The Convergence of the Twain by Charles Yancey

The Convergence of the Twain by Charles YanceyThe Interval's Interlude for The Convergence of the Twain by Charles Yancey is an anthology of essays featuring some of the best writing from authors across the world. It is an impressive read that demonstrates the consistent success of some of the best authors, including Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell's Rafe Spall and The Convergence of the Twain's Lois Lowry.Before I begin, I must acknowledge the interesting side that The Convergence of the Twain is a major work by Charles Yancey. Most of the essays in this book are by more prominent writers that many readers might not know about. But the opinions expressed in these articles are extremely well thought out and written, and they paint a realistic picture of a lot of contemporary life in both the UK and USA.As a matter of fact, this theme has been with us since the first half of the twentieth century. Yet, in the last few years the ratio of reality has increased. Now we live in a world wher e images seem to be everywhere, even if it is on the screen. In such a world, the essays on The Convergence of the Twain help to make sense of the world that we find ourselves in.When I began this article, I was considering some of the topics I had read in the essays on The Convergence of the Twain. One topic was about death. Many writers express their views about the afterlife. However, how do we cope with death when we are only a short time away from it?Many people who read this article may consider themselves religious or non-religious. What are some of the ways in which you cope with death and dying? This topic also comes up in several other essays as well.One of the most exciting issues in The Convergence of the Twain is how to deal with anger, particularly when one feels deeply hurt and betrayed. All good writers can clearly express their feelings about a situation that makes them feel angry, hurt, or betrayed.Also, there are many common themes in the essays. One of the main t hemes is that of forgiveness. How do we understand and reconcile our past and create a new future?A number of themes can be found in The Convergence of the Twain. One theme that comes to mind is that of reconciliation, but what happens when we have failed to forgive?

A Constitutional and Human Rights Violation essayEssay Writing Service

A Constitutional and Human Rights Violation essayEssay Writing Service A Constitutional and Human Rights Violation essay A Constitutional and Human Rights Violation essayEffective control over the rights of every human being is one of the most important tasks of government agencies as well as public associations. There is no doubt that public control should be based on the provisions of the U.S. Constitution that protects people’s basic rights and freedoms.Speaking about the rights guaranteed to prisoners, it is possible to say that federal and state laws greatly maintain the administration of prisons and the rights of prisoners. Despite the fact that prisoners do not possess full Constitutional rights, they are protected by the U.S. Constitution and are prohibited from being punished in a savage and unusual manner. Indeed, ‘prisons are obligated to provide for prisoners’ health and medical treatment under the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment as well as under international human rights law’ (Sichel 224). The protecti on means that all the prisoners should be afforded a minimum standard of living. In addition, prisoners are obligated to have some other Constitutional rights, such as due process and a legal right of access to the parole process. All in all, prisoners are protected against unequal treatment based on race, sex, ethnicity, and other personal characteristics since all ‘persons under any form of detention or imprisonment shall be treated in a humane manner and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person’ (Sichel 252).In contrast, some of the rights afforded to students can include as follows: the right to free speech and association, to effective teaching, to adherence to class syllabi, to due process, safety and privacy, and some other constitutional rights. Students’ rights are more protected by the constitution. However, there are some certain rights afforded to prisoners many students wish they had. For instance, it can be the right to be free from cruel punishment that means the use of ungrounded force against a person.The study of most difficult types of offenders for the corrections system is still an ever-changing field of research. To date, there are many difficult types of offenders, who commit crimes against a variety of victims. However, the three most difficult types of offenders for the corrections system include sex offenders, mentally disordered offenders, and female offenders. There is no doubt that there are many different problems administrators face when dealing with each type of offender. For instance, female offenders present a significant fraction of the crime perpetrated in the community. Female killers who break the law reveal violent behaviors. Indeed, treatment of female offenders presents a number of serious challenges since sometimes it is difficult to recognize the reason for criminal activities. As for the mentally disordered offenders, it is possible to say that those are individuals who has a disa bility of the mind and has committed a criminal offence. For corrections, it is difficult to deal with those offenders because in some cases the individual may have become depressed by the fact that his conduct has been disclosed.In fact, male sex offenders present the greatest challenge for correctional since no crimes cause the same degree of people’s concern as do sexual crimes. Offending is a very serious problem with a traumatizing effect on victims. As a result, correctional systems should pay specific attention to these particular offenders, provide adequate treatment for sex abusers (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy), and thus make all the possible efforts to deal with those crimes.In conclusion, despite many difficulties administrators face when dealing with each type of offender, it is important to take all the possible measures to deal and overcome those offences in a proper way.

