Political Economy Essay

Approaches to study of Politics Falls under Political Science We’re made to do the impossible Summary 1 paragraph will do. Provide the insight -Data -Theory used -approach used – use other references to prove your point 3 x 5 Surname all caps first name email address mobile number On approach deals with different meaning of politics Political Science What is Politics & its scope ? Banned words Politics is dirt Politics is nothing more than a means of rising in the world Samuel Johnson Systematic organization of hatred Henry Adams Art of governing mankind by deceiving them. BASIS of POLITICS Intellect and Will Man Capable of Thinking Politics as a rational activity Man has the capacity to think and realize his wants, needs and interest which are potentially in conflict with others’ wants, needs, and interests. Man cannot survive on its own. He needs someone else Politics as a social activity 2 or more persons Politics as a social activity 2 or more persons Associate with society Politics is concerned with social dynamics. POLITICS AS THE ART OF GOVt What concerns the state Study of government and exercise of authority Authoritative allocation of social values Framework Definition does not provide David Easton Authoritative binding to all Allocation done by the government Social Values anything held important by society budget allocation, privatization, elections Henry Mayo 3 characteristics that separate the political from non-poitical Politics is focused on the governing function through which are: Limitation on Easton on Mayo’s concept of Politics POLITICS DOES NOT ONLY HAPPEN IN THE GOVERNMENT POLTICS AS PUBLIC AFFAIRS State DIFFERENCE OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PUBLIC PRIVATE State Civil Society Institutions of the State ( apparatus of government, infrastructure, economy, taxes Autonomous bodies (family, kinship groups, private businesses, trade unions Funded at the public’s Expense Set up and funded by individual citizens Responsible for the collective organization of community life Responsible for the satisfaction of own interests rather than the interest of the larger society. Private with this definition EX: RH Bill It should not be affair of the government. Public Sphere vs Private Sphere Restricted to the acitivites of the state itself and the responsibilities that are properly exercised by public bodies Politics should not meddle on personal affairs and institutions POLITICS AS COMPROMISE & CONSESUS A daily activity in which differing interests within a given unity of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their role in the welfare and the survival of the community Bernard Crick Everything will just be fine – for no matter big or small the dispute is, at the end of the day we will just arrive in a compromise. Assumption: Conflict is inevitable Resolving conflict through compromise conciliation and negotiation, rather than violence and coercion. Not limited to government POLITICS IS INEVITABLE LINKED TO THE PHENOMENA OF CONFLICT & COOPERATION Politics as master science Why Make use other things to make things in order. Existence of rival opinions- conflict People recognize that they have to work with others cooperation Hannah Arendt- Acting in Concert Otto Von Bismarck- Politics is the art of the possible. POWER AS POWER & DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES What is power? X has power over Y insofar as Robert Dahl X is able, in one way or another, to get Y to do something That is more to X’s liking And which Y would not otherwise have done. Faces of Power As decision-making – you shape there decisions As agenda setting – You are preventing the person to make a decision As thought control- You are imposing your preference in an indirect or subtle way. Definition of Politics through POWER and allocation of resources FIND THE FOLLOWING QUOTES OF FAMOUS SCIENTISTS Adrian Leftwich- Politics is at the heart of all collective social activity, formal and informal, public and private, in all human groups, institutions and societies. Harold Lasswell Politics is, in essence power: the ability to achieve a desired outcome, through whatever means. Kate Millett â€Å"Politics is a power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another. â€Å"POLITICS†- as the constrained use of social power. Robert Goodin & Hans- Dieter Klingemann Constrained because there are already laws establish. Politics takes place in all social activities; politics happen at every level of social interaction Politics concern production, distribution and use of resources in the course of social existence. -Ability to achieve a desired outcome, through whatever means . Approaches to the study of Politics Ontology- the nature of being Epistemology -How do you know what we know? Theoretical – concept & idea Empirical- Evidence, observation History- both theory and experience Methodology – How do we exactly know what we know

