Howl’s Moving Castle in Terms of the Journey

Howl’s Moving Castle is a film by Hayao Miyazaki, and it follows the life of a young girl who is a hat-maker to many learning experiences, emotional involvements, and physical (laborious) journeys. She starts off as a simple hat maker before trouble befalls her and meets a witch who makes her into an old woman. She runs off to try and reverse the spell, meeting a man and his friends, from inside a moving castle, who journeys together, overcoming all obstacles, and finding her true self again.This movie is mainly focusing on the physical journey, but at the same time, the characters experience not only physical journeys, but also emotional and inner journeys of learning, and developing many feelings toward other people. In the main character’s perspective, the setting shows what a journey of a life she has had so far, and up to what stage of life she is in – ‘time’ being the key word in this journey, since she very soon meets a woman during a windy, s tormy, dark-lighting, night, who curses her into being an old woman, with no time passing for her.And so, in this fashion, she re-meets Howl, the person who once saved her from some ‘blob men’ who were chasing her. Upon meeting him, her path on her journey changes once again – from something of no hope (grayscale), to something that gave her hope, and will eventually restore her (colourful). On the moving castle, she meets many friends. Not only that, but she also finds knobs that transport her to different places once she exits the door, but she is prohibited from going to the one black knob.Her journey does not come across that one knob until near the ending, where, once she turns to that knob and exits, she is not only transferred through space, but also time, and into someone else’s life: Howl’s past. The non-diegetic music also helps lead into the journey, and also helps to create a change of setting. By learning of his journey about how he tra nsformed from that kid, to that present self, she finds out to save him, save his friends, herself, and most importantly also her enemies.This movie is extremely helpful towards the concept of journey as all the characters in it have shown a glimpse (sometimes more) of their journey to the viewer, and allows the audience to empathise with the characters. Taking a step back though, you can really see how their past, present and future journeys are all integrated with each other, influencing and intertwining each other character’s journeys too, like an unbreakable web of chains.Howl’s Moving Castle is similar to The Shawshank Redemption, as it is a film, but not only is it because of it being this text type, but also further represents how journeys are linked together. For Howl’s Moving Castle, things are rehashed from the past, inside the ‘present’ of this movie, but for Shawshank, Andy never had connections with the other convicts, nor did they befo re the crime was committed and they were sent there. The differences range from: one being a fairy-tale world, the other being like a nightmare; and to, most importantly, the environment.The atmosphere and tone influence the emotions of the characters involved as well as the way their journeys turned out, and through which road: in Howl’s Moving Castle, the girl had to save the others, who then in turn, saved her; in Shawshank however, Andy saved himself, and before he’d escaped, he’d influenced others to be safe and hope – although both the endings were implied to be joyous. Also, whilst in Howl’s Moving Castle, there is a lot of physical journey in terms of travelling, in Shawshank, everyone remains inside the prison, unable (or sometimes unwilling) to go out.In both films, the themes of hope and determination are prominent to the journey, although the different personas act and react in different ways. This reinforces the concept that no personà ¢â‚¬â„¢s journey is identical, although it can be similar. Both films are important to the journey, as it emphasises that no matter in which situation, you can still strive for an ultimate good result, and sometimes it is possible to achieve it.

Hamlet – Hero or Villain

Hamlet comes across as both a hero and a villain throughout ‘Hamlet’ at different intervals. His loyalty, morality, honesty and popularity are certainly heroic traits however one can’t deny his villainous ways in his dealings with Ophelia, his killing of Polonius and most importantly his delaying of killing Claudius. Hamlet is full of faults yet full of honourable intentions. His negative qualities are slim compared to his heroic qualities therefore I believe Hamlet to be a hero, a â€Å"prince among men†. When we first meet Hamlet, he is dressed all in black and conveys all the â€Å"moods, forms and shapes of grief†.This depression is caused by his father’s recent death. Gertrude, his mother and Claudius, his uncle have noticed however Hamlet’s melancholy is much more intense than he is letting on â€Å"too too sullied flesh would melt†. He’s unable to forget his father even when all those around him have resumed their m erry lives. â€Å"I shall not look upon his like again†. This demonstrates the loyal side of the prince. His grief is further intensified by the cold-hearted actions of his mother. Gertrude married her brother in law, Claudius â€Å"within a month† of her husband’s death.Hamlet is unable to understand her disloyalty â€Å"a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer†. He believes he is living in a society with no standards and so becomes disillusioned with life â€Å"how weary, stale flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world†. His loyalty is certainly a heroic trait. The anger he felt towards his mother had a very a negative effect on a Hamlet. He began to feel anger at women as a whole which leads me to his villainous dealings with Ophelia. Hamlet feels neglected when Ophelia as ordered by her father, Polonius repels his letters.He condemns all women with the criticism of moral fickleness â€Å"fraility thy n ame is woman†. He hates Ophelia one moment and longs to engage in sexual intimacy with her the next. â€Å"Lie between maids’ legs†. He mistreats her with heartless and demeaning behaviour. In the nunnery scene he denies he ever loved her and tells her â€Å"get thee to a nunnery†. His inconsistent treating of Ophelia eventually drives her to insanity. The actual recognition of his love for Ophelia can only come when Hamlet realizes that she is dead, and free from her tainted womanly trappings â€Å"I lov’d Ophelia†.This is without doubt one of the most villainous qualities of Hamlet. His cruel treating of Ophelia however can also be seen as a heroic trait. He is honest about his feelings towards her. He is honest throughout the whole play, which is rare in ‘Hamlet’ as most of the characters live their lives through deception. He doesn’t once hide his hatred of Claudius â€Å"a little more than kin and less than kind†, he is also honest of his disliking of Polonius when he says his words have no substance â€Å"words words word†.He eventually tells his mother how disgusted he is with her marriage â€Å"O shame, where is thy blush? † and admits he treated her with cruelty â€Å"I must be cruel only to be kind†. He is even honest about his own inaction as he â€Å"lets all sleep†. His honesty throughout the play is admirable and only further proves him to be a hero. He is without doubt a man of high morals which is an important feature of a hero. He agrees to avenge his father even though he almost crushed with the burden. â€Å"oh cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right†.It is clear that he does not want to murder but accepts the task nonetheless â€Å"I have sworn’t†. He also apologises to Laertes for killing Polonius and asks for forgiveness. â€Å"give me your pardon, sir I have done you wrong†. His moral character is what I m ost admire about Hamlet. However Hamlet’s bravery for accepting the burden of revenge only heightens our awareness of his most negative quality, inaction. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle’s guilt.He delays the moment of revenge for as long as he possibly can. He even passes up the perfect chance to kill Claudius in the courtyard when he is praying claiming if he kills him now he is only sending him to heaven. â€Å"this is hire and salary, not revenge†. Hamlet is aware of his inaction and is very self-critical of it. He admires the player’s passion in the play and become annoyed at himself for being â€Å"unpregnant of my cause†. He is made further aware of his inaction when the young Fortinbras fights for land â€Å"that had nothing in but the name† while he â€Å"lets all sleep†.His procrastination is his biggest fault and is his ultimate downfall in the play. Ina ction is certainly not a heroic characteristic. After Hamlet returns from England he is a changed man. He tells how Horatio how â€Å"there’s a divinity that shapes our ends†. It is becoming clear that Hamlet now sees the role of avenger in a different light than he did earlier in the play. As a true hero he is conscious of the fact that he is acting as an agent of justice. This new attitude remains with Hamlet right through to the play’s conclusion.Claudius invites him to engage in a duel with Laertes and Hamlet freely embraces the challenge. Hamlet seems to be more self-confident about his own ability to take clear, effective action. We are given the picture of a noble and fine young man in the concluding scenes. He finally gets revenge on Claudius however is stabbed by Laertes by doing so. A true hero who sacrifices himself to bring justice and honesty back to the state of Denmark, even his enemy Fortinbras admits he would have â€Å"proved most royal† for the throne.Hamlet is a truly much loved prince who possesses a vast degree of human virtue and ability and whose death is not only tragic but extremely noble. His villainous qualities, however strong in the beginning, truly evaporate as the play concludes. An honest, loyal, brave and moral man, there is no doubt that Hamlet is a hero. I’d trust him to rule my country any time! A hero is defined in the oxford English dictionary as â€Å"a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits. † You can’t deny it’s the perfect description of Hamlet!

