How the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Essay

In the chapter 15 as we call Sister Flowers from How the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, allows us the readers to experience the day with Margareute Johnson through her writing style as if we were experiencing it through her eyes and deep inside her thoughts. Her use of imagery, metaphors, similes and narration helps us paint and imagine a vivid picture in our own minds. Just like when Angelou is describing Sister Flowers, â€Å"Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged . . .† Her use of a simile comparing a plum helps us imagine the details such as being smooth, soft, and shiny, just as she saw Sister Flower’s dark black skin. Her use of imagery helps us experience things she saw, the smells she smelt, as if we were right there experiencing it with her. â€Å"The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door.† As we read this we can in our heads invent in our minds how Sister Flowers house smelled like vanilla, as she was about to step into her house. Angelou gets us thinking that Sister Flowers had probably just got done baking. â€Å"They were flat round wagers, slightly browned on the edges and butter-yellow in the center.† Angelou already gave us her sense of smell, now she is using imagery to describe her sense of sight of the cookies that Sister Flowers just baked especially for Margareute. Now she is getting our mouths watering for some of Sister Flower’s cookies. Angelou with out a doubt had a good writing style using a lot of similes, imagery, metaphors, and narration to improve our ability to acknowledge every little smell, every little detail and that she saw, just pretty much everything that was going through her head as she was living it first hand.

Free Essays on Friendship †The Sail That Keeps You Going

â€Å"If you’ll do that†¦.I’ll do that†. Friendship is the most wonderful relationship that anyone can have. Ideally friend is a person who offers love and respect and doesn’t expect awards for it. To have friendship is to have comfort. For instance we will look at some pieces of literature that are about friendship. â€Å"Driving Miss Daisy†, â€Å"Oath of Friendship† and â€Å"Bridge Over Troubled Water†. â€Å"Driving Miss Daisy† is a play from the late era of Ku-Klux-Klan, when the discrimination against Jews and Blacks has shoved up its tasks. But as the peace’s dove fly through the dark skies so the friendship has fly thru hates and fleers till it get to our characters that we are going to look at. They are Hoke and Miss Daisy. Miss Daisy who is a retired teacher is 72+ years old and her ability to drive it’s kind of gone. So when she accidentally drives into the neighbors courtyard her son is constrained to hire a chauffeur for her. When a friendship it’s starting it is not needed from all to agree to become friends. But an other part can be gained by how one of them acts. For example Hoke is not obsequious. He is very wise. His strategy is to express verbal agreement in such a way that actual agreement is witheld. If Miss Daisy does not want to be driven to the Piggy Wiggly market, well then Hoke will fallow her in the car. After a while Miss Daisy a grees to be driven and eventually, she and Hoke begin to learn about one another. Neither one is quick to reveal emotion, and for a successful friendship is needed that both has to give up a little from them. But giving up has never been an option for Miss Daisy. When she goes to listen to a speech by Martin Luther King, for example, she has Hoke drive her; but although she has an extra ticket, i... Free Essays on Friendship – The Sail That Keeps You Going Free Essays on Friendship – The Sail That Keeps You Going Friendship – it’s only a word but how much does it means. Friendship as the marriage has to be unconditional. Unconditional means without conditions. Without those extra words â€Å"If you’ll do that†¦.I’ll do that†. Friendship is the most wonderful relationship that anyone can have. Ideally friend is a person who offers love and respect and doesn’t expect awards for it. To have friendship is to have comfort. For instance we will look at some pieces of literature that are about friendship. â€Å"Driving Miss Daisy†, â€Å"Oath of Friendship† and â€Å"Bridge Over Troubled Water†. â€Å"Driving Miss Daisy† is a play from the late era of Ku-Klux-Klan, when the discrimination against Jews and Blacks has shoved up its tasks. But as the peace’s dove fly through the dark skies so the friendship has fly thru hates and fleers till it get to our characters that we are going to look at. They are Hoke and Miss Daisy. Miss Daisy who is a retired teacher is 72+ years old and her ability to drive it’s kind of gone. So when she accidentally drives into the neighbors courtyard her son is constrained to hire a chauffeur for her. When a friendship it’s starting it is not needed from all to agree to become friends. But an other part can be gained by how one of them acts. For example Hoke is not obsequious. He is very wise. His strategy is to express verbal agreement in such a way that actual agreement is witheld. If Miss Daisy does not want to be driven to the Piggy Wiggly market, well then Hoke will fallow her in the car. After a while Miss Daisy a grees to be driven and eventually, she and Hoke begin to learn about one another. Neither one is quick to reveal emotion, and for a successful friendship is needed that both has to give up a little from them. But giving up has never been an option for Miss Daisy. When she goes to listen to a speech by Martin Luther King, for example, she has Hoke drive her; but although she has an extra ticket, i...

