Free Essays on Merchant Of Venice

** The contrast between Belmont and Venice In ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Shakespeare creates an interesting contrast between the mercantile, tumultuous city of Venice and the peaceful, gracious world of Belmont. The striking difference between these two settings helps to capture and maintain our attention. There are differences in the value of systems of the people belonging to the two different cities. To understand the play we must first look at the setting. The play is not set in the year it was written. Instead, Shakespeare looks back in time to the beginning of the Renaissance. Venice, a city-state in Italy, was a crossroads for crusaders, a money-lending centre of Europe. Venice fascinated the Elizabethans, as it was commercially hospitable to people from all parts of the world e.g. Greeks, Jews and Protestants. The city was also a trading centre of great importance. Venice itself was Catholic city and politically independent. A place of great beauty, luxury and extremely artistic. A second setting of the play transports us to Belmont, which contrasts, with Venice in its fairy tale outlooks and musical interludes. It is in Belmont that love blooms, honesty and peace prevails everywhere. The atmosphere of Venice is almost like a romantic fairy tale and Portia is like the beautiful princess who cannot marry until the right man arrives to choose the right casket. As long as she is imprisoned by her fathers will, Portia must remain in Belmont and wait for her prince to come and rescue her. The distinction between Venice and Belmont is that one place is where money is made and the other is where it is spent. One is characterized by light, sunshine, and the other by moonlight and music. Wealth is described in almost sensuous terms like when Salerio says â€Å"†¦touching but my gentle vessels side †¦Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks†. Moreover, in an ironic way, later love is talked about in commercial terms. ... Free Essays on Merchant Of Venice Free Essays on Merchant Of Venice ** The contrast between Belmont and Venice In ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Shakespeare creates an interesting contrast between the mercantile, tumultuous city of Venice and the peaceful, gracious world of Belmont. The striking difference between these two settings helps to capture and maintain our attention. There are differences in the value of systems of the people belonging to the two different cities. To understand the play we must first look at the setting. The play is not set in the year it was written. Instead, Shakespeare looks back in time to the beginning of the Renaissance. Venice, a city-state in Italy, was a crossroads for crusaders, a money-lending centre of Europe. Venice fascinated the Elizabethans, as it was commercially hospitable to people from all parts of the world e.g. Greeks, Jews and Protestants. The city was also a trading centre of great importance. Venice itself was Catholic city and politically independent. A place of great beauty, luxury and extremely artistic. A second setting of the play transports us to Belmont, which contrasts, with Venice in its fairy tale outlooks and musical interludes. It is in Belmont that love blooms, honesty and peace prevails everywhere. The atmosphere of Venice is almost like a romantic fairy tale and Portia is like the beautiful princess who cannot marry until the right man arrives to choose the right casket. As long as she is imprisoned by her fathers will, Portia must remain in Belmont and wait for her prince to come and rescue her. The distinction between Venice and Belmont is that one place is where money is made and the other is where it is spent. One is characterized by light, sunshine, and the other by moonlight and music. Wealth is described in almost sensuous terms like when Salerio says â€Å"†¦touching but my gentle vessels side †¦Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks†. Moreover, in an ironic way, later love is talked about in commercial terms. ...

Eo - Irregular Latin Verb

Eo - Irregular Latin Verb Eo, ire, ii or ivi, iturus - go Indicative Present Active Sing1 - eo2 - is3 - itPl1 - imus2 - itis3 - euntIndicative ImperfectSing1 - ibam2 - ibas3 - ibatPl1 - ibamus2 - ibatis3 - ibantIndicative FutureSing1 - ibo2 - ibis3 - ibitPl1 - ibimus2 - ibitis3 - ibunt   Passive (Impersonal) PresentiturImperfectibaturFutureibiturPerfectitum estImperfectitum eratFutureitum erit Subjunctive Present Sing1 - eam2 - eas3 - eatPl1 - eamus2 - eatis3 - eant Subjunctive Imperfect Sing1 - irem2 - ires3 - iretPl1 - iremus2 - iretis3 - irent Subjunctive Perfect Sing1 - iverim2 - iveris3 - iveritPl1 - iverimus2 - iveritis3 - iverint Subjunctive Pluperfect Sing1 - ivissem2 - ivisses3 - ivissetPl1 - ivissemus2 - ivissetis3 - ivissent Imperative PresentSingipliteFutureSing2nd Personito3rd Personitopl2nd Personitote3rd Personeunto Gerund and Supine Gerundeundi, eundo, eundum, eundoSupineitum, itu Infinitives Infinitive PresentireInfinitive Perfectivisse, isseInfinitive Futureiturus esse Participles Participle Presentiens, euntisFuture Participleiturus Irregular Latin Verbs Eo Fio - to becomeVolo - to wishnolo, nolle, nolui to be unwilling and malo, malle, malui to prefer are similar. Sum - to beDo - to giveFero - to carryEdo - to eat About Irregular Latin Verbs

