Schools and court systems need to work together to tackle the problem Article

Schools and court systems need to work together to tackle the problem with trauncy and increase graduation rate - Article Example In order to prevent truancy one needs to find out the main reason behind truancy. Trujillo (2006) observes there are four primary causes behind truancy - student demographics, family characteristics, personal and psychological factors of the student, and climate and condition of family, school and society (Trujillo, 2006, p.74). Truancy and Dropouts School absenteeism and truancy is not always the same. There are various kinds of absenteeism and not all are grouped under the term truancy. Absence of a student from specific classes or in course of specific lessons or absence under parental consent would not fall under truancy. But, absence without any proper reason can be considered under truancy. If absence without good reason continues then there is a chance that students might incur poor academic results. Sometime bad relations with teachers or friends, involvement in unconstructive activities cause truancy. Once a young student starts believing that they are lagging behind his or her batch mates then the tendency of dropping out also increases rapidly as the latter option is more convenient than competing with others (Reid, 2005, p.59). Truancy and Juvenile Crime Truancy not only affects the young generation of the country but also hampers the growth of the population as well as development of the future generation. The direct and indirect effects of truancy always have an impact on individual, families, school and society in both short as well as long term. Zhang et.al (2007) observes that truancy destroys potential in youths. As a result they are headed for social isolation, criminal activities and education failure. Tendency of chronic absence in the early school days was associated with poor results in examination, isolation from friends’ groups which ultimately caused dropouts in near future. In their review, they also pointed out that, truancy accounted for almost 26% of juvenile crime cases. According to their point of view, truancy can be cons idered as a first sign of trouble and most powerful reason for the delinquent behavior. Students who miss occasional classes were more inclined to get addicted to marijuana than those who never skip. They also mentioned that students who admitted being involved in truancy were, likely to be reported having committed serious crimes, and arrested owing to their involvement in serious assault. Generally when youths were absent from school, the rate of crime increased during the school going years only. Some truants were reported hanging out during school time, cruising in cars, and getting into trouble while skipping school (Zhang et.al, 2007, pp. 246-250). How Truancy Affect Dropout Dropouts from the school is directly associated with truancy. In the beginning of their school days, if students remain absent from school without any proper reason then they eventually consider this as a habit. White and Kelly observe the rates of dropout in USA were 11% among the age group of 18-24 in th e year 2008. They also pointed out the fact that rate of drop out was higher among the low income group which was 10.4% compared to that of the high income group (2.5%) in the same year. Truancy and absenteeism was the main reason behind this increased rate of drop out. Once it becomes a habit, students chose to drop out rather than catching up. In 2007 almost 9 percent students from the age group of 16-24 years dropped

The Fall (of man) in Genesis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Fall (of man) in Genesis - Research Paper Example iew it, it is the â€Å"conflict of conflicts† that swayed the peace of man as he entered a new era where peace between him and fellow man, him and Gods creation was eroded. The conflict between Man and God and its solution is much similar to the conflict that exists in the contemporary society between people, countries and even leaders. As the ebb of peace is enjoyed between each tide of war, man (and countries alike) assesses previous battles, losses and gains, so as to strengthen itself for future conflicts. Seldom do men realize the very origin of conflict may be traced to the Old Testament book of Genesis. It should be understood that not every fall ends up in a war, but the source of all conflict is the result of one fall in particular. The fall of man as depicted in Genesis begins the greatest conflicts known: the conflict of man verses God; the conflict of man verses man; and the conflict of man verse creation. In the book of Genesis, Man was the most privileged work of God’s creation. God created man as the last creature after He had created the earth, a conducive environment for man. As opposed to other beings that were created out of nothingness, man was created from soil, a symbol that he was a special creation on Earth1. Much more, he was created in the image and likeness of God, to signify the close relationship that God established between man and Himself as the most privileged work of creation. This special treatment is also manifested in the nature of the responsibilities that the Lord gave to man as regards the entire work of creation. The Lord asked man to take responsibility of the land, the animals and the environment as he fends for his existence in this work of creation. In principle, man was placed as the overall in the work of creation, a superior being than no other in the Garden of Aden. When God noted that Adam was lonely, he created Eve from his own rib so that she would keep him company and wipe away his loneliness2. The love of God

English Literature Essays Beauty Truth Art

English Literature Essays Beauty Truth Art Beauty Truth Art In his famous apostrophe to the â€Å"Grecian Urn†, the immortal poet, John Keats, wrote: â€Å"Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,†Ã¢â‚¬â€that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.† This very famous statement on Beauty and Truth and their interchangeability poses a very important question in the postmodern era. Art and its convention of the ‘Beauty’/‘Beautiful’ has imperceptibly changed over the decades, from something that should reflect the Ideal (and in reality, twice removed from it, as per Plato), or in essence complete and offering pleasure to the senses to something, that expresses the unique consciousness/angst of the creator. Art has thus rediscovered its definition for beauty. If beauty is truth, then it may dare to be grotesque too, for truth may be harsh or horrific. Beauty does not suggest something beautiful in the actual sense of the term, but that, which comes closer to the true expressions of the self and the vision of a generation’s psyche, that is fragmented, kitsch-like, complex and beyond the metanarratives of a suffocating conformity. Beauty has evolved into a freedom for expression. Contemporary art, especially questions the paradigms of aesthetic values, with artists like Chapman Brothers or Justin Novak producing artwork that are clearly meant to provoke reactions and challenge notions of beauty, that had it’s roots in Kant’s â€Å"Critique of Judgment† (1790). It contemplated on the â€Å"pure† aesthetic experience of art consisting of a â€Å"disinterested† observer, pleasing for its own sake and beyond any utility or morality. Now, the very word ‘pleasing’ may have different boundaries and contemporary art is trying to escalate their claims. If Marcel Duchamp made a fountain out of a urinal in 1917, that hurtled the Dadaist movement and that later amplified into a surrealist tendency looking into primitive art for their subconscious inspiration, to reveal the mental process, then the essential motivation behind the whole thing was subversion. If primitivism was motivating a new dimension by which beauty of the mind was revealed, then Picasso completely subjectified art and personal experience into a fourth dimension and created a cubist movement to claim a break down of a canon that no longer held on to techniques, symbols and least of all universal criteria for judging anything. There are many socio-ideological forces behind the same and the destructive World Wars had many reasons to question the notions behind the traditional idea of Beauty, and it addressed the subjective, transcendental and alienated psyche of modern man. Metaphysical hopelessness gave way from absurdity to beauty, while the meaninglessness of this ‘Being’, made beauty seem more akin to grotesque, either by derision or by the light of their tragic truth. What makes the question more intriguing is that, whether contemporary art has found a better form of beauty (constructed to please and create a certain discursive paradigm) in the grotesque, since it frees us from any moral and political/ideological constraints? Can it be linked to greater dimensions of teleological magnitude, or should it be treated as an alternative method of understanding true aesthetic, if not the complete aspect of aesthetic itself? Is grotesque possible without the knowledge of Beauty itself? I shall attempt to answer the following questions that I raised, with a few examples. One must first understand the idea behind perception and the dialogical force that surrounds it. If the world is raised as an illusion in one’s mind then the mind has been symbolically trained to read it as a language. This matrix of complex spontaneity is ‘paradigmatically’ and ‘syntagmatically’ (Roman Jakobson, 1987) being challenged, when Grotesque plays the part of Beauty. The Dystopia arises out of a shattered archetype that must restructure itself to include elements of the grotesque within the beauty, and reach towards the same aesthetic experience: the sublime. But interestingly what produces sublime is shock. But one must not confuse this with the cathartic experience of the ‘Tragic’ pity and terror, but something quite opposite to an ideal communicative situation that all such art produces. Thus this element of mimesis and/or representation of the ideal have given way to an â€Å"infinite subjectivity† (Hegel, Lectures on Fine Art, given in the 1820s), or the abyss of the human mind and condition. But the self is â€Å"interpellated† as per Lacan and later Althusser too estimated the impossibility of a single position from where one can judge, since the self was preconditioned with a lot of â€Å"logocentricism† (Derrida), which are again socio-culturally specific as per Barthes. Thus there is a complete inquiry into art through the artists’ personality or self (or selves). Justin Novak’s â€Å"disfigurine† often conforming to the bourgeoisie values, distort them to such an ironic extent that one cannot miss the counter realism that it offers. Often it serves to offer no alternative reality, but just launches one amidst a grotesque re-examination of old values and with its attendant disillusionment. Once the silent barrier between class and gender is dismantled, the escape is into nothingness – the sublime height of vast unending problems, and this underscores the definite presence and the horrors of undying conformism. If truth is beauty, then Novak’s artworks reveal the finer sides of it by shattering the comfortable and compartmentalized thought processes with which one can objectify art from a safe distance. The grotesque closeness of these truths, give beauty to the mind by releasing it from the shackles of confinement and overpowering illusions. Truth is not universal, but a power to accept the inextricable complexity of human behaviour, mind and his/her interrelationship with their social, cultural and historical environment. With Novak’s work one is left to ponder these very questions. Is Grotesque a rebellion? Or is it an inextricable element of beauty? Grayson Perry’s ceramic works portray this polemic, further, by making them superficially beautiful (as beauty has been notoriously claimed to have been) and underneath it remains the darker motives of an artist who tries to wrest with disturbing truths (or shall one call them home truths, with a larger social back drop to them) that question issues of public/private dialectic. His works that deserve mention here are, â€Å"Coming Out Dress 2000†, â€Å"We’ve Found the Body of your Child 2000†or the â€Å"Boring Cool People 1999† (reminds one of Eliot’s famous lines from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock â€Å"In the room the women come and go, Talking of Michaelangelo†). Not only does he deal with issues like cross-dressing, child abuse and social sterility (about spiritually hollow â€Å"cool† fashionistas or the demanding violence of the utilitarian age), but also, he plays with this abnormal interrelation between beauty and grotesque. He raises questions about taste and the sublime. In short he subverts the notion of beauty with beauty that is skin deep! Grotesque thus becomes Beauty that is kin deep in this works! Reality is a diabolical faà §ade and Perry questions whether hegemony denotes or connotes the medium of taste in art. Thus equating expression with grotesque beauty beyond the limited categories of high or low taste, his avant-garde expressionism becomes a solitary modicum of aesthetic experience, which is new and which is whole (if whole comprises of an aesthetic stance that offers no definite and certain understanding of art’s end but generates a range of teasing/shocking possibilities of that, which is an illusion in itself: Bourgeois ideology). Figure 1: Coming Out Dress, 2000. He poses as Claire, his feminine alter ego. All his works deal with these two sides to his sexuality quite deeply, especially in ‘Transvestite Brides of Christ 2000’ and ‘Contained Anger1999’, respectively, that questions the significance of male-role models. But what is interesting is that Perry is experimenting with representation, rather then pottery, and that is why his artwork combines issues of an innocent observer or rather tries to destroy the comfortable distance with which an observer may guard their subjective spaces. Transvestite to transgression, the Chapman Brothers question the inevitability or orthodox value of canonical (classical) artworks. This travesty or mockery of canonical lofty seriousness is reflected in their works, through devises of defaced and tortured figures, which for them amount to the complete picture of Beauty (of an era that is grotesque, in it’s realization of a past, present and future that cannot bear to sift through the beastly side of socio-cultural conditions, anymore or unlike the others). This becomes a subject behind their sculptures that bursts with mockery, tragedy exploding with grotesque farce. They usher in a new experiment with taste, bad taste and the notions of good taste. Art moves into the realms of public or mass ‘low’ category, which becomes an essential democratic medium for evoking or carrying forward a provocation to rouse the sense of that horrifying answerless void. With the Chapman brothers there is a sadist tone attached to their insult or reiteration of Goya’s influence especially in their recreation of his â€Å"Disasters of War†, which inflict bold horror. But the grandeur of that horror is reduced to a trivial and yet a sardonic sensation taste comes off them. They twist the sensation of violence into an aesthetic ground and arouse a variety of physical and mental demands for perceiving Beauty amidst such a squandering grotesqueness. Beauty here lies in the release from holding back appreciation, awe and complete shock. Violence does not stand-alone and nor does any other human emotion. â€Å"Sex, 2003† is thus desire, decay, diabolical, deliberate, freedom or defeat. Purity is not that far from its pornographic mockery of it and they are interrelated in their apparent verisimilitude. A true representation of kitsch art, their works like Fuckface and Zygotic Acceleration, roused shock as they attempted to portray the sexualisation of children due to the media and increased gender awareness. These treatments nevertheless push questions about morality that grotesque beauty actually challenges. Thus morality and beauty in its aesthetic straight forwardedness seem to flatten out newer boundaries of experiences, which the Chapman brothers challenge through their craftsmanship. Traditional Sculpture, especially in the hands of the Chapman Brothers and Justin Novak or Grayson Perry are objects of anti-canonical parody, grotesque imitations or thought-provoking reverse-discourses. All these postmodern artists are challenging aesthetic experience. All these artworks succumb to one the power of the grotesque that sublimates beauty with its truth, and they make us realize that truth is not about a fixed standard, but accepting the actual absence of it. What makes contemporary art more beastly in its beauty is the power to derive happiness (or sado-masochist satisfaction) out of this grotesqueness. The grotesque shocks but this is a pleasure in itself, because it is the very representation of the consciousness. Theatre and artwork met with experimentalism in the stage by Artaud, who made audience a spectator to cruelty that is harsh, exceptionally brutal and yet beautiful. By shattering estrangement and by creating something that allows no ‘objectivity’ (in the likes of Kant or Brecht) Artaud demands a complete involvement of the senses. Moreover, this is where art threatens to change the soul of the perceiver by its dominating beauty, which horrifies the perceiver with its verity and unique angst. Wittgenstein’s concept of seeing-as, allows contemporary art to shun master narratives completely and standout on their own purely as visual sensations. From British Avant-Garde art that confuses common and the uncommon (like use of mannequin by Chapman Brothers or genitals replaced by the faces in their remake of Goya’s Disasters of Wars series). Grotesquerie is about questioning the status quo, about unflinching self-criticism and about embracing outsiders. From Simon Carroll deconstructing the chronology of ceramic vases with his pastiches like â€Å"Thrown Square Pot2005†, engages the observers mind with complex questions that he poses through the irregular construction of his surfaces. The artists seem to dwell on the apparent hyperreality of contemporary situation, where art has become a vastly reproduced object – fractured beyond identity. Formlessness becomes the beauty without symmetry and deliberate cruelty an aesthetic grotesqueness. Thus the gap between what is apparent and what may actually exists gives the artists ample space to bridge this defined categories with crushing forces of expressions that though grotesque to the shocked senses is ultimately beautiful by virtue of its truth. Works Cited Eliot, T. S â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock†. Eliot, Thomas Stearns. Prufrock and Other Observations. London: The Egoist, Ltd, 1917; Bartleby.com, 1996. www.bartleby.com/198/. [30.01.2007]. ON-LINE ED.: Published May 1996 by Bartleby.com; Copyright Bartleby.com, Inc. (Terms of Use). Hegel, Lectures on Fine Art, (edited by Hotho) â€Å"Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art,† Vol. 1.translated by T. M. Knox, 1973. < http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/ae/contents.htm > 30.01.2007. Jakobson, Roman. â€Å"Language in Literature†. Ed. Krystyna Pomorska and Stephen Rudy. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1987 Kant, Immanuel: The Critique of Judgement (1790), translated by Meredith, J. Adelaide: ebooks, 2004 Keats, John. Poetical Works. London: Macmillan, 1884; Bartleby.com, 1999http://www.bartleby.com/126/41.html. [29.01.2007]; Online-Ed: First published February 1993; published July 1999 by Bartleby.com; Copyright Bartleby.com, Inc.

