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Visual Art During The Middle Ages And The Renaissance

IWT1 TASK1 Visual Art in The Middle Ages and The Renaissance The Middle Ages spanned from 400 to 1400 A.D. During this period, often referred to as the Medieval Period, began after the fall of the Roman Empire. After Rome fell Europeans found that they no longer had a single state or government and they turned to the Catholic Church which soon became the most powerful institution of the era. Throughout the Medieval Period Kings, Queens and other leaders relied on their alliances with the church for much of their power. In the Middle Ages religion was so central to society that small villages were built around churches and in larger towns the community’s resources were spent on building huge cathedrals. These communities relied on the church to provide them with basic social services and protection as well as spiritual guidance. Art during The Middle Ages was used as a way to teach because so few people could read. The church used art to aid in the telling of spiritual stories and to provide important symbolism to the people. Medieval period art was influenced by the Roman Empire, Christian iconography and the Byzantine culture of the Middle East. A common trait of medieval art was to show important figures as larger than other figures around them. These figures showed little emotion. Their expressions were serious and the figures themselves seemed stiff and two dimensional. Most of these traits were consistent with the use of art for religious edification and as such mostShow MoreRelatedArt Of The Renaissance : Questions And Vocabulary1283 Words   |  6 PagesAssignment 12.5 (Art in the Renaissance) Assignment- Questions and Vocabulary Terms: Giotto, Masaccio, Botticelli, Perspective, Guild, Artisan, Apprentice, Patron, High Renaissance, Pope Julius II, Michelangelo, Northern Renaissance, madrigal. 1) Giotti di Bondone (1266-1337) was an Italian artist and architect from Florence in the very late Middle Ages. He is considered to be one of the most important artists in Italy because he contributed greatly to the Renaissance style of painting and art in generalRead MoreHow Did the Period of Renaissance Alter Man’s View of Man? Essay1057 Words   |  5 PagesThe Renaissance period was a truly enlightening period in history that birthed many great advancements in all fields of science, and inventions. How did the period of time we know as, â€Å"The Renaissance†, change or alter man’s view of man? Well, we know that in the Middle Ages, the Church had authority over most people, and people had very few rights. In 1400’s, the Middle Ages had ended and then began the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a monumental change in Europe which lasted for 300 years. HumanityRead More Italian Renaissance Arts Affect on Todays Culture Essay921 Words   |  4 PagesI talian Renaissance Arts Affect on Todays Culture World History Many of us today have things in our culture that we appreciate without thinking about where they have come from. The things we enjoy so much could be from another culture, and even another place in time. This document will explore the influence of Italian Renaissance art on todays civilization, which has greatly changed the art of today. The Renaissance was a time period that began in the early 1300s and lasted into the 1600sRead MoreThe Influence Of Humanism In The Italian Renaissance853 Words   |  4 Pages The Influence of Humanism on the Visual Arts During the Renaissance, a program of study known as humanism, impacted education, art, politics, and ultimately shaped the Italian Renaissance. Humanism is defined as â€Å"a program of study designed by Italians that emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature.†[1] Humanism changed people’s views and allowed them to start portraying people in a more realistic and relatable way. Many artists beganRead MoreThe Transition Of Medieval Western Civilization970 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Modern Age placed Western Europe in a position of global, political, and technological dominance and most importantly gave rise to the core of western thought: humanism and individualism. This hallmark thought however, would be nonexistent without the arts. The arts and artists of the Renaissance period and the Enlightenment reflect the prevailing values of not only Western Europe but in fact the Western world as a whole. Prior to th e Renaissance, Europe was lost in the Middle Ages, situatingRead MoreArt with Science: The Italian Renaissance and Art1479 Words   |  6 PagesButterfield 27). The Italian Renaissance is famous for its art which includes unique style of painting and sculpting, however, the Renaissance made significant remark on the use of scientific techniques which also can be considered as the influence of classical ideas. Although, classical ideas were not advanced like in the Renaissance, it provided the foundation for the Renaissance to revive it again. The Italian Renaissance transformed the manner of viewing the arts. Before, most people in ItalyRead MoreImpact Of The Renaissance751 Words   |  4 PagesWhenever I think about the renaissance, I think of the of the dark ages. The Renaissance was a period in European history, that took place during the 14th through the 17th century. Accordant Leonardo da Vinci he describes the culture of the Renaissance as â€Å"the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages†. Renaissance started in Italy during the period of medieval, then it slowly spread throughout Europe. The term Renaissance over the years, has become synonymous with ideas of expanding, rebirth and culturalRead MoreEssay about Early Renaissance Art918 Words   |  4 Pages Art has gone through many significant developments throughout history. The most important turning point was the renaissance. Art took a huge turn before the 1500’s and even after. The Renaissance has assisted the world of art in breaking away from a classic structure and shaping it to what it is day. Prior to this cultural rebirth, artworks were mostly not made to scale. Paintings were unrealistic and disproportionate. Religious figures seemed to be the focus of many works. The Renaissance changedRead MoreRenaissance And Realism Of Arts Essay2282 Words   |  10 PagesFUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS, METHODS, MODES IN THE HUMANITIES Two arts periods: Renaissance and Realism of Arts Introduction Jacob Burckhardt was an Italian historian who had developed the notion of the Renaissance, which meant ‘Rebirth’. It united the Greco-Roman civilization during the ancient times marking the beginning of a completely new era between 1350C.E. and 1550C.E. The Renaissance resulted in the birth of modern society concerned with the revival of antiquity and exaggerated secularismRead MoreThe Philosophy Of Humanism During The Early Renaissance1438 Words   |  6 PagesA significant increase in secular art began in the early Renaissance because of an enormous gain of wealth by Florence in the early 15th century. The philosophy of humanism began, combining the values of both spirituality and the worth of the human mind and experience. The republics people valued the individualism in humanism, believing their society and its values to represent liberty and freedom. (Harris Zucker, n.d., para.6). As a result, wealth combined with an interest in portraying individual

Matthew Arnold free essay sample

Matthew arrnold one of foremost critic of 19th century is often regarded as father of modern english criticism . Arnolds work as literary critic started with Preface to poems in 1853 . It is a kind of manifesto of his critical creed . It reflects classicism as well his views on grand poetic style . Arnold was classicist who loved art , literature and Hellenic culture . His most famous piece of literary criticism is in his essay The study of poetry . In this workhe talks about poetrys high destiny . He belives mankind will discover that we have to turn poetry to interpret life for us ,to console us ,to sustain us . Arnold lived in a materialistic world where advancement of science has led society in a strange darkneess . Importace of religion was submerged . People were becoming fact seekers . A gap was being devloped and Arnold belived poetry could fill that gap . In his words Our religion has materialized itself in the fact , and the fact is now failing it . We will write a custom essay sample on Matthew Arnold or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But for poetry the idea is everything ,the rest is world of illusion , of devine illusion . Arnold wrote without poetry our science will appear incomplete ;and most of what now passes with religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry . He had definite aim in writing poetry . It was criticism of life By criticism of life he meant noble and profound application of ideasof life . He said poetry should serve a greater purpose instead of becoming a mere medium of gaining pleasure and appreciating beauty . According to him the best poetry is criticism of life , abiding laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty . By poetic truth he meant repersentation of life in true way . By poetic beauty he meant manner and style of poetry . He said poet should be a man with enormous experience . His intellect should be highly devloped by means of enormous reading and deep critical thinking . Arnold says poetry is an application of ideas to life . If the application of ideas is powerful the poetry will become great . He also lays emphasis on quality of high seriousness It comes with sincerity which poet feels for his subject. Many critics disagreed Arnold ,T. S. Elliot a graet poet himself disagreed his view by saying Arnolds view is frigid to anyone who has felt the full surprise and elevation of new experience in poetry . Arnold classic poets include Dante , Milton , Homer and Shakespeare . He quotes famous line of Milton Nor thy life nor hate ; but what thou livest Live well : how ling or short , permit to heaven . According to Arnold Geoffrey chaucer was not a classic poet as he lacked high seriousness . Arnold said poetry should deal with ideas not facs . Ideas should be moral . He said moral should not be taken in narrow sense . He says poetry of revolt against life ; a poetry of indifference towards moral idea is a poetry of indifference towards life .

