Background history of Facebook and the expected future Essay - 1

Background history of Facebook and the expected future - Essay Example Its main competitors are Twitter, Google+, IGLOO, LinkedIn, Bebo and many others. Its subsidiaries are Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus VR. In 2013, it posted $7, 872,000,000 in revenues, a 55% growth. Its founders are Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes (Facebook, 2014). Mark Zuckerberg serves as the chairman and the CEO of the company. Sheryl Sandberg serves as the chief operating officer, David Ebersman as the Chief Financial Officer and Mike Schroepfer as the Chief Technology Officer, Bret Taylor as Chief Technology Officer. Its Board of Directors is made up of Marc Andreessen, Erskine B. Bowles, Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Donald E. Graham, Reed Hastings, Peter A. Thiel. Changes involve Chamath Palihapitiya, former AOL executive joined to take over marketing, Van Natta left as the chief revenue officer, Mike Murphy, become the chief revenue officer and Matt Cohler promoted to vice president of product management (Facebook, 2014). SWOT is a structured method of planning that analyses a company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, opportunities and weaknesses. (Humphrey, 2005) Several factors (Opportunities) have placed Facebook at an advantage over others. Such factors are its ongoing expansion to the Chinese market, its diversification of its sources of income and how it has been tapping into advertising for income (this forms its major source of income), its tremendous increase in the number of its mobile users to 600 million, opening of the Facebook marketplace making it able to earn more revenues (and this is made possible because of its many users and wide coverage). It has also invested a lot of money in its marketing making it well known than other social networks, it’s ability to show the consumer behavior for businesses thus providing an analysis that aids decision making, enables businesses to collect user data through polls and surveys which could otherwise have

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Essay

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) - Essay Example It is, however, not far from criticisms. The major problem with the RCRA is that the implementation of RCRA rules and regulations requires huge amount of paper work which sometimes become quite frustrating for the corporate managers Introduction The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act was enacted in 1976. This act was introduced as an amendment to the then existing Solid Waste Disposal Act. Household as well as hazardous solid wastes are regulated by RCRA. Since its initiation, this act has been amended by a number of times. The years which experienced amendments to this act are 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1996. Most of this amendments caused significant coverage areas of the act. Most of the programs under RCRA have been designed to offer risk-free handling of hazardous as well as non-hazardous wastes. This paper seeks to offer a detailed discussion on the history, coverage, current status and shortcomings of the Resource Conservation and Recovery act. At the end, it will make an attempt to provide some solutions to the problems associated with RCRA. (Dennison, 1993). History of RCRA Earlier, state and local governments use to assume the responsibilities of regulating solid wastes generated by households and industries. Particularly, .before 1965, there was no such regulatory authority for that could handle the issues relating to solid wastes. During this time, most of the solid wastes were deposited through the method of open dumping. This kind of open dumping had not at all been environment friendly. In 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal act was enacted to deal with waste disposal methods. It started to look for environment friendly options of waste disposals. In order to reduce negative impacts of open dumping of wastes, it provided financial aids to local and state governments to appropriate waste disposal methods. In 1970, the Solid Waste disposal Act was amended to become the Resource Recovery Act and then in 1976, it was further amended to form the Resour ce Conservation and Recovery Act. (Dennison, 1993). The goal behind the enactment of RCRA was to eliminate all the remaining loopholes in environmental regulations with respect to disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes on land. Through the enactment of this act along with the subsequent amendments, federal government tried to address a set of requirements. First of all, through this act the government placed its focus on the importance of systematic management of households and industrial wastes. Second, the government made an attempt to recognize the requirement of special arrangements in dealing with wastes of hazardous nature. Finally, the act took into account a number of provisions for encouraging conservation of resources as well as their reuse or recycling. (Teets et al, 2003) Coverage of RCRA RCRA comprises of four different types of programs in order to implement the goals that as set up at the time of its initiation and subsequent amendments. The first program has been designed for encouraging states to build and promote plans for managing household non hazardous wastes. The second program has been directed towards setting up of a ‘cradle to grave’ mechanism in order to monitor and control the deposition of hazardous non-household wastes. The third program has been introduced to regulate storage in underground tanks with the help of a program known as the Underground storage Tank program. The fourth

Social group Essay Example for Free

Social group Essay This book, Ain’t No Makin’ It, shows the lives of the youth who are living in a neighborhood of low income earners. It shows that people are not poor because they are not ready to work, but it is because of various societal structural barriers that get them entrapped in poverty. The book is about the lives of two distinct units of teenagers who live in the inner- city with one unit believing in the ideology of achievement while the other unit rejects it. It further shows how the society can play a destructive part in the lives of the marginalized in the society thus giving the well to do a chance to blame the less fortunate yet they are the victims with the excuse of achievement ideology. The working class kids are the blacks who call themselves the brothers and believe in achievement ideology. They have realized that racial discriminations which have already ceased to exist made the past generations not to excel in their endeavors. Now they view the society as one that has given them a level playing ground and they decide to achieve what they want by excelling in school and not engaging in bad habits. The second social group, which is made up of the whites who call themselves hallway hangers, on the contrary, reject the ideology of the achievement and believe that their aspirations are low in the labor market (MacLeod, 2008, p283). The hallway hangers have realized from friends and family that they can’t make it out of the poverty and due to this, they engage themselves in bad habits like smoking dope and dropping out of school among other unlawful deeds (ibid p29). Despite the fact that both groups have different aspiration levels, no single group prospers in its endeavors. The hallway hangers do not get any degree of upward-ness but the brothers, although they fail