The Last Lecture book discussion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Last Lecture book discussion - Research Paper Example It is challenging news for the one who is going to die, and for the one who loves him heartily, it is a double tragedy. Three angel-like children cement their love. Under the protective wings of their joint affection they live a smooth life; what next if one wing is cut off by cruel destiny? Out of this impending certain tragedy, emerges the brilliant leader. â€Å"The Last Lecture† is just a tool to reveal the great qualities of head and heart of Randy Pausch, his daunting spirit, to make himself available to the cause that he dearly loved. He pens those two beautiful sentences in the book, (Introduction, p. x) â€Å"I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude, and other things I hold dear. And I tried very hard not to be boring.† Even in such a grim situation, Pausch emerges like a brave warrior who remains glorious in defeat. He knows the count of his heartbeats; he appreciates the special individual who has right over those beats, but through sheer will power he transcends her magnetic pull, and The Last†¦.2 remains true to the duty which he considers he owes to the society. A leader is the one who makes the right choice at the right time and Pausch has before him a very, very, difficult choice. He is a great family man. Randy Pausch et al. (2008, p.6) writes, â€Å"That’s why I spent many of my walking hours making arrangements for my family’s future without me. Still I couldn’t let go of my urge to give this last lecture.† "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand,† sums up everything about the challenge of life as perceived by Randy Pausch (p.17). The essential difference between â€Å"The Last Lecture† by other Professors and the one by him was that he was distinctly aware, without an iota of doubt that it was going to be his last. Incredible though, in such a grim situation, Pausch was not willing to talk about death and create an atmosphere of gloom which would ooze out sympathy for him and his family; his lecture was about â€Å"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.† His final words were a great mixture of humor, inspiration and intelligence. While answering the questions put to him, he detached himself admirably from the deadly disease that was mercilessly leading him to the grave. He delivered his last lecture on September 18, 2007, a month after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He knew he was heading out of the door for the last time, after delivering the lecture. While reading his observations in the book on the issues like managing time, learning to listen to others, re-thinking priorities etc. one feel as if one is interacting with a management guru, and not with an individual who is fighting the losing battle of his life. The subject of death The Last†¦.3 gets the lowest priority in his lecture, though it was topm ost in the minds of his audience that he was addressing that day. Pausch was thinking about other’s welfare and deeply pondered about the future of his family without him. He writes (p.8) about the possible benefit of his last lecture to his children thus: â€Å"When the kids are older, they’re going to go through this phase where they absolutely, achingly need to know: ‘Who was my dad? What was he like?’ This lecture could help give them an answer to that.†

Analyse the iconography, conventions and audience expectations (Grant, Essay

Analyse the iconography, conventions and audience expectations (Grant, 2007) of one film genre & access how (and if) they have c - Essay Example Genre tends to make the consumption of a film to be less disordered by providing the audience with a guide on certain films thus providing satisfaction when the guidance rules are followed. Most producers mainly use this approach to attract a certain audience as well as capitalising on past successes by repeating the various generic elements. With regards to the generic conventions they mainly offer the director of the film a framework to work on. Therefore, a genre based approach is best suited for carrying out film analysis (Grant, 2007, p. 43). There are several types of film genres but the focus in this paper will be on Musical/Dance film genre. Musical/Dance films are referred to as cinematic forms which mainly emphasize song and dance practices in a significant manner or full scale scores (Feuer, 1993, p.39). They are mainly films which are centred on the combinations of dance, music, choreography or song. The musical/Dance genre has been regarded as the most unrealistic form o f cinema. Despite this it is a genre that is enjoyable due to the fantastical departures that it exhibits. The act of actually singing in the middle of pouring rain while twirling an umbrella and tapping cannot be regarded as a daily occurrence (Schatz, 1981, p. 34). This according to Gene Kelly in the Singing in the rain film is as normal and as natural as the act of breathing. Another scene is that of Fred Astaire in the Band Wagon when he engages himself in performing an impromptu dance at the shoe shine station. Musical/Dance usually aim at persuading the audience in thinking that what they are viewing on the screen is simply the representation of the characters feelings at that moment as well as what they may do in reality. Musical usually portray the dancing and singing of the characters as their natural inclinations of the character though the audience usually know that in reality this will never happen as it is just a result of events that are choreographed and rehearsed. Wh en it comes to musical conventions the narratives usually halts for the production numbers and the characters break into dance and song. The characters usually perform for the camera after listening to a song that usually comes up abruptly (Grant, 2003, p. 85). The use of the musical/Dance genre is unique in the film industry. The mass persuasion of this genre may look like it will not be able to last for a long period in the America society due to the fact that people are mainly taught to question the superiors and not to follow the leader. Even in the early thirties people had the same tendency of questioning almost everything: their parents, their clergy and even their government. The question that still remains a mystery is the fact that society did not sought to question Hollywood. People spent a lot of money days after days and later on it resulted into the creation of the film industry (Schatz, 1981, p.64). It is the public audience that created and boosted the genres that th ey went to see and not an effort was given by Hollywood. Maybe it can be assumed that it is the musical nature of the films that made them so popular that people all ways went back for more action. People practically took time to go watch the movies so as to get away from the ordinary everyday