negroes with guns :: essays research papers

-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  in June of 1961, the NAACP chapter of Monroe, North Carolina decided to picket the town’s swimming pool that was forbidden to Negroes although they formed one quarter of the population -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the blacks started the picket line and the picket line closed the pool. When the pool closed the racists decided to handle the matter in traditional southern style, they turned to violence -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the pool remained closed but we continued the line and crowds of many hundreds would come to watch us and shout insults at the pickets -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  on June 23, Williams was driving when a heavy car came up from behind him and tried to force his car off the embankment and over a cliff with a 75 ft. drop off. The bumpers of the two cars were stuck and the cars had to pass right by a highway patrol station, which was a 35 mile and hour zone, but the car was pushing his at 70 miles per hour. Williams started blowing his horn hoping to attract the attention of the patrolmen, but when they saw they just lifted their hands and laughed. He was finally able to rock loose from the other car’s bumper and make a sharp turn into a ditch. He went to the police about it, but they would not do anything because he was black. The police in Monroe never did anything to help blacks -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the picket lines continued and the whites were getting mad. One day a white person fired a pistol and started screaming, â€Å"kill the niggers†. The black people then showed the whites that they too were armed and then all of the sudden the police decided to help because they realized the whites were outnumbered and outarmed -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the southeastern regional headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan was also in Monroe -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Williams had been in the Marine Corps and when he got out he knew he wanted to join the NAACP, so he did -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Monroe branch of the NAACP got the reputation of being the most militant branch of the NAACP -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The swimming pool they were fighting over had been built with federal funds, but yet negroes could not use it -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First the blacks had asked city official to build a pool in the negro community. the city officials said they couldn’t comply with this request because it would be too expensive. Then they asked if two days out of each week the blacks could use the pool.