Cracking the Myan Code

Watching the NOVA special Cracking the Maya Code made me realize a lot of things about the Maya’s and about their language that I had never before known. I thought it was very interesting how they figured out the Dresden codex correlated to a time the universe had started. Even more than that, they correlated that to our calendar, to help them date the hieroglyphics that they found. I think it is really interesting how they recreated what the Maya cities would have looked like, and how the civilizations would have been. I think one of the most important discoveries described in the video though was the one stilla of the Mayans has historical relevance. This discovery helped the archeologists to put together a much better picture of history and of life in Maya time. It is as close to written document as the historians are going to get, which makes it so cool that they found this discovery. | Another interesting thing I found in the video was the disappearance of language of hieroglyphics. I didn’t know that Maya’s were forced away from that language, and that many now did not know how to read it. I just kind of thought of it as a ‘dead language’ not as one that was a native language that had been purposely eliminated. That was one of the most interesting and saddest things that I found in the video. I wonder if the language of hieroglyphics had stayed more relevant if it would be easier for historians to find information about the culture, because they wouldn’t have to do as much language depiction.

Motorcycle Clubs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Motorcycle Clubs - Essay Example Although original motorcycle clubs were formed as more of a hobby, current clubs are run like a business. The majority of motorcycle clubs have a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, sergeant-at-arms and road captain.i The club starts with a mother group and various chapters are established later. It is also run like a business in that members pay dues. Outlaw clubs, especially, are run as a business. Illegal business, but business all the same: "Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), say that outlaw bikers, with over 300 clubs, 5,000 members, and at least 10,000 regular hangers-on, are one of the nation's largest organized criminal networks, after the Mafia and Asian gangs. They are also a business. The feds believe the Hells Angels and the other large outlaw gangs earn up to $1 billion a year worldwide from drug dealing, prostitution, gunrunning, theft, extortion, and murder."ii The person who joins a motorcycle club is looking for a variety of things. Some want more experience riding with a group and the confidence that comes from experience. Others want the camaraderie that comes with belonging to a group. Also, there is safety in numbers and a new rider may feel more secure riding with a large group. Other people join because they want to learn from others: safety tips, techniques, the best routes. Dulaney explains why he joined a motorcycle club: "For me, one of the best unexpected perks of joining a motorcycle club has been and remains the joy of riding with likeminded souls: members of a motorcycle club have at least one thing in common: their love of riding. Everything else, age, gender, race, looks, economic background, etc. disappear under the leathers. You can relax, laugh, talk or simply observe, it's up to you . . . it's your opportunity to be free and to unleash that part of yourself which has been hiding all these years . . .iii So who joins a club depends on their reasons for joining. Men are traditionally known to purchase motorcycles as part of a mid-life crisis. A club may provide a group atmosphere for regaining some of their youth. For some, the reason to join is two-fold: Motorcycle enthusiasts take great pride in their bikes. So many join for the opportunity to show off their bikes while helping a charity at the same time. Origination There are three critical eras involved in the origination of motorcycle clubs. Dulaney explains these as: the pre-formative period between 1901-1944, known as the genesis of social organization around motorcycling; the formative period between 1945-1957, where social and historical events of the post-World War II era coalesced in the formation of outlaw motorcycle clubs; and the trans-formative period from 1958 to present.iv Motorcycle clubs emerged shortly after the origin of motorcycles. The clubs formed to bring together riders for camaraderie and other events. The McCook Outlaws were one of the first long-lasting clubs. The name transformed through the years to the Chicago Outlaws and then the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Long-distance touring and racing are attributes accredited to

