I was born Hispanic free essay sample

Describe any experience of cultural difference, positive or negative, you have had or observed. What did you learn from it? â€Å"My girlfriend†¦you know the tall brunette, well she swore he was just a friend†¦ but when†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Be quiet, Matt. I’m trying to teach.† Quivering with impatience, the words had absolutely no effect. â€Å"No! Hold on†¦I’m not finished yet.† Returning to his tragic love story, Matt faced me and the rest of the table, his loyal listeners. Yet again the teacher interrupts. â€Å"Matt do we have a problem?† It was more of a threatening command than a concerned questioned. Annoyed, he replies, â€Å"Yeah we do. You won’t let me finish.† â€Å"Come see me after school.† There wasn’t a day when the teacher wasn’t disrespected, talked back to, and simply ignored. This was expected of the Hispanic students; the lack of respect for education, the expectation that the y wouldn’t amount to much in school. We will write a custom essay sample on I was born Hispanic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But in Sophomore English those degraded values and flimsy ideas towards education and its impact was almost every kid’s mindset. Each student contributed graying attitudes and negligence that weaved a unique environment. A class culture that impacted me as much as my Hispanic culture did concerning what role education would play in my life. I never was exposed to people who valued education. Of course, I saw Caucasian kids who planned to go to college, but they werewell, they didn’t have an accent. They didn’t have immigrant parents who depending on me for translating. They weren’t expected to be pregnant at sixteen or jumped into a gang. None of it. They had parents who spoke English fluently and who paid them for their grades. They were expected to attend college. They were expected to fulfill the American Dream. Yet, in sophomore English, it didn’t really matter what race, background you were. Everyone there hated English. Despite this common g round, I stayed close to mis amigas. Within my comfort zone, I watched the blond girl sitting next to me bring vodka, usually on Mondays because she was still hung-over from the weekend. I wondered if I should say anything when I saw the homegurl toss marijuana out the class room window to the homeboy waiting outside. Education meant nothing to them at all. Despite being exposed to this, I didn’t perfectly assimilate like the ten other failing students did, but it affected what goals I had. I struggled even seeing myself at community college. At the end of the year, the teacher advised me to take AP Language and Composition as a junior. She also offered it to two of my friends. We agreed. Liars! My friends had dropped the class. Walking into AP English, I felt highlighted in that room. Further into that period, just the way these students talked and acted was already intimidatingly different from last year. They participated in class discussions. They did homework. They frett ed about their grades. Most of them had taken Honors Sophomore English, the one where there weren’t hung-over students bringing vodka. They practice fierce academic vocabulary. Last year they just cussed hella. Isolated both ethnically and intellectually, I wanted to drop the class but stuck it out. This scholarly culture valued education, despite their financial or ethnic background, respected education as their sacred road to rewarding future. During group discussions, I found out that my different perspective as a Hispanic student could also contribute ideas or values or unearth details. Seeing fellow Hispanic students focus academically and succeed in an AP class culture helped me assimilate into obtaining an AP mindset where education is in the limelight. In my Hispanic peers, I watched unfolding success when society foretold failure. I was born Hispanic, but I wasn’t born into a failing stereotype. I embrace my roots, my different yet enlightening perspective, b ut I refuse to tolerate any limitations. I will guard my education, planting it in promising academic soil, an environment rich and diverse where I will be able to grow as I did in my AP Language and Literature class