How to Balance Equations - Printable Worksheets

How to Balance Equations - Printable Worksheets A balanced chemical equation gives the number and type of atoms participating in a reaction, the reactants, products, and direction of the reaction. Balancing an unbalanced equation is mostly a matter of making certain mass and charge are balanced on the reactants and products side of the reaction arrow. This is a collection of printable worksheets to practice balancing equations. The printable worksheets are provided in pdf format with separate answer keys. Balancing Chemical Equations - Worksheet #1Balancing Chemical Equations - Answers #1Balancing Chemical Equations - Worksheet #2Balancing Chemical Equations - Answers #2Balancing Chemical Equations - Worksheet #3Balancing Chemical Equations - Answers #3Balancing Equations - Worksheet #4Balancing Equations - Answer Key #4 I also offer printable worksheets for balancing equations on my personal site. The printables are also available as PDF files: Balancing Equation Practice Sheet  [answer sheet]​Another Equation Worksheet [answer sheet]Yet Another Printable Worksheet [answer key] You may also wish to review the step-by-step tutorial on how to balance a chemical equation. Online Practice Quizzes Another way to practice balancing equations is by taking a quiz. Coefficients in Balanced Equations QuizBalance Chemical Equations Quiz

Plot Structure Analysis of Frankenstein Coursework

Plot Structure Analysis of Frankenstein - Coursework Example In contrast, this perfect human turns out to be a ugly monster, and he runs away from it because of its disgusting appearance. This is the mid-point of this narrative, observed in that Frankenstein rejection of the monster created a feeling of loneliness of it, and in its attempt to find company, it ends up murdering his own brother, and having a young innocent girl bear responsibility of his death in the eyes of general society members. This narrative reaches climax when Frankenstein realizes the real murderer of his brother, creating a twist on preceding actions. How a â€Å"perfect† creature created by an individual turns out to be his own pain? This narrative strives to advise human race on truth and value of accepting life in its simplicity. Underlying truth is that mankind seeks to achieve peace and perfection, by creating things he thinks ought to be there for this form of life, and at the end of it ends up destroying himself, and those close to him. This narrative is of great value in contemporary society, where wars and mass destruction is the order of the day in a bid to achieve

Progressive Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Progressive Movement - Essay Example A loosely defined movement was formed from the progressive reformers. Progressives were individuals or groups of people who were concerned about the state of society, impacts arising from urbanization and industrialization, poverty, social issues and political corruption (Foner, 2014, p.678). Progressives as businessmen were ambitious to include the laborers and workers for their rights in decision making and economic improvement. Women were part of progressive movement who sought their right of protection of their children from exploitation. Journalists as progressives had exposed the major ills of urban as well as industrial lives with expectations to encourage reforms. Social scientists also took part in progressive era with their beliefs of solving the social problems through the academic research. Middle class individuals were more fearful about the rise of big businesses that could threat their social as well as economic status. Progressivism was defined through currents and tr ends of counterculture, challenges to authorities, cultural liberation and sexual revolution. Other currents and trends include the steps towards the equal rights, civil rights and establishing the women’s organizations.Socialists advocated that economy’s state control and laborers’ voices must be accorded in their decision making. Many civil and political organizations recognized that inequality could threat the democracy, so they considered that political struggle was essential to defend the interests of workers.

Research and critical reflection - Money doesn’t buy you happiness. Essay Example for Free