Madonna Of Raphael And Bellini Essays - Nude Art, Christian Art

Madonna Of Raphael And Bellini The subject matter of Maddona and Child was a very popular one for artists of the sixteenth century. Rapahel, and Giovanni Bellini both painted numerous versions of the Maddona and Child. While both of the artists viewed the subject as a religious and highly emotional expression, their portrayal of many other aspects differed greatly. While Raphael portrayed what seems to be a loving, warm relationship between mother and child, a lifelike Christ child, and serenity within his paintings, Bellini portrayed a relationship that seems distant relationship between mother and child, a deathlike image of the Christ child and a sense of depression and uneasiness within his works. Differences between the views of the artists on the portrayal of Maddona and Child can clearly be seen through the artists' use of colour, backgrounds in which the figures are placed, the poses of the figures and their relationships to one another. These can all be seen in many of the works by Bellini and Raphael, specifically, "The Small Cowper Madonna", and "Maddona Del Granduca" by Raphael and "Greek Madonna" and "Madonna of the Meadow" by Bellini. The subject of Maddona and Child is one that is highly emotional. Raphael and Bellini portray the Virgin and Child in two very different emotional states. Raphael, in his paintings, "The Small Cowper Madonna" and "Madonna Del Granduca", illustrates a very intense feeling of love between the Virgin and Child and a feeling of content with the love that the mother and child share. In both The Small Cowper Madonna and Madonna Del Granduca, the Virgin is looking at her son with an expression that seems very tranquil. She is almost smiling yet at the same time praying, in The Small Cowper Madonna. She seems to be totally engrossed with her child, (Web Museum). At the same time, the Child seems totally comfortable with this mother. He looks out at the viewer with a visionary, yet amiable gaze, showing his carefree, comfortable state of mind, as any happy toddler would have (Web Museum). In both "The Small Cowper Madonna" and "Madonna Del Granduca", the Virgin holds her child very close to her body and the Child holds onto his mother in return. The two figures seem totally at ease with one and other. Bellini's depiction, on the other hand, is a very different one from Raphael's. Bellini, in his "Madonna of the Meadows" and "Greek Madona", shows a mother who does not seem to be very blithe. In "Madonna of the Meadows", the Virgin seems to be praying. The expression on her face seems to be one of discontent, perhaps even concern. Her eyes do not seem to be focused on her child. The distance between the Virgin and Child is expressed even more strongly in "Greek Madonna". The Virgin has a despondent look on her face. She is looking in the direction of her child but almost seems to be looking through him. In both paintings, the Virgin does not hold her child close to her body as a mother would naturally do to her child, rather she is just close enough to his body that she could support it. In "Madonna of the Meadow", the Child's body lays on his mother's skirt, while the Virgin has no contact with him at all; her hands do not support the Child and the Child does not grab onto his mother. In "The Greek Madonna", though the Virgin does hold her child, she does not cradle him in a loving way, rather, she supports his body, though he does not touch her in any way. The relationship between the Virgin and Child depicted by Bellini in the two paintings portrays a peculiar and subtle tension that binds the Virgin and Child (Oliviari, page 4). Aside from their different expressions of emotions in their works on Madonna and Child , Bellini and Raphael also differ in their depiction of the Christ-child. Raphael portrays a animated child. In Raphael's "Small Cowper Madonna" and in his "Madonna Del Granduca", the Christ-child is depicted as a chubby baby with rosy cheeks and wide eyes, the way most healthy children appear. In both paintings, the Child has turned his head, and has linked his arms around his mother, giving an image of movement in the child. His gesture is a very natural one; each body part looks comfortable and well supported. The vision portrayed can be comprable to any portrait of a child of his age. The depiction does not foreshadow any tragedy for the future. Bellini

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Essays - English-language Films

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Essays - English-language Films 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne was born in France in 1828 and always had a love for the sea. He once tried to be a sea captain on a boat but things did not work out. Jules Verne has written many very famous books such as Journey To the Center of the Earth, Five Weeks in a balloon and Around the World in Eighty Days. I have written a review on one of his most famous books 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This book combines adventure, suspense and mystery throwing in a few pieces of information about life under the sea. The book begins with some great suspense, it begins with a boat chasing a giant monster that has destroyed some huge unsinkable ships. Every time they get close to this monster a giant stream of water shoots hundreds of feet into the air, causing the boat to back off. Once in a while the monster will disappear from sight for hours. While reading this part of the book the reader feels like he is on the boat chasing the monster also. A lot of times the boat gets close enough to the monster to catch it and thoughts of what you think the monster could be run through your head like crazy. When they finally make an attempt to capture it, it disappears beneath the depths of the ocean. One of the most suspenseful and mysterious parts of the book was when the characters were thrown into a big room inside the submarine that seemed to have no doors. At this point in the book the characters have no idea what was going on, neither does the reader. The only thing that happens during the time in this room is a man comes in and gives them some food, minutes later they all fell asleep. Why where they put to sleep, where is this room that seems to have no doors? This is just one of the hundreds of questions going through your head during these couple chapters of the book. When they wake up all the lights in the room are off and the submarine is shaking. When they finally meet and become comfortable with the captain they get an invitation to go hunting 2 miles under the sea. They put on these huge underwater suits that can withezd the pressure two miles under the sea, then the cabin fills up with water and a door opens. Two miles under the sea, what adventures are down there waiting for them? What amazing sites are two miles under the sea? What dangerous are awaiting people in the depths of the sea?

How to Apply to Grad School

How to Apply to Grad School Most applicants become anxious when they realize that graduate school applications are very different from college applications. What do you need to know when applying to graduate school? First, the process of getting into graduate school can be confusing and downright overwhelming. Yet nearly all grad school applications are consistent in requirements. These include the following: TranscriptsGRE or other standardized test scoresLetters of recommendationAdmissions essay(s), also known as a personal statement Ensure that your grad school application contains all of these components because incomplete applications translate into automatic rejections. Transcripts Your transcript provides information about your academic background. Your grades and overall GPA, as well as what courses youve taken, tell the admissions committee a great deal about who you are as a student. If your transcript is filled with easy As, such as those earned in classes like Basket Weaving 101, youll likely rank lower than a student who has a lower GPA comprised of courses in the hard sciences. You wont include your transcript in the application that you send to the graduate program. Instead, the registrars office at your school sends it. This means that youll have to visit the registrars office to request your transcript by completing forms for each graduate program to which youd like to forward a transcript. Begin this process early because schools require time to process your forms and send the transcripts (sometimes as much as two to three weeks). You dont want your application to be rejected because your transcript was late or never arrived. Be sure to check that your transcript has arrived at each of the programs to which youve applied. Graduate Record Exams (GREs) or Other Standardized Test Scores Most graduate programs require standardized exams  such as the GREs  for admission.   Law, medical  and business schools usually require different exams (the LSAT, MCAT  and GMAT, respectively). Each of these exams is standardized, meaning that they are normed, permitting students from different colleges to be compared meaningfully. The GRE is similar in structure to the SATs but taps your potential for graduate-level work. Some programs also require the GRE Subject Test, a standardized test that covers the material in a discipline (e.g., Psychology). Most graduate admissions committees are inundated with applications, so apply cut-off scores to the GRE, considering only applications that have scores above the cut-off point. Some, but not all, schools reveal their average GRE scores in their admissions material and in graduate school admissions books. Take standardized tests early (typically, the spring or summer before you apply) to guide your selection of programs  and to ensure that your scores arrive at the schools you want to get in early. Letters of Recommendation The GRE and GPA components of your grad school application portray you in numbers. The letter of recommendation is what permits the committee to begin thinking of you as a person. The efficacy of your letters rests on the quality of your relationships with professors.   Take care and choose appropriate references. Remember that a good recommendation letter helps your application tremendously but a bad or even neutral letter will send your graduate application into the rejection pile. Do not ask for a letter from a professor who knows nothing more about you than the fact that you got an A such letters do not enhance your application, but detract from it. Be courteous and respectful in asking for letters and provide enough information to help the professor write a valuable letter. Letters from employers can also be included if they include information on your duties and aptitude relating to your field of study (or your motivation and quality of work, overall). Skip getting letters from friends, spiritual leaders and public officials.   Admissions Essay The admissions essay is your opportunity to speak up for yourself. Carefully structure your essay. Be creative and informative as you introduce yourself and explain why you want to attend graduate school and why each program is a perfect match to your skills. Before you begin writing, consider your qualities. Think about who will be reading your statement and what they are looking for in an essay. Not only are they committee members; they are scholars who are searching for the kind of motivation that implies a dedicated and intrinsic interest in the matters dealt with in their field of study. And they are looking for someone who will be productive and interested in their work. Explain your relevant skills, experiences, and accomplishments into your essay. Focus on how your educational and occupational experiences such as research led you to this program. Dont rely only on emotional motivation (such as I want to help people or I want to learn). Describe how this program will benefit you (and how your skills can benefit the faculty within it), where you see yourself in the program and how it fits into your future goals. Be specific: What do you offer?   Interview Although not part of the application, some programs use interviews to get a look at finalists. Sometimes what looks like a great match on paper isnt in person. If youre asked to interview for a graduate program, remember that this is your opportunity to determine how well a fit the program is for you. In other words, youre interviewing them, as much as they are interviewing you.

Favorite Place Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Favorite Place - Personal Statement Example The fascination for Hawaii grew more and more after watching every new episode. One odd day, I asked my Dad if he could send me on a vacation to Hawaii. Although I wasn't too optimistic but I was astonished when he agreed and brought the tickets the very same day. After a long flight, I woke up with the biggest smile because I was in Hawaii. I found heaven at twenty-one degrees North and one hundred fifty-six degrees West, in the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is heaven. I was in love with this place right at my first glance. From the scenic volcanoes to the picturesque coral reefs, Hawaii is picture perfect. The milieu is immaculate to showcase the contrasting nature. Even the most fastidious people on earth would find it difficult to argue. With the advent of the sun in the morning, I put on my freshly made orchid lei. I enjoy smelling the sweet, floral aroma all day long. The beach appeared tailored to hug the waves of the ocean. I strolled on the beach and could easily spend the entire day over it either listening to my IPOD or simply reading a book. The warm, soft sand is brownish-tan in color, and it feels so good when my feet sink into it. I love hearing the brilliantly blue ocean calling out to me with its mellifluous voice. The beach also has a very distinct smell, the mixture of tropical tanning oils and the salty ocean water.

Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Essay Example Human tries to first achieve deficiency needs than after he tries to achieve growth needs that are continually shaping behavior [Wikipedia]. Biological and Physiological needs: Physiological needs take highest priority, because it can control thoughts and behaviors causing people to feel sick, pain and discomfort. These types of needs mainly consist of air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion Safety needs: This need comes after the Physiological needs are met. This is a natural phenomenon that one moves next level after achieving one stage. Everyone wants to have safety and security. This may be for physical security, health security, employment security, revenues, property and resources security, moral and physiological security, family security, etc. Belongingness and Love needs: When physiological and safety needs are met than human want to have social needs that mainly involves emotionally based relationships. This type of needs is workgroup, supportive and communicative family, affection, relationships, Friendship, and sexual intimacy. A human nature needs to feel belonging and acceptances from social group or social connections and love and to be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. Absence of these needs can cause one to feel being alone and depressed. Sometime belonging and love need overcome the physiological and safety needs that depend on the strength of the peer pressure. Esteem Needs: According to Maslow, all humans have a need to be respected, to have self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves in order to gain recognition. People have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-value, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem, inferiority complexes, and an inflated sense of

Cultural Context Essay Example for Free

Cultural Context Essay Even though construction is usually considered as originally the activity of men and machines in digging, moving, shaping, erecting, and so forth, the relative use of building materials by the construction industry far exceeds its share in the gross domestic product. Specifically is construction of great significance for that special class of materials sometimes called as the â€Å"physical-structure† materials, which made major things of human civilization. Out of these â€Å"physical-structure† materials the more or less long-lasting and reliably shaped are wood and concrete. They are basic building materials for thin-shell roof construction, walls, tanks, large-diameter pipes, runways, highway bridges and many other structures. Main Body Concrete is related to the most significant building technologies in twentieth and the early twenty first century. However, other important building materials, such as wood, also figure in the construction picture. The poured method of concrete building has been so improved that buildings of this material are now erected as rapidly as a wood structure. Engineering departments all over the world are now prepared to assist engineers, architects and builders to apply concrete and wood to their construction work. Increasingly in the beginning of the twentieth century, when builders were asked how they should build the foundation possessing good physical strength, their answer was concrete. Either by placing the steel frame upon concrete foundations or by placing it upon a more spacious concrete raft foundation, architectural constructors in most cases complement steel with concrete as a problem-solving building material. By reinforcing concrete with steel rods, or by using steel machinery to form concrete blocks as prefabricated building blocks, builders further diversified their architectural techniques. The most approved composition of concrete for general construction consists of a mixture of broken limestone, granite or clean screened mixture of rock fragments, clean coarse sand and cement, in such proportions that the voids between the stone are completely filled by the sand and the voids in the sand completely filled with cement, with a slight excess of cement to guarantee a perfect connection with the stone. To create top-quality concrete, manufacturers need equally high-grade cement. By 1900 approximately three-quarters of that material was Portland cement, named after the tiny island of Portland in the U. K. where a desirable limestone used in its manufacture was descovered. In 1824 Joseph Aspdin, from Leeds, was the first to provide the world with Portland cement, but after 1872 the material was produced in the United States and its popularity spread rapidly (Collins, 1998). At the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition, American Portland cement was displayed to the public as a useful and practical building material, but production only began in earnest in 1880 and domestic cement only began to overtake European imports in 1897, by which time American machinery for crushing aggregate and making concrete had also begun to substitute European machines, even in Europe itself (American Exporter, 1906, 58 (3), pp. 79-87). Wood structures can be constructed more quickly and inexpensively than other kinds. Wood still is used for finish flooring in the living areas of about four out of five homes, although plastic tiles and other materials are gaining ground. Flooring generally involves both the visible flooring and a subflooring. Most frame houses utilize boards for subflooring, but plywood is gaining ground. In buildings which use concrete beams, concrete flooring slabs are generally poured right along with the beams. Steel structures may be floored with poured concrete or with precast concrete or gypsum slabs. Roofs of houses, which have a timber framework and cladding, are likely to have as the foundation wooden board, plywood, or composition planking. However, the current general tendency in home building toward flat, or low-pitched, roofs has led to a partial shift from tile, wood, and asbestos tiles to concrete materials and poured concrete. Because of its important role in residential buildings, wood does only slightly less well than concrete. Although its relative cost has increased with time, it is still the most popular building material all over the world. The open-grained wood of any of numerous coniferous trees, such as pine and cedar, as distinguished from that of a dicotyledonous tree, enters the English home as framing, siding, shingles, finishing panels, sash, millwork, and boarding, used to cover the wall studding or roof joists of a timber frame; the wood of any of numerous broad-leaved dicotyledonous trees, such as oak, beech, ash, etc. principally as flooring, material used for making panels, and trim. In non-residential buildings, wood is put to practice as the most widely used building material for concrete formwork, railroad ties, telephone poles, railings, fences, and many other purposes (BLAIRSLTD). The chief advantages of wood in construction industry include its ease of production and of process by which wood is packaged and transported, its low thermal conductivity, and its strength-to-weight ratio (which is greater than that of cast iron and is identical to that of the stronger concretes) (Rowell 9). Yet, because of its peculiar weaknesses as an organic material, such as vulnerability to fungi and various insects, its relative lack of versatility in terms of design, and its long-term rise in price in comparison with concrete, the relative role of wood as a building material may to some degree decrease in the future, and further replacement may be projected. If considered as a structural material in large building construction, wood has already been largely replaced by concrete framing, brick or concrete walls, and concrete floors. This trend will probably continue in the future. On the other part, wood framing probably will retain its dominating position in the residential building, although giving way a bit to steel, concrete, perhaps aluminium, and sandwich panel method of building. The advantages of metal roof frameworks are gradually reducing the amount of wood required for roof structures. Moreover, for exterior trimming wood is being increasingly substituted by brick exterior and by panels of such building materials as asbestos, metal, and organic materials with a polymeric structure. Dry wall building and the utilisation of gypsum plasterboard and of metal lath are also considerably lessening the need for wood. The most important role for wood is probably in finished flooring, but there are modern trends toward replacement of composition and various types of synthetic materials even in living areas. Wood, like steel, is yielding to aluminum as the leading building material for window frames, door frames, doorways, trim, and other such purposes. In concrete building the formwork is tending change from wood to steel and plywood and also to plastics. Growing popularity of plywood and of laminated structural members may slow down the trend away from wood. Laminated wood arches, structural frameworks of wood, and roof systems have proved appropriate for spanning distances up to 120 feet, and, because of their attractive and pleasant appearance, are today in frequent use in the building of churches and temples, buildings for public gatherings or meetings, shopping areas, and the similar places. Plywood, which to some degree possesses more physical strength than lumber, may replace lumber in almost any of its uses; it is already extensively used in subflooring, boarding, interior panelling, concrete forms, and so forth. Thus, it may be expected to grow in total use at almost twice the rate predicted for lumber. Use of concrete in building is constantly increasing today. It is a changeable mixture of portland cement, fine aggregates (almost always sand), and coarse aggregates (crushed stone, gravel, cinder, slag, or whatever else is available within a particular area). The proportions of these ingredients are influenced by the particular use to which the concrete is to be intended, but they are at most times 1:2:4. As can be seen, cement is the minor component in this mixture. The fact that concrete is the most extensively used building material can be explained by its advantages related to wood among which are versatility, its high breaking strength relative to bricks and other kinds of masonry materials, the low price which makes it comparatively inexpensive material relative to structural steel, and in essence the presence of concrete components almost in all areas (Classic Encyclopaedia). The main uses of concrete in England are in dams, water tanks, pipes and sewers, heavy walls, piers, caissons, columns, and road and sidewalk pavements. In addition, concrete is utilised in the form of units cast in a particular form before being used in building, such as concrete blocks and cast stone, whose principal advantage over wood, brick, and structural tile is that they are costing relatively little. Because of the low flexural strength of concrete, it is combined with steel in most of its construction applications (Classic Encyclopaedia). This combination is made possible by the match of coefficients of thermal expansion of these materials. The amount of reinforcing steel rods, wire, wire-mesh, and so forth needed for a concrete structure is only one-third to one-half the amount needed for a similar completely steel structure. In England, the possibilities of this technique of construction are just beginning to extend its use beyond massive complex constructions. The chief disadvantages of reinforced concrete (also known as ferroconcrete or armoured concrete) in comparison with structural steel are the time and costs of construction, even if one takes account of the applying paints to the surface of steel members and their trimming. It is costly to build and remove forms, shores, and temporary metal or wooden frameworks. Most of the developments, which been made not long ago, in methods of concrete building are somehow related to reducing expense on forms, First, as an alternative to the traditional lumber and plywood, steel and more recently, plastic with fibrous matter to confer additional strength forms have been experimented. Plastics are especially showing great promise, in view of the fact that they are smooth and easily utilised, able to keep water, may be given extraordinary shapes, and may be use again and again from fifteen to twenty times. Second, â€Å"slip-form† pavers have been successfully employed in laying road pavements (Green 1-2). Third, precasting of concrete members has been used as a mass production technique and to provide solid and robust in construction, more unchanging in form concrete, but presents some transportation problems. Fourthly, so-called tilt-up construction and lift-slab construction has permitted walls, floors, and columns to be poured on a horizontal surface and then either tilted or lifted into place. Finally, able to be used more than once, adjustable length steel trusses have removed the need for the multiple strengthening which differently has to be placed under the conventional built-up forms. The faster such form-saving processes are improved and used by engineers and constructors, the faster steel concrete is likely to be used as a structural material. One more limitation of usual concrete is its low heat insulation value. That is why concrete walls are occasionally of a non-load bearing, sandwich type, being composed of a layer of insulating material cast between two concrete slabs. In this application, concrete is to a serious degree threatened by other types of curtain walls, including various types of sandwiches. Alternative way to give concrete protecting properties is to make it with relatively light weight aggregates – such as vermiculite, expanded clay, and so forth. In this form, it not any more has sufficient quality of being physically strong to be used for load bearing purposes, although it has been very well utilised in long-span roof building. Prestressed concrete has gotten great significance as a building material. The basic characteristic of prestressed concrete is that, by compressing concrete and keeping it under compression, the tensile stresses caused by loads are neutralized (CEMENT). The compression is accomplished by casting the concrete around stretched rods or cables, the tension on which is released as the concrete sets. A prestressed beam needs only one-fourth the weight of the steel and one-half the weight of concrete which is needed to support the same load by a usual reinforced concrete member. Although it was patented by a San Francisco engineer in 1886, prestressed concrete did not emerge as an accepted and effective building material until a half-century later. Since then it had been intensively used in Europe for structural purposes. Up to the present moment, prestressed concrete’s applications have been limited mostly to pipes, tanks, runways, and from time to time highway bridges. As engineers and constructors gain experience and manage to reduce the manufacturing expenses, prestressing may become competitive with steel and with reinforced concrete building. After weighing up all the factors, the trend is more toward a substitution of concrete for other building materials than of other building materials for concrete. The use of portland cement which is made by heating a slurry of clay and crushed chalk should more than double in the next decades, may presumably triple, and at its lowest is expected to become greater by at least one-third.

