Journalism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journalism - Research Paper Example Both of the victims had criminal records and were not armed at the time of their deaths in the hands of police officers. A white police officer killed Michael Brown, a black teenager, while a Black police officer killed Taylor; a White who was two years older than Mr. Brown was, two days later. Understanding the cases as inter racial conflict would attract equal media criticism and coverage in a bid to condemn the conflict. Perceiving Taylor’s case as retaliation against the murder of a Black unarmed man by a White police officer could have even elicited greater reaction to Taylor’s murder but this was not the case. Responses to Taylor’s murder, posted days apart, illustrate the under-coverage or media blackout that the case received. A post, on a Thursday, criticized the liberal media for failing cover the story and another social media post, on a Sunday, noted that limited information had been published on the killer and no arrest had been made. This is contrar y to feelings that one person expressed that like the Brown case, people, and the media, by implication, needed to be angry over the Taylor murder (Richardson, 2014). The Brown case was considered an outlier and explains bias of the media because data shows that intra-racial crimes are more than inter racial crimes for Blacks and Whites, an observation that suggests that an incident of inter racial crime should not attract extreme levels of reaction. A crime in which the victim and the criminal are from the same race should therefore attract greater media attention for criticism and inter racial crimes in which the offenders are from different races should attract similar levels of criticism. While the Ferguson case attracted global mainstream media and serious riots, the Utah case attracted minimal riots that only the local media covered. The media is also blamed for a possible active role in fueling the Ferguson riots that escalated racial tension and promoted the false

Critical Disagreement Essay Example for Free

Critical Disagreement Essay Few modern writers reveal a more consistent intellectual development than Ernest Hemingway. In both his themes and the meaning he has found in them he has moved steadily and even logically from the earliest work of In Our Time to the significant orientation of The Fifth Column. The logic of this development has for the most part remained unnoticed by critics who have failed to realize that Hemingway, far from being a child of nature, is in fact an intellectual. They have presented him, consequently, as a sort of savage endowed with style, gifted but brainless. A Farewell to Arms ( 1929) takes us to the Italian front and includes a vivid account of the terrible retreat from Caporetto. An American lieutenant in the Italian Red Cross falls in love with an English nurse and she with him. Both have previously suffered more attrition than human nerves can stand, and in their passionate attachment they find a psychological refuge from the incessant horror of war. They escape to brief happiness in Switzerland, but in giving birth to a child the girl dies. The ending is far from inevitable. It is a comment on the looseness of Hemingways artistry that the moving picture version of this novel was equipped with alternative sad and happy conclusions. In A Farewell to Arms it is society as a whole that is rejected, social responsibility, social concern. Lieutenant Henry is in the War, but his attitude toward it is purely that of a spectator, refusing to be involved. He is leading a private life as an isolated individual. Even personal relations, of any depth or intimacy, he avoids; he drinks with the officers and talks with the priest and visits the officers brothel, but all contacts he keeps, deliberately, on a superficial level. He has rejected the world. Such an attitude is possible only to a sensitive and reflective person. Henry is no naive barbarian. He was studying architecture in Italy when the War began; he makes ironical remarks about sculptures and bronzes; his reflections and conversation contain allusions to Samuel Johnson, Saint Paul, Andrew Marvell, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. His flight from responsibility is the ultimate of the flight that Jake and Brett and Mike were trying to effect with drink and bullfights and sex. He is evading responsibility and emotion, taking refuge in simple primary sensations. Successfully, so far as the War is concerned: I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious and sacrifice and the expression in vain . . . Abstract words, such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the number of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates. Characterization Hemingways greatness lies not in the range of his characterization or the suppleness of his style but in the astonishing perfection of these limited objectives. As Wilhelm points out, â€Å"the oppressive weight of death and anxiety in this object composition, subtly framed for the readers perusal, undercuts the scenes mask of well-beingtwo wartime colleagues bonding rather sophomorically in their desire for women. Henry imbues the elements of this expansive still life with symbolic import, foreshadowing events to come. Because objects are frequently used for characterization, Henrys possessions provide visual clues to the reader, but only as fragments in the larger narrative that withhold their essential meaning until the texts conclusion†. (Wilhelm) The very intensity of Hemingways nihilism in his first stories and novels proved, however, that his need for an ideal expression in art was the mark of a passionate romanticist who had been profoundly disappointed. The anguish of his characters was too dramatic, too flawless; it was too transparent an inversion. The symbols Hemingway employed to convey his sense of the worlds futility and horror were always more significant than the characters who personified emotions, and the characters were so often felt as personified emotions that the emotions became sentimental. The gallery of expatriates in The Sun Also Rises were always subsidiary to the theme that the period itself was lost; the lovers in A Farewell to Arms were, as Edmund Wilson has said, the abstractions of a lyric emotion. Hemingway had created a world of his own socially more brilliant than life, but he was not writing about people living in a world; he was dealing in stock values again, driving his characters between the two poles of a tremulous inner exaltation and an absolute frustration. What he liked best was to invoke the specter of damnation. But A Farewell to Arms is a tragedy, and the lovers are shown as innocent victims with no relation to the forces that torment them. They themselves are not tormented within by that dissonance between personal satisfaction and the suffering one shares with others which it has been Hemingways triumph to handle. A Farewell to Arms, as the author once said, is a Romeo and Juliet. And when Catherine and her lover emerge from the stream of actionthe account of the Caporetto retreat is Hemingways best sustained piece of narrativewhen they escape from the alien necessities of which their romance has been merely an accident, which have been writing their story for them, then we see that they are not in themselves convincing as human personalities. And we are confronted with the paradox that Hemingway, who possesses so remarkable a mimetic gift in catching the tone of social and national types and in making his people talk appropriately, has not shown any very solid sense of character, or indeed, any real interest in it. The people in his short stories are satisfactory because he has only to hit them off: the point of the story does not lie in personalities, but in the emotion to which a situation gives rise. This is true even in The Sun Also Rises, where the characters are sketched with wonderful cleverness. But in A Farewell to Arms, as soon as we are brought into real intimacy with the lovers, as soon as the author is obliged to see them through a searching personal experience, we find merely an idealized relationship, the abstractions of a lyric emotion. Against the gaiety, the warmth of A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway portrays, of course, the cumulative degeneration of the human temperament under the conditions of war. The novel is a series of human defeats within one continuous and terrible sequence: the rains, the cholera, the soldiers who mutilate themselves rather than go on fighting, the growing weariness of the Italian army which led up to Caporetto, the degeneration of Rinaldi himself who is symptomatic of the novels pattern, and at its start is so quick and alive. Contrasted against this in turn, in the love of Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley we have another antithesis of increasing joy. The love and the despair are constantly related, intensely intertwined, and in the end almost gain the feeling of life and death themselves: the death preying upon the living organism of the lovers hope, eating into the flesh and destroying the form from page to page. Yet each change of form, each advance of destruction makes the life of the novel more vital, the life we know must yield, but in the manner of its yielding asserting itself beyond its destruction. A Farewell to Arms in this sense lies quite outside of the pattern of Hemingways development which we have been showing. For the feeling of tragedy in the novel comes precisely from the struggle to participate in life despite all the odds, from the efforts of the lovers to fulfill themselves in a sterile world, from the exact impact of the human will which Hemingway has negated. Yet even here we must notice that Lieutenant Henry turns his back upon our society after Caporetto. Following his personal objectives he abandons his friends, his responsibilities as an officer, the entire complex of organized social life represented by the army and the war. This farewell to arms is accomplished without request or permission. Lieutenant Henry, in fact, deserts, and his action is prophetic of his authors own future movement. You and me, says Nick to the Rinaldi of In Our Time, weve made a separate peace. And Hemingways separate peace was to embrace the woods of Michigan as well as Caporetto, the activities of normal times as well as war, and even at last the ordinary purposes of the individuals life within his society, as well as the collective purposes of society as a whole. Conclusion A Farewell to Arms is even more strictly the story of one man; here, even more than in The Sun Also Rises, the reader feels the cleft between the primary and secondary figures. Both books have the foreshortening of time which is more properly the privilege of the drama than of the traditional novel a technique toward which, since Hemingway demonstrated its immense value, American fiction has been striving with remarkable persistence. Back in the nineteenth century, when people like Henry James and Paul Bourget were taking such distinctions seriously, books like these would have been classified as novelas. I have some difficulty in feeling any wide gap between books in which Hemingway is reporting upon young men who are in character-tastes, occupations, age very much like himself, and books in which he drops the pretense of fiction in order to discuss the same materials in definite reference to himself. And why, to come directly to the main question, do we have to consider Death in the Afternoon and Green Hills of Africa such failures, anyway? One may not be particularly interested in bullfighting and still find that the considered statement, by an accomplished artist, regarding the effect on his own personality of the study of the worlds most stylized form of violence is a document of extraordinary interest, particularly if the artist is making a special effort to see himself clearly at the time. We can also agree with Edmund Wilson that as a book about animals Green Hills of Africa is dull, as we can agree with Max Eastman that as a manual of tauromachy Death in the Afternoon is silly, and still be passionately interested in Hemingways report on himself as a killer. I imagine the answer is that we were concerned by the apparent disappearance of a novelist who seemed to be losing his grip. Hemingway himself was aware of the danger and discoursed upon it for the benefit of the German traveler in the beginning of Green Hills of Africa. He also seemed to feel the danger of losing his memory for sharply characterized sensations, so essential to his kind of writing. In the books after 1930 he seems disproportionately intent on catching things before he forgets them. Works Cited Balbert, Peter. Courage at the Border-Line: Balder, Hemingway, and Lawrences the Captains Doll. Papers on Language Literature 42. 3 (2006) Bloom, Harold, ed. Ernest Hemingways a Farewell to Arms. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Giles, Todd. Simon and Schusters Hemingway Audio Collection. The Hemingway Review 26. 1 (2006) Onderdonk, Todd. Bitched: Feminization, Identity, and the Hemingwayesque in the Sun Also Rises. Twentieth Century Literature 52. 1 (2006) Trodd, Zoe. Hemingways Camera Eye: The Problem of Language and an Interwar Politics of Form. The Hemingway Review 26. 2 (2007) Wagner-Martin, Linda, ed. Seven Decades of Criticism Seven Decades of Criticism. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1998. Whitlow, Roger. Cassandras Daughters: The Women in Hemingway. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. Wilhelm, Randall S. Objects on the Table: Anxiety and Still Life in Hemingways A Farewell to Arms. The Hemingway Review 26. 1 (2006)