Divorce and Its Impact on the Family

Introduction A significant and often heated debate has been in progress for years regarding the effect of divorce on the family, and more specifically, on children of different ages. On the one side, there are writers, theorists and scholars who argue that divorce does not affect the children over the long term and on the other side are those who argue that divorce has a negative effect on the children for all their lives. It is indeed impossible to make a clear and definitive conclusion based on the research studies that have been conducted over the years. Each investigator argues strongly for their own conclusions, providing statistical evidence to support those conclusions. Does divorce have a negative impact on children, regardless of age when the divorce occurs? Does divorce have more impact on specific age ranges of children? If divorce has a negative impact on children, then, how long does that impact last? Do adult children of divorced parents find it easier to blame all their failures and pitfalls on their parents' divorce instead of taking responsibility for their own actions through the years? These are the only some of the questions that underlie the problem: What impact does divorce have on the children. Very few definitions are needed regarding this investigation: †¢Children means the children of the parents who get divorced, regardless of age. Thus, â€Å"children† refers to adolescents as well as younger children. When a specific age range is meant, that will be clarified in the text. †¢Divorce means that the couple has gone through the legal process of divorce and are, thus, no longer legally married. †¢Absent father refers to those fathers who do not keep in contact with their children subsequent to a divorce. Also, the absent father does not contribute to the children's support. †¢Custodial parent refers to the parent who has legal primary custody of the children. First a brief overview of what marriage and divorce was throughout history, and what would happen to those children after the divorce was finalized Marriage and Divorce in History The roots of marriage can be traced back to time of the Romans and Greeks. For the Greeks and Romans marriage wasn’t really something of a choice. It was more of a family obligation and a way to help the family gain higher status. Marriage in Roman times was often not at all romantic. Rather, it was an agreement between families. Men would usually marry in their mid-twenties, while women married while they were still in their early teens. As they reached these ages, their parents would consult with friends to find suitable partners that could improve the family’s wealth or class. †(PBS) Women really didn’t have a choice in who they married, they were chosen by their fathers. And even for the men, love wasn’t taken into account because it was up to the parents who they married. The actual marriage in Roman times was very simple. The couple would just have to declare their desire to live with each other in front of both families. Divorce in this time was just as easy as marriage. â€Å"Just as marriage was only a declaration of intent to live together, divorce was just a declaration of a couple’s intent not to live together. All that the law required was that they declare their wish to divorce before seven witnesses. † (PBS) Divorce was a very common thing for the Romans. The only condition was the woman would get her dowry back, and she would move back in with her father. If the wife was divorced because of adultery only half of her dowry was given back. The laws did not mention anything about husbands as they could not be divorced because of an adulterous they have committed. It is assumed that children were left with the father as men were the law in Roman times. Not much is known on what happened to the children after a divorce, whether they are allowed to see their mother or not, if the mothers were allowed to keep the children, or if the child’s best interests were ever a factor for who got to keep them after the divorce. Marriage in African countries was relatively similar to the Greeks and Romans, but with a few changes. Marriage signified a union between two families. â€Å"The death of a husband did not terminate the union of families. Upon a husband’s death a relative would assume his role. † (Simon and Altstein) Marriage was more of a binding contract than anything else. The woman being married didn’t really matter in the long run either as if she died or was unable to bare children, a younger sister would take over her role as the wife â€Å"But the wife wasn’t fully excepted until she gave birth to her first child. (Simon and Altstein) The actual marriage didn’t really require that much, just consent from both parties and their guardians, as well as some form of payment from the husband’s family to the wife’s. This would most likely be cattle. There wasn’t really any ceremony like today; it was more of a series of rituals. Divorce was a simple thing for Africans. Grounds for divorce were; adultery, desertion, insanity for at least seven years, and being imprisoned for more than five years. The children would normally have been given to the father, but in more recent times the child would go with whichever parent was more able to take care of them. If a child was old enough to make up their own mind the court would consider who they wished to live with, but that didn’t always mean the child’s pick would be the one he/she would be given to. In the 1500’s after the Reformation, a change in how marriages and divorces were performed occurred. The peasants were allowed to marry whomever they choose, but the nobles still kept with the arranged marriages to keep their line pure and to improve their power, this would go for royalty as well. Marriage then became a public affair, and it was considered part of the earthly kingdom instead of the heavenly kingdom. This meant that vows would be made in public before the church consummated the marriage. Prior to this the Church was in charge of marriage and divorce but they lost that power with the coming of the Reformation. â€Å"Marital disputes would be tried before a civil court, not a Church court. The Church did not have legal authority over marriage. †(Simon and Altstein) Also laws that prohibited the marriage of clerics, monks, and nuns were also rejected. Divorces were allowed as long as there was just cause. Cause included impotence, sexual incompatibility, abuse and acts of incest. † (Simon and Altstein) The average length of a marriage was only fifteen years at the time, but this was caused more by death, than by divorce. In more recent times a decision was made by the courts of the United Kingdom that they will not longer decide which parent the child should custody of. The parents were to make the decision together and stick with it, only if they can not agree will the court make one, this decision can not be argued. In the United States of America, arriage is â€Å"the legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife, and a spouse is a husband or wife of the opposite sex. † (Simon and Altstein) Only men and women are allowed to be married to each other, in some states though same-sex civil unions are allowed. The church is where the marriage is held but the state must approve the marriage for it to be final. The laws of marriage vary from state to state. In the United States of America divorce rates are very close or over fifty percent. Divorce varies on the state as well but some form is permitted by every state. Thirty-four states have adopted no-fault divorce in addition to traditional grounds for divorce. † (Simon and Altstein) As for the children, their wishes are considered by all but four states. The effects in which those children concur will be explained later. Literature Review The literature regarding the impact of di vorce on children is voluminous. It is also highly contradictory and heated in terms of debate. Anyone investigating this topic can find research studies to support their own opinions no matter what that opinion is. We begin by offering some data regarding divorce. In the United States, one out of every two marriages will end in divorce (Marano, 2000). Despite this devastating statistic, 90 percent of Americans will marry (Marano, 2000). Of those individuals who divorce their first spouse, 75 percent will remarry, even though their first marriage ended (Marano, 2000). Given that so many divorced individuals simply live with other persons or combine the homes with others without the sanction of legal marriage, the figure for â€Å"remarriages† escalates significantly when these people are included (Marano, 2000). Out of all second marriages, 60 percent end in divorce (Marano, 2000). It is not just in the U. S. that a large proportion of marriages fail. The BBC reported that one in seven marriages (16. 4 percent) end in divorce in the United Kingdom (2000). The divorce rate differs dramatically by location in the UK, for example, in Biggleswade, only 6 percent of marriages end in divorce but in Skelmersdale in Lancashire, 32. 4 percent of marriages end in divorce (BBC, 2000). The divorce rates have risen in most European countries, as well (Bjornberg, nd). The highest rates are found in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and the United Kingdom (Bjornberg, nd). In the year 2000, there were 45,500 divorces, a new high (Victorian State Conference of Teams, 2001). Anyone who has kept up with public mass media also knows that the divorce rate in China has escalated to as much as 25 percent in recent years. It has become such an issue that the government began debating about a new law that would make adultery a crime and that would put further restrictions on divorce in that country. Most of the research regarding the impact of divorce on children has been conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom. Two of the primary and most discussed studies contradict each other, which has come to be known as the â€Å"Hetherington-Wallerstein debate–a battle of superstars† (Corliss, 2002, p. 40). Hetherington argues that â€Å"75% to 80% of children of divorce function well, with little long-term harm to their adult lives† and Wallerstein argues that â€Å"the damaging effects of divorce on children are cumulative, and the major impact comes in adulthood† (Corliss, 2002, p. 0). Wallerstein first published her findings in a book in 1971; this was then updated in another book entitled The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study in 2000 (Corliss, 2002). In the most recent book, Wallerstein concluded that divorce leads to depression, juvenile delinquency, poor grades, among other things and that the divorce affects people wel l into adulthood (Corliss, 2002). Hetherington published her findings in a co-authored book (with John Kelly) entitled For Better or For Worse: Divorce Reconsidered (Corliss, 2002). In this book, Hetherington and Kelly argue â€Å"that 75% to 80% of children of divorce are functioning well, with little long-term damage† (Corliss, 2002, p. 40). Hetherington and Kelly tracked nearly 1,400 families and more than 2,500 children, some for three decades and concluded: Within two years of their parents' divorce, the vast majority of children are beginning to function reasonably well again (Corliss, 2002, p. 40). 70 percent of divorced parents are living happier lives than they did before divorce (Corliss, 2002, p. 0). Some women and girls turned out to be more competent, able people than if they had stayed in unhappy family situations (Corliss, 2002, p. 40). In Hetherington's study, 25 percent of the children from divorced families had serious emotional, psychological or social problems (Corliss, 2002). This compares to 10 percent of children from families that remain intact (Corliss, 2002). Still, it is a much smaller proportion than many other studies, includi ng Wallerstein's. Cudina and Obradovic summarized a great deal of the research, most of which concludes that children from divorced families are â€Å"more aggressive and depressive†; â€Å"more prone to anxiety†; and â€Å"of a generally poorer adjustment than children living in intact families† (2001, p. 247). The instability of the marriage also affects boys and girls differently, for instance, â€Å"boys are more often found to be more vulnerable† and â€Å"more aggressive and displayed more behavioural problems than girls† (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001, p. 247). It should be pointed out, however, that the gender differences found have not been consistent. Another finding is that the reaction of children seem to differ according to age when the divorce occurs (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). For instance, the research suggests that â€Å"emotional response being more intense for children younger than 6, and for those in early adolescence at the time of parental divorce† (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001, p. 247). There is also a substantial amount of research that concludes that â€Å"prolonged parental marital distress could be even more damaging to the child's emotional and social development than parental divorce† (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001, p. 47). Fighting, conflict, violence all combine to make the child feel insecure and unstable as well as fearful (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). Mitigating factors that affect the impact of divorce on children have been identified as the availability of the noncustodial parent, the relationship between the parents after the divorce, the quality of the parent-child relationships with both par ents, and the degree of economic hardship and stress the child experiences after the divorce (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). Because the overwhelming majority of research has been conduced in English-speaking countries, Cudina and Obradovic studied the impact of divorce on children in Croatia, a society that is very different in many ways from the United States and other English-speaking nations (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). Croatia is smaller, has a relatively low GNP and in most ways can be considered a developing nation (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). The divorce rate in Croatia has increased over the last 30 years, rising from 13. 5 percent in 1962 to 17. percent in 1996 (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). The Croatian family reflects a myriad of both traditional and modern values (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). Nonetheless, there is still a stigma attached to divorced individuals in Croatia (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). Cudina and Obradovic found that Croatian children respond in much the same way as children in other countries – children of divorced parents are more emotionally unstable and more depress ive than children from intact families (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). The study did not support the premise that children suffer equally negative effects from living in a home where the parents are in conflict as do the children from divorced parents (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). They study also confirmed that the degree of impact is related to age – younger children showed more emotional distress than did older children (Cudina and Obradovic, 2001). Hyatt reported that the adjustment of the children is primarily dependent on the parents and how they behave after the divorce (1999). Hyatt was reporting a study conducted at Iowa State University and reported in the Journal of Marriage and the Family. Simons, who led the research investigation team, said that â€Å"Even though divorce more than doubles the risk for emotional and behavioral problems in both boys and girls, the good news is that the vast majority of children from divorced families do just fine. . . . What is essential for kids is that they be parented well. If mom and dad continue to persevere in their parenting, are warm and supportive, monitor the kids and are consistent in discipline, the risk for conduct problems is no greater than in two-parent families. This is a more optimistic scenario than is often assert† (Hyatt, 1999). This was also a longitudinal study that involves 600 families and is ongoing (Hyatt, 1999). Theoretical Foundations Attachment theory would seem to be the most appropriate theory to discuss in terms of the effects of divorce on children. Beginning in infancy, the child develops an attachment to the parent through interactions with the parent. According to Bowlby, an interruption or disruption of the attachment relationship can result in psychopathology (Garelli, 1997). Research indicates that the formation of attachments in infancy and childhood contribute to healthy adulthood (Galston, 1996; Fields, 1996). Research also indicates that when the attachment is disrupted, the child may well suffer both emotional and physical traumas affecting their ability to function today and in their future life (Galston, 1996; Fields, 1996). Divorce is an event that disrupts attachments. Attachment theory asserts that children do develop attachment feelings to people, places and objects. Research concludes that attachments are essential for good mental health. One study in Israel concluded that â€Å"Attachment between parent and child plays a crucial role in the healthy development of the child. Accordingly disturbances in parental bonding will be linked with the development of mental disorders later in life† (Canetti et al, 1997, p. 381). Note that the need for attachment is for all children. Divorce does not necessarily mean that the child's attachment to the noncustodial parent would be eliminated by the divorce. Discussion, Summary and Conclusions As can be seen from the few research studies presented, there is a heated debate and strong controversy regarding the effects of divorce on the family. There is equally strong evidence to support either side of the debate. That leaves the reader with a strong question as to how much divorce actually does affect the future development and adult life of the divorced family. There is no perfect study, which means that every study has its limitations. More studies suggest that children face significant effects when their parents divorce. It does seem, however, that the impact of a divorce on a child would be dependent upon the circumstances and the subsequent behaviors of the parents involved. More studies in recent years are pointing to this premise. If the parents both continue parenting and they parent well, a far smaller proportion of children will experience significant negative effects than what has been said in the past. If the parents continue their fighting and place the child in the middle of that fighting, then, common sense would tell us that the child will have any number of psychological and emotional problems as a result. It is important to note the studies that have compared children of divorced parents to children of parents who stayed married but whose relationship was so unstable. Certainly, living with verbal conflict and loud fighting between the parents has a devastating effect on the child. Living with parents where spousal abuse is prevalent would have tragic effects on the child, worse effects than would a divorce. Even the researchers who conclude that a small percentage of children experience serious problems after a divorce, clearly state that they are no promoting divorce and that children will develop more securely and more positively if the family is kept intact – except when violence and abuse is present. The conclusions, in other words, do not support divorce; they are simply saying the outlook for these children is not as bleak as has been publicized. There is another issue that one must also look at. These kinds of studies rely a great deal on interviews with the survivors of divorce. It is very convenient for many of these adults or older adolescents to blame all the problems in their lives on their parents' divorce. Scapegoating is very prevalent in today's society – people simply do not want to take responsibility for their own lives. The conclusion of this paper must be that: 1. Divorce will have an effect on children – to think otherwise is naive. 2. Children of divorced families do not automatically develop serious emotional and psychological problems. 3. The full effect of divorce on children will depend on how the parents behave after the divorce, the degree of attachment that was in existence prior to the divorce and the child's own mental state/stability at the time of the divorce. REFERENCES BBC. (2000, November 15). The capital of happy ever after. Retrieved April 05, 2007, BBC Web Site: http://news. bbc. co. uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1024000/1024963. stm Bjornberg, Dr. Ull. (nd). Children and their Families/Children and Society. 2002, Retrieved April 05, 2007, Council of EuropeConseil de l'Europe Web Site: http://eurochild. gla. ac. uk/Documents/CoE/Reports/estud/Estud_2. htm Canetti, Laura, Bachar, Eytan, Weisstub, Esti Galili, De-Nour, Atara Kaplan & Shalev, Arieh Y. (1997, Summer). Parental Bonding And Mental Health In Adolescence. Adolescence 32(126), 381 – 395. Corliss, Richard. (2002, January 28). Does Divorce Hurt Kids? Time 159(4), 40 Cudina, Mira & Obradovic, Josip. (2001, Spring). Child's Emotional Well-being and Parental Marriage Stability in Croatia. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 32(2), 247. Field, Tiffany. (1996, Annual). Attachment And Separation In Young Children. Annual Review of Psychology 47, 541-562. Galston, William A. (1996, June). Divorce American style. The Public Interest, 12 – 27. Garelli, Juan Carlos. (1997). Controversial Aspects Of Bowlby's Attachment Theory. Bowlby's Theory of Attachment. Retrieved April 03, 2007, Attachment Research Center at St. John's University Web Site: http://rdz. stjohns. edu/lists/bowlby-l/ Hyatt, Kay. (1999, November 19). Children's Adjustment to Divorce Largely in Hands of Parents. Retrieved April 03 2007, National Council on Family Relations Web Site: http://www. cfr. org/pdf/childr_1. pdf Marano, Hara Estroff. (2000, March). Divorced? Psychology Today 33(2), 56. Simon, R. J. , & Altstein, H. (2003). Marriage and Divorce (pp. 5-7, 29-34). New York: Lexington Books. Victorian State Conference of Teams. (2001, October). Looking forward in Confidence. A Married Couple's Movement: Conference Reports & Proceedings Web Site: http://www. tol-oceania. catholic. org. au/publications_vicconf. htm#Victorian%20State%20Conference Weddings, Marriage & Divorce. (n. d. ). Retrieved April 25, 2007, from http://www. pbs. org/empires/romans/empire/weddings. html