Women, Voice Pitch Authority, and Gender Bias

Women, Voice Pitch Authority, and Gender Bias Do we respond differently to the sound of a voice based on its gender? Do mens voices have more authority and are womens voices more friendly? These questions skim the surface of an overlooked aspect of gender discrimination bias that arises from how we judge a female voice, especially pitch. Typically, gender bias against women is rooted in optics. We look at hair color, body shape, size, weight, height, physical attractiveness and make assumptions. Clothing, skirt length, and style of attire provide visual cues that fuel stereotypes and feed into gender expectations. Take away sight and we still jump to conclusions, but now the pitch of a womans voice becomes the yardstick by which we measure her worth. Picture the stereotypical dumb blonde. How does she sound? Either we imagine her voice as high and squeaky, or soft and breathy like Marilyn Monroe. Its sexy, but it doesnt convey authority or increase trust. Going Low To gain authority, women have long believed that its better to pitch their voices lower. And experts have discovered that most women are following that dictum. Over the past 50 years, womens voices have dropped significantly. Although womens voices normally register a full octave higher than mens voices, today theyre just 2/3rds of an octave higher. The most prominent example of this vocal divide can be seen in the media where an enormous distinction exists between the types of products sold by female voices and those pitched by male voices. At first glance, it might appear that women and men enjoy parity based on the number of voiceovers on TV commercials. Womens voices are commonplace in commercials that sell everyday household items such as dishwashing detergent, toilet bowl cleaners, diapers, paper towels. But commercials selling big-ticket items such as cars and trucks are largely the domain of male voices. Thats because of the sexual politics surrounding how we perceive male and female voices. Writing for the UK website the New Humanist, Sally Feldman observes: [Theres] a basic difference between the way men and women tend to speak. Whereas men often breathe from their abdomen, women are more likely to constrict their voices to an upper range which allows less variety and less control. In a recent collection of essays, Well-Tuned Women, Kristin Linklater writes: â€Å"When a high voice connects with a strong impulse based, for instance, in anger or fear, it becomes shrill, strident, screechy, piercing, nasal, penetrating, sharp, squeaky or brassy and generally unpleasant to the point of causing major distress in the hearers.† Men, on the other hand, with their deeper voices and richer tones, find it easier to convey authority and control. It’s partly physiological. Men’s voices are lower than women’s because they have a larger larynx, developed in the Adam’s apple at puberty, and longer, thicker vocal folds.... Anne Karpf [author of The Human Voice] argues that men have come to assert power through their deep voices and resonant tones to such an extent that â€Å"pitch has become a weapon in the gender wars. Men in Control Look beyond TV commercials and youll see how effectively men have wielded the power of pitch in the gender wars. Ever notice there are no female announcers on game shows? asks veteran voice actor Lora Cain. None serve as announcers on TV talk shows, and very few do network promos or movie trailers two of the most prestigious and highly-coveted jobs in the voiceover industry. According to Cain, statistics bear this out. Men do 80% of the voice work while women accounting for only 20%. Why does gender discrimination exist in a field where its not how you look but how you sound? Cain feels its because those positions of clout that determine whether a voice will be male or female namely, writers and directors are held primarily by men. The key is more women writers and women directors, she observed in a recent phone interview. If there were more women writers, thered be more of a tendency to say, Lets consider a woman for this. Opening Doors for Women Voiceover professional Lora Cain is one of just a handful of women competing at the upper levels of this male-dominated field, and shes acutely aware of how the deck is stacked against female announcers and women voice actors. Theres this belief that women dont sound good in certain situations or that women dont like to listen to women. Wheres the logic in that? she argues. Women talk to each other, and women make 80% of the buying decisions in this country. But when a woman wants advice on what to buy, shes not as likely to ask her male partner as she is a female friend...or even another woman standing in line at the