Fathers role in molding his sons adolescence

Fathers role in molding his sons adolescence Over the years so many theories have made it evident that the father is a role model to his children, especially his son during the adolescence years. But none have discussed in what manner he affects, what are the domains in which he is influential and what factors play role to have these effects. Even after being the third in the mother-child dyad, how come the father becomes so important once the child is in his/her puberty, more importantly the son. This paper is an attempt to analysis the findings of the earlier studies done in this domain, to summate their findings and conclude the role of the father in molding his adolescent sons life. According to Freudian psychoanalytical view the father is considered to be a fear instigating factor in a sons life due to which he identifies with him. In a research study based psychoanalytical view of role of father as being the one who castrates shows the importance of identification with him as a gender role model for son for healthy development of sexual orientation later in life (Ceccarelli and Horizonte, 2003). This study explains that the lack/absence of a father who demands respect from the son and lay strong secure base for him to project his oedipal complexes by constantly defining limits, can lead to the construction of the nostalgia of the fathers protection as the transformation of this father into the symbolic father and his projection of his need for a father figure onto his sexual partners and also defining his sexual preference (the cases described in the study were of sons who had homosexual orientation). Therefore a male role model needs to be present for the son to develop sexual preferences which invariantly becomes prominent during the pubertal years, as the boy experiences new bodily changes. According to Zoja (2001) in his book The Father: Historical, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives with Jungian analytical view, points that a single mother can assume the role of a father in preadolescent years of the child because the woman has been able to reconcile her role of mother with her role of lover, but later due to change in group dynamics and development of concept of gender-identity in adolescent years, need for an actual male father figure arises, for these adolescents form gangs which have a crude and regressive masculine psychology and its unconscious function is to challenge the father just as the gangs of animals are placed in masculine hierarchy. Sipsma, Biello, Cole-Lewis and Kershaw (2010) show that sons of adolescent fathers were 1.8 times more likely to become adolescent fathers than were sons of older fathers, as they l acked proper father figure in their life as their father themselves have not been mature enough to provide them with the strong security which is associated with a father. Adolescent boys with their father-present have higher male sex- role preferences than father-absent boys, though both father-present and father absent adolescent boys imitate male sex-role and female sex-roles which is not in correlation to their sex-role preferences. Moreover the masculine preferences are well established by age seven, more in father-present boys than in father-absent ones (Bandaines, 1976), showing clearly the role model that a father assumes quite early in his sons life. According to findings of Almeida and Galambos (1991), fathers acceptance of adolescent son increases with time, and as they get more involved in each other life, a better understanding may develop helping the adolescent child to deal with his conflicts. Moreover in single-earner families fathers tend to spend more time with the ir sons than their daughter which may be it being easy to identify with the same sex both ways. Thus it is clear that the presence of fathers who involve in their adolescent sons can lead to better feeling of acceptance in the child. Jones, Kramer, Armitage and Williams (2003) showed that the perceived quality of father-son (and mother-son) relation was negatively correlated with psychological separation: better the perceived quality, the less psychologically separated they were. Adolescent boys with non-resident fathers who had more frequent contact with their fathers experienced less psychological separation and more of overall healthy separateness. studies show that males who experience separation from their fathers early in life (before age 5yrs), even though they developed unhindered masculine preferences, experience high rate of low self-esteem and self-confidence, while those who are separated from their fathers later in life due to divorce of parents are less likely to marry and more likely to have common-law relationships (Covell and Turnbull, 1982). Robertson (1999) in his study found out that, variation in family structure, lack sense of attachment to family or parents, lack of shared leisure experiences with adolescent sons beyond age 10yr, and lack of interest in the adolescent sons live, especially by fathers lead to increased rated of delinquency in these boys. In a study done on African-American adolescent males involved in delinquent activities showed that, there was a detrimental effect of low socioeconomic-status on the delinquent activities of father-absent pubertal boys than those living in dual-parent families. Moreover the study showed that the parental monitoring done by the fathers was inversely correlated to the delinquent acts of the adolescent as these adolescent males benefited from being in a dual-parent family where they received paternal supervision besides maternal control (Paschall et al. 2003). With emergence of adolescence, drugs-use becomes a major concern and the experimenting youth become easy prey to such addiction. In such times the father can be a major influential factor in his sons life, who can either make him more prone to adapt to the habit or easy for him to stay away from such indulgence. Brook et. al.(1983) findings show that affectionate, emotionally supportive, attentive, involved in their sons life and engaging in meaningful conversation fathers have sons who dont smoke. Moreover fathers of nonsmokers have higher expectations from their sons and help to cultivate their ideas therefore may be encouraging their need for independence, which foster in their sons a sense of competence and achievement. On the other hand adolescent boys who smoked were unable to identify with their fathers beliefs and values and more identified with the stereotypical macho-masculine roles and that helped them to compensate for the poor paternal masculine role, which tend to spend less quality as well as quantity of time with their sons, and most of them smoke themselves. Apart from these the smokers differed from the nonsmoker adolescent boys on many personality traits; they tend to be less frustration tolerant, less compliant to family situations, less responsible and more rebellious and impulsive. The smoking behavior helps them to compensate for the feeling of low self-esteem, which develops due to a poor paternal role model. In another study Brook et. al (1981) found that adolescent marijuana users are less likely to perceive their fathers as less affectionate and child-centered, and they lack paternal control. Another domain in which fathers make a big contribution to adolescent sons is the area of subjective well-being and values-judgments. James R. Barclay (1980) in his study defines the role of a father in his adolescent sons development of values as that of, the masculine role model, the communicator (listening to different views and offering problem-solving methodologies), the moral model (striving to live somewhere between the absolutist and complete relativist) and the fallible reinforcing agent. Further studies show that fathers support is positively related to the psychological well-being of adolescent boys, especially those who are constantly bullied at school or by their peer group. (Flouri and Buchanan, 2002). In men positive parenting(by both or either parents) influenced psychological functioning by lowering psychological maladjustment in adolescence and increasing the odds of being partnered in midadulthood, it protected against psychological distress by promoting educationa l attainment and physical health in adolescence and young adulthood, and by increasing the odds of being religious and partnered in midadulthood, and it predicted life satisfaction by lowering psychological maladjustment in adolescence. (Flouri, 2003) Thus the involvement of father in a childs adolescent years, especially the son is more important so as to provide him with better gender role; help in developing better self-esteem and confidence, overall feeling of subjective-wellbeing and trust in long term commitments; and thus keeping a check on childs maladaptive behaviors such as that of engaging in early sexual relations, committing delinquency and abusing substances. Refrences: Almeida D. and Galambos N. Examining Father Involvement and the Quality of Father-Son Relations. Journal Of Research in Adolescence. 1991. 1(2), 155-172. Bandaines J. Identification, Imitation and Sex-Role Preference in Father-Present and Father-Absent Black and Chicano Boys. The Journal of Psychology, 1976. 92, 15-24 Barclay, J.R. Values of Adolescent Males and Father-Son Relations. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 1980, 267-269 Brook J. et.al. The Role of the Father in His Sons Marijuana Use. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1981. 138, 81-86 Brook J. et.al. Fathers And Sons: Their Relationship And Personality Characteristics Associated With The Sons Smoking Behavior. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1983. 142, 271-281. Covell K. and Turnbull W. The Long Term Effects of Father Absence in Childhood on Male University Students Sex-Role Identity and Personal Adjustment. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1982. 141, 271-276. Ceccarelli and Horizonte, May I Call You Father? Int. Forum Psychoanal., 2003, 12, 195-203 Flouri E. Subjective Well-being in Midlife:The Role of Involvement and Closeness to Parents in Childhood. Journal of Happiness Studies 2004. 5: 335-358. Flouri and Buchanan. Life Satisfaction in Teenage Boys: The Moderating Role of Father Involvement and Bullying. Aggr. Behav. 2002. 28:126-133 Jones et al. The Impact of Father Absence on Adolescent Separation-Individuation. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 2003, 129(1), 73-95 Knafo, A. and Shwartz S.H. Parenting and Adolescents Accuracy in Perceiving Parental Values, Child Development, 2003, Vol.74.2, 595-611 Paschall M., Ringwalt C. and Flewelling R. Effects Of Parenting, Father Absence, And Affiliation With Delinquent Peers On Delinquent Behavior Among African-American Male Adolescents. Adolescence, Spring 2003. 38:149, 15-34 Robertson. Leisure and Family: Perspectives of Male Adolescents who engage in Delinquent activity as Leisure, Journal of Leisure Research. 1999,Vol.31(4), 335-358 Sipsma et al. Like Father, Like Son: The Intergenerational Cycle of Adolescent Fatherhood, American Journal of Public Health, March 2010, Vol. 100.3, 517-524. Zoja, Luigi. The Father : Historical, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives. Taylor Francis Routledge, 2001 .