The Gathering

For this essay I'll be dicussing about Indian(Frank) and Danny. The Gathering novel is about how five kids whom chose to fight against evil spreading around Cheshunt. These five kids need to win the battle against the Kraken but to do that they need to discover more about themselves. The warning that Lallindra(Lallie) told Indian to heed was,†only a wound brought into light can be healed. That which is hidden will in darkness fester.† In the novel when Indian was seven Indian's mother left him to look after his little sister Jenny. She was five. He was watching her play on some swings when some older kids came and started calling him names. Indian fought with them and won but while fighting he did not notice his sister had climbed to the top of the slide. She slipped and hit her head, she was in coma for a week and when she woke up Jenny wasn't the same, she used to smile and laugh but now she doesn't smile or look at you. Indian felt he killed her but her body was left behind. He never told his Mother about the truth of that day. Indian feels guilty for not taking care of his little sister and not telling his Mother about the truth of what happened, now Indian does not fight back because he feels he deserve to be hurt he feels its his punishment. Indian's guiltiness is a wound and when he brought it to light by telling his mom what happen, Indian's mom forgave him and does not blame him for what happened to Jenny. Danny Odin was a victim of police sodomy many years ago. Later the saying â€Å"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely† is aptly used in reference to the story, which involved police officers letting savage dogs loose on Danny to force him to give them information that was false. For a while after that he felt scared that a police could do anything to him and no one could do anything. He went mad for a while and he had to go to a sanitorium. The only reason he could come out was because he told them he made the whole thing up. After that one of the police officers that had attacked him visit Danny's school for a talk to improve citizen-authority relations, at the end of which the officer gave Danny a wink .Danny then realised nothing was going to make it right. Nothing made sense but survival and justice. Right and wrong, it was all lies that people made up. This quote and the opinion expressed in it is somewhat jarring with the rest of the novel's message, as it flatly denies the existence of both good and evil. The theory is, however, later rebuffed by the very same character that put it forward, as it doesn't make sense in the context of the novel thought by Nathanial, â€Å"You could tell he really believed that but there was something wrong about what he was, saying. Something that didn't jell.† And he thought of Lallie's warning to Danny. She had told him not to let the dark flame of the past consume the future. That's about right winning out over wrong.' Danny told Nathanial. Danny has to forget the past. The Gathering is more than novel triumph of good over evil, it is also a novel about self discovery. All the Chain members in The Gathering had expierienced terrible things that they need to over come to win the battle against the dark because everything that happen in Cheshunt is related to everything else because it come from a sort of core. The place where evil bruised earth. The earth that sorrows.

The ABCs of School Visits with an Independent Bookstore

The ABCs of School Visits with an Independent Bookstore If you write for children or young adults, you probably already know that school visits can be an excellent way to supplement your income, get to know your audience, and introduce new readers to your books. But did you know that organizing school visits in partnership with your local independent bookstore can make the experience even easier and more productive? Here are four reasons to consider partnering with your local indie. 1. Especially if youve moved recently or are newly published, you might not have personal connections with the schools and educators in your community. Local bookstores often have existing partnerships with schools, and you can benefit from those connections when you work with a bookstore on organizing your visit. Bookstores can introduce you to teachers, librarians, and parent leaders, and theyre likely to know which schools or even classes might be the best fit for you and your books. This is particularly helpful if you live in an urban area with a lot of different schools near 2. If youre visiting a school, youll want to give students and teachers a way to buy your books, but the purchasing process can be complicated. When youre working in partnership with a bookstore, the store will likely handle a lot of the legwork for you, including coordinating order forms, getting books from the publisher and transporting them to the school, and processing payment. In many cases they will also promote your books to the school and do their best to make sure sales are high. Different stores have different policies, but most will be able to make the sales process much easier for you. This applies even if your books are self-published; many stores are still willing to coordinate sales of self-published books in exchange for a share of the revenue. 3. Schools are chaotic places with a lot of moving parts, and sometimes handling logistics can be as challenging as presenting to students. Many bookstores will send a representative to the school on the day of your visit to help out with all the little details, from troubleshooting tech to assisting you with signing and personalizing books. This leaves you free to focus on your biggest fans- the kids! 4. Partnering with a bookstore on school visits is also a great way to build a relationship with the store itself, which might lead to in-store events in the future. As an added bonus, some school events will include more than one childrens author, which means you might get to know some wonderful new colleagues in the process. Lots of independent bookstores around the country have school visit programs, and even those that dont might be glad to develop one in partnership with you. If youre interested in visiting schools through a bookstore, its always a good idea to send the store an introduction about you, your books, and what your presentation can offer a school. Know that some stores have limited resources and might not be able to work with you right away, but chances are theyll still be happy to keep your contact info on hand. To find a store near you, check out indiebound.org. Author

