francis of assisi Essay -- essays research papers

Francis of Assisi was a poor man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a mite of self-importance. Francis was famous for his love of all creation. He called for simplicity of life, poverty, and humility before God. He worked to care for the poor. Thousands were drawn to his sincerity, piety, and joy. In all his actions, Francis sought to follow fully and literally the way of life demonstrated by Christ in the Gospels. My report is going to discuss the life and contributions of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis of Assisi lived about eight hundred years ago. He was born in the city of Assisi, Italy, in 1182. He was the son of Peter Bernardone (A wealthy merchant) and Madonna Pica. His father sold spices and fabrics and was often out of town on business. While Peter Bernardone was traveling in Provence on business, Madonna Pica gave birth to his son. Far from being excited or apologetic because he'd been gone, Pietro was furious because she'd had his new son baptized Giovanni after John the Baptist. The last thing Pietro wanted in his son was a man of God -- he wanted a man of business, a cloth merchant like he was, and he especially wanted a son Francesco -- which is the equivalent of calling him Frenchman. Francis spent a happy childhood under the watchful eye of Madonna Pica and the attention heaped on him by his father, who was certain that Francis would follow him in the merchant business. His strict education and healthy moral upbringing gave everything he did a sense of balance . Francis enjoyed a very rich easy life growing up because of his father's wealth and the permissiveness of the times. From the beginning everyone loved Francis. He was constantly happy, charming, and a born leader. If he was picky, people excused him. If he was ill, people took care of him. If he was so much of a dreamer he did poorly in school, no one minded. In many ways he was too easy to like for his own good. No one tried to control him or teach him. As he grew up, Francis became the leader of a crowd of young people who spent their nights in wild parties. Francis himself said, "I lived in sin" during that time. Francis fulfilled every hope of Pietro's, and despite his dreaming, Francis was also good at busin... ...tous. Perceiving that he had come to the end of his days, he asked to be brought to the Porziuncola, in Santa Maria degli Angeli, the place from which his message was spread. During the last years of his relatively short life (he died at 45) he was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death, he received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side. On his deathbed, he said over and over again the last addition to his Canticle of the Sun, "Be praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death." He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior to have his clothes removed when the last hour came and for permission to expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord. Francis' final years were filled with suffering as well as humiliation. When he began to go blind, the pope ordered that his eyes be operated on. This meant cauterizing his face with a hot iron. Francis never recovered from this illness. He died on October 4, 1226 at the age of 45. Two years later, on July 16th, he was canonized a saint by Pope Gregory IX. Francis is considered the founder of all Franciscan orders and the patron saint of ecologists and merchants.

‘One Flesh’ by Elizabeth Jennings and ‘I wanna be yours’ by John Cooper Clarke Essay

‘One flesh’ by Elizabeth Jennings has the overall impression after reading the poem that it is about 2 old people who have grown apart from being with each other for so long. It is written in 1st person, by one of their children, who is observing them ‘lying apart’ It is visible that one of the descendants is telling the poem from lines such as ‘whose fire from which I came’ and ‘these two who are my father and mother’. Their child will now be an adult as references that refer to the couple as being ‘old’ suggest this. ‘Do they know they’re old’. This person is telling the poem in 1st person and is visible from words such as ‘my’ and ‘I’. But however in ‘One Flesh’ the emotions of the child are not about them, it is about a 3rd person, but still it is written in 1st person. ‘I wanna be yours’ by John Cooper Clarke is a poem regarding a person expressing their love for someone. The poem consists of a great number of metaphors and similars to express the way he feels. He uses these literary devices to show that he ‘wanna be yours’ even if he is just an everyday item such as a ‘ford cortina’ or a simple ‘raincoat’. From words such as ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’ it is apparent that the poem ‘I wanna be yours’ is written in 1st person. This allows the author to express his thoughts and emotions directly from him and not through another person e.g. 3rd person. Individually both poems are about expressing an opinion about relationships. The relationship in ‘One Flesh’ may be coming to an end, but the relationship in ‘I wanna be yours’ is coming together. As both poems regard relationship, it is obvious that love associates with them. Both the poems refer to love, passion and emotion indirectly. ‘One flesh’ uses the comparison of fire to love in the line ‘whose fire from which I came’. This line also explains that the person revealing the situation within the poem, is a child of the two lovers. Within ‘I wanna be yours’ a line such as ‘that’s how deep is my emotion’ reveals how much the author cares for the person the poem is directed towards. The attitudes of the writers are hugely different. As the writer of ‘I wanna be yours; wants someone for their self, the writer of ‘one flesh’ is concerned about the relationship and well being of their parents. The attitude, which