Impact of Christianity on Philosophy Essay

Introduction Christianity’s doctrines and tenets draw from a rich heritage of long historical development. And since it is a religion shaped by history, it follows only that its teachings are influenced by the prevailing philosophies within it. But there are also good reasons to think that, conversely, Christianity is a religion that did not only draw from existing philosophies in history but also generated a significant impact on them. Three reasons may be cited to support this contention. First, philosophy was made popular by the rise of Christianity; second, key Christian thinkers have endeavored to incorporate philosophy within their belief-systems; and third, many of their teachings are actually philosophical issues Christianized in the process. Christianity and Philosophy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First, the rise of Christianity seems to be a factor responsible for the great interest many people have shown towards philosophy during the ancient times. It must be noted that even before Christianity as a religious movement was to be commenced (following the death of Jesus, and the rapid conversion to a belief in him), prevailing philosophies such as Epicureanism, Neo-Platonism, Stoicism, and Skepticism were already in place (Moore & Bruder, 2005, p. 77). But since the Romans – the political power of that time – showed little or no interest to these philosophies, they remained largely an undercurrent phenomenon. In many ways, the rise of Christianity paved the way for such philosophies to become widespread, as they are (specifically, Neo-Platonism and Aristotleanism) employed in many â€Å"religious ideas and practices† (p. 78).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Second, key thinkers such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas also contributed a lot in employing philosophy as a way to explicate Christian beliefs. With Augustine, â€Å"Christianity became so permanently interwoven with elements of Platonic thought† (Moore & Bruder, 2005, 79). Augustine’s theology was chiefly concerned with arguing truths about the eternality of Christian God and the capacity of the mind to grasp the eternal truths; and these teachings are importations of the Platonic metaphysics and cosmology. Aquinas meanwhile was responsible conceiving the â€Å"underlying accord between Christian principles and Aristotle’s philosophy† from the ashes of the dark ages (p. 88). As with Plato, Aquinas’ teachings about God, nature and existence, knowledge and the world conveniently employed the methods used by philosophy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Third, many teachings forwarded by key Christian thinkers are actually philosophies which underwent a process of Christian adaptation. In other words, the manner by which these thinkers employed philosophy in explicating their theologies â€Å"in effect† may be regarded as a process of â€Å"grafting the principles and distinction† of Greek philosophy to â€Å"Christian revealed truth† (p. 88) The doctrine of the human soul and the Trinity are glaring examples to this. If only to argue, the Christian teaching that human persons have both body and souls is very reminiscent of the Platonic dualistic cosmology, i.e., that reality is composed of matter and form. The doctrine of the Trinity meanwhile is heavily employing the concepts of universals – a teaching that enables one to infer the conceptual similarities defining of two otherwise distinct entities. The result of this adaptation process is very significant to philosophy. What this process achieved was to ultimately create a â€Å"complete Christian philosophy† (p. 89). Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This paper concludes that indeed, Christianity is a religious movement that had a significant impact in the development of philosophy. While there are many reasons that could be cited to substantiate such a claim, three factors were deemed to be of paramount importance: namely, the rapid rise of Christianity during the ancient era, the use of prevailing philosophies to explain Christian tenets by key Christian thinkers, and the creation of a complete Christian philosophy which capitalized on adapting philosophical issues within the context of Christianity. Work Cited Moore, B. & Bruder, K. (2005). Philosophy: The Power of Ideas with PowerWeb. Sixth Edition.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New York, Mc-Graw Hill

B.F. Skinners Positive Reinforcement theory Research Paper

B.F. Skinners Positive Reinforcement theory - Research Paper Example This paper provides a detailed exploration of the theory of reinforcement while highlighting the facets of the theory as well as its organizational application. B.F. Skinner’s Positive Reinforcement Theory Background and Development of the Theory Many behavioral theories of motivation and learning have their main emphasis on the consequence of previous behavior on future behavior. In contrast, classical conditioning emphasizes on the responses automatically elicited by stimuli. The reinforcement theory argues that individuals will choose the response they exhibit to a given stimulus, and based on the outcome they will repeat the same choice in cases of similar stimulus in the future (Skinner, 1970). To further develop the theory’s suggestion, Thorndike (1911) developed what is now known as the Law of Effect which states that, with other factors remaining constant, positive responses to stimuli will be strengthened as opposed to the weakening of the responses to stimuli associated with discomfort (Michael, 2005). ... Positive reinforcement is as a result of the occurrence of a behavioral consequence of immense value that has a strengthening effect on the probability of the repeated occurrence of the behavior. This behavioral consequence is referred to as a reinforcer (Michael, 2005). A suitable example of this case is where a sales person trying a sales quota (behavior) exerts additional effort towards this goal, and the end result is a bonus reward (positive reinforcer). Administering the positive reinforcer makes it more likely that the salesperson will not stop exerting the required effort in the future (Montana and Charnov, 2008). Negative Reinforcement Negative reinforcement is as a result of undesirable behavioral consequences being withheld while at the same time strengthening the effect on the probability of a repeat of the behavior. Few people mistake negative reinforcement for punishment, but the two are different (Montana and Charnov, 2008). While negative reinforcement attempts to inc rease the desired behavior punishment strives to reduce the probability of occurrence of the behavior. Thus, Montana and Charnov (2008) believe that both negative and positive reinforcement have a trend of increasing the probability of the learning and repeated occurrence of a particular behavior. A suitable example in this case comes with the salesperson too. This time, the sales person exerts an effort with an aim of increasing the sales in their point of sale (behavior). Consequently, the decision that follows is not to reassign the successful salesperson to another sales point that is undesirable (negative reinforcer). Administration of this type of reinforcement ensures that the salesperson is able to exert more effort in the

India's Economy and China's Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

India's Economy and China's Economy - Essay Example Looking at this view of his, let us take this stance further by discussing how the divergence and competence of the entrepreneurial forces in India has given it a slight edge over China, when it comes to facilitating environment for the entrepreneurs.. Generally speaking, China is viewed way ahead of India regarding government policy formulation and implementation. China surpasses India with its faster government policies, modern and developed infrastructures and well-versed economic policies. On the contrary, India is fuddled with slow legal processes, underdeveloped infrastructures and relatively a high rate of illiteracy. Also, the Chinese leadership is making effective steps to â€Å"isolate† China from the global downturn, plaguing many economies of the world. However, the Indian government is criticized for adopting a lumbering approach to regain its struggling economy. These discrepancies on the Indian side are reflected in the GDP figures of both the countries. As Schu man (2010) states The World Bank figures has shown that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) has increased only by 6.4% in calendar 2009, which is far short of the 8.7% rate China announced in mid-January. Although, the above discussed perspectives about both the countries’ economy may show that Chinese economy is in far better shape than India and that could augur well for Chinese entrepreneurs, it may not be the case. Firstly because, surprisingly in recent times, India is emerging as a vigorously energetic economy, as it seems to be rebounding from the global economic downturn with a stronger force. Doubtless to say, the global slowdown would bring serious problems to India, â€Å"but the country’s mood has changed fundamentally since the government began opening up the economy in 1991: fatalism has been replaced by can-do optimism.† (A Special Report, 2009). This optimism is reflected in the entrepreneurial â€Å"spheres† in India. That is, In spite of the political and social uphill, the country has started to pitch for entrepreneurialism which is hot on the air, at present. It is obvious that the entrepreneurial activities are indeed reshaping the India’s economy to a far better level. â€Å"Tarun Khanna points out that the entrepreneurial spirit is beginning to breathe new life into India’s public sector.† (Watch this Space). One of the main â€Å"catalysts† that is driving entrepreneurship in India than China is the sizable well-educated and confident young population, who want to come up with new businesses. It is evident that the current demographic profile of India would do wonders to the country’s economy. â€Å"India is now blessed with a young and growing workforce. Its dependency ratio - the proportion of children and old people to working-age adults - is one of the best in the world and will remain so for a generation†. (Indian Miracle). Although, China also has a siza ble young population, the advantage with Indian young population particularly their budding entrepreneurs is their proficiency of English language and the resultant confident approach with the Western clients. â€Å"Indian capitalism is driven by millions of entrepreneurs furiously doing ahead with this task, and thriving small businesses with many world-class ones whose English-speaking bosses network confidently with the global elite.†

Edward Burtynsky Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edward Burtynsky - Essay Example His education shaped the skills that he already possessed as an artist, and helped him develop the techniques of photography that have captivated thousands through his snapshots. Burtynsky’s photography brings the discreet and hidden realities of human development to the public’s eye, and demands an appreciation and evaluation of man’s actions and their effects on nature (Burtynsky, 2009). He has a knack of capturing the most rudimentary and banal sites through his lens, and instilling art and finesse into those pictures (Burtynsky, 2009). His early work consists of the industrial landscape of General Motors plant in his city, which, according to him, evoked the passion for observing nature and capturing industrial development in his photos (Burtynsky, 2009). His exposure of the mining sites, recycling plants, industrial waste depots, and other such crass sites were hugely popular in Canada and elsewhere, so that very soon he became one of Canada’s most famous and respected photographers (Burtynsky, 2009). The highlight of his career and a major turning point was when he won the TED award in 2005 (TED, 2009). This led to the makin g of a documentary, called Manufactured Landscape, on the collection of his works of same title, and his life, in 2007 (TED, 2009). At the award ceremony, Burtynsky made three wishes related to the progress in his work, all of which, due to his immense influence and respect in the artworld, have been fulfilled (TED, 2009). He wished for a website to encourage children to think for their planet; the Meet The Greens website was developed (TED, 2009). He wished he would be able to film on Imax; that is currently in progress (TED, 2009).

The legend of silverheels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The legend of silverheels - Essay Example The miners who survived the epidemic proceeded to raise 5,000 dollars for her as an expression of gratitude. Upon reaching the abandoned cabin to hand over this token of gratefulness, the survivors became convinced that Silverheels had hidden herself since the plague had thoroughly scarred her. Many years after Buckskin Joe was pummeled down, there were multiple accounts of a woman in black veil gracing the graves of these who had perished in the 1861 epidemic being seen. Thus, the nearby mountain’s name was changed to Silverheels. Even today, there are still claims of a dark veiled woman walking about the Buckskin Joe cemetery. Conclusion The story remains speaks of events that took place during Colorado’s gold rush. Specifically, the legend explains how Mount Silverheels got its name and also corroborates with other accounts that divulge on the outbreak of leprosy in Colorado, in 1861. The legend also remains sacrosanct to career development since it underscores the importance of commitment to work ethics, especially in the field of nursing. If Silverheels though not a nurse could sacrifice her safety and person for the lepers, then nurses ought to emulate her, if not outdo her. The story is of great personal interest because of its immense contribution to the most important socio-cultural value which is selfless

FCC v. CBS Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

FCC v. CBS Case Analysis - Essay Example Courts figure out if the discourse at the inquiry is viewed as profane or indecent. In the event that the discourse is viewed as profane, the court will figure out if the discourse is thought to be an infrequent, fleeting expletive, in which case the FCC does not so much keep up the privilege to direct a periodic expletive. The legislature must show a convincing enthusiasm to manage sexually unequivocal material where minors are liable to view where through the slightest prohibitively implies accessibly. For this situation, there was a sexually unequivocal presentation amid the most recent few seconds of a live TV musical performance amid the CBS show of the Super Bowl. Despite the fact that the presentation itself is not an issue, the court here must figure out if such performance is viewed as a fleeting expletive such that a fine ought not to be maintained. During the year, 1978 case number 438 U.S.A 726 that was FCC v. Pacifica, the verdict by the court was that incidental, fleeting expletive ought not to be directed. The Court in Pacifica found out that FCC holds the power to preclude foul show when kids were prone to be tuning in. This is because comedy repetitive utilization of unequivocal dialect showed over the radio was obscene yet not profane. It confirmed that the occasion must be evaluated and examined on the realities of what happened and that an infrequent fleeting expletive does not climb to the level of regulation. In this situation, the event, pertaining Jackson and Timberlake happened toward the end of a performance amid the super bowl halftime show, enduring just a couple of seconds in respect to the ten moments long performance itself. This occasion was brisk and hard to see, as it was a live performance including numerous lights, cam edges, and entertainers.  

