Ordinary Life Paragraph free essay sample

Sometimes in life it is easy to take the small things for granted. The poem, ordinary life by Barbara cooker is subject to irony, starting from the first line to the last. The behavior of the children, the activities of the speaker, and the seasonal characteristics of the day, all prove to be more than ordinary: they are Like an unexpected gift for the speaker and her family. Ordinarily the children are reluctant to leave for school, but on this day they go without a murmur and remember to take their books, lunches, and gloves.At dinner, the usual bickering and poking ceases long enough for the parents to enjoy actual conversation which Is obviously rare. In addition to the childrens behavior, the mothers routine Is slightly different than usual. For Instance, the speaker does not have time to complete Jobs that never get done. However, on this day she Is able to clean. We will write a custom essay sample on Ordinary Life Paragraph or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page .. The kitchen cupboards Instead of the usual messes. Her usual kitchen routine also Includes preparing food, but today is different in that she has cut the vegetables without paring [her] thumbLastly, the scene outside the speakers home also reflects a difference from the ordinary. In the dead of win « the speaker is surprised to see pheasants, and other birds at the feeder. The sky has unwrapped a crescent moon which is a sliver of white on this day of grace. Despite the speakers opinion that this has been an ordinary day, we see that it has been anything but typical. Small pleasures can be overshadowed by routine, but are remarkable in their own way. The poem demonstrates that this particular day is anything but ordinary.

Disguise essays

Disguise essays Many characters in the Odyssey use the concept of disguise. The characters use the idea of disguise to help themselves and other characters. There are many examples of the theme of disguise in the Odyssey. Odysseus and his men disguise themselves in the body of the Trojan horse. They do this at the Trojan War to help win the war. ... I sacked the city, killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder, that rich haul we dragged away from the place we shared it round (28). Odysseus and his men disguise themselves as rams to escape the Cyclops. After the Cyclops was blinded the men and Odysseus needed a way to escape. [...] clutching him by the back, tucked up under his shaggy belly, there I hung face upward, both hands locked in his marvelous deep fleece, clinging for dear life, my spirit steeled, enduring... (224). Cyclopss one eye was blinded, by Odysseus; he could not tell that Odysseus and his men were holding on to the rams wool to escape the torturous cave of the Cyclops. Odysseus spends the last part of the poem as a beggar. He does this for two reasons. First he disguises himself to defeat the prisoners and to prove the loyalty of his wife Penelope. He uses a lie to get into the Palace. Look at the clothing on my back-all rags and tatters. Im afraid that the frost at down could do me in (355). When he returns to Ithaca, Odysseus overthrows the suitors and takes his rightful place as King of Ithaca. Athena is another character that uses the concept of disguise during the poem. She appears as a Mentor to aid Telemachas (83). Athena is there to tell Telemachas that his father is not dead. He lives and the gods will not grant him passage home. She goes to comfort Penelope is a disguise (381). The theme of disguise was important to The Odyssey. Most of the important characters used a disguise in one way shape or form. This helped them h ...

