Social Media Essay Example for Free

Social Media Essay Humans were always known for their cultural trend of migrating to what is cool and new. The Internet became a sensation when it first came out in the 60s. However, now sites such as Facebook and YouTube have absorbed that popularity. There are about 250 million active Facebook users, 346 million blog readers, 184 million bloggers, 14 million â€Å"tweeters† (Zarrella, 1). These websites are now known as the world of social media. The term social media broken up consists of two words, social media. Social meaning one’s uncontrollable need for companionship and media is a communication instrument (Dictionary.   com). Therefore it basically means the search for companionship through a communication instruments. The recent rise in the usage and the popularity of the Social media has amended the higher education system, altered the psychological state of its users and redefined marketing and advertisement. Facebook, YouTube and BlogSpot are the more prominent sites in which Americans socially relate. â€Å"With over 500 million active users, Facebook provides a virtual reality in cyberspace where users can enact identities for their friends, acquaintances, and a larger passing public† (Noor Al-Deen, 5). Users create profiles and provide explicit information such birth date, location, and relationship status, forcing one to become deeply attached to one’s accounts. Of the many reasons why members of the society use social media are to accumulate friends and strengthen previous friendships. â€Å"According to Facebook, the average user has 130 friends† (Noor Al-Deen, 5). Facebook focuses on making friends and updating statuses and being aware of your virtual friend’s status. Another reason why members of the society use social media is it to engage in self-presentation, make one self-known to the larger world (Noor Al-Deen, 5). Many have become socially elevated just by posting a video of themselves on Facebook or YouTube. College students are of the top users of social media. â€Å"In a recent study college students ‘reported using Facebook 30 minutes throughout the day as apart of their daily routine’†( Noor Al-Deen, 3). College is an environment where one explores his options and decides his future. Therefore many college students refer to sites such as Facebook and Twitter to become truly apart their collegiate community and become socially integrated. â€Å"A study submitted by Heiberger and Harper in 2008 found that 78.  1% of students who spent more than an hour on Facebook participated in at least 1 student organization or more† (Wankel, 4). Therefore there is an evident relativity between social integration and participation in school organization. Social media sites have also enabled freshmen student to enact with their professors and classmates much efficiently instead of having to set appointments and wait for a long time for one to meet one’s professor (Noor al-Deen, 6). Therefore incoming freshmen students should be encouraged to get involve socially both online and offline to increase their chances of growth within the institution they attend. However, according to Charles Wankel, a professor at St John’s University, extensive usage of sites as such Facebook can cause deficits such as information overload and bypass academic responsibilities. It takes up to much time of the day that it distracts one from his tasks. Social media sites have also altered the psychology of our society. â€Å"‘†¦Television and other popular forms of social media shape our perception of reality’ Sheldon says. † (Newswise) we base our decisions and thinking on what we encounter during our experiences with those forms of social media. Children are the most vulnerable to this psychological shift due to the stage of life they are in. Childhood was always known as a stage where children absorb all information presented and merge it into their behavior. So when children are presented with social media sites they are forced to adopt. An article written by Chelsea Clinton and James Steyer says â€Å"By the time theyre 2 years old, more than 90% of all American children have an online history. At 5, more than 50% regularly interact with a computer or tablet device, and by 7 or 8, many kids regularly play video games.† Children are being familiarized with social media by parents and older siblings and cousins and that’s how to they ride this wave early on. As they grow up they are faced with calamities and adversities such as bullying or parental divorce. They then turn to social media sites to express their feelings and search for comfort and empathy. â€Å"Rosen says. His research shows people who engage in more Facebook activities more status updates, more photo uploads, more likes also display more virtual empathy† (The Huffington pos ). This virtual empathy then reflects on one’s face to face interactions. Children who are not socially active face to face become more socially confident after using social media. This is due to them sharing and communicating online behind doors, which builds their confidence. â€Å"If someone posts he had a difficult day, and you post a comment saying, Call me if you need anything, youve just displayed virtual empathy† (The Huffington post). However an article claims that† The immediacy of social media platforms, coupled with vulnerable youngsters who are socially inexperienced and not fully developed emotionally, can create a combustible mix. Kids often self-reveal before they reflect, and millions of kids say and do things they later regret† (Clinton Steyer, 1). Social media sites have transformed the minds of these children and made them think that these sites are always helpful. â€Å"Consumer Reports reported last year that more than 7. 