Financial systems around the globe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial systems around the globe - Essay Example Nowadays, there is a considerable change in these methods as the concepts of transaction cost and use of full information are removed and intimidation has increased in today’s financial market. It’s difficult to bring these changes with the traditional method of financing growth. There is also a tendency in the direction of cross border merger and acquisitions among great financial service firms in diverse nations. These cross border merger and acquisitions frequently engage big universal sort of institutions that give numerous types of financial services to multiple nations. There are two basic methods, which are used nowadays, which are bank intermediation based method and market based financial system (Leyland and Pyle 1977). We know that there is a diversification of financial systems in different countries. Most of these countries have bank intermediations and market based financial systems but the importance of these systems is comparatively different from each ot her. United States has â€Å"market based financial system†. The financial market has an important role in the financial environment of the country and the banks’ intimidation is insignificant (Leviene 2002). Germany has â€Å"bank intimidation based† financial market. In such financial environment, banks control the allocation of credit and financial markets are not as important as in US. Besides this is confirmed that the financial systems vary from one another according to different countries and due to this, the financial growth rate is also different for each country according to their selection of the financial system.... financial systems because every financial system provides unique functions that are meritorious, and due to the difference in the functions the financial growth of a country also varies (Allen and Santomero 1997). Worldwide or global banking is a substituted method to a stock market to share the risk, collect information for providing the guidance to generate the information and to match corporate governance of different countries. Here, we have discussed about Germany, where the size of the stock market is small & banks carry the entire risk related to the equity, right of proxy regarding the other’s shares. On other hand, banks are working as the representatives to manage the affairs such as to borrow loan and other corporate activities. The thing, which needs to be examined is whether the bank is working as the substitute of the stock market or it has the information about the dealings of the firms, if banks are working as the substitutes of the stock market then the perfor mance of the firms should improve but if they have some kind of private information regarding the firms then they may be a part of conflicts of firms with the equity holders and with those who voted in proxy through banks. It investigates through the facts and figures that the banks influence the performance of German firms and the rest of conflicts arise because of it (Gorton and Schmid 2000). Banks and other financial intermediaries are the basis of outsourcing to the firms. Intermediaries supply more than 50 percent of outsource funds from the countries that are United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. The investors primarily borrow money as a loan through the banks and they do not directly borrow the loan. Diamond gives a model of Financial Intermediation and Delegated

