The Day Of The Dead Essays - Mexican Culture, Mexican Art, Halloween

The Day Of The Dead Day of the Dead Imagine yourself in a cemetery, commemorating your great-grandpa. Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico on November 2nd. The Day of the Dead is one of Mexico's traditional holidays reuniting and honoring beloved ancestors, family, and friends. To begin, the historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America of the indigenous people, especially the Nahua (Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, Tecpanec) and others native to Mexico more than 3,000 years ago. Life was seen as a dream. It was believed that only in dying, a human being was truly awake. Death was not a mysterious and fearful presence but a realistic recognizable character as much a part of life as life itself. When Christianity was introduced in the 16th century, religion and its symbols became part of the altars we now find in Mexico today. November 1st, All Saints Day, is when the spirits of the children, called los angelitos (little angels), are expected to return. Traditionally, it is a time when family members share memorable stories that would commemorate their lives together. Secondly, there are many items that people do to celebrate the Day of the Dead. On November 2, family members clean and perhaps paint the headstones, arrange flowers, and lighting candles. Mexican families construct special home altars dedicated to the spirits of their deceased loved ones. The altars range from simple to the very elaborate and are usually filled with objects that provided pleasure to the departed person in life, including favorite food and drink. Altars dedicated to the spirits of deceased children often include toys, candy and other sweets. I think that building alters for the dead is a good concept. They teach the younger generations about the past, as well as commemorate the dead. No matter what kind of a person was, everyone leaves behind a legend. Some books, for example, are biographies, praising and telling about a person in the past or present. Like a book, the alters tell the history of a person. The alters tell a ?story? of the dead individual. Alters tell the age, their likes, and many other interesting facts about the dead individual's life. I think that these alters compensate the work of an earlier generation. The altars or ofrendas as they are called, also usually contain objects made from sugar or sugar sculpture known as alfenique. These objects may be small animals, such as lambs, miniature plates of food (enchiladas with mole), small coffins, often with pop-up skeletons, and of course, the sugar skull or calavera. The skulls are made by pouring a mixture of boiling water, confectioner's sugar and lime into clay molds, which have been previously soaked in water. The calaveras are decorated with paper foil for eyes and a kind of colored icing for hair. Names can be added to the skull and Mexican children often exchange named skulls with their friends. I think that the skeleton represents the spirit still living after it has left it's flesh on this earth. The spirit of an individual lives on forever. Ofrendas often include papel picado or Mexican cut-paper. Papel picado has a long folk tradition in Mexico and the little town of San Salvador Huixcolotla, in the state of Puebla, is known for its fine cut paper. Although papel picado is used as a decoration for many festive occasions such as weddings and baptisms, papel picado with themes relating to Day of the Dead is also very popular. The Mexican papel picado is similar to origami. Although origami is folded, it too has spiritual meaning. In conclusion, I think that Dias De Los Muertos is important for the family to maintain good relationships with the dead for it is they who intercede and bring food fortune to the living. It is a time to come to terms with our mortality and become aware of cycle of life and death. The Day of the Dead is a day for honoring are beloved ones.

Refugees essays

Refugees essays Good morning everyone. Front-page news: political decisions, humanitarian aid and asylum. These events are taking place in many parts of the world and are about refugees. Why are there so many refugees? What are the different views on the subject? Who will help them? Will you? Australia defines a refugee as a person who fears persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country. Last year fourteen and a half million people sought refuge. Afghanistan is a country with a large number of refugees. As we all would know now, America is bombing Afghanistan because of terrorism and its Taliban regime. Afghanistan is a very poor, war torn country that is subject to severe drought. For this reason people left their homes in search of food. Africa is a continent that has suffered the world's most invasive violence during 2000 and in early 2001. Nearly 3 million Africans became new refugees or were newly displaced within their own countries during 2000. Reasons for this great number of refugees include war, repression, civil unrest, and politically induced humanitarian emergencies. Other countries with a large number of refugees include Columbia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Balkans, Chechnya and Liberia. The cause of this problem includes war, corrupt governments, civil unrest and poverty. For these reasons the people of these countries need to find protection and basic needs to survive. The refugee crisis in Australia has caused much debate. The viewpoints on the issue include, supporting the government that dont want illegal immigration or taking the humanitarian view that we should let the boat people come to Australia. The government does not w ...