to get what they exactly aimed for, they do make to achieve a fraction of it. Thus the poor blacks turn out to be better of than their parents but the poor whites turn out poorer than their parents. Macleod has the belief that the working class kids have a tendency of ending up in working class professions; with this he also points out that the family’s class structures are passed to the coming generations through the school system. The working class kids are also seen using limited linguistic codes which form a disadvantage at school while the other group uses elaborated codes which have an advantage for they are the codes used in the school’s academic setting (ibid, p226). As it is evidenced, no single group prospers with the reason for this failure being that the whites believe that everything is on their way but the blacks believe that they have to struggle to make it in life. They both end up as losers due to the fact that they are disintegrated with different ideologies. Although the blacks excelled in school, what they achieved from the school were theories which could not help them excel in life. The fact that the blacks gained some upward mobility but not all they expected shows that one can not jump from the bottom to the top of the society in one lifetime for it has to take time; it also shows that at that rate, in three generations time the blacks will be at the middle class if at all they teach their children to follow in their footsteps. Despite the efforts the blacks made in school, they view themselves as losers and tend to view the America as a society which does not keep its promises thus ending up in hurting themselves more. The working class families should mentally change their fashion through being honest to themselves and thus be able to improve the education in their children; this can be through working very hard to show their children the importance of commitment and working hard in school for even if they do not excel, they will be able to overcome some barriers. Macleod’s work is seen to have played a very important role in both the Brother’s lives as well as that of the Hallway Hangers since it made it possible for them to see beyond their immediate despairs and conditions. Both groups experienced a persistent cycle of poverty with negative role models such that they could not help themselves; for those who had no fathers, they suffered great grief and anger. Although the brothers believed in achievement ideology while their counterparts did not, the outcome is that the dominant culture guarantees a better result for the hallway hangers as compared to the outcome of the brothers (ibid p66). Education cannot be treated as a part of luxury, but as a necessity in the country. There is a major advantage for the outcome of attending school. Nevertheless, it is until the United States comes to recognize the reality that America as a country symbolizes several ways of interpreting data on the basis of various linguistic codes in comparison with various cultural and social classes; through this they will know that the way education is arranged in the public schools is an enormous disadvantage to the groups in consideration, that is the brothers and the hallway hangers. There is no theory being constructed up to this moment to bring about societal equality in the manner education is arranged. For instance, in Haiti, the colonizers do not allow for educational equality but the parents have struggled to make their children be able to recognize some linguistic codes used in Parisian French so that they can fit in the professional market. For people to grow individually there is need of self- actualization; this is to mean that with the brothers getting positive role models who will give them just a bit of basic motivation, their lives will change a great deal (ibid, p283). The whites should stop their negativity in life and understand that hard work is the key to success; it is through this that they will not depend on the fact that they are white for their survival. The brothers should realize that patience pays and it is through patience that they will get to the top since they can not go to the top at once but has to go through steps which take time (ibid p 226). If the teenagers tried hard enough in their every day lives then they could have made it in life. There is one boy who almost made it but he fails because he can’t drop the behaviors of the poor such as having kids at a tender age. There are some behaviors which cannot be changed by education as is shown by the boy who makes it to a community college and has a chance of going further but has to drop out after he impregnates a girl in the neighborhood. The youngsters just lacked the drive to forget about their beginnings and thus work hard to better their lives so their failure to achieve their set targets had nothing to do with capitalism. The theoretical framework used by the author is that of the two major races in the United States which can never be at par in their achievements in the society. The blacks are expected to be below the whites and seen working very hard and achieving very little while the whites should just have achievements come their way with no struggling. The main topic of discussion is that of whether hard work pays as it is shown in the lives of the brothers who although achieve little, it is due to the efforts they put; the whites end up gaining nothing since they do not work hard at all and in deed leave school and engage in illegal activities. It is at this point that the country should change the academic curriculum to fit the groups in discussion. The topic of discussion is very important to the author for he wants to show that even the blacks can make it to the top of the society if at all they work towards it. It also shows that the blacks should not loose hope because they are not gaining to their expectations since they can not do it in a day. One only needs to set a target and work towards it and be satisfied even if he makes a single step towards it and believe that it is only a matter of time before he achieves the whole of it (ibid, p 204). Macleod hangs out with both groups to get the first hand data rather than relying on statistical data. He follows them and even after realizing their beliefs, that is achievement ideology, he later goes back to them to collect data on how far they have gone in realizing their dreams. He goes directly to his interest group which is the teenagers (the blacks and whites) and in fact he shows no interest in their background families but is only interested in their aspirations and beliefs. The author used the best method in his collection of data since he got the first hand information which is never distorted and biased; this is shown by the fact that he interviewed those people he was interested in and also use the method of data collection of observation. He also asked the questions for the information that he saw necessary such as their aspirations and the intended ways of achieving those aspirations. The results he yielded are valid because as he collects the data by asking questions, he can as well see for himself the realities for he is collecting the data by himself. He further goes back to them to see what they have achieved and finds that it is as he had expected. His going back shows that the results are true for it is at this point that he sees for himself the outcome of their beliefs without interviewing. Since his research is based on many people of two different races and ideologies, it is okay to apply it as if it is for the