Jane Eyre :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jane Eyre is about a young orphan being raised by Mrs. Reed, her cruel aunt. One day as punishment for fighting with her bullying cousin John, Jane’s aunt locked her in the room in which her Uncle Reed had died. While there Jane scares herself into believing that she sees her uncles ghost, screams and faints. When She wakes, She finds herself in the care of the apothecary Mr. Lloyd. He suggested to Mrs. Reed that Jane be sent away to school.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The school’s headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst was a cruel, hypocritical man. He would preach of poverty to his students but steal from the schools funds to support a lavish lifestyle for his own family. A massive typhus epidemic sweeps Lowood, and many, including Jane’s friend Helen died of consumption. The epidemic also results in the departure of Mr. Brocklehurst by attracting attention to the dangerous conditions at Lowood. Jane the stays on at the school for many more years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  She accepts a governess position at a manor called Thornfield, where she is to teaches a little French girl named Adà ¨le. Jane’s employer at Thornfield is Rochester, with whom Jane starts finding herself secretly falling secretly in love with. She saves Rochester from a fire one night, which he claims was started by a drunken servant , but seeing as how the servant continues to work at Thornfield, Jane doesn’t believe that she’s been told the whole story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rochester proposes to Jane, who accepts almost disbelievingly. The wedding day arrives, and as Jane and Mr. Rochester prepare to exchange their vows, the voice of Mr. Mason cries out that Rochester already has a wife. Mason introduces himself as the brother of that wife—a woman named Bertha. Rochester does not deny Mason’s claims, but he explains that Bertha has gone mad. He takes the wedding party back to Thornfield, where they witness the insane Bertha scurrying around on all fours and growling like an animal. Rochester keeps Bertha hidden on the third story of Thornfield and pays Grace Poole to keep his wife under control. Bertha was the real cause of the mysterious fire earlier in the story. Knowing that it is impossible for her to be with Rochester, Jane leaves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Penniless and hungry, Jane is forced to sleep outdoors and beg for food. Finally, three siblings who live in a manor alternatively called Marsh End and Moor House take her in.

Organisation for Facilitating Globalization †IMF and World Bank Essay

The fund is an autonomous organization affiliated to United Nations Organisation. Starting from the initial membership of 31 countries at the time of inception, the Fund has a membership of 186 countries. It is financed by various participating countries with each country’s contribution fixed in terms of quotas according to the relative importance of the national income prevalent in the country and international trade. The total financial resources of the fund is equal to the quotas of all the countries combined together. The contributed quota of a country determines its borrowing rights and voting strength. The following are the functions of International Monetary Fund: 1.Monitoring economic and financial developments of its members; 2.Providing machinery for international consultations; 3.Providing machinery for altering sometimes the par value of currency of a member country; 4.Functioning as a short term credit institution; 5.Lending institution in terms of foreign exchange; 6.Providing machinery for the orderly adjustment of exchange rates and 7.Functioning as a reservoir of the currencies of all the member nations who can borrow the currency of other nations. 8.Granting loans for financing current transactions other than capital transactions; World Bank: The International Bank of Reconstruction and Devlopment popularly known as the World Bank was formed as a part of the deliberations at Brettonwoods during 1945. It was floated in order to give loan to member countries initially for the reconstruction of their war ravaged economies and later for the development of the economies of the poorer member countries. The World Bank provides its member countries long term investment loan on reasonable terms. World Bank has granted many loans for financing specific projects. During the recent years, it has also been engaged in giving structural adjustment loans to the heavily indebted countries. The World Bank is an inter governmental institution, corporate in form whose capital stock is entirely owned by its member governments. The World Bank group consists of the following: †¢World Bank; †¢International Development Association; †¢Inernational Finance Corporation; †¢Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency †¢International centre for settlement of Investment disputes. Reference: http://classof1.com/homework-help/international-economics-homework-help View as multi-pages