Change in Employee Relations in United Kingdom Essay

Change in Employee Relations in United Kingdom - Essay Example Majority of the employees give preference to work in a better work atmosphere than working in a poor work atmosphere with higher pay. Globalization and other changes that took place in the world caused a drastic change in the employee relation. Huge difference can be seen in between the present form of employee relation and traditional way of employee relation. This paper makes an attempt to evaluate the changes in the employee relation in last 30 years and its importance in the future developments in the context of United Kingdom. Though there may be some variations in employee relation or industrial relations practices in various countries, changes are taking place in various countries in almost similar manner. Decades back, each country may have its own industrial practice, but now due to globalization and advancement of technology majority of the countries' employee relation practices are more or less similar. Today the industrial relation is very important and a widely discussed subject and has a great significance in the growth of industries. The terms labour relation and industrial relation are interchangeably used (Bean, 1994). A good industrial relation has a significant role in the success of any kind of business. Appalachian State University defines employee relations as "it involves the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale" (Staff-employee relations, n. d.). Disputes are common at work places. If there is a better labour relation this disputes can be minimized. If the employer is interacting with the employees in a better way it can increase the loyalty of the employees, thereby increasing the productivity of the organisation. Overview of different issues of employee relation Here are different issues related to the employee relation that requires detailed discussion and is always a topic of debate for the experts in this field. Some of the issues are employee grievances, employee wellness, employee compensation, employee discrimination, employee promotion...etc. The management especially human resource management team should be efficient enough to maintain an efficient employee relation in an organisation. 1. Employee grievances handling: Employee grievances are common at work place. If the management t failed properly solves the grievances of employee s o it may cause serious problems to the organization including losing of efficient employees. Employees would not be ready to work in organization where their grievances are not properly solved. There are no industrial concerns which are working smoothly at all times. In some concern employee have complaints against employers. In some other cases employers may have complaints against employees. This is happening mainly due to lack of better employee relation. These grievances may be real, imaginary, valid, invalid, genuine, not genuine etc. Generally speaking complaints affecting one or more employees may be treated as grievances. Grievance is a feeling of discontent or dissatisfaction among workers regarding anything concerned with the company (Som, n. d.). Causes of grievances: There may be variety of reasons for grievance. Some of them are explained below. a. Difference in opinion: The management and

Issues That Lead to the Recession Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Issues That Lead to the Recession - Term Paper Example What are the correct investments in a recession and the revised policies and procedures put into operation by the government to combat recession. Thirdly, this report will discuss the impact of the recession and the lessons learnt from it. Definition of Recession â€Å"The NBER does not define a recession in terms of two consecutive quarters of decline in real GDP. Rather, a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.†(Business†¦.) â€Å"A significant decline in activity across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade. ... With the steep rise in the unemployment levels, the government is obliged to extend unemployment benefits to a wider section of the society. Higher borrowing leads to higher taxes and additional interest payments in the future. As shares turn unattractive, the prices begin to dip. Lower profitability and lower dividends create a depressive mood for the investors and they look out for alternative sources of investment. The fall in share prices continues in anticipation of recessionary trends prolonging. But this is only the initial phase. When recession is at its hardest phase, the developments take a strange turn. In anticipation of economic recovery, share prices begin to recover, as the prudent investor calculates that it is the favorable time to invest from the point of view of long term gains. Falling prices of shares may be due to various other factors as well, not alone recession. The normal reaction to recession is that it should result in a lower inflation rate. The highlight of recession is it reduces demand and wage inflation. The issue to be examined is what economic factors impact the recession hard. The current recession is due to rise in oil prices. The expert opinion about this inflation is, it is bound to reduce demand, will result in price wars, as the firms will make all-out efforts to retain consumers. The scenario of falling investments takes volatile shape and hampers economic growth. The vicious circle begins. The slowdown in the growth rate, with the economy expanding with a slower pace, may result in substantial fall in investment. Fall in employment opportunities is the most feared factor during recession. The demand for labor takes a down turn. Not all sectors are impacted hard in equal measure