Lenins Russia Essay Example for Free

Lenins Russia Essay 1. The painting shows that Lenin is pleased to be back in Russia. He has his hand up waving at the crowd. Lenin looks happy and he looks pleased to be back. He also looks to be pleased by the way that the crowd are reacting to his return. The crowd are happy to have Lenin back. The peoples faces are all looking at him and they are all waving back at him. There are people playing musical instruments at what looks like a celebration to welcome him back. They are celebrating the return of Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, who later changed his name to Lenin, from exile in Finland. The people are pleased to see Lenin and they would therefore be the people that agree with Lenin and his ideas and decisions. The crowd is not just townspeople that have gone to meet Lenin. There are men there with bullets over their shoulders. These people are soldiers that agreed with Lenins ideas. They had some force with their guns and this means that Lenin had some force. All of these townspeople see Lenin as a leader for Russia that is why they are there. This is not a true reflection over all of Russia. This source is very inaccurate as it is painting and could have been a forgery to make Lenin look popular and make it look like there are a lot of people there. 2. The painting does show that Lenin was popular in Finland station, which is in Russia like Waterloo station is in London, but this is not a true reflection over the whole of Russia. The people that were at Finland station are clearly pleased to have him back but in other parts of Russia this was not the case. Lenin was only popular with the people that supported communism and supported Bolshevik rule. These were known as the reds and the opposition was known as the whites due to the color of their uniforms that their armies wore. It is clear that this painting does not show the feeling over the rest of Russia because the civil war came. This tells us that Lenin was not popular all over Russia and he had opposition in the whites that he fought in the civil war. This was not only the case in Russia but also all over the world. When the civil war started Lenin and the reds didnt have any outside allies while the Americans, the French and the British supported the whites. These countries wanted to help the whites against Lenin because Lenin had pulled Russia out of the First World War before it had ended. They were bitter about it and so they helped fight against him. In conclusion Lenin was popular and respected in certain areas of Russia like Finland station but across the rest of Russia and the World he was not admired or acclaimed. Source B 3. Each photograph has Lenin on the left standing on a podium talking to the crowd that are surrounding him. On the first photograph Lenin has two men standing to his right on the stairs. These men are Trotsky and Kamenev who were the right hand men to Lenin. In the second photo Lenin is again standing on the podium but in this photo there is no Trotsky or Kamenev, photographic experts have removed Trotsky and Kamenev. 4. These pictures are so different because in the first one Lenin is accompanied by two men, Trotsky and Kamenev but in the second picture they have disappeared from the image. These pictures were used as propaganda pictures by Stalin after the death of Lenin to inform the people that Trotsky and Kamenev were not anymore involved with Stalin. It is as if they have disappeared. Trotsky was the man behind the red army. He was the man that gained a great victory in the civil war and saved the Revolution. Trotsky would have been the man to take over from Lenin after his death but due to the fact he was clever he was hated by the other Communist leaders and was never supported, so a man that was lower down in rank was given the job, Joseph Stalin. Stalin and the other communist leaders hated Trotsky. He was removed from any position of power in the country so that he couldnt cause any problem for Stalin. Stalin took power with Zinovliev and Kamenev after Lenins death. They accused Trotsky of trying to split the communist party and take power for himself. No one defended Trotsky. After Trotsky had all of his positions of power removed he was exiled internally and then in 1929 Leon Trotsky was forced out of Russia and was exiled to Mexico. Once Stalin had taken power away from Trotsky before he was exiled, Stalin turned on Kamenev and Zinoviev. They were becoming worried and in 1926 they joined Trotsky in a United Opposition to Stalins policies. Stalin got his supporters to help him and both were sacked from their party and government positions. They were both allowed back into the party in 1928 but into positions with no power. So Stalin had ended up the solitary leader of Soviet Union. This trouble had left him very apprehensive of his colleagues. Stalin used the two photographs to show that Trotsky and Kamenev had fallen from their days of power when Lenin was alive and in charge. Source C 5. (i) Lenin is sweeping the entire world of Royalty, Aristocratic and Religious people. Lenin was against rich and powerful people and so that is why he is sweeping them off the globe. The people he is targeting are all the rich people. The man standing on top of the globe is Lenin. The first two men to his right of Lenin, with crowns on, look to be some kind of royalty. The person in the bottom left of the picture looks like an Orthodox Russian Church member. The man in the bottom right of the cartoon looks like a rich aristocrat. Lenin is using a broom and sweeping because that is traditionally associated with workers and not the rich. It is signifying the fight back of the workers to show that Lenin is on the workers side and that they will fight against the rich. 5. (ii) The Revolution of March 1917 that overthrew the tsarist regime caught Lenin by surprise, but he managed to secure passage through Germany in a sealed train. His dramatic arrival in Petrograd occurred one month after rebellious workers and soldiers had toppled the tsar. The Bolsheviks, including Joseph Stalin, had agreed with the deference the Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies showed to the provisional government. Lenin immediately refused this line of policy. In his April Theses he argued that only the Soviet could respond to the hopes and needs of Russias workers and peasants. Under the slogan All Power to the Soviets, the Bolshevik party conference accepted Lenins programme. After an unsuccessful workers uprising in July, Lenin spent August and September 1917 in Finland, hiding from the provisional government. There, he formulated his concepts of a socialist government. He also bombarded the partys Central Committee with demands for an armed uprising in the capital. His plan was finally accepted; it was put into effect on November 7th. A few days after the November Revolution, Lenin was elected head of government. He acted sensibly to consolidate the power of the new Soviet state. His main concern was the protection of the Revolution and Soviet power against enemies both abroad and at home. In line with these practical considerations Lenin accepted the heavy German terms for the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. Lenin took power of Russia from the provisional government that didnt put up that much of a fight at all to stop him from taking over. Lenin took power after the Tsar had fallen and the country was in disarray after the First World War. Lenin took power after being in exile from Russia so he hadnt seen all of the effects that the war had on Russia. Source D 6. (i) Robert Lansing had a bad attitude towards the Russian revolution. He didnt think that Russia could survive after the takeover by the Bolsheviks in the civil war. Lansing believed that the revolution would end in brutality and destruction of life. Lansing compares the Russian revolution with the French revolution. He says that before the French revolution France had a legal system and a government, Russia possesses neither. This means that he didnt think that they would be capable of running the country. Lansing says that the country wouldnt end up further developed. Which indicates that there is no point in fighting. To stop the problem they should get a government and a legal system. To advance his speech he hammers home his point that there is no authority or control. He continues to say that the country is full of anarchy and violence. He gives a comparison to a cauldron as though it is waiting to overflow, it is boiling up nicely. Finally he thinks of the people of Russia and how they will be affected by the war. He gives the sense that he feels sorry for the things that will happen to them. Robert Lansings attitude was that Russia would be worse off if the Bolsheviks took control of all Russia. His view is not necessarily correct, as Robert Lansing has biased opinion due to the fact that he was the US Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He has a bad attitude towards Russia because they pulled out of the First World War. The Americans would be bitter and wouldnt support anything that the Russians do. 6. (ii) When Robert Lansing said the words Russian Terror he was referring to the pain that Russian people would feel. By terror he means that blood will be shed and life will be lost. He thinks that the death rate and property destruction will be higher than the French Revolution. He is saying that people have a hard time ahead of them if they live in Russia. Source E 7. This source comes from Winston Churchill at the time when he was the British Secretary of War and Air. Churchill has a very definite opinion of the Bolsheviks and there ideas, he doesnt support them at all. You can tell from the first sentence he said the Bolshevik Tyranny is the worst. This is a very hard statement to take in. This means that a Tyrant ran the Bolshevik party so Churchill is calling Lenin a Tyrant and Churchill was calling Lenin cruel. He was calling the Bolshevik party cruel. This is a statement that sets out from the start that he doesnt support the Bolsheviks. In the next sentence Churchill states that the things that had been done in Russia by Lenin and Trotsky are far worst than anything that the Kaiser of Germany did. To compare Trotsky and Lenin to the Kaiser is a very strong statement, as he was not at all liked by anyone in Germany. He was hurting everyone. Churchill doesnt say that they are equal to the Kaiser but that they are worst than him. Churchill view on Russia would be biased because he is British and he still wouldnt be too happy because Russia pulled out of the First World War. Churchill has more reason to be infuriated than most British people as he was in charge of Britains war effort. Source F 8. This source doesnt show that the Bolshevik government was successful. They didnt do the job that they set out to do which was to help the working class people. This source is bound to be accurate as it out of a history textbook it will be accurate because it is looking back on the incident and not looking forward like source D and E the book will also not have biased opinion. The first line says that Russian people suffered terribly in the civil war. This proves that Robert Lansing and Winston Churchill were correct with their prediction. Both said that the Russian people would suffer terribly and both were right. The Bolshevik government did not handle the civil war at all well. This source gives us some facts to back the suggestion that the government was not successful. The source tells us the economy collapsed. This meant that money was worthless. So the Bolsheviks didnt mange to keep the money useable. The fact that industrial production had gone down means that they are going backwards and not improving the country, so Lansing was right when he said that this wasnt the way to go. The civil war wasnt killing as much as the diseases were which meant that innocent people were dying not just soldiers. The Bolsheviks were not fighting for their idea of workers, they were killing them instead. The communist was now becoming a dictatorship. This means that Churchill was right in his analysis comparing the Bolsheviks to the Kaiser who was a dictator. The source says that the Bolsheviks were losing support as well. This means that they were not successful at all. They didnt have success at all from the civil war. Summary 9. Source A This source gives us a false sense of the popularity of Lenin in Russia. This painting is only of Finland station and does not give a good representation of the rest Russia. Lenin is proven not to liked all over Russia because there is the civil war and this means that one opposition party doesnt like Lenin so this source is only a good indication as to where Lenin is liked. You can tell that he is liked at Finland station and the surrounding area. We do not know about the rest of the country but he is certainly liked in is one area. This source does not give us an accurate sense of Lenins popularity. This source could also be a forgery if it were a photograph it would be true but a painting can easily be made up. You cannot be certain if this is the true event that happened. Source B This source was used as propaganda for Stalin after Lenins death. These sources real point is the fact that Trotsky and Kamenev have fallen from the limelight, but the source can also be used to look at the popularity of Lenin and the message he was giving out to the people of Russia. In both pictures you can see the crowd covering the whole of the area. There are no gaps anywhere. This shows that Lenin was popular at this time and that people did listen to him. As I have already said this sources main point that Trotsky and Kamenev have gone but the photo can give other information. You can only see behind Lenin at the number of people but I would imagine that in front of him there would be more people as his voice would be projected that way. So this means there would be about triple the amount of people in photograph listening to Lenin. That may seem like a lot but over the whole of Russia it is small amount considering the vast size that is Russia. We are not told where this is and so might in an area where Lenin is popular like Finland station. You can tell that this event actually happened as it a photograph not a painting like the source before. Source C Source C is a political cartoon that is aiming to put across the message that Lenin is working with the working class. Lenin has the broom and is sweeping because that is associated with the working class people. He is sweeping the upper class and privileged people off of the world and taking over. If this cartoon were a true reflection on the job that Lenin was doing, you would assume that he would be popular with working class but not so the upper class people whom he wants to get rid of. This is not the case. The upper classes, rich people, were not impressed with Lenin trying to get rid of them. So he didnt really become very popular with them. They didnt like him and because they owned massive pasts of Russia this was a problem. This cartoon would have won some votes with the lower and working class the fact that he was trying to make it an even playing field for all. Source D This cannot really tell us much about the situation in Russia but it does give us a global sense of the feelings towards Lenin and his government. The first couple of lines give us a feel for what the Russian people would be in for. If the things Robert Lansing predicted happen then Lenin and his government would not be popular in Russia. The mass deaths would not go down well with the people in Russia. This did come true and so Lenin government didnt look good. This source tells that the government didnt have a lot of friends outside of the country. Lansing was an American and they were a major power but Lenin didnt have their support as you can see from this statement. The statement written by Robert Lansing is a biased account though as the Americans were fighting the First World War with Russia until they pulled out and so there would be some bitterness between the two countries. Source E This source came from Winston Churchill. This again tells that Lenin was not popular outside of Russia. It gives a comparison to the Kaiser. If Lenin were thought of like the Kaiser then he would be hated like the Kaiser. Churchill gives a good comparison but his opinion is biased and should be not be used as fact it is only an opinion. Source F The final source gives reasons why Lenin was unpopular. This source is taken from a textbook and therefore will be correct. It gives facts why Lenin was not popular; economic collapse, Industrial production had dropped by 20 per cent of the level it was in 1913, harvest produced only 60 per cent of the normal amount and during the civil war famine and disease caused 8 million deaths. These facts give hard evidence why the Russian people have cause to not like Lenin. All of these sources tell us that Lenin and the Bolsheviks popularity changed over the time they were in power. If we can trust the early sources you would believe that he was popular. In 1917 Lenin would have been popular as the country was in disarray and would have supported any leader. However as his time went on the true view of Lenin came out. Towards 1924 he started to go down hill and wasnt as respected by the people. When source F gives the final facts of what was happening it is easy to say that Lenin was not as successful as first thought. Lenin early high popularity dropped towards the end of his time to be hated by the people of Russia.