Flannery OConnor’s The Enduring Chill :: OConnor Enduring Chill Essays

Flannery O'Connor’s The Enduring Chill Flannery O'Connor’s story, "The Enduring Chill." focuses on Asbury, a young man who fancies himself as a writer but who is convinced he is going to die young. Right from the very start we have the feeling that, as in the other stories, Christ/God is present through the figure of the sun: The sky was a chill gray and a startling white gold sun, like some strange potentate from the east, was rising beyond the black woods that surrounded Timberboro. (82) As the story proceeds it centres on the relationships between Asbury, his mother and Dr Block who attends Asbury and Asbury's growing conviction that he is shortly going to die, hence the title of the story, "The Enduring Chill." Another major symbol in the development of Asbury's obsession figures through the watermark or the water stain on the ceiling of Asbury's bedroom: When she was gone, he lay for some time staring at the water stains on the gray walls. Descending from the top moulding, long icicle shapes had been etched by leaks and, directly over his bed on the ceiling, another leak had made a fierce bird with spread wings. It had an icicle crosswise in its beak and there were smaller icicles depending from its wings and tail. It had been there since his childhood and had always irritated him and sometimes had frightened him. He had often had the illusion that it was in motion about to descend mysteriously and set the icicle on his head. He closed his eyes and thought: I won't have to look at it for many more days. And presently he went to sleep. (93) Clearly what is being suggested here is the peace of the Holy Ghost. In what is the climatic centre of the story, Asbury has a visit from a Roman Catholic Priest who accuses him of ignorance: "How can the Holy Ghost fill your soul when it's full of trash?" the Priest roared. "The Holy Ghost will not come until you see yourself as you are-a lazy ignorant conceited youth!" he said, pounding his fist on the little bedside table. (107) This is confirmed as the story proceeds because we find out that Asbury isn't really that sick at all: he only has a form of undulant fever and is going to live. At the very end of the story Asbury seems to give up his aspiration to be a great writer as he accepts the presence and power of Christ instead:

Financial Accounting 504 Final Project Essay

As noted in Wikipedia Oracle is headquartered in Redwood, California. It was founded in 1977 and is the world’s third largest soft wear developer in sales. According to Yahoo Finance Oracle is a multi-faceted operation. Oracle provides a vast amount of services for the internet and computer. It provides cloud applications, IT consulting services, licenses middleware software which includes database and database management. It has 115,000 full time employees and is run by co-founder, CEO Larry Ellison who has been the only CEO of the company since it’s inception. Also noted in Wikipedia he is the top paid CEO in the world. In 2013 Oracle currently has an operating cash flow of 13.72B with revenues of 37.15B which can be found in Yahoo Finance. Microsoft is a leading software company started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. The company’s headquarters is located in Redmond, Washington where like Oracle it develops, licenses, manufactures and support a wide range of computing sources, as documented in Wikipedia. Yahoo finance reports that in addition to licensing and manufacturing software over the globe it also designs hardware and has recently entered into the hardware industry with it’s new tablet. It also has a entertainment division which is responsible for the manufacturing of Xbox360 gaming and consoles, Kinect for Xbox and video games among other products. It has a total of 94,000 full time employees and can be credited for creating 3 billionaires and 12 millionaires from the company’s operations. Microsoft currently has a cash flow of 73.79B with revenues of 76.01B for 2013. Interpretation and Comparison between the two companies’ ratios (Reading the Appendix of Chapter 13 will help you prepare the commentary) Oracle Corporation Microsoft Corporation Earnings per share As given in the income statement $1.69 Basic Common $2.73 Microsoft has shown to have a higher EPS than Oracle. Current ratio Current assets Current liabilities $39,174 $14,192 = 2.76 $74,918 $28,774 2.60 Oracle is showing more favorable current ratio than Microsoft. This ratio depicts for every dollar of current liabilites it has the respective amount in current assets. Gross Profit Ratio Gross profit Net Sales Gross Profit = net sales – COGS Oracle: 35,622 – 8,398 = 27,224 Microsoft: 69,943 15,577 = 54,366 $27,224 $35,622 = 76.4% $54,366 $69,943 77.7% Microsoft’s Gross Profit Ratio is slightly better than Oracle. Profit margin ratio Net Income Net Sales $8,547 $35,622 = 24.0% $23,150 $69,943 33.1% Microsoft has a better Profit Margin Ratio than Oracle. Inventory Turnover Cost of Goods Sold Average Inventory Average Inventory: 2011 + 2010/2 Oracle: 303 + 259/2 = 281 Microsoft: 1,372 + 740/2 = 1056 $8,398 $281 29.9 times $15,577 $1,056 14.8 times Oracle shows a significantly higher turnover than Microsoft. Days in Inventory 365 days Inventory turnover 365 29.9 = 12 days 365 14.8 25 days Oracle has better result than Microsoft Receivable Turnover Ratio Net credit sales Average Net Receivables Average Net Receivables: 2011 +2010/2 Oracle: 6628 + 5585/2 = 6107 Avg NR Microsoft:14987 + 13014/2 = 14001 Avg N $35,622 $6,107 = 5.8 $69,943 $14,001 5.0 Microsofts Receivable Turnover is faster than Oracle. Average Collection Period 365 Receivable Turnover Ratio 365 5.8 = 62.6 days 365 5.0 73.1 Oracle has a better result on the collection period. Assets Turnover Ratio Net Sales Average Total Assets Average Total Assets = 2011+2010/2 Oracle: 73535 + 61578/2 = 67557 Microsoft: 108704 + 86113 = 97409 $35,622 $67,557 = 0.53 $69,943 $97,409 0.72 Microsoft shows a better ratio. Return on Assets Ratio Net Income Average Total Assets $8,547 $67,557 = 12.7% $23,150 $97,409 23.8% Microsoft has a better return on their assets. Debt to Total Assets Ratio Total Liabilities Total Assets $33,290 $73,535 = 45.3% $51,621 $108,704 47.5% Microsoft is slightly higher so Oracle has a better ratio. Times Interest Earned Ratio Net Income + Int Expense + Tax Expense Interest Expense $12,219 $808 = 15.1 28,366 295 96.2 Microsoft has a much healthier ratio than Oracle. Payout ratio Cash dividend declared on common stock Net income $1,061 $8,547 = 12.4% $5,180 $23,150 22.4% Microsoft has a higher rate of dividend pay outs Return on Common Stockholders’ Equity Net income – Preferred stock dividend Average common stockholders’ equity Oracle Avg SE: 40245 + 31199/2 Microsoft Avg SE: 57083 + 46175/2 8,547 35,722.00 = 23.9% $23,150 $51,629 44.8% Microsoft earned more on the dollar of their net income for each dollar of the stockholder’s equity. Free cash flow Cash provided by operations minus capital expenditures minus cash dividends paid $9,703 = $9,703 $19,459 $ Microsoft has a considerable amount more Free cash 19,459 flow than Oracle Current cash debt coverage ratio Cash provided by operations Average current liabilities $11,214 $14,442 = 0.78 $26,994 $27,461 0.98 Microsoft has a better ratio of paying debt within the year. Cash debt coverage ratio Cash provided by operations Average total liabilities $11,214 $31,835 = 0.35 $26,994 $45,780 0.59 Microsoft has a better ratio. Price/Earnings ratio Market price as of 06/30/2011 EPS as of 06/30/2011 $34.22 $1.69 = 20 $26.87 $2.73 10 Oracle fairs better than Microsoft with the investor’s projection of the strength of future earnings Liquidity: Overall Oracle has shown to a better liquidity ratio than Microsoft. Some areas the two companies are relatively close in liquidity performance as depicted in the current ratio. In other areas Oracle proves to have much better performance than Microsoft as depicted in the inventory and days in inventory ratios however and current ratio. Oracle also has a faster collection period than Microsoft as reflected in the average collection period ratio. I would declare Oracle as having a better liquidity standing than Microsoft. Solvency: Microsoft is superior to Oracle in this ratio category. Although Microsoft has a little more risk than Oracle in the debt to current assest ratio which means that if necessary Oracle has a better opportunity to convert assets in to cash with a 45.3% while Microsoft is at 47.5% however; this is the only ratio that Oracle is more favorable than Microsoft. With Microsoft’s free cash flow of $19,459 billion versus Oracle’s $9,703, Microsoft is least likely to have the need to liquidate their assets. Free cash flow ratio gives insight to a company’s acquisition power, ability to eliminate or minimize debt and allows for a higher dividend payout. Microsoft has a better current cash debt to current liability ratio as well. For evey $1 in liability Microsoft as .98 cash from operating activities while Oracle has .78 from operating activities for every $1 of current liability. Given these analysis Microsoft has a better overall solvency status than Oracle. Profitability: This category of ratios is the more focused one by investors  because it gives the most accurate prognosis of a company’s most gain out of investmens from investors. Beginning with Gross Profit ratio the two companies are very close with Microsoft showing a 77.7% and Oracle showing a 76.4% they both fair pretty well in gross profits. Microsoft has an advantage over Oracle in all ratios in this category except for Price earning sharing ratio. The payout ratio and the return on common stockholder’s equity ratio are significantly higher than Oracle’s but Oracle has a higer price earnings per share ratio as stated earlier which signifies that investors believe that Oracle’s stock is going to increase over a period of time. Conclusion: Although based on the ratios Oracle seems to be a safer investment and deemed by investors for the fiscal year of 2011 to have higher potential in the market and as noted by Eddie Beverage in an online article on Five Capital website Oracle has shown consistency over the past decade than Microsoft with trending increases. However; given that Microsoft has a substantially higher payout and higher return on stockholder’s equity I would take the risk and go with Microsoft. Beverage, E. (2011, Oct 21). Microsoft V Oracle: You know you want one. Retrieved from Seeking Alpha. Oracle Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation Weygandt, J., Kimmel, & Kleso, D. (2011). Financial Accounting. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ORCL Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MSFT Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Microsoft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft Wikipedia Oracle Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Wikipedia:

Critically assess the significance and the implication Essays

Critically assess the significance and the implication Essays Critically assess the significance and the implication Essay Critically assess the significance and the implication Essay Critically assess the significance and the deduction of rank of the WTO in relation to both the Chinese legal system and legal regulations within China and the outside universe, with mention to specific spheres such as rational belongings. China became a member of the World Trade Organisation ( WTO ) on 11 December 2001. For China, accession meant a cardinal measure frontward in its scheme to catch up with the advanced industrial universe by agencies of market socialism. It meant that China could legalize internationally, its career to recover its topographic point at the universe technological and productiveness frontier within the span of a few decennaries. ( Margarinos and Sercovich 2002. Pg.1 ) what sets China apart from the remainder of the universe is the fact that its accession is portion of a larger scheme of monolithic and cardinal reform. The Chinese authorities embarked on the whole accession undertaking non because they are title-holders of free trade and all that the WTO stands for but because they feel it would give them excess purchase to coerce through hard alterations on the domestic economic system. ( Clarke 2003, Pg. 97 ) The footings of China’s accession has been described as a trade whereby, for the interest of important medium and long term common additions, China accepts the hazards involved in restricting the grade of unconventionality in catching up and China’s trade spouses take the hazards entailed in swearing the ability of China’s leading to present on its committednesss. China’s major hazard is the potentially riotous societal deductions of transporting out within about a decennary, a whole version of its economic, institutional and legal construction to a trade name of market-led competition. ( Margarinos and Sercovich 2002. Pg.1 ) It is obvious that the undertaking of doing China’s Torahs and ordinances conform to the WTO demands is a immense 1. Many of the reforms required of China have strong domestic every bit good as foreign constituency therefore it may non ever be easy for the authorities to implement policies that would guarantee conformity with its WTO demands. An issue that has been the subject of many a argument both within China and without is the consequence within the Chinese legal system of China’s execution of its demands under the WTO understandings. ( Clarke 2003, Pg. 98 ) China had about 177 domestic Torahs and ordinances sing custom disposal, foreign investing, rational belongings and services to guarantee conformity with WTO regulations. ( Margarinos and Sercovich 2002. Pg.2 ) China’s pact duties under the WTO understandings may go portion of domestic jurisprudence in three different ways. The first manner is that they could be embodied, in domestic statute law which includes all important beginnings of province norms in China including readings and other paperss issued by the Supreme People’s Court of China and other organic structures. This attack is known as transformation’ and China has adopted the attack on several occasions. A 2nd manner is through specific mention in domestic statute law. This is known as mediated incorporation’ . The Torahs direct tribunals than where aliens are involved and a jurisprudence proviso conflicts with China’s duty under a pact to which China is signatory, the jurisprudence under the pact should be followed. The 3rd manner is a yet controversial manner. It is the procedure by which pact duties merely organize portion of Chinese domestic jurisprudence without holding to travel through on e of the above phases. This is known as direct incorporation. Academics’ positions as to whether this is possible vary but the authorities are by and large of the sentiment that it is non. ( Clarke 2003, Pg. 99-100 ) . After the Torahs are imported’ , Judgess need to be trained, legal establishments and processs need to guarantee that that the Torahs are reasonably and impartially upheld and that legal opinions are enforceable throughout the state. There is besides the demand for commissariats for changeless reform. ( Margarinos and Sercovich 2002. Pg.2 ) .As pointed out earlier, accession to the WTO has meant that China has had to amend domestic Torahs that relate to countries like foreign investing, rational belongings and services to follow with their WTO demands. In this paper, I will discourse the alterations in China’s legal system and legal regulations within China and the outside universe brought on by its accession to the WTO in footings of foreign investing and rational belongings in a command to measure the significance and deduction of China’s accession. Foreign Direct Investment Since 1978 and particularly since its accession to the WTO understandings, China’s Foreign Direct Investment has increased. This is because China has made Torahs and enforced policies to cut down barriers to Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) . The tools that China used to make this are revenue enhancement grants and particular privileges for foreign investors and the constitution of Open Economic Zones ( OEZs ) . ( Tseng and Zebregs 2002, Pg. 11 ) Upon accession to the WTO understanding, China made farther committednesss in trade liberalization. It made committednesss for riddance of assorted demands of FDI. These committednesss included the riddance of foreign exchange and trade reconciliation, engineering transportation, local content and export public presentation. China has besides eliminated geographic and other limitations in cardinal sectors such as motor vehicles and the increasing of foreign ownership bounds in its telecommunications, life insurance and besides giving full national intervention to foreign Bankss. ( Tseng and Zebregs 2002, Pg. 13 ) The Impact of Accession to the WTO The accession has decidedly helped hike foreign investing to China. States that were hitherto doubting about covering with China for fright of the unjust and prejudiced Torahs are now more relaxed and have the backup of an international pact. The high duties on imports have been eliminated and the limitations on foreign exchange lifted. Foreign Bankss are besides given more favorable intervention. Intellectual Property One of the three pillars of the WTO is the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ( TRIPS ) . Upon accession, China agreed to follow with the commissariats of TRIPS. To make this, China need to amend rather a few of its Torahs on rational belongings protection. Between 1999 and 2002, in expectancy of its accession to WTO, China undertook a major reform of its Patent jurisprudence in August 2000, its hallmark jurisprudence in October 2001 and its Copyright Law in October 2001. In order to follow with TRIPS, Chinese Government made judicial reappraisal available. They besides made preliminary injunctions available and there was a wider scope of damages available. The sum of amendss awarded to claimants was increased. ( Hong et al. 2005 ) The consequence is that Chinese Intellectual Property Laws are now widely acknowledged to be pf international standard’ with minor countries of non-compliance with TRIPS. Having said that though, there is still a job with enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. There are economic, societal and cultural, political every bit good as institutional grounds for these jobs. Some of the economic factors are that Intellectual belongings is seen as many in the underdeveloped universe to merely protect foreign involvements. There is besides the fact that authorities would desire to protect their ain interest in the economic system. The societal and cultural jobs include deficiency of public consciousness, secondary function of jurisprudence in the society, the deficiency of the construct of single rights every bit good as the haste to catch up with engineering signifier other parts of the universe. Some of the political factors are the penchant for public enforcement mechanisms, th e fact that the Intellectual Property Agency is non unified. The institutional factors are that there are holds in enforcement procedure, there is a deficiency of good trained Judgess and other legal forces and the sum of amendss awarded is still excessively low. The Impact of Accession to the WTO The accession now provides a ground for legal reform. For China, a state known for non using democratic agencies, it gives the people power to inquire for reform as they now have the backup of the universe. Peoples making concern in China can now mention affairs to the WTO difference declaration mechanism. Other Impacts Since accession to the WTO, China has gained favors with the larger universe economic systems like the United States who instantly put China on its Most Favoured Nation List after accession. In footings of the handiness of trained legal forces to manage instances that may originate organize the sometimes drastic amendments of domestic Torahs under the WTO ; China has taken stairss to turn to the job. In March 2002, China held the first disposal of e new unified judicial scrutiny for attorneies, prosecuting officers and Judgess. ( Clarke 2003 Pg 109 ) . Another job that the Chinese Legal System has is that the tribunals are loath to take on sensitive instances. In September 2001, the Supreme People’s Court of China instructed lower tribunals to halt accepting stockholders suits for amendss on certain misdemeanors of China’s Securities Law non because it believed that the stockholders had no rights but because they did non yet have sophisticated adequate processs to cover with these suits. This has nevertheless been resolved as the Court instructed lower tribunals in February 2003 to get down taking on such instances once more. ( Clarke 2003 Pg 110 ) . The good intelligence though is that the WTO does non presume that provinces that are signers to its understandings would hold to the full developed legal systems at the clip they accede. The WTO demands are non that rigorous. Under Article 41 ( 5 ) the TRIPS Agreement ( which has the strictest demands as to legal system ) provides that it does non make an duty a separate enforcement mechanism for rational belongings rights distinct from that for enforcement of jurisprudence in general. The chief job with China’s legal system is the non-availability of independent reappraisal of administrative actions. The tribunals depend on local authoritiess for support and therefore their independency is limited. These jobs were pointed out along clip ago nevertheless, and one can be optimistic that they will be dealt with in due class. Decision It is obvious that globalization with its thoughts of free trade and particularly China’s accession to the WTO has had major impacts on the state. For one thing, foreign investing has increased as investors are more confident that their involvements will be protected and that they now have a signifier of redress quite independent from China’s former non crystalline legal system. Excessive duties and other revenue enhancements have been bit by bit phased out and foreign Bankss are given more privileges. In the country of rational belongings, China has amended its Patent, Copyrights and Trademarks jurisprudence to follow with the demands of TRIPS. Although there still rests jobs of enforcement, portion of which lies in the fact that the Judgess and attorneies are non good qualified, the Chinese Government has taken some stairss towards deciding these issues and there is yet hope. Areas of clash which may take a batch more clip to decide it would look would be for case acquiring China to follow with International Environmental Torahs which is a demand under the WTO Agreement. The fact that some of the alleged innovators of the free trade and WTO motion are non following either is non encouraging. Besides, the fact that China is seen as a Champion of lone Asiatic states but besides most underdeveloped states means that states are likely to emulate their policies. Bibliography Magarinos, C.A. and Sercovich, F.C. ( 2002 ) China’s Accession to the WTO: an Overview of Domestic and External Implications. In C.A. Magarinos, L. Yongtu and F.C. Sercovich ( Eds. ) China in the WTO: The Birth of a New Catching-Up Strategy. London: Palgrave Macmillan Hong et Al ( 2005 ) China Intellectual Property Law Guide Netherlands: Kluwer International Journal Articles Clarke, D. ( 2003 ) China’s Legal System and the WTO: Prospects for Compliance’ , Global Studies Review, 2 ( 97 ) 97-120 Tseng, W. and Zebregs H. Foreign Direct Investment in China: Some Lessons for Other Countries’ , IMF Policy Discussion Paper. Gettable from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/pdp/2002/pdp03.pdf