The foghorn and the sea Raiders Essay Example for Free

The foghorn and the sea Raiders Essay Thought (Hugin) and Memory (Munin) were the two ravens that went unto the world to observe and return to tell of what all men do, Driven by further search for knowledge, Odin begged Mimir, the wise, to allow him to drink from the well of wisdom, for this he consented to lose an eye. Wounded I hung on wind swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin, Offered myself to myself: The wisest know not from whence spring The roots of that ancient rood. They gave me no bread, they gave me no mead: I looked down; with a loud cry I took up the runes and I fell. (The Elder Edda 56) Here we find Odin once more sacrificing himself for knowledge, In The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology it is said that Odin actually died on the gallows of Yggdrasil, that he traversed Nifleheim, or Hel in order to obtain the nine sacred runes, that seem to be extremely powerful as described in The Elder Edda. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology adds yet another theory to Odin hanging himself, The parallel between Odins voluntary death on Yggdrasil and the crucifixion remains striking. Odin was pierced with a spear and like Christ, cried out before he died there is little doubt that his hanging on the cosmic tree had pre-Christian origins and derived from ancient pagan worship. Odin had long been the god of the spear, the god of the hanged. This could definitely be determined as less than speculation, seeing as we must rely on our sources and to this point one could say that this is a very valid and well thought out work. Regardless of minor differences in text again we must as they did default ourselves to the larger span of information. There were two different groups of gods in Scandinavian Mythology, The Aesir and the Vanir. Each having their own respective dwelling place, Asgard for the Aesir, and Vanaheim for the Vanir. Of the two, The Vanir have been said to be the older. Unlike the warrior Aesir, the Vanir were a race of gods associated with fertility, wealth, and good weather. (The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology 500) Among the Vanir were, Njord, the sea and fortune god, Skadi, the god of destruction, Freyja, the goddess of love, and Freyr the god of Fertility. Among the Aesir were, Odin, Balder, Bragi, Forseti Heimdall, Hodr, Thor, Tyr, Vili, Ve, Vidar, Frigg, Sif, and Idun. At one point in time there was a great war between these two branches of gods, yet both the Aesir, and the Vanir came to terms by exchanging several prominent gods of each side. The Vanir sent Njord, Freyr, Freyja, and Kvasir, while the Aesir sent Mimir, and Honir. The Vanir soon found that they got the bad end of the deal due to the fact that Mimir was the only one who knew what he was talking about, and that in his absence Honir, wasnt really that bright. The Vanir then sliced of Mimirs head and sent it back to Asgard, where Odin used Powerful magic to allow Mimirs head to speak. Little else is known of the Vanir, they seemed to lose importance quickly after it was concluded that the war was resolved however it was noted that Vanaheim, was potentially unaffected by Ragnarok. This shows evidence of two religions colliding with Scandinavian and Germanic mythology. Revealing to us that Scandinavian mythology has most definately influenced by other ancient tales and stories. (Cherry, Vanaheim) Scandinavian mythology might have been the inspiration to several works of modern day literature. It is Nicole Cherrys opinion that Tolkien was very well acquainted with the northern mythos, as can be seen by the use of it in his books. The name of one of his main characters, Gandalf, is found in The Poetic Edda. Gandalf is, in some ways, reminiscent of Odin, the leader of the Norse pantheon. Even the name Middle-earth, the setting for Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, comes from Norse mythology. There are several other modern day works of literature based on or derived from Scandinavian mythology as well, such as, The Ring of the Nibelung and The Nibelungenlied. These works, may well show the effect and legacy of Scandinavian Mythology in the World. Another notable element of Tolkeins Lord of The Rings was his use of the ring itself to the Viings the ring meant wealth honor fame and destiny. It was in fact a tradition to give rings to neighboring countries, bringing to notice the ever prominent focal point of the Lord of the Rings. (Day 29) There is no Heaven or Hell in Scandinavian mythology, the only hope is to be brought up to Asgard by a Valkyrie or Battle Maiden. Even then those chosen or the Einherjar (The Heroic dead) faced defeat at Ragnarok in the Final Battle on the Vigrid Plain. This may be unlike any other focal point of religion known. It reasons in many ways that the only way to gain honor is to die in battle unfaltering. Scandinavian Mythology, although comparable to other religions or other pagan beliefs is an original and unique work of the Norwegians, Swedish, Icelandic, and Danish peoples of Europe. Hamilton describes it justly by saying, Asgard, the home of the gods, is unlike any other heaven men have dreamed of. No radiancy or joy is in it, no assurance of bliss, it is a grave and solemn place, over which hangs the threat of inevitable doom the same is true for humanity this conception of life which underlies Norse religion, as somber a conception the human mind has ever given birth to A heroic death is not a defeat, but a triumph. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE JRR Tolkien section.