A marketing plan for a small gym

A marketing plan for a small gym I will be opening a small business. It will be a gym called Maximize Yourself. It is a private business, this seemed fit because it is a new business and incase it fails, I will have limited liabilities. The Goal of any business would obviously be to make a profit, but to enjoy yourself whilst doing so is important. The goal of enjoying is going to happen automatically because I love fitness training and being able to help others achieve their fitness goals makes it all worth the while. To jump start the business and start making quick profits, debts are required to be repaid, bank overdrafts will be paid as soon as possible to jump start the profit making process. The gym offers amazing services and products including, clothing, supplements, and protection gear and of course fitness training. The gym will have 6 employees including 2 women and 4 men. The women will be mostly concerned with boxing and fitness training and the men focus more on the main gym room, boxing, and also rehabilitation done by myself. All employees are able to answer any questions that members might have, give tips on how to do exercises, and even offer nutritional plans to those of whom are looking to improve their diets. The gym is located in Ryde because there are no other gyms in the area and it is a high traffic area. There is also a pool nearby and sporting clubs in Ryde making it an advantage because people would want to stay in shape and have nice bodies to show off. Also the fact that there are no competitors nearby makes it less of a hassle to have to constantly keep up with competitors. The gym is open 7 days a week, from 8 am to 8pm on Monday to Friday and 8 am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Maximize yourself gives bonus offers whether its free boxing and fitness training classes, or discounts for multiple members entering at once, discounts for people who refer others and of course for loyal long term members. This business is all about, overcoming objectives using various strategies, achieving goals, helping people with their fitness goals, and enjoying a job at a gym. Because the gym is in the establishment stage it needs to build a reputation, and to do this we are giving special trial offers and also advertising via commercials and radio broadcasts, etc. Business Description and Ownership It will be a small business, its called Maximize Yourself, it will be a Private Company because it is a new business and if it fails it will limited liabilities. The goals of the business will be to make a profit and to do this it will need to build a reputation, starting with ads like commercials showing free trial offers and deducted prices on equipment in the opening month to get some customers. It will be located in Ryde because there arent many gyms there and its a high traffic area. I will be the owner and start off with 6 employees that have personal training experience to help customers with training and they will ensure all equipment is in place and help with questions that members might have. Employees will rotate between jobs and I will manage financial statements like cash flow in and out of the business. The purpose of the business is to help people with physical goals whether its building or losing weight and in doing this make profit. I will need to manage my funds for the equipment I will be buying with a loan and then repay them when I can. Purpose of plan Preventing failure and guiding a business to achieve its goals is the main purpose of a business plan. By setting targets for the business a giving a design it enables it to evaluate its progress against identified reference points. In order to have a clear direction with the business and a path for the future a well written business plan must be created. It can show how the business could perform in the future and the priorities that are set for the business. The goals of Maximize yourself include: Making a profit (Financial goal, short term/long term) Satisfaction in work self achievement (Personal goal) Long term security Financially (Financial goal, long term) Sponsorship by supplement/ body fitness companies (Social goal) Successful business (Personal goal/Financial goal, long term) Increasing market share (Financial goal) Help people achieve their physical goals (Personal goal/social goal) According to the textbook a business plan outlines: A description of the business (Name, address, organisation and management) The businesss goals A market analysis Customer needs and size of the market The goods and/or services the business provides The industry in which the business operates Marketing/production/financial/employment relation strategies. Situation Analysis This is to make an analysis of the position of the business at the present time SWOT analysis Strengths Great Locations Brand new equipment No bad perspectives of the business because its new Buildable reputation based on service Good manager Skilled and qualified Workers Good use of technology 4 rooms (gym room, fitness training room, boxing room, rehabilitation room) Great reputation (over 100 members) New and updated equipment Large rooms for easy transition between equipment and rooms Weaknesses Low amount of staff and therefore longer shifts Still an expanding financial position High costs required for quick profits No reputation Opportunities Expanding to new locations A growing market means more people will participate Can attract more people due to it being a multigendered gym Threats Increased rent costs Possible changes in governmental regulations. Competitors (Runyaway gym) Competitor Analysis Runyaway Gym Strengths Low prices Many workers A lot of equipment Great reputation Good finance Trained employees Qualified and experienced managers and workers Weaknesses Due to it being popular it has high membership costs Its large reputation means that the Gym could be filled with members at certain times Opportunities Much easy chance of expanding to new locations Large profit allows it to Buy out competitors Threats Competitors (Fitness First) A lot of gyms are starting up Loss of members due to high costs Market Analysis provides enough information to convince a lender or investor that the business has enough existing or potential customers to achieve a certain amount of sales even though theres competitors Target Market and market research The reason maximize yourself is located in Ride is because there arent any gyms in that area, but there is sporting teams and swimming pools which will influence people to want to workout out, lose weight and get fit, to look and feel better and what better way then joining the gym and pursuing their goals . The businesses main focus is: Helping people achieve their physical goals with prices that wont burn a hole through their income. A place to socialise and possibly meet future husbands/wives and also to share tips and make new friends. Also teenagers will be a major topic, due to the fact that there is suddenly a revolution of mostly teenage boys wanting to get into shape a build muscles to show off to the girl in summer. -Aged people, to keep their fitness levels up and maintain their dietary needs. -Lastly, mothers, having to lose those stubborn few pounds to achieve the body they had before getting pregnant Market Segmentation The division of the total market into small segments based on the similar characteristics of a customer group. This is a prediction of how many members the gym will have in the first 2 months, and their age range. AGE AMOUNT OF MEMBERS 10-15 5 16-18 15 19-26 44 26-35 19 36+ 17 This is a prediction of what areas of the gym they will be doing Age Bodybuilding Boxing Body Fitness Cardio/weight loss room 10-15 1 4 0 0 16-18 9 4 2 0 19-26 24 10 2 8 26-35 4 2 2 11 36+ 1 5 1 10 Objectives and strategies Objectives are specific goals. They need to be S.M.A.R.T which means they need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. Key business functions Operations: The physical production of a good or the provision of a service. Since my business is a gym it is service based. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Its an advantage because: -There isnt that extra hassle of having enough stock -Making sure its not over stocked -Finding the latest new products to sell to appeal to consumers needs and compete with other businesses -Having to constantly innovate into the business later on in the business life cycle. This is a disadvantage because -If what your providing isnt selling then you could always innovate new products into your business, but when its service based there is no backup, therefore it means that your service must be so good that it will appeal to others and keep consumers interested -It costs a lot more to replace equipment used for services as opposed to just replacing a product -The fact that you cant actually advertise how good your service is as opposed to saying how good a product is in an advertisement. Also having a good description of the good or service, including: -Technology used -Materials and equipment required -Supplies used Testing and evaluation expenses The service the business will provide includes: -From open till close, 7 days a week, at all hours, there will be personal trainers available throughout the gym answering any questions members might have and also helping out people with their workouts, and giving tips on how to maximize their time in the gym to get the best possible results and help them to achieve their goals fast. -Personal trainers that will constantly give feedback to members and support them as they strive to achieve their goals. -A range of knowledge ranging from bodybuilding and body fitness to fat burning and rehabilitation, also kickboxing will be taught by a former champion. The businesses service will be amazing because all employees will have experiences of at least one of these categories and will be able to share experiences and accomplishments and help members do the same. Objectives for the gym include reducing cost of merchandise like supplements, and gym gear, also lowering membership costs or giving free offers, a strategy to accomplish thisis to lower the prices but be aware of competitors prices so the business has a fighting chance, its at a reasonable price, and its still making profit. Another objective will be to improve quality of the service and the products sold, strategies involve researching about the new and latest product but for the sake of them being beneficial as opposed to them costing more then requiring members to pay more for products, also introducing new employees or exercise categories like yoga to attract a variety of consumers. Marketing: This involves finding out what consumers need and want and linking these to the businesses product/service. These may result in a new promotional campaign. Appealing to consumers needs and wants is one of the very daunting tasks of the establishment stage, because it requires finding out what the consumers want and being able to provide that with your business. In terms of a gym, consumers want to be able to achieve their physical goals without getting ripped off, they want to be able to be able to get their moneys worth, be in a comfortable, friendly and inviting environment that would make them want to continuing using the gym without the hassle of being in a crammed room that contains weights, bikes, boxing bags and boxing rings, and be able to navigate throughout the gym with ease. In words this is easy, but being able to be a competitor on the market and show consumers just how good the gym is, will be a challenging task. An objective of the business will be to increase the number of members of the gym by 5 percent in the first year. Strategies to achieve this objective will include trial offers and deducted prices, also special offers that include discounts on equipment and classes to get new members and allow them to experience the gym and potentially keep them as members and possibly have them refer other people to the gym. The main strategy is to find what the consumers want and being able to provide it, also giving people a reason to joining your gym as opposed to going to another gm which will be a competitor. To do this the gym will be for both male and female and for all ages. Other objectives include increased market share which also allows the business to have a chance against competitors and last of course increased profits by 10 % in 12 months. Strategies to achieve this include introducing new products that appeal to consumer demand like the latest supplements or the newest workout machine; this will potentially get more members and also extend current members membership. Marketing strategies must be consistent, the following must be taken into consideration: -Position: Knowing consumers perspective on your product/service and being apply to use this information to improve your business -Price: Set prices, how it was determined and how it is compared to competitors. -Place: Available distribution methods must be assessed Accounting and finance: Provides the financial information needed for sound and viable decision-making. All small businesses must have the following to function properly and also to keep track of money. Financial requirements are needed; new businesses must have a clear idea of the amount of funds they will need. This could come from debt financing or the original owners equity, keeping track of the businesses