Fluid mechanical Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fluid mechanical - Coursework Example Looking at those pipes, you might notice that they have different diameters creating an illusion (Kezerashvili & Sapozhnikov 2000, 1). This causes an imbalance when water is put in the thick end, and no water in the thinner opening of the pipe. The construction made in the pipe make the liquid not to come to equilibrium; as a result, the water in the thick end exert weight pushing the water down the thick pipe. The kilogram of water that was situated at the most elevated point on one end moves in the opposite direction to the following side, precisely as a pendulum would when swigged (Kezerashvili & Sapozhnikov 2000, 1). The overbalancing mass of water getaways from the slight end because the channel is so short, it is impractical hold 1 kg of water. On the peculiarity, you comprehend that the surge is redirected to the thick end of the channel, where it extends the measure of time required for the liquid to accomplish concordance while encountering the tight end. The structure will accomplish amicability in the unmistakable measure of time that it takes for the water to pass through the restricted tube. Note: This charm Fountain examination will certainly for two reasons: at first, it relies on upon pneumatic power, which runs out once the first holder gets filled.  Furthermore, the fundamental thing that goes to the second compartment is vaporous pressure and not water. In this manner, it moves the water in the second compartment to the third, yet nothing refills the second holder! No water ever moves into that holder. Munson, B., & Okiishi, T. (2009).Fundamentals of fluid mechanics  (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons. Kezerashvili, R., & Sapozhnikov, A. (2000). Magic Fountain. Retrieved November 13, 2014, from

Foundations of Microeconomics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Foundations of Microeconomics - Assignment Example On the other hand, adult users are mostly addicts and as such, adults’ demand is less price elastic compared to teenagers’ demand. a) It is incorrect that a tax that does not have a deadweight loss cannot raise any revenue for the government. When the demand of a good is perfectly inelastic, a tax would have no effect on the quantity or any deadweight loss. However, the tax would still raise revenue for the government. In the graph above, the demand curve is perfectly inelastic. An introduction of tax shifts the supply curve inwards from Se to S*. The quantity supplied reduces from qe to q*. However, the price remains constant. In such a case where the demand of a good is perfectly inelastic, there is no deadweight loss yet the government is still able to raise revenue through taxation. b) It is incorrect that a tax that raises no revenue for the government cannot have any deadweight loss. When the government imposes a 100% tax on goods, sellers will not supply any of the good and the tax will raise no revenue. However, the tax has a large deadweight loss as it reduces the quantity sold to zero. When the government imposes a 100% tax on a good, there will be no supply of that good and the supply curve will be equal to the price axis. The tax will not raise any revenue for the government and it will have a large deadweight loss as shown in the figure

HIS 122 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

HIS 122 - Essay Example ïÆ' ¨ This book discusses the theology, history, and political theories surroundings the Declaration of Independence. Several published writings and letters of Franklin, Jefferson, and others are presented in the book. The interesting thing about the book is how it explored the idea that the men who fought for, authored, and amended the Declaration of Independence did not have establishing a Christian nation in mind. The author presented data showing that the values of the Orthodox Christian Church are all rejected by Thomas Jefferson. Also, it explores on the concept that equality, and not slavery, is the purpose of the Declaration. Dershowitz presented data supporting the idea that Jefferson rejects the concept of slavery and supports the â€Å"secular humanist† concept. It is controversial, challenging, and disturbing, because it requires readers to rethink their opinions regarding the Declaration ïÆ' ¨ Of all the books reviewed, this is considered the most interesting exploration on the different sides of diplomacy during the American Revolution. It provides an easy and interesting read, thus giving the book a wide array of target readers. It catches the interest even of a general reader, yet provides well-researched data that will also interest any historian. The diplomatic history of the American Revolution is presented in several angles, including America’s diplomatic ties with France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, and Spain. ïÆ' ¨ Simple and straightforward, the book discusses a lot of unfinished businesses caused by the American Revolution. Mainly, there are two very interesting articles that provide a great eye-opener for any reader: â€Å"Two Republics in a Hostile World† by Jonathan Dull, and â€Å"The Ambiguities of Power† by J.R. Pole. The book, particularly these two articles, can be compared to the ideas presented in the book by Dershowitz --- it makes one rethink of their personal opinions on the