5 million American kids under the age of 13 have joined Facebook, which technically requires users to be 13 years old to open an account† (Clinton Steyer, 1). This shows the addiction that one’s children could have if one doesn’t set restrictions and provisions. Lastly, the final aspect in which social media sites had an enormous impact on was marketing and advertising. Businesses recently began to market their products on social media because of the large online social population. So as they receive supporters, these supporters also began to influence others that they virtual met or will meet. It is like a chain reaction of supporters. In recent years many name brand companies have become a part of the social media community. â€Å"Brands such as IBM, Burger King, and have come to own a 100 blogs and claim over 100000 views on YouTube† (Zarrela, 2). Through these blogs and YouTube they communicate with consumers and make sure that the consumer full is convinced with the product. Advertisement is a great part of a business because it is what attracts consumers. â€Å"Advertisers don’t have to pay publishers or distributors huge sums of money to embed their messages; now they can make their own interesting content that viewers will flock to (Zarrela, 5). Therefore their spending decrease and profit increase. The social media is cheap means of marketing for businesses. It costs almost nothing, it’s easy to get started, and it can have an enormous financial impact on your business (Zarrela, 3). In conclusion, social media has become a source of advancement and growth in which one can attain effortlessly. However one must become knowledgeable of what one share and reads. Social media opens doors to who chooses to excel academically by offering different angles on a single topic and aiding him/her on researching about that topic. It also opens opportunities to become more socially rounded by building confidence behind closed doors and automatically reflecting that in your day to day interactions and relationships. And open doors for businesses to grow and become more popular and productive. Social media cost all most nothing therefore there is no reason why one should take advantage of the golden opportunity that lies ahead of one. However one must not be controlled by the social but one should be in control of it.

Neural Grafts for PD Symptoms

Neural Grafts for PD Symptoms New Neurons for Old The Swedish neuroscientist Patrik Brundin was twelve years old when his father was diagnosed with PD. He resolved to devote his life to finding a cure for the disease and elected to study medicine at Lund University in Sweden. In the late 1990s, he joined Anders Bjà ¶rklund, a pioneer of neural transplantation, to work on a series of neural grafts aimed at reversing the symptoms of PD. A neural graft is an experimental procedure for transplanting neural tissue into the brain. The operations were controversial because the transplanted neural tissue came from aborted fetuses. Research had shown that the optimal time to transplant human fetal-brain tissue from the substantia nigra was from six to eight weeks after fertilization. Because only 10 percent of the fetal cells are likely to survive the entire procedure, the neurosurgeon may need to implant cells from multiple fetuses in one operation. To prepare for the operation, the fetal tissue has to be dissected under the microscope so that only those cells whose destiny is to make dopamine would be transplanted. Attached to the substantia nigra tissue are cells that have different fates to become cartilage, skin, etc. If the surgeon isnt careful and grafts these cells into the brain, theyd grow into big bits of skin and cartilage. It is a delicate process. The entire fetus is only the size of a fingernail; the substantia nigra, the size of a pin. After hours of painstaking dissection, the fetal cells will be mixed with a chemical called trypsin to dissociate the cells into a liquid suspension. Researches with rats had shown that fetal cells grafted in the substantia nigra did not reverse PD-like symptoms, because the grafted nerve fibers could not grow long enough to reach their targets in the striatum. So the neurosurgeon will implant the fetal cells in the striatum. In the 1990s, 18 cases of neural grafting operations were conducted at Lund, and over 300 worldwide, with encouraging results. By 1999, many people believed this method is the only way to cure PD. But for others, the results were uncontrolled trials with a potential for a placebo effect. This led two teams in the United States to propose controlled blind trials of fetal tissue transplantation operations. Patients entering the trial would be assigned to one of two groups: a treatment group and a control group. Patients would not know which group they were in and would continue taking their regular dopaminergic medication. The first study performed the trial separately for people over and under sixty. The doctors held follow-up meetings with the patients for twelve months. In 2001, the team reported the results. The over-sixty treatment group experienced no measurable improvement compared to the control group. The under-sixty treatment group got some improvements, but the researchers found worrying evidence of adverse side effects: facial dystonias and dyskinesias. Unlike L-dopa-induced dyskinesias, which disappear as patients medication wears off, these dyskinesias were coming from the graft, and they were permanent. The second study assigned the patients randomly to two treatment groups one using material from a single fetus, the other using material from four fetuses and a control group. The groups were followed for two years and tested using UPDRS. There was no difference between the three groups, showing that fetal dose didnt matter, and again some patients developed