general population as long as the circumstances he based his research on are the same. The researcher has taken a good sample which is a good representation of the whole population since he has included in his research two races and two ideologies. There are no other better methods which could have been used to conduct this research since the most applicable are observation and interviewing and they are the ones used. The research yielded valid results since it gives a reality in America which nobody can deny; this shows that he had the best methods applicable in use to get valid results. The interpretation of the data by the author is the best he could have given since it is the reality that you have work hard to achieve your expectations and also the fact that it took time for him to make the conclusions. After he interviewed the teenagers, he had to come back to them years later to see how the youths were doing. He found out that the blacks had achieved something which is because they were optimistic but the whites had made zero progress because of their pessimism in life which led to most of them dropping out of school and start taking drugs. The book is a good read because it shows that the less fortunate in the society can change their status by working hard and stop blaming the society for their failure. The book clearly shows that one becomes what he aspires to be if he is focused and optimistic thus anybody’s son can be the president. Work cited MacLeod Jay, Aint No Makin it: Leveled Aspirations in a Low-income Neighborhood, NY, Perseus Books Group Publishers, 2008

Exoticism in Art: Picasso and Gauguin

Exoticism in Art: Picasso and Gauguin The Exoticism in the Work of Picasso and Gauguin Ask important critical questions in the text. Intricately merge discussion of the two images Write about two pages on each image Introduction Picasso and Gauguin frequently deal with the ideas and values associated with non-western culture. This dissertation looks at one manifestation of this process: what is often referred to as the ‘exotic. This dissertation will look at what the exotic means, specifically for Picasso and Gauguin. It will examine why they were drawn to the idea of the exotic and how they made it their own. How did they imagine it would make their work more vital, vibrant or vivid? By comparing the exotic nature of the work of Picasso and Gauguin it is possible to see the similarity inherent in their exotic ideals and ignorance of non-western culture, however they differ in relation to how their work evolves and their anarchist views. They heard about Africa through a European centred view which †¦.. This It will be shown that they lusted after an exotic world, and how this emerged from a limited Western society and artistic landscape. A Western society based on the reliance on the myths and colonialist ideals, shaped by the mass-media . media. Exoticism is the allure of a culture different from the artist or viewers own, it is about a fascination for the aesthetics of another culture and a yearning for difference. This notion of ‘difference in a Western artists work represents the fantasy of escape from all forms of Western culture and academic systems of art. Exoticism is a term derived from the location of the ‘Orient, a term used in 19th-century France to denote the Near East and the surrounding areas of Northern Africa and Western Asia.[1] Looking at the imperialist power relation between East and West at the time,[2] the ‘exotic does not merely convey information but actually constructs its subject.[3] It positions the Orient, or the exotic, as the lesser half of a dichotomy where the West holds the power and strength of being ‘normal, the Orient becomes the ‘other in relation to it. The Western artists who created exotic art had the problem not only of their own conventional understandings, but of having to represent non-Western culture and non-Western art itself for Western consumption.[4] French symbolists coped with this by appropriating the distant object of ‘the exotic, by describing it in a familiar language to their society.[5] Picasso was a great exoticist although he never travelled to Africa. He could be called a sedentary Gauguin because where Gauguin travelled himself, Picasso had the exotic nature of Eastern islands brought to him through photographs and writings, creating a type of ‘arm-chair exoticism.'[6] Picasso drew from other works and created his own interpretations. His art has an originality of a practical order, the search for correct material is an art of imitation and distorted variations upon the original.[7] Whereas, Gauguin expands on the myth of Tahiti,[8] emphasizing the ‘exotic and the French preconceptions with a foreign culture. For Gauguin the myth of Tahiti would bring his aims into sharp focus. [9] Picassos ‘African period is termed as falling between 1907-1909, however, after this period his later work was still strongly influenced by Iberian sculpture. Picassos work from the first two decades of the twentieth century will be the prominent focus of this debate, beginning with his first ventures into exoticism during his ‘African period, starting from his first inspirations through African art. Matisse claimed that it was he who introduced Picasso to African art in 1906 when he purchased an African mask [10] and brought it to a dinner party at Gertrude Steins home, who was a good friend of Picassos. Several This is impossible to prove but several of Picassos friends such as Max Jacob vividly remembered Picassos connection to African art: ‘fascinated by the black idols, he had been working all night. Cubism had been born (seckel, 233),.[11] And and in March 1907 there is evidence that he purchased two Iberian sculptured heads, starting his what would eventually grow into an wide extensive and varied collection of African art,.[12] including a large collection of African and Oceanic sculptures and masks. In 1907 he created Les Demoiselles dAvignon which appears to be heavily influenced by African sculpture and was possibly inspired by Picassos visit to the Musee de Trocadero in May or June 1907[13] which housed African masks and sculptures. [14] It is here he is said to have had a ‘revelation about African sculpture.[15] However, Picasso vehemently denied any African influence in his work. In the 1920s when asked if this had an influence on his work he replied â€Å"Lart negre? Connais pas!† (African art? Dont know it!†)[16] For Picasso, African influence was as much a part of social criticism as it was for as a search for a new art.[17] He amassed a large collection of African and Oceanic sculptures and masks†¦ D espite his taste for exoticism from an early age , It it was not until 1891 when Gauguin first arrived in Tahiti that he finally entered his Polynesian period.,[18] despite his taste for exoticism from an early age. In Gauguins day, race provided the predominant intellectual and practical framework in which cultural, linguistic and psychological differences could be examined and expressed; because of its adaptability it was also an effective colonial tool for substantiating any cultural or national hierachy. Gauguin mirrored the typical Nineteenth Century French attitude of Africa; expressing a preference for difference combined with a willful ignorance of historical and cultural practices, marking it as exoticism.