Essay --

I blinked. The pencil drummed on the table erratically as my hand twitched, my knuckles feeling the trembling broken lead beneath my anxious thumb. The incessant tapping fell dull on my ears, but I earned more than one icy glance from classmates. The paper stared back at me, white and unyielding. My eyes were locked on its blankness, but I didn’t see. The faint blue lines blurred, and fabricated shadows danced before my unfocused eyes. My mind whirred; I could almost hear the gears struggling fruitlessly to turn without oil. I felt my heart stretch with the effort of keeping all the unsatisfied energy within. My fingers laced up through my hair and I pulled on the long curls, as if the prickling pain would help me think. A frustrated growl threatened to escape my throat, but I pushed it back down with a silent reminder that everyone was already irritated with me. The vague babbling from behind served as an ignored cue that a friend was trying vainly to communicate with me. From experience I knew that after a moment, she would mutter, â€Å"You can’t hear anything I’m saying, can you?† and give up on trying to reach me. That was fine by me. The whole of the world was a distraction; I couldn’t afford any individual pulls from my work. As it was, a song hummed distantly in my mind, begging me to draw it closer. My pencil adopted the beat and I frowned. I studied my hands, the tendons tense beneath the surface, knuckles jutting out sharply, and scratches splitting pale skin. Instinctively, I drew one up to my mouth and began to gnaw on an abused and ragged fingernail, feeling my braces click, metal on metal. I noticed my habit, but did nothing to stop. A thousand thousand thoughts sauntered across the surface of my sanity, mocking... ...ped a bucket of cold water over my sleeping chimera. The sound of my pencil’s knocking bounced off the walls of my consciousness and echoed back into my ears. Words of description flashed before my eyes, leading me on towards the light. My paper’s utter blankness ceased mocking me, and held promise instead of contempt. I felt the words there, written in ink only I could see, waiting, waiting for me. I felt a smile push the corners of my mouth up and my pencil began to fly across the paper, soft whispering noises floating up to me like a song, the gentle proof that I had broken down the walls around my creativity. â€Å"The pencil drummed on the table erratically as my hand twitched†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I almost laughed aloud. I couldn’t stop now if I wanted to. â€Å"I’ve got it,† I called over my shoulder. â€Å"Yeah? What?† my friend leaned forward absently. I smiled. â€Å"Writer’s block.†

Christmas Project: Interviewing Santa Claus

I would guess our deal of 10 tons of cookies still counts? R: Absolutely! Fifty trucks from Centuries News Delivery are parking right in your enormous front yard. SC (laugh): Now that's what I want to hear. According to our deal, you get your five minutes. Hurry up because the spell wears away quickly. R: Right into our first question from 9-year-old Mr.. Augustine. Santa Claus, how do you know we are naughty or nice for the whole year when you only come to see us for one night on Christmas Eve? SC: (Its supposed to be a secret, but since we have a deal I will share it with you, only you though. All y little elves who work for me, only a few are making presents now because everything is easily made by machine. In the old time, say before 2050, I have to make them work overtime on the days before Christmas. They spy the children for about a week and talk with the children's parents to figure out if they are naughty or nice. I believe children are mostly nice in the bottom of their hea rts because they are born with love, and they are not contaminated by the world. That's why I linger my eyes on the â€Å"naughty† kids for a little bit longer, and can always find their little hearts lit with love.Nowadays, since aging presents doesn't need the elves any more, I send them to each house all year round to watch the children, and of course to help them to be good in various ways. They are invisible under my spell, but on Christmas Eve I need to use the magic power to send gifts to children, so the magic power disappears and they become visible again. So, if you see a little elf running away from your house on Christmas Eve, don't fret and try to say hello to him. R: Oh my world! You'd better watch out, because there are invisible elves living in your house! SC (wink): That's right. I always have my eyes on you.R: Our next question is from 7-year-old Mr.. Chris. It's also a question from all of us. How do you make the reindeer fly? SC: Now this is a hard questio n. My reindeer only fly on Christmas Eve. Their magic power does not just pop out. The truth is, all the power that is stored throughout the year is used on Christmas Eve to deliver presents. Normally, I cannot fly up the chimneys, carry all those presents or drive a flying sleigh. The power Of love, kindness, goodness and faith on me from each family all over the world gathers in their chimneys and goes through the factory to power the machine.The rest of the power goes into my reindeer so we can fly on Christmas Eve together. R: How fascinating! The present factory is not powered by some special magic or the elves, but love. SC: Oh, yes. Love is the most beautiful and powerful magic in this world. The more love in this world, the more presents can be produced, and the more hearts will receive warmth and joy. (smile) R: Here's my last question from 5-year-old Miss. Jimmie, and this is also a question have been wondering myself. Santa Claus, how old are you? Do you have any family w ho love you and live with you?SC Lowly laughter): Such a sweet little girl! Of course you too. I existed since the year 280 in Turkey. Since then, I am favored in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and many other places in Europe. I was not popular in America until Washington Irving and Clement Moore introduced me in the asses. Thus, am more than 1700 years old, but my memory gets vague for things a thousand years ago. As for my family, I exist because there are all those children who love me and believe in me. They ARE my family, and don't need any more than that. Besides, have all my little elves and nine reminders who live with me.I am much loved and very happy. You don't need to worry about me. Ifs my job to bring joy to all of you. R: Thank you very much, Santa Claus. It was a wonderful time talking to you, but our time is about to end. At the end of the interview, do you have anything to say to our little audience all over the world who are watching us? SC (joyfully): To all the c hildren in this world a happy new year and a good night! Be good this year and I will come to you again (wink). See you all on Christmas Eve! (wave) carry all those presents or drive a flying sleigh.