The Meaning of To a T

The Meaning of To a T The Meaning of To a T The Meaning of To a T By Mark Nichol The expression â€Å"to a T,† as in â€Å"That suits you to a T!† is often mistakenly written or said as â€Å"to the T† (or â€Å"to a tee† or â€Å"to the tee†). This type of alteration occurs often in idiomatic phrases (note â€Å"all of the sudden† and â€Å"for all intensive purposes,† among others). In today’s anarchic publishing environment, writers are free to consciously or unconsciously style such phrases however they choose, but careful writers will preserve prevailing norms. But what, exactly, is a â€Å"T†? None of the various proposed origins of â€Å"to a T† is definitive, but only one makes any sense. The opinion that it refers to how well a T-shirt fits is nonsensical: The term for a collarless, short-sleeved shirt is less than a hundred years old, and the expression dates to the late 1600s. That also disqualifies the more plausible theory that it alludes to the precision a T square, the T-shaped drafting tool, enables; the first attested use in print of the tool’s name postdates the first use of the phrase by nearly a century. And is has nothing to do with the golf implement known as the tee, which has always been spelled as such (though the spelling error â€Å"to a tee† goes back hundreds of years). Most likely, the phrase is descended from the expression â€Å"to a tittle.† A tittle is a small mark used in orthographic details, such as the dot over an i or a j or a diacritical mark such as an accent mark, and the sense is â€Å"to the smallest detail.† But why isn’t the expression styled â€Å"to a t†? That’s because uppercase letters are the default setting when using a letter to represent something. Report cards have As and Bs (but, the recipient hopes, no other capital letters), the force of gravity is expressed as a multiple of Gs (the capital letter is the scientific symbol for gravity), and X, not x, marks the spot. (We also use uppercase letters such as S and V to denote shapes- though, like X as a location marker and the other uses referred to above, they should not be italicized in those contexts, because they do not literally represent letters.) There are a couple of exceptions: The context of â€Å"Dot your i’s and cross your t’s† and â€Å"Mind your p’s and q’s†- if one accepts the contested interpretation that the latter originally referred to easily confused letters- requires lowercase letters. Does teetotaler have any connection? The word for someone who abstains from alcohol goes back nearly two centuries but originally referred merely to intensification of one’s feelings about being totally devoted to something, with tee attached as a form of reduplication. But as the differing spelling indicates, this word has nothing in common with the expression â€Å"to a T.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 English Grammar Rules You Should Know44 Resume Writing TipsPreposition Mistakes #1: Accused and Excited

PACT analysis and prototype design for an interactive system Coursework

PACT analysis and prototype design for an interactive system - Coursework Example PACT - People, Activities, Contexts, and Technologies- is acknowledged as a beneficial framework for thinking about a design scenario in relation to a very interactive system (Lloyd, 2005). Undertaking a PACT analysis would be valuable for both analysis and design operations; understanding the situation at hand, finding where possible improvements can be done and envisioning situations in future. With PCT analysis one is able to gather all the research on target end users and scope out of the variation of various people, contexts, activities, and technologies possible in context. Depending on the analysis, one can develop concrete and clear scenarios of how target users would be interacting with the Shared Student Shopping System. PACT analysis findings are represented below: The people involved currently in this kind of system are basically students who are on session at various institutions and are being accommodated in institution’s hostels or any of the institution accommodation premises. A part from students, institution workers may not be left out because at times they are found with students purchasing groceries at various kiosks. In as much as the employees can as well benefit from this system, major end users who are to benefit are the students. At times controlling pocket money becomes a problem and a student may be left wondering what next after he or she has spent all the money and still needs to survive. Dedicating a grocer to supply groceries at times is challenging due to consistency issues which may leave the customer unsatisfied and very annoyed (Neeraja, 2011). Coming up with a system that can satisfy both parties can be of great relief since every party would benefit accordingly. An institution normally has students with different abilities; it is within this population that one hardly misses a disable student. Whenever building a system that target particular users, all factors should be considered