[19] Gauguin pursued an interest in travelling and he appeared to have a great desire for difference but until he lived in Tahiti he seemed to have relatively little interest in learning much about the foreign lands and cultures he saw. [20] A lot of the inspiration and influence in their work, that delves into an exotic world was marred by Frances feelings on Eastern culture during this period and how they saw it as ‘primitive. Since the arrival of the European colonial power in Africa from the fifteenth century, the islands were sites of exoticism for Europeans, where fantasies about race, sex and utopian societies could be fulfilled. [21] The artists viewed ‘utopian societies as being about the search for an ideal world; in terms of social, moral and political aspects. In the early 1900s there were utopian visions of a liberal movement which merged with the symbolist movement in art. Anarcho-symbolist ideas helped Picasso form an idea of himself as an artist in a European society and about the virtues of unsophisticated ‘primitive art.[22] The liberation was a revolutionary new struggle for a new society.[23] The European artists first major source of images and information about Africa, would have come through the popular press, itself influenced by fantasy and prejudice. The European prejudice was based on the perceived threat of the minority forces to the tradition European values, coupled with the absence of positive feelings towards them.[24] Political interests also influence the press and this predated actual French contact with urban and tribal populations in Africa and were reinforced by novels and accounts by missionaries, and explorers, often accompanied by fantastic illustrations. To this were added the forced labour and fear in the two congos why, which dominated discussion in late 1905.[25] These elements culminated in modernists minds to form both political outrage and yet essentially romanticized notions about instinct and ‘fetish worship. Explain?! * Summary of each paras to be put at the end of intro. I shall begin by exploring the ‘lure of non-western culture for the artists, why they were inticedenticed by difference and how this influenced their work; the fantasy created by accounts of explorers and how European colonialism influenced their work. In my second chapter I shall explore why they desired sexually primitive women, how they saw them as accommodating the white male bourgeoisie and how they juxtaposed African sexuality against European bourgeois norms. I shall also explore the seemingly different sex codes of the East. In my final chapter I shall create a critical exploration as to what extent they found the exotic nature they were looking for, how it lived up to their expectations and whether it made their work more vital, vibrant and vivid. I shall also explore whether their work showed the ‘true nature of African culture. Chapter 1-The Lure of the Exotic The logic of exoticism is a cycle; the more one is immersed in a culture, the more one discovers sameness and seeks even greater difference. [26] The more Picasso and Gauguin found out about non-western society, the more enticed they became by this foreign culture, leading to it featuring predominantly in their work. The colonialism, fantasy and culture of non-western society offered new means of expression for the artists and are integral in assessing the lure of the exotic for Picasso and Gauguin. I shall also examine why they were enticed by Africa and how the accounts for explorers and knowledge of colonialism influenced them to explore Africa. For Gauguin, Tahiti was a place in which he could fulfill his fantasies, plunging into a free and exotic culture, free from the constraints of his own French culture. He described living in Tahiti as: ‘civilisation is leaving me little by little†¦ ‘I have all the pleasures of a free, animal and human life. I escape from the artificial; I enter into nature. Gauguin wrote this shortly after coming to the island paradise.[27] The anarchist background of Picasso meant that everything to do with Africa was charged with political meaning during this time and leant meaning to their force of Primitivism. The critic Leiris was close to Picasso, and as such strongly influenced and paralleled his thoughts on African Art. He explores the difficulties created by his own relationship as a European to non-European culture, especially Africa. Leiris, in his article ‘LOeil de lethnographe (The Eye of the Ethnographer) he explores the fashion for African art and the exoticism of the Africa of fiction and dreams to explore the absurdities and racial assumptions behind European negrophilia.[28] He feels that the European ideal of Africa will always be about exoticism and fantasy, the real and fantastic, confused between the contradictions of the objective and subjective.[29] Gauguin obviously identified himself in some way with what he imagined to be a ‘savage life. Gauguin saw himself both as the subjugated savage and the dominating conqueror. This is significant because of the period, a time of renewed European colonialism and vigorous debate about imperial policies.[30] Fantasy of the exotic; the traveler is constantly asking to recall the fabled exoticism of ‘primitive cultures. Travelers who ventured in to Africa in the early Nineteenth Century frequently returned with fantastical tales of human sacrifice, cannibalism, violence, sensuality and doom that were made much of in the French press, emphasizing the purported savagery of customs they misconstrued in accordance with their pre-conceptions.[31] Picassos art represented the naà ¯ve fantasy of the ‘Other and was possibly based on the fantastical tales and images brought to France by travelers who had ventured into Africa. Picassos ‘African period of art took inspiration solely from art objects which came to stand in for Africa itself. There is great irony in Picassos work because while he was obsessed with African imagery he never travelled to the continent.[32] African objects became kinds of forces, often unspoken and unlicensed, which he needed in order to break the constraints of modernity. Africa was most useful to Picasso when it was confined to the unconscious, mediating other needs and desires while not serving as a primary faction in itself. [33] Iconography was taken from African sculpture as an artistic device for distinguishing avant-garde art, and a conceptual tool for signifying anarchy and transgression.[34] Black imagery whether drawn from popular carvings or from African carvings, suited the arti sts need for inspiration, difference and subversion.[35] In pre-war Paris, African carvings entered the art market and fuelled the avant-gardes need for new forms of expression. African carvings that reached Paris at the turn of the century were generally and collectively referred to as ‘lart negre or ‘les fetishes.'[36] Europes avant-garde absorbed African imagery into cubism and expressionism, as part of an artists short-hand that stood for the exotic, authentic and spontaneous; sentiments sympathetic with their anarchist status. Expand on his anarchist status For instance even the African forms were not painstakingly represented, the primitive was implicit in depictions of the female nude and the aggressive manner in which the model was sexualized.