretations are, her essay effectively outlines the some of the subtle feminisms of African women novelists.Katherine Frank's stance is one which falls into the category of â€Å"radical, feminist-separatist ideology† which Kofi Owusu defines and rejects in his article in Callaloo entitled â€Å"Canons Under Siege: Blackness, Femaleness, and Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy†(1990). While Fra nk sees Aidoo's character Sissie as moving towards an autonomous, self-determining life without men (Frank 32), Owusu finds Aidoo to be â€Å"in tune with the ‘old' (Achebe's ‘vast corpus of African traditional stories') and the ‘new' (‘modern feminist theory') (357).Owusu sees Aidoo, and other female writers, not as bridging a gap between Western and African thought but creating something new out of both and challenging the canons that would ignore either black or female concerns. Much of Owusu's article analyzes â€Å"the discontinuities as well as continuities between womanist-feminist perspectives, on the one hand, and African literature, on the other† (342), allowing Owusu to regard Aidoo's work as one which â€Å"give[s] a sense of structural and linguistic irony which is functional. †¦ signify[ing] a couple of things: the need for, and very process of, revamping† (361).Here, the canons need to be reformed in recognition of both race and gender, not one or the other, or one without the other. While Kofi Owusu focused on Aidoo's linguistic and textual manipulations, the question of the image of women in African literature continues to be a highly examined topic. Elleke Boehmer explores the construction of women as mothers, whores, representations of national pride, or finally, as spiritual advisors and supporters, but not as individuals actively and crucially involved in political activity.In â€Å"Of Goddesses and Stories: Gender and a New Politics in Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah,† Boehmer analyzes Chinua Achebe's efforts to include women in his re-vision of the future and questions whether women remain a â€Å"vehicle† of transformation rather than actual women with an active role in the future of the country, that is, whether â€Å"woman is the ground of change or discursive displacement but not the subject of transformation† (102).She concludes that Achebe has still idealized women but that his creation of a female character with an important yet undefined role for the future has opened up space for women to have active and involved roles, side by side with men, in the building of the future. Like Davies' article on Soyinka from Ngambika discussed earlier, Boehmer's work recognizes Achebe's literary prowess and commends his willingness to make women positive symbols, but in the end laments the lack of depth in his female characters.Although South African Feminisms was published in 1996, many of the articles in it come from the 1990 issue of Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, which was dedicated to â€Å"Feminism and Writing. † This issue continued the trend of publishing articles debating not only the appropriateness of feminism in an African context but also the challenges of applying it to African literatures, as well as articles focusing on women writers or women's images in literature.In â€Å"A Correspondence Without Theory: T sitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions,† Brenda Bosman addresses the psychological dislocation forced upon the women of the heroine's family by â€Å"Englishness,† the term used by her mother to describe the process of assimilation which various members of the family undergo. However, one of the most interesting aspects of the article is Bosman's explicit attempt to find a position from which to speak, as a white South African woman, to –not for, or of– Dangarembga.She writes her article in the form of a letter to Dangarembga, and acknowledges that she might not have succeeded in finding a legitimate position: â€Å"you may find†¦ despite all my conscious efforts, I have nonetheless submitted to the voice of my education†(311). Considering the problematics of education in Nervous Conditions, this could be seen as a double entendre, but her article shows a conscious attempt to find a place from which to speak comfortably, an increasingly difficu lt matter for some African feminists.The last two articles I will discuss reveal change in the field of feminist criticism of Africa on two levels: both are located in collections of essays on African literature which can be considered â€Å"general,† and both are examples of the further increase in variety in the forms of feminist criticism of African literature. Although very good collections of critical essays focusing exclusively on women and African literature are published, it is important to note that few, if any â€Å"general† collections are now being published without the inclusion of at least one, if not several essays which address feminist concerns.In Essays on African Writing 2: Contemporary Literature (1995), there are three articles which are written from a feminist perspective. One of these is Belinda Jack's â€Å"Strategies of Transgression in the Writings of Assia Djebar. † In it she explores the means by which Djebar writes for Arabic women o f Algeria in the language of the colonizer.Jack distinguishes Djebar's writings by arguing that her â€Å"texts are not written in the French language but a French language† a language which no longer belongs to the colonizers because of the deliberate shifts Djebar makes (23). Jack also notes that Djebar also transgresses against Islam in her choices of subject matter, especially sexuality, again firm in the knowledge that while such speech may be a transgression, it is only a transgression because with speech (or writing) comes power.The last article I wish to discuss also focuses on Assia Djebar and her concerns with Islam. The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature (1996) contains four articles which approach literature from a distinctly feminist perspective: one on Somali women's Sittaat (songs sung for and to notable women in Islamic history), one on the tradition of female Islamic writers in Nigeria, and two which examine Djebar's Loin de Medine.In â€Å"Daughters of Hagar: Daughters of Muhammad† Sonia Lee argues that through her early fictional exploration of women in Islam, Djebar is attempting to make a space for Islamic women â€Å"to reclaim the true law of God† (60). Lee finds that Djebar's historical training combined with her literary skills allow her to â€Å"[oscillate] between the actual and the probable, thus underlying the real subject matter of the novel, †¦. the problematic of Islamic collective memory with regard to women† (51). The above articles typify the growing expansion of feminist approaches