expresses itself in the title ‘I wanna be yours’, is a selfish attitude, as the author wants that person whatever the consequences. This is visible in ‘take me with you anywhere’. However, at the same time, a loving and thoughtful attitude is presence from lines such as ‘you get cold without’ and ‘with deep devotion’. The poem ‘I wanna be yours’ utilises many metaphors and similars in the poem to signify that he wants to be hers even if he is just an ‘electric heater’. ‘One flesh’ includes half rhyme, which is inconsistent. This inconsistency deliberately relates to the inconsistency in the sex within their relationship. ‘Strangely apart, yet strangely close together’ is a metaphors in ‘One Flesh’ which shows how they are emotionally apart, but they are physically close together within the house. ‘Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold’. The fire expresses that once they were passionate lovers and produced a child, but ‘grown cold’ expresses that they are no longer passionate. The author uses metaphors in ‘I wanna be yours’ to express his feelings such as ‘deep as the deep atlantic ocean that’s how deep is my emotion’ By using the depth of the atlantic ocean to compare to his devotion, he express love. Repetition is used to create a beat to the poem ‘deep deep deep deep de deep deep’. It is also re informing how deep his devotion is. Overall ‘One flesh’ is about a relationship that has already occurred, and ‘I wanna be yours’ is about a relationship that is at the beginning where there is a lot of passion.

Effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care Essays

Effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care Essays Effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care Paper Effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care Paper In this assessment I am going to demonstrate an understanding of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care. I am also going to talk about the types of communication i.e. formal and informal and also what is good or bad communication. One-to-one communication When starting a conversation with someone you have never met before, you should first try to start a positive atmosphere with the right kind of feeling. It is also very important to create a positive emotional atmosphere so that the person can feel comfortable with you from the start so you can discuss complicated issues or give information. For example when I was working in the nursery I had to talk to the child that was crying because they didn’t want to leave they parents so I had a one to one conversation with him and I made sure that the child knew that I was happy with him and wanted him to come play with me and to stop crying by my facial expression and body language. I asked him a lot of open questions like ‘What did you do at the weekend? and How was you Christmas? He was talking back. He felt relaxed and happy which made him forget about his parents not being around. He was happy to speak to me and he felt like he was not alone. How a conversation could go Greeting or a warm up Conversation or information exchange Farewells or winding-down When you have got someone talking and relaxed you have created a good feeling. You can now start to talk about anything with them. Sometimes you can even start a personal conversation asking how their health and family are and talk about any problems they are going through. When the conversation is coming to a end you would want the person to want to talk to you again so you have to leave with the right kind of emotions. You could end it with a phrase like ‘see you soon’ which shows them that you enjoyed their company and would like to talk to them again and to also show that you value them. Group communication Group communication only works when everyone is involved. Some people are open but on the other hand some people are quiet and don’t like to talk so they feel threatened if their have to speak within a formal group of people so there might stay quiet because they are worried about people reactions, I was working in a youth club and I had to get the children talking about an activity the club wanted to do with them. It’s very important that everyone in the group feels included because that will bring the right atmosphere and my job was to hear what they wanted to do. The youths in the group often use humour or other friendly ways of behaving to create the right group feeling, this will encourages them to talk and get involved. Creating the right atmosphere involves ‘maintaining’ the group so this aspect of group communication is often called group maintenance. Group leader There are different type of groups sometimes you need a leader and other times you don’t, but the groups with the leader turn out to be more successful than those with out a leader. In meetings or classroom discussions you would find a leader or a chairman for example in the youth meeting I took with the youths I was the leader and because the discussion had a leader it was successful everyone new I was the leader as well so when I said you talk there talk and I made sure there was no trouble makers there. When talking or arguing with your friends you often don’t have a leader that’s why it’s often loud and get out of control. Having a leader is very useful because the leader can encourage people to say what they have to say and for people to speak one at a time. The leading also often encourages people to focus on a particular task within a group. See of signs and symbols In a working environment signs and symbols are everywhere because its one of the best way of communicating without saying anything instead putting a picture where everyone can see it. I am going to be talking about how effective signs and symbols are in a care setting environment. People from backgrounds ages and even race if you put a sign in front of them there would be able to tell