[37] The French popular Press with mass illustrations such as le journal illustre, lillustration and Le Tour de Monde and the illustrated supplements of the newspapers Le Petit Journal and Le Petit Parisien, played up to fantastical tales, as part of a successful attempt to justify the French conquest. This largely influenced Picassos fantasy of the exotic through its subjugated view of Africa and political fluency. The press followed the war only superficially, concentrating instead on the legendary grotesque practices of the natives. [38] what war? explain Picasso may be seen as more greatly influenced by the French press because he never travelled to Africa, preferring to learn about it from texts and images, whereas Gauguin lived in Africa, immersing himself in the culture and seeing for himself the juxtaposition between fantasy and reality. With primitivism Picasso crossed a geo-political frontier and imported African bodies into Western salons during the peak of colonialism. Picasso may have drawn on the dialogue of postcards whose recurrent subject matter was female nudes[39]. Anne Baldassari drew upon an inventory of Picassos collection of picture postcards, they included postcards of ‘alien people and tribal groups. For example, Picasso possessed albumen prints (used as a photographic device in the early 1900s, it describes negatives exposed to sunlight and printed onto light sensitive albumen paper[40]) (it was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print-taken from wiki) dating from 1860-80 which included visiting card portraits of Polynesians and a series of postcards from West Africa mainly produced by Daker-based postcard publisher Edmund Frontier.[41] reword A photo-postcard by Edmund Frontier entitled ‘Femme Malinke (Malinke Woman) 1906 appears to directly inspire Picassos ‘Female Nude with Raised Arms 1908. In the images the women appear to situate themselves in an almost identical pose, standing upright with their arms raised above their heads. [42] Picasso uses cubist abstraction to accentuate the features into a more ‘Africanised style, accentuating her womanly curves; the shape of her buttocks and thighs. He also uses strong features that appear inspired by African masks; lozenge shaped eyes and a strong jaw. The postcard evokes a tribal woman, adorned with necklaces (possibly a symbol of her tribe?) ‘Female Nude with Raised Arms saw Picassos African art emerge into a cubist style[43], the feminine body is broken into feminine abstraction, similar to Picassos ‘Three Women 1908. Picassos seemingly primitive endevoursendeavours carried him beyond what many of the public admired about his rose and blue period.[44] Picassos transition from ‘Africanism into cubist proper for which Cezanne seems to be the dominant model.[45] expand Picassos cubism is an abstracting and reorganization classical constraints and a mediated representation of art up until this time.[46] The concepts of pathological distortion or symbolic syntax such as caricature supplies promoted Picasso to undertake a re-ordering and distortion of facial features.[47] The asymmetry of a womanswomans face is not normally part of any of the known mask traditions of Africa. However, the torso of the woman is quite clearly inconceivable without the precedent of non-European mask art.[48] When avant-garde artists such as Picasso began working with African sculptures, they did not make the distinction between curios and genuine ethnographic objects. They were more concerned with what the objects in their paintings would signify rather than their authenticity. [49] Few artists appreciated the African objects; such as masks and statues for their aesthetic beauty and instead were fascinated by their crudeness of expression. Picasso in ‘Female Nude with Raised Arms represents the more grotesque forms of African carvings, rather than depicting her feminine beauty because of their sharp contrast with European art.[50] Through artworks based on evoking a ‘tribal‘ life and art which he saw as violent and degenerate, Picasso is able to implicitly reject colonialism through pointedly revealing ethnic difference.[51] Tribal life was seen as collective or primitive socialism. Everything has become capitalist and liberal Western societies have vanished in the political and cultural milieu of the twentieth century. Therefore, tribal life represented a taboo form, which Picasso was keen to accentuate. Gauguin also drew inspiration from fabled stories and travelers, especially the traveller Moerenhaut. Gauguin read with considerable care the very detailed anthropological and historical accounts provided by Moerenhout, as well as the writings of other travelers.[52] Moerenhaut had clearly benefited from a good, classical French education[53] and found the lure of non-Western culture within the differences in civil law and religion which in turn inspired Gauguin to create such works as ‘There lies a temple (1892) Gauguin wanted to represent the original Tahiti, as it was before colonialism, to do so he had to look in accounts of travelers, those who had been fortunate enough to have seen or heard from the mouths of the elders accounts of travelers stories of ancient times,. But but Gauguin borrowed elements of the book by Moerenhaut to reconstruct a world through the texts he had read, interlinking it with his own experience.[54] Gauguin wrote his own account of his travels, part reality and part myth on which interpretation of a great many of his paintings can be based. In ‘There lies a Temple the composition reveals a conflict between reality and fiction.[55] It shows a composition based on the scene of Tahiti, with abundant vegetation rendered in green, pink-violet and orange which sets the tone; behind it runs a fence, its forms inspired by Asian models, which creates a barrier uninterrupted by openings anywhere. In the centre of the image is the sunrise, in radiant yellow, that dominates the overall composition of the painting. Gauguin, during his time in Tahiti maintained his penchant for complimentary complementary colours and still mostly applied them in an impressionist style. In Tahiti the dazzling light can produce hues that are unusual to the Western audience and therefore appear exotic with tropical intensity.[56] The inspiration for the titleeponymous temple lies in front of a mountain ran ge at the right-hand side of the painting, a monumental stone temple figure, at the foot of which rising smoke emanates. Yet there were no temples left standing in Tahiti, no stone images of gods and no fences marked the boundaries of sacred areas.[57] It is perhaps more inspired by Moerenhauts book in which is described the worship of the moon goddess Hina in the form of a ten-metre high stone statue located on distant Easter Island. Gauguins paintings therefore, like Picassos, may be considered an unauthentic and inaccurate ethnological report which does not benefit future European artists-p.38. Instead it expands on the myth of Africa, not due to Gauguins lack of knowledge, but perhaps to expand on the lure of the exotic and fulfill the expectations of his French audience, representing the world with which outsiders associated him. The religious aspect of the painting seems deliberately falsified, in all letter to his wife he explains the title ‘here lies the temple by sayi ng ‘there lies the temple, a place reserved for the cult of gods, and for human sacrifice (ref in text)[58] All from gs skirt-reword and relate to temple and raised arms painting Gauguins use of exoticism in his work and his preference for difference combined with an almost willful cultural and historical ignorance that was extremely common in 19th century France. [59] The violence and anarchy of an old Tahiti was apparent, but Gauguin preferred to stress the gentleness and compassion of the culture. Gauguin also expressed a willful and historical ignorance of Tahiti, a typical attitude in France at the time; expressing the barbarity of native lore and traditions yet the fundamental humanity of a culture that gave rise to them.