Plains, Games, and Automobiles free essay sample

Plains, games, and automobiles; the infamous group of three that turned me into a thug. It was a warm summer day, and I was a child. Yet the beautiful weather belied the activities on King Edward’s Way, where pure evil was taking place. The terrible men were decimating the field that I played in. My friend, Isaiah, and I watched the destruction take place, letting the rage fill our prepubescent bodies. Every day, we would run up to the field beyond our street. Giant mounds of dirt stretched miles into the sky. We loved those mountains, and they loved us. We climbed them, running from ninjas one day, catching Pokemon the next. They offered to us a crucial setting in forming classic childhood memories. And the men were tearing them down. Granted, it was pretty thick of me to not realize that the piles of dirt were, in fact, not fun hills, and that they were just physical evidence of a transition from a field to houses. We will write a custom essay sample on Plains, Games, and Automobiles or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But, to a child, everything is a game, and that’s how it should be. Being the vigilantes that we were, Isaiah and I decided that it was time to dole out justice. We saw these men as monsters, whose life goal was to destroy our home. So we sent them a message. Isaiah came over to my house on our D-Day. It was time for this war to end. I called out to my mother, telling her that we were going to play Pokemon at the top of the hill. She bought it. The perfect vice. Didn’t suspect a thing. We marched up to the battleground and looked over the plains. A solemn wind kicked up some dirt, but otherwise, it was all quiet. Cars zoomed by on the perpendicular road. These witnesses would be our biggest problem. In the stealthiest fashion possible, we crawled down the hill. We came to a cement cylinder and dove inside. There was no turning back. We had no idea what to do now. Our innocence was dawning on us; could two kids really bring down an entire mob? However, the innocence was also our best asset; nobody expects the children. Towards the end of the field, a large truck was parked with no one inside. That would do. We ran our hands over the dirty exterior of the tank. It was covered with the blood of our homeland, muddy spots acting as battle scars. Our rage increased, but we kept calm. If we blew it now, that could lead to serious trouble. Our parents might even find out. After moments of searching, I found a chink in the armor. Two orange circles on the back of the truck covered the lightbulbs that lit up for the brakes. Without those, we realized that the truck would almost certainly be pulled over, which would be a victory on all counts. Isaiah watched the traffic, looking for a break. I waited, rock in hand, ready to deliver that lethal blow. He gave the signal. Suddenly, I panicked. Was this really my fate? To go down in history like Al Capone, surrendering my life of potential to one of gangsterism and thuggishness? But alas, in order to defend my homeland, sacrifices had to be made. I willed myself to let go of that childish reputation and slammed the rock into the brake light cover. The rock struck the plastic and broke it immediately. It fell to the ground, raining bits and pieces of victory. I was ready to stop there, but my mind was not my own. I struck again, smashing the light bulb. The brake light was out, but I wanted more. I did the same for the other light, smashing and smashing until Isaiah pulled me away from my victim. I was like a boxer, punching my opponent, getting my gloves on him in any way possible until I was forcibly removed. Then I saw the danger. A car pulled into our field. I dropped the rock, but there was dirt on my hands. It drove up next to us. A man rolled down the window and asked who we were. I did the talking; I was the leader of this gang. I told him who we were, puffing out my chest, both for size and in an effort to hide the massive thumping of my nervous heart. He asked why we were here. Being the masterful improviser that I am, I told him that we were collecting rocks. His skeptical face showed how little he believed me. However, in absence of truly incriminating evidence, he let us go, sending us on our way. We sprinted back to my house, hearts going faster than our little legs could take us. We had done it. The industrial giant was finished. Justice had prevailed once and for all. Of course, in retrospect, our efforts were futile. They built a bunch of houses and apartments, and we lost our field. We never were caught by our parents or anyone else, but the guilt of my crime has stuck with me to this day. To put it frankly, I was stupid. But I managed to turn my life around from my career of crime, and now, here I am. Without the story of the Harrisonburg plains, the games we played there, and the automobile that turned me into a criminal, I would not be the person that I am today.

