The Sister Revealed :: essays research papers fc

The Sisters Revealed Blog Sisters’ (www.BlogSisters.com) slogan â€Å"Where men can link, but they can’t touch† describes itself very well. The Website is a team blog with over one hundred registered female members of all ages who â€Å"come together to share knowledge, ideas, stories, conversation, wisdom, and the occasional dirty jokes† (Sessum). Jeneane Sessum founded Blog Sisters in February 2002 based on the premise that men bloggers outnumber women bloggers by a great amount. The Sisters come from diverse backgrounds but have a common passion for blogging. The members range in age from upper teens to early 70’s. They come from different countries including Australia, Canada, India, Poland, Russia, and Latvia. Members include married mothers, single mothers, married childless women, single women, professional technicians, writers, employed, unemployed, feminists, and non-feminist women. In this blog women share information, ideas, problems, advice and simply â€Å"vent†. Some of Blog Sisters’ discussions deal with breast cancer, divorce, and human right abuses. Some of the latest posts include a parody of Senate hearings with Condoleezza Rice (Cooper); criticism of Bush’s â€Å"Culture of Life† rally; a review of a book The Good Body by Eve Ensler (Suyaffolee); and a marriage discussion (Wells). The archives of the blog date back to February 2002 with the first entry posted by the founder to welcome the Sisters. Ever since the first entry the members have been posting regularly, from one to fifteen entries a day. It is no surprise that women in this blog are well educated and many have at least one degree in fields such as Literature, English, Educational Administration, Sinology, Journalism, Business, and Neuroscience. Many members are (or were at some point) schoolteachers or college and university instructors. The women appear to be technologically up-to-date: in touch with their computer and web browser skills. Most of the members have a blog of their own. Jill Walker, Elizabeth Lawley, and misbehaving.net are affiliated with Blog Sisters. The posts are versatile: besides politics the blog features topics such as relationships, religion, entertainment, economy, and even a recipe Green Bean Casserole. After reading some of the entries it becomes clear that these women like to mix entertaining, informative and educational comments on every day life. Although the members have different values and opinions there is a sense of mutual respect observed among the women. Despite numerous controversial issues there has never been an inappropriate or offensive comment (Frankonis). A lot of these women live by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s quote â€Å"Well-behaved women seldom make history.

The Psychic Tradition :: Psychic Essays

The Psychic Tradition Methodology The first thing that I did to conduct my research was to brainstorm the various places where I could find both fact and opinion concerning the role that the psychic realm plays within society. The most obvious choice was to visit a practicing psychic. I know of a psychic that works in my hometown of Nashville, Indiana. I tried on several occasions to contact her by phone and request permission for an interview, however, failed to do so. (First bit of knowledge acquired: psychics do not always follow office hours). I decided to try and meet with her in person and during meantime wrote a few pages of questions to ask during the interview in case conversation came to a lull (or in case I started to choke up). Next, I thought it might be interesting to see what a . free. phone psychic experience would be like. I called up Ms. Cleo, amongst the numerous others offered in the telephone book and on the T.V. I then went to the library and checked out five books. Two of the books went over the history of psychic abilities and the various methods and definitions. One of the books discussed Nostradamus. I felt it was necessary to review his prophecies considering he has had such profound effects on societies throughout time. The last two books consist of an autobiography and a biography, both of which are somewhat recent accounts of psychics living in a time we are all familiar with. Next, I decided to conduct a video survey, including mostly collage-age students, of opinions surrounding some of the key subjects that I had been researching. Additionally, I included a few demonstrations of supposed psychic phenomenon for those who do not posses the power of purely mental insight on the video. By December 2nd I was becoming very weary of trying to get a hold of Nashville. s local psychic, so I called a friend of mine up who has a history of dealing with the metaphysical and recently got hired as a psychic advisor by Ms. Cleo. She participated in an audio-reco rded interview that lasted around twenty minutes. Description The Gilgamesh Epic contains the first recorded prophets from 2000 B.C. Today, we see Ms. Cleo on the T.V.