A Better Way to Keep the Net Open and Accessible Research Proposal

A Better Way to Keep the Net Open and Accessible - Research Proposal Example Customers are different, and so are their demands. As the Internet is becoming a commonplace instrument of communication, many of them also want to use chats and web messenger interfaces to contact potential suppliers. More often than not, it is the quality of communication and sales support that guides customers in their purchasing decisions. One morning, this manager notices that access to web interfaces and chat applications was blocked by the Internet provider, on the premise that they may threaten the safety of the online environment. In the meantime, the Internet provider also provides a list of chat and web interfaces to be used by the manager. Does it benefit the sales manager and the organization, for which he works? Certainly, it does not. It is the same as being unable to watch YouTube videos and using Facebook and other social networks to talk to people from all over the world. Network neutrality guarantees that Internet providers cannot use their advantageous position to discriminate against individual rights and freedoms of online users.  Ã‚  Customers are different, and so are their demands. As the Internet is becoming a commonplace instrument of communication, many of them also want to use chats and web messenger interfaces to contact potential suppliers. More often than not, it is the quality of communication and sales support that guides customers in their purchasing decisions. One morning, this manager notices that access to web interfaces and chat applications was blocked by the Internet provider, on the premise that they may threaten the safety of the online environment. In the meantime, the Internet provider also provides a list of chat and web interfaces to be used by the manager. Does it benefit the sales manager and the organization, for which he works? Certainly, it does not. It is the same as being unable to watch YouTube videos and using Facebook and other social networks to talk to people from all over the world. Network neutralit y guarantees that Internet providers cannot use their advantageous position to discriminate against individual rights and freedoms of online users.  Ã‚   Network neutrality is essential to freedom and openness in the networked world. In other words, network neutrality guarantees that all web resources are available for users, irrespective of whether Internet providers benefit or lose from making these web resources available and accessible. This makes sense because, on the one hand, online users need freedom in accessing and using information and, on the other hand, only network neutrality can guarantee fair competition in the online world. Imagine a situation, when online providers block access to online newspapers and magazines, merely because these newspapers and magazines do not pay a share of their profits to Internet providers. Frustrated and lost, these users find themselves in a mist of unawareness. They do not read the news; they do not know about political and economic c hanges in the world.