graft-related dyskinesias. These two studies killed the field of neural transplantation. A decade after these studies, Brundin is still a strong supporter of neural grafting. He claims the studies had numerous flaws. Brundin may be correct about neural graftings efficacy. It worked in the cases of two patients in the Lund series. The two patients were diagnosed thirty years ago. Both responded well to L-dopa, but developed severe L-dopa-induced motor complications. In the 1990s, they went to Lund, where the surgeons transplanted dopaminergic fetal tissue into the striatum on both sides of their brains. After four years, both patients could drop all dopaminergic mediations. Their PET scans showed clear signs of new dopamine production in the striatum, and their motor states, as measured by the UPDRS, showed a sustained benefit. These cases showed that this bold strategy can work and serve as a caution against dismissing neural grafts prematurely. The early scientific trials of levodopa failed. But scientists like George Cotzias persisted and worked out the correct dosing regimen, and the failure turned into spectacular success. In Europe, a large trial called TRANSEURO is under way involving some 150 patients. The work might redeem neural grafting. In the last few years, a potential alternative to fetal cells and embryonic stem cells has become available. In 2006, Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka showed in mice that ordinary skin cells could be reprogrammed to become pluripotent capable of becoming any cell. Soon after, Yamanakas technique was achieved with human skin cells. Rather than using fetal cells, researchers can take a patients own skin cells, reprogram them to become so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), then let them develop into dopamine neurons. These neurons can be studied in the lab or grown for neural grafts. Such iPSCs not only bypass the ethical issues plaguing embryonic stem cells, but also have other advantages. Because iPSCs are derived from the patients own cells, there is no need for immunosuppressive drugs. But because there is a risk that such cells might turn cancerous, it may take decades to develop a safe and effective procedure. Key Takeaways In the late 1990s, Patrik Brundin worked on a series of neural grafts aimed at reversing the symptoms of PD. Two controlled blind trials of fetal tissue transplantation operations conducted in the United States in early 2000s showed that the treatment group experience no measurable improvement compared to the control group. It was also worrisome that some patients developed graft-related dyskinesias. In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka showed that ordinary skin cells could be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.

Analysis Of Story Of An Hour English Literature Essay

Analysis Of Story Of An Hour English Literature Essay Kate Chopin (1851-1904) did a story that gets into the readers mind and moods. Freedom is a pleasure that is extremely forbidden, and none should think about it in public. Despite its shortness, the storys every word has a truest sense of meaning and plays a role in making it complete. The protagonist in this story is Mrs. Mallard or Louise who has a problem with her heart. Her husband, Brently Mallard, passes on, and the news have to be delivered to her in one of the gentle most manners due to her fragile heart (Berkove 152). Louises sister, Josephine and Richards, a friend of Brently, delivers the news. Both Richard and Josephine are unsure of how to break the news to Louise considering her fragile heart. Louise breaks down in grief upon hearing the news and retreats into her bedroom to think of her newfound freedom in privacy. She prays for a long life so that she can savor the fruits of being free only to be called by her Josephine. After getting out, Brently Mallard opens the do or and gets in; Louise screams upon seeing her husband and passes on due to the enormous joy of getting and loosing freedom (Jamil 220). This essay illustrates the causes the alienation that the Louise feels during her married life. Louise feels alienated in her marriage. Her main source of alienation is culture-driven whereby women give in to the decision of man. In many marriages, the man is considered the head of the household. Their decision and action is usually final; thus, the woman feels like the second party that is very dependent on man. This makes a woman feel like she is chained to the other party or the husband by religious vows or society. The other source of alienation is religion especially Christianity. Most religions often put the man at the head. If something good comes from a family, the man is appraised but, if it is bad, the woman is reprimanded. Religion somehow represses the freedom of a woman. A man can get out and engage in illicit behavior while the wife is at home; being faithful and waiting. If she discovers, the woman is told to forgive but, if it is the woman who engaged in illicit behavior, the man could threaten death, divorce or anything. This uneven ground is the source of estr angement for most women like Louise who are in marriage or trying to respect and uphold the institution of marriage. In this story, the perception of status greatly affects the behavior of Louise. Although she is estranged in her marriage, she cannot express herself in public. She has to pretend to be grief-stricken and has to retreat into privacy to think about her newfound freedom. Status is a thing that is created and imposed by society against the will of man. Louise stays in her marriage because she fears how society will look at her. She cannot walk out on her marriage to be free because she innately considers society. She cannot say exclaim with joy upon receiving the