Edward Reighn 1042-1053 Essay

How effectively did Edward deal with the problems he faced during the first part of his reign, 1042-1053? When Edward came into power in 1042, England was in a poor state financially and also because of threats of an invasion and this made the first few years of his rule difficult. Edward was faced with many problems which he had to overcome. These problems involved; powerful Earls, (especially the Godwine’s), the foreign policy and the domestic policy. Edward both failed and succeeded in these problems due to a number of factors. These include a lack of knowledge about his kingdom and some may argue that he was naà ¯ve in his decisions. With some evaluation, we will be able to judge if Edward was a successful King or not. One of the problems Edward faced was because of the weak position he was in: He had been in exile for 25 years in Normandy; therefore he had no knowledge of the English politics and structure of the country. He also had no strong political allies such as Earls and Thegns to aid him with ruling the country effectively and to everyone’s best interests. One of his biggest rivals was Earl Godwine; Godwine was a politically powerful character at this time. Before Edward became King, he had allied himself to King Cnut and married Gytha who was a relative of Cnut. From 1040 onwards, he was the second richest man in the country after the king so therefore, he was in a very powerful position compared to King Edward as he had strong political allies, and great knowledge of England. Earl Godwine played a massive role in Edward becoming a King; he persuaded the Earls to accept him. This may be so that Godwine could dominate Edward in ruling the country or to convince him of his loyalty. In the early years of Edwards reign, Godwine took advantage of his weak position and got his family members; Sweyn, Harold and Beorn the position of Earls. His Daughter Edith, also became Edwards wife in 1045, Godwine had used his power and authority to get his family members into strong position. Godwine was an â€Å"over mighty subject† and Edward needed to counteract this. To gain more power, Edward put Normans into powerful and key positions, his nephew Ralf was made an Earl, and large estates were given to Bretons (Robert Fitzwimarc and Ralf the Staller). By 1051, Edward had managed to appoint Normans as bishops, and eventually half were filled by Englishmen and the other half by Normans and other foreigners; Godwine and English Earls hated this. In 1050, the Archbishop of Canterbury died and instead of Godwine’s relative Aelfric being appointed, he made Robert of Jumieges Archbishop instead. The witans supported this decision, this may have been because Godwine was in such a strong position that the other Earls were jealous. So overall,Edward had not been a complete success with regards to gaining power over Godwine as he hadn’t managed to appoint all the positions to Normans and only got one up on Godwine when appointing archbishop as there was rivalry between the Earls. However, even though Edward had got one up on Godwine, Godwine was still responsible for the murder of his brother Alfred. Godwine had arrested Alfred and killed some of his followers, he was then taken out of Godwine’s hands and but on board a ship where soon afterwards he soon died. In 1046, Godwin’s eldest son Sweyn abducted a nun and used her as a sex slave, when this was put to light he was sent into exile to Flaunders and Denmark and his land was shared between his brother Harold and his cousin Beorn. As Godwine was unable to prevent this, its shows how King Edward did have some power over him. However, in 1049 Sweyn returned in the hope of getting Beorn and Harold to help him regains the Kings trust, they refused to do this which eventually led in Sweyn killing Beorn. Again, he had