Virgil At Odds Essays - Julio-Claudian Dynasty, Iulii, Epic Poets

Virgil At Odds Essays - Julio-Claudian Dynasty, Iulii, Epic Poets Virgil At Odds While on the surface the Aeneid could be seen as a Roman epic meant to glorify Rome and rival those of the ancient Greeks, the author was engaged in a struggle. Virgil had to satisfy the cultural demands of his work, the political demands of his time, and his own personal demands as an artist. In tackling his problem, Virgil is revealed to be slightly reluctant of embracing fully the still young regime of Octavian but still proud of Rome and his ancestry, and concerned with the moral issues of civil war. When considering the style with which Virgil composed the Aeneid, it is important to look at the time in which he lived and exactly what was going on around him when it was written. Virgil was born in 70 BC and died in 19 BC. This places him in the very beginning of what was to be a long and relatively stable existence of the Roman Empire. Further, it was during the poet's lifetime that Rome made citizens of all Italians, allowing a huge community to share in Rome's growing heritage. People who formerly may have felt like outcasts under the oppression of Rome could now call Rome their own. This included Virgil because he came from a provincial Italian town far outside Rome. W.A. Camps cites that while Virgil was still a young man, his family's estates were confiscated by Caesar to be given to veterans of the battle of Philippi (1). Caesar was eventually assassinated and the next twenty years of the poet's life are shaded by bloody struggles for power among heirs and military leaders. Eventually Caesar's adopted son Octavian defeats Marc Antony and Cleopatra's forces and brings all Rome under his rule, in about 30 BC. This is important because Virgil had been fond of Octavian, although it is not known if he publicly supported anyone during the conflict. It is known that Virgil came to enjoy first the friendship then the patronage of Octavian and his minister Maecenas, both of whom bestowed a small fortune upon him (Freeman 389). While Virgil accepted their patronage he was still wary of capitulating the new emperor and sacrificing any integrity. Charles Freeman writes that Virgil's contemporary, Horace also reflects these feelings. Octavian, now known as Caesar Augustus, took a liking to Horace just as he did Virgil, endowing him with gifts and money. Eventually Augustus asked Horace to be his secretary, and Horace refused, citing the need to protect his integrity as a poet. (391) Virgil felt great gratitude towards an emperor who vigorously supported the arts and brought the Empire much stability but at the same time faced a moral dilemma. Augustus was looking for a poet to write a national epic about him and his rise to power. In a letter Augustus wrote to Maecenas he says, If I had any talent for the heroic epic, I'd not waste my time on stories from mythology . . . I'd write about Caesar's wars and achievements (qtd. in Quinn 27). This sheds light on the morality issue Virgil faced as an artist. There were plenty of epic poets available in Rome at the time, and plenty were approached with this daunting task of writing an epic with Augustus as the hero. Nearly all declined, and even Virgil was reluctant. That says something about the attitudes of the poets of his time. They were not interested in art for art's sake. They wanted to create of their own accord something that came from within. Kenneth Quinn points out that they wrote with very high standards of integrity, and wrote not for widespread popularity of their works but for approval of their literary peers (30). Poets were writing of their own personalities; their own views and ideas of right and wrong. They were not to be leased out for purposes of glorifying Rome's leader. In a widely known of reply to Augustus' letter inquiring as to Virgil's progress, the poet writes that he thinks he may have been out of his mind to have undertaken the task in the first place (Freeman 387). He was obviously struggling to balance his need to satisfy himself artistically without sacrificing

Archaeology Quotations - Quote Collection about the Past

Archaeology Quotations - Quote Collection about the Past A Douglas Adams on the importance of subsistence.Anonymous movie goers at Raiders of the Last Ark.Arioti and Oxby on the false opposition between food predation and food production.Jane Austen (as Catherine Morland) on the torment of reading history. B Paul G. Bahn on Pleistocene art.Paul G. Bahn on bluffing your way to being an archaeologist.Zainab Bahrani on looting at the Iraqi National Museum.Kage Baker imagines Flinders PetrieChris Ballard on holding out against closure.J. G. Ballard on his fears for the future.Keith Bassett on the New Intellectual.Charles Baudelaire on the pleasure we derive.Charles Austin Beard describes Hari Seldon. Charles Austin Beard on seeing stars.Max Beerbohm on the work of art that is the Past.Ruth Benedict on the purpose of anthropology.John Berger on the effects of postmodernism.Henry Bergson on present effects.Robert L. Bettinger on the persistence of crackpots..Ambrose Bierces definition of History.Ambrose Bierce defines the Past.Lewis Binford on why hell never be a quote of the week.A tip on museum management from Bob Ray.Barbara Bocek on bioturbation.Nurit Bird-David on hunter-gatherers.Tsianina Blackstone on what good friends archaeologists make.Bonnichsen and Steele on why the New World Entr ada is so fascinating. C. Loring Brace on whats wrong with standardized tests. C. Loring Brace et al. on the chimerical concept of race. Edward M. Bruner on post-modernist interpretations of tourism.Edward Bulwer Lytton on archaeology and historical romancesOctavia E. Butler (as Lauren Oya Olamina) on letting the past go.A.S. Byatt on forms and forcesLord Byron on the usefulness of the past. C Calvin on why hell choose not to be an archaeologist.William Calvin on the human minds Big Bang.Howard Carter on the good old days.Edward Hallet Carr on historys dialogue.Matt Cartmill on why he became a scientist.C.W. Ceram on archaeologys grandiose tasks.John Chapman on the archaeology of war in the Balkans.Douglas Charles on wearing different shades.Anubha Charan on digging up holy places.Cicero on children.Geoffrey Clark on NAGPRAs fatal flaw.Grahame Clark on wasting ones life.David Clarke on the immutability of archaeology..Michael Coe on small favors.Confucius on diligence.Cyril Connolly on the sweet smell of the past.Norman Cousins with an alarming metaphor.George Cowgill on reasonable alternativesDonald Crabtree on the beauty of projectile point technology.Susan Crate on climate change and advocacyO.G.S. Crawford on the future of archaeology. D Glyn Daniel gets a fit of the giggles.Clarence Darrow on what is wrong with history.Charles Darwin on useful observations.Robertson Davies on archaeologists and domestic architectureKathleen Deagan on the ethnic stew that is Latin America.Warren DeBoer on experiencing Cahokia archaeologyStephen Dedalus (James Joyce) on how he feels about history.Emily Dickinson on an armed past.Tom Dillehay on the first people in South America.Robert A. Dodgshon on the end of time.John Dryden on what has been.A classic insult from Alexandre Dumas (pere)Finley Peter Dunne on why the past looks so good.Will Durant on geological consent.Will Durant on clever things to say. E Abba Eben on men behaving wisely.Albert Einstein on the cosmic religious experiences of scienceLoren Eiseley on melancholy secretsT. S. Eliot on historys cunning passagesRalph Waldo Emerson on personal preferences.Ralph Waldo Emerson on the end of the human race.Ralph Waldo Emerson on what Varnish is not.Clark Erickson on appropriate technology and sustainable agriculture. F Brian Fagan on who really owns the past.Christine Finn on votive offerings at Chaco Canyon.Laurence Flanagan on the rationality of our forebears.K. V. Flannery on killing our informants.Kent Flannery on fun with your pants onKent Flannery on what the world wants from archaeologyLars Fogelin on tempering the imagination.Foley and Lahr on sweet studies .Henry Ford on why history is bunk.Allie Fox on evolutions little joke. G Donna Gabaccia on the immigrant paradigm.Joan Gero on distinguishing the past from the present.Michael Goodchild on maintaining intellectual depth.Stephen J. Gould on creationism.Maxim Gorky on taking the past for a ride.Paul Grobstein on being progressively less wrong.the Guanzi on understanding the present.John Guare on history and amnesia. H Heinrich Harke and Bettina Arnold on coping with political reality.L. P. Hartley on our alien past.William Least Heat-Moon on the lack of yesterdays on the road.Robert Heinlein on the effects of ignoring history.Robert Heinlein on human capabilities.Edward F. Ned Heite on dirty truthsPatrick Henry on the lamp guiding his feet.Heinrich Himmler on doing archaeology right.Jennfier Hochschild on true science.Oliver Wendell Holmes on how humans are omnibuses.John Hoopes on the future of the past.Terry Hunt on the genocide on Easter IslandTerry Hunt and Carl Lipo on the Rapa Nui Effect.David Hurst-Thomas on the meaning of discovery.Aldous Huxley on living high.T. H. Huxley on choosing ones grandfather.Hypatia of Alexandria on preparation for tomorrow. I W. R. Inge on why history is a terrific occupation.Von Igelfeld (Alexander McCall Smith) on German archaeologyGlynn Isaac on overextending our enthusiasmEddie Izzard on small wallsEddie Izzard on the Time Team J Shirley Jackson on why theres always been a lottery.Randall Jarrell on seeing the world through gold-colored glasses.B. S. Johnson (Terry Pratchett) on the future of architecture.Andrew Jones on perceiving the Neolithic. Indiana Jones on why archaeology will never make a good movie plot.James Joyce (as Stephen Dedalus) on how he feels about history.Rosemary Joyce on the illusory Ancient Maya. K Timothy Kaiser on the politics of archaeology in the BalkansAlice Beck Kehoe on the tolerance of ambiguity.Walt Kelly on the view behind us.Khufus Law for projects worth doing well.Gusti Kollman on historic ironies.A. L. Kroeber on the charm of anthropology. L Stephen H. Lekson on influential mythologies.Jill Lepore on history in seven words.Tea Leoni on how she almost became an anthropologist.Levi-Strauss on the value of the past.Sinclair Lewis on authenticity among scientists.Nathan Light on the mental prison of modern myths.Penelope Lively on howling landscapes.Kristin Lord and Vaughn Turekian on the Diplomacy of ScienceWhat George Lucas said when he first saw Tikal.R. Lee Lyman on a seat at the high table in anthropology M Domenica Macdonald [Alexander McCall Smith] on the soft life of some anthropologists.Renà © Magritte on the odors of the present.Max Mallowan on why Agatha Christie married him.Mao ZeDong on the struggles of society.Tommaso Marinetti on our most dangerous prevaricator.William H. Marquardt on unearthing support for archaeology.Lisa Maurizio on the meaning of the Oracle at Delphi.A Maya elder on the importance of remembering the past.Alexander McCall Smith (Prof. Von Igelfeld) on German archaeologyJohn C. McEnroe on discussing the pastHerman Melville on the textbook of tyrants.Lynn Meskell on the hope for archaeology.Catherine Morland [Jane Austen] on the torment of reading historyMargaret Murray on a welter of flint chips. N Nicholas and Bannister on who owns the futureNietzsche on the chain of the past. O Lauren Oya Olamina (Octavia E. Butler) on letting the past go.Michael Ondaatje on unsafely settled places.George Orwell on the control of the past.George Orwell on generational conflicts. P Camille Paglia on voyages to the past.Camille Parmesan asks why climate change is insurmountable.William Penn on living with the moderns.Ezra Pound on Kulchur.Philip Phillips on New World variations.Wendell Phillips on the roots of revolution.Plutarch on the difficulty of history.Poyer and Kelly on mystification of the Mikea.Adrian Praetzellis on tolerating ambiguity.Praetzellis on having too much fun.Terry Pratchett on the future of architecture.Ptahhotep on the limits of skill. R Joseph Ransdell on the new conception of science.Adrienne Rich on journeys into the past.Clara Dice Roe demonstrates the problems with oral history.Unnamed Roman Emperor on the good life.John Ruskin Laying Stone on StoneSteve Russell on the meaning of the repatriation movement. S Jeremy Sabloff on archaeologys role models.Carl Sagan on painful lessons learned.Carl Sandburg on archaeological treasures.Simon Schama on why historians are doomed.Arthur Schlesinger on historys effect on the present.Heinrich Schliemann on the case for Hasserlik.J. William Schopf on the importance of pond scum.Carmel Schrire on why she became an archaeologist.Sellar and Yeatman on what history is.Will Shakespeare on prophesies.Moishe Shokeid on melding anthropologist and informant.Sir Philip Sidney on why poets are better than historians.Maxine Singer on the thread that holds us together.Bruce D. Smith on niches and domesticationSusan Sontag on vanishing beauty.Captain Spauldings (Groucho Marx) greatest contribution to scienceStephen Spender on wooden shipsJohn Steinbeck on the literature of science.John Lloyd Stephens on the moral effect of Maya monuments.Clarice Stasz Stoll on collective forgetfulness.Lawrence Straus on interpreting genetic data.Christine Sullivan on the real adve ntures of Indiana Jones. T T. R. Talbott on the dark and stormy end of the Ice Man.Sarah Tarlow on negotiating between rocks and a whirlpool.R. E. Taylor on the two cultures.Walter Taylor in mid-diatribe, quotes Linda Ellerbee.Paul Theroux on evolutions little joke.Henry David Thoreau on unremarkable history.Henry David Thoreau on what to do with ambitious boobies.A. J. Toynbee on using history well.Bruce Trigger on the implications of multiple standpoints. V Voltaire on the foundations of history.Voltaire on Ancient TricksVon Igelfeld (Alexander McCall Smith) on German archaeology W Anthony F. C. Wallace asks When is Now?Mary Webb on what is invisible and muteKenneth Weiss on defining evolutionKenneth Weiss on finding hybridsE. B. White on the future of readingAlfred North Whitehead on why knowing the past is useful.James Whitley on fishy ideas.Walt Whitman on the teeming gulf, the infinite greatness of the past.Oscar Wilde on inalienable privileges.Oscar Wilde on our duty to history.Oscar Wilde on the value of archaeologyKate Wilhelm on living with the past.Howard Winters on civilizations components.Leonard Woolley on the effects of business.J.A.A. Worsaae on taking ones country seriously.Ronald Wright on the fascination of cannibalism. X Malcolm X on the value of memory. Y Yasumaro on the teachings of the ancients.