Mattel Inc. Addressing the Component of Cultural Identity Among Essay

Mattel Inc. Addressing the Component of Cultural Identity Among Consumers - Essay Example Barbie the first venture of Mattel into the field of dolls was launched in 1959. Barbie was designed keeping in mind that young girls like giving the role of adults to their dolls. Mattel has been very successful in many European countries and the United States, due to its strategy of incorporating the cultural specification of these countries into its products. Its strategy of bringing variation in their products according to the philosophy, and biological traits of their consumers has made them the brand they are today (Mattel, 2011). Barbie is a brand that acknowledges the importance of cultural identity in the toy market. Biological traits for cultural acceptability have incorporated very carefully. Barbie, Mattel’s biggest and most recognized brand is very detailed in its design. The original Barbie was created to target young American girls, who wanted to grow up to be independent, beautiful women. Many parents initially had objections against playing with Barbie as many thought her physical attributes gave young girls a wrong idea about beauty. The fear was that girls might take thinness as the indicator of beauty. Consumers were worried about the wrong idea Barbie might give their children regarding the definition of beauty in their culture. Consumers who had African, Asian and other ethnic origins were also not very pleased with the physical attributes Barbie was given. Mattel counteracted these notions by coming up with Barbies that represented the culture and traditions of these specific countries. Thus, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, and African Barbies were created. These Barbies have different skin tones than the original Barbie; they are several shades darker than the original shade. The Japanese Barbie has a yellow skin color similar to the oriental skin tone. Many might point out the fact that the features of these dolls have not been changed. Only the skin tone and the clothes have been altered. By diversification of their products, Mattel accessed growing markets. (Grassel, 2011) Barbie now represents a mass- spectrum of culture to gain acceptability into the Latin American, Afro American, and Asian cultures. Barbie’s imaginary friend-circle has been very carefully designed. It is designed in such a way that young girls from all different cultures will feel included in the world of Barbie. Kayla was introduced in 1990. Her ethnic vagueness was done intentionally. She represents the Latina-young friend of Barbie. Kayla can make any young Latin American girl relate herself to Kayla’s style. The Barbie line for girls near their teens also has characters that show the importance of Hispanic and African culture in Mattel’s market segmentation. Including these characters in their doll collection gives Mattel access to consumers who hail from these cultures (Barbie, 1991). ‘Independent women are next-generation women’ is the philosophy Mattel reinforces with its product, Barbie. Girls from a very young age value their independence and dreams. The clothes and accessories donned by Barbie make the statement of her independence. She is a doctor, a nurse, an astronaut, and anything and everything she wants to be professionally. The commercials of Barbie also emphasize the abilities of women. ‘Women can be whatever they want to be’ is what Barbie wants to encourage in young girls.

American Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

American Government - Essay Example The so called representatives of the peoples that are chosen only serve to represent themselves and their interests. Their aims are to make themselves popular in the world over and to create fear among nations (Roger, 2004). The people have no power to make decisions of national governance as it would be in true democracy. The system ensures important decisions to be made by few people who create inefficiency in the whole process of decision making and execution. There concentration of power on top level has seen stagnation of economy among other bad decisions that have continued to plague the tax payer. This form of the government represents their wealthy clients at best often ignoring the have-nots who are the people who have elected it. Therefore the party in power is not the problem facing American but the social contract structure whereby decision making process is left for the wealthy few instead of being distributed to the people. The only solution would be to redesign the Ame rican government and that would be through constitutional amendment to restore the power to run the country back to the people to ensure the system get efficient since the elected representatives will become directly responsible to their actions and answerable to the people. Furthermore, decision making will be decentralized. Social contract comprises the philosophical therories describing agreements between the ruled and the rulers among the members of an organized society and the philosophies defined the duties of each party, limitations, and rights (Stuart, 2007). A contract in normal cases comes with specific obligations and therefore in political scenario a contract between the citizens and the sovereign power grounds the nature of obligation on each party. Under the social contract the legitimate authority is drawn from the consent of the people. Members of the society are bound by the social contract to respect the ruling government

Analyse how students at the University of Gloucestershire can take Essay

Analyse how students at the University of Gloucestershire can take full advantage of the opportunities offered to develop their employability skills - Essay Example gathered that expectation of employers has shifted from academic result and degree to employability skills such as teamwork, leadership, positive attitude and motivation and relative work experience (Snowden, 2011; Mason, Williams and Cranmer, 2006). The UK job industry is evolving rapidly and drastic change has been observed in demand of skilled workforce in past few years. However, it was observed in surveys that UK universities are making very weak contribution in this regard. It was gathered that 50percent and above surveyed graduates alleged that their universities did not take sufficient measures to develop their employability skills (Weinstein, 2014). The UK universities make yearly contribution of  £59 billion towards the economy and are essentially responsible for generating high skilled workforce, imparting non-academic skills such as innovation and training and raising standard of education (Snowden, 2011). The paper assesses and critically examines the opportunities that are being presented to graduates by University of Gloucestershire for developing their employability skills and recommendations have been provided accordingly. Employability skills are referred to set of attributes that helps individuals to respond accurately to the changing environment of workplace and to make positive contribution towards organisational success and personal growth and development. Employability skills deliver benefits to employers as well as employees and include skills such as self-management, accountability, time management, team working, consumer awareness and awareness of business environment, problem solving, positive attitude, entrepreneurship, communication skill and analytical skill (CBI, 2009; Mason, Williams and Cranmer, 2006). Employers make heavy investment in developing skills among new recruits by means of training and development post joining. However, the level of basic expectations has increased over the years. Presently, they want individuals to