Feminism in the Late 20th Century

Chapter 4: A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist- Feminism in the Late 20th Century* DONNA HARAWAY History of Consciousness Program, University of California, at Santa Cruz 1. AN IRONIC DREAM OF A COMMON LANGUAGE FOR WOMEN IN THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT This chapter is an effort to build an ironic political myth faithful to feminism, socialism, and materialism. Perhaps more faithful as blasphemy is faithful, than as reverent worship and identification. Blasphemy has always seemed to require taking things very seriously.I know no better stance to adopt from within the secular-religious, evangelical traditions of United States politics, including the politics of socialist-feminism. Blasphemy protects one from the moral majority within, while still insisting on the need for community. Blas- phemy is not apostasy. Irony is about contradictions that do not resolve into larger wholes, even dialectically, about the tension of holding incompatible things together because both or all are necessary and true. Irony is about hu- mor and serious play.It is also a rhetorical strategy and a political method, one I would like to see more honoured within socialist-feminism. At the center of my ironic faith, my blasphemy, is the image of the cyborg. A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction. Social reality is lived social relations, our most important political construction, a world-changing fiction. The international women’s movements have constructed â€Å"women’s experience†, as well as uncovered or discovered this crucial collective ob- ject.This experience is a fiction and fact of the most crucial, political kind. Liberation rests on the construction of the consciousness, the imaginative ap- prehension, of oppression, and so of possibility. The cyborg is a matter of fiction and lived experience that changes what counts as women’s experience in the late 20th century. This is a struggle over life and death, but the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion. Contemporary science fiction is full of cyborgs—creatures simultaneously animal and machine, who populate worlds ambiguously natural and crafted.Modern medicine is also full of cyborgs, of couplings between organism and machine, each conceived as coded devices, in an intimacy and with a power that was not generated in the history of sexuality. Cyborg â€Å"sex† restores some of the lovely replicative baroque of ferns and invertebrates (such nice * Originally published as Manifesto for cyborgs: science, technology, and socialist feminism in the 1980s. Socialist Review, no. 80 (1985): 65–108. Reprinted with permission of the author. 117 J. Weiss et al. eds. ), The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments, 117–158. o C 2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands. organic prophylactics against heterosexis m). Cyborg replication is uncou- pled from organic reproduction. Modern production seems like a dream of cyborg colonization work, a dream that makes the nightmare of Taylorism seem idyllic. And modern war is a cyborg orgy, coded by C3I, command- control-communication-intelligence, an $84 billion item in 1984s US defence budget.I am making an argument for the cyborg as a fiction mapping our so- cial and bodily reality and as an imaginative resource suggesting some very fruitful couplings. Michael Foucault’s biopolitics is a flaccid pre-monition of cyborg politics, a very open field. By the late 20th century, our time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theorized, and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs. This cyborg is our ontology; it gives us our politics.The cyborg is a condensed image of both imagination and material reality, the two joined cen- ters structuring any possibility of historical transformation. In the traditions of â€Å"West ern† science and politics—the tradition of racist, male-dominant capitalism; the tradition of progress; the tradition of the appropriation of nature as resource for the productions of culture; the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflections of the other— the relation between organism and machine has been a border war.The stakes in the border war have been the territories of production, reproduction, and imagination. This chapter is an argument for pleasure in the confusion of boundaries and for responsibility in their construction. It is also an effort to contribute to socialist-feminist culture and theory in a post-modernist, nonnaturalist mode and in the utopian tradi- tion of imagining a world without gender, which is perhaps a world without genesis, but maybe also a world without end. The cyborg incarnation is outside salvation history. Nor does it mark time on an oral symbiotic utopia or post- oedipal apocalypse.As Zoe Sofoulis argues in her u npublished manuscript on Jacques Lacan, Melanie Klein, and nuclear culture, Lacklein, the most terrible and perhaps the most promising monsters in cyborg worlds are embodied in non-oedipal narratives with a different logic of repression, which we need to understand for our survival. The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexu- ality, preoedipal symbiosis, unalienated labor, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a higher unity.In a sense, the cyborg has no origin story in the Western sense—a â€Å"final† irony since the cyborg is also the awful apocalyptictelosof the â€Å"West’s† escalating dominations of abstract individuation, an ultimate self untied at last from all dependency, a man in space. An origin story in the â€Å"Western†, hu- manist sense depends on the myth of original unity, fullness, bliss, and terror, represented by the phallic mot her from whom all humans must separate, the task of individual development and of history, the twin potent myths inscribed most powerfully for us in psychoanalysis and Marxism.Hilary Klein (1989) has argued that both Marxism and psychoanalysis, in their concepts of labor and of individuation and gender formation, depend on the plot of original 118 unity out of which difference must be produced and enlisted in a drama of escalating domination of woman/nature. The cyborg skips the step of original unity, of identification with nature in the Western sense. This is an illegitimate promise that might lead to subversion of its teleology as star wars. The cyborg is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and per- versity.It is oppositional, utopian, and completely without innocence. No longer structured by the polarity of public and private, the cyborg defines a technologicalpolisbased partly on a revolution of social relations in theoikos, the household. Nature and culture ar e reworked; the one can no longer be the resource for appropriation or incorporation by the other. The relationships for forming wholes from parts, including those of polarity and hierarchical dom- ination, are at issue in the cyborg world.Unlike the hopes of Frankenstein’s monster, the cyborg does not expect its father to save it through a restoration of the garden; that is, through the fabrication of a heterosexual mate, through its completion in a finished whole, a city and cosmos. The cyborg does not dream of community on the model of the organic family, this time without the oedipal project. The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust. Perhaps that is why I want to see if cyborgs can subvert the apocalypse of returning to nuclear dust in the manic compulsion to name the Enemy.Cyborgs are not reverent; they do not remember the cosmos. They are wary of holism, but needy for connection—they seem to ha ve a natural feel for united front politics, but without the vanguard party. The main trouble with cyborgs, of course, is that they are the illegitimate offspring of militarism and patriarchal capitalism, not to mention state socialism. But illegitimate offspring are often exceedingly unfaithful to their origins. Their fathers, after all, are inessential. I want to signal three crucial boundary breakdowns that make the following politicalfictional (political-scientific) analysis possible.By the late 20th cen- tury in United States scientific culture, the boundary between human and ani- mal is thoroughly breached. The last beachheads of uniqueness have been pol- luted if not turned into amusement parks—language, tool use, social behavior, mental events, nothing really convincingly settles the separation of human and animal. And many people no longer feel the need for such a separation; indeed, many branches of feminist culture affirm the pleasure of connection of human and oth er living creatures.Movements for animal rights are not irrational de- nials of human uniqueness; they are a clear-sighted recognition of connection across the discredited breach of nature and culture. Biology and evolutionary theory over the last two centuries have simultaneously produced modern or- ganisms as objects of knowledge and reduced the line between humans and animals to a faint trace re-etched in ideological struggle or professional dis- putes between life and social science. Within this framework, teaching modern Christian creationism should be fought as a form of child abuse.Biological-determinist ideology is only one position opened up in scien- tific culture for arguing the meanings of human animality. There is much 119 room for radical political people to contest the meanings of the breached boundary. 1 The cyborg appears in myth precisely where the boundary be- tween human and animal is transgressed. Far from signaling a walling off of people from other living bein gs, cyborgs signal disturbingly and plea- surably tight coupling. Bestiality has a new status in this cycle of marriage exchange.The second leaky distinction is between animal-human (organism) and machine. Precybernetic machines could be haunted; there was always the spectre of the ghost in the machine. This dualism structured the dialogue between materialism and idealism that was settled by a dialectical progeny, called spirit or history, according to taste. But basically machines were not self- moving, self-designing, autonomous. They could not achieve man’s dream, only mock it. They were not man, an author himself, but only a caricature of that masculinist reproductive dream.To think they were otherwise was paranoid. Now we are not so sure. Late 20th-century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines. O ur machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert. Technological determination is only one ideological space opened up by the reconceptions of machine and organism as coded texts through which we engage in the play of writing and reading the world. â€Å"Textualization† of everything in post-structuralist, post-modernist theory has been damned by Marxists and socialist-feminists for its utopian disregard for the lived relations of domination that ground the â€Å"play† of arbitrary reading. 3 It is certainly true that post-modernist strategies, like my cyborg myth, subvert myriad organic wholes (for example, the poem, the primitive culture, the biological organ- ism). In short, the certainty of what counts as nature— a source of insight and promise of innocence—is undermined, probably fatally.The transcendent authorization of interpretation is lost, and with it the ontology grounding â€Å"Western† epistemology. But the alte rnative is not cynicism or faithlessness, that is, some version of abstract existence, like the accounts of technologi- cal determinism destroying â€Å"man† by the â€Å"machine† or â€Å"meaningful political action† by the â€Å"text†. Who cyborgs will be is a radical question; the answers are a matter of survival. Both chimpanzees and artifacts have politics, so why shouldn’t we? (de Waal, 1982; Winner, 1980).The third distinction is a subset of the second: The boundary between physical and nonphysical is very imprecise for us. Pop physics books on the consequences of quantum theory and the indeterminacy principle are a kind of popular scientific equivalent to Harlequin romances as a marker of radical change in American white heterosexuality: They get it wrong, but they are on the right subject. Modern machines are quintessentially microelectronic devices: They are everywhere and they are invisible.Modern machinery is an irreverent upstart god, mocking the Father’s ubiquity and spirituality. The 120 silicon chip is a surface for writing; it is etched in molecular scales disturbed only by atomic noise, the ultimate interference for nuclear scores. Writing, power, and technology are old partners in Western stories of the origin of civilization, but miniaturization has changed our experience of mechanism. Miniaturization has turned out to be about power; small is not so much beau- tiful as pre-eminently dangerous, as in cruise missiles.Contrast the TV sets of the 1950s or the news cameras of the 1970s with the TV wrist bands or hand-sized video cameras now advertised. Our best machines are made of sunshine; they are all light and clean because they are nothing but sig- nals, electromagnetic waves, a section of a spectrum, and these machines are eminently portable, mobile—a matter of immense human pain in Detroit and Singapore. People are nowhere near so fluid, being both material and opaque. Cyborgs are ether, q uintessence.The ubiquity and invisibility of cyborgs is precisely why these sunshine- belt machines are so deadly. They are as hard to see politically as materially. They are about consciousness— or its simulation. 