news of her husbands death because this will be contrary to societys expectations. Josephine and Richard also try to do what society expects of them; delivering the news in the softest manner possible (Berkove 153). As Brently walks in, Richard tries to shield Louise from seeing her husband in order to protect her fragile heart fro getting a heart attack. All these characters try tot live by the status that has been set by soci ety and not by their own jurisdictions. In this story, Louise plays the role of loss of freedom in marriage. Josephine and Richard play the role of society in the story. They deliver news and somehow check if Louise has received the information and reacted in accordance to how society states. The presence of Richard and Josephine is a representation of society, and they force Louise to retreat into her bedroom to think about her newfound freedom. This implies that, to act against the expectation of society is a thing that can only be done in private. The metaphor à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦delicious breath of rain in the air, peddler crying his wares, clouds piled one above the otherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ refer to the taste of independence that comes with the death of a spouse (Jamil 217). This is very common in the popular culture since according to the wedding vows it is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦till death does us part. This implies that Louise is free! Relationship problems in Louises marriage make her wish for the taste of freedom. It is obvious that, in marriage, there has to be compromise, and the looser is always the wife. Loss of freedom in marriage is what makes everything to go wrong. However, society and family are ever on pronging into the marriage to see that the people stay married. This is what makes many people estranged because almost everyone wants the marriage to work contrary to personal wish. Louise somehow celebrates the death of her husband. Most people especially family could label this as opting for the wrong path. Death is not something that people wish for and enjoying the freedom that comes with the death of a spouse is seen as very wrong in society. The enjoyment reflects relationship problems that were in the marriage before one spouse died. Josephine and Richard act as representations of society. They try to protect Louise from reality that her husband is alive which is wrong. I sympathize with Louise because of the path she has chosen. Although she celebrates her loss, she should know that life without companionship is empty and hard. At times, ever person needs comfort, which is a tonic in the ever stressing life. Society and its representatives like religion and the institution of marriage is faulted in this story. Religion plays the role of keeper, and shapes values and norms. With the help of close family and friends, marriages are coerced to stay even when they are failing as people bid their time and wait for the death of their partner. In this story, the irony is that the gain and loss of freedom cause too much joy until the protagonist, Louise dies. There is a conflict in what Richard and Josephine believe in. In real life, they think that Louise will be so saddened by the news; and she may have a heart attack (Jamil 215). They fantasize the way she will weep, get into trauma at upon receiving the news. On the contrary, Louise finds happiness in the news. It is unreal that a woman will rejoice at the death of her husband and prays for a long life to enjoy her freedom. This fantasy does not happen in reality. If a spouse loose husband or wife, they are sad and life is never the same. It is also unreal that a man confirmed dead by two messages could be alive. This could be true but it has the least probability of occurring in real life. It is also unreal that the joy Louise has of seeing her husband is what causes her heart attack. Perhaps the sorrow (of being bound forever) sends her to the grave (Jamil 220). Nature and society makes women or girls to be victims. Their fate is usually dictated by society and nature. Everything in society seems to reinforce the weakness of women. They are bound to relationships, marriages that are strenuous just for the society to be satisfied. They have to go by what society wants or else they are ostracized. Education tries to free women but, men and society will always put them back in their place where they have to give in to societal demands. This is represented by the fact that Louise thinks freely in privacy. She has to mourn upon receiving the news of her husbands death. In addition, she knows that she will have to cry upon seeing her husbands body so that society can sympathize with her loss. This story does not effectively show the way men become victims of society. However, when they fail to provide their women with a good life (flashy car, beautiful home, bright and healthy children, advance their career). Whenever they fail to go into these expectations, they are labeled as failures by society. Men who are divorced are labeled as failures. Both men and women fear failed marriages and people like Mallard try to enforce their will to make everything in marriage to work. In so doing, the will of the woman is completely lost making her feel lost. The moral issues that arise in this story are; rejoicing in loss, freedom in death and the evilness of marriage. Louise rejoices the loss of her husband. Divorced people are not welcome in society, and through the death of a spouse, people accept you. This shows the wrongness of society. It does not want anyone to be free from its standards. It is evil to rejoice in the death of a person but in this case, Louise celebrates her newfound freedom thus indirectly rejoicing in the death of her husband.