bathroom. Thats just what women do. So, of course, we listen to other women. We seek out each others opinions. We are  our greatest resource. Im hoping that we can change that belief little by little. Cain credits changing opinions in the industry as opening doors for women. Whats popular now is the real person sound. Its created new opportunities and thats really wonderful. But women are still shut out of certain jobs where theres an expectation that you need to have a certain weight behind your voice. Some say that women dont have that, but thats not true. She cites Randy Thomas  as a woman with vocal weight. Described as the most recognized female voice in America,  Thomas is best known as the voice of the TV show  Entertainment Tonight  and the Hooked on Phonics commercials. Thomas shattered the voiceover glass ceiling in 1993 when she became the first female announcer of the Academy Awards. Since then, shes done the Oscars at least seven times as well as the Miss America Pageant and the Democratic National Convention. Shes the first announcer male or female to hit the trifecta of announcing the Big Three Awards the Oscars, the Tonys and the Primetime Emmys in a single year. Confidence Thomas has broken out of the pack of female voice talent due to that authoritative voice, as Cain describes it. You hear it and you believe her. This authority and forcefulness is ultimately the biggest hurdle facing women in the voiceover industry and in business as well. Listeners, like clients and co-workers, are more willing to place their trust in the voice that sounds confident and assured. The Count Is In A March 2010 AdweekMedia/Harris Poll  bears out these findings. Researchers asked participants to listen to male and female voiceovers in commercials and judge them based on various criteria. When asked who sounded more forceful, 48% chose the male voiceover while only 2% chose the female. When asked who sounded more soothing, respondents overwhelmingly chose the female voiceover 48% vs. only 8% for the male. Both genders were regarded as equally persuasive with 18% choosing the male voiceover vs. 19% choosing the female. Yet when it comes to major purchases, authority seems to trump soothing or persuasive. When asked which voiceover would be more likely to sell them on buying a car or a computer, respondents chose the male voice 3-4 times more often than the female; only 7% chose the female voice in either situation. In comparison, 28% of respondents felt the male voiceover was more likely to sell them a car, and 23% felt they were more likely to buy a computer based on the male voice. The problem is that we hear gender first and form assumptions about the speaker even before we have a chance to assess timbre, pitch, speed, clarity, and other vocal qualities that might establish authority or trust. Unfortunately, hearing gender isnt all that different from seeing gender when we discriminate based on sex alone and assign characteristics to physical traits often arbitrarily, stereotypically, and unfairly. Crossing Barriers Like Thomas, Cain has come up against the structural bias inherent in an industry where voices are judged by how well they sell. Shes been taking a crack at another glass ceiling announcing TV game shows as the only woman among half a dozen candidates vying to announce the popular syndicated show  Wheel of Fortune.  When the shows longtime male announcer passed away in November 2010, Caine pushed for the producer to consider a woman. Although there are no female announcers on any games shows currently in production, Cain is optimistic, noting, We go through these cycles in the 80s and 90s women could be heard as announcers on game shows although they were mostly cable channels. When she pointed out to  Wheel of Fortune  executive producer Harry Friedman that there were no other women announcers on TV game shows today, he was willing to give her a shot. Although the person behind the voice usually remains invisible, Cains putting her thoughts forward along with her voice to make audiences aware that women are capable of doing the same quality work as men, just as they do in every other career field. Im calling attention to this, Cain explains, because we need to recognize when women cross these barriers. At the same time, however, it would be nice to have viewers listen to someone like Randy Thomas and think, Oh, she sounds great instead of focusing solely on the fact that, Oh, thats a woman. Sources Camber, Rebecca.  Why women who want to get ahead get a husky voice.  DailyMail.co.uk.Dolliver, Mark. How People React to Male vs. Female Voiceovers.  Adweek.com. 8 March 2010.Feldman, Sally.  Speak up.  NewHumanist.org.uk.Hendrickson, Paula. Choice Voice. EMMY Magazine at RandyThomasVO.com.