UNIT 4 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

UNIT 4 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT - Essay Example Anti-Abortionists on the other hand agree in unison that it is pretty much in defiance as laid down in the holy books of God to commit such a heinous act like abortion. The rationale that can be provided here is that if at any point in time it was in defiance with the laws as proposed and put forward by God, then it is between the woman under question and her God and she is the one who will be the recipient of chastisement with regards to the abortion decision that she has taken. A number of people are of the view that abortion can threaten a mother’s life and hence should be deemed as illegal right from the onset. Again there are some opinions which suggest that if the mother does not want to have the baby then it would be best to at least give birth to the newborn and give it to some orphan house so that those women who do not have children in their lives can raise their families in accordance. This seems pretty valid since giving a newborn for the sake of adoption is a good route none the less if a family is against the birth and the eventual raise of the baby. This is due to the fact that at times it has been seen that these children suffer immensely as they sit for ages in the orphanages making them look like unwanted guests in this world. Different people raise different opinions but this is true that each one of us has a responsibility towards the society and thus we should be responsible enough of take it. Indeed abortion is a very sensitive topic that has been shown flames during its discussion in different meetings and seminars. Controversy is one thing that is sure to make rounds of these board room meetings and hospital seminars. Then again, choosing whether one should have an abortion or not is pretty much dependent on the family and more so the mother, if not the father as well. This is said so as to make sure that the society does not have to pay for the unwanted and

Labor Relations in Different Organizations in The United Arab Emirates Essay

Labor Relations in Different Organizations in The United Arab Emirates - Essay Example The following paper analyses, types of work permits, the different categories of violations, and the human rights of laborers in the UAE. A look at the Dubai bank also provides input on the above issues (Allah 1978, p. 78). The beginning of 2011 saw the introduction of work permits in the UAE via the Cabinet Resolution No. 25 of 2010. They include; work transfer, temporary, part-time juvenile persons and personnel sponsored by kin work permits. The work transfer permit covers non-nationals working in the UAE transferred between organizations within the UAE of which must be registered by the Ministry of Labor. Temporary work permits, on the other hand, cover both national and non-national personnel working on a project for less than six months. Part time work permits cover individuals working part time for few hours compared to full time workers who work for extra hours (Allah 1978, p. 156). The number of hours specified by the Ministry of Labor for full time employment includes eight hours excluding lunch breaks; therefore, hours worked less than the outlined eight hours constitute part time employment. This allows both national and non-national personnel to take up more than one job unlike in the past, whereby, people were only allowed to have one job at a time. However, changes of the intricate details of this permit are still underway. This is because various issues keep arising with the encountering of different milestones. Juvenile persons’ permits cover young individuals between 15 to 18 years seeking employment within organizations. Permits for personnel sponsored by their kin cover dependants sought to work for an organization. Meaning expatriates finally have the opportunity to act as their dependants sponsors. This allows their kin to acquire work permits despite them not being eligible for any of the above listed permits (Allah 1978, p. 198). Therefore, the introduction of different types of work permits made it easier for the Dubai Bank Human Resource managers to recruit personnel in an easier way. For example, they were able to capitalize on the permits for personnel sponsored by their kin. This is because; they used these permits as incentive when soliciting the services of expatriates. These permits allow dependants of an expatriate to get employment easily because getting a work permit ceases to be an obstacle. Therefore, Dubai bank officials continue to embrace the gradual changes implemented by the Ministry of Labor (Pawan 2007, p.77). With the recent global recession, violations of labor regulations in the UAE increased dramatically. As a result, the Ministry of Labor came up with policies which sought to address these violations. Companies like the Dubai bank, therefore, readjusted their labor relation policies to accommodate the reevaluated regulations from the Labor Ministry. The Ministry made three categories of violations known to the public. Black points awarded by the Ministry showed the seriousness of the se violations. The more the black points earned by an organization, the severe the penalties imposed. Penalties were either fines or the organization would be downgraded in severe cases. The latter’s imposition occurred when a firm acquired more than 100 black points in any given year (Pawan 2007, p.119).  