The Envious Role in “Roman Fever” Essays

The Envious Role in â€Å"Roman Fever† Essays The Envious Role in â€Å"Roman Fever† Paper The Envious Role in â€Å"Roman Fever† Paper The fine line between the fear of the unknown and what is known can sometimes become blurred. In the short story â€Å"Roman Fever†, Edith Wharton does just that by telling the story of two ladies who were ‘childhood friends’. Both are recently widowed, and encounter each other in Rome by coincidence while traveling abroad with their daughters Jenny and Barbara. One of the ladies, Alida Slade, has long suspected that her intimate friend, Grace Ansley was involved with her fiance many years ago and has been harboring some sort of dark secret about that liaison. As the story unfolds, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley wonder about the familiar situation they have found themselves and their daughters in while in Rome. The similarity between the two holidays has brought many of Mrs. Slade’s lingering doubts back to the surface. Mrs. Slade’s actions throughout the story are motivated by the fear of what she does not know and the fear of what she suspects to be true. In addition, Mrs. Slade’s inherent dislike of Grace, her feelings of insecurity, jealously, and their current circumstances will force her into revealing a long kept secret of her own that she hopes will reveal the truth she has sought all these years. Mrs. Slade’s peculiar behavior throughout the story is directly motivated by all of these factors. Jealousy and envy have always played a major role in the intertwined lives of Alida Slade and Grace Ansley. The feelings of jealousy and envy date back to when Alida and Grace first met while on a holiday in Rome as younger women. As they begin to reminisce about the onset of their friendship many years ago, they realize that although they have been friends for many years, they are relative strangers. Sitting outside in silence, the two women, â€Å"who have been intimate since childhood, reflect how little they knew each other† (Wharton 1368). Slowly, the reader begins to understand that there had been a subtle, hidden competition for Alida’s fiance, Delphin. Alida worried that Grace was attempting to steal her fiance from her. This fear fuels the jealousy and envy Alida feels towards Grace and the resurfacing of those feelings motivates Alida’s odd behavior of revisiting the past in the story. Although Alida Slade projects an image of well-bred confidence, she is actually very insecure and relentlessly compares her life to that of Grace’s. Seeing as they end up living across the street from one another, the reader soon realizes that although their lives are ironically similar, Alida considers hers to be lacking by comparison. The only big diffence is that of how Alida feels. Grace does not show the same feelings as Alida. From the onset of the story, Alida’s thoughts are in the forefront, while Grace’s thoughts assume a lesser role. The readers automatically make more of a connection with Alida more so than Grace. This leads the readers to feel what Alida is feeling and thinking instead of Grace, allowing more of an eventful feel to the story. Through Wharton’s use of the third person omniscient point of view, the reader senses the underlying competition between the two women. Alida sees Grace and her husband Horace made a â€Å"good-looking, irreproachable, exemplary†, (Wharton 1368) couple, stereotyping them as â€Å"museum specimens of old New York†, (Wharton 1368), which in itself is exactly like her, yet she does not see it. After further analyzing the story, the reader realizes that Alida’s envy of Grace, compounded with her own doubts of fears about the past intensifies her hatred for Grace and her desire for revenge. Alida Slade had long speculated that Grace and her fiance, Delphin, were once romantically involved, and even after all these years married to Delphin, she still feels inferior to Grace because of her doubts. Additionally, since the death of her well known husband, Alida’s life seems dull and she craves the attention that was part of that lifestyle. By creating drama with Grace, she hopes to at long last discover the truth and feed her need for attention at the same time. During the conversation on the terrace, Alida begins to make subtle comments, as if she is trying to make Grace irritated and admit to the affair. These elusive comments eventually substantiate the dramatic conclusion between the two friends, although the reader may miss many of the comments because of their subtlety. Alida mentions a story about Grace’s Great-aunt Harriet that Grace’s mother had once told them. As Grace is commenting on the tale, Alida stops her mid sentence and purposely adds, â€Å"but she really sent her because they were in love with the same man†, (Wharton 1372), as if to nudge Grace’s confession along. As the conversation progress, so does the underlying tension. Alida’s comments to Grace become short and terse, almost to the point where she is bluntly stating her true feelings; something Alida has never done with Grace. Alida wants Grace to admit to the affair with Delphin and when she does not, Alida clearly says, â€Å" You had been out late sight-seeing, hadn’t you? †(Wharton 1373) Grace still does not admit to the affair and Alida finally plays her trump card, telling Grace that is was she who wrote the letter that proposed the secret meeting, not Delphin. An outside source, James Phelan, point of view claims â€Å"Alida seeks to injure Grace and establish her own power over her by telling Grace about the forgery† (343). In other words, Alida knows telling Grace will put the feelings of being jealous and envious out of the way, even if it was momentary, making Alida feel better about herself. Alida craves the powerfulness between the two. In another telling comment, Alida reveals another purpose of her writing the letter. She hoped that Grace would go out into the damp night to supposedly meet Delphin and catch a cold or â€Å"Roman fever† as one would say and be out of the picture for a few weeks, but then goes on to say, â€Å"Of course I never thought you’d die†, (Wharton 1374), subconsciously imitating Great-aunt Harriet story about sisters (or friends) in love with the same man. Alida was motivated by jealousy and fear to attempt to rid herself of Grace. Mrs. Slade’s socio-economic class also indirectly motivates her jealousy of Mrs. Ansley. Wharton often wrote about things that she was familiar with and her lifestyle is reflected in the story â€Å"Roman Fever†. Edith Wharton was â€Å"born to wealth and privileged in the leisured society of the nineteenth-century Old New York† (Benstock vii), as was Alida Slade and Grace Ansley. People from such an entitled background have certain expectations. When these expectations are not fulfilled, people can rebel against their moral upbringing and seek retribution. This is the case with Alida Slade and her desire to feel superior to Grace Ansley. Although Alida does not find out until the end of their time together in Rome, Grace does not feel the same way Alida does seeing as Grace ultimately got whar she wanted. Unfulfilled expectations also feed Alida’s insecurities about the relationship between Grace and Delphin. Alida expects to marry well and continue to lead the lifestyle that she is accustomed to and Grace may have cause a disruption in those plans. Wharton also skillfully convolutes the seemingly separate stories of the two main characters and that of their daughters by comparing illusive similarities and linking Alida’s motivation to both. History seems to be repeating itself when the reader takes a step back from the story and compares the women’s lives and the similar circumstances their daughter’s now are experiencing. Alida envies Grace’s daughter Barbara and in her mind, her own daughter Jenny pales in comparison. She drops hints of her true feeling to Grace when she thinks aloud â€Å"how two such exemplary characters such as you and Horace had managed to produce† a daughter like Babs (Wharton 1371). This not only is a subtle foreshadowing, leading to the ending of the story, but exemplifies exactly how Alida feels. As seen throughout the text, â€Å"This type of resentment toward the envied person, ‘agent-focused resentment’, when the envious person feels that another has acquired superiority unfairly† (Comins 10) provides Alida with added motivation. Alida even catches herself thinking â€Å"Jenny [is] such a perfect daughter that she needed no excessive mothering. ‘Now with Babs Ansley I don’t know that I should be so quiet†, (Wharton 1369). Then when Grace defends her own daughter, Alida very bluntly says, â€Å"I appreciate [Babs]. And perhaps envy you† (Wharton 1371) and â€Å"I have always wanted a brilliant daughter †¦ and never quiet understood why I got an angel instead† (Wharton 1371). Alida is fearful that her daughter will experience the same type of self-doubt she experienced when competing with Grace. Wharton’s title, â€Å"Roman Fever† is symbolic to the story because Roman fever, which used to refer to Malaria, represents the burning desires that are left unstated between the characters. Grace Ansley figuratively developed Roman fever when she burned with love for Delphin. Alida Slade figuratively contracted it when Grace’s love for Delphin filled her with hatred and the desire to seek revenge by writing the letter. Roman fever secretly continues to simmer below the surface for the next twenty-five years. It flares up again when the two friends encounter each other in Rome and the similarities between their daughters and their current situation threatens to make history repeat itself. The â€Å"fever† motivated both women to exorcise the demons from their past, each with the hopes of hurting the other, just as they had been hurt themselves. The reader has to wonder, if Alida had never written the letter in the first place, would any of this had happened? Delphin may have desired Grace, but since he was already engaged to Alida, so he may have never acted upon those desires. That is until Alida wrote to Grace, posing as Delphin and Grace replied. Now, although she has had Delphin all these years, she still feels the need to punish Grace and attempt to recover the feelings of superiority she lost when Delphin died. She subconsciously attempts to achieve this by revealing her secret and fails. This illistrates the age-old saying, â€Å"be careful what you wish for, you just might get it†. : Benstock, Shari. No Gifts from Chance a Biography of Edith Wharton. Austin: University of Texas, 2004. Print. Bowlby, Rachel. â€Å"‘I Had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’† Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 17. 3 (2006): 37-51. Print. Comins, Barbara. Outrageous Trap: Envy and Jealousy in Whartons Roman Fever and Fitzgeralds Bernice Bobs Her Hair' Edith Wharton Review 17. 1 (2001): 9-12. Print. Phelan, James. â€Å"Narrative as Rhetoric and Edith Wharton’s Roman Fever: Progression, Configuration, and the Ethics of Surprise. † A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism. Ed. Walter Jost, and Wendy Olmsted. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. , 2004. 340-353. Print. Wharton, Edith. â€Å"Roman Fever. † The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 1366-1375. Print.