to African literatures.While feminist criticisms continue to broaden the literary canon by bringing literature by African women to critical attention and continue to address the representation of African women in literatures, the methods used by such criticism in relation to African literatures continue to evolve. As feminist critics, both African and non-African, use sociological, linguistic, psychoanalytic, historical and other approaches to broaden the examination of African literatures, at least some Western feminist critics are also trying to incorporate a heightened awareness of their own positions with regards to the authors and literatures they discuss.Methodology This bibliography is, in every sense of the word, selective. African authors were included if an article (in English or French) could be located which discussed him or her from the angle of feminism, womanism, or the treatment of gender. Authors were not excluded or included on any other basis, including race and gender. Interviews were included for many of the female writers because such interviews often are a main source of feminist thought (their own) on their works.The sources I used to find these articles were the bibliographies of African literature located in the journal Callaloo (1987-89 and 1990-93), the MLA Bibliography, the African studies bibliographies for the years 1995-96, the CD-Rom resource Women's Resources International, 1972-August 1996, as well as various library catalogs for monographs, whether collections or single-authored. In addition, I scanned the bibliographies of articles and books to find other relevant citations.There are several good bibliographies which focus, at least in part, on feminist criticism of African literatures from the 1970s through the mid 1980s. Brenda Berrian's Bibliography of African Women Writers and Journalists, Carole Boyce Davies' â€Å"A Bibliography of Criticism and Related Works† in Ngambika, and Barbara Fister's bibliography on criticism in Third World Women's Literature in combination cover this earlier period very thoroughly.I did not use these bibliographies to compile this one; to avoid excess duplication, I have focused on criticism published from 1980 on and simply cite these earlier bibliographies at the end of this one, although I am sure some duplication has occurred. This bibliography is organize d by authors and also includes a section on general works, which is organized first by those which cover African literatures without focusing on a specific country, region or author, then by region, and then individual countries.Works of criticism are placed in this section if they refer to several authors/works from the continent, a particular region, or country. If an article focuses on four or fewer authors, it is included under the name of each author. The bibliography includes articles on eighty-seven individual authors, as well as general articles on Africa, East Africa, North Africa, West Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Somali, South Africa, and Zimbabwe; it cites more than four hundred articles and monographs.It is interesting to compare the authors found in this bibliography with the ninety-five authors found in the biography section of Hans Zell's A New Reader's Guide to African Fiction (1st ed. , 1971; 2nd rev. ed. ,1983). The authors in Zell's work are o ften considered the early canon of African literatures. Only twenty-five authors appear in both the current bibliography and Hans Zell's Guide. There may be several reasons for this difference. Many of the authors included in my bibliography were not then considered a part of the canon of African literature; and a few had not even published at the time Zell's work appeared.Carole Boyce Davies also offers an insight which may explain the lack of overlap. She notes in her introduction to Ngambika that one of the priorities of African feminist literary criticism is â€Å"the development of a canon of African women writers and a parallel canon of critical works with the final aim of expanding the African literary canon† (14). The Guides were compiled in the early years of this expansion, and it is quite possible that today the lists would be more reflective of each other.At the same time, many African women writers actively rebuke attempts to place African men on the defensive, a rguing that a critical approach to literature (as well as other social, political, and cultural expressions) must explore the strengths of both African women and African men. While feminist criticism does focus on male authors, it more often strives to bring to the forefront of literary discussions the works of female African authors and the strong, individualistic portrayals of women they offer.Future Search Hints The issues discussed above make feminist criticism of African fiction an exciting and dynamic field. They also make it a very complex field to research. There are several issues to keep in mind when beginning research in this area. One of the most difficult to overcome is the lack of coverage of this area in mainstream indexing sources, such as the MLA, especially when one looks for early works, which were often carried in journals not then indexed by the MLA.Other sources which do cover these journals, such as the excellent bibliographies periodically offered by Callaloo on studies of African literature, do not offer separate sections for feminist criticism, and it is necessary to assess which ones are relevant by the titles or, at times, the authors, of the articles. For my own part it should be noted that it is entirely possible that I have missed articles which should appear in this bibliography.Many of the best sources are only available in print, such as International African Bibliography, Current Bibliography of African Affairs, and Cahiers d'etudes africaines, which are more time-consuming to search, but well worth the effort. As the discussion above indicates, the term â€Å"feminism† can be extremely limiting when it is being used as a descriptor in either online or print indexes. For this reason, it is advisable to keep other terms in mind when searching for articles, whether in print or electronic resources, such as the keywords/descriptors â€Å"Gender† and â€Å"Womanism/Womanist†.It is important, as well, not to l imit searches to the term â€Å"African. † While some articles are indexed with this descriptor, those articles which deal with a specific author may be listed under that author's country instead, as of course are those which deal with the literatures of a specific region or country. Finally, especially when searching for articles in online indexes, it is useful to keep in mind specific topics, such as â€Å"sexuality,† â€Å"motherhood,† and â€Å"politics† combined with â€Å"women† or â€Å"female. â€Å"