Canadian politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Canadian politics - Essay Example According to proponents of reforms, the way in which the system operates now. With twenty?four senators per region plus six assigned to Newfoundland and Labrador; does not reflect the political reality of contemporary Canadian federal relations. Of these one is for the Northwest Territories i.e. Yukon and Nunavut. These senators are appointed by the prime minister to serve until the age of seventy?five as per the current constitution. This arrangement of the upper house has never gone down well with Prime Minister Harper and together with the conservatives has always wanted to reform the senate in order to make it more efficient. These he advocates through the policy of the triple E that stands for equal, elected and effective. However, Harper keeps following the tradition of patronage that he so criticized while in the opposition. His government has tried severally to pass bills that do limit the tenure of senators to between 8 and 12 years through the introductions of bills that al so provide a legislative frame work for the election of senators. These efforts were to form the basis for the governor general appointment of new senators on the advice of the prime minister. These bills were unsuccessfully introduced by his government seven times in the 39th and 40th parliament but did not sail through as the conservatives were a minority in the house at the time. In the 41st parliament, Mr. Harper had a majority in the house hence the agenda to reform the senate was introduced through two previous bills that were now introduced as one i.e. Bill C-7, the senate reform act. This bill sort to reform the selection of senators and set there were term limits by amending of the constitutional act of 1867. The assumption was that since the conservative had now a majority in the house this bill will surely pass. Note that the Canadian parliament has powers bestowed to it to amend parts of the constitution that exclusively fall within its jurisdiction. The bill intended to achieve this through legislation and both parts of the bill were indeed inline with the Constitution Act of 1982. It was therefore constitutional in principle (Thompson 64). The bill however did not pass into law due to pertinent issues that were raised by the opposition and this goad the prime minister through the governor general to seek guidance from the court concerning the matter. There were two contentious issues, one relating to the framework to be used for electing nominees for senate appointments from the province. This concerned matters relating to recommendation for senate nominees to the governor general from a list from the provinces or territories. This list is for those who will have been elected through an election held inline with the provincial or territorial laws drawn in accordance with the framework. The second was the pertinent issue about the tenure of the senators to a one off nine year limit. The nature of the Canadian parliament from the past is that senat ors have generally been in office for an average period of between 9.7 years since 1975. Therefore, the provision in Bill C-7 was to limit the tenure of senators to a one term of 9 years would in a real sense have no political or constitutional effect per see (Thompson 96). Thus, the character of the parliament would roughly remain the same. However section 29A right up to 31 of the constitution states that a person referred to in subsection (1) whose term is interrupted may be summoned again to

The Origins of the Urban Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Origins of the Urban Crisis - Essay Example The term, 'American Dream' was coined by James Adams, in his book, 'The Epics of America' and the American Dream is the very pulse of the country, as signified by the personified Statue of Liberty. The American Dream, as envisaged by the early Americans, is the utopian condition of living in pursuit of liberty, happiness and luxury. It lays down that one must work hard and persevere, in order to live in comfort and happiness. Early immigrants to America were attracted by the fact that they could now live in a country, where there would not exist any forcible acquisition of land or impoverished conditions. They felt that this new land upheld their hopes of working hard and earning their due, providing opportunity to grow and live in absolute harmony and comfort. The American Dream grew in its dimensions during the Industrial Revolution, which enabled the increment in production and provided opportunities to labor and earn money. This, in turn, increased the Standard of Living in America, which furthered the dream. The Dream reached its pinnacle in the 19th century, when people shifted base to America, to try their fortunes and truly live a cherished life of luxury, liberty and happiness. Thus, the American Dream is a vision that propelled the forefather and early immigrants of America to work harder, live successfully and comfortably and enjoy the very essence of life. Change in the American Dream The forefathers of the American nation, who envisaged and coined the term, the American Dream envisioned a hard working and prosperous nation, rising above the rest of the world. The aim of the American Dream was to realize the ideals that it put forth. The ideals of liberty, luxury, comfort, perseverance and happiness were the most striking of them all. America did progress in this direction, winning one ideal after the other. The 19th century led to the glorious success of the envisaged dream. However, things gradually began to change and change towards slow declination. The urge to rule the world began to replace the passion to live successfully, which brought about a major shift in the process of contemplation. This brought about the frenzy of achieving military superiority, above the improvisation of the country's progress in other spheres. The World War II brought about a great shift in the American Dream and its very concepts and ideals. The participation of neutral America in the World War II was a betrayal of the hopes of the millions of Americans, who had previously endured the Depression and the World War I. The result of the World War II led to the supremacy of the United States of America, which began to don the role of the dominant industrial nation of the world. Detroit was one of the fast growing industrial cities of America, thanks to Ford, who developed the dream

Hiring FBI Agents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hiring FBI Agents - Essay Example This has been refined over the years that only the best of the candidate pool even makes it to a formal interview stage. The disadvantage to this process is that some excellent candidates may be looked over and denied an opportunity to advance within the FBI because of one test score that is just a few points off the mark. Such cut and dry approaches to determining the validity of candidates can backfire at times because it negates the human aspect of looking at other desirable qualities that might be present in excess and are just what the FBI is needing. Such a multiple hurdles approach to hiring would actually motivate to choose a career with the FBI, were I to be interested in that path. The special agent position is a coveted role within law enforcement (Bowman, Carlson, Colvin, & Green, 2006). It is an elite position that I would be proud to be a part of and it would be seen as a great life accomplishment were I to make it through the entire process and be hired by the FBI in this role. The complexity of the hiring process illustrates the seriousness by which the organization views the job. I would be lined up against the very best of the best, and this would serve to increase my level of motivation to pass each exam, ensure that my personal life was well rounded and possessed integrity, and work hard to eventually land the job. In the end, the FBI is not the only such law enforcement position that is coveted by such minded individuals today. As such, the process may be too long and drawn out to bring out the very best applicants in any giving hiring season. While the steps involved in the process do not necessarily need to change, the FBI might look at ways to sped up the process so individuals know much sooner where they stand in terms of the likelihood that they will actually be hired. This is important for many reasons. To begin, if the individual is in the middle of a long hiring

International relation's discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

International relation's discussion - Assignment Example ny, without doubt is a bad person that should be captured and face charges of crime against humanity at the international criminal courts, but his capture would come with other consequences, which might prove to be disastrous. In that case, peace and reconciliation techniques should be used especially in Northern Uganda to avoid any kind aggression between the rebels and government forces. Another key factor is African matters should be dealt by African people. There is absolute no need for putting pressure on the United States government to intervene (Peter, 21). As much as African countries appreciates the wet support in terms of foreign aid and donation they have also proved to the world that they are willing and ready to solve their own problems, some which have proved to be big challenges to the world. Therefore, the campaign for western countries to intervene in Kony’s capture is very not a good idea. The realist will not agree with the idea of going all out to capture Joseph Kony. This is because there are still other ways of coming up with a good solution to that problem. Still there are treaties between counties that must be respected. Kony is believed to have left Northern Uganda for South Sudan or Central African Republic, so attempt for invasion on Northern Uganda will be only cause harm to the healing

Startbucks Blue Ocean Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Startbucks Blue Ocean Strategy - Essay Example To fulfill the customers’ requirement the company must look for the interest and taste of the customers. Blue ocean strategies give more importance to the customers then to the competition with the different companies. Fourthly Starbucks has to offer the customers complementary products and other services. This will make the customers happy and they will stay satisfied and as a result they will become a loyal customer of Starbucks. New and innovative ideas should come forth for such offerings. Fifth is that Starbucks has to be more appealing to the customers. The company has to make plans emotionally which will attract the customers. Lowering the prices will appeal the customers and they will welcome it. And the last step which Starbucks has to follow is to look though time, the company should offer the customers products according to their desires, the company should not be time dependent they should maintain their standard and always fulfill the customers’ requirement s. A canvas strategy: The blue ocean strategy must include the canvas strategy which means that the central action and framework of the company must follow the blue ocean strategy. The range of different factors of an industry depends on, invests and competes in and the offerings level of the company with the customers’ acceptance of the product. A graph should be made between these two important factors. The canvas strategy is important for two important reasons, one is that it helps to capture the present situation of the known market space that helps the members to clearly see the points on which an industry competes or battles on, and the places where the concentration of competition is higher in, and secondly it helps to shift focus from competition to finding... This paper shows and discribes the main staps of Blue Ocean. Starbucks is a blue ocean it has been so ever since it started but slowly and gradually they are moving towards becoming Red Ocean which means to compete with others. Blue ocean strategy means that tomorrows main leading companies will not fight with their competitors instead they will open up in places where the competition is absent and will make a mark for themselves or establish a proper brand for which the competition is irrelevant. We are shown the 6 paths framework strategy. According to the six paths framework strategy of the blue ocean strategy to conceive new market space for the specific company, Starbucks has to follow the six main strategically points. First of all they have to look for alternative industries. The blue ocean strategy must include the canvas strategy which means that the central action and framework of the company must follow the blue ocean strategy. The range of different factors of an industry depends on, invests and competes in and the offerings level of the company with the customers’ acceptance of the product. A graph should be made between these two important factors. The three triers consist of the non-customers of the market. These three types of people are turned into customers by following different strategies and they are described in the paper. The paper makes us understand methods such as above the line marketing will be used for elimination , for raise methods like price versus budget analysis will be done , for reduce methods like prestige and complexity will be considered and to create factors like fun will be added. Sustainable method like regular analysis and monitoring the overall coffee market will be adopted to overcome these factors.