Canadian Culture Essay

Canada is located in the northern portion of the continent of North America, extending, in general, from the 49th parallel northward to the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Its eastern and western boundaries are the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans respectively. Its land area totals 3,851,809 square miles (9,976,185 square kilometers). The easternmost portion of the country is a riverine and maritime environment, consisting of the provinces of Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. The central portion of the country, in its southern areas, is primarily boreal forest (the provinces of Ontario and Quebec). This forest region extends across the entire country from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains through to the Atlantic coast, and is dominated by coniferous trees. These variations have had important social and cultural effects. The largest segment of the population resides in the central Carolinian region, which has the richest and most varied agricultural land and, because the Great Lakes waterway system dominates the central portion of the country, is also where most of the major manufacturing is located. The savanna or prairie region is more sparsely populated, with several large urban centers in a network across the region, which is dominated by grain farming, cattle and other livestock production, and more recently, oil and natural gas extraction. The two coastal regions, which have some agricultural production, are best characterized by the dominance of port cities through which import and export goods move. In the northern section of the center of the country, also sparsely populated, resource extraction of minerals and lumber, has predominated. The effect of this concentration of the population, employment, and productive power in the central region of the country has been the concentration of political power in this region, as well as the development over time of intense regional rivalries and disparities in quality of life. Equally important, as employment in the center came to dominate gross national production, immigration has tended to flow into the center. This has created a diverse cultural mix in the central region of the country, while the prairie and the eastern maritime region have stabilized ethnically and culturally. The consequence of these diverse geographies has been the development of a rhetoric of regional cultures: Prairie, Maritime, Central, and because of its special isolation, West Coast. A final differentiation is between urban and rural. Local cultural identity is often marked by expressions of contrasting values in which rural residents characterize themselves as harder working, more honest, and more deeply committed to community cooperation, in contrast to urban dwellers [pic] Canada who are characterized by rural residents as greedy, dishonest, arrogant, and self-interested. Urban dwellers express their own identities as more modern and forward looking, more sophisticated, and more liberal in their overall social values, and perceive rural residents as conservative, overdependent on outmoded traditions, unsophisticated, and simple minded. This distinction is most explicit in Quebec, but also plays a key role in political, social, and cultural contentions in Ontario. Demography . The official population at the last census calculation, in 1996, was 29,672,000, an increase over the previous census in 1991 of about 6 percent in five years. The previous five-year increase was almost 7 percent. There has been a slowing population increase in Canada over the last several decades, fueled in part by a decline in the crude birthrate. This slowing of growth has been offset somewhat by an increase in immigration over the last two decades of the twentieth century, coupled with a slowing of emigration. Statistics Canada, the government Census management organization, is projecting a population increase of as much as 8 percent between 2001 and 2005, mostly through increased immigration. Language Canada is bilingual, with English and French as the official languages. English takes precedence in statutory proceedings outside of Quebec, with English versions of all statutes serving as the final arbiter in disputes over interpretation. As of 1996, the proportion of Canadians reporting English as their mother tongue was just under 60 percent while those reporting French as their mother tongue was slightly less than 24 percent. The percentage of native English speakers had risen over the previous decade, while that of French speakers had declined. At the same time, about 17 percent of all Canadians could speak both official languages, though this is a regionalized phenomenon. In those provinces with the largest number of native French speakers (Quebec and New Brunswick), 38 percent and 33 percent respectively were bilingual, numbers that had been increasing steadily over the previous twenty years. In contrast, Ontario, which accounts for more than 30 percent of the total population of Canada, had an English-French bilingualism rate of about 12 percent. This is in part a result of the immigration patterns over time, which sees the majority of all immigrants gravitating to Ontario, and in part because all official and commercial services in Ontario are conducted in English, even though French is available by law, if not by practice. English-French bilingualism is less important in the everyday lives of those living outside of Quebec and New Brunswick. First Nations language groups make up a significant, if small, portion of the nonofficial bilingual speakers in Canada, a fact with political and cultural importance as First Nations groups assert greater and more compelling claims on political and cultural sovereignty. The three largest First Nations languages in 1996 were Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibway, though incomplete census data on First Nations peoples continues to plague assessments of the extent and importance of these mother tongues. Immigration and cultures Changing immigration patterns following World War II affected linguistic affiliation. In the period, from 1961 to 1970, for example, only 54 percent of immigrants had a nonofficial language as mother tongue, with more than two-thirds of this group born in Europe. Almost a quarter of them reported Italian, German, or Greek as mother tongue. In contrast, 80 percent of the 1,039,000 immigrants who came to Canada between 1991 and 1996 reported a nonofficial language as mother tongue, with over half from Asia and the Middle East. Chinese was the mother tongue of just under 25 percent, while Arabic, Punjabi, Tagalog, Tamil, and Persian together accounted for about 20 percent. In 1971, the three largest nonofficial mother tongue groups were German, Italian, and Ukrainian, reflecting patterns of non-English and non-French immigration that have remained relatively constant through most of the twentieth century. In the period ending in 1996, this had changed, with the rank order shifting to Chinese, Italian, and German. This is reflected in regional concentrations, with Italians concentrated heavily in Ontario, Germans in both Ontario and the Prairie regions, and Chinese and other Asians most heavily represented in southern Ontario and in British Columbia. A gradual decline in out-migration from Europe, coupled with political changes in China and throughout Asia, leading to increased out-migration from these areas, is changing the ethnic and linguistic makeup of Canada. It should be stressed, however, that these changes are concentrated in two or three key urban centers, while linguistic affiliation elsewhere in the country remains stable. This is likely to change in the early twenty-first century as an aging cohort of European immigrants declines and out-migration from Europe continues to decrease. These shifts will come to have increasingly important cultural effects as immigrants from Asia and, most recently, from certain areas throughout the continent of Africa, come to influence the political and social life of the core urban centers in which they settle. Symbolism. This is an area of considerable dispute in Canada, in large part because of the country’s longstanding history of biculturalism (English and French) and perhaps most importantly because of its proximity to the United States, whose symbolic and rhetorical influence is both unavoidable and openly resisted. Ethnic and cultural diversity in Canada, in which different cultural groups were expected to maintain their distinctiveness rather than subsume it to some larger national culture, which is the historical effect of the English-French biculturalism built into the Canadian confederation, means that national symbols in Canada tend to be either somewhat superficial or regionalized. There are, however, certain symbols that are deployed at both official and unofficial events and functions which are generally shared across the entire country, and can be seen as general cultural symbols, even if their uses may not always be serious. The core values that inform these symbols are cooperation, industriousness, and patience—that is, a kind of national politeness. The Canadian symbolic order is dominated by a concern for order and stability, which marks Canadian identity as something communal rather than individualistic. Canada throughout its history might best be described as a nation of nations. Two European colonial powers dominate the history of Canada and its emergence as a nation: France and Great Britain. In time Britain emerged as the dominant political and cultural force in Canada, but that emergence exemplifies the sense of compromise and cooperation on which Canadian social identity is founded. While Britain, and later