Maggie and Dee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Maggie and Dee - Essay Example Her dress, in striking shades of yellow and orange and her confident glide of a walk reflect her personality and, along with the gold earrings and bracelets, call out loudly for attention. Her hair, with its’ deliberately accentuated African style, is a defiant statement of identity. Maggie, with her burnt and scarred limbs and thin body is a poor contrast to her attractive sister. She is dressed in a nondescript pink skirt and red blouse. She does not walk, but shuffles, â€Å"chin on chest, eyes on ground.† She has a â€Å"dopey, hang dog look,† which is further accentuated by her use of checkerberry snuff. The sisters’ physical appearances are almost caricatures of their personalities. Dee’s personality exhibits an aggressive confidence and an assertive, individual style. She can â€Å"look anyone in the eye† and not back down. She is resolute, well-spoken and spirited. She adamantly faces life on her own terms. Even her style of reading is pitiless and more of an imposition than a narration. She is as â€Å"sweet as a bird† when she customarily gets her own way. When thwarted, her anger and hatred show through. It is revealing that she has a caustic humor, â€Å"that erupted like bubbles in lye,† and many admirers, but no friends. On the other hand, Maggie’s personality reflects her rather fatalistic acceptance of her inferior standing. Her scars, of which she is ashamed, have further undermined her confidence. She is shy, â€Å"stands hopelessly in corners,† hides behind doors and is nervous of strangers, backing away sweating and trembling in alarm from ‘Asalamalakim.’ When Maggie reads, she â€Å"stumbles along good naturedly†: the sister’s respective reading styles reflect their personalities. Dee’s attitude towards her identity as a black woman is to flaunt it as a badge of defiance to the world. She takes pictures of the house and her family, as if they were curiosities. For all the ostentatious

Changes in the American Society and Culture in 1945-1968 Essay

Changes in the American Society and Culture in 1945-1968 - Essay Example Some of the stand out developments that characterized this period includes a consumer-driven economic boom, the civil rights movement and the heightened drive for liberation on a personal level especially among the young Americans. This study explores these three aspects guided by the thesis that they were the greatest forces for change in the American society between 1945 and 1968. Consumerism as a Driver of the Economic Boom - 1945-1968: The twenty years after the World War II were characterized by an unmatched economic expansion in the western world. The GDPs of many countries rose gradually to double the prewar figures, while the living standards grew proportionately. It was an era characterized by the dawn of mass consumerism. However, it is starkly discernible that the US led the way by a huge gap, achieving in the early 1950s the average per capita GDP that western European nations would only reach by the late 1960s. A brief overview of the economic boom indicates that the per capita GDP grew by an average of 2.7% annually and continuously from 1949-1968 in comparison to under 1.5% per capita GDP growth per year from 1913-1949 (Junker and Wagner 256). The consumer culture was also driven by media, as the telling impact of the Seventeen Magazine on teenage consumption and the accompanied attention by the corporate world (Griffith and Baker 122-3). ... Mass consumption included purchase of mass-produced homes in sprawling suburbs as the domestic market drove economic growth forward. This perhaps explains the reason behind the USA experiencing the economic boom much earlier than the rest of the western world. The birth rate was at an all time high bringing forth the baby-boom generation whose parents intended to provide with good life they never had as they grew up during the global recession (Elcott 7). One aspect of this mass consumerism is in the growth of television and its impact. By 1950, less than 3 million Americans had television sets, spectacularly increasing to over 50 million a decade later. This was accompanied by creation of a more uniform culture in the US. It is clear that the surge of capitalism was driven by the heightened consumerism and people’s growing incomes. Pervasive television imagery, booming suburbs and unrestricted spending power changed the culture of Americans and how they viewed themselves (Cob bs-Hoffman and Gjerde and Blum 331-2). A strong home economy was also important in the establishment of US global economic power and influence as efforts could be diverted to global economic issues. Hence, consumer-driven economic expansion is one of the main stand-out aspects and defining phenomena that characterized the period between 1945 and 1968. The Civil Rights Movement: The USA is a nation built upon a melt-point of different cultures, races and ethnicities and thus from inception was plagued by the problem of racism, providing the divisions that shook the very foundations of democracy that the nation prides itself in. Dubois cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP) with the aim of protesting the accommodation being pursued by the likes of

Presenting song as poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Presenting song as poem - Essay Example This kind of music usually uses a simple vocabulary, and known words ."Dear mama" opens with a statement that shows there will be not so many sophisticated words: "You are appreciated". So, the message and the theme of the poem are stated very clear and directly. In this case this sentence , according to the style of music is equivalent to all the literary devices used in other poems or songs. Even this thing happens it does not mean this song has less suggestive meaning. The word choice is much more related to the events that influenced the speaker's attitude or feelings about his mother: the problems from school, with the police, Thanksgiving Day. The speaker uses the blacks' dialect or the street language for showing an affiliation to a group. Here his mother is shown as an icon, "black queen", "sweet lady", but she also has a terrestrial side, understanding and helping him. Being a straight song the figurative language is not so much used , but it can still be found some literary devices. At the beginning of the text the speaker makes a simile between his family and other ones: "Over tha years we wuz poorer than tha other little kids", his condition being much poorer.