What is wilsonianism and to what extent did it feature and influence Essay

What is wilsonianism and to what extent did it feature and influence in US foreign policy throughout history as well as in the present time - Essay Example Prior to his ascendancy to office, he had served as the head of the Princeton University between 1902 and 1910. From there, he went ahead to be the Governor of New Jersey until the year 1913. As he sought for the presidency, he battled against the Progressive Party’s front man, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Republican leader, William Howard. He attained office through fronting the Democratic Party’s successful onslaught. On attaining office, he influenced the majority Democratic Congress to initiate significant progressive restructuring. He managed to push through more and radical bills than any other president in the country, and the popularity of his bills is second only to the New Deal (Alan, 2006:39). His ideals included the centralized deal Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the proceeds levy bill, the central store Act, and the centralized Farm mortgage Act. He also persuaded the current congress to assent to the Adamson Act, which was famous for changing the period of workdays for railroad gangs to 8-hour days. In addition, he later staged a frenzied support scheme to publicize the women’s rights. In 1916, he successfully regained office, and subsequently guided the country’s participation in the World War 1. During this time, he concentrated his focus on the war, and the following peace treaty transactions that went on in Paris. By managing to keep the country from actively participating in the war, he became popular with the local citizens. However, in1917, the German forces forced him to reconsider, when they started attacking the country unprovoked. Thus, in April 1917, he directed congress to declare the country’s official entry into the war. As the war went on raging, Wilson redirected his efforts towards exercising diplomacy, and embarked on analyzing America’s financial status. As he did this, he left the country’s army administration to focus on the war with no imposed restrictions. He went about

Startbucks Blue Ocean Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Startbucks Blue Ocean Strategy - Essay Example To fulfill the customers’ requirement the company must look for the interest and taste of the customers. Blue ocean strategies give more importance to the customers then to the competition with the different companies. Fourthly Starbucks has to offer the customers complementary products and other services. This will make the customers happy and they will stay satisfied and as a result they will become a loyal customer of Starbucks. New and innovative ideas should come forth for such offerings. Fifth is that Starbucks has to be more appealing to the customers. The company has to make plans emotionally which will attract the customers. Lowering the prices will appeal the customers and they will welcome it. And the last step which Starbucks has to follow is to look though time, the company should offer the customers products according to their desires, the company should not be time dependent they should maintain their standard and always fulfill the customers’ requirement s. A canvas strategy: The blue ocean strategy must include the canvas strategy which means that the central action and framework of the company must follow the blue ocean strategy. The range of different factors of an industry depends on, invests and competes in and the offerings level of the company with the customers’ acceptance of the product. A graph should be made between these two important factors. The canvas strategy is important for two important reasons, one is that it helps to capture the present situation of the known market space that helps the members to clearly see the points on which an industry competes or battles on, and the places where the concentration of competition is higher in, and secondly it helps to shift focus from competition to finding... This paper shows and discribes the main staps of Blue Ocean. Starbucks is a blue ocean it has been so ever since it started but slowly and gradually they are moving towards becoming Red Ocean which means to compete with others. Blue ocean strategy means that tomorrows main leading companies will not fight with their competitors instead they will open up in places where the competition is absent and will make a mark for themselves or establish a proper brand for which the competition is irrelevant. We are shown the 6 paths framework strategy. According to the six paths framework strategy of the blue ocean strategy to conceive new market space for the specific company, Starbucks has to follow the six main strategically points. First of all they have to look for alternative industries. The blue ocean strategy must include the canvas strategy which means that the central action and framework of the company must follow the blue ocean strategy. The range of different factors of an industry depends on, invests and competes in and the offerings level of the company with the customers’ acceptance of the product. A graph should be made between these two important factors. The three triers consist of the non-customers of the market. These three types of people are turned into customers by following different strategies and they are described in the paper. The paper makes us understand methods such as above the line marketing will be used for elimination , for raise methods like price versus budget analysis will be done , for reduce methods like prestige and complexity will be considered and to create factors like fun will be added. Sustainable method like regular analysis and monitoring the overall coffee market will be adopted to overcome these factors.

Gate of Ishtar Essay Example for Free

Gate of Ishtar Essay Throughout history, art has always been the highlight of mankind. Art has been writing history before language has been created. Our art has written history, or even protected us, the Gate of Ishtar did its purpose by doing so. A wonderful, and very artistic wall built through art, this gate was dedicated to the Babylonian goddess, Ishtar The Gate of Ishtar was one of the greatest, and monumental architectural treasure ever constructed during the Neo-Babylonian and Persian period. It was even considered one of the seven wonders in the world. The history behind this gate is very rich and popular. It was built during the time of Nebuchadnezzar II, who ordered the building of this gate. The time of this finished its construction was around 575 BCE. According to where the gate was located, it guarded the northern part of Babylon, running through the Processional Way. During the time, the gate was an absolute phenomenon. It ran approximately 40 feet high and 30 feet width, it also had a double arch gate. The reason behind the double arch gate was for it to be spaced by an interior passage. The masonry during the time of construction of the gate was very advanced, but not long lasting. The gate consisted of mud bricks, since the whole city of Babylon used mud bricks. Covering the mud bricks were blue glazed led, or copper, that gave the bricks an illuminating dark blue color. During that time, they used this process for all the important monuments in Babylon. On the gate there is a description, ordered by Nebuchadnezzar himself, which stated his feelings toward the gate, and the description of what the gate was made of. He also built his palace a few meters away from the gate itself. Throughout the gate, every brick was sought out and hand crafted one by one. Doing so, anyone who experiences the gate first hand can tell the marksmanship of each brick. The brickwork is decorated and inlayed by yellow colors creating lions, which run throughout the entire gate. The lion represented fearlessness and war. Dragons, palm trees and geometric designs were also on the gate. Although they use fearless animals, its also used to show order, and organized manner. The purpose the Gate of Ishtar was supposed to represent the power and determination of Babylon. On top of the gate there are dragon decoration, which was a sacred beast or sign of the gods, Marduk and Nabu. While the  lions and bulls, which are also on the gate, also are sacred in the Babylonian culture and the god Marduk. Going on later in the future, the year 1902 ac, a German archeologist by the name of Robert Koldeway took credit of the unearthing of the Gate in the ruins of Babylon. Actually, unearthing this global phenomenon took a while, from the date 1902 to 1914. Approximately 12 years to unearth almost all the remains of the gate. During the time of the excavation, the gate was so large, that it could not be set in just one museum, but many throughout the world. Sadly, only three museums throughout the world has acquired the dragon souvenir from the gate, while many other museums have the lion. After many years the gate of Ishtar has tried to make a comeback. In 1983 Saddam Hussein tried to reconstruct this magnificent wonder, but due to the war in Iraq, things were on hold. Iraq hopes to reconstruct the gate after things settle down. This gate is also popular throughout the world. For it is mentioned in the bible. It is one of the most documented events of early civilizations. All these factors create what was known as the gate of Ishtar. It will always be known as one of the wonders of the world. As time goes on, people will forget was known as The Gate of Ishtar.