Essence Of Decision: Explaining The Cuban Missile Crisis

Essence Of Decision: Explaining The Cuban Missile Crisis Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow examines the momentous Cuban Missile Crisis, which was one of the most successful acts of diplomacy during the Cold War. Allison and Zelikow explore through three different conceptual lenses accommodating the reader to look further into common methods of foreign policy analysis. Allison and Zelikow evaluate the events of the thirteen days in October 1962 to demonstrate the models of policy analysis from different perspectives. The authors provide ample historical reviews, evidence and documents of the events, and offers thorough analyses of the crucial time of the nuclear age by also presenting new methods to consider with foreign policy actions. The three conceptual models, which can be used to analyze policy actions; the Rational Actor, Organizational Behavior, and Governmental Politics Models are described and applied to the Cuban Missile Crisis case. Each model demonstrates different fe atures and areas of the fundamental decisions made by both the United States and the Soviet Union during the crisis. Allison and Zelikow clarify that even though there is no whole understanding of the situation as it happened at the time, and it will never be likely, however using these three theoretical lenses it will help gain a closer understanding and more of an awareness of all of the elements and the choices that were made at the time. In this essay I will attempt to draw some understanding of the decisions the United States made towards the Cuban Missile Crisis by using Allisons three conceptual lenses from the Essence of Decision, which is an analysis of the crisis itself and the decision making in the resolution procedure. Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow present Model I as the most commonly used method of evaluating foreign policy actions, this method is titled the Rational Actor Model, also known as RAM. RAM is a way of understanding policy actions taken by states, by considering the country as a rational unitary actor. The rational framework is also the most frequently used method in determining decisions between policy choices in the adoption and evaluation stages of the policy cycle. Whilst analysing an action undertaken by a state towards another state, the RAM presumes the actions taken place are intended, value maximising and strategic. The authors quote for each explanation an act consists of showing what goal the government was pursing when it acted and how the action was a reasonable choice, given the nations objective (Allison Zelikow, 1999, p. 15). This allows us to understand how people go about making decisions, as it is done implicitly, without the person unintentionally realising the y are doing it. The main questions in the Essence of Decision book that were answered in regards to the crisis are; Why did the Soviet Union place offensive missiles in Cuba? Why did the US respond to this action with a blockade around Cuba? And why did the Soviet Union withdraw missiles in response? Looking at the situation in understanding the US decision-making reaction to the actions, the RAM analysis considers after evaluating a number options, and considering Kennedys goals, by assessing the quality of the search for options and their respective outcomes, and check whether the final choice promised to achieve his original goals to the extent that the decision-making process comes close to this ideal model, we can say that it was rational (Allison 1999, p.33), and a blockade would have the best chance of sending the desired message to Moscow without provoking a military response. Allison and Zelikows Rational Actor Model, examines the question of whether we can understand clea rly the move made by a country in the international policy arena as a rational choice? For instance, the concept of bounded rationality appears clearly in foreign policy decision making, even when there is a central decision maker of a state, for example a leader or president who has supreme choice over all courses of action, their rational decision making will be hindered by the fact that they have no idea what the opponent is thinking. This can be referred back to the Cuban Missile Crisis; where President Kennedy and his advisors, the ExComs failed attempts at trying to understand why Khrushchev made certain decisions and actions. Since the international policy arena often deals with competitive oppositional opponents who keep their true intentions hidden as a means of accomplishing what they want (Lindbolm, 1959, p.113-127). President Kennedy becomes the driver of the debate by making sure his team cautiously takes each step of the crisis to probe deeper implications of each opti on and to stretch their imagination (Allison Zelikow, 1999, p. 357) as the mass of diverting nuclear war cascades upon him. Thus helps us understand why the US made a rational decision with the blockade as it had several advantages, one being it did not constitute direct attack, secondly it placed the burden of the next move on Khrushchev, and also kept other options open. This is when the USSR decided to withdraw, that is because it recognised US strategic superiority. The book argues that in fact the USSR backed down in face of US warnings that further actions would follow if the missiles were to become operational. The second Model, Allison and