Supporting Children who are Twice Exceptional and Beyond Assignment

Supporting Children who are Twice Exceptional and Beyond - Assignment Example They are called as such because of their special intellectual capacity and because of their physical condition that requires special attention (Beckley, 2012). Little did we know that 2e children also bear the burden of certain disabilities that entail for them to be misunderstood? Common disabilities found in 2e children are dyslexia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tourette syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorders among others. They often have the difficulty to study in a traditional learning environment. Because of this, 2e children are often perceived as lazy, distracted and lacks interest with disruptive behaviour (Beckley, 2012). Because of these perceptions, parents and child carers tends to use a different approach to discipline does not fit the 2e children. They tend to apply the kind of discipline that they use to non-2e children not realizing that 2e children have special needs. Although my understanding on 2e is not absolute, I believe that it helped me broaden my mind and further my understanding on child psychology. Generally, children are the most vulnerable section in our society (if not, the world) what more with the 2e children who have certain limitations that tests our patience? My initial understanding on 2e children fortified my belief that we should take extra care precaution when dealing with them. To be more careful with what we say, what we show them and how we guide them because that’s who they become. 2e children show an array of traits, behaviour and most of them are gifted children. However, they possess a quality that is the discrepancy of their mental age is different from their biological or physical age. Comorbid situation and children who are â€Å"twice exceptional† are distinct but not separate. Their conditions might have differences but their commonality is that they need special attention and

Analysis of Hatha Yoga Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analysis of Hatha Yoga - Essay Example Methods Research refers to the process of collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and information with the agenda of solving a specific problem (Khan 132). This research, for instance, aims at answering the question on Yoga and how it is an intellectual and creative process that affects the mental, physical and spiritual well being of an individual. The research is also qualitative because it seeks to explore the nature of an issue. The first step of this research was formulating the research problem. This mainly aids researchers in clearly spelling out what they want to achieve from the research. In this step, the main challenge was determining the exact information that was relevant information in relation to the problem. This research mainly wants to shed light on the effect of Hatha Yoga on human beings physically, mentally, and spiritually. The study population for this research is primarily me and some other few participants whose participation were actually secondary. This is because mostly the research involves following online video instruction on Hatha Yoga exercises and postures. The phenomenon in the research is the relationship between Hatha Yoga and human beings mentally, physically, and spiritually. The most used research methods, in this case, are content analysis. Content analysis refers to a research technique for quantitative, systematic, and objective analysis of the actual content and internal concepts of media. This method was very important to this research since most of the data were collected from an online video source (YouTube). The advantage of the method is that it can allow both quantitative and qualitative analyses thus making it inclusive. The other research method that is probably in use in this research is an experimental research method. Given that watched the YouTube videos and learned the exercises and posture illustrated in them, the whole process can be referred to as an experiment. After learning all the Hatha Yo ga exercises and postures the noticeable changes are brought to the record. The main aim is observing how the activities will affect me physically, mentally, and spiritually. The results obtained through this method are always considered to be highly credible because they are based on primary data and information (McBurney and White 101). The literature review also formed an important part of this research. Since it involves a practice that I was not familiar with before, it was through the literature review that I was able to know the basics, history, and relevance of Hatha Yoga to human life. It was through the literature review that it was possible to get clarification on some concepts that were not clarified in the online videos. The literature review was also highly important in the collection of information that was used in the translation of the research’s finding. The research began with reviewing literature materials about the history of Yoga. The history was importa nt in understanding the fundamental concepts of Yoga and its purpose (Jackson 23).  Ã‚  

Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing Plan - Essay Example Competition from Blackpool Beach will decrease income from both inbound international tourism and local tourism by a considerable margin (between 8-10%). iii. With the tourism in Scotland on the rise (VisitScotland 2012), our competitors will institute new facilities and recreational activities for the summer season before March 2014. Marketing Objectives Aberdeen Beach offers a serene, beautiful and relaxing environment for tourists, both local and international. Apart from coming up with a mission statement that is both marketing oriented and consumer-focused, Aberdeen City Council should create an objective to attain cumulative growth in tourism volume of at least 60% over the next three years. At least 30% of this tourism growth should result from local tourist and from new facilities that offer activities that are non-seasonal or are generally undertaken during the off-peak period. Aberdeen beach should also institute efforts to capture over 25% of the tourism market share in th e area within the next 3 years. This will make sure that it is the biggest tourist destination in the area. Better facilities and activities that take advantage of off-peak tourism will ensure that it offers valid competition to Blackpool beach. To accomplish the various marketing objectives laid down, the Aberdeen City Council should put benchmarks in place to assess progress. Frequent evaluation of these objectives will offer feedback and potential remedial actions on a timely basis. The chief marketing objective is to improve the perceptions tourists as well as the locals have about the Aberdeen Beach. Since Aberdeen beach has been slowly losing both the local and the international tourists, it must not be satisfying its current consumers. The city council should review the problems that hinder success and use it to not only keep its current tourism base but encourage new international and local tourists to the area. To improve success, benchmarks should be developed to understan d how the city council can improve the experience of tourists to the beach through knowledge of tourist’s needs and specific opportunities for instituting new recreational facilities. The benchmarks should be developed through market research as well as the City Council’s marketing information system. Another objective should be the institution of an education program that will serve to educate the local residents about the issue of climate change and the rising flood risk in the area. The City Council should collaborate with the local residents in efforts to conserve and restore the beach (Robert Gordon 2013). The City Council should also create a new office that deals with beach security and cleanliness. It should interact with local residents and set up an institution that deals with cleaning up the beach and ensuring that companies and other individuals do not use the beach as a dumping point. According to Chan, Leung, and Wong (2006) collaborative environment rest oration efforts can be utilized as a means of advertisement both for local consumers and international. It should also collaborate with local law enforcement to ensure that visitors to the beach are safe. Marketing Strategies A. Target Markets Target Market 1: The first target market is the local tourists. Posters and customized calendars showing the beauty of Aberdeen beach could help reconnect with the local population. The Beach has also received bad