committed a crime, but this was of international significance as Beorn was the Kings brother. This resulted in Sweyn being declared as nothing by King Edward and his counsellors, with his lands being handed to the Kings French nephew, Ralf of Mantes. Again in 1050, Sweyn returned back to England and was surprisingly pardoned by the King. This shows that Edward was very naà ¯ve and vulnerable in respect with having to make decisions independently. The Godwine’s were an incredibly influential power in England, and Edwards actions show that he in unable to keep them out of power for very long. During Edwards reign, there was a big threat of England being invaded by the Scandinavians and Vikings. Some of these people had claims to the throne and wanted to take over the country and claim their positions. Swein had appealed for Edwards help however, Edward decided to adopt the â€Å"wait and see policy†. This policy was non-interventionist and meant that he didn’t get involved with other countries problems. In the end Harold Hardrada and Swein were fighting for supremacy in Scandinavia which meant they didn’t invade England. This resulted in the Foreign policy being a success. England was benefited hugely as people were financially wealthier as they didn’t have to pay extra tax, also Edward was becoming more independent in his decisions with law and order as his decisions only seemed to have positive effects on the country; during Edwards reign, England was not invaded, staying out of the situation kept England safe. Edwards popularity soared with the public as they were saving money which benefitted their families. Another problem Edward had to overcome during his reign was the domestic policy. Edward had to decide how the country needed ruling and what the best policies were. If he chooses an unpopular and inappropriate policy the country would be in a disaster and he would receive even less support which he desperately needed as he was already in a weak position. As the foreign policy was a great success, Edward was able to reform the domestic policy and abolished the yearly geld in 1051 which paid for 14 manned ships to be a permanent defence for the country, instead he made an agreement with the Cinque Ports, (these were Sandwich, Dover, Fordwich, Romney and Hythe). In emergencies these ports would supply manned warships to defend the country. This new policy meant that the public didn’t have to pay the geld but the Cinque Ports had to ensure that they were ready for an emergency. As a result the population became better off without having to pay the tax, therefore Edwards’s popularity dramatically increased putting him in a stronger position. Edward took a massive gamble with reforming the domestic policy; it was both naà ¯ve and forward thinking. If England had been invaded in Edwards reign it would have had a devastating effect on the country. On the other hand Edward gained a lot more support from the public; this strengthened his position as a King. Edward had succeeded in relation to the foreign policy and the domestic policy. Overall, I think that Edward was a successful King although some of his decisions succeeded down to luck. With regards to the powerful Earls, he was able to overcome this problem as he got many of his trusted Normans into key positions but because there were also power struggles between the Earls then in some decisions they supported him to degrade Godwine, so therefore they were not trusted and reliable allies to Kind Edward. Both the Foreign policy and the Domestic policy were a success, they gained support from the country but Edward was incredibly lucky that the country was not invaded during his reign. Edward was very forward thinking in his decisions, and did become a successful King even though in the first few years of his reign he faced many problems.