The measurement of arterial and blood pressure Lab Report

The measurement of arterial and blood pressure - Lab Report Example Korotkoff sounds: A sound heard during the measurement of blood pressure by a sphygmomanometer. The pressure differences created in the cuff results in the turbulence of blood flow which leads to the audible sound known as first Korotkoff sound. Korotkoff sounds can be classified into five types. First heard when the pressure in the cuff is equal to the systolic pressure, second and third can be described as murmurs and tapping sounds respectively. Fourth sound is heard at 10mm above diastolic pressure while the last Korotkoff sound is heard at the precise diastolic pressure.Oscillometric principle: Another method of measuring blood pressure. It makes use of the same instrument but in addition, uses a transducer which gives the oscillation readings of the blood flow. As the pressure in the cuff varies with simultaneous expansion and contraction of brachial artery an oscillation is produced.Hypertension: A medical phenomenon indicating an increased systemic blood pressure. Normal bloo d pressure is described as ≠¤ 120 systolic and ≠¤ 80 diastolic. Generally, it is classified as primary and secondary hypertension with primary meaning with no apparent cause.  Ã‚  iv) S1 and S2 heart sounds are produced due to the closure of valves in the heart namely the atrioventricular valves and the semilunar valves. On the other hand, Korotkoff sounds are produced when the pressure in the cuff varies and creates turbulence for the blood flowing through the brachial artery. This the need to differentiate between the two.

Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Marketing - Case Study Example In terms of personality, Starbucks targets people who want to stand out as individuals while Dunkins customers are people who want to be part of a crowd. The segment that Dunkins is attempting to reach through positioning is what can be classified as average Joe--the middle income blue- and white-collar workers across all ages, races; who like to belong in a crowd; who although values nicer stores they like it to appeal to the ordinary Americans. These people do not like the fancy store layouts of couches, art-decorated walls and eclectic music; they also do not like glamorously-sounding labels—they complained that calling a hot sandwich a panini is too fancy, thus it is renamed as stuffed melt. They like more accessible products like flatbread sandwiches and gourmet cookies rather than pinwheels of doughs stuffed with various fillings, which remind them of something they have during cocktail hours instead of decent meals. Yes, definitely. Marketing is about finding the right customers and providing values. A huge market cannot be served only by one player. There are different types of consumers, and even to a large player, providing all the needs and wants of the whole market will prove costly and will erode their profits. Therefore, they choose to serve the customers they serve best. In the coffee shop market, the higher income and professional groups are the target of Starbucks, people who want to stand out as individuals. But there are other types of customers. And seeing this segment not being served well gives a huge advantage to Dunkins. After knowing the distinct needs of this segment, a value proposition that carries the message about the benefits the company offers to fulfill these needs is just logical. If Dunkins instead competes with Starbucks in the other segment of the market and provide the same value proposition, it will only come up as second best, or an imitator

Journal on Hamlets quote Essay Example for Free

Journal on Hamlets quote Essay Hamlet is one of Shakespeares most discussed plays. The drama has a lot of figurative language to be interpreted in various meanings. Among the famous quotes taken from Hamlet, perhaps the one bringing a wide range of different opinions is the line Hamlet said to his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Why, then, tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me it is a prison. (Shakespeare, Hamlet, II, ii, 249.) There is a deep concept in this saying, which perfectly represents the reality and the values of right and wrong. In the context, despite Hamlet saying this line does not refer to the moral values in the society; it does reflect the theme of the play. In this scene when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his old friends directed by King Claudius to come and check on his madness, Hamlet simply is mocking his fake friends naiveness. However, this quote does not only have this joking effect, but also foretells the theme of the play. Hamlet is the play of revenge, of finding the truth, of defining what is right and what is wrong. The way the prince thinks about life is going to help him deciding on his actions. . . . for there is nothing either good or bad implies in this world, nothing being is given a low or high value, a righteous or foul reason to exist. The way people look at it, react to it, and perceive it make it good, or bad. For instance, killing is always considered a horrible crime, but in the play Hamlet has to decide to murder his own uncle. However in that situation it is not completely a crime. It may either be right or wrong, depends on each persons view on what is more meaningful, a life, or the elimination of bad deeds. The decision to defy something as right or wrong also depends on a lot of different background like historical, cultural and other aspects. Hamlet considers the marriage between his mom and his uncle two months after King Hamlets death is unethical. The truth is in other nations, relatives do get royal marriage right after death of a family member to remain the stability within the royal clan, which is considered great wisdom and of great moral. In each persons view, an event has various personal relations to his belief and moral conception; therefore the definitions of right and wrong, good and bad vary among people. The argument of right and wrong, or good and bad, perhaps is the main theme  of the play. Is revenge a good excuse for murder? Is Hamlet not doing the same thing as Claudius did to his father? The answers lay upon each audience and his own opinion, as the truth lays in thinking makes it so Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Rpt. in Compact Literature Reading Reacting Writing. By Kirszner and Mandell. 6th ed. 2007.