Business Research Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Research Skills - Essay Example When an employee stays the longer period of the time in the same company it increases its loyalty to the company and the salary also increases. He also added that the staying in the company for longer period of time can make that employee more and more experienced and suitable for the company. According to the author, there may be more different another determining factor in determining the salary levels of the executive. According to Economou (2011), He also said that there are lots of determinates like social, political and the situational determinants are very important for fixing a salary of the executive. If the organization is earning profit and revenue then the organization can easily think for a growth in the salary after regular interval of time. It has been noticed that if a person stays a longer period of time with the same company can earn more salary. Seniority of an employee is the very important factor for fixing any salary. Level of salary would be determined by the quantum of the responsibilities of that employee. It is quite obvious that the senior employees would have more and more responsibilities than the junior employees. It clearly states that the level of the salary of the senior employee would get more hike as its base is very high. It also supports the analysis done in the task one. The author also argued that as the salary of the senior employees is higher than the lower emp loyee it shows that what the senior employees can earn in the lesser period of time, it would take a more time for a person who is working in the same company. Obviously, the time taken for the company senior officers is less. He also argued that when one employee is working for the longer period of time that person can adapt very well to the company. It also stated that in any organization people with the highest amount of salaries are less in numbers and the number of people with the lowest base of salary.

What Makes Right Acts Right and Wrong Acts Wrong Essay

What Makes Right Acts Right and Wrong Acts Wrong - Essay Example This antagonism emanates from the fact that the owners of such sites hold the opinion that they are just displaying public documents, which can in turn make the public make informed choices while dealing with the individuals in question (Segal, n.p.). However, the affected individuals, whose mug shots appears on such sites are feeling offended, considering that some of them could not have committed any wrong, and they were cleared by the authorities of any wrongdoing. Therefore, the consistent display of their mug shots is tantamount to defamation, considering that they may not have been guilty of an offence, and even for those who could have been guilty, they may have transformed their lives. This is issue raises a fundamental ethical question of right or wrong, since the display of the mug shots is benefiting some individuals, such as the owners of the mug shot sites, the search engines and the partnering financial service companies, while causing grave harm to the individuals whos e photographs are being displayed (Segal, n.p.). The utilitarian approach to answering â€Å"what makes right acts right and wrong acts wrong† According to the utilitarian approach, the right action is that which, amongst the entire available alternatives, is most likely to maximize the overall utility, in the form of happiness and absence of suffering (Jack, 437).The main ethical issue the article raises is whether stopping the publication of the mug shots on the mug shot sites would be right or wrong. The other ethical dilemma raised by the article is whether stopping the publication of the mug shots would be beneficial or detrimental to the public. Therefore, in regard to the case above, the utilitarian approach will consider that; since publishing mug shots of individuals who may have previously been booked by the authorities serves to deny such individuals the maximum overall utility; by denying them happiness and causing them dissatisfaction, then, it is wrong to publis h the mug shots in the sites. However, this position may not be agreeable to all the utilitarian advocates, since by failing to publish such mug shots on the mug shot sites, some individuals are also being denied maximum utility, happiness and satisfaction, which they could derive from publishing the mug shots. Therefore, the utilitarians will disagree on the issue of which alternative between publishing and removing mug shots from the sites creates more happiness and satisfaction (Hare, 117). For example, the owners of the mug shot sites will be denied happiness and satisfaction, since they will not get the money they obtain from individuals seeking to have their mug shots removed. This will in turn cause them dissatisfaction and unhappiness. However, considering that the number of the owners of the mug shot sites stands at around 80, while there are over 1.6 million mug shots printed in the sites, it is apparent that much harm is caused to the individuals whose mug shots are publi shed, thus making the option of stopping the publication of the mug shots the right alternative, amongst the rest. The deontological approach to answering â€Å"what makes right acts right and wrong acts wrong† The deontological approach to what is right or wrong is guided by the principle that; an action could be right or morally correct, even though there are still other alternatives that produces overall better consequences (Singer, 232). Therefore, according to the deontological a

The Principle of Correspondence in Criminal Law Essay

The Principle of Correspondence in Criminal Law - Essay Example In criminal law, for an accused person to be found culpable, he or she is obliged to have indeed committed an unlawful act (actus reus) and must have acquired the mental state (mens rea) that propelled him to perform an illegal act. Actus reus is derived from Latin and means â€Å"guilty act† whereas mens rea means â€Å"guilty mind†. Under actus reus, the guilty act referred to could either be the commission or omission of an act that then leads to the violation of existing laws. Consider a case where a person, willingly and knowingly, drives over the speed limit. Here, the act of over speeding is done with total disregard to the existing law. An example of an omission of an act is a case where after adopting a pet, a person fails to care for and feed it thus leading to its demise. The crime in this case arises from the failure to act. In many occasions, a person is required to have had the necessary â€Å"mental state† while committing a crime for him or her to be found guilty of an offence. Often, mens rea refers to the intention to commit a crime. Some crimes, however, are done by unknowingly. Mens rea therefore may refer to other states of mind such as criminal negligence, recklessness or willful blindness. Intention refers to the situation where a person knowingly understands that their actions go against the rule of law and yet they continue with the guilty act. Willful blindness is shown where a person is aware of the possibility of wrongdoing but chooses to pursue with the offense.