Zelikow presents are the Organisational Model of foreign policy. In this model, it is understood that countries and governments are not unitary actors but are stated as vast conglomerate(s) of loosely allied organisations, each with a substantial life of its own (Allison Zelikow, 1999, p. 143). The authors state that Governments perceive problems through organisational sensorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦they define alternatives and estimate consequences as their component organisations. And process information So, the government movements are not so much logical choices decided upon by one central decision maker, but are the productions of many organizations all functioning according to standard patterns of behaviour. The effects to consider with this organisational model illustrate that the importance of looking at governmental actions this way gives us a clear understanding of why the United States made the decisions in this crisis. For example, nearly all govern ment actions in foreign policy are carried out by organizations, whether it is the Forces or the CIA, in this case, the government carrying out the policies are divided with the military and intelligence agencies. Furthermore, organizational actions are also limited and known by standard operating procedures, with what has been done before. The model which the authors present provides us with a curious opportunity to look at the role of bodies that play in foreign policy making in different ways. In Model II, Allison and Zelikow present a way of looking at policy decisions that are completely well ordered by the bureaucracy, although it may not be the government that makes the decision. In understanding the United States decision-making process with Model II, the deliberations of the EX-Com that produced possible alternatives were alternatively answered by the organisations, What specifically, could be done? (Allison Zelikow, 1999, p. 225). President Kennedys actions were limited b y what the military organisations could do, since their actions and decisions made were backed up with experience and previous choices in foreign policy. Essence of Decision illustrates that organisational capacities are fundamental in international policy making. Model II also allows us to understand examples of how organizational behaviours shake the implementation of certain policies. For example, the situation by the Soviet troops lack of camouflage of the missiles in Cuba, and President Kennedy rushing to control with the test flights over Soviet air space. If this occurred after the crisis had begun, there might have started a nuclear war due to wrong interpretation other than a test flight. This example suggests that there is always more to the situation of a rational decision. The authors allow us to look through other lenses to give us more of an understanding of how the US made certain decisions throughout the crisis. The third model that Allison and Zelikow illustrate in the Essence of Decision is the Governmental Politics model also known as the Bureaucratic model. Model III consists of policy actions as a process where state actors bring their personal thoughts, opinions and ideas together to achieve separate goals and decide upon a course of action collectively, which may conflict with each other. In Essence of Decision the authors explain why it is necessary to identify the games and players, to display the coalitions, bargains and compromises, and to convey some feel for the confusion (Allison Zelikow, 1999, p. 257). In this case, various individuals, representing various organisational interests engage in a process to achieve a negotiated group decision, which will represent the policy of a state. During the Crisis all US decisions were created by ExCom, President Kennedys inner circle of advisors that were composed together specifically for the missile crisis. Allison and Zelikow discusse d the Ex-Com members and their ideas, the significance of the Cuban issue to Kennedy, and generally try to illustrate an overall political atmosphere behind the U.S. decisions. Allison proposed in the book that because of the failure of Bay of Pigs invasion, the Republicans in the United States congress made Cuban policy into a major issue for the upcoming congressional elections later in 1962. Therefore President Kennedy decided on a strong response rather than a diplomatic one. Although the majority of ExCom initially favoured air strikes, those closest to the president, (his brother Attorney General, Robert Kennedy and Special Council General Theodore Sorensen) favoured the Blockade. At the same time Kennedy got himself into disputes with supporters of the air strikes, such as Force General Curtis Lemay. After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Kennedy also distrusted the CIA and their advice. This combination of push and pull led to the implication of a blockade. (Essence of Decision Prese ntation, u.d) Because of the nature of many foreign policy decisions and the ultimate importance of the decisions they attempt to make, the public and congress can generally defer any decision-making powers to the president even if they know the situation. For instance, in Essence of Decision, we see that the president makes his decision very quickly and through complete blankness, where there were no influence from Congress, or the public as they were unaware of the actions until the White House made the