budget and cash flow is crucial because it lets the owner know what areas are making profit and which areas are slowing the increase in profit. To keep track of these, businesses use a range of tools such as financial forecasting which tells the owner whether or not they can afford to produce the product or provide the service, this helps with a gym because it helps to show which products are selling, and whether or not the quality of their service is good based on the amount of members that they have or the amount of members the have ended their membership. Also theres financial records, this is good for small businesses so they can keep track of their finances, they will need to have, revenue statements (Income, profit and loss of the gym), cash flow statements (the money coming into and going out of the gym), balance sheets and budgets. Also theres breakeven: A planning tool that can be used to forecast how much of the product must be produced, or the service must be provided to cover costs of product and cost of paying employees to cover costs and make a profit. Lastly, financial controls are needed, which is having controls in place to ensure the business stays on track. These controls allow corrective action to be taken and without controls, the businesses ability to succeed start to be questioned. Objectives include reducing debts, that being said reducing the bank overdraft for all the equipment and land that was bought from $35000 to $25000 after 6 months, strategies for this to be done include getting more members to make profit and to do this, the gym will need to be advertised and show special offers to get consumers attention. Another objective includes increases profits by 10 % in the next 12 months by advertising more to make more money, also by continuing to sell products and providing services. Employment Relations: Due to such easy access to technology and raw materials, a businesses staff has become a valuable asset. The gym has an excellent range of staff hand picked by the owner due to their experience and the fact that they did a personal training course, or completed a course for the area of the gym they are working in. A challenge for the owner is keeping the employees interested in the job, this can be bother an easy or hard task depending on whether or not they like the job to start with. Objectives include increasing the pay of the employees. Even though the business is still starting out, a rise in pay should still occur because there wont be much members at first and itll make it easy for the employees to get bored of their jobs. Also rewards and bonuses will be given to employees who deserve it. 10% increase in employees pay in 12 months. A strategy to achieve this will be to possibly cut back the owners pay for a while or by advertising more to sell more products and get more members to make more money to be able to pay the employees. The numbers of staff, and the skills they contain have a large impact on strategic goals, the employment relations of the gym has objectives such as: Ensuring that the employees understand what their job is and whats expected, ensuring a healthy and safe environment, measuring and evaluating their perfomances. Strategies to achieve them include buying fresh new equipment and products, training the employees for a few weeks, keeping track of employee achievements. Job Description Must have a resume showing all recent achievements. Most have completed a personal training course or have certificates in the area they wish to work in. Also at least 3 years experience of the job. Also a medical check is needed to ensure that there is no injuries that will affect the employee on the job. Staffing requirements Rostering is the process of allocating particular staff to complete particular duties. Employees: Steph Greensburg Personal trainer (Completed personal fitness course) Penelope Chaaya Personal Trainer, boxer (Body Fitness course) Tim Stevens Personal Trainer, bodybuilder ( Personal training course, 5 years experience) Alex Dagher Personal Trainer, Boxing (3 Year personal training course) -Simon Rassy Former boxing champion (degree in personal training) Charles Chaaya (Boss) Personal Trainer, Physiotherapist, Rehabilitation doctor (degree in personal training, 4 year course of physiotherapist, 3 year course on body fitness) ROSTER Example: 1 hour break Day (8am-2pm) Area (3pm-8pm) 6pm on Saturday and sunday Area Monday Charles Chaaya Steph Penelope Gym room Boxing Room Rehabilitation room Charles Chaaya Steph Penelope Gym room Boxing/cardio Fitness training Tuesday Alex Tim Simon Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Alex Tim Simon Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Wednesday Steph Alex Charles Cardio/fitness Gym room Rehabilitation Steph Alex Charles Cardio/fitness Boxing Gym room Thursday Steph Tim Penelope Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Steph Tim Penelope Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Friday Charles Simon Alex Rehabilitation Boxing Gym room Charles Simon Alex Gym room Cardio/fitness Fitness training Saturday Steph Penelope Tim Cardio/fitness Boxing Gym room Steph Penelope Tim Cardio/fitness Boxing Gym room Sunday Charles Simon Alex Rehabilitation Boxing Gym room Charles Simon Alex Rehabilitation Boxing Gym room Price / Promotion The pricing of Maximize yourself will be based on whether it is an affordable amount, and whether or not it beat competitor pricing. There will be promotions of cheaper trial offers to let people try out the gym and see whether they like it or not. There will be free trials for boxing classes and body fitness classes to also attract a wide range of consumers. Also bonuses included free boxing or body fitness lessons with 3+ month memberships, this will also be to gain members. Apart from profit being a main goal, it is important to have an environment where people dont feel trapped in a maze and can move around freely, and these offers will allow the consumers o discover just how good the gym is. There must be a distinguish between maximize yourself and other gyms, that being, and amazing service and of course amazing prices. Ways of Promoting the gym include: A commercial -Social networking sites -Radio -Door to door sales informing residents of the cheap offers -Discounts for referrals -bonuses for long term members Membership Fees Single visits: $5.00 per person 1 week pass: $20.00 1 month membership: $55.00 3 months membership: $140.00 6 months membership: $240.00 12 months membership: $400.00 OR free boxing/Body fitness classes: membership cost+$15.00 Classes will be posted on a timetable hung up in the gym: Boxing: 1 Class: $8 1 Month: $55 Body Fitness 1 Class: $5 1 Month: $35 Supplement Prices MUSCLE MASS Protein bucket: 1kg: $30, 2kg: $50, 4kg: $80 Creatine Powder: $30 Fat burner supplement: $40 Bulk Building supplements: $60+ depending on product. Products: Bodybuilder and 100% Natural shirts: $15 each Training Singlets: $10 (Different Colours) Gloves for weights: $20 (different colours) Belt for weights: $40 (different colours) Product Due to Maximize yourself being a new gym it is obvious that it will have new top notch products, including trademark brands which are easily bought due to a friend of the owners being a seller of them giving him discounted prices. Due to the spacious layout of the gym the equipment will be spread accordingly allowing free movement without bunching into equipment and interrupting others during their workouts. Obvious products will be sold such as supplements, shirt, singlets, gloves and belts. The products of course vary in size to suit different sized customers and the maximize yourself logo will be on the lower back of the shirts/singlets and imprinted on the belts and gloves. Place How and where the product is distributed. Maximize Yourself did not create the supplements they are going to sell. Although everything else is owned by the business and they are all made by a retailer then send to the business when stock is ordered. Only Maximize yourself will be able to sell the equipment due to it being exclusive distribution. Description of the product/service Even though Maximize Yourself is service based it sells many great products. Services include the following: The gym area, this is where all the main equipment is, this room is mostly used for bodybuilding and contain all the weights and machines that assist with bodybuilding, there will always be a personal trainer in there helping people with their weight training and giving out advice/ answering questions. Also the other trained staff who run boxing classes and fitness training class simultaneously are expertly trained and will give you your moneys worth. Whether thats to learn how to defend yourself, lose weight or get fitter, theyll supply the help. Equipment inside the gym Bench press x 2 $500 Power racks $800 Rubber floors- $1000 per square metre Rubber mats x 8 -$100 Cable equipment (For all muscles) 45 degree leg press $400 45 degree back extension $200 Dip / pull up assist machine $200 Medicine balls x 6 $120 Set of Dumbbells- $1500 Fitness step x 4 $360 Barbell set (10kg 70kg) $2500 Smith Machine x 2 $3000 Rowing machines x 3 $2000 Treadmills x 3 $4000 Exercise bikes x 12 $5000 Boxing bags x 5 $600 Boxing ring $3000 Helmets x 20 $800 Boxing gloves x 20 pairs $600 Personal Trainers Steph Greensburg Personal trainer (Completed personal fitness course) Penelope Cruz Personal Trainer, boxer (Body Fitness course) Tim Stevens Personal Trainer, bodybuilder ( Personal training course, 5 years experience) Alex Dagher Personal Trainer, Boxing (3 Year personal training course) -Simon Rassy Former boxing champion (degree in personal training) Charles Chaaya (Boss) Personal Trainer, Physiotherapist, Rehabilitation doctor (degree in personal training, 4 year course of physiotherapist, 3 year course on body fitness) Classes Boxing See instructors for details Fitness training See instructors for details Boxing Class Learn how to fight and defend yourself with our top notch boxing instructors. Fitness training Intensive cardio, bodyweight training like pushups, dips, squats, lunges, abdominal circuits. Opening hours Monday Friday: 8am 8pm Saturday Sunday: 8am 6pm Front Counter Drinks Singlets Shirts Supplements Gloves Belt Boxing gloves Wrist pads Maximize yourself offers great discounts like: Free trials Discounts for loyal members More people=less you pay Financial Forecasts Balance Sheet Maximize Yourself Pty Ltd Current assets Cash $10000 Accounts Receivable $20000 Inventory $30000 TOTAL $60000 Non-Current assets Equipment $150,000 Land $250,000 Building/Property $100,000 TOTAL $500 000 Other Current Assets Good Will $100,000 TOTAL assets: $660 000 Current Liabilities Overdraft $80 000 Accounts Payable $30 000 TOTAL $110 000 Non Current Liabilities Mortgage $600,000 TOTAL $600 000 Owners Equity Shareholders funds $167,000 Capital $80,000 Retained Profits $40,000 Total Liabilities + Equity $997 000 Liquidity = Current Assets . Current Liabilities =$60000 = 0.55 $110,000 Cash Flow Statement Cash flow from operating activities Receipts from customers Payments to Suppliers and Employees Net cash provided by operating activities $120000 ($110 000) $10 000 Cash Flow from investing Activities Payment for Property, plant and equipment Net cash provided by investing activities ($50000) ($50000) Cash Flow from Financing Activities Repayment of borrowing Net cash provided by financing activities Net increase (decrease) in cash held Cash at beginning of year $40000 $40000 ($5000) $(20000) Cash at end of year ($25000) Critically review the plan and process In all honesty, I actually enjoyed doing the assignment, sure it was EXTREMELY long but it involves me being creative and actually doing an assignment about a topic I like for once. I must admit, if it wasnt for my plan and help from the business teachers I wouldve had no clue what I was doing. Now that I think of it, I regret not setting out my plan correctly, I left to much of the report if not ALL of it for the last due date, this left me with a mess load of work, plus the fact that I didnt manage my time and ended up having to do more than half the assignment in the last two days. I regret not asking as many questions in class. It was startling having a different teach teaching the subject after having Mrs Jones for so long but I eventually adjusted. I was disappointed in my slow progression and poor time management skills, and having assignments for other subjects just made it all the more less motivating in proceeding to complete this assignment. One of my worst flaws is my short attention span, something as little as seeing an item on my desk would cause me to stop and daydream, also knowing that I was one click away from face book and msn. On top of all these distraction is my MAJOR distraction! My Xbox 360, my mentality was always, play now, do business later, Im so good at this game, I cant just stop playing now im owning' is what I always said to myself, even whilst making progress I thought about getting off the computer and going to play. Another factor was friends, theres always someone to have a discussion with, and of course anything to get out of doing work right? Overall I believed I achieved what I planned to and was glad due to the relief of completing such a detailed assignment. I believe a few more lessons dedicated to actually explaining the assignment mightve motivated me to have completed some work sooner. Although Im g