Cold chain In food industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cold chain In food industry - Essay Example Indeed, keeping the goods ‘in a safe, wholesome and good quality state from the production to the consumption stage’ (Aung, Chang and Kim 2012: 435) can be considered as the cold chain’s mission. Through a similar approach, food cold chain has been described as ‘a special kind logistics applied in food’ (Lan and Tian 2013: 347). When referring to cold chain emphasis should be given to the following fact: the quality of the cold chain’s products is difficult to be secured. In the food cold chain sector a similar issue appears. For this reason, a series of methodologies and standards have been introduced for ensuring quality in all phases of food cold chain. However, the full alignment of food cold chain with the relevant rules is not always easy, especially due to the cost involved. The various characteristics of food cold chain are analytically presented below. Reference is also made to the standards applied in the specific sector. A series of case studies has been employed in order to show the challenges that food cold chain has to face worldwide. It is proved that the sector’s advances are continuous but the lack of effective control mechanisms often reduce the quality of food cold chain’s products especially in countries with limited potentials to support food cold chain. Chapter 2 – Need for the cold chain in the food industry Cold chain, as a series of processes, has been established in order to respond to specific needs of the food industry. Reference is made in particular to fresh food products (such as vegetables, meal, fish and so on) that have to be transported to areas quite far from the area of production (Handley 2010). For such production, there can be 4 levels of transport, as described in Appendix 1 (Handley 2010). As it is made clear through the graph in Appendix 1 cold chain has a key role in the transport of fresh goods, a role that it is clearer at Transport levels 1 & 2 (Appendix 1), i.e. from factory/ production area to the wholesale (Handley 2010). At level 3 of the transport process, i.e. from the wholesale to the outlet, the value of cold chain is also critical, ensuring the high quality of fresh products that reach the market (Appendix 1). In practice, all parts of the transport process have to be developed in order for a food product to reach its destination, i.e. the end consumer; this means that cold chain, as part of the transport process, cannot be omitted since such initiative would destroy the rest of the parts of the transport process. This means that without the intervention of the cold chain fresh food products could not be available for consumers. In the study of Aung, Chang and Kim (2012) emphasis is given to the importance of the cold chain for the preservation of perishable foods; it is explained that without cold chain these foods could not reach consumers (Aung, Chang and Kim 2012). In other words, due to cold chain perishable foods can keep their qualities, as these qualities are described in table presented in Appendix 2. According to the specific table the qualities of perishable foo

Take Back the Night April 17, 2008 Essay Example for Free

Take Back the Night April 17, 2008 Essay â€Å"Take Back the Night† was an evening dedicated to taking a stand against sexual violence, primarily on females. The event had many phases including musicals and spoken word performances, such as the â€Å"Denim Day† fashion show, â€Å"Walk in Her Shoes† contest, and the candlelight vigil. The event started off by introducing the concept of fighting against violence, especially those who were silenced by power. Those who were sexually violated and those who have experienced sexual violence sometime in their lives were also given much attention. â€Å"Take Back the Night† was a reclamation of the right to feel and be safe all the time, especially during the evenings. Statistics showed that an average harasser molests eighteen times before being apprehended. This was an information that surprised everyone. During the event, R. E. A. C. H peer educators were present to showcase their talents through playing music, singing, reading poetries, and sharing their feelings and emotions. The denim day fashion show presented the message, â€Å"Break the dress code, break the silence! †. It was a success for both the viewers and the organizers. The most important part of the event was the candlelight vigil. This was the time when those present were given the chance to voice out their concerns and emotions, at the same time it was a moment dedicated to silence and remembering the events that happened in the past. The event has given me more insights about sexual violence. I was deeply disheartened to hear their stories and chants about the experiences they had. It is my belief that no one can ever fully understand the difficulties and struggles these victims go through, unless the same sufferings were endured as that of the victims. I can personally say that I do not fully understand the real meaning of sexual abuse, although I, myself have experienced some during my youth. As a sixth grader, a female teacher asked me to show her my body parts because I was not paying much attention during her class. She even threatened me not to tell anyone of the incident, or else she will not be nice to me during class anymore. I was frightened, so I never said a word to anybody. A few weeks after, she came to me again. This time, she commanded me to take my clothes off, and masturbate in front of her. I did not have an idea as to what masturbation was, so she helped me. I felt broken afterwards. I do not know if this was considered as sexual abuse or not, all I knew was that she did that horrible deed unwillingly. The event helped me bridge reality with the lessons taught in class. Women were being treated as sex animals, and these treatments often lead to sexual violence. Professor Chikako Takeshita often invited guests to share some of the techniques that would be beneficial for both male and females against sexual violence. Personally, self-defense was the most beneficial for me, although I also valued the other information given, such as the hotline for both endangered and victims of sexual violence.