The importance of public policy

The importance of public policy INTRODUCTION Public policy refers to the action or inaction of the government on an issue(s) (Thomas 2001 cited in Buse et al 2005). It sets hierarchy by carrying out the choices of those with the command of authority in the public. This makes public policy change very complex as various individuals, organisations and even the state have conflicting interest and capacities. There is therefore the need for coherence of interest/capacities in an attempt to effect a change (Colebatch 2002). AIM: The aim of this paper is to explain the strategies that would be used to effect a change in public policy on road safety in Nigeria. Health Issue and Public Health Importance: Road Traffic Collision (RTC) is a major public health issue globally. It is defined as personal injury resulting from collision of a vehicle with another vehicle(s) or a pedestrian, occurring on the public highway or footways (Worcestershire County Council 2010). The Situation Globally: RTC accounts for over 1.2 million deaths with about 20 to 50 million non fatal injuries (a major cause of disability) occurring annually. It is the 9th leading cause of death globally and is estimated to rise to be the 5th leading cause of death by year 2030 (with about 2.4 million fatalities per year) out ranking public health issues like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS (presently the 5th leading cause of death) and diarrhoea diseases (WHO 2008). This means that by the year 2030, RTC will be perceived as deadly as HIV/AIDS is today, if urgent action is not taken. The global losses due to road traffic injuries are estimated to cost about 518 billion USD, costing the government between 1 3 % of its gross national product (WHO 2009a). Nigeria: Nigeria is Africas most populous country, with an estimated population size of about 151,319,500 (World Bank 2010). It is one of the 10 countries with the highest Road traffic death rates in the world (WHO 2009a). RTA is the commonest cause of death from unintentional injuries/ public violence in the country (Nigeria Watch 2007). Usoro (2010) stated that there are about 30,000 accidents with about 35,000 casualties occurring yearly. About 90 persons are killed or injured daily and about 4 persons dies or get injured every hour from RTA. He argues that the figures are underestimated because of poor reporting and poor recording of road accidents in the country. Low socio economic groups have been found to be at higher risk of road traffic injuries (Thomas et al 2004) and they are less likely to have the capacity to bear the direct or indirect cost related to RTA. They are faced with more poverty burden as they lose their bread winner; lose earnings while caring for the injured or disabled, the cost for funeral and prolonged health care (DFID 2003). RTC has its greatest impact among the young and is the third leading cause of death between ages 5 45years (WHO 2009) with a reduction in the Countrys productive force, further worsening the economic situation, thus affecting the country achieving its MDGS 1 AND 4. The major causes of RTC in Nigeria are; high speed, alcohol, bad roads, poor vehicle conditions etc (Usoro 2010). Although there is limited literature to show the different percentages of the causes of RTC in Nigeria, high speed is most implicated in low income countries (WHO 2009). Studies have shown that a 5% increase in average speed can result in approximately 20% increase in fatal crashes (Transport Research centre 2006) and with a 1mph reduction in average speed there is a reduction in accident injuries by 5% (Finch et al 1994). The introduction of speed cameras in the Isle of Wight, UK resulted in an 83% reduction of speed on the island (Environment and Transport select Committee 2004). Reducing speed has also been shown to have positive effects on health outcomes e.g. reducing respiratory problems associated with health outcomes (Transport Research Centre 2006). There is therefore urgent need for action to prevent this future pandemic. PROPOSED CHANGE (POLICY CONTENT): Introduction of speed cameras and enforcement of speed limits on Nigerian roads. Enforcement of speed limits via mobile cameras has been shown to be the single most effective strategy for reducing fatality from RTC (Chisom and Naci 2008). It is thus most rational among other rational strategies but has to muddle its way through the policy process. Hence the nature of change follows the mixed scanning model. For better understanding of the complex multifaceted nature of policy making, the proposed policy change is seen as passing through a process taking place in a particular context influenced by the participants/actors (the policy analysis triangle) (Buse et al 2005). THE POLICY PROCESS: The policy process can be broken down into series of stages called the ‘stages heuristic (Sabatier and Jenkins-smith cited in Buse et al. 2005).It provides a theoretical framework for understanding the times and places where tactical approaches can be applied to influence policy change (Buse et al 2005). Before going on with the policy process, it will be worthwhile understanding the countrys policy context as this will assist in shaping the process. THE NIGERIAN POLICY CONTEXT: The proposed health policy change can be affected by the following contextual factors (Leichter 1979): Situational factors: This includes the increasing wide spread public awareness and burden caused by RTA in the country as stated above. Cultural factors: There are about 250 ethnic groups (Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba been the major ethnic groups) in Nigeria. The major religions are Christianity, Islamism, traditional beliefs. These major religious and ethnic groups are the most politically influential and most populous in the country (CIA 2009). Most people believe that road accident is spiritual and is caused by evil spirits (Sarma 2007). Hence the religious leaders, traditional/ethnic group leaders will play an important role in convincing their followers and improving ownership for community support and policy implementation success. International factors: Road safety issues have increased in momentum on the global agenda (termed the decade of action) with an ambitious target to reduce road fatalities by year 2020. It is supported by international bodies such as WHO, WB, DFID, FIA foundation and other UN organisation (Commission for global road safety 2009). These bodies will thus have an impact on the formulation of policies, funding, dialogue, planning, and advocacy guidelines for any country embarking on a road safety policy initiative. Structural Factors: (a) Political system: Nigeria is a democratic federation with levels of authority expressed at the federal, state and local government areas. There are 36 states and the federal capital territory, 774 LGAs further divided into 9555 wards (the lowest political unit in the country). There are 3 arms of government, the Executive arm, Judiciary and the Legislature at the federal and state levels. The legislative arm comprises of the upper house (the senate) and the lower house (the House of Representatives) elected from the state senatorial districts and the constituencies respectively. Each state has an elected governor, the house of assembly, an executive council with powers to make laws. Each local government area has an elected executive chairman and an elected legislative council of members from electoral wards. The state government has substantial autonomy and control over the allocation and utilization of their resources (WHO 2009b). The Federal Road Safety Commission: This is the lead agency that regulates, enforces and coordinates all road safety management activities at both the national, state and LGA level through their special marshals (Volunteer arm) and regular marshals (Uniformed). They play a major role in determining and enforcing speed limits for various types of roads and vehicles (FRSC 2010). They receive assistance from the police, civil defence corps, NGOS etc. (b) Civil societies, NGOs form e.g. RAPSON, APRI, SAVAN, and interest groups are key actors in public policy making and can participate at the committee stages of how a bill becomes a law. (c)Socio economic situation: Nigeria is classified as a low income group country with a gross national income per capital of $930 (WHO 2009a).This can affect getting the road safety policy on the agenda among many other competing health issues. To the ease the policy issue from the agenda setting to implementation and evaluation, a stakeholder analysis is very important. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS: It helps to key Actors; assess their interest, power, alliance, position and importance in relation to the policy. It will help to identify and act to prevent misunderstanding and opposition to the policy (Schmeer 2000). AGENDA SETTING: This step involves getting the issue onto the policy agenda from among other issues that can potentially be of interest to policy makers (Buse et al 2005). Kingdon (1984) proposed that policies get on the agenda through 3 independent streams (problem, politics and policy stream) which converge at a point called the policy window. This is the point a policy change is most likely to occur. Mobilising the Media: McCombs and Shaw (1972) first developed the agenda setting theory, showing a strong correlation between media agenda and the public agenda on US presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. The media, been successful in telling the public what to think about (University of Twente 2004), will be mobilised to influence the publics opinion and consequently the government through TV and radio programmes/ News, News papers and articles from professional bodies with emphasis on the magnitude and possible solution to reducing the mortality from road traffic accidents. Restriction can also be made to misleading adverts which will encourage speed. Personal experience of RTC (direct or indirect) could be a more powerful teacher than the media (University of Twente 2004) but both will complement each other in improving the public agenda and subsequently the policy agenda. POLICY FORMULATION AND ADOPTION: This involves the steps taken after the issue is placed on the agenda up till when it is implemented. This part of the process strongly lies in the domain of the legislators which determines how a bill becomes law and is implemented as shown below: Formulation Strategies: To keep the issue on the agenda through this stage, there is need for: Continuous campaigns and Advocacy: Grassroots lobbying (mobilizing the public to contact legislators or other policy makers about the problem) and Direct Lobbying (Phone calls, writing of letters, face to face interactions), Mass Support by attending committee meetings, Informing international stakeholders that the issue is on the agenda, Bargaining for supporters from the legislators to improve Alliance. POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: This involves the process by which a policy is turned into practice (Buse et al 2005). The bottom -up approach (Lipsky 1980) will be a very good approach for the implementation such that there is flow of information from the implementers to the policy makers. However, attempt will be made to include the top-down approach in order to minimise deviation from the intended policy outcome. The implementation process would require time and resources and should be a gradual process. It would be worthwhile having a pilot project in an area identified by researchers to have a high mortality from RTA before implementation at a National level. Initial rapid needs assessment: The road safety system would be assessed to find out what is needed. The team should include; the police, road safety commission, researchers, health economist, NGOs, the NURTW, Volunteers, medical teams, Health policy analyst, the media, ministry of transport, support from developmental partners, community/religious leaders and involving the government at all levels. The assessment will provide scientific, managerial and technological functions of the policy from planning to evaluation. On identification of the specific needs, the implementation work plan will be drawn. Community/religious leaders will play a key role in advocating within their communities/religious groups in convincing their followers that RTC can be prevented and is not spiritual. Implementation schedule: Legislation to specify speed limits applicable to different types of roads. Identifying strategic check points which should be areas identified to have a relatively high RTC resulting from high speed. Random positioning of the team to monitor vehicle speed with the mobile speed cameras Fines to be paid by violators will be fixed and revenue generated be used for maintain and purchase of speed cameras. License suspension of violators who violates the law over a specific number of times as will be stated. The use of publicity to inform the public on the new law, its benefits and penalties. EVALUATION AND FEEDBACK: Buse et al (2005 p) defines evaluation as research designed specifically to assess the operation and or impact of a programme or policy in order to determine whether the programme or policy is worth pursuing further The engineering model suggests that ideally there should be a direct relationship between research findings and policy decisions but however this is completely not applicable as there tends to be gaps between the two communities. Advocacy coalition is needed to reduce this gap and should include improving the knowledge of policy makers by providing a range of different research reports via the media, conferences and seminars, ensuring that major policies have evaluations built into their budgets and implementation plans and establish intermediate institutions to review research and determine its policy implications e.g. NICE in England and Wales (Buse et al 2005). The evaluation process will involve the use of the formative evaluation (qualitative-observations, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, progress reports) at the early stage to provide advice to policy makers. It may then be used to modify and develop the program. It will also involve the use of a summative evaluation (quantitative- morbidity and mortality rates) which measures outcome and the extent to which the programme has met its objectives. Evaluation of the performance: Speed limit enforcement will also be done at the micro, meso and macro levels. The micro level will include accessing performance of the teams at the district levels, the effectiveness of the enforcement protocols used, the level of corruption and any implementation gaps. The meso level will include accessing performance at the organisation level which will include the time taken to attend to offenders when referred to the road safety centres, and their role assisting and supervising the team at the district level. The macro level: this involves accessing financing of the programme and its function at the national or international level. CONCLUSION: The policy process is a cyclical process occurring in the environment of a changing political context. There is thus the need for continuous advocacy coalition networking, monitoring and evaluation at all times. However, other causes of RTC such as bad roads, drinking and driving which are not fully implemented in the country should not be neglected as future plans should be made to further reduce the burden of RTC to the barest minimum. The implementation of the mobile speed cameras and speed limit enforcement will help reduce RTC mortalities and disabilities, improve research and also quality of life thereby unlocking growth and freeing resources for use on other health concerns with the view of achieving the MDGs. References: Aeron-Thomas, A., Jacobs, G.D., Sexton, B. 2004. The involvement and impact of road crashes on the poor : Bangladesh and India case studies [Online]. Available at: www.grsproadsafety.org//The%20Poor_final%20final%20report.pdf. [Accessed: 9 March 2010]. Buse, K., Mays, N. and Walt, G. 2005. Making health policy. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 2009. The world fact book- Nigeria [Online]. Available at: http://www.cia.gov/library/publication/the -world-factbook/print/ni.html. [Accessed: 23 February 2010]. Commission for global road safety. 2009. A decade for action for road safety: a brief planning document [Online]. 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