Issues and Traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Essay

Religion takes on many different forms and there are several definitions in as many languages used to describe the practices. For the purposes of this paper, the following basic definition will be used. Religion is the belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. Also, a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship (Company, 2000). This paper will examine three major religions of today: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. An attempt will be made to identify the top two current issues each religion faces as well as look at two sacred traditions and study the significance and major characteristics of each. Judaism Judaism is monotheistic in nature and has been described as a religion, a race, a culture, and a nation. All of these descriptions have some validity to them but Judaism is best described by some as an extended family (Rich, 2006). This extended family consists of four movements Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist. All of which, still find themselves victims of discrimination known as anti-Semitism which is based on stereotypes and myths and often invokes the belief that Jews have extraordinary influence with which they conspire to harm or control society. For those Jews living in the Middle East there is also the very real danger and threats from a powerful country possibly in possession of nuclear weapons. The president of Iran threatened them publicly with annihilation. Discrimination and threats of violence Jews are a very real part of Jewish life but there are just as many positive popular time honored traditions that exists still today. One of which is the wedding tradition. The tradition begins with the husband signing a Ketabuh, the groom’s marital contractual obligation to the bride. The groom is then led to the Chuppah, a tarp this symbolizes their future home together. The bride is led in with singing and dances and then she circles the groom seven and comes to stand to the right of him. After several additional steps the marriage is blessed and ends in a wedding feast. Another Jewish tradition performed prior to Yom Kippur is called the ceremony of kapparot. The practice was first discussed at the beginning of the ninth century. It was believed that the sins of an individual could be transferred to a fowl, a rooster for men and a hen for women. The fowl was to be held over the head and swung in a circle three times while the following was spoken: â€Å"This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement; this rooster (or hen) shall go to its death, but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace. † (Schwartz, 2009) The fowl was then donated to the poor and hoped to take on any misfortune that might have occurred to the one who took part in the ritual. The primary sacred text used by the Jews is the Torah. Christianity is currently noted to be the largest religion in the world today, with around two billion followers. Christian beliefs center on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the son of God. Jesus’ teachings focused on the kingdom of God, love of God, and love of one another. Today there are many different views his teachings and the meaning of some forms of love. One of the most controversial topics in the faith today is that of practicing homosexuality. The Christian bible stems from the Jewish sacred text which banned homosexuality of any kind. The bible even talks of God destroying two cities over homosexual behavior (Clark, 2009). Today many leaders condone the behavior and some are even practicing it themselves. While homosexuality may serve as a religious divider here in the U. S. , persecution is served cold as a divisionary disabling tactic abroad. It is the number one issue facing many Christians today, outright discrimination as in the case with Jews as mentioned earlier. In countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Saudi Arabia, and others Christians are being martyred because of their refusal to denounce Christianity. Everyday there are approximately 465 people killed because they will not give up their faith in Jesus (Dearmore, 2009). Most Christians in the U. S. attend a church service of some kind one to three times a week. This is a time honored tradition, just as the wedding tradition is in Judaism. The reason behind this is to participate in a time of fellowship with one another. Normally, the tradition includes worship service, private and corporate prayer, the study and reading of scriptures, and collection of tithes and offerings. There is also the coming together for celebration of special holidays. The most important Christian holiday is Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ and Christmas the celebration of his birth. Christian practices differ by denomination. Easter is a central theme for most if not all denominations. The origin of the word â€Å"Easter† is not certain but it was probably derived from Estre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring (Dreamweaver, 2009). It is a celebration of the central event of the Christian faith, the belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day following his death and burial. It is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important day of the church year. There is evidence that the resurrection used to be celebrated every Sunday until some point in the first two centuries when it was agreed to move it to once a year. The sacred text of Christianity is the Bible. Islam The Islamic religion is monotheistic in nature; they follow one God named Allah. The primary meaning of Islam is peace and the prime message is the Unity of God. Islam identifies Jesus and John the Baptist as prophets. They also believe that there will be no other prophet after the prophet Muhammad. One of the primary concerns facing the Muslim community still today is retribution after the terrorists’ attacks of 11 Sept 2001. Many Islamic followers faced discrimination on all fronts because of the fear of their culture and religious stereotyping (Clark, 2009). The attacks on American soil left a scary imprint of terror in the minds and hearts of many. The media portrayal added fuel to the fire and did nothing to ease the tensions caused by the scary pictures of death left behind. Unfortunately, there is also the fight with fundamentalist ideology and division among their own religious sects. Some groups are teaching others to hate Jews, Christians, and Americans as well as others. In the midst of this hate is a tradition of peace and goodwill towards others. One of the most important traditions is the observance of the Five Pillars of Islam. This involves witnessing to the fact that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. The second pillar is Salat, facing toward Mecca, the Holy Land of Muhammad, five times a day and kneeling in prayer. The third pillar is Alms giving, which encompasses giving charitably to other Muslims. The fourth is the performance of a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Last is to observe fasting during Ramadan. Muslims normally worship in Mosque; they kneel prostrate on small prayer rugs. The rugs may look to be small oriental carpets. Muslims kneel as a sign of humility before God. There is only one requirement that the place of prayer be clean. The rug is approximately one meter in length just long enough for an adult to fit on comfortably. When prayer time comes the rug is placed on the ground with the top pointed in the direction of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. After prayer the rug is immediately folded and put away until next time. The Arabic word for a prayer rug is â€Å"sajada,† which comes from the same root word (SJD) as â€Å"masjed† (mosque) and â€Å"sujud† (prostration) (Huda, What are prayer rugs, and how are they used by Muslims? ). This paper discussed three major religions of today and two current issues that they face. It also examined the characteristics of some of their valued traditions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have one central theme in common besides the discrimination they all endure; they are all monotheistic in nature. They all believe in their own sacred text, their own version of truth. References http://islam.about.com/od/prayer/f/prayer_rugs.htm http://www.jewfaq.org/judaism.htm http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/kapparot.html