Genome-Wide Association Study Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Genome-Wide Association Study - Term Paper Example This belief later changed when some other complex diseases came into existence and many people were worried since they could not identify the causes of these dangerous diseases. They suggested another study called genetic association. This study focused on the genetic variations in the individuals who tested to be suffering from the diseases. This study was showed more improvements from the first one that linked the diseases with family inheritance. More projects were intensified which led to the genome-wide association study, well known as GWAS. GWAS is a study which is used to examine variations in genetics belonging to many individuals to identify how the variants have an association with a particular trait. However, GWAS has been identified as the best tool to be used in finding out the major causes of human mortality. One of the fields where GWAS has been used is the studies on the breast cancer (Huang, 2009). History of GWAS Genome-wide association studies have been in taking p lace for the last five years. It has led to very many discoveries in the science fields despite the fact it is associated with many problems that make some people to criticize it. GWAS has been criticized by many journalists and scientist more especially on the way of study and the results achieved. Nevertheless, this study is improving in the way of research as high technology is applied in the most of its areas of concern (Visscher, Peter, Matthew Brown, Mark, McCarthy & Yang, 2012). Various studies have improved the development of GWAS in the scientific field. The uses of linkage analysis to associate the genetic variants with a certain disease of traits have made scientists to give wrong conclusions for the last 20 years. This is because linkage mapping could not when the number of recombination is very large. It only worked with small recombination number. GWAS, at population level, used linkage disequilibrium (LD). Linkage disequilibrium deals with how alleles at some differen t loci are associated non-randomly. This LD was weakened by the large population that was used. HapMap project investigated the LD structure and a list of SNPs was found. These SNPs had captured common genomic variations of the human population. Technology together control samples of population cohorts accelerated the possibility of conducting GWASs. The linkage disequilibrium between un-genotyped variants and the genotyped SNPs determines the GWAS (Visscher, Peter, Matthew Brown, Mark, McCarthy & Yang, 2012). The first GWAS was known in 2005. The first to be taken as the starting point paper was the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) in 2007. This is because this paper covered GWAS for the most complex diseases by using a SNP chip that covered genome correctly. There many discoveries of GWAS that have been done in the last five years. This study has emphasized more on biology rather than discoveries as compared to the past studies. Currently, more than 2000 loci can be associated to a particular trait that is more complex. Before 2007, loci association to a disease was not known (Visscher, Peter, Matthew Brown, Mark, McCarthy & Yang, 2012). GWAS has investigated more complex traits and many loci have been identified but not all of them have been completed. This is because of inadequate statistical significance caused by false negatives. Many findings have been

Post-Assessment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Post-Assessment - Coursework Example Particularly, I will discuss the quantitative mechanisms that have enhanced establishment of my strengths and weaknesses. My week 12 project is therefore an evaluation research that is reexamining the initial thoughts and impressions I had as compared to the current knowledge and literacy that I hold. Social change as indicated in my older research is the gradual alteration in the social order, or the mechanisms within a social structure. It entails marked changes in the cultural signs, behavioral trends, and the value mechanisms of any given society (O’Leary, 2005). These changes have social consequences in the long run. Some marked long-term effects in the social changes are the industrial revolution, abolition slavery, and the feminist movement. According to my research, social change involves making constant changes in the systemic level and inevitable fight with those who hold positions of power. Democracy is the key factor in the undertaking of social changes. Democracy at its best eliminates racial and ethnic bounds and orientates on persons irrespective of gender, age, or ethnic backgrounds. In such a situation, creative solutions emerge to solve the social problems hence a social change. The advice I can and I have previously set for the researchers is that they s hould never hung up trying to understand all concepts in any outset. Projects are often monumental hence seemingly overwhelming. Therefore, the researchers should cope with it challenges by only mastering the essential skills. The researchers should not block any action and progress waiting to get the complete knowledge as this is a failure. Exposure to research gives the researcher the skills to tackle tasks that are even more challenging. Research skill development is extremely essential to any individual in the field (Catherine, 2004). Progress reports are vital