Genghis Khan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Genghis Khan - Research Paper Example Temujin had three brothers namely Khasar, Tumuge and Khajiun, and a sister referred to Temulen. He also had two half brothers Belgutei and Bekhter. Temujin early life just like the other Mongolian tribes was not an easy one. When Temujin was at the age of nine years, his father took him to his mother’s tribe in the neighbourhood where he was required to work for several years so that he could earn himself a bride named Borje. While his father was returning home, he was poisoned by the Tatars tribe as he had a meal with them. The Tatar tribe had been enemies of the Mongolians for a long time. After the death of Temujin’s father, Temujin returned to his homeland to take after his father’s position among the Khans. However, his father’s tribe refused to be led by a young boy but instead Yesukhei’s two windows and seven children were expelled by their father’s clan. (cultural-china.com, 2010) Hoelun and her family were left without protection and for the next several years, lived in poverty and survived by feeding on roots, fish and rodents which were hunted by Temujin and his brothers. Temujin’s mother tried all she could do to keep her family together after they were expelled by the family patriarchy when her husband died. Hoelun taught Temujin skills which were needed to survive in the desert lands of Mongolia (afe.easia.columbia.edu, 2011). During a hunting expedition, a 13 year old Temujin killed his half brother Bekhter. The incident left Temujin as the head of the household. In 1182, Temujin was captured and held a prisoner after a raid which was conducted by the Bjartskular, his father’s former allies. He stayed in captivity for more than five years. He was later released at the age of sixteen and went to look for his wife Borje. His wife Borje was still waiting for him and soon afterwards the two got married. The marriage was meant to cement a strong alliance between Temujin and other tribes. Genghis Khan also had six Mongolian wives with whom he had many children with. He also married many daughters of a foreign king who submitted to his rule (Sailer, 2003). This children and wives were not to succeed Temujin. Soon after Temujin and Borje got married, Borje was kidnapped by the Merkits and she was given away as a wife. With the help of his friends and his future enemies, Jamuka and his protector, Ong khan of the Kerait tribe, Temujin was able to rescue Borje. Nine months afterwards, Borje gave birth to a son known as Joshi. While at the age of 27, Temujin organized a ‘kuriltai’ among the Mongolians and was elected the Khan. As the leader of Mongolians, Temujin gave high office positions to his relatives and his followers who were loyal to him. (asianhistory.about.com, 2011) By 1206, Temujin was able to unite a majority of the Mongolian tribes and this was what earned him the title Genghis Khan (answer.com, 2011). With the help of his army, Genghis was able to conqu er China, Samarkand, Central Asia and even Russia. Genghis and his army raided every community that resisted, killed and enslaved men. The then captured women were distributed upon the army and raped. More often, Genghis derived pleasure in sleeping with the daughters and the wives of the enemy chiefs. (Hudson, 2011) In 1227, Genghis Khan died shortly after defeating the Tangut people. The reason for his death remained unknown to many historians. References: afe.easia.columbia.edu. (2011). The Mongols in World History. Retrieved 1st December