Definition and Examples of a Climax in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of a Climax in Rhetoric In rhetoric, climax means  mounting by degrees through words or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction (see auxesis), with an emphasis on the high point or culmination of an experience or series of events. Also known as  anabasis, ascensus, and the marching figure. A particularly forceful type of rhetorical climax is achieved through anadiplosis  and gradatio, sentence constructions in which the last word(s) of one  clause  becomes the first of the next. Examples Out of its vivid disorder comes order; from its rank smell rises the good aroma of courage and daring; out of its preliminary shabbiness comes the final splendor. And buried in the familiar boasts of its advance agents lies the modesty of most of its people. (E. B. White, The Ring of Time)It may, perhaps, be fairly questioned, whether any other portion of the population of the earth could have endured the privations, sufferings and horrors of slavery, without having become more degraded in the scale of humanity than the slaves of African descent. Nothing has been left undone to cripple their intellects, darken their minds, debase their moral stature, obliterate all traces of their relationship to mankind; and yet how wonderfully they have sustained the mighty load of a most frightful bondage, under which they have been groaning for centuries! (Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, 1845)My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in deat h beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. (Edward M. Kennedy, Tribute to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, June 8, 1968) This is the Court of Chancery; which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire; which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse, and its dead in every churchyard; which has its ruined suitor, with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress, borrowing and begging through the round of every mans acquaintance; which gives to monied might, the means abundantly of wearying out the right; which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope; so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart; that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not givewho does not often givethe warning, Suffer any wrong that can be done you, rather than come here! (Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1852)There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, ca nnot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negros basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating For Whites Only. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream. August 28, 1963) When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they’re going, to care for their families while they’re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world. (Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address) The Lighter Side of a Rhetorical Climax There are only three things I really care about, [Arthur Merivale] added, with the air of one who is half in jest.They are?Cricket- and a career- and- and you! ...[Muriel] picked another plum and continued chaffing him.Its really nice to know for certain that you approve of me. Still you are dreadfully, painfully honest. Just think where I come in the scale of your affections! First the bat, then the bar, and then- poor me!She laughed brightly at his discomfiture.But the scale was crescendo, he pleaded. You was a rhetorical climax.(Cecil Headlam, The Marriage of Mr. Merivale. Knickerbocker Press, 1901)

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Companies which are ready to use upgrade their human resources regimes are thus the ones who have found success in all relevant quarters of their business. With this necessary incorporation, they have been able to look at the ethical side of things as well since the moral grounds have been set in a proper manner and there are as such no apprehensions to state the least in the present times. A business can move from a position of stability to one of a complete unstable stance as it acquires different means of gathering the market and its driving factors that come along with it. The firm has to change its position with the changing times otherwise it will literally vanish away from its competitors and more so the customers, for which it actually exists. It must bring about technological innovations so as to meet the ethical guidelines and best practices which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. [Cappelli, 1999] The work culture can be developed in a manner which suits the interests of the organization in the best form possible. For this to happen, it is necessary to understand that resources department has got an immense role to play in the related equation. We must understand that we live in a global world where human resources has of late been instrumental at dramatically changing the way we perceive the way in which people think, act and feel on the job. The basic dogma on which the dot com companies work is to reach out to the greatest amount of people and make those people as their clients within a short duration of time. This would be on the expense of not being at concern related with the loss in the stock prices. The culture which was adopted by these companies was of get large or get lost in the whole frame