Poplar Branch by Grace Benedict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Poplar Branch by Grace Benedict - Essay Example Similarly, concerning birthdays the poplar tree uncertainty for individuals born between August 5th and 13th. These individuals are associated with characters such as artistic, lonely, lacking confidence and organized. Finally, according to the Heraldry, the poplar tree is significant as representation of strength. Grace Benedict’s artwork is a picture of a poplar tree branch. The artwork is a single branch of the poplar tree with several leaves attached to the branch, but with some falling off the branch. In this artwork, Benedict uses gentleness and smoothness in both the colors and texture, that resonates with the wonderful spirit and significance attached to the poplar tree. Poplar branch represents beauty magnificent spirit that relates to human characters and activities. The smooth and gentleness portrayed in the artwork represent the beautiful nature and role of the poplar branch. Poplar tree has always been known to represent smoothness and gentleness because of the si gnificant role it plays in the society. Therefore, the drawing in this case portrays how it is important for humans to embrace gentleness, which will in turn make life smooth as opposed to rough and rugged. In addition, the painting calls upon the society as a whole to recall the lost memories lost memories and dreams, and through gentleness allow them to thrive and become a reality. In this artwork, the smoothness is represented by the texture, in which looking at the photo it is all clear that both the background and the material used are all smooth in nature. Similarly, gentles is represented by the texture, as well as the colors used in this artwork for the leaves among other characters in this artwork. These represent the nature of the tree, and overall the expected nature of human beings in the society as symbolized by the poplar tree. Therefore, the lesson that we can draw from this technique used by the artist is that we as human beings should give gentles and smoothness a h igh value in our lives and the society as a whole. The tall and extensive nature of the poplar tree branch represented in the artwork reveals that it is fast growing, which gives it symbolic qualities related to human nature. For instance, the tree grows very fast and can grow tall with an extensive root system, and it does not require much coddling to grow fast. This means that the wonderful spirit of the tree teaches human beings how they should dream, and that projects have the ability to manifest quickly and bring great rewards in the shortest time possible. This extends to the possibilities in life that the tree branch represents, which reminds humans that they rise and grow to higher heights, and achieve these possibilities, as well as dreams (Klimt &Kallir 56). Similarly, the extensive nature of the tree that gives it strength teaches individuals how to endure life’s hardships and keep their feet strong on the ground, or on whatever they engage on in life. In addition, it teaches individuals to overcome personal doubts, fear, which may block possible endeavors. The artist uses several colors and a number of leaves in this branch to portray the variety nature of the poplar tree. For instance, some leaves are green with blue shadows while other leaves are white with black shadows. In addition, there are several small branches in the main branch, which

Compare and contrast components and purposes of Information Technology Essay

Compare and contrast components and purposes of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) in organizations - Essay Example Web servers, codes that manage the server, storage facilities, information transfer facilities, and many others are examples of information technology which when combined forms an information system. This paper focuses on the components and purposes of information technology and information systems in an organization (Stair, 2011). Components of an information system include hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. For instance, each system needs people for its functionalities and maintenance. In most cases, people are not part of the system but they contribute to either its success or failure. Procedures are the rules and policies that guide in the operation of the information system. These procedures are implemented using information technology techniques in form of lines of code. For example, web-based systems’ procedures implemented using programming languages like PHP and other styling and scripting languages. These languages are the technologies that make up the se information systems (Stair, 2011). In addition, data as used by programs for processing to produce information used in the systems. These data is stored in disks until needed by the system. The process of storing and the tools used to store are the information technologies while the system that extracts the data from these storage devices is the information system that manipulates the data. ... Software is another example of information systems component. Computer programs and manuals supporting these programs are the software in a system. These programs give instructions to the interaction of hardware components of an information system to process data to produce useful information. In an information system, these programs are stored in a disk and installed in a way that the hardware can detect and use them. They control the interaction of hardware parts in the processing of information, for instance and operating system is software that controls the whole functionalities of the system and coordinates the hardware components for functionalities. The programs are lines of code written using a certain specific technology based on the required functionality of the system. Some technologies includes, java programming language, PHP, C#, visual basic and many other languages used to write these commands which forms a software (Reynolds, 2010). Furthermore, information system is composed of hardware that is the machineries and the computers. Hardware components include displays, keyboards, storage disks, printers, scanners, chips, and barcode readers among many others, which are the tangible parts of an information system. These hardware tools made using different technologies and when combined together they form an information system with specific functionalities. The execution of data triggered by either a program or people through hardware and processed using both the software and hardware in a system the communication between hardware and software controlled by the operating system (Mahr, 2010). Information systems have different purposes in a firm, for instance, some are for communication, data management, inventory