Research and critical reflection Money doesn’t buy you happiness. Essay Money doesn’t buy you happiness. Everyone has heard the statement before and most studies of happiness and well-being generally agree on it. However, even though money does not buy you happiness it is largely agreed that money can be a means to an end. Hence, money cannot buy you happiness, but it can provide you with financial security and well-being. If you asked a poor person if they were happy most will tell you they are not due to living in poor conditions and having poor health. Their need for safety and security outweighs their need for nice things and possessions. So if money does not buy you happiness what does buy you happiness? What are the factors in life that make you happy? One way to address this question could be looking at ones well-being. As such a deeper interpretation of well-being is necessary. When considering the concept of well-being, there are two major approaches, objective well-being, and subjective well-being. Objective well-being looks at how healthy a person is and the access he has to resources. Subjective well-being on the other hand looks at the overall happiness of a person. In the same breath it is also argued that material well-being, that is the things we buy and want, does not lead to our overall happiness. Hence, money doesn’t buy you happiness. (Williams, 2014). Considering this notion that money does not buy you happiness (Myers Diener, 1995), Kawachi and Kennedy (2002, p.30 -31) sought out to summarise the main ingredients to happiness in one’s life. They noted sex, ethnicity and age scarcely make you happy. Rather it is the relationships and community you have around you that generates levels of happiness. Furthermore, enjoying one’s work and leisure is highly correlated with happiness. On the other hand, one’s wealth and income does not have a straight correlation with happiness. Some poor people are happy, some rich people are unhappy and vice versa. Nonetheless, millions of people across the globe spend large amount of money consuming things they do not need. I myself fall victim to marketing ploys and consume materialistic things that I do not always need, but want because I believe it will make me fit in more in my community, or make me happier. People follow fashionable trends and want all the new toys that come out thinking it will make them happy. This need of people to have nice fancy things has previously been coined the â€Å"new consumerism†. Back in the day, it meant keeping up with others in your community, if your neighbour got a new flash car, you had to go get one. However, with the popularisation of television,  and later on the rise of mass media, â€Å"new consumerism† meant people were now competing all over the globe. Furthermore, as we live in a world of inequality in terms of income and wealth, the gap between what we want and what we have largely depends on our income. Schor (1998), referred to this as â€Å"the aspirational gap†. If one cannot afford something, he can either be â€Å"unhappy† dealing with not having that product/want, or he chooses to take on debt in order to afford it and have it then and there; thus having to work more to cover the debt and the cycle conti nues. So if we look at happiness as the â€Å"difference between what we have and what we want we suddenly become unhappy† (Williams, 2014, p.5). Largely, I agree with the statement the money does not buy you happiness. By society’s standards I am definitely not a rich man but I consider myself to live a moderately happy life; largely due to the fact that I am healthy, I have good friends and a loving family. According to several scholars (Benin Nierstedt, 1985, Inglehart, 1990, Myers, 2000) it is indeed our social relationships that generate the highest levels of happiness. With that said, I still consume certain things, materialistic things, and go to certain places in order to construct my social identity. I want things in order to fit in or get praise from my peers. According to many scholars however this does not lead to my well-being but rather to unhappiness. This draws back to the â€Å"aspirational gap†, if I cannot afford to look a certain way or buy certain things and keep up with the times do I ultimately become unhappy? Personally I would like to say it does not apply to me, but reflecting back to S chor’s (1998) study, it appears to point in that direction. As such, I do agree with the concept more so as a lot of people around me become unhappy when they cannot afford something they want. Or become unhappy because they got themselves into debt due to their unnecessary consumptions. Maslow (1943) devised a theory of motivation which attempted to explain the hierarchical nature of people’s well-being. Firstly it is our basic psychological needs like hunger and thirst that we have to satisfy. Next, it is our needs for security and protection, followed by our need for social bonds and love. The last two steps are ones self-esteem and self-actualisation. This is a very hierarchical view which means once a certain level has been satisfied one seeks to satisfy the next until you reach to the top – self actualisation. This will explain why people become unhappy when they cannot afford  something – reach self-actualisation. Moreover, identities are fluid. I constantly consume new trends, go to new places, and change my habits to fit society’s norms. Social psychology attributes this to people’s nature to conform. One study by Asch (1952, ci ted in Bond Smith, 1996) shows the tendency of people to conform to the majority even when the outcome is clearly wrong. I agree with this as I buy certain clothes and go to certain places because I want to fit in with my surroundings. Zaichkowsky (1994) claims that peoples involvement with a product depends on a person apparent relevance of a product based on his inherent needs and values. Hence my values stem from my surroundings and my need for a product comes from my need to fit in to my surroundings. A lot of the above-mentioned concepts discussed were first investigated after WWII and throughout the 20th century. However, as the world is constantly evolving and changing do these outlooks on happiness and well-being still apply today? Have they gotten any better or worse? Early studies showed an increase in mental disorders and divorces throughout the late 20th century, as well as the increase need of people for bigger and better things. A study by Helliwell, Layard, and Sachs (2012) found that on average rich people are happier than poor people. However, they found that a country’s economic growth does not indicate an increase in the overall happiness of its people. This is simply due to the fact that once people reach a comfortable/secure level of income; further increase of it does not generate higher levels of happiness. Moreover, they found unemployment is highly correlated with low levels of well-being, whilst being employed – and satisfied with your job – was correlated with higher levels of well-being. Finally, they noted in Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, love and belonging come just after basic physiological and safety needs. Clearly, the sources of individual happiness include the set of social interactions through which individuals are interconnected.† (p.70). The aforementioned trends discussed appear to be in line with the current state of New Zealand. Helliwell et. al. (2012) found New Zealand ranked as the 13th happiest country in the world. This was attributed due to a low unemployment rate (6.2%), divorce number down (stats.govt.nz), and ranking high on education as well as freedom. (Helman, 2013). However, when looking at the top 50 richest countries in the world (aneki.com) New Zealand does not even make an appearance. However, it is safe to assume that new  consumerism and the â€Å"aspirational gap† still apply to New Zealand as the countries spending ($2,578 million) is higher than its GDP ($211,678 million). (stats.govt.nz). It certainly appears that money does not buy you happiness. Rather being poor is correlated with low levels of well-being. Money in itself can provide a person with security, but increased income does not appear to have an effect on overall happiness. Looking at Maslow’s theory, a person could have all the money in the world but if they are alone and do not have a loving community of friends and family to share it with they are almost always going to be unhappy. Rather, happiness is determined by a large number of factors with an emphasis on basic needs such as food and water, as well as friendships and belonging to a loving community. Consumption of materialistic objects and the aspiration for more money negatively affects our well-being. References Benin, M.H. and B.C. Nierstedt: 1985, ‘Happiness in single- and dual- earner families: The effects of marital happiness’, job satisfaction and life cycle, Journal of Marriage and the Family 47, pp. 975–984. Bond, R. Smith, P. B. (1996). Culture and conformity: a meta-analysis of studies using asch’s (1952b, 1956) line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin, 119(1), 111–137. Maslow, Abraham H. 1943 A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50: 370-396. Helliwell, J., Layard, R., Sachs, J. (2012). World Happiness Report. Centre for Economic Performance. The Earth Institute Columbia University. Helman, C. (2013). The world’s happiest (And Saddest) countries. http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/10/29/the-worlds-happiest-and-saddest-countries-2013/ Inglehart, R.: 1990, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ). Myers, D.G.: 2000, ‘The funds, friends and faith of happy p eople’, American Psychologist 55(1), pp. 56–67. Myers, D. G. Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6(1), 10–19. Offer, A. (2006). The challenge of affluence: self-control and well-being in the United States. Williams, J. (2014) Consumption and Well-being. Chapter 12. P. 104 – 127. Zaichkowsky, J. L. (1994). The personal involvement inventory: reduction, revision, and application to advertising. Journal of Advertising, 23(4), 59–69.