Low Cost Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Low Cost Airlines - Essay Example For more than a decade now, the potential of the low-cost airline business has been evident from the huge capitalization of these airlines at stock market spheres (Brock, 2000). For example, at the start of the current decade, in 2002, Ryanair realized a market capitalization of 4.9 billion Euros, which was 45 percent more, when compared to the levels realized by British Airways (Rhoades, 2008). The increased uptake of low-cost airlines was evident from its revenue levels, which were approximated at 20 times compared to that of the traditional competitor (Dempsey and Goetz, 1992). The huge success of starter low-cost airlines in the industry has led to the emergence of new airlines in the same category and using the same business, trying to mirror their strategies. The success of these airlines can also be traced from the fact that they have stimulated a new class of demand, which offers evidence that they are not getting their customers from traditional airlines; low-cost airlines a re attracting new demand and customers into the industry (Dresner, Lin and Windle, 1996). Due to the major impact of low-cost airlines, traditional airlines have acknowledged the threat of the growing competition; therefore, have reacted to the new business model, especially in the line of business travel (Meyer and Menzies, 2000). This paper will explore the success strategies of low-cost airlines; explore the factors behind their success, analyze their business model and prospect their growth. The deregulation of air transport Following the enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the control of airline business and services was, to some extent, moved from the political system to the market system (Dempsey and Goetz, 1992). Deregulation refers to the change of the control exercised over air travel from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which administrated the entry of airlines into the business, their exit and the pricing of airline services, to the partial control and administration of business systems and infrastructure. Deregulation also featured the abolishment of the CAB’s control of mergers, intercarrier agreements and customer affairs (Dempsey and Goetz, 1992). The complete shift of the control took place after the endorsement of the CAB sunset ACT of 1984, which gave way to the economic liberalization of the management of air travel, which was part of deregulation, which was started after the realization that the political control of the economy did not serve the best interests of the public (Dempsey and Goetz, 1992). The air freedoms that came after deregulation Following the deregulation of the management and the control of airline services, all airline operators were allowed the freedom to operate on any route that they chose to operate. The operators of air travel services were allowed the freedom to set the fares of their travel services like they deemed fit, which would be influenced by the forces of demand, and the supply of air travel services (Dempsey and Goetz, 1992). During the time before the deregulation, there were some carriers that were not allowed to operate out of specified states, but after deregulation, these carriers were allowed to fly and operate across the country, without any limitations. Following the deregulation of the air travel industry, the restrictions that had been set in the way of entry into the industry were abolished (Dempsey and Goet

Teen Pregnancy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Teen Pregnancy - Research Paper Example The United States has the highest number of teen pregnancy in the world with recent statistics revealing that nearly 46% of teenagers in the ages of 15-19 have indulged in sex (Teen pregnancy statistics). In order to reduce this growing rate of teenage pregnancy, abstinence from sex is widely recommended for teenagers by many conservative politicians and health personal by educating teenagers about the effects of pre-marital sexual practices. However, many pediatricians and health counselors have expressed that mere teaching of sexual abstinence would not be sufficient and have recommended that teenagers should have access to birth control and emergency contraceptive options which would be helpful, especially in cases where the teenager was forced in to sex. (Teen pregnancy statistics). Hence, despite the various views expressed teenage pregnancy can be effectively controlled and managed through adequate knowledge about sexual practices and access to birth control measures in additio n to sexual abstinence. At a younger age the sexual intercourse is mostly non-voluntary or unwanted (Teen pregnancy statistics; Facts on American; Tanne, 2005). And such unprotected, unwanted sex increases the risk of pregnancy or being affected with sexually transmitted diseases (Facts on American). Teen pregnancy not only affects the physical and mental strength of the teenagers, the children born to such teenagers also suffer from problems such as low-birth weight and tend to perform less well in school compared to children born to adult mothers (Teen pregnancy statistics). People, who believe that sexual abstinence is the only best way to reduce the occurrence of teenage pregnancy, stress that it is better not to teach teenagers more than what is required about sex as it would only result in an increased involvement towards sexual practices. Rearing a teenager with the right family values will definitely help to alleviate unnecessary thoughts about sex and sexual activities at a