English Canada, came to be and remain the most powerful part of the Canadian cultural landscape, this dominance and power exists in a system of joint cultural identity, with French Canada, in Quebec and in other parts of eastern Canada, remaining a singular and distinctive cultural entity in its own right. This complex antagonism, which has been a thread throughout Canada’s emergence as a nation, has also led to a particular kind of nation. Most important, the development of the Canadian nation, however uneven the power of the English and the French, has been characterized by discussion, planning, and compromise. The gradual opening of all of Canada to European control, and its coming together in 1867 as a national entity, was not the result of war or revolution but instead, of negotiation and reconciliation. It was an orderly transition managed almost like a business venture, through which Canada obtained a degree of sovereignty and Great Britain continued to hold Canada’s allegiance as a member of the British Empire. When, in the early 1980s Canada would take the final step towards political independence by adopting its own constitution, it would do so through negotiation as well, and again, the antagonism between English and French Canada, which resulted in the Government of Quebec refusing to sign the constitutional enabling agreement would provide both the drama of the moment, and its fundamental character, one of compromise and collaboration. Leading up to and following the emergence of Canada as an independent political state in 1867, English Canada and English identity dominated the political and cultural landscape. The remaining French presence, in Quebec and throughout the eastern part of the country, while a strong cultural entity in itself, exercised only limited influence and effect at the national level. English symbols, the English language, and the values of loyalty to the English crown prevailed throughout the nation as the core underpinnings of national identity. The dominance of English Canada in terms of national identity, especially in a federal system in which binationalism and biculturalism were enshrined in the founding legislation of the country, exercised a powerful effect on ethnic relations, but that effect was not ethnic homogenization. Instead, the dominance of English Canada served as a major locus of ongoing tension between the two national identities of Canada, a tension which, in he period from the 1960s onward, has come to be expressed in growing French-Canadian nationalism and so far unsuccessful attempts on the part of French Canada to secede from the Canadian confederation. This tension—which is built into the principles of the confederation itself, which recognizes the duality of Canadian national identity— while regularly threatening the unity of the federation, has also had a mollifying effect on ethnic divisions more generally. The main exception to this has been the relationship between the dominant Fren ch-English state and aboriginal peoples. Colonial relations with indigenous ethnic groups worldwide have often been marked by violent conquest. While violence did play a role in these relationships in Canada, more often than not aboriginal peoples simply had their ethnic and cultural identities erased. The use of forced schooling, including the removal of children from their families, for example, sought to annul aboriginal cultural identities Food in Daily Life . The agricultural and ethnic richness of Canada has led to two distinctive characteristics of everyday food consumption. The first is its scale. Canadians are â€Å"big eaters,† with meat portions in particular dominating the Canadian meal. There are generally three regular meals in a given day. Breakfast, often large and important in rural areas, but less so in urban areas, is most often not eaten in a group. Lunch, at midday, is most often a snack in urban areas, but remains a substantial meal in rural centers. Dinner, the final formal meal of the day, is also the meal most likely to be eaten by a residential group as a whole, and it is the largest and the most socially important meal of the day. It is the meal most often used as a social event or to which invitations to nonfamily members are extended, in contrast with lunch which is often, for adults, shared with coworkers. Meat plays a key role in all three of the formal meals, but with increasing importance at breakfast and dinner. Dinner should have some special, and most often, large, meat portion as its key component. Each of these three meals can be, and often are, very substantial. There are general rules concerning appropriate foods for each meal, rules that can be quite complex. For example, pork can figure in each meal, but only particular kinds of pork would be considered appropriate. Pork at breakfast may appear as bacon, or sausage, in small portions. Both of these products are made with the least valuable portion of the pig. At lunch, pork may appear in a sandwich in the form of processed meats, also made from the least valuable portion of the pig. For dinner, pork appears in large and more highly valued forms, such as roasts or hams, which require often elaborate preparation and which are presented to diners in a way that highlights their value and size. The other main feature of Canadian food is diversity. The complex ethnic landscape of Canada and the tendency of ethnic groups to retain a dual cultural orientation have meant that Canadian cuisine is quite diverse in its content, with many ethnic dishes seen as somehow quintessentially Canadian as well. Whether pizza or chow mein, cabbage rolls or plum pudding, Canadian cuisine is best characterized as eclectic rather than consistent in content. There are a small number of food items that are considered distinctively Canadian, such as maple syrup, but overall the Canadian diet is drawn from a panoply of ethnic sources. Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Ceremonial food does not generally differ greatly in content from everyday foods. What distinguishes food in ceremonial settings, such as state dinners, is not the type of food but the amount of food served and the complexity of its presentation and consumption. Ceremonial dinners are often made up of a long list of dishes served in a rigid sequence, eaten with utensils specified for each portion, and presented in often elaborate arrangement either generally, on the table as a whole, or in the particular portions placed on each diner’s plate. The same general consideration applies to meals for more private special occasions, such as those marking important religious holidays such as Christmas. The number of discrete dishes is usually quite large, the preparation of each is often specialized and involved, and portions consumed are more often than not greater than what one would consume under other circumstances. These more private special occasion meals often involve entire extended families sharing in both preparing and eating the meal. There is another special meal worth mentioning, the potluck. Potluck† is derived from the word potlatch, a special occasion of many West Coast First Nations peoples. The potluck involves each guest preparing and bringing a dish to the event, to be shared by all the diners. The key component of this particular kind of meal is food sharing among friends as opposed to food making for family. In general, potluck meals are meals shared by friends or coworkers. They express the symbolic im portance of the meal as a part of the moral geography of social relations among nonkin, but distinguish this meal as an act of food sharing rather than an act of food preparation. That is, the potluck meal expresses a sense of community and kindness, while the family meal expresses a sense of service, duty, and family solidarity. Basic Economy. Canada is a resource rich, but land and people poor, country. While physically vast, there are geographic limitations on where people can live such that most of the population is located around the Great Lakes, and in the Saint Lawrence River Valley. This has meant, however, that the natural resources throughout the country can be exploited more fully. Key to Canada’s basic economy is its role as a resource base, not only for its own manufacturing, but for export as well. Minerals and ore, forestry products, and in particular in the twentieth century, oil and gas, have been the foundation of the Canadian economy since European conquest of the area. Farming is also key to the Canadian economy, although most of Canada’s agricultural production The single largest area of economic growth in Canada since the 1970s has been in the â€Å"service† sector, the part of the economy which provides services rather than goods for sale. r Trade. Canada exports around the world, but its most important export and import trading partner is the United States. The manufacturing and export of large equipment, and in particular farm equipment, is the second largest component of Canadian manufacturing and trade. At the same time, Canada remains a major resource exporter. In particular, Canada exports raw materials such as petro-chemi cals and oil, minerals and ores, and forestry products. Division of Labor. Labor in Canada is unevenly divided between skilled professional, skilled manufacturing, and general unskilled such as service workers. With increased manufacturing efficiency, the skilled manufacturing labor force has declined in size, though not in economic impact, while the general unskilled labor force has increased; at the same time skilled professionals—whether doctors, computer programmers, and other new economy professionals—has also increased. Access to different jobs is determined in part by education and training and in part by social networks.