Weak Gravitational Lensing

Weak Gravitational Lensing Introduction Gravitational lensing is a very resourceful phenomenon that widely used in astronomy measurement. It contains many aspects of which the strong, weak, and microlensing are well established by observable evidence. The weak gravitational lensing is an active area. Weak gravitational lensing that we can observe is usually caused by large-scale cosmic bodies such as clusters and voids. Generally, gravitational lensing has the advantage of directly measuring or comparing the mass of the object. This is an advantage comparing with the conventional method such as dynamical methods and the diffuse X-ray emission. Those methods require strong assumptions of either dynamical state or composition (Bartelmann Schneider 2001). Thus, weak gravitational lensing has the prospect of leading us to understand more about the voids and clusters that other regular measurement could not achieve, which can further lead to verifying the existence and possible composition of dark matter. Method (How to measure calculate) Gravitational Lensing Effect Gravitational lensing is the phenomenon that the light bundles bent when traveling by massive cosmic bodies due to the effect of gravitational force. In astrophysics photos, strong gravitational lensing would result in prominent arc or arclets (smaller arcs). However, weak gravitational lensing is relatively less noticeable since that the phenomenon only slightly distort the background galaxies. This distortion can be divided into two: convergence and shear. The convergence would result in magnification of the background while the shear would change the ellipticity of the background galaxies we observe. We show a simplistic example for weak gravitational lensing as Fig.1 shows. One thing to mention is that we used thin lens approximation for the example. This means that we assume the lensing effect take place in a surface, which is usually a good approximation because the distance from the background to the foreground lens and from foreground lens to observer are much long comparing the size of a cluster or void. Considering a deflection caused by a point mass M. When a bundle of light pass through the weak gravitational field near it. The deflection angle predicted by general relativity is twice the amount of Newtonian prediction where impact factor (Schwarzschild radius), since the gravitational field is relatively small. Now considering that in Fig.1,, which is valid for most weak gravitational lensing application, it can be proven that Fig.1 An illustration of a typical gravitational lensing with S the source, O the observer and L the massive object The above can be defined as scaled deflection angle, which can also be represented by surface density where the denotes convergence and can be represented by surface mass density and critical surface density : with where the distance is angular diameter distance. The critical surface density depends on the redshift of source and lens (Bartelmann Schneider 2001), the convergence () represents the strength of the lensing. Generally, represents weak lensing. Eq. (3) indicates that the deflection angle can also be written as the gradient of the deflection potential As, it can be prove that The gravitational lensing doesnt change the frequency of the photons, the deflection angles are all the same for any frequency (i.e. no dispersion). Considering that no photon has been emitted or absorbed and omit the change of gravitational potential over time, Liouvilles theorem Since the lens map can be linearized in weak gravitational field, the distortion of images is then described by the Jacobian matrix where we need to introduced the shear components Magnification factor in respect to fluxes can be represented by In case of application, the reduced gravitational shear is more commonly used (Bartelmann Schneider 2001) Weak Lensing by Voids In Fig.1, if we assume L is the centre of a void, instead, then the figure can illustrate the example for weak lensing in a void. Note that weak lensing caused by clusters act like a convex lens, where it converge the light coming through, while those caused by voids are like concave lens, where the light is diverged. Though technically, they do not work the same as classical lensing since they do not have foci. This is because that the voids are and underdense and it is actually the mass outside the void that bend the light. Considering the fact that voids are also relatively large, the change of gravity potential along radius would not be as fast as in massive clusters. The weak lensing caused by voids are quite hard to detect (Amendola et al. 1999). Another essential thing is to have a general model for voids. Due to the mass distribution of void, we shall assume it is a uniform spherical underdensity surrounded by overdense shell. While this is mere an ideal assumption, this model can still capture the main features for the voids (Amendola et al. 1999). Implications Clowe (2006) has put a convincing result with the help of weak gravitational lensing to indicate the existence of dark matter. During the collision of two clusters, they compare the mass of the plasma and of the whole clusters. The plasma was the dominant baryonic component. However, when they compared plasma distribution in X-ray and the cluster gravitational potential by weak lensing, the ratio of plasma/whole cluster fitted better in the cluster model with the dark matter. More recent research have shown thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ As we have mentioned that void is harder to detect due to its size and underdensity. In practice, the size measurement of an individual void in galaxy redshift surveys will be very noisy due to sparse sampling in the underdense region. That is one of the reasons why we need to get the void stacked to determine the weak lensing. Theoretical calculations by Krause et al. (2012) and numerical simulations by Higuchi, Oguri Hamana (2013) suggest that stacking many voids will increase the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the lensing observables, which may result in the detection of the effect with high significance, the lensing signals measured by stacking large numbers of voids with similar sizes will also constrain the radial profile of voids. It is worthwhile to mention that the stacked method was first used in detection of weak lensing caused by clusters. However, with the improvement of astronomical imaging, the weak lensing for an individual cluster is much easier to detect. Melchior et al. (2014) used the method to stack 901 voids detected in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SSDS) DR7. They combined the voids with the coordinate, where is the radius of individual void. Their research indicates that voids are generally self-similar and that large voids may does not fit compensated void model as smaller voids do. This means that the density around large void, even for a sufficient large radius beyond, may still be lower than the average density. Clampitt Jain (2015) further extend the stacking method. They used a special method to identify the voids and then filter to remain the ones with good quality. They estimated S/N to be 7, which is a relatively high rate for void lensing. They gave a model-independent statement of void properties. Limitations One intrinsic problem for weak lensing is ellipticity noise. It denotes the fact that each background galaxy has its own ellipticity and orientation. The ellipticity noise is often of the same level of the distortion or even larger (Bartelmann Schneider 2001). Another key limitation of the gravitational lensing methodology could be that it only produces a two-dimensional map of k and hence raises the possibility that structures seen in the map are caused by physically unrelated masses along the line of sight (Clowe et al. 2006). Reference Amendola, L., Frieman, J. A., Waga, I. (1999). Weak gravitational lensing by voids. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 309(2), 465-473. Bartelmann, M., Schneider, P. (2001). Weak gravitational lensing. Physics Reports, 340(4), 291-472. Clampitt, J., Jain, B. (2015). Lensing measurements of the mass distribution in SDSS voids. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 454(4), 3357-3365. Clowe, D., BradaÄ , M., Gonzalez, A. H., Markevitch, M., Randall, S. W., Jones, C., Zaritsky, D. (2006). A direct empirical proof of the existence of dark matter. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 648(2), L109. Higuchi, Y., Oguri, M., Hamana, T. (2013). Measuring the mass distribution of voids with stacked weak lensing. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 432(2), 1021-1031. Kaiser, N., Squires, G. (1993). Mapping the dark matter with weak gravitational lensing. The Astrophysical Journal, 404, 441-450. Krause, E., Chang, T. C., Dorà ©, O., Umetsu, K. (2012). The weight of emptiness: the gravitational lensing signal of stacked voids. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 762(2), L20. Melchior, P., Sutter, P. M., Sheldon, E. S., Krause, E., Wandelt, B. D. (2014). First measurement of gravitational lensing by cosmic voids in SDSS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 440(4), 2922-2927.      