Old Time Walk and Run :: Personal Narrative History Athletics Papers

Old Time Walk and Run As I sit here at the first annual Bethlehem Six Day Extravaganza, I am amazed at the desire and energy these men and women have after five days of constant running. I would consider myself a good athlete, yet I would never be able to run such a long distance for six days straight. The amount of stamina needed to finish this race, to conquer the temperatures, distance, time, highs, and lows is incredible. These athletes have the support and admiration from so many people here to cheer them through this last day of running. Cheering for every runner that passes on the quarter-mile track, I wonder, how did these races begin? It was at Washington State Rink in 1874 where Edward Payson Weston attempted to successfully walk five hundred miles in six consecutive days. There were 6,000 spectators in attendance composed of all classes of society including the Mayor and the Chief of Police. It was almost necessary to alert the Newark police force and the militia to guard the soon to be prized and historic pedestrian. This was the third time that year that Weston was attempting such a feat. His first attempt was in 1861 where he tried to walk to the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. He started at the State House in Boston on February 22 and finally arrived on March 4. This distance totaled 453 miles in 208 hours, but he sadly missed the inauguration by half a day. His career took off in 1867, and this began his professional career. He started this career by walking from Portland, Maine to Chicago, Illinois (1,326 miles) in twenty-five days. This earned him $10,000 as a reward for all of his hard work. This accomp lishment came with recognition from everyone, the newspapers would write about Weston everyday and what he has done for the United States. "This walk made Weston a household name." Weston continued to walk on, breaking the world record in New York where he walked 100 miles in 22:19:10. Yet, with all of his successes, he failed numerous times at feats that he worked hard to conquer. Soon to be named "The father of modern pedestrianism," Weston was able to walk with the mayor during one of his six day walks. When Weston walked, he "dressed in black velvet knee-breeches, with ruffled white shirt and black leather leggings reaching to the knee.

Market Structure Essay -- essays research papers

Market structure is defined as the particular environment of a firm, the characteristics of which influence the firm’s pricing and output decisions. There are four theories of market structure. These theories are:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pure competition   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Monopolistic competition   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oligopoly   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Monopoly Each of these theories produce some type of consumer behavior if the firm raises the price or if it reduces the price.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The theory of pure competition is a theory that is built on four assumptions: (1.)There are many sellers and many buyers, none of which is large in relation to total sales or purchases. (2.) Each firm produces and sells a homogeneous product. (3.) Buyers and sellers have all relevant information about prices, product quality, sources of supply, and so forth. (4.) Firms have easy entry and exit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A pure competitive firm is a price taker. A price taker is a seller that does not have the ability to control the price of the product it sells; it takes the pri...

With Reference to at Least 2-3 of Amichai’s Poems, Identify the Main Stylistic Elements of His Work and Comment on Their Effectiveness.