4 They are floating signifiers moving in pickup trucks across Europe, blocked more effectively by the witch- weavings of the displaced and so unnatural Greenham women, who read the cyborg webs of power so very well, than by the militant labor of older mas- culinist politics, whose natural constituency needs defence jobs.Ultimately the â€Å"hardest† science is about the realm of greatest boundary confusion, the realm of pure number, pure spirit, C3I, cryptography, and the preservation of potent secrets. The new machines are so clean and light. Their engineers are sun-worshippers mediating a new scientific revolution associated with the night dream of post-industrial society. The diseases evoked by these clean machines are â€Å"no more† than the minus cule coding changes of an antigen in the immune system, â€Å"no more† than the experience of stress.The nimble fin- gers of â€Å"Oriental† women, the old fascination of little Anglo-Saxon Victorian girls with doll’s houses, women’s enforced attention to the small take on quite new dimensions in this world. There might be a cyborg Alice taking account of these new dimensions. Ironically, it might be the unnatural cyborg women making chips in Asia and spiral dancing in Santa Rita jail5 whose constructed unities will guide effective oppositional strategies. So my cyborg myth is about transgressed boundaries, potent fusions, and dangerous possibilities which progressive people might explore as one part of needed political work.One of my premises is that most American so- cialists and feminists see deepened dualisms of mind and body, animal and machine, idealism and materialism in the social practices, symbolic formula- tions, and physical artifacts associat ed with â€Å"high technology† and scientific culture. FromOne-Dimensional Man(Marcuse, 1964) toThe Death of Nature (Merchant, 1980), the analytic resources developed by progressives have in- sisted on the necessary domination of technics and recalled us to an imag- ined organic body to integrate our resistance.Another of my premises is that the need for unity of people trying to resist worldwide intensification of 121 domination has never been more acute. But a slightly perverse shift of per- spective might better enable us to contest for meanings, as well as for other forms of power and pleasure in technologically mediated societies. From one perspective, a cyborg world is about the final imposition of a grid of control on the planet, about the final abstraction embodied in a Star Wars apocalypse waged in the name of defence, about the final appropri- ation of women’s bodies in a masculinist orgy of war (Sofia, 1984).From another perspective, a cyborg world might be about lived social and bodily realities in which people are not afraid of their joint kinship with animals and machines, not afraid of permanently partial identities and contradictory stand- points. The political struggle is to see from both perspectives at once because each reveals both dominations and possibilities unimaginable from the other vantage point. Single vision produces worse illusions than double vision or many-headed monsters.Cyborg unities are monstrous and illegitimate; in our present political circumstances, we could hardly hope for more potent myths for resistance and recoupling. I like to imagine LAG, the Livermore Action Group, as a kind of cyborg society, dedicated to realistically converting the laboratories that most fiercely embody and spew out the tools of technological apocalypse, and committed to building a political form that actually manages to hold together witches, engineers, elders, perverts, Christians, mothers, and Leninists long enough to disarm th e state.Fission Impossible is the name of the affinity group in my town. (Affinity: Related not by blood but by choice, the appeal of one chemical nuclear group for another, avidity. )6 2. FRACTURED IDENTITIES It has become difficult to name one’s feminism by a single adjective—or even to insist in every circumstance upon the noun. Consciousness of exclusion through naming is acute. Identities seem contradictory, partial, and strategic. With the hard-won recognition of their social and historical constitution, gen- der, race, and class cannot provide the basis for belief in â€Å"essential† unity.There is nothing about being â€Å"female† that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as â€Å"being† female, itself a highly complex category constructed in contested sexual scientific discourses and other social prac- tices. Gender, race, or class-consciousness is an achievement forced on us by the terrible historical experience of the co ntradictory social realities of patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism. And who counts as â€Å"us† in my own rhetoric? Which identities are available to ground such a potent political myth called â€Å"us†, and what could motivate enlistment in this collectivity?Painful fragmentation among feminists (not to mention among women) along every possible fault line has made the concept of woman elusive, an excuse for the matrix of women’s dominations of each other. For me—and for many who share a similar historical location in white, professional middle-class, female, 122 radical, North American, mid-adult bodies—the sources of a crisis in political identity are legion. The recent history for much of the US left and US femi- nism has been a response to this kind of crisis by endless splitting and searches for a new essential unity.But there has also been a growing recognition of another response through coalition—affinity, not identity. 7 Chela Sandoval (n. d. , 1984), from a consideration of specific historical mo- ments in the formation of the new political voice called women of color, has theorized a hopeful model of political identity called â€Å"oppositional conscious- ness†, born of the skills for reading webs of power by those refused stable membership in the social categories of race, sex, or class. Women of color†, a name contested at its origins by those whom it would incorporate, as well as a historical consciousness marking systematic breakdown of all the signs of Man in â€Å"Western† traditions, constructs a kind of post-modernist identity out of otherness, difference, and specificity. This post-modernist identity is fully political, whatever might be said abut other possible post-modernisms. Sandoval’s oppositional consciousness is about contradictory locations and heterochronic calendars, not about relativisms and pluralisms.Sandoval emphasizes the lack of any essential criterion for identifying who is a woman of color. She notes that the definition of a group has been by conscious appropriation of negation. For example, a Chicana or US black woman has not been able to speak as a woman or as a black person or as a Chicano. Thus, she was at the bottom of a cascade of negative identities, left out of even the privileged oppressed authorial categories called â€Å"women and blacks†, who claimed to make the important revolutions.The category â€Å"woman† negated all non-white women; â€Å"black† negated all non-black people, as well as all black women. But there was also no â€Å"she†, no singularity, but a sea of differences among US women who have affirmed their historical identity as US women of color. This identity marks out a self-consciously constructed space that cannot affirm the capacity to act on the basis of natural identification, but only on the basis of conscious coalition, of affinity, of political kinship. Unlike the â€Å"woman† of some streams of the white women’s movement in the United States, there is no naturalization of the matrix, or at least this is what Sandoval argues is uniquely available through the power of oppositional consciousness. Sandoval’s argument has to be seen as one potent formulation for feminists out of the worldwide development of anti-colonialist discourse; that is to say, discourse dissolving the â€Å"West† and its highest product—the one who is not animal, barbarian, or woman; man, that is, the author of a cosmos called history.As orientalism is deconstructed politically and semiotically, the identities of the occident destabilize, including those of feminists. 9 Sandoval argues that â€Å"women of colour† have a chance to build an effective unity that does not replicate the imperializing, totalizing revolutionary subjects of previous Marxisms and feminisms which had not faced the consequences of the disorderly polyphony eme rging from decolonization. 123 Katie King has emphasized the limits of identification and the politi- cal/poetic mechanics of identification built into reading â€Å"the poem†, that generative core of cultural feminism.King criticizes the persistent tendency among contemporary feminists from different â€Å"moments† or â€Å"conversations† in feminist practice to taxonomize the women’s movement to make one’s own political tendencies appear to be the telos of the whole. These taxonomies tend to remake feminist history so that it appears to be an ideological strug- gle among coherent types persisting over time, especially those typical units called radical, liberal, and socialist-feminist. Literally, all other feminisms are either incorporated or marginalized, usually by building an explicit ontol- ogy and epistemology. 0 Taxonomies of feminism produce epistemologies to police deviation from official women’s experience. And of course, â€Å"w omen’s culture†, like women of color, is consciously created by mechanisms inducing affinity. The rituals of poetry, music, and certain forms of academic practice have been pre-eminent. The politics of race and culture in the US women’s movements are intimately interwoven. The common achievement of King and Sandoval is learning how to craft a poetic/political unity without relying on a logic of appropriation, incorporation, and taxonomic identification.The theoretical and practical struggle against unity-through-domination or unity-throughincorporation ironically not only undermines the justifications for patriarchy, colonialism, humanism, positivism, essentialism, scientism, and other unlamented -isms, but all claims for an organic or natural stand- point. I think that radical and socialist/Marxist-feminisms have also under- mined their/our own epistemological strategies and that this is a crucially valuable step in imagining possible unities. It remains to be s een whether all â€Å"epistemologies† as Western political people have known them fail us in the task to build effective affinities.It is important to note that the effort to construct revolutionary standpoints, epistemologies as achievements of people committed to changing the world, has been part of the process showing the limits of identification. The acid tools of post-modernist theory and the constructive tools of ontological discourse about revolutionary subjects might be seen as ironic allies in dissolving West- ern selves in the interests of survival. We are excruciatingly conscious of what it means to have a historically constituted body. But with the loss of innocence in our origin, there is no expulsion from the Garden either.Our politics lose the indulgence of guilt with the naivet ? e of innocence. But what would an- other political myth for socialist-feminism look like? What kind of politics could embrace partial, contradictory, permanently unclosed construction s of personal and collective selves and still be faithful, effective—and, ironically, socialist-feminist? I do not know of any other time in history when there was greater need for political unity to confront effectively the dominations of â€Å"race†, â€Å"gender†, â€Å"sexuality†, and â€Å"class†. I also do not know of any other time when the kind of unity we might help build could have been possible.None of â€Å"us† have 124 any longer the symbolic or material capability of dictating the shape of reality to any of â€Å"them†. Or at least â€Å"we† cannot claim innocence from practicing such dominations. White women, including socialist-feminists, discovered the non-innocence of the category â€Å"woman†. That consciousness changes the geography of all previous categories; it denatures them as heat denatures a fragile protein. Cyborg feminists have to argue that â€Å"we† do not want any more natural matrix of unity and that no construction is whole. Innocence, and the corollary insistence on victimhood as the only ground for nsight, has done enough damage. But the constructed revolutionary subject must give late 20th-century people pause as well. In the fraying of identities and in the reflexive strategies for constructing them, the possibility opens up for weaving something other than a shroud for the day after the apocalypse that so prophetically ends salvation history. Both Marxist/socialist-feminisms and radical feminisms have simultane- ously naturalized and denatured the category â€Å"woman† and consciousness of the social lives of â€Å"women†. Perhaps a schematic caricature can highlight both kinds of moves.Marxian-socialism is rooted in an analysis of wage labor which reveals class structure. The consequence of the wage relationship is systematic alienation, as the worker is dissociated from his [sic] product. Ab- straction and illusion rule in knowledge, domi nation rules in practice. Labor is the pre-eminently privileged category enabling the Marxist to overcome illusion and find that point of view which is necessary for changing the world. Labor is the humanizing activity that makes man; labor is an ontological category permitting the knowledge of a subject, and so the knowledge of subjugation and alienation.In faithful filiation, socialist-feminism is advanced by allying itself with the basic analytic strategies of Marxism. The main achievement of both Marxist- feminists and socialist-feminists was to expand the category of labor to ac- commodate what (some) women did, even when the wage relation was subor- dinated to a more comprehensive view of labor under capitalist patriarchy. In particular, women’s labor in the household and women’s activity as mothers generally (that is, reproduction in the socialist-feminist sense), entered theory on the authority of analogy to the Marxian concept of labor.The unity of women here rests on an epistemology based on the ontological structure of â€Å"labor†. Marxist/socialist-feminism does not â€Å"naturalize† unity; it is a pos- sible achievement based on a possible standpoint rooted in social relations. The essentializing move is in the ontological structure of labor or of its ana- logue, women’s activity. 11 The inheritance of Marxian-humanism, with its pre-eminently Western self, is the difficulty for me. The contribution from these formulations has been the emphasis on the daily responsibility of real women o build unities, rather than to naturalize them. Catherine MacKinnon’s (1982, 1987) version of radical feminism is itself a caricature of the appropriating, incorporating, totalizing tendencies of Western theories of identity grounding action. 12 It is factually and politically wrong to 125 assimilate all of the diverse â€Å"moments† or â€Å"conversations† in recent women’s politics named radical femin ism to MacKinnon’s version. But the teleological logic of her theory shows how an epistemology and ontology—including their negations—erase or police difference.Only one of the effects of MacKinnon’s theory is the rewriting of the history of the polymorphous field called radical feminism. The major effect is the production of a theory of experience, of women’s identity, that is a kind of apocalypse for all revolutionary standpoints. That is, the totalization built into this tale of radical feminism achieves its end—the unity of women—by enforcing the experience of and testimony to radical non-being. As for the Marxist/socialist-feminist, consciousness is an achievement, not a natural fact.And MacKinnon’s theory eliminates some of the difficulties built into humanist revolutionary subjects, but at the cost of radical reductionism. MacKinnon argues that feminism necessarily adopted a different analyti- cal strategy from Marxism, looking first not at the structure of class, but at the structure of sex/gender and its generative relationship, men’s constitution and appropriation of women sexually. Ironically, MacKinnon’s â€Å"ontology† constructs a non-subject, a non-being. Another’s desire, not the self’s labor, is the origin of â€Å"woman†.She therefore develops a theory of consciousness that enforces what can count as â€Å"women’s† experience—anything that names sexual violation, indeed, sex itself as far as â€Å"women† can be concerned. Fem- inist practice is the construction of this form of consciousness; that is, the self-knowledge of a self-who-is-not. Perversely, sexual appropriation in this feminism still has the epistemolog- ical status of labor; that is to say, the point from which an analysis able to contribute to changing the world must flow. But sexual objectification, not alienation, is the consequence of the structure of sex/ gender.In the realm of knowledge, the result of sexual objectification is illusion and abstraction. However, a woman is not simply alienated from her product, but in a deep sense does not exist as a subject, or even potential subject, since she owes her existence as a woman to sexual appropriation. To be constituted by another’s desire is not the same thing as to be alienated in the violent separation of the laborer from his product. MacKinnon’s radical theory of experience is totalizing in the extreme; it does not so much marginalize as obliterate the authority of any other women’s political speech and action.It is a totalization producing what West- ern patriarchy itself never succeeded in doing—feminists’ consciousness of the non-existence of women, except as products of men’s desire. I think MacKinnon correctly argues that no Marxian version of identity can firmly ground women’s unity. But in solving the problem of the contra dictions of any Western revolutionary subject for feminist purposes, she develops an even more authoritarian doctrine of experience. If my complaint about social- ist/Marxian standpoints is their unintended erasure of polyvocal, unassimil- able, radical difference made visible in anti-colonial discourse and practice, 126