Edgar Allan Poe Biography

In the early 19th century when Poe lived, the United States was an important time for the foundation of literary development with national development. American literature has come to the American Romantic era by pursuing its own free expression based on the New World America. In my opinion, â€Å"The fall of the house of Usher† is a form that has a relatively realistic thinking about superstition and introduces a speaker who wants to think scientifically and shows the fantastic and bizarre experiences for the reader on behalf of the reader. This novel is a representative novel that expresses the fantasy and mystery as the American romanticism literally. As well, the writer refers to â€Å"the exploration of human psychology and self† through the novel. He used the theme to create gruesome horror novels that stimulate fundamental fears among humans. First, let me introduce the characters in the novel. There are only three characters in the novel. The narrator (this novel is made up of the first person), Roderick Usher and Madeline Usher. In this novel, information about the narrator is given he is old friend of Roderick, and he visits the mansion because Roderick's invitation. The narrator takes care of Roderick as a faithful friend, but the narrator isn't directly involved in solving problems in the novel. He only observes Roderick and his sister and the environment. So, I think that the narrator is the reader, and the reader is the narrator. Next, Roderick is a major figure in this story. He suffers from morbidity. For example, he can only wear specific textures of clothing, and all the smells and all the light hurt him. Last, Roderick's twin sister Madeline has long been Roderick's companion, and she is Roderick's second ANIMA. She suffers from alcohol and sleepwalking and doesn't know the world around her at all. She has cataleptic that makes her helpless and has a deep effect on Roderick.Second, the conflict in the novel begins with Roderick and Madeline. Roderick was afraid of the impact he had on his sister so, he buries her alive. However, Madeline doesn't die. Instead, she comes back to take revenge on Roderick who tried to kill her. When she kills him, the conflict between the two reaches its peak. The mansion collapse centrally the crack line when Madeline and Roderick died. I think this scene fights who will take the â€Å"I† and eventually succumbs to fighting both selves and losing â€Å"I† The writer warns readers that if they lose their self, they become like RoderickThird, the setting of the novel is Usher's mansion, southern Paris, France. Overall, the mansion is gloomy. For example, according to the story, the narrator describes the house as resembling the image of a face or a skull with eye-like windows, and hair of fungus. This depressing house shape gives a supernatural atmosphere. This mansion refers Roderick's ego as well. There is a â€Å"crack line† in the middle of the mansion exterior. This crack line suggests that Roderick's ego is separated into two anima of Roderick and Madeline. As the relationship between the characters deteriorates, the crack line becomes longer and later, the crack line helps to collapse the house. This expression shows Roderick's self is falling down.Next, the novel mood is totally terrifying. Because Poe's expression is the Gothic interior in the house, including the desolate environment around the mansion, creating a horror atmosphere. According to the story, â€Å"Another servant, of quiet step, led me without a word through many dark turnings to the room of his master. I don't know how to do that, I have already spoken. While the objects around me – the dark wall coverings, the blackness of the floors †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Before the start of the novel, the author suggests that this novel isn't a normal story by quoting one of Pierre Bà ©ranger's poem â€Å"Le Refus†. † During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens †¦ † As well, the speaker reads Roderick's Gothic novel, it overlaps the sound of the Madeline coffin splitting up from the basement. This scene made the novel more terrifying.As I said before, the author referred to â€Å"the exploration of human psychology and self† through novels. He was worried that he would have psychosis when he was alive. I think that the author seems to express his insecurity about his psychological feelings and the consideration about his anima through this novel.As for me, this novel was interested. Actually, I'm not first to read this book. Because I like reading mystery authors' novels such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Miyabe Miyuki, including Edgar Allan Poe. When I read many novels, I found out that even the same mystery novelist has different writing style. Poe focuses primarily on human self and psychology. Especially, this book has a humanistic and psychological plot and a gothic atmosphere. I think that these make the novel more horrific, impressive fantastic and sensual. As I mentioned earlier, the main theme of this novel is â€Å"the quest for human psychology and self†. I think it is important to find self. Because, by looking for the self, it makes it exist as â€Å"I† and it also makes me don't forget about myself. If you lose â€Å"I†, your self will fall down like the end of a novel. It was very impressive that I could read the traces of the author's thought through the novel.