Importance of Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet Essay example -- Shake

Friar Laurence plays an important part in the narrative development of Romeo and Juliet. He is naà ¯ve and detached from society so doesn’t fully appreciate the bitterness of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. The well intentioned advice that he gives to Romeo and Juliet is thus misguided and this develops a sense of foreboding. The advice that Friar Laurence gives sets the young lovers on a path which the audience senses will end in tragedy. With regard to his character, Friar Laurence is a contemplative and moral man yet he lacks real insight in human nature i.e. their passions and motivations. When we first meet Friar Laurence, he compares plants to human nature concluding that â€Å"Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied And vice sometime by action dignified† From our first meeting with Friar Laurence the audience sees how naive he is to believe so simply in the goodness of man. It is partly this characteristic that causes his schemes to end tragically. Friar Laurence is a man of self control who believes that â€Å"violent delights have violent ends.† In other words, people should be measured and not let passion overrule their good judgement. This is almost a premonition of what happens later on in the play when Romeo and Juliet’s short but passionate love ends in death. Shakespeare portrays the Friar as a prudent and modest man of God. Friar Laurence is trustworthy; we know this because both Juliet and Romeo trust him enough to confide their love for one another to him. They also seek his advice to find a way to be together. This trust is also based on Friar Laurence’s reputation as a highly respected member of Verona’s society, â€Å"the whole city is much bound to him.† Romeo refers to Friar Laurence as hi... ...eveal their innermost feelings to the audience. Shakespeare uses Friar Laurence as a device to achieve this. Friar Laurence also acts as the messenger in the play. In Shakespearean times, Romeo and Juliet would have been performed in theatres like The Globe. There would be a lot of noise and distraction for the audience and it was likely that they would miss out on important parts of the play. The actor playing Friar Laurence up dates the audience regularly. An example of this is when he gives the audience a synopsis of the story right at the end of the play â€Å"Is not so long as is a tedious tale. . .† This is helpful for the audience because it allows them to catch up with important parts that they might have missed. As the audience sees Friar Laurence’s plans fail one by one, a sense of foreboding develops which prepares the audience for the unfolding tragedy