The Cinderella Myth Essay Example for Free

The Cinderella Myth Essay The tale of Cinderella is encoded as a text of patriarchal moral instruction in which a sense of female agency will always by definition be absent. In this folk tale, which is also a fairytale, female character is positioned in terms of what it is not: not dominant, not powerful, not male. Cinderella herself, non-hero of a dubious tale, evinces more depth than most archetypes. She is capable of developing relationships, meting forgiveness, manipulating her own destiny, even of attracting magical help. This latter suggests a divine personage, with whom ancient myth is rife, but in fact there is never any indication that Cinderella is inhuman. On the contrary, her essential humanity is her salvation. These qualities on their own make Cinderella an anomaly among fairytale principals: she is given no journey, no quest, no troll to enrage or woo, but permitted to stay at home (albeit in a life of unrelieved drudgery). Although one of three sisters, she does not best them in riddles or games of strength or chance; even the sewing for which she is punished is not her own. Cinderella does not return from the party with a prize but (as I will show, I will shout) the opposite: she comes home missing what she had when she set out. Cinderella does not experience any perceivable growth or transformation with the exception of the tangible one directed by her magic guide—one which is also undone. We can read Cinderella as a mythical character only because of what she means to us as women. But that is enough. By virtue of what Cinderella represents to contemporary women, the character of Cinderella passed from her fairytale origins to mythical proportions. Cinderella has escaped the bounds of her own story. Cinderella defines girls first choice for a romantic partner, the strictures of friendship and obedience that girls are trained to uphold, unconditional family love and, not least, ideals of personal appearance and deportment. Cinderella demonstrates the potential of even the least socially advantaged female to achieve public success, the ability of the meek to triumph over the (female) competition, the trick of appearing to be what one is not. These are important techniques in the battle for male approval. If we have impressed Cinderella into service as a myth, it is because we need to look up and forward to a figure who has successfully navigated the obstacles on the distinctly female journey. Cinderellas rags-to-riches story inspires females to prevail against improbable odds. We do not believe  in myths because of some inherent truth in them, but because they substantiate what we most wish to be true: Cinderella is a falsehood painted as possibility. What we worship in her is not what she is but what she gets; by subscribing to the myth of Cinderella, we sustain our collective female belief in wealth, beauty, and revenge. New Origins Folktales had their origins in oral accounts, stories told by people before the advent of writing, or before someone determined them worthy of literary transcription. Grimm Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm did not, in an original creative act, write the tales published under their names, but went out as folklorists (before there was such a profession) into the countryside, like anthropologists in their wilds, and listened. What they brought back they then edited, like the good ethical binary German men they were: anything that didnt suit their Christian standards simply disappeared. I have read transcriptions and abstracts of their notes and wondered at the absence of certain types of tales. Stories about children surviving on their own, or women leaving the husbands who beat them, somehow never made it to press; concurrently, stories about Jews being robbed and hung in thorn trees, or torn apart by dogs while (mendacious) villagers laughed, stayed in. The Grimms were very careful not to let what they heard get in the way of what they wrote. Charles Perrault held the same view, concerned lest women and other children go astray. Both Perrault and the Brothers Grimm published these folktales as if they were their own—under their own professionally upstanding names, and not as anthropological records but as literary fictions. The performance of meaning for fairy tales becomes both an intratextual and an extratextual matter, one enacted by (re)writers of the tale, who rescript stories passed on to them, and by its readers, who collaborate with the (re)writers to negotiate yet another production of textual meaning (Tatar 277). Although old wives may have originally imparted the stories we read today, the power and authority of writing sat fast in the hands of male scholars; publication, moreover, was granted to the wealthy. For each fairy tale, Kindermà ¤rche, folk legend and myth with which we are now familiar, there are possibly thousands for which there is no record. Folk legend, like history, is selective. Cinderella was similarly written (or transcribed) from oral accounts as a piece of moral instruction.  