you what the sign says. When I was working in a nursery there was a child who could not speak English so we had to teach her using signs and symbols. When we wanted to talk to her we used sign language and she could understand everything we were trying to say. In the nursery I was working in there was lots of signs everywhere because children like colours, signs and symbols these are normally in lots of different colours. There could be signs or a symbol for every word in for example This sign mean wash your hands after using the toilet. Sign language is used a lot even in a nursery because Written communication Written communication is the best way of remembering what you have been told for example when I started my work placement I was given an introduction package showing me where everything was and what the nursery was all about. I still use it even through I am working there. Written communication allows you to keep information for as long as you want. When we had staff meeting we would have a sheet that tell as what the meeting is about before the meeting start and the order the meeting is going to go. When something is written its also easier to understand when someone is saying it because you can read it as much times as you want where us if someone is saying it and you miss what there said you would have to ask to say it again and if you keep asking then the person will be angry with you. In class when we are set work the teacher will tell us to write down or take notes on what he is saying so that when we are doing it alone we would know what to write and how to do it. In the nursery I was working in I had to do an activity with the children so I done a written activity where there are going to learn how to write and spell there names it was very successful because there got to take it home and learn it even more and now there all know how to spell there names and write it. Language (first language, dialect, slang, jargon) When it comes to language and communication it goes to ways because sometimes when you want to communicate with someone you have to speak in a language where there can understand you. Because different localities, ethnic groups and cultures all have their own way of communicating with each other and if you’re not from that group you would not be able to understand what there saying. The fact that you can’t understand what there saying some people are threatened or exclude by the kind of language they encounter in these speech communities however just using formal language will not solve this problem for example jargon is when complicated words are been used because the person and the phone is not going to understand so the communication with you and the person will be broken. People from different geographical areas also use different ways of speaking to each other for example there are words that is used in south east London that are not used in north London for example strap in south means gun straly in north also means gun this is called slang. Slang is non-standard words that are understood by other members of a speech community but which cannot usually be found in a dictionary. When I was working in my nursery I child came from France and not speak a word of English so it was hard to communicate with her so we had to teach her English using her language and mixing it will English so that she can learn. There was another case where a child has an older brother and the older brother speaks slang and the child picked it up and could understand so when I speak to the child I would use slang and the child could understand me more than any other teacher. It is very hard to communicate with someone if don’t speak there language because you would have to keep repeating yourself. According to the author and psychologist Steven Pinker (1994) estimated that there maybe about 600 languages in the world that are spoken by more than 100,000 people he also believe that there are many more minority languages. Some people grow up in multilingual communities where they learn several languages from birth. Where us children in the UK have grown up to only use one language to think and communicate with which is English. The people who learn second language later on in life often find that they cannot communicate their thoughts as effectively as they might have done using their first language. The first language that people have learned to think in usually becomes their preferred language. Non-verbal communication (posture, facial expression, touch, silence, proximity, reflective listening) From the first time you meet someone you usually be able to tell how there are feeling for example if there angry, tried, happy, sad and even frightened even if there haven’t said anything. You can usually guess what a person feels by studying their non-verbal communication. Non-verbal means with out word. We send this message using our eyes, the tone of our voice, facial expression, our hands and arms, gestures with our hands and arms, the hands and arm the angle of our head, and the way we sit To tell people what you‘re thinking of or how you are feeling. When I was working in nursery from the first moment I walked in the room where the kids was I new their characters just my the way their was sitting to listen to the story for example some children were next to the teacher listen to teacher does was the children I thought are good students and a child was trying to talk to the other and he said no. So from that moment I could just see who troubles are and who are not. From the moment I walked in I new the children that was happy to see and the ones that are not just by their facial expression and when I said hi the voice of their voice in the reply. I was talking to a member of staff and this child came up to me and put his hands out and I picked him up I didn’t even have to say anything for the child he just felt happy with