What characterizes 21st century university students Essay

What characterizes 21st century university students - Essay Example Rapidly developing technologies change the way people collect, use, and transmit information. In fact, they change the relationship between a person and knowledge he gets. Sir Francis Bacon pointed it out that knowledge is power. It is the main factor in the education. However the present situation has changed approaches in obtaining this key factor. G. Graff in The Ships in the Night tells about two undergraduate students; one of them claims that he trashes objectivity in art history, and thus he presupposes it in political science. When asked which course she prefers, another student replies: „Well, I’m getting an A in bothâ€Å". These examples imply that the students have become cynical relativists. A. Bloom in The Student and the University tells about a student of A. Koyre, who has written in his paper Mr. Aristotle, having in mind the image of contemporary but not the Ancient philosopher. Both authors discuss not only problem of institutional matters, but qualiti es of the students, as well. As a current student , I learnt two different academic approaches: the middle-European and the American one. Although the two educational systems differ in many aspects, there is a certain common feature: students face enough difficulties in their way of getting a good education. And it is not only students’ fault.... Graff argues that, what is learned seems so specific to a particular course that it is difficult for students to see its application beyond. The author compares the situation with ships in the night, which are lonely, without a clear perspective of the way they are following, and with no conversation between them. The ships in the night follow the different directions, although they could have cooperated. Broadening the question, Bloom argues that universities now offer no â€Å"distinctive vision†; this implies the presence of â€Å"a democracy of the disciplines† and ability to choose any course one wants. When a student arrives at the university, â€Å"he finds a bewildering variety of departments and a bewildering variety of courses† (Bloom, 1996). According to Bloom, there is neither an official guidance, nor a university agreement of what he should study. Thus, it is impossible to make a reasonable choice. Both, Graff and Bloom, discuss the contemporary uni versity education system problems, which deal first of all with absence of corresponding curriculum courses and at the same time with a big number of the courses, which can be taken. Except this, it is claimed that there is no conversation and connection among the courses – each discipline seems to be particularly different from others. A university as a knowledge server provides nowadays a great amount of information; there are even those courses, the very name of which seems to be vague: for instance, â€Å"Ways to philosophy†, â€Å"Modern society and sociological theories†, â€Å"Arguments about human nature†, â€Å"Dualist views development†, etc. Under these names there

Write an annotation entry consisting of a Citation, a brief Summary, Essay - 8

Write an annotation entry consisting of a Citation, a brief Summary, and a short paragraph Evaluation of the text below - Essay Example sident Obama acknowledged the fact that there is no need to have the Ferguson’s report to establish the truth that racial discrimination still exist in the current generation. Nia-Malika views that part of the speech as a way by which the president is making a call that people need to be cowards but focus on the past and not just the events of Ferguson to justify the existence of racial discrimination. Gwen reflects on the recent statement by the attorney general at the same event and asks if that is a responsibility or a burden to the first black president. In giving her response, Amy says that it is both a burden as well as a responsibility but admits that the speech by the president sought to offer hope and the realization not all is lost in the quest for a generation of impartial racial treatment. She admits that inequality still exist in the America society and it is closely tied to education and income. Gwen proceeds on another part of the speech in which the president directed his statements on close to 100 members of the Congress in the wake of their call to renew the voting rights Act. The president acknowledged the fact that the voting rights Act was one of the greatest achievement of American democracy which was as a result of the efforts by both the Republicans and the Democrats. The act was signed by various former presidents such as Reagan and Bush while they were in the Oval Office. Henderson argues that the statement has a lot of impact among the Republicans whom she considers to be a bit different from those of the past hence they are likely to show a different view of the Act. Amy considers the Act to be partially partisan in relation to geographical distribution of the various races in the Unites States. On the part of Hillary Clinton using her personal emails for official duties, Amy comments that she has to stand out on her own to defend herself without expecting the help of anyone. The interview by Gwen is very useful as it offers a deeper