The Aicpa Code Of Professional Conduct Indicates That Threats To Independence Accounting Essay

The Aicpa Code Of Professional Conduct Indicates That Threats To Independence Accounting Essay According to Auditing and Assurance Services (2011), the general purpose of Rule 101, Independence, is that a member in public practice shall be independent in the performance of professional services as required by standards promulgated by bodies designated by Council. Rule 101 relates primarily to audit and attest engagements. Auditing and Assurance Services (2011) states that auditors should preserve independence, the mental attitude and appearance that auditors are not influenced by others in making judgments and decisions, by a) avoiding financial connections that appear that the auditors wealth depends on the outcome of the audit and b) avoiding managerial connections that make it appear that the auditors are involved in management decisions for the audit client (thus auditing their own work). Auditing and Assurance Services (2011) further states that covered members (in a position to influence can attest engagement) are prohibited from having any financial interest in clients that could affect their audit judgment (independence in fact) or would appear to others to have an influence on their judgment (independence in appearance). In addition, immediate family members are under the same restrictions as the auditor. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct has the following guidelines in regards to covered members: A covered member cannot: Have a direct financial interest in a client Have a material indirect financial interest in a client Be a trustee or administrator of an estate that has a direct or material indirect financial interest in a client. Have a joint investment with a client that is material to the covered member. Have a loan to or from a client, any officer of the client, or any individual owning more than 10 percent of the client (except as specifically described in interpretation 101-5). Participate on an attest engagement if they were formally employed by the client in a position to influence the audit or acted as an officer, director, promoter, underwriter, or trustee of a pension or profit-sharing trust of the client. A covered members immediate family cannot: Have a direct financial interest in a client. Have a material indirect financial interest in a client. A covered members close relatives cannot: Have a key position with a client Have a material financial interest in a client that is known to the covered member. Have a financial interest in a client that allows the relative to have a significant influence in a client. Be in a position to influence the audit. A partner or professional employee cannot: Be associated with a client as a director, officer, employee, promoter, underwriter, voting trustee, or trustee of a pension or profit-sharing trust of the client. The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) has a three step risk-based approach to evaluate whether a practice or relationship poses an unacceptable risk to CPAs independence. The steps are: 1) Identifying and evaluating threats to independence; 2) Determining whether safeguards eliminate or sufficiently mitigate the identified threats; 3) Determining whether independence is impaired. (Auditing Assurance Services (2010)). The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct indicates that threats to independence include: Familiarity threat CPAs having a close or longstanding relationship with a client. Adverse interest threat CPAs acting in opposition to clients Undue influence threat Attempts to coerce or otherwise influence the CPA member Self-review threat CPAs reviewing their own work Financial self-interest threat CPAs having a financial relationship with a client Management participation threat CPAs taking on the role of client management or otherwise performing management functions Advocacy threat CPAs promoting a clients interest or position. According to Auditing and Assurance Services (2011), the general purpose of Rule 102, Integrity and Objectivity, states in the performance of any professional service, a member shall maintain objectivity and integrity, shall be free of conflicts of interest, and shall not knowingly misrepresent facts or subordinate his or her judgment to others. Accounting and Assurance Services (2011) states that Rule 102 applies not only to CPAs in public practice but also to CPAs working in government and industry. The rule requires integrity and objectivity in all types of professional work tax practice and consulting practice as well as audit practice for public accountants and all types of accounting work performed by CPAs employed in corporations, not for profit organizations, governments, and individual practices. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct indicates that in addition to integrity and objectivity, Rule 102 emphasizes 1) being free from conflicts of interest between CPAs and others; 2) representing facts truthfully in reports and discussions; 3) not letting other people dictate or influence the CPAs judgment and professional decisions. Conflicts of interest cited in Rule 102 refer to the need to avoid having business interests in which the accountants personal financial relationships or the accountants relationships with other clients might tempt the accountant to fail to serve the best interests of a client or the public that uses the results of the engagement. The phases shall not knowingly misrepresent facts (Interpretation 102-1) and shall not subordinate his or her judgment to others (Interpretation 102-4) from the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct emphasizes conditions people ordinarily identify with the concepts of integrity and objectivity. The prohibition of misrepresentations in financial statements (Interpretation 102-1) applies to the management accountants who prepare companies statements. Government and industry CPAs should not subordinate their professional judgment to superiors who try to produce materially misleading financial statements and fool their external auditors per Auditing Assurance Services (2011). In addition, government and industry CPAs must be candid and not knowingly misrepresent facts or fail to disclose material facts when dealing with their employers external au ditor. Government and industry CPAs cannot have conflicts of interest in their jobs and their outside business interests that are not disclosed to their employers and approved. Rule 102 has two other applications according to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. One concerns serving a client advocate (Interpretation 102-6), which occurs frequently in taxation and rate regulation practice and in supporting clients positions in FASB and SEC proceedings. Client advocacy in support or advancement of client positions is acceptance only so long as the member acts with integrity, maintains objectivity, and does not subordinate judgment to others. The other application is directed specifically to professors. They are supposed to maintain integrity and objectivity, be free of conflicts of interest, and not knowingly misrepresent facts to students (Interpretation 102-5). What do you see as the significance of this section for accountants? Integrity is one of the essential pillars of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct. The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct describes the  accounting professions public as consisting of clients, credit grantors, governments, employers, investors, the  business  and financial community, and others who rely on the objectivity and integrity of CPAs to maintain the orderly functioning of commerce. A distinguishing mark of the accounting profession is acceptance of its responsibility to honor the public trust. Lenders, investors, government agencies, and other members of the business community rely on the integrity of certified public accountants to help preserve the proper functioning of commercial activities. (Integrity: Still a Hallmark of the Public Accounting Profession? (n.d.)) Active and aspiring public accountants ought to embrace the obligation to act in a way that warrants the faith that the entire public reposes in the work they do or will do. Accountants must remain free from conflicts of interest and other questionable business relationships when conducting accounting services. Failure to remain objective and independent may hamper an accountants ability to provide an honest opinion about a companys financial information. There is a clear directive in the principle: Service and the public trust should not be subordinated to personal gain and advantage. (On Integrity, (n.d.)) Integrity and ethics in the accounting industry came to the forefront during the accounting scandals of 2001. Several major publicly held companies, such as Enron, committed serious accounting fraud that misled employees and the general public about each companys financial health. Upon investigating, government regulators found inappropriate relationships between auditors and their clients. Auditors gave management advice on accounting procedures and conducted external audits, resulting in a lack of independence. Accountants from these firms also engaged in unethical behavior by manipulating accounting information. (Integrity Ethics in the Accounting Industry (n.d.)) Per the AICPA: Failure to follow rules of conduct can result in expulsion from the AICPA. This by itself does not prevent a CPA from practicing public accounting, but it certainly is a weighty social sanction. All expulsions from the AICPA for a violation of the rules are published in the CPA Newsletter, a publication that is sent out to all AICPA members, and in The Wall Street Journal. Where do you see situations in an accounting practice that would make the contents of this section particularly relevant? Offer examples of such situations. Independence: Applying the independence rules for an audit: The people who are prohibited from having financial and managerial relationships with the client are the audit engagement team, the people in the chain of command, the covered persons in the public accounting firm, close family members, and immediate family members. (Auditing Assurance Services (n.d.)). Integrity and Objectivity: Assume that an auditor believes that accounts receivable may not be collectible but accepts managements opinion without an independent evaluation of collectability. The auditor has subordinated his or her judgment and thereby lacks objectivity. Now assume that a CPA is preparing the tax return for a client, and as a client advocate, encourages the client to take a deduction on the returns that the CPA believes is valid, but for which there is some but not complete support. This is not a violation of either objectivity or integrity, because it is acceptable for the CPA to be a client advocate in tax and management services. If the CPA encourages the client to take a deduction for which there is no support but has little chance of discovery by the IRS, a violation has occurred. That is a misrepresentation of the facts; therefore, the integrity of the CPA has been impaired. In regards to freedom from conflicts of interest, it means the absence of relationships that might interfere with objectivity and integrity (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). For example, it would be inappropriate for an auditor who is also an attorney to represent a client in legal matters. The attorney is an advocate for the client, whereas the auditor must be impartial. Apparent conflicts of interest may not be a violation of the rules of conduct if the information is disclosed to the members client or employer (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). For example, if a partner of a CPA firm recommends that a client have the security of its Internet website evaluated by a technology consulting firm that is owned by the partners spouse, a conflict of interest may appear to exist. No violation of Rule 102 occurs if the partner informs the clients management of the relationship and management proceeded with the evaluation of that knowledge (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct). Examples of conflict of interest per Auditing Assurance Services (n.d.): CPA is engaged to perform litigation support services for a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against a client CPA is in a personal financial planning engagement, recommends client investment in business in which the CPA has a financial interest. CPA provides tax services for several members of a family who have opposing interests. CPA performs management consulting for a client and has a financial or managerial interest in a major competitor. CPA serves on a city board of tax appeals, which hears matters involving clients. CPA refers a tax client to an insurance broker, who refers clients to the CPA under an exclusive agreement. CPA charges a contingent fee to a client for expert witness litigation support services when the fee can be affected by the opinion the CPA expresses. Offer a list of five sources that you intend to consult in researching your choice. You may include resources on the AICPA website besides the section of the code you have chosen, but only list the AICPA website as one of your five sources. I plan on searching the numerous articles located on the following websites: AICPA.com CPAJournal.com NYSSCPA.org AccountingWeb.com WSJ.com AccountingToday.com In addition, I will be utilizing the NEC library online and also my textbooks from my prior NEC courses. The Auditing Assurance textbook used as a reference in this paper is from the NEC auditing course.

The Simpsons as Reflection of our Disintegrating Society Essays

The Simpsons as Reflection of our Disintegrating Society In recent years, a certain animated sitcom has caught the public's attention, evoking reactions that are both favorable and unfavorable, but hardly ever apathetic. As a brilliant, socially aware satire, Matt Groening's The Simpsons has effectively stirred different emotions from different factions of the culturally deadened American populace, and for this alone, it should be recognized as "quality programming." The Simpsons is a brutal satire of our society and our family structures yet it offers several redeeming qualities such as feminism, endurance, and most of all humor. Often, The Simpsons is truly brutal parody, hurling barbs of hostile commentary at our materialistic and gluttonous American life-style. Many in the audience might be offended by this bullying, except that it seems like harmless fun. For example, when father Homer Simpson decides he would rather sleep in on a Sunday than attend church, Groening is obviously pointing out a corruption of traditional values within the family structure. But recognizing that people don't like to be preached to, the show takes a comic approach, having God come to talk to Homer, telling him to start his own religious sect. The hedonism that Homer extols in the name of the Lord is both ludicrous and hilariously funny, and viewers who might be offended are disarmed, so that even the most conservative Republican grandmother is receptive to the comic message. Because it is a cartoon, some might scoff at The Simpsons and call it a children's show. But this cartoon is clearly meant for a mass audience, including adults: it is shown during prime time rather than on Satur... ... incompetence and corruption of contemporary education, industry, government, religion, and, ironically, even television. Yet in spite of all the disheartening social problems it portrays, The Simpsons nevertheless remains funny. Whenever a scene threatens to turn melodramatic or raise an inescapably deep issue, the moment is saved by some piece of nonsense, often an absurdly gratuitous act of violence. At a time when it seems that society is being destroyed by its own designs, it is good to be able to hold up a mirror that shows us the extent of our problems. Neither escapist nor preachy, The Simpsons provides such a satiric mirror, a metaphoric reflection of our dissolving social foundation. More than that, The Simpsons is therapeutic: to be able to laugh in the face of such problems is the ultimate catharsis.