me. The use of British sign language The British sign language is used in the UK and it’s the first preferred language of some deaf people. The language involves movement of the hands, body, face and head. Thousands of people who aren’t deaf also use British sign language for example if a person is angry and someone is asking them a question they might answer with a head nod. As hearing relatives of deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British deaf community Use of sign Its not only people who have a disability .i.e. deaf or blind use signs and signed languages to communicate as many people who have perfect hearing frequently use non-verbal communication techniques when your out socializing with friends and even out home. We all use sign language in fact it is probably used more often than we realise as sometime you are unaware that you are using forms of sign language to communicate. Variation between cultures Culture variations can have a big effect on the way people communicate non-verbally. For example actions that are not seen as offensive in your home country may be seen very offended to foreign countries. That’s why communication with people from different cultures is especially challenging. Cultures provide people with different ways of thinking, seeing things, hearing, and interpreting the world.

Environmental Law Midterm Exam 2 Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

Environmental Law Midterm Exam 2 Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers Environmental Law Midterm Exam 2 PLST 35001 Amanda Webb March 28, 2017 Sovereignty in general means authority or supreme power. Sovereignty exists in environmental law within the powers that control and regulate environmental law. State and National governments' hold authority over environmental law with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter of the inter-sovereign relations. One way that sovereignty exists within environmental law is through the state police power. The state police power is the traditional body that regulates health, safety, and welfare, which includes environmental matters. The state police hold their power in environmental law by regulating the resources themselves and regulating the harms caused by pollution and environmental externalities. Generally, the states' environmental quality was the main province of the states through their police power, but has switched between the federal and state government. Before the states the full purpose sovereigns in the United States are displayed through preemption. A state law that affects intersta te commerce must be tested under the Pike test. First the state law is evaluated to determine if the statute holds a legitimate local public interest. If a legitimate local purpose is found, then n ext the burden on interstate commerce must be weighed against local benefits. This is a complex calculus that seeks to account for the importance of the local benefits and the extent of the bur den on the interstate commerce and whether this could be promoted as well with a lesser impact on interstate activities. An example of this test being applied is shown in Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co. , 449 U.S. 456 (1981). Minnesota created a statute that restricted plastic milk containers that arguably favored pulpwood manufacturers (a Minnesota industry) and disfavored plastic manufacturers (a non-Minnesota industry). The Court found that the statute was not discriminatory and proceeded to measure the burdens on inter state commerce. The Court concluded that even if the out of state plastics industry was burdened, the burden is not clearly excessive considering the substantial state interest in promoting conservation of energy and other natural resources and easing solid waste and disposal problems. Although the Snail Darter case is not widely known it is widely recognized as classically illuminating. This case was the Supreme Court's first encounter with ESA 7. This case has held a highly significant impact on the country's interpretation on laws regarding endangered species. ESA 7 became a significant regulatory program in the years immediately following the snail darter decision resulting in substantial increases in its annual budget allocations and a new degree of respect for its regulatory potency from agency bureaucrats and industrial lobbyists. Scientific surveys for endangered species impacts became an accepted part of agency project planning and permit application processes. Since this case the courts have been more attentive to the Act's requirements. The courts have strictly interpreted this act without reference to the significance of the species concerned. The Clean Air Act's standards for regulating hazardous air pollutants first step involved the EPA identifying the air pollutant levels consistent with the goal of the air throughout the country being safe to breathe. Next the states would choose the means of achieving the goal of clean air. Mobile sources would be regulated primarily by the federal government and the stationary sources would be regulated primarily through the states. The harm-based approach dealing with hazardous air pollutants was substituted by a technology based approach that called for the employment of MACT. The legislation called for 180 substances to be regulated by that method. Technology based standards can be costly for the industry to comply with and adopt. One inadequacy of the harm based standards was the EPA was required to compile a list of HAPs and promulgate emission standards directly applicable to sources that emitted the hazardous pollutants in question. The harm based approach was not easily applicable to the problems of HAPs. The agency was limited by the availability of adequate scientific studies on which to propose standards and dogged by judicial challenges to those standards that they did propose.