Essay on El Sol Que Tú Eres (Linda Ronstadt)

Essay on El Sol Que Tà º Eres (Linda Ronstadt) Essay on El Sol Que Tà º Eres (Linda Ronstadt) Essay on El Sol Que Tà º Eres (Linda Ronstadt)The song is written by Daniel Valdez and performed by Linda Ronstadt. This is a traditional Mexican song performed by the singer accompanied by musicians using traditional Mexican musical instruments. The song focuses on the theme of the praise of the narrator to the sun, which she admires and which is her only sympathizer. At the same time, the song reveals a deeper theme of sufferings of the narrator, who is not just misunderstood by her social environment but who is also exploited severely. She conveys her sufferings implicitly and uncovers hardships of her life. The problem is the revelation of the position of the narrator under the sun but the development of the narration shows that she prays for the sun as the only one, who can be sympathetic to her. On the other hand, her references to the sun are quite metaphorical since the sun may be a metaphor, which refers to the beloved of the main character of the song. She refers to him an d reveals her love and devotion, on the one hand, and complaints on her fate, on the other. The verbal message conveyed by the singer has a strong musical back-up as traditional Mexican musical instruments, especially violin that makes the song sound even more sensual and evoke a strong feeling of sympathy toward the narrator and her sufferings. The music flows smoothly with occasional raises of the pitch as emotions of the singer rise to emphasize her current emotional condition and sufferings even more. Hence, the audience perceives the song as a blend of sensual music and emotionally colored words.La Venia Bendita (Marco Antonio Solà ­s)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The song La Venia bendita by Marco Antonio Solis is the song uncovering the story of two beloved, who suffer from the separation and regret about those days that have gone and will never return, when they have love and stayed together. The song is the love song that conveys the story of two beloved. Th e narrator of the song mourns on the upcoming separation of two beloved because the narrator has to part. The narrator gives implications that he probably will never come back again and their separation will last forever till the end of their life. The narrator suffers but still he enjoys the past experience and love, which he has once had with his beloved. The narrator raises the theme of death as the inevitable way to the separation of two beloved, who cannot stay together being separated by the death. In such a way, the song brings in dark feelings of the threat of the upcoming death and separation of two beloved. At the same time, the narrator is not disenchanted into their life because the love they once have had and which they enjoyed their love. In such a way, the song conveys the controversial feeling the narrator has. On the one hand, he admires the love he had, but on the other hand, he is aware of the necessity of their separation and the death will separate them forever and put the end to their love. In this regard, the music plays an important part in the revelation of feelings of the narrator. Music is played with the help of traditional musical instruments, which convey feelings and emotions of the narrator and help the audience to share those feelings and emotions. The change of the rhythm and tone of the music helps to feel the regret of the narrator and the sensation of the love, which he once had with his beloved,Flor Silvestre (Ixya Herrera)Flor Silvestre by Ixya Herrera is a romantic, sensual song conveying the love story of the narrator and her emotional sufferings caused by challenges accompanying her love and sufferings in the course of her life. The sensual music is supported strongly by sensual music and effective changes of the tone to raise the emotional tension in the course of the song. In this regard, the song conveys the story of the narrator and uses smooth flow of the music to convey the love story of the narrator. The song un covers the story of the narrator and her beloved. The story evokes sympathy in the audience and the music enhances the verbal message conveyed by the narrator. The use of classical musical instruments, including those specific for Mexico only, helps to enhance the emotional burden of the song and makes the audience more and more involved into the song and the story it conveys. The song is therefore highly emotional and evokes sympathy in the audience, engaging listeners to enhance their feelings and emotions.Cien Aà ±os (Pedro Infante)Cien Anos by Pedro Infante is the song palyed in the traditional Mexican style with the use of traditional Mexican musical instruments. The story conveyed in the song is the classical story of the irresponsive love. The narrator of the song is uncovering his great love and passion toward his beloved but he suffers from the cold indifference of his beloved, which is unbearable for him. He cannot afford the life living without the love he has and his lo ves makes his life purposeful. The narrator of the song expresses his love openly and places emphasis on the fact that his love is insatiable and overwhelming. He cannot resist his love, even though he is aware that his beloved does not even care about him. He wants to show the true love he has toward his beloved. In such a way, the audience gets involved into his love story. The audience can hardly keep from feeling being sympathetic to the narrator, who cannot win the love of the object of his passion. However, the narrator seems to never lose his hope to make his beloved loving him. At any rate, he is ready to wait as long as possible or as impossible for he ends up the song telling that he would wait one hundred years, if necessary, to make his beloved loving him. In this regard, the use of classical Mexican instruments and the vivid, virtually picturesque music playing during the song enhances messages conveyed by the narrator. The music plays vividly and raises strong emotions in the audience. String instruments are traditional for Mexican music and they are widely used in the course of the song making it more vivid and engaging for the audience. Music seems to support words sang by the singer. In such a way, the blend of vivid, passionate music and passionate words make the song emotionally strong.

The Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party was established in 1966 by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and David Hilliard in Oakland, Ca. The three college students created the organization to provide protection to African-Americans against police brutality.   Within its first few years, the group gained national and international prominence for actions that were considered radical by critics and lauded by supporters.   As a result, of its revolutionary tactics several members of the  Ã‚  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)  joined the Black Panther Party to create the Black Power Movement.   1966   October:   Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and David Hilliard establish the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense in Oakland, Ca. December: Bobby Hutton, a 16-year-old, is the first male recruit of the Black Panther Party. 1967 January: The Black Panther Party establishes its first headquarters- a storefront on Grove Street in Oakland, Ca.Members Kenny Freeman and Roy Ballard establish the Black Panther Party of Northern California in San Francisco. February: Writer Eldridge Cleaver joins the Party.Members of the Black Panther Party are attacked by law enforcement outside the office of Ramparts magazine while escorting Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X.    April:   BPP publishes the first issue of Black Panther Party: Black Community News Service. This publication will become the organizations official news publication. May: H. Rap Brown becomes national chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Stokely Carmichael preceded Brown in this role.An estimated 26 armed BPP members are arrested in Sacramento after invading the state legislature hearing on gun-control laws. 1968 January: The Southern California branch of the BPP is established by Alprentice â€Å"Bunchy† Carter. Carter was also named Deputy Minister of Defense by Newton.A rally is held for the â€Å"Oakland Seven,† an anti-war protest group who were arrested in October of 1967 during the â€Å"Stop the Draft Week† protest.   February: A coalition between the BPP and SNCC is established at a rally honoring Newton. March: Cleaver’s Soul on Ice is published. It is a collection of essays written by Cleaver when he was incarcerated.Arthur Carter is killed by government officials. Carter becomes the first member of the BPP to be murdered. April: The BPP opens an office in New York City. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis.Bobby Hutton, the BPP’s first recruit as well as the organization’s national treasurer is murdered by Oakland law enforcement officials. June:   The alliance formed between SNCC and the BPP ends. As a result, Carmichael is forced to leave SNCC and joins the BPP. August: From August 25 to August 29, the BPP participates in anti-War rioting in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. September: Newton is found guilty of voluntary manslaughter of an Oakland, police officer. He is sentenced to two to fifteen years in prison. David Hilliard assumes control of the BPP in Newton’s absence. Newton’s conviction is later appealed and reversed. November: The BPP develops several initiatives such as a free breakfast program for low-income children. 1969 January: BPP rolls out its free breakfast program for children at St. Augustine’s Church in Oakland. Other programs follow in areas throughout California as well as New York City. March: Following a speech delivered by Kathleen Cleaver, students at Mills College takeover Robert J. Werk’s office. The college’s president is held prisoner for several hours as students demand minority involvement in student affairs.Bobby Seale is indicted and charged with organizing the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. April: Carmichael relocates to Guinea with his wife, Mariam Makeba. June: J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI declares â€Å"†¦the Black Panther Party, without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country. He pledges that 1969 would be the last year of the Partys existence.Carmichael leaves the BPP citing political differences with other prominent members. August: Newton wins an appeal, and he is released from prison.Seale is arrested in Berkeley. He is charged with organizing the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots as well as the murder of a BPP member named Alex Rackley. December: BPP leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are found dead in a Chicago apartment following a police raid. 1970 March: Seale’s book, Seize the Time: The Story of the BPP and Huey Newton is published. October: Charges against Seale and other members of the Chicago 8 are dropped. 1971 February: Citing differing points of view on how the BPP should be run, Cleaver expels Newton and Hilliard. 1972 A collection of essays and speeches, To Die for the People, by Huey P. Newton is published. Newton declares that the BPP is â€Å"putting down the gun† and working within the law to help the African-American community progress. Newton also tries to persuade all African-Americans, poor people, and progressive Americans to support Representative Shirley Chisolm for the presidential nomination. 1973 March: Newton publishes his autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide. April: Elaine Brown  runs for the Oakland City Council while Bobby Seale runs for mayor of Oakland. 1974 August: Attempting to avoid jail time, Newton flees to Cuba following two assault charges.Elaine Brown assumes administrative roles of BPP. 1989 August: Newton is killed in West Oakland.