Organizing relationships traditional and emerging perspectives on workplace relationships Essay Example for Free

Organizing relationships traditional and emerging perspectives on workplace relationships Essay Business ethics Introduction                   One of the issues that have raised concerns in business nowadays is the relationship between senior employees, and the junior employees of the opposite sex. For years, senior employees such as managers and directors have been accused of sexually or emotionally abusing the junior employees working under them. Some are even accused of threatening to dismiss the employees who decline their request for sexual favors from them. Though this may be seen as sexual harassment, the case might be something different from that. Simply because the relationship is between senior and a junior employee, it may not be right to rush to a conclusion that the boss is sexually or emotionally exploiting their subject. It may be a relationship that has developed naturally due to the level of intimacy of the two employees of the opposite gender.                   The controversial nature of this issue is clearly portrayed in the mail online article of November 13th, 2013. The article explains that the report of a study carried out by business week has shown that most of these relationships between employees have nothing to do with harassment. During the survey, it was found out that most of the people working in the offices would be up to a sexual relationship with someone from their office if they got the chance. Of the 2500 respondents interviewed during the survey, 85 percent said it was right for employees within the company to be allowed to have sexual relationships. Some even confessed of sexually admiring their coworkers. After all this, why does the Human Resource department discourage intimate relationships between their employees of opposite gender? The answer is that they conclude that one of the parties in the relationship is sexually harassed, especially if one of the parties is the boss of the other .                   Some people may accuse me of supporting the behavior of the bosses to engage in sexual relationships with their colleagues. But if we consider some working conditions in some organizations, we see that the relations originate absolutely from intimacy and not harassment. Consider the case of a male manager, who works with a lady as the personal secretary. It is very possible for the two to engage in an affair due to the intimacy created by the working conditions. The two attend meetings together, go for lunch together, spend time together in the office, sometimes they go together to attend meetings far from their place of work, and many other closely spent times. From all these close relation, is it not against the laws of nature for something more than boss-secretary relationship to happen? Ironically, when a relationship develops between the manager and his secretary, the manager will be accused of sexually harassing the secretary! In my opinion, the bo ss would be emotionally harassing the secretary if he chose to ignore the feelings that develop after been together almost all the time.                   It may also be arguable that boss-subject relationships may adversely affect the performance of the employees. Employees may be reluctant in their work simply because the boss, who is supposed to supervise their work, can not condemn them because of the existing bond. This may be the idea behind the fight by the human resource department against sexual relationships at the workplace. However, this may not always be the case. This relationship may boost the performance of an employee who will always be trying to be the best to impress the boss. The article workplace relationships on Wikipedia explain of a theory, Workplace Relationship Quality and information Experiences, which originated from a study conducted by Patricia Sias. The theory states the most productive employees are the ones with high access to information about their workplace. It is obvious that the employees with a relationship more than the ordinary workplace relationship have a higher a ccess to business information. I may, therefore, be right to say that the boss-subject relationships can play an important part in boosting the productivity of the employees. The article further describes relationships at the workplace as â€Å"workplace romance†. It explains that though these relationships may not make the workplace so comfortable for other employees; it plays a very important part in the working of the parties involved in the affair. It increases performance due to high motivation and overall job satisfaction.                   Even though some senior employees in some business organization sexually exploit their junior colleagues, let us not mistake every relationship for sexual exploitation or harassment. It is good to appreciate that these bosses and their subjects are just ordinary people and what makes their difference is only the working position and titles. When there is a relationship between two junior employees of opposite gender, this is taken to be an ordinary love relationship. Why then do we have to treat the seniors differently? Aren’t they the same as the juniors? What marks the difference is only job level. It is, therefore, necessary to analyze the situation before concluding that a boss is sexually harassing a junior workmate. References Sias, P. M. (2009). Organizing relationships traditional and emerging perspectives on workplace relationships. Los Angeles: SAGE. (https://www.goodreads.com/user/new?remember=true) Sias, P. M. (2008). Organizing Relationships Traditional and Emerging Perspectives on Workplace Relationships.. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. (http://www.amazon.com/Organizing-Relationships-Traditional-Perspectives-Workplace/dp/1412957974) Source document