Work and leisure. What you think about work and leisure based on the Essay

Work and leisure. What you think about work and leisure based on the books (use reference) - Essay Example John Locke argues from the spiritual dimensions that give aspects of work some real value and meaning. For example, he says that God gave nature freely to the universe but human beings used the actions of labor to give themselves property in terms of land, plantations, and buildings to get income value. He further argues that through doing work human beings made money, which is the determinant of the value of work (Locke 36). Therefore, people draw leisure from what they have invested to create support and comfort for their existence. In summary, Locke views work as God-given aspect of life, and the support that accrue to life is due to man improving the nature that God gave. That is to say, work and leisure are gifts from God. In his view, Josef Pieper stipulates that leisure is a mare attitude of mind and a function of the soul that brings the reality of the world societies. Additionally, he illustrates that true religion has its foundations and primarily thrives on leisure (Pieper, Dru and Pieper 17). In other words, he says that leisure gives human beings the time to appreciate the nature of God, hence forming part of human culture. However, in the current society, work is killing entertainment, which will eventually destroy the tranquility of human culture. Pieper’s revelation reveals that work and leisure conflict in the principality, of which leisure is a way of appreciating God’s creation. Therefore, work builds the very elements that create leisure activities such as sports. Schumacher in â€Å"Buddhist Economics,† gives yet another dimension of viewing work and recreation. The author argues that the fundamental source of wealth is work, whose measurement is in terms of human labor. Economist view work as an unavoidable aspect that should be kept to the bare minimum (Schumacher 1). On the contrary, human beings sacrifice their leisure in exchange for income from work.

Violent Media Content Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Violent Media Content - Assignment Example This kind of violence provokes emotions that could lead to aggression. The first scene under description concerns where â€Å"Tom makes a dangerous deal†. It takes place at an unoccupied house. Elias, who is the leader of three criminals, wants to know where Red is and they are using Tom who is the husband to Elizabeth Keen. To their surprise, they find out that she is an FBI agent who complicates things as Elias and his crew doesn’t want the FBI involved in their search. Tom, in turn, voluntarily offers to help them and in turn his partner is killed so as not to leak out that Tom had made a dangerous deal. Tom portrays the character of a traitor where he voluntarily decides to help Elias and his crew to get Mr. Red. He ignores that his wife Liz is always near Mr. Red thus endangering her too. All this transpire amid a lot of violence, threats and vulgar language. On the second encounter in the episode â€Å"Red Buries the Lead†, Mr. Demarcus hires Mr. Verger to kill Red at an abandoned house so as to take the full deal on investment with the Indonesian government to contract their company to run the port of Tranquillo. Mr. Verger turns out to mislead Demarcus. Here, Red tells his life story of how he worked at a carpet shop through the summer and in turn one day his boss gave him a forty dollar bonus which he considered the most valuable money he ever made, the most priceless and says â€Å"value loyalty above all other things† . He tells Mr. Damarcus that the former deputy minister died when his arrangements to secure a donors heart did not go as planned but he says that the new deputy minister views things his way. He picks the gun and shoots Mr. Darmacus in the chest. Mr. Red is a corrupt, selfish and heartless man and he finds pleasure in the former minister’s death so as to get what he wants. In view of this, the mo ral lesson learned is to embrace royalty wisely, not necessarily in the wrongdoing but also in the right. There are