Introducing Your All-In-One Marketing Calendar [New Features] - CoSchedule Blog

Introducing Your All-In-One Marketing Calendar [New Features] Blog As a marketer, you want to be able to plan all  of your content in one  place, manage your workflow for a project with one  tool, and create content the way youre used to without messing with copy and paste (because dealing with formatting issues sucks). We listened  to your feedback to  build the editorial calendar you  needed. What you wanted: A  fluid workflow Managing and planning content  outside of WordPress Integration with more  tools like Google Docs We delivered. Now in : Manage all of your #marketing. All of it.  (New Features)Introducing  The All-In-One Marketing Calendar was, and will always be, your blog and social media editorial calendar, and  now its your  marketing calendar of record. Working on an  email marketing campaign or e-newsletter? Planning images for Pinterest or Instagram? Have a podcast or video blog? To do all of this, you need a few awesome features: Feature 1: A beautiful editing experience. A whole new experience with editing content. Its easy and intuitive. Easily add, drag, and drop content  like video, images, and other files  anywhere in  your text. Distraction-free writing mode? Dont worry, its coming soon! Maybe your team is working on an e-book, podcast, or video.  Now youll work on these projects in using the workflow youve already built in your calendar. This brand new editor is available for every user. Starting now. Feature 2:  Export your content to use it anywhere. Download as HTML Download as PDF Want it as a Word doc? Thats coming your way soon. Lets say you create a killer guest post.  Now you can send a link to your blog editor, and they can simply download your post  to HTML or PDF. Starting today, this is available for every user! Feature 3: Make magic with  Google Docs. Yes, you heard that right! Were connecting  s workflow with Google Docs. Create your content in Google Docs and  connect  it to , and go back to editing in just one click. Use your  Google Docs and connect your  workflow. Keep  your writers happy. Writers love working Google Docs, and you love working in . Now you both get what you need to create awesome content together! Say youre working on an e-book. Your writers will create the content in Google Docs and connect  it directly to . Your team will be able to upload images and graphics, and communicate through  . When your  editor needs to add in the graphics or your writer needs to write more, they can continue working in Google Docs with one easy click. All of you Marketing and Enterprise plan folks now have access to Google Docs with ! Oh, wait! Theres more!  Use your  social queue  to promote all of your content, not just blog posts. You still have comments to communicate with your team. You still have tasks to hit every deadline. And youll save a ton of time while planning awesome content. Enjoy. :)