Gender representation in contemporary superhero films

Gender representation in contemporary superhero films RESEARCH PROPOSAL Gender representation in contemporary superhero films Research Question How gender representation is portrayed in the contemporary Marvel superhero films? Overview of the Study This project will be evaluating how gender representation portrayed in 21st century Marvel superhero films. This research will concentrate on using Marvel’s The Avenger (dir. Josh Whedon, 2012) which is the assemblage of all contemporary Marvels’ superhero made after Ironman since 2008. Thompson (1999) and Bordwell (2006) both argued that Hollywood films often emphasize on character traits. Contemporary Hollywood filmmaking tends to draw on certain gender representational pattern of superhero is first and foremost a man. Therefore textual analysis will be used to analyze how masculinity and femininity values are constructed among the main characters in the film. Aim Objectives The aim of this study is to evaluate how gender representation portrayed in 21st century Marvel superhero films. The objective of this study is to analyze how masculinity and femininity values are constructed among the main characters in 21st century Marvel superhero films. Literature Review In the past seven years, majority number of blockbuster superhero action adventure films such as Batman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Hellboy 1 and 2, Hulk, Ironman, and a host of other â€Å"men† have flown, stomped, fallen, and swung across screens in these Hollywood blockbusters (Stabile, 2009). In fact, Gray Kaklamanidou (2011) describes superhero as someone usually possesses a combination of mental and physical strength more than ordinary human being that fight against evil who will succeeds against all odds. These superhero characters are basically adapted from comic books. The characters in the film are presented in stereotypical manner such as either present male heroes and female damsels such as Superman Returns (2006), the Spider-Man films (2002, 2004, 2007) or else allow for a few female superheroes as part of a male-run-crime-fighting collective, as in X-Men Films (2000, 2003, 2006), and the Fantastic Four franchise (2005, 2007). Gallagher (2006) described masculinity as a product in our culture; the action film has historically been a ‘male’ genre, dealing with stories of male heroism and women as peripheral princesses. However these attributes and behaviors tend to shift over time and are constantly under negotiation in the film. Furthermore as Benshoff Griffin (2009) argued that although there are slight variations can be found in countless Hollywood films, the way of cinematically telling stories is basically the same today as it was in the 1930s. Classical Hollywood style is always formulated to spoon-feed story information to the spectator, thus keeping everything clearly understood by the audience. For instance, Thompson (1999) and Bordwell (2006) both argued that Hollywood films often emphasize on character traits. Contemporary Hollywood filmmaking tends to draw on certain gender representational pattern of superhero is first and foremost a man. Besides, the superhero is an American crea tion, born on the eve of World War II (Gray Kaklamanidou, 2011). Therefore the role of superhero is always associated with typical masculinity traits while the characters in superhero film are portrayed in stereotypical manners. Interestingly, over the past few decades, various male-dominated Hollywood genres have been adapted for female leads. Benshoff Griffin (2009) explained that the science fiction action-adventure film has also produced some strong female leads, played most notably by Sigourney Weaver in the Alien Films (1979, 1986, 1992, 1997) as well as Jovovich’s Alice in the Resident Evil film franchise (2002, 2004, 2007) has become the most financially successful female action character of the era. However, mainstream Hollywood entertainment still negotiates gender in ways that uphold and maintain patriarchal privilege (Cohan Hark, 1993). The nostalgic Hollywood blockbuster formula, with its stalwart male heroes, continues to drive the industry. Another way of looking at the gender representation in superhero film is that, Hollywood filmmaking tends to exploit sexy male bodies in action while female action adventure heroes with objectified sex appeal. As Benshoff Griffin (2009) argued tha t although more and more women are entering the Hollywood industry, the sexual objectification of female bodies tends to surround on the female lead while men tend to dominate the main role in superhero film. Methodology Given the exploratory nature of this study is to evaluate gender representation portrayed in 21st century Marvel superhero films; it is proposed qualitative research method of textual analysis will be used to analyse the text in contemporary Marvel’s superhero films. Textual analysis in fact is research method of trying to learn something about people by examining the content, structure, and functions of the messages contained in texts (Frey et al., 1999). In other words, textual analysis may use to describe and interpret the characteristics such as behavioral patterns, values and attitudes of a recorded or visual message. Marvel’s The Avenger (dir. Josh Whedon, 2012) will be selected to evaluate how masculinity and femininity values are constructed among the main characters. In fact, Marvel’s The Avenger is the assemblage of all contemporary Marvels’ superhero made after Ironman since 2008 (Marvel, 2012). This film basically consists of four main characters of Marvel’s superhero that are Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Thor. Furthermore, the film also features with other existing S.H.I.E.L.D agent Hawkeye and Blackwidow. Likewise, analyzing the text in the Marvel’s The Avenger provides the researcher the opportunities to study a few series of contemporary superhero film simultaneously. Indeed, textual analysis consists of both strengths and weaknesses in analysing the gender representation in the film. According to Larsen (1991), textual analysis is able to bring out whole range of possible meaning in the film content. It is also a preferred method for identifying such latent meaning and a powerful tool for researchers who seek to produce theoretically valid interpretations of the targeted text. However, textual analysis required an extremely close reading on the specific text (Frey et al., 1999). It is time consuming and has high maintenance need which the researcher is requires to set up the rules, such as coding. In fact, content analysis according to Weare Lin (2000) is able to determine the presence written and spoken communication or concepts within texts. However, it is obtrusive and a purely descriptive method which it unable to reveal underlying motives for the observed pattern (what but not why). Therefore as the objective of this study is to analyse the gender representation and characters role played in the contemporary Marvel’s superhero films, the purpose of using textual analysis in this study is thus able to provide in-depth understanding on the text. Marvel’s The Avenger In fact, Marvel’s The Avengers is a 2012 American Hollywood film produced by Marvel studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. In fact, it is featuring with iconic Marvel super heroes Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Marvel’s The Avenger has been ranked as the third highest grossing film in worldwide. However it is interesting that 7 out of 8 leading are male while the only female lead is Scarlett Johansson who plays the role as Black Widow. Marvel Studios has released nine films since 2008 within the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Marvels The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) (Marvel, 2014). Significant of study Superhero film is relatively one of the latest development trends in Hollywood film (Gray Kaklamanidou, 2011). However, there has been no much academic research made on superhero movie. It is believe that the increasing number of these films requires an in-depth academic study on the concept of superhero in this globalized society that is emphasize on gender equality. As Ryan Kellner (1990) argued that the representation of certain characters can work towards explaining the political social landscape the current time. It would be interesting to find out how men and women in these movies are represented: how different characters are portrayed, using typically feminine and masculine traits. Therefore this study will contribute to the future research and literature related to gender in action and superhero film. Timeline of research Conclusion This project will be evaluating how gender representation portrayed in 21st century Marvel superhero films by using Marvel’s The Avenger. Textual analysis is because it able to provide in-depth understanding and analysis on the gender representation and characters role played in the film. While the number of superhero is increase, this study serves as a fundamental literature thus able contributes to the future research on gender in action and superhero film. Bibliography References BENSHOFF, H. M, GRIFFIN, S. (2009) America on film: Representing race, class, gender and sexuality at the movies, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. BORDWELL, Da. (2006) The way Hollywood tells it: Story and style in modern movies. Berkeley: University of California Press. CODELL, J. L. (2007) Genre, gender, race and world cinema: An anthology, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. COHAN, S., HARK, I. R. (1993) Screening the male: Exploring masculinities in Hollywood cinema, London: Routledge. FREY, L., BOTAN, C., KREPS, G. (1999) Investigating communication: An introduction to research methods. (2nd eds.) Boston: Allyn Bacon. GALLAGHER, M. (2006) Action figures: Men, action films, and contemporary adventure narratives, New York: McMillan. GRAYLAND, R., KAKLAMANIDOU, B. (2011) The 21st Century Superhero: Essays on Gender, Genre and Globalization in Film. North Carolina: McFarland. KING, N. (2008) Generic womanhood: Gendered depictions in cop action cinema, Journal of Gender Society, 22, 238-258 [online] Available from: www.swetwise.com [Accessed 9 July, 2014] LARSEN, P. (1991) Textual analysis of  ¬Ã‚ ctional media content, In J. Vercshueren, J. O. Ostman, J. Blommaert (Eds.), A handbook of qualitative methodologies for mass communication research (pp. 121–134). New York, NY: Routledge. Painter, C. Ferucci, Patrik MARVEL’S THE AVENGER. (2012) [Film] Directed by Joss Whedon. California: Marvel Studios. MILLER, K. (2005) Communications theories: perspectives, processes, and contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill. STABILE, C. A. (2009) Sweetheart, This ain’t gender studies: Sexism and superheroes, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 6:1, 86-92 [online] Available from: www.swetwise.com [Accessed 11 July, 2014] THOMPSON, K. (1999) Storytelling in the new Hollywood: Understanding classical narrative technique. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. WEARE, C., LIN, W. Y. (2000) Content analysis of the World Wide Web: Opportunities and challenges, Social Science Computer Review, 18:3, 272-292.