Behavioural and Cognitive Approaches to Learning

Behavioural and Cognitive Approaches to Learning Compare and contrast two perspectives in psychology and the ways in which they study learning. Illustrate you answer with specific research examples from Chapter 3 of Book 1. There are a number of perspectives regarding psychology that explore the nature of learning. However, for this assignment the two perspectives chosen are the behavioural approach to learning and the cognitive approach to learning. The behavioural approach to learning involves the observation of behaviour in conjunction to the environment. The behaviourist approach to category learning was introduced by Watson and expanded upon in principle by Pavlov‘s and later Skinner’s research. These formed the two general perspectives in conditioning. Classical conditioning was introduced by Pavlov (Miell et al, 2002). Pavlov observed that in relation to certain stimuli an animal’s behaviour could be manipulated through association. Using the animal’s typical response to hunger, it was indicated that there was a crucial relationship between a stimulus and a learned response. His work indicated that an animal’s natural reflex to hunger could be conditioned through an association to a manipulated neutral stimulus (Miell, 2002). This manipulated response was named the conditioned response. This relationship formed the basic premise to the concept of psychological learning from the perspective of classical conditioning. Operant conditioning introduced by Skinner suggested a notion of interactive learning rather than responsive learning. Using reinforcement, Skinner manipulated the environment of some Rats to see to what extent their behaviour could be shaped through conditioned learning which indicated levels of intelligence rather than that of pure responsive learning (Skinner, 1948/1990). The rats in his experiment changed their behaviours through techniques such as positive reinforcement. This provided evidence for the nature of learning as being one of interaction rather than purely adherence to responding to stimuli. From both of these perspectives that form the behavioural approach we can see that shaping and manipulation of the external environment as being paramount to the nature of learning. Although observable through behaviour this approach does not in any way attempt to incorporate the nature of the individual within the learning process. Contrastingly, the cognitive approach focuses entirely upon thought processes and the faculties associated with the conceptual mind to in an attempt to draw out and understand the nature of learning. The cognitive approach addresses the processes involved in categorising, generalising and conceptualising the external world and how these concepts form perspectives. The cognitive approach to learning typically concerns itself with the faculties of memory and categorisation and how they relate to perception (Miell, 2002). The role of perception with relation to memory and categorisation within learning formed the interest of the psychologist Bruner. He devised a test to measure and explore the nature by which people constructed categories. Vastly different to operant and classical conditioning, Bruner’s findings suggested that there was an intelligent procedure in operation during learning that performed by way of hypothesis testing. This was indicated as being understood through stages of either acceptance or rejection based upon an intelligent process of trial testing (Bruner et al, 1956). The experiment gave the subject a set of pictures each portraying a variety of shapes. These formed the different conditions to be measured. Some of these pictures shared the same number of shapes, some of them shared the same colour of shapes and others shared the same number of borders surrounding the shapes. In each condition the shapes were marginally different. From the findings of his experiment, Bruner suggested that there were two forms of learning that could be identified in the learning process. These were named successive and conservative scanning (Bruner et al, 1956). Successive scanning was the type of learning that used the trial process of attempting one hypothesis at a time before acceptance or rejection. Conservative scanning revealed a deeper form of learning process that categorised certain classes of type before carrying out the accepting or eliminat ing of hypotheses. The latter type of category learning is subsequently a much faster and more efficient process. However, not everyone within the field of the cognitive approach to learning accepts the notion of hypothesis testing. Many researchers and theorists related to the field have argued that categories are an innate factor and so hypothesis testing is not required in the learning process (Fodor Chomsky, 1980). The main implication in this idea is that empirical category learning may not be done with the rejection of hypothesis but with the rejection of the externally governed conceptualisation of the external world. In essence, it is suggested in this approach to cognitive learning that we may need a new conceptual model for cognitive learning theory rather than that have it depend upon the convenience of presuming hypothesis testing (Fodor Chomsky, 1980). This internal theoretic argument within the cognitive approach does strengthen the behavioural emphasis that is put on the limitations of the psychological investigation. Essentially, the conceptual structure of the mind is open to interpretation as subjectivity is so very difficult to measure. As the behaviourist approach only uses observable findings it can be said that it does not to suffer from the impracticalities of this vast theoretical debate. However, this debate regarding the operation of the mind with relation to the learning process is perhaps very worthy of investigation as ending it, and thus defining learning, as an observable behaviour is hugely reductive. In both of the approaches covered in this assignment we have seen that there is a fundamental difference in cognitive and behavioural based learning. The behavioural approaches are fundamentally interested in the nature of stimuli and how behaviour can be shaped through associative learning. Whereas the cognitive ap proach is fundamentally interested in how the conceptual mind comes to categorise the external world and thus learn from it. Although both approaches form contrasting view points both agree on the fundamental principle that learning is an essential part of psychological life that is formed in correlation to the external environment. Essentially, it can be said that both approaches are vastly different. However, it should also be said that both address the individual’s relationship to the physical world with regards to learning. Bibliography Bruner, J, S., Goodnow, J, J., and Austin, G, A., (1956) A Study of Thinking New York: John Wiley and Sons. Chomsky, N., and Fodor, J, A., (1980) Statement of the Paradox, in Piatelli Palmarini, M. (ed.). Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (2002) Mapping Psychology 1. Milton Keynes, Open University. Skinner, B, F., (1946/1990) Walden Two London: Collier Macmillan.