The Need to Eliminate the Abusive Treatment of Muslim Women Essay

The Need to Eliminate the Abusive Treatment of Muslim Women Thirty thousand men and boys poured into the dilapidated Olympic sports stadium in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. Street hawkers peddle nuts, biscuits and tea to the waiting crowd. The scheduled entertainment? They were there to see a young woman, Sohaila, receive 100 lashes, and to watch two thieves have their hands chopped off. Sohaila had been arrested while walking with a man who was no relation to her, a sufficient crime for her to be found guilty of adultery. Since she was single, it was punishable by flogging or a series of lashes; had she been married, she would have been publicly stoned to death (Goodwin). Goodwin also stated that as Sohaila, completely covered in shroud-like burqa veil, was forced to kneel and then whipped, Taliban 'Cheerleaders' had the stadium ringing with chants of onlookers. Among those present there were only three women: the young Afghan, and two female relatives who accompanied her. Women are treated unfairly all around the world, but in some places, worse than others. In Afghanistan, women are not allowed to do much of anything. They are restricted to their homes and are not allowed to exit without a good reason. Also, they must be fully covered. Women are not even allowed to leave the house if they need medical assistance. It is also illegal for women to show off any part of a their body to anyone other than their husbands. Meetings, even among groups of women, are prohibited in Afghanistan. They are banned from getting an education and from employment. They are treated as their husbands' possessions. (Courcey) Muslim women should have the right to be present in public without hiding their identity. What have women done t... ...tor on staff would not have been allowed to remove her clothes." When women are punished for any contact with a male, the punishment can result in death. Other punishments include lashes and mutilation of the limbs. There is hope for these women, such as Sohaila. People around the world and especially from the United States are on their side. They are not only fighting for these women's rights, but their lives as well. These womens importance will be returned through cooperation, and they will once again be appreciated. Works Cited Courcey, Kevin. "Freethought & Women's Rights." Freedom From Religion Foundation. March 1998. December 5, 2001 <www.ffrf.org/fttoday/march98/courcey.html>. Goodwin, Jan. "Buried Alive: Afghan Women Under the Taliban." Echonyc. February 27, 1998. December 3, 2001 <www.mosaic.echonyc.com/~onissues/su98goodwim.html >.