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It feels like such a long time since I last saw you. I know I've only been away for only a few weeks, but so far my vacation here at Greece has been great! I'm currently staying at the Academy.I found a friend who shares the same passion with me in philosophy and he asked me to come with him to this place to meet other people. I'm very glad to stay here, I've learned a lot from various people.Anyways, yesterday I was walking along Agora or the city market and found some really great stuffs to buy and take home. In this place I found many people who are trading and talking about gossip (for women) and politics (for men). After hours of walking, I was able to get to the Hephaisteion.   I stayed for a while and witness the beauty of the temple.At noon, the heat at Athens   is topnotch so I stayed at the Stoa for cover. There are two kinds of Stoa, the one I stayed at was the Painted Stoa. It is a long covered hall that is open in one side and is decorated with many beautiful paintin gs.I spent almost an hour there and spent the whole time talking to people who get to engage in a conversation with me. It's really funny though for they will just come up to me and ask me something all of a sudden.I was so dumbstruck. At the right of Agora are the sacred places that can be found in the city like the Theatre of Dionysos, the Askelpieion, and most of all the Acropolis.After a while of wandering around, my attention got caught by a group of man loudly arguing among one another. I happened to ask someone about what's going on and he told me that the male citizen are debating about big decisions that affect the city.This place that I got into was called the Pnyx, the home of the assembly of people. However, I want to go to some quiet place instead and got interested in following young children each carrying small vases. I noticed I was back at the entrance of the city which was the Karameikos for I used the potteries as a landmark.By the end of the day, I decided to spe nd my time at the cemetery and stayed there till sunset. The cemetery was great for it really depicts the culture of the Athenians with their pottery and carvings.But what interests me most is the people's daily activities on the city. By what I've observed, they're almost routinary. Different kinds of people have specific type of jobs to finish each day. Even before the day starts people can be seen from all over the place.I came to ask a man why he was up so early and he said he had a trial and he have to prepare. Women get water from the fountains and traders are up for early trading. By mid-morning, servants are already working on their respective jobs. And by noon, the Agora and almost every plac ein Athens is so busy with people talking, doing business and many more.By mid afternoon, the place starts to quiet down and shops are preparing to close, this is my favorite part of the day in Athens for it is very peaceful and relaxing. And at last by midnight, servants start to rela x and even play games with their friends.I somehow got used to the busy and loud environment here at Greece. Though I'm not quite used to talking about politics all the time, or even some serious or religious topics like religion and life. Athens is a very economic centered city and almost all people has something to trade and has something to offer as livelihood. All over Greece, the people grew olives, grapes, and figs. They kept goats, for milk and cheese. In the plains, where the soil was more rich, they also grew wheat to make bread. Making it smell like a combination of vegetables and farm animals at the same time.I really liked it here so far. I wanted to explore the city more but I guess need to have more time. Nevertheless, today I was invited to go to a friend's house and spend the night there. I'm gonna have to take a look at a Greek house and be amazed once again.I'll write to you again very soon. Take care always. See you!