Saint Marys College in California Admissions Facts

Saint Mary's College in California Admissions Facts ​Saint Marys College in Moraga, California accepts most applicants each year, with a high acceptance rate of 80  percent, although applicants tend to have strong academic records. Students interested in applying to the school will need to submit an application (the school accepts the Common Application; more on that below), high school transcripts, a letter of recommendation, SAT or ACT scores, and a personal essay. Check out Saint Marys website for more information on how to apply. Admissions Data (2016) Saint Marys College of California Acceptance Rate: 80  percentTest Scores: 25th / 75th PercentileSAT Critical Reading: 480  / 590SAT Math: 470  / 590SAT Writing: - / -What these SAT numbers meanSAT score comparison for California collegesACT Composite: 22 / 28ACT English: 22  / 28ACT Math: 20  / 27What these ACT numbers meanACT score comparison for California colleges Saint Marys College Description Saint Marys College of California is a Catholic, Lasallian, liberal arts college located in Moraga, California, about 20 miles east of San Francisco. The college has an 11 to 1  student/faculty ratio  and an average class size of 20. Students can choose from 38 majors, and among undergraduates, business is the most popular program. Specifically, the most popular majors are Accounting, Business Administration, Communication Studies, Drama, English, Liberal Studies, Psychology. One of the defining features of the Saint Marys curriculum is the Collegiate Seminar, a series of four courses that focus on the major works of Western civilization. All students, including those in pre-professional fields, take these seminars- two in the first year, and two more before graduation. In athletics, the Saint Marys Gaels compete in the NCAA Division I  West Coast Conference. Enrollment (2016) Total Enrollment: 3,908  (2,802 undergraduates)Gender Breakdown: 40 percent male / 60 percent female93  percent full-time Costs (2016-17) Tuition and Fees: $44,360Books: $1,107 (why so much?)Room and Board: $14,880Other Expenses: $2,700Total Cost: $63,047 Saint Marys College Financial Aid (2015 -16) Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 96  percentPercentage of New Students Receiving Types of AidGrants: 95 percentLoans: 61 percentAverage Amount of AidGrants: $25,400Loans: $8,018 Graduation and Retention Rates: First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 86  percent4-Year Graduation Rate: 60  percent6-Year Graduation Rate: 73  percent Intercollegiate Athletic Programs: Mens Sports:  Basketball, Golf, Cross Country, Soccer, Tennis, Track and Field, BaseballWomens Sports:  Lacrosse, Rowing, Softball, Soccer, Tennis, Basketball, Volleyball, Cross Country If You Like Saint Marys College, You May Also Like These Schools: San Jose State University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of San Diego: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphPepperdine University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphCal Poly: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of California - Irvine: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphStanford University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of California - Santa Cruz: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphLoyola Marymount University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphSanta Clara University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of San Francisco: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphSan Diego State University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT Graph Saint Marys and the Common Application Saint Marys College uses the  Common Application. These articles can help guide you: Common Application essay tips and samplesShort answer tips and samplesSupplemental essay tips and samples Data Source: National Center for Educational Statistics

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

Memoir - Research Paper Example Life did not exactly go as I planned it, but deep inside of me I believed that the perfect guy was out there for me. I looked after my daughter all by myself for a few more years. Times were tough, but I always had my daughter to look after. Her beautiful smile was like a sign telling me that I should not give up. Then back in 2011 I met a man who seemed to be perfect in more ways than one. He came from an upstanding family and held a well-paying job. Because of a tough time financially that I was in, I quickly fell for him because I saw him as a means to help me and my daughter live a better life. During the courting stage, which only lasted a few short months, I felt like a princess. My then-boyfriend would randomly turn up at my work with flowers and chocolates, and many of my workmates commented how lovely we were together. I tended to agree, but I did not see it coming when he proposed to me just a few short weeks later. Although I was naturally a cautious person, I felt a sense of joy that I had finally found someone who I could grow old with. My dream was live side-by-side with my husband until we were both very old. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse not long after we were married. The day of the wedding provided lots of sunshine, with many flowers marking the occasion in a way that I could only have dreamed of. I was a little nervous, as every young woman should be, but I could not say that I was totally in love at that time. It seemed like that was just the next step to take. My daughter was growing up, and I did not want to have to raise her alone. It was my utmost desire to have a loving partner to be with, not so much for myself but for the sake of my daughter too. For the first few months of my marriage not a lot seemed to change. My husband had received a promotion at work, so he was doing longer hours than before. Because my daughter had just started going to school, I had many more responsibilities on my plate. It would have been n ice to get some help from my new husband, but he did not seem to care about my situation. Whenever he would come home from work he always seemed to be in an agitated state. I knew that his work gave him a lot of stress, but this was no reason to take it out on me. I had never seen my husband get violent when we were still dating, so this was a new experience for me. The alarm bells should have been ringing for me back then, but I was still holding onto my dream of living happily ever after with my prince charming. After more than a year of marriage, I was beginning to see less and less of my husband. His job required him to travel frequently, so he was not around the house on a daily basis. Whenever he was home, he seemed to be a different person than the one I first married. I carried on for a few more months before I could take it no longer. In January of 2013, I asked my husband to move out as I wanted a divorce. Surprisingly he was not too upset with this request, and he complie d with it almost immediately. I wanted to move on from him as soon as possible, so we got a quick divorce through the help of an experienced lawyer. Although I am now a divorced woman, I still have hope that my true prince charming is out there for me. Times have been tough lately, but I always wish for a better future. Right now

Response to the Discussion by Tamika Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response to the Discussion by Tamika - Case Study Example It is essential to develop trust and partnership with the wife of the patient for strengthening and supporting that family through expected and unexpected life events. Therefore, it is important to help Maureen in supporting the interest of the family and she should be given the right guidelines regarding cancer communication. "The family is a significant factor in the health and well-being of individuals, and promotion, maintenance, and restoration of families are important to society's survival." (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, 2006). Thus, as a nursing practitioner, I would help the wife of the patient to understand the relevance of effective cancer communication and I will collaborate with her in determining the most impeccable resolution regarding this communication. I will convince Maureen not to rush to any futile conclusions and that we will support her in every possible way to offer the best solution to the issue. Thus, after the collaborative discussions and eval uations of the possible courses of actions and their consequences, I will help Maureen to take the right decision regarding the information being withheld from her husband. In her discussion of the specific case provided, Tamika makes some essential points regarding effective cancer communication to the patient and the issues related. At the very start of the discussion, Tamika mentions the possibility of the errors in the decision of Maureen to withhold the information from the patient, while she accepts the situations leading to the wife’s decision.  Ã‚  

Nursing Home Care Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nursing Home Care - Research Paper Example Background of study: The residents of nursing homes would in several occasions be sent to hospitals to undergo diagnostic tests or for acute healthcare services. In the year 2000, Carusone, Loeb and Lohfeld (2006) observed that there were about 46% of Americans older than 65 who would be in these nursing homes before death. This is quite a considerable number of the total population. Most of these long term care facility, LCTF residents would be transferred to hospitals to receive acute medical services and undergo diagnostic tests. It should be noted that these people usually would be supported in their daily activities including bathing, eating and toileting among others. Improved technology, fiscal pressures and associated services make it complicated for nursing home residents in hospitals. Similarly, the cost of these transfers has proven to be too high. There has thus been an increase concern if hospitalization services could be provided at these nursing homes. Respiratory trac t infections have been pointed out by Boise and White (2004) as the leading killer among nursing homes as documented in a Canadian study, the reason why pneumonia has been sampled in this study. The findings of this research would therefore enable nurses to advise accordingly when families of nursing home residents seek advice on where to have these persons treated. It would also enable provision of services to the satisfaction of the residents of nursing homes and their families. The purpose of this study was to determine whether in situ care among LTCF residents would give the value much sought by the residents and their families. This was achieved by identifying the experience that participants had with pneumonia and what locus of care would be preferred. The research also sought to find the differences that these participants perceived between hospital-based care and LTCF care and what would be the criteria for good care. Methods of study: In this study, qualitative descriptive study was employed. The participants involved members of families of LTFC residents and the residents themselves who had previously been treated for pneumonia. Members of staff in these nursing homes were asked to follow a pathway of treatment that would help in deciding the locus of care. 20 nursing homes were matched according to their sizes and a member randomly selected from each pair chosen to use the clinical pathway while the counterpart continued with the normal pneumonia diagnosis and treatment procedure. The family members and residents who could not make informed decisions on the locus of treatment were involved in the study’s in-depth interviews. Nurses were charged with the task of inviting participants that remembered their experiences. Participants signed consent before participating in these interviews. The data collected from 14 interviews were then analyzed by use of editing style borrowed from Miller and Crabtree. Results of study: Residents and family memb ers alike preferred that pneumonia be treated in the nursing homes as much as possible. Though the reasons for this were varied, most of them argued that nursing homes provide the much needed attention and care than in hospitals. Both parties agreed that some situations would call for hospitalization such as in cases of broken bones, fainting and operations, but not for any reason whatsoever in cases of pneumonia. The residents preferred

ART WORLD Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

ART WORLD - Case Study Example I love games because they are sources of encouragement me and motivate me to be creative. Work interviewer: I may tend to agree with your opinion but, to a lesser extent. To a greater extent I would like to inform you that playing games alone does not provide all that our dreams and emotions recommend. Work provides most of the requirements for the prosperity of a society in all that the people aspire for. If I am to rate the playing of games, I would give it a third of fourth option on my priorities as what to do. I may advise one to engage into work. Work should at all times be viewed as the central most drivers to the society’s prosperity. Therefore, work should always be perceived as the core determinant of development in any upright society. Getting time to work and express my personhood in the form of labour would be my greatest desire. Play Interviewer: What argument do you base your interests on/ do you understand the dynamism behind the contribution of the social inte gration and playing? Are you in a position to collect the best knowledge that you have on the idealistic side of work and its contribution to societal order as is currently done by playing? Work interviewer: The work place holds a lot of relevance to the social and mental growth of humans. At the work place one expects to meet people of diverse backgrounds from different sections in the world who posses diverse personalities. The forthright expectation would be that the recognition of people’s diversity will greatly enhance the manner and types of conversations I may engage myself into with the workmates around me. As such, I will be able to visualize myself among a group of people with similar intellectual capacities and with whom I may easily interact with. The interaction leads to acquisition of expertise and skills, diversely. Consequently, the exposure to the different work environment and various people of diverse origins gives one the ability to learn and variedly expl ore the social environments one works in. The attainment of this aspect greatly implies to the adoption of social learning techniques among personalities. The same also implies that there is a constant growth in proper mentalities needed to develop the societies (Van Laar & Diepeveen, 2013. p. 150). Play Interviewer: One cannot work continuously without taking commercial breaks/pauses to engage in other co-curricular activities such as playing games. Playing of games such as cricket and golf has been identified within the personality traits of intellectuals as tools for the satisfaction of their biological and social needs. This calls for deeper exploration anchored on great insights on the explicit aims and rules of playing a game, given all the accounts for the reactions in the body systems and the psychological output of playing. The internal structure of play is only contingently connected to its putative function. The main reason for this is that, through playing, can a person develop, and enhance their social developmental skills and capacities. Based on these facts, can you be able to outline and articulate the major aims and objectives of work with your reasoning and expression to the great passion derived from the comfort and satisfaction that working gives to you. Work interviewer: Work defines the relevance level of a person’s position to improve the society. The rationality in a person is determined by the ability to deliver the labour he possess to enhance the welfare of the entire society. If