With reference to at least 2-3 of Amichai’s poems, identify the main stylistic elements of his work and comment on their effectiveness. The main stylistic elements of the work of Yehuda Amichai greatly reflect the time in which he was writing and the place in which he was located whilst writing. Being born in Germany in 1924 and then living in Israel in the 20th century meant that Amichai was exposed to a turbulent stage in world history as Israel had only just been created as a separate state after World War II and Hitler’s persecution of the Jewish race.At this time politics, war and religion were all at the centre of the world’s attention, and particularly for the Jewish people living in Israel as there was the constant threat of violence from the Arab people in neighbouring Palestine. Throughout his work, Amichai is able to effectively convey the disruption and confusion caused by this conflict by using techniques such as scattered imagery and irregular struc ture.To better understand the effectiveness of the stylistic elements used by Amichai, it is important to look at how he uses these techniques in his works. The first area of focus that is important to understand Amichai’s style is to study where and when each poem is set. With contextual background it seems to be that nearly all of his poems are set in Israel or some sort of similar desert-like place. ‘God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children’ is one of Amichai’s earliest works and it gives a good indication as to the importance of place in his poetry.The importance of place is that in many of his works the setting is very much abstract and sense of a place in which the poem is set appears to change constantly, making the poem more universal and often with religious additions to the poems the setting is taken to a metaphysical, God like, all seeing dimension. In ‘God Has pity on Kindergarten Children’, Amichai changes place from a ‘first-a id station’ to a desert like place as he describes ‘sand’ before moving to a ‘public bench’ and lastly a ‘school’.Then the idea of a metaphysical dimension is introduced with the reference to God and religion suggesting that God is all seeing and is watching over the world from the place in which he is located. The idea of there being another dimension from which God can look down on the world is reiterated in the poem, ‘God’s Hand in the World’ where Amichai asks the question, ‘What does God see through the window while his hands reach into the world? ’ These religious images ink to the creation of a metaphysical place within the poems and they provoke the reader to think about how Amichai see’s religion and how he responds to his own thoughts about God and his faith in general. The religious imagery that is recurring in many of his poems leads the reader to a conclusion that this is one of the ma in themes which much of Amichai’s work is centred around. The next key feature is the focus on time and how this affects the subject of his work whether it is a person, object or place.Amichai uses many ellipses in his work which makes the poems very radical which is mirrored in the constant change of place and the progression in time. In the poem, ‘There Are Candles That Remember’ there are three main measures of time given; the first is ‘twenty-four hours’ which is followed by ‘eight hours’ and then there is a reference to candles that are ‘eternal’. In this poem, Amichai appears to be measuring life, and in particular his life, against the age of Israel which is a very new country in this period.The inclusion of ‘antiquities’ shows another dimension in the time references in the poem as it shows the past, but not the recent past as ‘antiquities’ signifies relics that are possibly thousands of yea rs old. In some of Amichai’s poems there is modulation in tense, ‘God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children’ shows modulation between stanza one and the other two stanzas with the shift from present tense to future tense.There is also modulation in ‘There Are Candles That Remember’ however it is internal modulation in the lines, ‘Late in my life I had a daughter who will be twenty-two in the year 2000. Her name is Emanuella†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ In these two lines the tense changes from past to future to present with the words ‘had’ followed by ‘will’ and ‘is’ which is another way in which Amichai shows the radical and unpredictable nature of his work. Prominent in Amichai’s work is the inclusion of fragmented and scattered imagery and structure.The sudden shifts between subject matter in many stanzas are mirrored by the non-clustered imagery within the poems. ‘There Are Candles That Remember’ has an irregular structure with lots of enjambed lines leaving the poem without a strong structure. The imagery within the poem also contains many non-sequential and strange images such as the ‘candles that remember’ where Amichai has personified the candles, this is then followed by the metaphorical reference to a ‘bowl full of precious liquid’. The images that follow are unrelated to the ones already mentioned, like the imile of the diaspora of old people that are said to be ‘scattered about like antiquities’ and then the comparison to how Amichai’s soul is ‘built like mountain terraces’. This style of scattered and mostly unrelated imagery helps to add to the sense of confusion and chaos in the life that he lives especially in the time in which he is living as the creation of the new country of Israel along with the conflict between the world superpowers meant that the 20th century was a time when tension and war were ever p resent threats to peace.Some of Amichai’s imagery that is used in his work is very graphic and the use of the human body no matter how much or little is prominent in many of the poems. One of the best examples of this use of imagery is the poem, ‘A Pity. We Were Such a Good Invention’ which opens with the image of a surgical