Bitter Stereotypes :: Essays

Bitter Stereotypes From the writer: When I was in high school, I was very involved with Amnesty International. Ever since then, the concern about basic human rights has been a vital part of my outlook on life. I chose Elisabeth Rosenthal's article because I liked the challenge of analyzing the complicated and sensitive issue of human rights in China. The realization that most people couldn't care less about the topic pushed me. I hope that by choosing Rosenthal's article, I have made at least one person more aware of the need to protect human rights. From the teacher: The writer's sense of justice and humanity comes across clearly in this essay. This transitional studio assignment asked students to examine a mass media article for its hidden motives and subtle uses of rhetorical devices. Angie reaches beyond the assignment with her suggestion that the setting (a Western publication) may limit even the potential validity of such a story, due primarily to what constitutes proof in this setting, and that proof's disconnection from the reality of the issue. From the editors: What drew us to this piece was how passionately Haupt critiques the validity of a strictly Western explanation for the problem of suicide among women in rural China. She points out that such stories may best be told by those closest to the issue. We agree. The prevailing Western stereotype of Chinese society is that it is cold, harsh, and backward. Our whole image of China is tainted. We associate China with the ridiculousness of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, with the brutality of the Tiananmen Square massacre, with the horrors of human rights abuses in Tibet and in mainland China, with the fortune cookie, and with the phrase "Confucius says" (even though only a handful of us could explain who Confucius was and what he said). Therefore, it is not surprising that the media tends to over-simplify Chinese issues, so that they can fit with our (mis)understanding of Chinese society. I believe that Elisabeth Rosenthal's article, "Suicide Reveals Bitter Roots of China's Rural Life," (New York Times 24 January 1999: early ed. Sec. 1: 1+) fell into the stereotype trap. Rosenthal's article is about the unusually high rate of suicides among China's rural female population. The title promises to explain the phenomena: "Reveal Bitter Roots." And yet, only six short paragraphs (in a five-page story) address the possible causes (roots) of the problem. Bitter Stereotypes :: Essays Bitter Stereotypes From the writer: When I was in high school, I was very involved with Amnesty International. Ever since then, the concern about basic human rights has been a vital part of my outlook on life. I chose Elisabeth Rosenthal's article because I liked the challenge of analyzing the complicated and sensitive issue of human rights in China. The realization that most people couldn't care less about the topic pushed me. I hope that by choosing Rosenthal's article, I have made at least one person more aware of the need to protect human rights. From the teacher: The writer's sense of justice and humanity comes across clearly in this essay. This transitional studio assignment asked students to examine a mass media article for its hidden motives and subtle uses of rhetorical devices. Angie reaches beyond the assignment with her suggestion that the setting (a Western publication) may limit even the potential validity of such a story, due primarily to what constitutes proof in this setting, and that proof's disconnection from the reality of the issue. From the editors: What drew us to this piece was how passionately Haupt critiques the validity of a strictly Western explanation for the problem of suicide among women in rural China. She points out that such stories may best be told by those closest to the issue. We agree. The prevailing Western stereotype of Chinese society is that it is cold, harsh, and backward. Our whole image of China is tainted. We associate China with the ridiculousness of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, with the brutality of the Tiananmen Square massacre, with the horrors of human rights abuses in Tibet and in mainland China, with the fortune cookie, and with the phrase "Confucius says" (even though only a handful of us could explain who Confucius was and what he said). Therefore, it is not surprising that the media tends to over-simplify Chinese issues, so that they can fit with our (mis)understanding of Chinese society. I believe that Elisabeth Rosenthal's article, "Suicide Reveals Bitter Roots of China's Rural Life," (New York Times 24 January 1999: early ed. Sec. 1: 1+) fell into the stereotype trap. Rosenthal's article is about the unusually high rate of suicides among China's rural female population. The title promises to explain the phenomena: "Reveal Bitter Roots." And yet, only six short paragraphs (in a five-page story) address the possible causes (roots) of the problem.

Hallucinogens :: social issues

Hallucinogens Hallucinogens mess with your brain they alter how the brain perceives time, reality, and your environment. They also affect your senses like hearing and seeing. This can make you think that you are seeing stuff and feeling things that don’t even exist. Using Hallucinogens makes your heart rate and blood pressure increase. Hallucinogens may put you into a coma. They can also cause heart and lung failure. Hallucinogens can change the way that you feel emotionally. They may also make you feel suspicious, confused, and disorientated. Hallucinogens affect self-control there impact vary from time to time so there’s no way to know how much self control you’ll be able to keep. They can cause you to be violent and/or aggressive, make meaningless movements, lose control of your muscles, and mix up your speech. It’s really easy to develop a tolerance to Hallucinogens so eventually it will take more of the drug to get the same effect that you used to get from a little of the drug. This is dangerous because taking large amounts of the same drug can lead to overdose with severe effects. Mescaline Mescaline is the psychoactive ingredient of the peyote cactus. Ecstasy is the common name used. Some nicknames are E, X, and XTC. Ecstasy is actually a mixture of mescaline and methamphetamine. Ecstasy may give a short-term feeling of euphoria but can result in confusion, depression, paranoia, psychosis, increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and cause long-term damage to brain cells. Some effects are also influenced by thoughts, environment, and people who are with you when you take the drug. Vivid changes in color and form occur. Sometimes the user becomes disoriented loses sense of time, place, and identity or has sensations of knowing and feeling what everything in life (and life itself) is all about. Emotions from the past, present, and future flood the user’s mind. Depression, weakness and lack of muscular coordination, anxiety or paranoia, trembling, nausea, dizziness, facial flushing, and dilated pupils are other symptoms that someone is using this drug. Some health problems are long-term damage to brain cells, and increase in heart-rate and blood pressure. Tolerance develops quickly causing you to need more and more X to get the same effect that one pill used to give you. This makes the risk of overdosing very high. Mescaline has no positive uses, People take this drug to have a good time and be cool.