ART WORLD Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

ART WORLD - Case Study Example I love games because they are sources of encouragement me and motivate me to be creative. Work interviewer: I may tend to agree with your opinion but, to a lesser extent. To a greater extent I would like to inform you that playing games alone does not provide all that our dreams and emotions recommend. Work provides most of the requirements for the prosperity of a society in all that the people aspire for. If I am to rate the playing of games, I would give it a third of fourth option on my priorities as what to do. I may advise one to engage into work. Work should at all times be viewed as the central most drivers to the society’s prosperity. Therefore, work should always be perceived as the core determinant of development in any upright society. Getting time to work and express my personhood in the form of labour would be my greatest desire. Play Interviewer: What argument do you base your interests on/ do you understand the dynamism behind the contribution of the social inte gration and playing? Are you in a position to collect the best knowledge that you have on the idealistic side of work and its contribution to societal order as is currently done by playing? Work interviewer: The work place holds a lot of relevance to the social and mental growth of humans. At the work place one expects to meet people of diverse backgrounds from different sections in the world who posses diverse personalities. The forthright expectation would be that the recognition of people’s diversity will greatly enhance the manner and types of conversations I may engage myself into with the workmates around me. As such, I will be able to visualize myself among a group of people with similar intellectual capacities and with whom I may easily interact with. The interaction leads to acquisition of expertise and skills, diversely. Consequently, the exposure to the different work environment and various people of diverse origins gives one the ability to learn and variedly expl ore the social environments one works in. The attainment of this aspect greatly implies to the adoption of social learning techniques among personalities. The same also implies that there is a constant growth in proper mentalities needed to develop the societies (Van Laar & Diepeveen, 2013. p. 150). Play Interviewer: One cannot work continuously without taking commercial breaks/pauses to engage in other co-curricular activities such as playing games. Playing of games such as cricket and golf has been identified within the personality traits of intellectuals as tools for the satisfaction of their biological and social needs. This calls for deeper exploration anchored on great insights on the explicit aims and rules of playing a game, given all the accounts for the reactions in the body systems and the psychological output of playing. The internal structure of play is only contingently connected to its putative function. The main reason for this is that, through playing, can a person develop, and enhance their social developmental skills and capacities. Based on these facts, can you be able to outline and articulate the major aims and objectives of work with your reasoning and expression to the great passion derived from the comfort and satisfaction that working gives to you. Work interviewer: Work defines the relevance level of a person’s position to improve the society. The rationality in a person is determined by the ability to deliver the labour he possess to enhance the welfare of the entire society. If

Study of a nursing theory ( choose a nursing theorist ) for use in Research Paper

Study of a nursing theory ( choose a nursing theorist ) for use in practice - Research Paper Example One such theorist is Jean Watson who developed and conceptualized the "Theory of Human Caring". According to Watson (2009), "nursing is a lifetime journey of caring and healing, seeking to understand and preserve the wholeness of human existence, and to offer compassionate, informed, knowledgeable human caring to society and humankind." In this essay, application of Watson's theory to clinical nursing practice will be exercised for better understanding of the concepts of the theory. Context of development of theory Jean Watson, an imminent theorist and nurse educator has contributed immensely to the nursing profession. Her most popular conceptualization of nursing profession is the Theory of Transpersonal Caring which is commonly known as the Theory of Human Caring. The nurse educator was born in West Virginia. She graduated from the Colarado University and completed Master's degree from the same University. Her specialty was psychiatric-mental health nursing. She did her Ph.D in cou nseling in psychology. She is currently a distinguished professor at the Colarado University. She is the founder of the Center for Human Caring located in the same city as the University she is employed at (Cara, 2003). The theory is the output of the professor's experience in the field of psychology, mental health and counseling, her specialty subjects during her post graduation and doctorate degrees. This theory emphasizes the humanistic aspect of the noble profession of nursing based on principles of scientific knowledge acquired through education, learning, research and training. Thus, this theory is very important for the profession of nursing both theoretically and practically. Watson (2009) opined that "the ability to resolve conflicts between what nursing is and what nurses supposedly do, may be the most critical challenge for the discipline and for the profession’s survival into this millennium." Watson strongly believed that resolution of conflicts at all levels of society is crucial, because; such conflicts can affect health care at any level (Cara, 2003). The theory of Human caring was brought out in 1979. According to Watson, nursing is a profession that is distinct from other health related professions. Based on this distinct nature of the profession, she defined, ascertained and opined about the distinct role of the profession in the caring for humans who are sick. Infact, this theory defined the role of nurse. According to the theory of Human Caring, nurses impart care by establishing a good relationship with the patients and also their relatives (Sitzman, 2007). Nurses have to treat patients by including all aspects of life, the mind, body and spirit and not just deal with physical ailments of the body. Thus, nurses are expected to provide holistic care to the patient. It is because of holistic care that various needs of the patient like spiritual, emotional, psychological, economical and physical needs of the patient are met. The theor y strongly upholds the fact that nurses must display acceptance towards patients and their relatives in an unconditional manner and whatever treatment is instituted is done with positivism. Nurses are expected to cause health promotion and well-being through appropriate knowledge concerning the medical condition of the patient and also through medical interventions. Above all, it is expected that

Oil in the middle east Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Oil in the middle east - Research Proposal Example What is a good measure of oil dependency? What will the Middle East in general do as oil begins to run out? In particular, what will Kuwaits response be? First, I want to identify the likely date of peak oil. Peak oil is defined as the point where oil production is maximized. Peak oil does not mean that oil has run out, but it does mean that all subsequent attempts to get it will be more and more expensive, raising the price of oil ever and ever higher. Second, I want to determine the economic mix of the Middle East in terms of imports and exports, as well as look at the history of the Middle East to determine what has historically made it so oil-dependent. Marcus Noland and Howard Pack. "The East Asian Industrial Policy Experience: Implications for the Middle East" Industrial Policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Ahmed Gala. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2008.

ART WORLD Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

ART WORLD - Case Study Example I love games because they are sources of encouragement me and motivate me to be creative. Work interviewer: I may tend to agree with your opinion but, to a lesser extent. To a greater extent I would like to inform you that playing games alone does not provide all that our dreams and emotions recommend. Work provides most of the requirements for the prosperity of a society in all that the people aspire for. If I am to rate the playing of games, I would give it a third of fourth option on my priorities as what to do. I may advise one to engage into work. Work should at all times be viewed as the central most drivers to the society’s prosperity. Therefore, work should always be perceived as the core determinant of development in any upright society. Getting time to work and express my personhood in the form of labour would be my greatest desire. Play Interviewer: What argument do you base your interests on/ do you understand the dynamism behind the contribution of the social inte gration and playing? Are you in a position to collect the best knowledge that you have on the idealistic side of work and its contribution to societal order as is currently done by playing? Work interviewer: The work place holds a lot of relevance to the social and mental growth of humans. At the work place one expects to meet people of diverse backgrounds from different sections in the world who posses diverse personalities. The forthright expectation would be that the recognition of people’s diversity will greatly enhance the manner and types of conversations I may engage myself into with the workmates around me. As such, I will be able to visualize myself among a group of people with similar intellectual capacities and with whom I may easily interact with. The interaction leads to acquisition of expertise and skills, diversely. Consequently, the exposure to the different work environment and various people of diverse origins gives one the ability to learn and variedly expl ore the social environments one works in. The attainment of this aspect greatly implies to the adoption of social learning techniques among personalities. The same also implies that there is a constant growth in proper mentalities needed to develop the societies (Van Laar & Diepeveen, 2013. p. 150). Play Interviewer: One cannot work continuously without taking commercial breaks/pauses to engage in other co-curricular activities such as playing games. Playing of games such as cricket and golf has been identified within the personality traits of intellectuals as tools for the satisfaction of their biological and social needs. This calls for deeper exploration anchored on great insights on the explicit aims and rules of playing a game, given all the accounts for the reactions in the body systems and the psychological output of playing. The internal structure of play is only contingently connected to its putative function. The main reason for this is that, through playing, can a person develop, and enhance their social developmental skills and capacities. Based on these facts, can you be able to outline and articulate the major aims and objectives of work with your reasoning and expression to the great passion derived from the comfort and satisfaction that working gives to you. Work interviewer: Work defines the relevance level of a person’s position to improve the society. The rationality in a person is determined by the ability to deliver the labour he possess to enhance the welfare of the entire society. If

Oil in the middle east Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Oil in the middle east - Research Proposal Example What is a good measure of oil dependency? What will the Middle East in general do as oil begins to run out? In particular, what will Kuwaits response be? First, I want to identify the likely date of peak oil. Peak oil is defined as the point where oil production is maximized. Peak oil does not mean that oil has run out, but it does mean that all subsequent attempts to get it will be more and more expensive, raising the price of oil ever and ever higher. Second, I want to determine the economic mix of the Middle East in terms of imports and exports, as well as look at the history of the Middle East to determine what has historically made it so oil-dependent. Marcus Noland and Howard Pack. "The East Asian Industrial Policy Experience: Implications for the Middle East" Industrial Policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Ahmed Gala. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2008.