EME Lesson Plan

By doing this, students will learn to read all authored texts with a critical mind, peeping in mind that opinions and viewpoints can alter the reality that each tee Ext can present. Students will analyze the authors messages from two fictional in order to intent Rupert the differing viewpoints that the authors having regarding the ideas of utopia and govern meet control. By doing this, students will learn to identify the authors intent in written works e even when it is implied or implicit.Learning Objectives: With the aid of the two textbooks and Nicolas notes, students will be able to c instruct a twisted Pentagram in a Google doc of the differing messages within each ext, showing at least six items of differences on each side and six items of similarity in the mi del. With the aid of the two textbooks, Nicolas notes, and the internet, students will I be able to write two extended responses explaining each book's authors viewpoint and how t his reflects in the story, with five corr ectly sited books references and two correctly sited intern et references per author to support their argument.Resources: The Giver, by Lois Lowry Fahrenheit 451 , by Ray Bradbury Computers for every student Google Powering Document Procedure: 1. I/teacher will introduce the activity and review any material that you/ students express misunderstandings or concern over. L/ teacher will also review how a Pentagram works and how to fill one out. (5 minutes) 2. YOW students will go to the computers and open the Google document that is lealer dad set up with blank Pentagram sheets.You/ Students will bring with you your books and your notes from Nicolas discussions. (2 minutes) 3. YOW students will fill in the Pentagrams will the similarities and differences beet en the author's message within the books. You/ students will have at least six items of difference on each side and six items of similarity in the middle. You/ students will be sure to write down where you found or read these diff erences for later use in the project. (30 minutes) 4.You/ students will research information on each author explaining the reasons bee mind his writings, the different books he wrote, and anything else that could affect ho w that particular author viewed the world. (20 minutes) 5. You/ students will print out your Pentagrams and internet research, and then ret run to your/their seats. (5 minutes) 6. I/teacher will introduce the next portion of the project where you/ students will use the Pentagrams, the books, your notes, and internet resources to write two ext ended responses. 3 minutes) 7. YOW students will write two extended responses following the instructions. Each o en will focus on one of the authors and will describe how the author's viewpoint fee acts the message in the stories. You/ students will have at least five correctly sited book references and two correctly sited internet references in each extended response SE. (35 minutes). 8. If any of you/students were unable to finish this project, you/ students will take it home and finish it as homework which will be due next class.