Dominance of the Ohio Valley Region Essay -- Pontiac History Essays

Dominance of the Ohio Valley Region The Ohio Valley Region was known as the American frontier during the time period from 1760 to 1813. The white expansion into the Ohio Valley Region brought about the decline and the eventual dissolution of the Native American way of life. The struggles of the French and English in the north and the westward push of American settlers in the south were met with unified pro-nativist resistance. The individual struggles of three men characterize the turmoil between whites and Native Americans. Pontiac’s war against the English, Tecumseh’s organization of a unified Indian Confederation, and Daniel Boone’s leadership in the western migration into Kentucky demonstrate the fight for control in the Ohio Valley Region. Pontiac, a heroic warrior who united previously feuding tribes in an unprecedented resistance to the men who would change their way of life and the face of their land forever, left a legacy of courage and honor. A member of the Ottawa Indian tribe, Pontiac refused to accept English control and settlement of the Great Lakes region without a fight, even after his French allies made peace with England (Rogers, 1). The French first met the Great Lakes Ottawa in 1615, finding them armed with bows, arrows, and war clubs. The fiercely painted and tattooed Native Americans wore furs and had pierced noses and ears. Members of the Algonquin language family, the Ottawa, along with the Chippewa and Potowatomi, formed the Council of Three Tribes (Eckert, 29). The Ottawa were known to other Algonquin tribes as intertribal traders. The name Ottawa in the Algonquin language means, "to trade." In 1740, there were approximately 2,000 Ottawa, 200 Huron, and 100 Potowatomi in the areas around D... .... 159 – 287, I – xx http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id802901efb5&doc-64039. *Jillson, Willard Rouse. Filson’s Kentucke. Louisville: John P. Morton & Company, 1930. Lofaro, Michael A. The Life and Adventures of Daniel Boone. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1978. Oskison, John M. Tecumseh and His Times. GP Putnam's Sons: New York, 1938. Peckman, Howard. Pontiac and the Indian Uprising. (Princeton, 1947). Parkman, Francis. The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War After the Conquest of Canada. Vol I-II. (London, 1912). Rogers, Robert. Diary of the Siege of Detroit in the War with Pontiac. Albany, New York, 1860) pp. 1 – 120. http://www.Canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id-802901efb5&doc=64039. Rugely, Terry. "Savage and Statesman: Changing Historical Interpretations of Tecumseh." Indiana Magazine of History 1989 85(4): 289-311. Dominance of the Ohio Valley Region Essay -- Pontiac History Essays Dominance of the Ohio Valley Region The Ohio Valley Region was known as the American frontier during the time period from 1760 to 1813. The white expansion into the Ohio Valley Region brought about the decline and the eventual dissolution of the Native American way of life. The struggles of the French and English in the north and the westward push of American settlers in the south were met with unified pro-nativist resistance. The individual struggles of three men characterize the turmoil between whites and Native Americans. Pontiac’s war against the English, Tecumseh’s organization of a unified Indian Confederation, and Daniel Boone’s leadership in the western migration into Kentucky demonstrate the fight for control in the Ohio Valley Region. Pontiac, a heroic warrior who united previously feuding tribes in an unprecedented resistance to the men who would change their way of life and the face of their land forever, left a legacy of courage and honor. A member of the Ottawa Indian tribe, Pontiac refused to accept English control and settlement of the Great Lakes region without a fight, even after his French allies made peace with England (Rogers, 1). The French first met the Great Lakes Ottawa in 1615, finding them armed with bows, arrows, and war clubs. The fiercely painted and tattooed Native Americans wore furs and had pierced noses and ears. Members of the Algonquin language family, the Ottawa, along with the Chippewa and Potowatomi, formed the Council of Three Tribes (Eckert, 29). The Ottawa were known to other Algonquin tribes as intertribal traders. The name Ottawa in the Algonquin language means, "to trade." In 1740, there were approximately 2,000 Ottawa, 200 Huron, and 100 Potowatomi in the areas around D... .... 159 – 287, I – xx http://www.canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id802901efb5&doc-64039. *Jillson, Willard Rouse. Filson’s Kentucke. Louisville: John P. Morton & Company, 1930. Lofaro, Michael A. The Life and Adventures of Daniel Boone. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1978. Oskison, John M. Tecumseh and His Times. GP Putnam's Sons: New York, 1938. Peckman, Howard. Pontiac and the Indian Uprising. (Princeton, 1947). Parkman, Francis. The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War After the Conquest of Canada. Vol I-II. (London, 1912). Rogers, Robert. Diary of the Siege of Detroit in the War with Pontiac. Albany, New York, 1860) pp. 1 – 120. http://www.Canadiana.org/cgi-bin/ECO/mtq?id-802901efb5&doc=64039. Rugely, Terry. "Savage and Statesman: Changing Historical Interpretations of Tecumseh." Indiana Magazine of History 1989 85(4): 289-311.

Philippines Literature Essay

The diversity and richness of Philippine literature evolved side by side with the country’s history. Long before the Spaniards and other foreigners landed or set foot on Philippine shores, our forefathers already had their own literature stamped in the history of our race. Our ancient literature shows our customs and traditions in everyday life as traced in our folk stories, old plays and short stories. Our ancestors also had their own alphabet which was different from that brought by the Spaniards. –> LITERATURE: the body of oral and written works, text, books, poetry, etc. these are the several things that concern this subject. we have been exposed to literature ever since we were young. reading, writing, that’s what we do. but is this really the essence of literature? the time i realized that i was going to take up â€Å"Philippine Literature† this semester, i was rather a bit curios about what would be in store for me, for the whole class. our Literature instructor Ms. Dinah Laguna-Mission is very enthusiastic in teaching us. never came a time that i felt sleepy or bored during our lit. subject. she has a lively voice and pronunciation, lively gestures and the witty use of words were the things i looked forward to every time she came. at first, i expect that the subject content and the teaching method was just a repetition of what has been taught to us during high school. but i was wrong, the different genre of literature, different devices and ever famous figures of speech were the ones being taught to us. after all the experiences and new knowledge imparted to me, i realized that Literature is not only about just reading the stories, poems, riddles, etc. but either its understanding them deeply. i thank Ms. Mission for imparting this knowledge imparted to me and the whole class for making this journey bearable and truly enjoyable one. it was beyond doubt an accomplishment for us and so, even if i finish the subject Philippines Literature, the things i learned, the memories and experience will truly mo no matter what. ^_^

Neither Black Nor White

When focusing on racial identity, the use of appearances as signifiers of group membership is not always clear cut.   This relationship between appearances and individual identity choice becomes even more complex when we examine bi-racial identity.   Research on bi-racial identity has often cited the reactions of whites to bi-racial individuals, but with Joseph E. Holloway’s novel Neither Black Nor White the politics of shin color among African Americans are look at.   His novel is an historical account of the Hadnot family whose migration from Gloucester England in 1585 to New Orleans describes a family that were never slaves, but owners of slaves.   They never thought of themselves as whites or as blacks, one parent that was white and one black to create a whole new identity. It is clear that there is only speculation as to the relationship between appearance and racial identity among bi-racial individuals.   There has been little to no theoretical development on this relationship.   One important distinction is that color is both a personal and a social characteristic.   That is one who perceives their skin color and one that interprets their appearance through the eyes of others within any given interactional sphere. Such as the Hadnot family, they interpreted their sense of belonging within their family structure.   It would be difficult for a person to choose an exclusively Black or exclusively White identity if their physical appearances do not match their chosen identity.   In the end literature on the appearance identity link is sparse and seriously underdeveloped. There is a love and hate relationship with this group on the one drop rule with skin color.   The argument is that a three leveled society existed in the South with the following hierarchy from highest to lowest status.   White, Mulattos, and Blacks, mixed race individuals often served as a buffer group between Whites and Blacks through which cross color interactions and business transactions could happen. This situation caused a preferential treatment of Mulattos by Whites and a generational advantage for Mulattos. Perhaps this was true for the Hadnot family in England but there were problems they had to face in New Orleans.   The foundation for a social and cultural system of color classisms within Black America was laid.   The author provided strong evidence that those members of the community with the lightest skin color and the most Caucasian looking features have been allowed the greatest freedoms and achieved at higher rates. There is argument that goes further to display the ways that darker-skinned members of the Black community discriminate against mixed-race individuals in the workplace, how patterns of dating with the community are tangled up with phenotype, how networks are constructed or dismantled on the basis of color classism and how culturally, Blacks use unique cultural coding, such as hair or first names, to distinguish between those who are black and those who are not. This is so because a bi-racial individual’s understanding of their own appearance seems to be rooted in others perceptions and assumptions of appearance and its link with identity. Appearance is distinctly more social than phenotypes because it is created by the bi-racial individual’s understanding of their skin color as conditioned through the judgments of others in interactions.   So we expect that it is appearance, not skin color, which will influence the racial identification of bi-racial, and that skin color works through one’s appearance to affect identity.   Mutual identification is critical to both identity construction and maintenance.   If an individual exists within a social context where bi-racial has a meaningful existence, then they may cultivate a border identity. If this cultural category does not exist and one becomes accustomed to and adept at switching from Black to White they will cultivate a protean identity, I think was evident in the novel Neither Black Nor White.   If their appearance is White then members may develop a transcendent identity, but only if their social context does not demand categorization.   If none of these options are available to an individual then the existing cultural norms dictate the racial identity above and beyond their appearance. Reading the novel and researching the meaning of the novel, colorism.   I love history and this historical novel put into perspective an issue I really had never thought of.   It gave the reader a good sense of what it was like being in limbo with your identity.   I was impressed with the research that went into writing this historical novel and with the detail to genealogy.   I recommend this book for all undergraduates to help understand racism and all of its hidden secrets. Reference: Davis, F.J. (1991)   Who is Black? One Nations Definition.   University Park, P.A.:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pennsylvania State University Press. Holloway, J.E. (2006)   Neither Black Nor White.   C.A.: New World African Press.