procedure as the opening line reads, ‘They amputated your thighs from my hips. ’ The body part imagery makes the poem seem more physical and possibly is an attempt by Amichai to highlight the loss of intimacy with someone that he loved. A Dog After Love’ is a good example of the use of body part imagery as well as an example of the indignation felt by Amichai which is expressed through his poetry. His anger and frustration is usually caused by love, politics and religion, and in the case of ‘A Dog After Love’ it is the loss of love that causes the anger expressed by Amichai. This poem probably shows the most v iolent and graphic response to the loss of love as Amichai writes, ‘I hope it will find you and rip your lovers balls to shreds and bite off his cock’.This image effectively conveys the indignation felt by Amichai in a highly graphic way which makes it more impacting on the reader and therefore it has a greater immediate effect. Overall the main stylistic devices used by Amichai are the scattered imagery, irregular structures, often undefined place and changing times in which the poems are set. Furthermore, his work is always very personal with a great use of the words ‘I’ and ‘my’ in almost all of his poetry.All of these elements help to create very unique poetry that often has an impacting effect on the reader as the individual style of Amichai’s writing makes it necessary for the reader to think carefully about what he is writing about and what emotions he is trying to convey. Personally, I feel that Amichai’s work very effecti vely conveys the emotion felt by the events he is writing about and the personal nature of his work sometimes provokes sympathy, sadness, happiness or disdain which is a sign of an effective style of writing.

Anthropology Book Report

This is a book review of, With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets written by Marni Finkelstein. The writer gives a voice to the homeless youth and highlights on their everyday lives, the condition in which they live and the experience they go though in the streets.Furthermore, the writer through her interviews obtained first hand experience and which she writes with logical honesty, the study which she took its ethnographic methodology for the reason that she combined qualitative interviews and direct observation. The writer defines who the streets kids are hence the reader get to know how they come to be streets kids.She describes the different reasons why most of them leave their homes to end up being street youths. Their life in the streets is well tackled in the book on how they socialize in the streets and form peer networks.   She explains on how peer groups formed makes them use and abuse substances. Their subsistence in the streets and their da ily lives as it is explained in the book gives an insight to the readers to understand them even more.Finkelstein discusses how the youths in the streets are prone to victimization by the society; they are ill treated, oppressed and discriminated the youths reiterate by being violent for them to survive the hostile environment in which they live. The book concludes with recommendations which would be adopted to ensure that the ever increasing numbers of youths in the streets would be reduced and eventually make them leave the streets.This study falls under social anthropology as the study is done with evidence of how the streets youths, who form a group of the society currently behave in social a group. Social anthropology investigation is an intensive field studies which include participant observation methods like the ones used in this book.The study done was how social organization of the youths in the street socializes among them selves and the public. Social anthropology explor es indistinctness and contradictions of social life, sociality patterns, conflicts and violence which forms social behavior of a group of the society. It also address diversity of positions and perspective found in a social group. This is what is addressed in Finkelstein book when discussing how the street youths socialize and form peer networks which abuse substance, being victimized and violent.The research method used is ethnographic methodology, by combining direct observation and qualitative interviews to provide descriptive study of a group of human society. The study done is about street youths which are a group of human society.The research has focused on sociology through close field observations of social cultural incidents. The research is focusing on a social group and is able to study their activities and how they affect them and the society at large. It is done by interviewing informants several times using information from previous informers to ensure that the informa tion obtained is accurate and dependable to support the writers arguments.The research is done by first selection of a culture and identifications of variables which are used to obtain information from informants and gather data inform of observation and interview recording. To be precise the research method used is Micro-ethnography because it’s the study of narrowly-defined cultural group which in this case it’s the youths in the streets.When the research was being done there was resistance by the street youths to willingly disseminate information which they were being interviewed. The street youths are victimized by the society and they felt that they are not worth hence they have a feeling that they are inferior and the research being done will not be of any use to them.Trustworthy of the information obtained is one of the challenges encountered in qualitative research. For the writer to obtain a reliable source of information, interviews are done to several of the street children with the same question and compare their responses to ensure that the facts are accurate.Obtaining a sample on which the research was to be done was a challenging, as none or very few who were willing to be interviewed. On such