A Dolls House | Analysis | Female Gender

A Dolls House | Analysis | Female Gender Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House presents to us Nora, the doll, who is caught up in a constricting marriage to Torvald, who represents the society of 19th century Europe through his narrow mindedness and hard and fast rules. In this society, women are a suppressed bunch and do not have many opportunities to express or be themselves When they are little girls in pigtails, they live by their fathers rules and abide by the law in the house. They get married and go to their nuptial homes .Here they have to live under the thumb of their husbands and meekly take on whatever is thrown at them. On the other hand, we have Mariama BÃ ¢s So long a letter, which is set in Post-colonialist Senegal. Here we have Ramatoulaye, a model housewife living under her husbands roof and putting her family before self. She writes a long letter to her best friend Aissatou which details the events after her husbands death and also provides a flashback of her and her friends lives over the time they have matured from girls to women to mothers. An unmistakable hint of feminism is perhaps what makes the novel a strong megaphone for the oppressed woman in Africa. The African woman is oppressed by her culture and by virtue of her position. Aissatou is however a rebel and goes against the societal norms and Ramatoulaye gradually realizes she cannot look to her culture for much. Throughout both of the works that I have studied, both the characters of Nora and Ramatoulaye are similar in the fact that both their characters develop throughout the novels. This represents the emergence of the feminine in both the works. In this essay, I will be analyzing how the writers present women and the problems that they face in two different societies in two different parts of the world. Ibsen was very concerned a about the position of women in the society that he lived in .he looked at his mother and the other women he was associated with as models to study. He thought that women had a right to amplify their own distinctiveness, but in reality, their function was habitually self-sacrificial. The concept of gender- equality did not exist and women were regarded inferior, either in relation to their husbands or the social order, as is apparent from Torvalds dismay of his employees thinking he has been influenced in a decision about Krogstads job by his wife. It was not tolerable for women to conduct business or control their own capital. It was considered necessary that they had the authorization of the man who owned them husband, brother or father before they engaged in any activity involving money. Furthermore, they were not cultured for responsibility. Nora falls victim to both the injustices, by taking out a loan without the endorsement of her husband or father and by believing, out of unawareness of the world around her, that she could get away with forging a signature. In a way, single or widowed women like Mrs. Linde had more room to breathe than married ones, in that they earned their own money and did not have to hand it over to the alpha male of the family .They also did not have to depend on their husbands for anything. But even so, the careers open to women were constrained and hardly paid enough. They could either become clerks, teach or house-keep. Whats more, womens work was grindingly dreary, and likely to leave an intelligent woman like Mrs. Linde disgruntled. Women often got into another trap: Marriage. Yes, marriage was a snare in itself. They could divorce, but it carried a communal stigma not only for the woman, but also for her spouse and family. Hence, few women even weighed it as an option. Torvald preferred to a certain extent to have a make believe marriage, for the sake of appearances, rather than an annulment or an amicable separation. When he discovers the truth about the money, he tells Nora. It must be hushed up. Whatever it costs. As for you and me, we must go on as if nothing had changed between us. In public. This is clearly demonstrative of the fact that Torvalds regard for his public image is much greater then his regard for Noras happiness, who is clearly in an unhappy alliance. He should let Nora get a divorce from him rather than being in a playhouse marriage. The characters of Nora, Mrs. Linde and the Nurse all have to sacrifice something or the other to be accepted, or even to survive. Nora not only sacrifices herself in borrowing money to save Torvald, but she loses the children she undoubtedly loves when she decides to pursue her own identity. Mrs. Linde loses the true love of her life, Krogstad, and is forced to say I do to a chap she does not love in order to prop up her needy relatives. The Nurse gives up her own child to look after other peoples in order to survive financially. Besides, she sees herself blessed to get her lowly job, given that she has committed the sin of having a child out of wedlock. In the society where Ibsen as raised women who had illegitimate babies were stigmatized, while the men responsible often escaped scorn. Hence, A Dolls house presents a pitiable picture in terms of the treatment and position of women in the European society of the 19th century. On the other end of the line we have So long a letter, which is a novel written in Western Africa, most probably Senegal. This book details the lives of two women, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou, who are moving through life with nothing but each others support. They are both caught in the same situation as they are both victims of their husbands marrying other women and hence engaged in bigamy. This novella shows us two sides of the same society The post/colonialism Senegal is a hugely patriarchal society, where the men are placed at the crux of family life. They are the sole breadwinners in each households. They put the food on the table and are the only source of income in any family. The women however, cut a sorry figure. The only function they seem to perform or the only utility they seem to have is to have babies for their husbands. The only role they play is that of prostituting for their husbands. Pardon my strong language, but it would seem that women were placed in that society only to satisfy the men and have sex with them. The only course that their lives could take was to get married and have children as soon as they finished their school. That is, if they were lucky enough to go to school. Senegal is a chiefly Islamic country and sharia law was followed.Sharia law prohibits girls who have reached maturity to go to school to avoid any contact with the outside world .Basically; they could not go school, as it would mean getting to meet people from the outside and also socialize with men other than their own fathers or brothers. However, Ramatoulaye does have the opportunity to go to school fortunately. This is one of the factors that influenced the way sh e looked at life compared to the older women of her time.. Also the society was in a way hypocritical, because the men could do anything they wanted and go scot- free but the women would be criticized for doing the same. In fact, both the husbands of Aissatou and Ramatoulaye commit bigamy with women half their ages. However, the women were looked down upon if they married a second time unless they were widows. Also, Islam prevents divorce, unless the husband chooses to divorce his wife. The woman has no right to divorce her husband because, according to sharia law, they had the sole role of upbringing the children. The man was only supposed to bring in the money. Hence, the religion of Senegal also played a restricting role and was in a way responsible for the treatment of women as represented in So long a letter. In the above discussion I have analyzed both A Dolls House and So long a letter by looking at instances which look at the way in which women were treated in the respective societies in which the books are set in. It is to be noted that A Dolls House and So long a letter were not only written in different countries, but also during different time spans. However, these two books both paint a gloomy picture of the way in which women were placed in society and treated by the people around them despite being written almost a century apart. Another noticeable attribute of both the works is the fact that the women protagonists rise up through the rubble of their lives somewhat like the mythical Phoenix. This is also relevant in the modern context because nowadays women have risen up to be equals to men in all spheres of life. Aditya Arun