buy custom Philip Dick essay

buy custom Philip Dick essay Introduction Philip Dick is a renowned author whose work has received a lot of appraisal from people of different walks. He is known for a number of speculations especially the presentation in The Man in the High Castle and the Valis. To Philip, in order to manipulate man and understand what he real wants, you must know the things that will affect him most, with this, the people shall always be at your mercies, The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words (Dick 82). It is blatant clear that Philip was so much interested with the reality of things; he considered reality to be of much significance compared to a persons position or stand. With reality, things that are hidden and in the dark shall be brought to light. Understanding how important reality is and attaching this importance to people can act as a weapon, a weapon that may prove to be more destructive and fatal. Similarly, Philip is quoted saying that the most important matters in life should not be solved at night, Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night. In trying to comprehend the works of Philip Dick, it is of essence to try to grapple his unique state of emotion and the unique interpretations that he has assigned to the same. Most of the works that he dealt with can be regarded to be as unique as they can be thought to be. It is not surprising that by the time Philip was dying in 1982, he could not tell of the origin of most of the works or what they meant. When Philip died, he left behind a eight thousand paged Exegesis that constituted a million worded document that consisted of a continued dialogue with himself that he held late at night. Philip is said not to have been able to solve the mystery behind the puzzle to the point of his satisfaction, it is believed that he enjoyed the pursuit for the answer much more than he would have enjoyed finding the solution to the mystery. How Philip K Dick Uses Landscape or Physical Details To Make Meaning Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. Mainstream science has described reality as the actual state of things as they exist in the real sense. This can be simply put to refer to all the things as they exist in their real state when they are observed. As it can be denoted, the human brain exists in two specific portions that are divided into right and left. This are further categorized as the right and the left brain. To Philip, the roles and agendas that are attached to these distinct brains are very specific and different. However, for the brain to function, it is a must for the two half human brains to communicate and act as one through the corpus callosum. According to Dick, the right side brain is entirely owed with the role of dealing with the present, the things that are taking place right now and here (Dick 177). It carries out its functions through the use of pictures and its learning is through the kinesthetic body movement. Energy is absorbed from our surroundings and translated into information for the sensory systems. There is no difference that exists between individual consciousness and the world around us. There is only one universal energy field that is seen by the right brain, this is the field of awareness. Philip. Dick believes that despite the fact that we can not be able to correlate effectively with the world, the things in our surroundings will not have to change. Our ability to know that they exist and they are material will remain even when the brain, our brains can not be bale to transmit this information to our sensory nerves. On the other hand, Philips definition of the left brain is so different from the rest. This side of the brain thinks methodically and linearly. There are countless details that are picked up by it especially regarding past events and through it; calculations are made thus being able to predict the future. The left hemisphere of the brain is believed to think in language form, through this, an internal voice is made possible. Importantly, the left hemisphere leads to the creation of awareness of our existence. This awareness makes us know that we are very distinct and different from what the right brain perceives. Philip Dick makes it possible for us to know and distinguish between what is false and real, he makes it possible to distinguish between what is part of us and what is not part of our bodies. Philip is said to have suffered several setbacks before coming up with the reality experience. For instance, he was suffering from stress as a result of his son and wife, he had problems with drugs, break in that is not explained among many more set backs. In addition his role in politics played another major part in influencing his life. Giving me a new idea is like handing a cretin a loaded gun, but I do thank you anyhow, bang, bang. Philip Dick suffered a number of depressions during his life time. Due to these thoughts, he almost turned suicidal more than once in his life (Dick 181). More significantly, Philip suffered a lot of severe pain when one of his wisdom teeth was removed. On a certain day, we are presented with Philip who is mesmerized by the fist that was dangling between the delivery girls breasts. When Philip asks what the fish is for, she tells him that it is a representation of the ICHTHYS; this is a Greek ter that refers to fish. The fish was used by ancient primitive Christian believes. In relation, the ICHTHYS is an