A Cinderella by any other name exists in a variety of languages and cultures,1 with many culturally-revealing alterations to the basic storyline, most telling us of a poor but beautiful girl who, by going to a party on the hill, wins the attention of a wealthy man. Look what the right pair of shoes will do for you. Cinderellas story is a curious one. Many of us know this tale in its modern extensions but cannot say how we know it—whether we read it in a childs picture-book, watched Disneys animated version, saw a movie with human actors unanimated by comparison, or fell in love with the ash-girl in her other forms (including in Dickens revival). Indeed, Cinderella is legion: as Barbie in diversely perfect incarnations, the heroine of almost any romance novel, new and sometimes relevant literary concepts (for instance, the Cinderella complex, the whore with a heart of gold). 2 Bernard Shaws drama Pygmalion presents another instance of male bonding conducted through the service of a woman, in this case one who believes that she can only win by trying, as she has started with nothing. To his credit, Shaw allows the character to shove off at the end, bearing her body away, but to have true love and devotion this Cinderella must give up all pretenses to education. Education therefore becomes a pretense. Further transformed as the Lerner and Lowe musical My Fair Lady,3 the music ends with a new-made woman who newly makes man: Eliza converts her creators. The underlying message is one Mary Shelley crafted a hundred years earlier: Frankenstein has no loyalty. But in this case the monster manages to marry one of the scientists. Both Pygmalion stories are commercial perversions of an ancient Greek myth that performed a service for its culture. In the original, a male artist falls in love with his own sculpture, surely an intriguing commentary on the power of art to seduce even its own creator, and a warning to gaze on verisimilitude with suspicion. This brings us to Hollywoods contemporary Pretty Woman and another Disneyized threat, The Little Mermaid (if there is a hell, then Hans Christian Anderson is now in it). In these movies Cinderella transforms from foul and fish into a lady that only proves how far women will go to change for their men. As Oedipus provides a model for the male (kill Daddy, bed Mommy), so Cinderella serves the female, directing us to similarly anti-social behaviors and antipathetic familial relations: to hate and compete with other females, suffer in silence, and seek rapport with males  through the mysteries of flirtation, fashion and marital fitness. Fortunately for women, this involves only virtuous activities, easily enough acquired in the observance of girlhood duties: cleaning, cooking, sewing, nurturing and displaying ourselves publicly, all the while taking up little space. Taken to its logical conclusion, woman herself at last disappears from view. This is true in the story of Cinderella, as we shall see. Absence Let it be known that the ballerina is not a woman dancing; that, within those juxtaposed motifs, she is not a woman, but a metaphor that summarizes one of the elemental aspects of our form, sword, goblet, etc., and that she is not dancing, suggesting, by the wonder of ellipses or bounds, with a corporeal writing, that which would take entire paragraphs of dialogued as well as descriptive prose to express in written composition: a poem detached from all instruments of the scribe (Mallarmà ©, Oeuvres Completes4). One of the first absences in the text occurs in translation of Cinderella from an earlier publication in French5 to English—the absence of a word. It is a simple word and a little loss that heralds an enormous and important one: exchange of the French velours (velvet) for verre (glass). In the centrality of the image conjured by its sign, this Word reads as Logos for the remaining popularized text. It is an understandable mistake given the hardships of transcribing in the field (from which Charles Perrault, at least, copied out his manuscripts), of hearing and absorbing frank orality and then transforming it to arid print. The terminological difference, however, leaves women literally walking on glass, each step a faux pas. How does one navigate on such a fragile basis? This may be interesting to women who wonder how Cinderella got through the night in those shoes. Cinderellas new shoes are truly, clearly, invisible, her feet naked to all eyes. But worse —she must dance in an unforgiving shoe (dancing for the first time in public, mind you)—which at any moment threatens to break, replace her barefoot, bloody, and utterly helpless. How carefully she must step. A good thing the Prince has learned to dance. To comprehend the magnitude of this error—estrangement