Native American Spirituality Essay Example for Free

Native American Spirituality Essay The purpose of this essay is to present the spiritual world of the Native Americans, which is one of the oldest forms of Spirituality that exists on earth. The main reason why I have chosen this topic is because I want to find out more information about their spiritual dimension and perhaps to understand better the main differences between our religion and theirs. In order to better observe this aspect, I will be analyzing the religious beliefs of three Native American tribes, such as: The Iroquois, the Apache and the Dakota tribes. To start with, I consider it relevant to mention that the Native American religions centers on a collection of beliefs, which vary from tribe to tribe. However, almost all tribes practice a modified monotheism , which is the belief in the Great Spirit. They also have an animistic belief in individual spirits residing in animals and forces of nature, but none of these is higher than the Great Spirit (Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). In other words, this means that Native American spirituality is nature-based, since it is so closely connected with the earth. As I have previously mentioned, many Native Americans believe in The Great Spirit, who is â€Å"the high deity amongst all of the spirits† (Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). Since ancient times, the Native Americans have believed in a Supreme Being whom they called father and they believe this entity is either a man or an animal, especially a wolf, which has human thoughts and is even able to talk (Panther-Yates, n.d). In order to control the forces of the spiritual world , the Native Americans used ceremonial practices, since these were considered to â€Å"renewed the bond between human beings and the spirit world† (Irwin, 2000). I will later on mention about these ceremonies and the person who is entitled to contact the spirits. In order to have a better understanding of their beliefs I have inserted here one fragment of the spiritual speech held by Charley Elkhair, one of the Native American indian: â€Å"We are thankful to the East because everyone feels good in the morning when they awake, and sees the bright light coming from the East; and when the Sun goes down in the West we feel good and glad we are well; then we are thankful to the West. And we are thankful to the North, because when the cold winds come we are glad to have lived to see the leaves fall again; and to the South, for when the south wind blows and everything is coming up in the spring, we are glad to live to see the grass growing and everything green again. We thank the Thunders, for they are the manitous that bring the rain, which the Creator has given them power to rule over. And we thank our mother, the Earth, whom we claim as mother because the Earth carries us and everything we need.† (Elkhair in M. R. Harrington, 1921). When researching for this essay I came across a very interesting comparison belonging to professor Harrington, who states that: â€Å" The juxtaposition of a personal creator God and anthropomorphic animals derived from mythology is no more inappropriate, however, than the behavior of Christians at Christmas time who set out a creche depicting the birth of Jesus next to a Christmas tree derived from an ancient pagan festival† ( Harrington, 1921). Another interesting element about at the Native American religions is the fact that they are basically free of any priesthood. However, there are still people who have a special connection to the spiritual world, called shamans: â€Å"Shamans are spiritually gifted people who through a variety of means have acquired the ability to help others through trance and dream journeying† (Irwin, 2000). Moreover, it is quite strange that the white anthropologists have often used the name medicine man (even though many were women) to indicate a mixture of shamanic and priestly capacities (Irwin, 2000). Shamanic trances can be induced through a variety of techniques, including chanting or drumming, fasting, and in some cases the use of psychotropic substances, the mildest of which might be tobacco ( McGaa, n.d). During these trance contacts, shamans may communicate with spirits of the dead or other spirits and learn what they need to know to help heal the body, mind, or soul of a patient, to locate game, or to predict the future ( McGaa, n.d). In the following lines, I will briefly present three Indian tribes in order to observe the differences and similarities between them as far as their spiritual world is concerned. The first tribe I will be analyzing is the Iroquois. This Native American tribe believes in twin forces known as Loskeha meaning good and Tawiscara meaning bad (Robinso n, 2002). The Native Americans believe Loskeha brought all the goodness in life, while Tawiscara spread sufferings and brought ill-luck (Robinson, 2002). The Iroquois also believed in the constant care of the Great Spirit, who †ruled and administered the world, and the affairs of the red race. (Robinson, 2002). What really fascinates me at this tribe is that it does not have a detailed conception of his creator because they believe that the Great Spirit was beyond their abilities to understand. However, they have some very detailed descriptions of this lower class of spirits that is believed to interact with the material world. The were known as Invisible Agents or Ho-no-che-no-keh. (Morgan in Robinson, 1954). These spirits possessed their power from the Great Spirit and were considered to be the manifestations of his unlimited power (Morgan in Robinson, 1954). Some of these spirits were given names and they were often identified with the object or force that they presided over (Morgan in Robinson, 1954). For example, He-no, one important spirit, was given the thunderbolt and controlled the weather. Morgan states that: â€Å"he had the form of man and wore the costume of a warrior† ((Morgan in Robinson, 1954). The Iroquois tribe believes not only in the kindness of the Great Spirit but also in the forces of evil. According to their belief, evil is represented by the brother of the Great Spirit, Ha-ne-go-ate-geh, or the Evil-minded (Robinson, 2002), who controls its own inferior spiritual beings. This tribe also believes that the Great Spirit does not have any type of positive authority over the forces of evil, except for â€Å"the power to overcome them when necessary†(Robinson, 2002). Therefore, the Iroquois can either choose to obey the Great Spirit or to the Evil-minded. It is important to note that the Iroquois developed the idea of an immortal soul, which will be judged by the Great Spirit the moment the body will die. This is why, they are afraid of being punished in the afterlife and therefore they worship him through many rituals and ceremonies (Robinson, 2002). These ritual ceremonies practiced by the Iroquois tribes occurred in certain seasonal periods throughout the year, but most commonly during important agricultural periods (Irwin, 2000). Even some of the Invisible Agents were honored at this ceremonies depending on what time of year the ceremony was taking place. The ceremonies were led by Keepers of the Faith, or Ho-nun-den-ont (Irwin, 2000), who were â€Å"a loosely organized council of qualified individuals who were assigned the task of maintaining the ritual practices of the Iroquois people†(Irwin, 2000). The second tribe I will briefly describe is The Apache tribe. Little is known about this nomadic group of Native Americans due to the fact that it lived an isolated existence in the harsh environment of the arid southwest. This tribe relied on scarce resources found in their desert environment for survival (Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). Due to the fact that survival was difficult under these conditions they were not so preoccupied of the spiritual world (Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). This is the reason why the belief system of the Apache tribes is less developed than the other tribe mentioned earlier. For instance, the Apache religion did not recognize a large pantheon of gods and goddesses. (Opler in Hirschfelder Molin, 1992) and focused on supernatural cultural figures that are responsible for the Apache way of life. What is interesting to notice at these entities is the fact that they interfered little in the daily activities of the people unless people called for their help. (Opler in Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). The Apache tribe has no religious ritual either since it is a non-agricultural society. Thus, they had no reason to celebrate seasonal periods and rarely celebrated any type of annual gathering. Instead, they focused all their time and energy on survival (Opler in Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). More importantly, however, was the fact that the Apache lacked an organized belief in an afterlife and instead they focused all attention towards survival in this world. This is why the most common form of ceremony for them were the curing rites, performed only by shamans (Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). Opler describes the Apache religion as a form of devotional shamanism. : It conceives of a universe permeated with supernatural power which must realize itself through man or not at all. (Opler in Hirschfelder Molin, 1992). The third tribe I will be analyzing is the Dakota tribe. According to Raymond J. DeMallie, the Dakota world was characterized by its oneness, its unity. (DeMallie, 1987:27). There was no separation of the natural world from the world of the supernatural: †This unity in nature was thought to be beyond the comprehension of mankind and could only be shared in through the practice of rituals† (DeMallie, 1987:27). The animating force that acted as the common denominator of the universe was known as Wakan Tanka (Densmore,1918:85).The physical world was composed of the manifestations of this animating force, which basically means that they believed that every object was spirit, or wakan. (Densmore, 1918:85). In other words, the Dakota tribe believed that nothing was real in the universe since everything in the material world had only the appearance of being real. Like the inferior spirits in the Iroquois belief system, Wakan Tanka employed the use of Wakan people (DeMallie 1987) to interact with the material world and control the lives of men. These characters were often the objects of worship and praise. According to DeMallie, Wakan Tanka was explained in relation to the Dakota by wicasa wakan, or holy men. (DeMallie 1987). These men attempted to create some type of order and understanding of this Great Incomprehensibility. (DeMallie 1987). White Buffalo Woman was one of the most important Wakan people to the Dakota. Their myth states that she gave the Dakota people the Calf Pipe (DeMallie, 1987) through which they could communicate with the invisible spirit world. According to DeMallie, Dakota rituals were based on mystical experiences instead of systematic worship. The most important aspect of ritual was the individual personal experience. The experience was usually related in the form of an interpretive dance inspired by a personal vision (DeMallie, 1987). There are several observations I need to make at the end of this research about the Native American spirituality. The first observation is that each of the tribes presented above are similar in the way in which they interact with the natural world. Therefore, the Native American spirituality can be characterized by this intimate relationship these people have with nature. They have a deep respect for Mother Earth and they praise her through these rituals that they so often perform. Secondly, I consider it important to mention the fact that there isn’t a clear distinction between the natural and the supernatural in any of the three tribes mentioned earlier. Also, their beliefs are rather a way of life and each tribe has his own system of beliefs. Based on the analysis of these Native American tribes the following conclusion can be formulated: these people have this deep religious feeling, even when systematic rituals are absent (which was the case of the Apache tribe). Kahlil Gibran once asked, Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupation?(Gibran in Robinson, 2002). It seems that Native Americans could not make this distinction either. I believe that is very difficult for other cultures, including our own, to have a full perception and understanding towards the Native American spirituality, since we were not educated into their belief system .Therefore, there are too many differences between the Christians beliefs and theirs, (I am not referring here to religion only, but also to their whole different culture and their unique way of life) which makes it almost impossible to fully understand their spiritual world. Bibliography Arlene B. Hirschfelder Paulette Molin, The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction, Facts on File, (1992). Charley Elkhair, quoted in M. R. Harrington, Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape, Indian Notes and Monographs, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol 19 (1921). Lee Irwin, Native American Spirituality: A critical reader, University of Nebraska Press, (2000). McGaa, Ed Eagle Man. Interview with Jean Holmes. LightNews.org: NativeAmerican Beliefs- Culture Near Extinction. http://www.lightnews.org/November%20Light%20News/Native_American_Beliefs.htm Native American Spirituality. Ed. Donna Ladkin. GreenSpirit. http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/resources/NatAmerSpirit.htm Native American Beliefs. http://4thmoon.com/styx/nativeam.htm Native American Religion. 1998. The Institute for Philosophy, Religion, and the Life Sciences, Inc. 24 Nov. 2002 http://www.stormwind.com/common/nareligion.html Panther-Yates, Donald. Remarks on Native American Tribal Religions. Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia. http://www.wintercount.org/remark.doc Religious Movements Homepage: Native American Spirituality.,University of Virginia, Nov. 2002 http://http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/naspirit.html Robinson, B.A.. Religious Tolerance.org: Native American Spirituality, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, Nov. 2002 http://www.religioustolerance.org/nataspir.html