acronym that refers to "Iesous CHristos, THeou Yios, Soter". This when translated to English stands for Jesus Christ, Son Of God and the Savior. As it is later unfolded, Philip and the girl were all Christians thought they were hiding from the Roman persecutors. The fish was used as a symbol of identification among the people who were Christians. The fish was considered as a harmless pendant to many peoples eyes although it meant a lot. The girl does not only bring medicine to heal Philips ailing tooth, but she also brings with her medicine, medicine that can be termed to as spiritual. The tooth in Freudian terminology can be considered as libido symbol. This is not necessarily the sexual libido. When Philip keeps dreaming about his loss, we are presented with the loss that a person can incur especially when one stands on your way either mentally, physically or emotionally. To Philip, his tooth was regarded to as a Gynopsis, it was still waiting for a proper stimulus for his anamnesis to be triggered. Libido can be also illustrated by the sleek phalliform fish. The shape of the fish makes it possible for it to glide silently in the unconscious minds of the deep waters. It is Christ who strengthens the Christians libido, he is the energy needed and the psyche that is very important. Christ does all these for those who believe in him and asks for nothing in return. I think that, like in my writing, reality is always a soap bubble, Silly Putty thing anyway. In the universe people are in, people put their hands through the walls, and it turns out they're living in anot her century entirely. ... I often have the feeling and it doesshow up in my books that this is all just a stage. Can any of us fix anything? No. None of us can do that. We're specialized. Each one of us has his own line, his own work. I understand my work, you understand yours(Dick 102). The society that man lives in is structured and equipped with a mechanism that forces people tom adapt to the conditions of live there. As the world keeps on evolving, people with skills and experience in a number of areas with be regarded as the indispensable assets that will lead the world forward. This thus means that specialization will be greatly valued. Anything that is outside a persons expertise will seem to be very complex, this is why no one can do everything and fix anything. According to Philip, he is categorical when saying that not everybody is capable to deal with all kinds of situations. Things according to Philip are so different and by this different approaches are required to deal with them. However, people with skills and specialization are regarded highly to fix a number of things that may be regarded to be spoilt. This is an implication that for anything to work efficiently and as it may be assumed, expertise is needed. Philip is said to have seen the soviets scientists in one of his dreams trying to mange and keep an alien satellite functioning. This to Philip was a way through which different experts were planning on attacking the peace of the world and bringing it crumbling down on its knees,with the complexity. "I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards" this is a quote that Phillip K Dick used after he released the novel Flow My Tears, the policeman said. In his works, he tries so much to bring real life experiences in his work of fiction making it unique and only to his own standards. This is one of the books that the fusion of nature with fiction can be seen as extrapolated by Dick. It portrays an imaginary future of the United States and he uses the past experiences of the United States to project the future, sometimes in satirical manner like suggesting that a sterilization law was put in place to control the population of the United States and most importantly for African Americans in America. The reason why this statement so much fits the argument he presents in the book is that he is so well acquainted with the character of his book and more so with their daily activities. Unlike many writers who were showing the effects that the racial disparity in the United States had so directly, he uses his work in form of a fictitious form that shows this disparity and the aid of a Whiteman to a black man. Apparently, there was so much difference in the interrelation of races in the United States at the time but what the book was projecting is that one day black men and white men would interact with ease. What a way to present something that would be guided by nature and which to you is only a projection of imagination than to use fiction (Dick 7). This was so creative of him but unlike makers of science fiction stories he made it that all things about nature taking its course are manifested in the work of literature. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real." These are words from the man who referred to himself as the philosopher of fictionalization. According to his books, A Scanner Darkly and Valis, one cannot help but to notice how dedicated the man was to simple things in life that had great impacts in life. These two books were mainly based on the daily activities of youngsters in America and concentrated mainly on what nature had to offer to the youths; that are in foorm of drugs. It therefore implies that Phillip was not only a writer but a strict and focused one whose aim was to glorify Mother Nature and advocating what was right for nature. A scanner darkly shows life in a fictionalized way but presents exactly what happens in the normal daily life of real people in the United States and even in other parts of the world. As he personally pointed out, "Everything in A Scanner Darkly I actually saw. This indicates that although the book was fictionalized, Philip Dick knew exactly what he was addressing in his book because not only was he familiar with the effects of the misuse of nature in drug abuse but he was personally a pusher at one time in his life and had even been in correctional facility in several instances (Dick, A Scanner Darkly 204). Substance D is presented in the book as coming from a types of plant with blue flowers, a creation beauty and which was on several occasions was used by addicts, he also shows the effects of these drugs when he pointed out that Bruce had been considered a walking shell of a man by his handlers. Apparently, the use of drugs was supposed to be so bad that a man suffering from drug abuse withdrawal or cessation, not to mention those who had already developed dependence were in so bad situations health wise that even medical practitioners loose hope of ever gettin g the men back in shape again. "The grasshopper shall be a burden" is a phrase that triggered Dick into writing his novel, the man on a high castle which shows the lives of Americans and the totalitarian government at the time and following the assassination of President Franklin Roosevelt. The whole novel is a fiction story that revolves around the governance of the United States and political atmosphere of the countries that surrounded America or were allies of America. Note that he indicates many aspects of nature that took course after a successful assassination of the head of the United States. Unfortunately, the life was too harsh for the people in the United States that the author conjures up an image that suggests that the president did not even die but was still the leader. This is a kind of fiction that he uses to draw the reader to the possibility of a reincarnation that was affecting the United States of America. Note that when we refer to nature, it may be even the intangible elements brought about by a certain situation in nature that have the propensity of causing some unwanted effects or changing the course of nature of the life of an individual. 'When a thing has history in it, listen. One of those two Zippo lighters was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's pocket when he was assassinated. And one wasn't. One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it, as much as any object ever had and one has nothing.... You can't tell which is which. There's no "mystical plasmic presence", no "aura" around it (Dick, The Man in the High Castle pp 65). This quote was used by dick to show the thinking and the reasoning of the elite class of the America and those of Britain which was at the time headed by winston churchil. All this have been put not only symblolically, satirical but also in a fictional manner that depicts that political atmosphere of the nation was not only dependent on the fear of people of their leadership but also the totalitarianism of the ruling class. It would be a great injustice for anybody denying that phillip Dick was not a man in love with nature and a man who knew exactly how nature affected the daily activities of the people o f america. Conclusion Literature is art and therefore demands that an individual becomes creative in designing how to present their information in the book. As has been indicated throughout the discussion, Phillip K Dick was a great author who presented all his views in a fictional setting which ranged from politics to simple things about lifestyle and most importantly his contribution in his last books in drug abuse. In as much as he was creative by presenting his experiences, as most of the books were personal accounts, through fictionalization to a point that he considered himself as fictionalization philosopher, he went ahead to forge an introduction of natures landscape and physical details in order to enhance the effectiveness of his presentation as well as assist an individual in the interpretation of the different works of literature. Note that in the world of art, in which literature dwells, the message is not presented in such a straight forward manner that the reader makes out the meaning immed iately but rather a reader is expected to decipher the meaning of the text from deep mental evaluation, what is commonly referred to as reading between the lines. As this is the case, in most of the books by Phillip, symbolism has been greatly used in the literature not only in a bid to fictionalization but also in an effort to present harmony in nature. Sometimes the landscape is presented to show the status of the people in which he is referring to. for instance in the rehabilitation center in the book A Scanner Darkly, he uses it to show the economic activities taking place there as well as the need for the drugs that had driven the members of the correctional facility to plant the plants that were a source of the drugs. All in all, it is true and in fact, quite right to conclude that the man was a master, not only of literature but also of presenting the facts of nature in his fictional creation of real life experiences showing different disparities among people not with words but with creation of imagery using what is physical and normal in the universe. Buy custom Philip Dick essay