statements. Allison and Zelikow mention a few times in Essence of Decision how different the situation of the Missile Crisis would be if it had happened in todays world with the immense public knowledge forcing decisions within hours rather than days. As it was, the president only had to challenge with the rivalry of ideas of his team of advisory. They brought in organizational and political thoughts from the head of agencies such as the military, which all had their own aims and o bjectives within the whole situation. As Wildavsky states, the president can nearly always gain support for his foreign policies, however his problem is to find a viable policy (1966, p. 237). For many parts of the politics Kennedy had to perform, were very limited in comparison to the domestic policy situations that occur. This model in comparison to the first two models may not illustrate an informative policy analysis, however it does offer a strong case in understanding why Kennedy came to the decision of a blockade. With essentially no opinion from the populous, the small governmental group made their decisions that could have meant life or death of millions of people. Thankfully, the Cuban Missile Crisis was settled by USs decisions. Graham and Zelikows Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis helps us understand USs decision-making throughout the thirteen days by allowing us to look through three distinctive conceptual models. The three models shown throughout the book can be used to help understand policies at any level, from domestic to foreign. Looking into actions by governments through a rational, organisational and political lens seems necessary to fully understand the moves that Kennedy took and the game Khrushchev played. I believe we are used to taking a more full approach to accepting domestic and local policy decisions because we are more alert of the aspects going into the decisions. This book helps us understand why Kennedy and ExCom made a rational decision after evaluating options ranging from doing nothing to a full invasion of Cuba, and then finally a blockade was selected because it wouldnt necessarily escalate into war, as well as forcing the Soviets to make the following move. The organisational process model allowed us to understand how Kennedy operated under time and information constraints whilst engaging in satisficing behaviour. Kennedy and Excom never really considered any other options besides the blockade or air strikes, and initially were almost solidly in favour of the air strikes. However, such attacks created huge doubt because of the US Air Force, as they could not guarantee it would disable all nuclear missiles. The blockade felt to be the safest option in that case. The bureaucratic politics model also helped us understand Kennedy and ExComs different level of power based on charisma, personality, skills of persuasion and personal ties to the head of the decision maker. Even whilst sharing the matching goals, the leaders contrast in how they accomplish it because of elements such as personal interests and background. These all have an impact on why the US made certain decision on choosing the blockade. This book constructs us to comprehend why international decisions are made, and helps simplify why rational reasons are behind certain actions. Applying the organisational process model and the governmental model to the foreign policy actions it gives us an insight to the possibilities of miscommunication, misunderstandings and disagreements that can also happen in such situations more than what we believed. Overall, Essence of Decision has helped to an extent with relevant information and evidence to support Allison and Zelikows three conceptual models, with an understanding of why the United States decided to choose the blockade option.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Essay -- Crib Death SIDS

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Many questions about the causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also known as â€Å"crib death,† are still unresolved. The mysterious and elusive nature of SIDS creates problems, doubts, and more questions. This paper will present some of the most commonly asked questions as well as the answers that have been uncovered by scientists after years of research and study. In 1969, researchers agreed to define SIDS as â€Å"the sudden death of an infant or young child, which is unexpected by history, and in which a thorough postmortem examination fails to demonstrate an adequate cause of death† (Bergman, 1970). What Causes SIDS? The cause or causes of SIDS are still unknown. Most researchers now believe that babies who die of SIDS are born with one or more conditions that make them vulnerable to both internal and external stresses that occur in the normal life of an infant. Most deaths from SIDS occur by the end of the sixth month with the greatest number taking place between two and four months of age. A SIDS death occurs quickly and is often associated with sleep, with no signs of suffering. More deaths are reported in the winter months and most victims are boys, with a sixty-to-forty percent male-to-female ratio. How Many Babies Die from SIDS?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From year to year, the number of SIDS deaths tends to remain constant despite fluctuations in the overall number of infant deaths. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report...