[60] Gauguin was determined to develop new themes in keeping with his new surroundings and to adapt some old ones to a new context. [61] The history of the 19th Century French past is conjoined with the South Pacific; their religious beliefs, cultural and sexual? practices. Gs skirt-p.155 The women in Gauguins ‘Ta Matete, ‘The Market are prostitutes, posed like the figures in ancient Egyptian wall painting. The one in yellow at the right holds a cigarette between the fingers of her right hand; two others proudly display health inspection certificates as if they were the painted fans of the French society women. Such behaviour was inconsistent with order, stability, prosperity and the overall French mission civilitrice. -P.155 gs skirt-Anti-govermentalgovernmental sentiment was expressed in more thamthan just verbal form, natives flaunted laws and customs which promoted moral proprierty, physical health and industry. Relate to a painting by Picasso. Both used symbolism to enhance the viewers perceived idea of the debasement and cultural inferiority of another race. Chapter 2-The Desire for a Sexually ‘Exotic Culture Sex codes less rigidly defined-‘what! are you jealous? Concept of identity-the masculine, how Gauguin was seen as feminine. Male dominance, woman as prostitutes- Olympia, poses women posed to accommodate men-comparison of les demoiselles and spirit watching Caricatures of women-represent cultural ignorance? Gauguin and Picasso desire a sexually exotic woman because they are enticed by the schemata of difference and want to project fantasies of white masculinity on to the seemingly base woman. Often ignoring the beauty of women and concentrating on the historical and cultural example of subjectivity. [62]expand They use caricatures and stereotypes of African women in their artwork, Picasso often using features of African masks as inspiration while Gauguin situates his women in a suggestive and sexually enticing manner for the viewer. White male dominance Gauguin and Picasso create a conundrum of oppositions between the passivity of the black female and dominance of the white male conqueror. [63] The ‘primitive creates a paradox: it entices artists in the desire for an exotic nature and yet similataneouslysimultaneously repels them. The fantasy of the exotic woman is pressured to the point where often cracks start to appear and white masculinity prevails[64] crisis of masculinity-continued. P.76 expand 20.p.165. Although Gauguin sought to disparage masculine sexual impulses, in reality the dominating power of the masculine and exaggerated male sexual strength was also naturalised and secretly admired at the same time that it was condemned. Gauguins sympathy for, yet possessiveness over the women in his work sent a threatening message as did the depiction of dread and desire implicit in the female. 20. p.165 Although Gauguins texts such as Noa Noa sought to construct him as ‘savage rather than reveal his true self, he nevertheless exposed in such works culturally formed attitudes towards sexuality, nature and his own desires. Gauguin and Picasso in ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching and ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon shows two different modes of representing woman as prostitutes, living up to mans desires. They mark a divide between the sexes: between men who can continually ask for sexual services and women who have no opportunity to dispute this. reword 22.p.598 These scenes bring up conundrums between European and other, white and black, female and male, pure and perverse and heterosexual and homosexual. (reword, taken from les dem essay) The subjects of Picasso and Gauguins work are often represented in a hazardous sexual directness, which non-western culture tended to avoid. The power of this sexual primitiveness therefore makes it unclear as to whether Picasso and Gauguin intended their masculine viewer to dominate the female figures or for the figures to dominate them. Women were posed to accommodate the viewer. The exotic nature of Picasso and Gauguins work merged with white masculine prejudice to create a threatening image which was at once desirable and yet hazardroushazardous in its sexual directness. Some of their paintings projectsproject the power of female sexuality onto a largely masculine culture. . Griselda Pollock; ‘Tehamanas body is appropriated to signify Gauguins desire as a white man and artist. [65] (put in about lack of acceptance of Gauguins work at the time?) In ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon the second sex puts the male viewer at the advantage yet a moral disadvantage for men who exploit human beings. However, instead of letting her bathe in innocence the picture offers up a guilty thrill at viewing up close the ritual performed well away from the curious and censorious.[66] Similarly in ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching the man is put at an advantage through the cultural debasement of the women as prostitutes, exemplified through the male view of the womens indifference to the males subjectificationobjectification.[67] In a text attributed to Gauguin a Tahitian woman is compared to a cat in her savagery and impulsive vigour.[68] ‘She asks to be raped. She is totally indifferent to any consideration you might have for her. ‘She lives as [if] she will never be wanting and this prevents her from being unduly calculating.'[69] (p.214) It is in the debasement of Tehamana that he finds her the most beautiful. [70] Similarly in à ¢â‚¬ËœSpirit of the Dead Watching the woman is in a pose where she appears to seemingly ask to be raped. This differs from ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon where the women seem sexually powerful in the poses, standing and posed facing the viewer as opposed to Spirit of the Dead watching where the woman is lying down with her back to the viewer. The sexually threatening undercurrents of Les Demoiselles is unlike ‘Spirit of the dead watching who appears fearful despite the sexual directness which Gauguin appropriates as an example of the cultural laxness of the society. Find a ref to back this up. ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon lends force the power of exotic power through sexual directness. Rubin draws attention to the mesmerizing mesmerising and even terrifying caricatures expand of the masks, it is a transgressive confrontation that projects a trauma, ‘something that transcends our sense of civilized experience, something ominous and monstrous.'[71] ‘While Spirit of the Dead Watching, rather than lending force to the woman as prostitute instead depicts her with a submissive nature. ‘Les Demoiselles assumes the viewer to be male and heterosexual, it tells us what are desires are and marks a divide between the sexes: between men who can routinely contract for sexual services and women who have no opportunity to dispute this.[72] Gauguins ‘The Spirit of the Dead Watching or ‘Manao Tupapau as Gauguin refferedreferred to it, is a tropical version of the Olympia. The title ‘Manao Tupapau means ‘Thought or Belief and the Specter and can have two meanings: either she is thinking of the specter or the specter is thinking of her.[73] In itthe picture, the figure stares with open eyes at the viewer while the ubiquitous figure of the dead keeps watch.[74] The enduring theme of the young, nude Maori girl who has a great fear of the hooded spirit of the dead.