To What Extent can Standardized Tests be used in Measuring the Article

To What Extent can Standardized Tests be used in Measuring the Competitiveness of Nursing School Curricula - Article Example Administering the same tests for all nursing graduates can judge whether or not the curriculum of a greater number of nursing schools across the country are competitive enough compared to other schools in producing highly-skilled nurses. Article Summaries The first article discusses the comparison of baccalaureate students from different schools that were enrolled in either problem-based curricula (PBL) or those in a conventional nursing program. Using a self-report questionnaire and scores in the National Nursing Registration Examination (RN Exam), the perceptions and abilities of the students were measured. It was found out that although the RN Exam scores did not differ significantly among the different schools that participated, the perceptions of preparedness and educational satisfaction did differ in the two curricula, with the PBL students reporting higher perceived preparedness and satisfaction (Rideout, et al., 2002). The authors recommended exploring further the relationshi p between educational approaches and student outcomes in order to create better nursing curricula in different schools. The second article discusses the importance of the use of external curriculum assessments like the NCLEX-RN. Every three years or so, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) updates their licensure exams to reflect the changing trends in healthcare. While the NCLEX-RN was not specifically designed to be used as an assessment tool for measuring the effectiveness of the curricula in all nursing schools, pass rates for each school in the NCLEX-RN determines whether the nursing degree program deserves to be accredited or not (Morrison, 2005). Thus, the higher the pass rates the school has, the more competitive it seems in the eyes of incoming students as well as for hiring parties. Integrated Analyses Both articles discussed the use of standardized examinations and assessments in order to measure the abilities and perceptions of various graduates of nur sing schools. The first article used the RN Exam as a standardized test in assessing the preparedness of newly-graduated students from different schools and curricula for their career in nursing. The second article brought focus on the use of NCLEX-RN in assessing the curriculum’s effectiveness or weaknesses in preparing students for national licensure exams. By using standardized tests, biases in the judging of school curricula can be eliminated. To put contrasts between the two articles, the first one used the RN Exam was as a standard in measuring the preparedness of newly-graduated students from different schools and nursing curricula. While it was a good measure of knowledge, it was not able to measure the satisfaction of the students in their education or in their perceived efficiency of the curriculum of the school. The second article used NCLEX-RN as their standard in assessing whether the curricula of most nursing schools need improvement, or if the teachers needed t o modify their methods in teaching. Reflection Based on the two articles, it can be inferred that the use of standardized testing is very relevant and imperative in comparing the capabilities of

The author notes that there are three general strategies used by moral Essay

The author notes that there are three general strategies used by moral philosophers who wish to explain the sort of variation in moral codes discussed by Ruth Benedict. Which of - Essay Example One of the most important strategies that are used by moral philosophers is to look at the universal principles that seem to drive the activities of people. This can be done through a systematic analysis of cross-sections of people who would then provide frameworks that are followed on a general basis. This would then be accepted as the norm which would then be accepted as the bedrock of the society’s morality. Another strategy that is used is to provide the basis of morality and ethics in reason and the abilities of the individual to ascertain the suitability of a certain action. This was also to a great extent the result of the thought of Kant and other enlightenment philosophers who held reason to be the greatest defining feature of man and thought of it as being able to solve the greatest problems that mankind has when it comes to moral dilemmas. Another way in which the problem can be dealt with is to understand the relativity of morality when it comes to different communities and people. There are people who believe that there is no possibility of understanding any form of ultimate truths that may enable the laying of a framework that would be able to define acts that are committed in a moral way. This approach is termed as ethical scepticism. This approach made it possible for other approaches that did not argue for a monolithic view of morality, to flourish. Ethical relativism may be considered to be one of these approaches. It favors no particular code of morality over the other and recognizes the importance of the uniqueness of each culture and in some cases, each individual. Extremes of this approach may lead to problematic situations in a society. However, it is better placed than the other approaches that have been referred to in this essay to assess the moral codes of a society that is multicultural and multilingui stic in its