of the word and actions of our young charwoman—we are forced to retrace the steps of that perilous slipper, magicked into being with the rest of Cinderellas fancy outfit. There is no honest explanation for why the slipper remains as testimony—why, if the shoe fits, it drops. Moments earlier, we are told, the young woman was gaily dancing in this very shoe; surely it would have fallen off then, in the endless (and, as dancers know) breathlessly swift rounds of the older Austrian waltz. But after a night of aerobics indoors, the woman rushes outside and immediately loses a shoe. This mistranslation points us towards understanding the slipper as a prominent signifier, rather than towards seeing some more substantial object: glass operates as a red flag, leading us to a fanciful but ultimately unnecessary correction of an image. Glass breaks, it is true (although in the story it does not, at least overtly). But in the French source material the shoes were velvet. Velvet, a word strongly associated with skin (more so than glass), tears. It is strong, soft, stretchy and pliable. A velvet slipper can be left on the road and retrieved and can still be worn in a ragged condition. Not so glass. So while glass attracts our attention, velvet rubs us better. Something velvet has been lost. And found. If the slippers loss signifies another loss, the slipper signifies another slip. It is troubling that only one item retains its shape (the shape of magic) after the ball, when everything else has returned to its poor normalcy, right down to the golden pumpkin. If everything is magical, then the slippers exclusion makes no logical sense in the story. But without the slipper as a calling card, a sort of invitation to be stepped on, the Prince may never find Cinderella in the sea of women vying for his notice. Conversely, it is not clear to me now why the Prince has to find her. The story dazzles us with finery, which we all too readily see as refinement. In the spell of the lost slipper, we overlook the more obvious intrusion of the Prince himself, and in the absence of honest cogitation conclude that he must be the one for Cinderella. (Its true he is the only one, but in modern times that is not as good a reason as it once was.) Having had no time to know Cinderella as a woman apart from her unpleasant family, we have certainly failed to meet the Prince, and know nothing of this man except that he is extraordinarily superficial, a late bloomer, and wholly dependent upon his parents. In the remainder of the tale he develops as a foot fetishist. At no point in the story are we logically convinced that these two should be together, that the Prince is worthy of our supposed heroine, or heroic himself. Cinderella is not particularly romantic, even after the finding of the slipper that initiates a sordid (wo)manhunt. The  objective of this search is a stranger who clearly wants to hide; otherwise she would have answered the call. (Her sequestration at home in a locked house is far from likely, given that a principal domestic duty is emptying the char outside, and her name signifies her as that domestic.) And despite his hunting, there is no reason to think that a prince is going to be excited to end up with a poor ragged girl with ashes on her hands—never mind the in-laws. On the face of it, what Cinderella lost at the ball is a shoe, but we do her an injustice if we look only at her instructions (particularly as she has already ignored those of her stepmother) and neglect her feelings at the moment of flight. Cinderella is now in a palace, a place of possible refuge, safe from her family. The Prince likes her. But at the striking of the clock—no, the calling of the watchman or ringing of the bells—she gets scared and runs away. Modern detectives would phrase this differently: Cinderella exits the party late, leaving behind material evidence of her existence. (Without this the Prince might have thought that Cinderella was a fantasy.) She runs as fast as she can in an effort to beat time and find a way home. (If shed had a mother she would have known better than to go to a party where she doesnt know anyone: anything can happen at a party.) Then Cinderella loses her velvet, and the Prince gets it. (You decide what went on at that party.) And there is another ending, suggested by what is not stated in the story: Cinderella disappears from the party, last seen in the company of a prince. Passers-by report having seen a poor woman in tattered clothes, sitting in the middle of the carriage-track massaging her feet. This is the last either woman was seen. Police are now searching for this beggar whom, they believe, may have murdered a foreign princess as she left the party, probably for money. Anyone knowing the whereabouts of (but what is her name?) an anonymous princess, please contact this writer. Presentation of any story results in commission of at least two versions—the story that is