[75] p117-gs skirt- Gauguin compares women to animals ‘All indeed wish to be ‘taken, brutally taken, without a single word. All have the secret desire for violence because this act of authority on the part of the male leaves to the woman-will its full share of irresponsibility. (ref citation in book) This appeals to mans desire of the submissive woman, for the dominating conquererconqueror. The woman lies on the bed, naked on her front, seemingly accommodating and enticing the viewer. Gauguin, perhaps to encourage and emphasize his claim that he had found ‘paradise on earth wanted an innate ability to love. [76] ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching, ‘In this position almost anything might make her look indecent, yet it is in this way I want her. [77] The woman represents the image of the prostitute through the flowers strewn in the background of the painting representing a type of ‘exotic and tropical version of Olympia in the mode of prostitute. Gauguin said of this image ‘ my‘my feeling for the decorative sense leads me to strew the background with flowers.'[78] ‘The Spirit of the Dead Watching conveys a new subject; ‘his savage identity to the old world. Foster, Hal, Prosthetic Gods; Primitive Scenes, MIT Press, 2004, p.6 ,like the savage identity represented in Picassos Les Demoiselles d Avignon. In these scenes Picasso and Gauguin challenge our conceptions of identity through the aesthetic and psychological conceptions of art and psyche challenged by colonial encounters. Sometimes these scenes bring up conundrums of Europeans identification with the East, and the conundrum opposition of female and male, ; pure versus and perverse; and heterosexual and homosexual. Taken from essay on les dem! There is no simple notion of a women as ‘pure or ‘peverseperverse as Gauguin and Picasso show women as both pure and perversewith both of these contradictory elements. With Picasso and Gauguins work there is no simple divide between the depiction of African women as pure and virginal, yet simultaneously images ofpotential prostitutionprostitutes. For instance, Gauguin painted his adorned mother in a darkly sensual Tahitian mode even though she was fair and fine, typically considered ‘European characteristics. He also used his mother as the muse for ‘exotic eve Eve (1890) And often presented Tahitian women as Virgin Marys, yet even as he depicts them as pure, he also used them as prostitutes.[79] In ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching it upholds male colonial prerogatives, yet it is equally, a hybrid artwork, which undercuts the paradigm of sexuality upon which European masculinialism, depends. . The posture and anatomy of Tehamana may be seen as boyish, it is possibly an assault on European sexual nudes. Charles Maurice a friend of Gauguins writes that Tehamana is depicted as an ‘androgynous little girl.p.121 sex in Tahiti in gs skirt-rewrite There is an interesting juxtaposition in the discourse between the notion of the ‘femme fatale that Picasso and Gauguin often depict, and yet a ‘womanly vulnerability which reasserts the masculine power of the European conquererconqueror. Gauguin introduced this conflict between womanly power and women as a ‘femme fatale and men as lacking in sexuasexual potency,lly lack and homoerotic.[80] On the theme of inc

A Rolling Model :: Role Models Media Cartoons Essays

A Rolling Model When I was twelve years old, I had every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle that was ever made. I had cases of the plastic figures lining the walls in my room. Posters were laid out everywhere, and my whole room was completely decorated in Ninja Turtle material. My bed, my drapes, my walls, literally everything was something about a Ninja Turtle. I spent a lot of my time watching those television shows, memorizing each tape word for word. I would pretend with my friends that we were the turtles, always fighting crime and always on the move under the streets, showing up only at night to fight the â€Å"foot clan†, the archenemy of the turtles. You could say that it was an obsession, and yes, maybe it was, but as a little child I could not realize it was an obsession, or that this obsession could make me a different person. It was intriguing, even as I grew to understand that the Turtles were made-up figures, that I still had an attachment to them. It was as if these imagin ed characters had become role models for me. Is it possible that something that doesn’t exist can become a role model, and continue to be one even after the discovery is made that they are only cartoons? And what effects do these role models have on people? Are they long term affects or short term? Just what is a role model? It seems to be anything or anyone that can influence people to do things that they normally wouldn’t have done without the inspiration of the model. Role models cause others to follow their ideas or concepts. As long as the object gets a person to follow in the footsteps of the object, anything can be a role model. Even if one concept makes an impact on a person’s life, people will admire the model more, placing the role model on a pedestal. The object has become the object of admiration and thus becomes a role model. Furthermore, people can have more than one role model. As long as others move to follow ideas and characteristics and eventually change the way they think about things, there may be several role models that people follow.

Lesson Plans for Educators :: Teaching Technology Internet Essays

Lesson Plans for Educators I will be graduating with a Liberal Studies Major. I will hopefully be teaching in September but I have a dilemma, I am afraid of not having enough lessons to get me started. My other fear is not having fun lessons to teach. I work at an Elementary school now and there is a teacher that I work with that doesn't know the meaning of fun activities that can provide great knowledge from them. I will never forget my favorite teacher, Mr. Protho. He loved making our class a fun and exciting place to be. We would do Shakespeare plays throughout the year. He could take any subject and make it fun. Still to this day I call and ask him for advice when making lesson plans for school. There are many resources where one who is becoming a teacher can find. There are books, magazines, in-services, seminars, other people and of course the Internet. The Internet is something that I was quite afraid of because of the fact that it was foreign to me. New territory is something that frightens me. I have used the Internet for reasons such as research for papers but not for pleasure. I have heard a lot of controversy about the Internet and how people pretend they are someone else and fool children and other people whom they are chatting with. For this reason, I am quite hesitant to try talking to people in the chat rooms. I am hoping that the Internet can provide me with lesson plans and other activities that I can use in the classroom. Trying to connect to Netscape from home was very difficult. I had many problems connecting and no one to ask. I gave up and ran to school to use the computers there. The computer finally worked at CSUN. I used the engine server named Yahoo. I typed "educational lesson plans". It gave me 33 files. I began searching them to find the one with the most lessons to choose from. The first couple of them were not very helpful. I began to think that this is not going to be easy topic and maybe I should switch topics. But I told myself be patient and continue looking. I finally decided to go around the topic and just type "LAUSD" which gave me the web site. I entered the web site and found a lot of information about the LAUSD system but no lesson plans.