Leadership Assessment Essay Example for Free

Leadership Assessment Essay Leadership can be best defined as beauty. One may say that is in the eye of the beholder. The best managers consistently allow different leaders to emerge and inspire their teammates. My prior organization, Comcast Corporation, a telecommunications provider, mission statement is to deliver a superior experience to their customers every day. Jason Biske, whom is Director of Sales and Operation, created an environment where Comcast is focused solely on customers by building relationships. When we would see him, he would always speak and ask how your day or sales was going. Jason was really big on keeping the sales floor informed of new promos or contests that were going on by sending constant email communications, ongoing training sessions, or holding focus groups on various processes of improvement in the sales process. When it came to leadership styles, Jason Biske demonstrated several. He embraced democratic, coaching, pacesetting, and authoritative. He initiated structure and created an environment that made you feel a part of something. Along with that he showed consideration. We felt like our opinions mattered and there was a concern for the employees. Leaders provide a sense of direction for the employees of the organization. Without this sense of direction (both strategic and ethical), the organization and its employees could easily lose their direction.In order for any leader to be successful all styles need to be incorporated. Leaders, therefore, are given the responsibility of creating and shaping culture. The organizational structure that has been created has positioned the company in the smartest way possible. † As the world changes, the culture of organizations must sometimes be re-shaped to better fit the environment and the overall strategy of the organization (Buhler)†.Comcast strongly believes in teamwork, integrity, creativity and commitment within the organization. Managers must be convinced of the benefits as well as higher performance for their teams if they are to become enthusiastic leaders of change. â€Å"Above all, senior executives should encourage managers to think big: the new world of work opens up new possibilities for how companies define their boundaries and organize work (Lund, 2012)†.Having such a strong team of leadership gives employees as well as potential talent something to look forward to in regards to a career. The positive thing about having a clear organizational structure is simply it allows you to see the formal relationship that exits between the departments. Jason Biske‘s job as director was to improve the sales process and increase revenue in the sales department. As a result he increased revenue by 24 percent. He also rolled out a process called Sales Pro which would make the sales process simpler by focusing on relationships. Even though his styles motivated employees, he used communication through m ass emails mostly. On a daily basis, you would receive several reports on how the company is profiting. At my career level no one understood how we were contributing to these successes. Jason would get you excited to make money but somewhere in there the leadership failed.† According to Moorhead and Griffin (1998) employee motivation and ability jointly contribute towards employee performance and the most challenging task of the managers is to motivate employee to execute the utmost of their ability†. (Iqbal)†. When you have middle managers that are not as excited about their jobs, it is hard to keep the customer service reps motivated to sale the product or meet numbers when the objectives are not clear. In an organization, an individual has to be seen as a contributor. Most importantly, you have to keep your employees motivated. Most people never make it to the top because they are successful at being a doer instead of being a leader. â€Å"Leadership is more about inspiration, about guidance, about communication and building trust among the team. Management is probably the day-to-day running of an organization. It is about developing and organizing aspects of your businesses and running those businesses (Toor, 2011)†. Some best pra ctices that organizational leaders can follow are 1. Accept feedback from the people that work with you. No one knows best other than the people that deal with the customers every day. Some of the most successful companies are profitable because the organizational leader listened to what the employees shared. There is value in shared values. Secondly, try a crazy idea every now and then. Employees like creativity and a challenge to keep them on their toes. Lastly, show courage. Effective leaders sometimes have to issue orders whether or not it means they are popular or not. If you are leading effectively then your team will support you. Leaders are made, not born. â€Å"I consider leadership as something long term with a clear vision of what to achieve. Management, however, is more about function; it’s short-term and involves setting a target and achieving it. Diversity is not only important to the work environment and the business but it can also have some legal ramifications if not followed properly.† Workplace Diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. The roots of diversity does not begin to range from race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, educational background etc., rather it begins from perception of the employees towards each other (Andrew Patrick, 2011)†. Ccompanies that embrace employees from different cultural backgrounds, experiences and even countries are better positioned to succeed in this century. Hiring a diverse workforce helps a company stay in compliance with employment laws and build workplaces that are more inclusive. It also assists employees in reaching their fullest potential. When hiring and managing employees from different cultures and backgrounds it can be challenging, but it can also be very rewarding. â€Å"Diversity is not a photo opportunity. Anybody can recruit anybody. Keeping people is the challenge (Sreedhar, 2011)†. Most corporations have diversity council which allows you to manage diversity globally therefore allowing others to learn from different perspectives and cultures. From a business perspective, companies have become more innovative requiring expansion into global territories. It requires them to move people as well as products around. With that being said, a company must be able to understand international customers, their commerce and their competition better than before. Works Cited Andrew Patrick, H. (2011). Knowledge Workers Demography and Workplace Diversity. Journal Of Marketing Management, pp. 2(2), 38-73. Buhler, P. M. (n.d.). The evolving leader of today. Supervision. pp. 59(12), 16. . Iqbal, J. Y. (n.d.). EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN MODERN ORGANIZATION: A REVIEW OF 12 YEARS. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business,. pp. 4(3), 692-708. Lund, S. M. (2012). Preparing for a new era of knowledge work. pp. Mckinsey Quarterly, (4), 103-110. Sreedhar, U. (2011). Workforce Diversity and HR Challenges. Advances In Management. pp. 4(10), 33-36. Toor, S. (2011). Differentiating Leadership from Management. An Empirical Investigation of Leaders and Managers. Leadership Management In Engineering, pp. 11(4), 310. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000138.