how can we explain the persistance of class structures in Britain essays

how can we explain the persistance of class structures in Britain essays HOW CAN WE EXPLAIN THE PERSISTANCE OF CLASS INEQUALITIES IN BRITAIN? Traditionally Britain has always been recognized as a class society, characterised by widespread awareness of social class membership, class inequality and the influence of class inequalities in employment prospects. However it has been argued that with growing affluence, levels of education, social mobility and post - industrial economic development, class identities are losing their salience. (4) Saying this there is still substantial amounts of evidence to suggest that class inequalities are still very much inherent in British society especially with regards to social mobility. One of the first factors in explaining class inequalities in Britain would have to be the differences in wealth and income. Carl Marxs theory on income and wealth in western societies can be used to help explain this. Marx believed that maturing of capitalism would bring about an increasing gap between the wealth of the minority and the poverty of the mass of the population. According the Marx the wages of the working class would never rise far above survival level, while wealth would pile up in the hands of those owning capital. Marx also believed that those in the low levels of society would suffer, accumulation of misery, agony o labour, slavery, ignorance, brutality, moral degradation.... (Marx 1970. p 645). From this quote we can see that to a certain extent Marx was right, especially about the persistence of class inequalities in industrialized societies such as the UK and in anticipating that great inequalities of wealth and income would continue. He was wrong however to assume that the income of most of the population would remain low. Most people in Britain today are much better off materially than comparable groups in Marxs day. To examine how far, and why, this is the case we have to look at changes in the distribution of ...

Conversation Analysis Definition and Examples

Conversation Analysis Definition and Examples In sociolinguistics, conversation analysis is the study of the talk produced in ordinary human interactions. Sociologist Harvey Sacks (1935-1975) is generally credited with founding the discipline. Also called talk-in-interaction  and  ethnomethodology. At its core, says Jack Sidnell, conversation analysis is a set of methods for working with audio and video recordings of talk and social interaction (Conversation Analysis: An Introduction, 2010). See Examples and Observations below. Also, see: Talking Together: Key Concepts in Conversation AnalysisAdjacency PairAsymmetry (Communication)Broken-Record ResponseConstructed DialogueConversationConversational GroundingConversational Implicature and ExplicatureConversationalizationCooperative OverlapCooperative PrincipleDialogueDirect SpeechDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse DomainDiscourse MarkerEcho UtteranceEditing TermIndexicalityInterlocutorMinor SentenceNonverbal CommunicationPausePhatic Communication and Solidarity TalkPoliteness StrategiesProfessional CommunicationPunctuation EffectRelevance TheoryRepairShort AnswerSpeech ActStyle-ShiftingTurn-Taking Examples and Observations [C]onversation analysis (CA) [is] an approach within the social sciences that aims to describe, analyze and understand talk as a basic and constitutive feature of human social life. CA is a well-developed tradition with a distinctive set of methods and analytic procedures as well as a large body of established findings. . . .At its core, conversation analysis is a set of methods for working with audio and video recordings of talk and social interaction. These methods were worked out in some of the earliest conversation-analytic studies and have remained remarkably consistent over the last 40 years. Their continued use has resulted in a large body of strongly interlocking and mutually supportive findings . . ..(Jack Sidnell, Conversation Analysis: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010The Aim of Conversation AnalysisCA is the study of recorded, naturally occurring talk-in-interaction. But what is the aim of studying these interactions? Principally, it is to discover how participants u nderstand and respond to one another in their turns at talk, with a central focus on how sequences of action are generated. To put it another way, the objective of CA is to uncover the often tacit reasoning procedures and sociolinguistic competencies underlying the production and interpretation of talk in organized sequences of interaction.(Ian Hutchby and Robin Wooffitt, Conversation Analysis. Polity, 2008 Adjacency PairsOne very common structure that has been identified [through conversation analysis] is the adjacency pair. This is an ordered pair of adjacent utterances spoken by two different speakers. Once the first utterance is spoken, the second is required. A few of the many adjacency pairs that have been identified are shown.SummonsanswerCan I get some help here?On my way.Offer - refusalSales clerk: May I help you find something?Customer: No thank you, Im just looking.Compliment  - acceptanceYour hair looks very lovely today.Thank you. I just had it cut.​(William OGrady, et al. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. Bedford, 2001Response to Criticisms of Conversational AnalysisMany people who take a look at CA from the outside are amazed by a number of superficial features of CAs practice. It seems to them that CA refuses to use available theories of human conduct to ground or organize its arguments, or even to construct a theory of its own. Furthermore, it seems unwilling to explain the phenomena it studies by invoking obvious factors like basic properties of the participants or the institutional context of the interaction. And finally, it seems to be obsessed with the details of its materials. These impressions are not too far off the mark, but the issue is why CA refuses to use or construct theories, why it refuses interaction-external explanations, and why it is obsessed with details. The short answer is that these refusals and this obsession are necessary in order to get a clear picture of CAs core phenomenon, the in situ organization of conduct, and especially talk-in-interaction. So CA is not a-theoretical but it has a different conception of how to theorize about social life.(Paul ten Have, Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide, 2nd ed. SAGE, 2007)