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Although the term is sometimes used loosely to refer to any factory farm, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) is a designation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency meaning any operation in which animals are fed in confined spaces, but specifically those which store a large number of animals and produce a large amount of water and manure waste as well as contributing pollutants to the surrounding environment. The disambiguation of the term CAFO from AFO can be a bit confusing, but the main focus of the distinction lies in the size and impact of the operation, with CAFO being worse all around - which is why it is often associated with all factory farms, even if they dont meet EPA standards to qualify as a CAFO. The Legal Definition According to the EPA, an Animal Feeding Operation (AFO) is an operation in which animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland. CAFOs are AFOs that fall under one of the EPAs definitions of Large, Medium or Small CAFOs, depending on the number of animals involved, how wastewater and manure are managed, and whether the operation is a significant contributor of pollutants. Although nationally accepted as a federal mandate, state governments can choose whether or not to enforce punishments and restrictions the EPA sets on these facilities. However, a repeated lack of compliance  with EPA regulations or repeat excessive pollution from factory farms could result in a federal case against the company in question. The Problem with CAFO Animal rights activists and environmentalists alike argue against the continued use of factory farms, especially those that qualify under the EPA as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. These farms produce an inordinate amount of pollution and animal waste as well as consuming large amounts of crops, manpower, and energy to maintain.   Furthermore, the harsh conditions animals kept in these CAFO are often seen as violating the basic rights U.S. citizens believe animals are entitled to - although the Animal Welfare Act  excludes farms from classification and investigation from their agencies.   Another issue with commercial animal farming is that the population of cattle, chickens, and pigs cannot be maintained at the current rate of global consumption. Either the food used to nourish cows to edible health will disappear or the cattle themselves will be overeaten and eventually go the way of the Wooly Mammoth - extinct.

Living on a farm to living in the city Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Living on a farm to living in the city - Essay Example Most people think that living on a farm in the countryside costs a lot lesser than the city life. A blogger from Des Moines, Iowa in fact calculated his family’s annual cost of living and compared it to those who live in Boston, Massachusetts. His computation showed that a difference of almost forty percent makes such huge difference for people who are thinking on which side of the country they wish to live in (Trent, 2007). In addition, the cost of a small apartment in the city may already allow one to buy a house with a huge yard in the countryside. Optimizing the space that is readily available in the countryside allows people to save a lot more money at the same time. Either the back or the front yard can be used to grow one’s own vegetables and fruit trees as well. As a result, there is no need for them to buy some of the produce in the market, thus, allowing them to save a few dollars every month. Not only they are able to spare some money out of cultivating their own food, but they are also able to serve fresh and healthy food for the family. On the other hand, as country living offers a cheaper place to live in, it may not provide as many choices to its residents when it comes to entertainment. The city, along with the diverse individuals who have their own ways of keeping up with the busy city life, offers diverse choices in making these people entertained. Small and big events such as gigs and concerts happen almost on a nightly basis. Movie theaters that present classical and modern films are found in almost every corner of the city street. Pubs and restaurants that serve all kinds of beer and liquor from all over the world and serve a variety of good food also showcase local and national artists. They are found close to each other that one can go from any of them to another in just a few steps away. Furthermore, one can simply be entertained for free even when

Please analyze the following quotations the larger context of the Essay

Please analyze the following quotations the larger context of the novel Bless me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Your answer should b - Essay Example He concluded that the mind should not be dominated by beliefs of a single religion and should not remain blind to the realities of the world. Instead he was inspired by Ultima to integrate the forces of nature with the faith of Catholicism to formulate his own opinions of the world around him. â€Å"The tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides in the human heart.† This actually symbolizes Antonio’s spiritual development that he should not only rely on an external omnipotent being but also look for happiness and inspiration inside his heart. And this is what Ultima guided him about. â€Å"Always have the strength to live. Love life, and if despair enters your heart, look for me in the evenings when the wind is gentle and the owls sing in the hills. I shall be with you† (Anaya) Works Cited Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Grand Central Publishing, 1994. Print.