Hamlet Exam Study Guide Essay

What should Hamlet do? Explain the moral theories of each philosopher: Plato, Aristotle and Augustine. For each, determine the right thing for Hamlet to do. Then, assess the prince’s actions from the perspective of each recommendation. Plato Plato’s moral theory consisted of the concept of the soul and the concept of virtue as function. To Plato, the soul has three parts; reason, spirit, and appetite. The reason we do things is to reach a goal or value, our spirit drives us to accomplish our goal, and our desire for things is our appetite. The three virtues that must be fulfilled to reach the fourth, general virtue are temperance, courage, and wisdom, which correlate with the three parts of the soul. In order to achieve inner harmony, every part of the soul must be fulfilling its proper function. In Plato’s theory, Hamlet needs to look at the big picture of achieving inner harmony. In order to reach the goal of achieving inner harmony, Hamlet has to figure out another way of easing his anger other than the vengeance of his uncle. The virtues of temperance, courage, and wisdom need to be incorporated into Hamlet’s actions, and he would be able to reach his inner harmony. By keeping his reason in control of his will and appetites, he can use the dialectic to fulfill the knowledge on how to deal with the situation. Hamlet’s big picture of inner harmony was the death of his uncle. He wasn’t concerned about the consequences he would have to face in result, such as not achieving his goal. He was more concerned about feeding his appetite of revenge, and not re-evaluating his virtuous life. Although he held out on murdering his uncle a couple of times, he was still in rage and trying to please his father’s ghost, whatever the consequences were. He loved his mother, and wanted to save her, but he was more concerned with killing his uncle. Hamlet was not able to achieve inner harmony, since he did not have a proper functioning soul. Aristotle Aristotle’s moral theory involves the idea of living your life to the fullest happiness that can be reached. In order to achieve this final, we need to live a virtuous life according to the Golden mean, which is finding the middle grounds of the virtues we live by. Aristotle explains that we should continuously act in accordance with virtues, which are acquired from our upbringing and experiences. Because Aristotle believed in teleology, he said that by aiming our actions toward an end (happiness), our souls need to work in the way of excellence. Like Plato, Aristotle also gears toward reaching a goal. In order for Hamlet to achieve the goal of happiness, he needs to follow the golden mean to live the ideal life. Hamlet and Aristotle had the same question; what does it mean to be? Hamlet’s famous statement â€Å"to be or not to be† meant he did not know exactly how to put his feelings into action. Is it better to live with the knowing of the murder of his father, or is it better to die in the act of revenge. Aristotle would have Hamlet evaluate how he can fulfill the function of being a good person. To do this, Hamlet needs to act on the rational part of his soul and make the right choice in dealing with his knowledge of his father’s murder. Hamlet needs to live by the virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. If Hamlet makes rational decisions based on these virtues, he will understand that he needs to be able to communicate to Claudius and let him know that he will not get away with what he has done. As the Prince, he needs to take action as a ruler and set a good example for the people of Denmark and other kingdoms. Then again, Aristotle gave a pass of negative behavior to the involuntary acts that are done as a result of external compulsion. So, as he may say that everyone has the potential to be good, they may still slip up due to impulses such as revenge against the uncle who killed Hamlet’s father and re-wed his mother. In the act of aiming toward an end, Hamlet may choose whether or not to follow the instrumental road or the intrinsic road. Since Hamlet had a couple of chances to kill the King, he kept holding out until he thought he would have a perfect opportunity. In the beginning, he was following a virtuous life, and toward the end, when he claimed to have â€Å"bloody† thoughts, he was gearing more toward the impulsive irrational part of his soul. He eventually followed this road, but his soul was dying anyways. Augustine In order to have faith, we need to understand the reason for spirituality. To know universal truth, we have to go beyond human reason to discover God. Since the soul cannot find peace among bodily pleasures or sensations, we need to understand what will bring happiness to our lives and how we can succeed as humans. Since God created us, we will find happiness only in him. We have free will to choose the City of God or the City of the World. In choosing the City of God, we are putting our faith in God to guide us to make the right choices in finding happiness, not materialistic things or other people. By devoting our ultimate love to God and having faith that God can provide us with happiness, we can fulfill our destiny. For Augustine, Hamlet needs to start praying. He needs to open his heart and have faith in God to take care of the situation. Since we are Gods people, only God can bring justice. The king may have done something horrible, but he has to answer to God in the end. Hamlet needs to stay on the right track and pray that God can save him from his horrible thoughts of having revenge on the king. God is the only one who can bring happiness to our lives and help us to succeed as humans. Hamlet needs to choose the City of God, and make the right choices to not worry about punishing other people. This is the only way that he will achieve the goal of happiness. Unfortunately, Hamlet did not look to God for the answer. He may have said some prayers, and asked for guidance, but he certainly did not follow what he knew he was supposed to do. Instead, he listened to the ghost of his father and aimed towards revenge. Hamlet may have thought he achieved what he was out to do, but in the end, his mother was poisoned to death, his lover, Ophelia, died along with her brother, Laertes, as well as his other two friends he had killed in England, the king died, and so did Hamlet himself. If he would have put his trust in God to deal with the murder of his father, he could have saved himself along with everyone else he cared so deeply for. God always has a plan.