Orphanage, comment on Orphange by Wendy Wilder Larsen and I met You in Essay

Orphanage, comment on Orphange by Wendy Wilder Larsen and I met You in the Orphanage yard by Thich Nhat Hanh - Essay Example The word orphanage is an ugly one. It has Dickensian overtones of cruelty to children who are already dealt the dreadful catastrophe of losing their parents. These days, there are few or no orphanages in the Western world: the economies of prosperous countries are such that their birth rates are dropping, with the result that any unparented children quickly find a home. The aftermath of war, anywhere, however, brings about a raft of children whose fate is to survive (Williams 2003) and to find themselves at the mercy of host countries after being herded into orphanages in the theatre of conflict itself. Because conflicts kill, and kill mostly adults. Global diasporas caused by wars carry many streams of people (Williams 2003) many of whom are children. The two poems in the spotlight show a surface similarity - they are both about children left parentless by war, but, since they are written by a woman and a man with a polarity of cultures, many differences - subtle and overt - are to be found. Larsen’s poem illustrates the well-meaning but wildly inconsiderate actions that take place after any catastrophe: how (generally) white Western people offer charity without thinking of the consequences, either immediate or long-term. ‘I went with balloons, hard candies, / old National Geographics’(Mahony 1998): it is bewildering to anyone who has worked with the homeless and parentless to see the perceptions of those who have never experienced a moment of having absolutely nothing, not even a Mom. Good intentions often blow up in the face of the giver, and that is what happens in Larsen’s poem: the narrator brings gifts to an orphanage, only to find herself face to face with her own misapprehensions and lack of sensitivity. This can be taken as an analogy for countries who intervene into conflicts among communities of whose culture they have little or no idea, and of

Discourse and Representation (Critically assess the relevance of Essay

Discourse and Representation (Critically assess the relevance of Marxist theory to the study of Media Texts) - Essay Example No doubt, they are based on his concept; but the way they have spread their tentacles far and wide today, Marx himself would have found it difficult to recognise them and the relationship between the media and Marxism is one such field. Liberal pluralism and freedom of speech come distractingly closer to Marxist theorists in this field. "Marxist theorists tend to emphasize the role of the mass media in the reproduction of the status quo, in contrast to liberal pluralists who emphasize the role of the media in promoting freedom of speech," http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism01.html (Daniel Chandler). To Marxists, capitalistic society is one that is dominated by the dominant class and media is a part of such a society. It also represents a pluralist view and diverse values from various classes in the society. Graham Murdock spoke about 'political economy' and according to such thinkers, economic foundation is much more important than the ideology. These ideologies are mainly dealing with the construction of ownership and control at different stages of media production. "The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. ... Marxist theory applies the same owner-worker yardstick to every eventuality without fail. Worldviews and ideas are coming from the ruling class and naturally, according to Marxist theorists, most of them are biased, as the ruling class is in charge of presenting those ideas in their own way. It does not allow workers to send the clearer ideas and this makes the Media a region for class struggle. Existing power relations are usually maintained and promoted by media for decades now. Developing alternative theories in the place of what is always taken for granted is a comparatively recent approach opening new ideas for Marxist theorists. 'From each according to his ability and to each according to his needs' is the main rule of Marxism. Information stretched and spread for common consumption shows a comparative consistency. When the unprecedented 9/11 attacks took place, mass media and Marxist theories worked with great bonhomie. Theorists could see Marxism in the attacks on capitalism. Even though Marxism never facilitated plural voices, and the media is awfully restricted in Marxist rules, Marxist theorists applied various theories to the media presentation of the incident on the aftermath of the attacks. Theories and media texts revolutionalised the entire social structures of the world after this event. "A social formation consists of three practices: the economic, the political and the ideological. The relationship between the base and the superstructure is not one of expression, i.e., the superstructure being an expression or passive reflection of the base," Storey, (p.110). Academy Award Winner, Michael Moor's film, Fahrenheit 911 has been one of the most controversial movies in recent years, based on the disastrous