Marx's critique of capitalism is based on his theory of history Essay

Marx's critique of capitalism is based on his theory of history politics and alienation - Essay Example There are many of his works which seemed to be revealed as a result of his reactions on the growth of new areas of political economy, which is helped by the laissez-faire theories of Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus. These theories intimated the extension of precisely the features of capitalism that was most defective in the views of Marx. Therefore his critique begins from attacks on the satisfactory liberal bases analysis of capitalism to the very intricate analyses of economics and also of leading theorists. (Marx's critique of capitalism) Marxism is not a single theory but is found as a cluster of a few similar related theories. There is an alternate way of how the Marxist theory of history is called. (Karl Marx: Wikipedia) It is the historical materialism which is found on the views of Marx on people and what people fundamentally are. Marx's theory of history originated from the thought that the way of society rise and fall and it further interferes in the development of human productive power. (Karl Marx: Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) There is a common liberal belief that every individual gets the liberty to enter into all economic adaptations by ways of an equally beneficial contract. When Marx reacted to this, he remarked that "men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production". (Marx's critique of capitalism) Marx's perception about this historical process is that it is a procedure through which the required series of ways of production rise to its highest point in communism. (Karl Marx: Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) Max's analysis of history is focused on the differences that he saw between production relationships and the means/forces of production, such as technology, land, natural resources, which are essential for the production of natural goods. In other words it is the relationship that people enter into between their social and technical related matters while using the means of production. (Karl Marx: Wikipedia) It was the belief of Marx that any phase of history which is based on an exploitative economic order sow's the seeds for its own ruin. (Conflict Theory) It was under the observation of Marx that any particular society changes its methods of production, and he also observed that the European society grew from a feudal mode of production to a capitalist mode of production. On the whole Marx believed that production changes more swiftly than the relations of production. For example, first the technology of say, Internet was being developed and only then was the laws that are relating to the technology were developed. Marx found this mismatch between this social construction and economic fundamentals as a primary source of social disorder and clash. (Karl Marx: Wikipedia) It was Marx's view that it is through this economic fundamentals that the social and political conflicts take their roots, and hence the political theory should confine itself with the modes of production than getting i nto abstract thoughts such as liberty and justice. Hence it is found that Marx's major concern was on the structure of capitalism, which he found as the

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT hw Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT hw - Essay Example invested in this cash conversion cycle, which assumes a 365-day year and are as follows. Inventory = ($10,000,000 *.075 * (60/365) = $1,232,877 + Accounts receivable = (10,000,000 * (40/365) = 1,095,890 -Accounts payable = (10,000,000 * 0.75 *0.65) *35/365 = 467,466 $1,861,301 =Resources Invested Changes in any of the times period will change the resources tied up in operations. If MAX could reduce the average collection period on its accounts receivable by 5 days, it would shorten the cash conversion timeline and thus reduce the amount of resources MAX has invested in operations. For MAX, a 5-day reduction in the average collection period would reduce the number of resources invested in the cash conversion cycle by $136,986 [$10,000,000 *5/365]. This answer is appropriate because the cash conversion cycle is a basis for discussing how the firm funds its required investment in operating assets. First, differentiate between permanent and seasonal funding needs and describe aggressive and conservative seasonal funding strategies (Gitman, 2009). 17. Mad Money CNBC Jim Cramer always believes that there is a bull market somewhere. Jim Cramer wants to help his audience find it. Inside the mind of Jim Cramer, is a report from one of the most successful traders on Wall Street. His goal is to help the watching audience make money on Wall Street. Cramer's Internet site is here to provide Internet users with updates throughout the day of Jim Cramer's Stock Picks. The site provides recaps CNBC's Mad Money. Jim Cramer also sells collectibles on his site. The mad money store has several items of interest to his viewers are sold, for example the talking Jim Cramer bobble head character. If a viewer misses, an episode he tapes them every week and the video will appear on the website, Under Jim Cramer Video collection. Jim Cramer this week visited with his viewers about the deal with T-Mobile and ATT. He referred to this as a good stock buy for this week but warned viewers to w atch the trends on the combined companies. He highlighted the problems revolving around the Middle Eastern crisis. Cramer suggested how to eject them out of power. and how having the United States in the involvement of war with Kaddafi is fueling higher prices, therefore putting a barrel of oil out of everyone's reach. The economy depends on the Middle East oil until the United States authorizes use of the United States own reserves. Japans nuclear crisis is slowly stabilizing, and the country must at the present time focus on repairing the damage wrought by the devastating earthquake. Cramer mentioned the continued barrage of bad news is endlessly bad, therefore making investors fearful. Continued pessimistic approaches to the news are keeping stock prices lower. Although gold and silver, continue to climb. The show will attract more investors, which are trying to day trade or are simply trying investing on their own for the first time. The present economy serving only the rich

Quality Management in Green Valley Bakers Research Paper

Quality Management in Green Valley Bakers - Research Paper Example This organization was formed in 1933 and dedicates itself to making the perfect loaf. It has more than 1300 members across the USA. Membership indicates that the bakers are themselves masters at their craft and meet the quality standards set by the Guild in terms of baking prowess. The Importance of Quality We may all have heard it a hundred times or more, but it is nevertheless worth repeating that Quality is never an Accident; rather it is the result of concentrated effort directed towards achieving a certain purpose, depending on what we are doing. Quality means better than average, certainly not run of the mill or mediocre. Thus we can be sure that we have been given among the best in the world when we get a Cross pen, or a Rolex watch, or a Ferrari car. These brands are renowned for their quality and finesse. They have climbed the long hard road to the top, and their quality consciousness shows in every product they produce. One can be sure that they have the best quality contro l and improvement procedures in place, and are also on the cutting edge of technology. Once one has achieved a name and fame, it is all the more important to maintain the standard and that is done by a meticulous dedication to quality control principles and procedures. In essence, a reputation for quality ensures a dedicated and loyal group of clientele who will always choose you as their first choice (and maybe an only choice) when it comes to a certain product, e.g. DeBeers for diamond jewelry. They are convinced that they are getting value for their money and will keep on coming back to you as long as your product offerings are consistent in value and price. Three Areas of Quality Focus for Green Valley Bakers Taking into account the practices and procedures followed in the baking industry and particularly those used by Green Valley Bakers, it is recommended that materials management is one area where quality control should be implemented. The Japanese concept of JIT or Just-In-T ime Inventory can be implemented to save the cost of carrying inventory as well as re-ordering costs. By establishing particular trigger points for re-order and preventing the costs of storage to get exorbitant, we will be following the concept of Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). The second thing to look at is the reputation of our suppliers and the ongoing costs of materials. We should always make sure that we have a backup plan just in case something happens that can interrupt supply from one main supplier. There may be transportation or delivery problems, cost and profitability can be affected and thereby threaten the profitability and survival of the bakery. All this must be planned for in case of unforeseen problems or eventualities. For instance, a natural disaster could disrupt supply lines for weeks. Another quality measurement tool that could be used is demand forecasting and anticipation of inventories of materials and labor etc. to meet peak and off-season demand hikes and slumps. This could be done by tracing the demand per week or per month and relating it to particular events that might have caused its occurrence. For example, Easter and Christmas are festive occasions in which demand is at a peak because of Easter eggs, bunnies, cakes and other confectionaries as well as Christmas cakes, chocolates and other goodies in December.