American Legion :: Essays Papers

American Legion The American Legion: A Right To Membership Introduction The United States Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919. Its purpose was to benefit veterans and their families, promote Americanism and serve the greater good of communities nationwide. First welcomed to membership were veterans returning home from the battlefields of Europe. But over the years, Congress amended the Legion’s charter so as to include those who had served in World War II, Korea and more recent conflicts. Ineligible for American Legion membership, however, remain the many men and women who had answered our nation’s call while American military forces were not actively engaging an enemy of the United States. Serving with valor and distinction, these members of the armed forces have guarded America’s shores and protected the nation’s strategic assets at U.S. military bases across the world. They have been on the front lines of American efforts to mediate conflicts between warring factions in Europe, Asia and Africa. And they, too, have been prime targets for armed aggressors, terrorist attacks and saboteurs. The question is: have these veterans not earned the right to membership in the American Legion as well? This essay seeks to explore whether the American Legion’s charter should be amended so as to better reflect our nation’s appreciation for those who serve in times of war and peace. Indeed, it is an issue made all the more cogent today: With increasing numbers of young Americans rejecting the armed forces as a career option, recruitment goals are not being met and the military is being forced to lower its entrance requirements. If this trend is not soon reversed, the U.S. military could be perceived as incapable of implementing our nation’s strategic policies abroad -- a perception that can only encourage the most aggressive ambitions of other nations. A Resource for Veterans In seeking to determine whether the American Legion should open its doors to non-wartime veterans, we must begin with a look at the organization itself: its mission, its outreach programs and, above all, the benefits today’s Legion is able to provide for a worldwide membership now approaching three million men and women. Meeting in Paris some five months after the armistice of November 1918, delegates from combat and service units of the American Expeditionary Force resolved to found an organization that would protect the interests of veterans through the years that followed.