a social study one is not supposed to influence the informers either by giving them incentives to woo them to provide information because it will be biased and won’t reflect the actual scenarios under study. The interviewees are supposed to be voluntary which in this study volunteering was a problem.The youths in the streets are a subculture because they give a diversity of culture in the society. The group way of life and social phenomena is distinguishable with the normal cultural practices of a family setup where the youths are expected since they are kids to be brought up in a family setup where they are provided for until they are independent. Their social practices and ethics are far much below the set standards of a youth being brought up in their homes where the environment is conducive. Their practice is referred to as social fall out from the cultural setup acceptable by the society.The group is made up of diversified age ranges which include youth who are hard-core, refuges and immigrants, runways, squatters, young single mothers and those who are homeless because the entire family is homeless. The group lacks shelter and has difficult to obtain adequate food and they are at risk of nutritional and health problems.Even after being health wise challenged they don’t have access to medication this result to ailment which some times is life threatening hence they experience high mortality rate. The difficulties which they go through coupled with the drugs which they take makes them to be depressed and have mental disorders which makes them committee suicide and die due to drug overdose which have been registered as the leading cause of deaths among the street children’s.I have realized that s treet homeless youths they are a nomadic group of youths who ends up in the streets. After reading the book I come to realize that they are in the street and who they are due to circumstances which are beyond their control. Such as, the whole family being homeless or they are refuges or even single mothers. I understand that they abuse substances and are drug peddlers because of peer pressure.They are also discriminated by the society hence they are not employed to earn money this result them to be thugs, sex workers, drug dealers and participate in scams to earn so as they can sustain their livelihood. Most of them do not travel very far from their homes to the nearby cities. Travelling of the kids is not an easy task because they have little or no money so their main mode of transport is hitchhiking and train jumping which both of them are very dangerous.Most of them leave their households where there is an abusive environment or they are simply kicked out from their homes. Finkel stein stated in her book that most of them remain on the streets for a short period then they seek refuge in shelters and their underlying motives are substance abuse and sense of aimlessness.According to Finkelstein, most of the abused substances in New York is beer and heroin most of them had experimented the drug before they got out of their homes but they become serious addict after they have prolonged their inhabitance in the streets. The excuse they give is that they abuse them because they want to forget their trouble such as helplessness and poverty.This group of homeless youths exists in the society because they arose from disadvantaged families such as disrupted and dysfunctional families. Such families experience divorce, poverty, parental drug abuse, domestic violence and poverty. There is also high rate of Sexual, emotional, and physical abuse which result the children to run away from such environment. There are also a substantial number of the streets youth who run aw ay from children protection services such as children’s homes or even run away to hind from the existing criminal justice systems.After being in the streets for long this group of youths develop self-reliant skills and abilities through networks of mutual supports and spirituality. Furthermore, most of them adapt to the hard environments they are exposed to enabling them to survive for years in dangerous circumstances.I was surprised to know that the street youths are not there by choice. I thought they were in the street as there choice of life. I came to realize that they have been pushed to be at the streets by hardships / factors which they have no control on. These unfortunate youths are really discriminated by the society who does not respect them hence they do not consider them for any form of employment. I was surprised on know this discrimination makes them revolt by being drug dealers, thugs and sex workers as they strive to survive.I thought that they are young you ths who are in street as a choice they have made willingly as a way of life and they are thugs or prostitutes. I thought that they choose to be in the streets so as to pursue their interest of being drug users and dealers which they could only do it more conveniently at the streets.Most of the homeless in the streets of New York are the minor who probably have suffered a lot of hardship which got them to the streets. These minors are not given money when they borrow because it’s discouraged; donations are only given out to worthy charities.This book has acted as a voice to the homeless youths by highlighting who they are, how they came to be whom they are and how they exist and coexist. It has formed a source of reliable information for the readers who would need to know about the street homeless youths.Self-reliance which grew with time by the youths being in the streets for long makes it difficult to eliminate or reduce them. Once they have been in the streets for long the form social groups and networks which enable them to have some sort of adaptation and building of skills which makes them survive for years in the hostile environment which they are exposed to.ReferencesFinkelstein, M. (2004) With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets, Belmont: Wadsworth