told and the one we hear. I propose a tertiary rendition, that of the story we do not hear because it is not told—not, that is, forcefully sounded. Were we to listen to the spaces, as artists from Aaron Copland to Noah Ben Shea have reminded us, we would hear those speaking parts. The heard Cinderella is, despite its magic and fantasy, the authoritative edition; the unheard Cinderella is the practical, plodding story that might bring us to furious tears rather than ecstasy. A moment ago I suggested how  Cinderella might seem to an outsider, one not as privy to events as she. Underlying that suggestion is another one, that the writer or teller of the well-known Cinderella is either Cinderella herself or a close companion, as indicated by the naï ¿ ½ve credulity of the story itself. But that quality we have come to accept in the folktale genre, one which causes us to reflect upon the medieval notion of story-telling and which tells us much about religious tradition of belief in that period. Now I wish to produce something different: a case history of poor Cinderella, the pieces and bits of her life which may have been discarded by her original creator/story-tellers. Again this is an unheard story, but now it is also unspeakable. I speak as a caseworker in the Womens Shelter: Cinderella gave Intake the following story: Her mother died when Cinderella was perhaps five. Her father remarried a year later. Two older stepsisters were at the wedding, aged between eight and twelve; the stepmothers first husband died when a nearby witchs cottage burned down suspicion of arson. Almost immediately, and for the next twelve years, Cinderella was beaten regularly by her stepmother; she showed us an early scar, located on the upper left thigh, from a fire poker. Cinderellas father fell ill probably Plague and died date uncertain. The sisters began to kick, taunt, pull her hair and feed her bugs. When Cin began her menses, she was locked in a closet for? some extended time. There seems to have been a change in the familys finances at this point; the last remaining servant was let go, or left, and Cin took over all chores. She was probably eleven years old when she was first sexually assaulted, by the eldest stepsister. The abuse was repeated periodically until this day. Cin believes that her stepmother does not know of this, but C- does not dare tell her. C- sneaked off to watch the Grand Ball and, once in the estate and aided by strong drink says she had a bout with a stableboy she made it upstairs disguised as a maid, entered a room and borrowed a gown. She then appeared in the ballroom. The Prince danced with her, drew her into a private room, and seduced her not rape? C- wont say the word then returned to the party. C- fled wearing only underclothing and carrying her shoes in her hands. Outside she dropped a shoe without noticing until she got home; the other shoe is in her garret. We have all received, of course, the Royal  Proclamation, and know that Prince Ode is hunting for the owner of something in his possession. Cinderella came to the Shelter because she believes that he means to find her, take her away, and kill her. The case above, common enough in the lives of women, is not what we know as Cinderella but, given the circumstances of the folktale, its bizarre elements and strange silences, it could have been. In re-telling it I invite the reader to think how reading that as a child might have influenced her life, her love for housework, her attitudes towards men, and her desire to marry early. My Cinderella Confession A current trend in scholarship, at least printed scholarship, is self-reflexivity. The speaker is expected to identify herself, admitting her biases (as if the reader could not detect them) so as not to hide behind the formality of academic writing. In this vein I step forward and make confession, presenting some personal limitations regarding the story of Cinderella. Despite all I know about Cinderella, regardless of all that currently annoys me in the story, I confess that as a child I did identify with Cinderella. I liked animals. I liked pumpkin. I lived in a small room. When I went to parties I had a curfew —and it was unreasonable. I couldnt sew, and needed help in home economics. I went barefoot most of the time. It seems I never got dessert, possibly because I often lost things on the way home. I had to do such hard chores that I investigated child labor laws. I had two older sisters and, although they are regular sisters rather than stepsisters, they often seemed very wicked indeed. So what if they werent ugly, my feet were much smaller than theirs. (Then.) Because of them I wore hand-me-downs. (Then.) You see how it all fits. So although I was not a beautiful golden-haired orphan (my natural color is sun-bleached brunette), kept in a dungeon or an attic (I adored my aunts basement), forced to clean ashes from the hearth (we had a wall furnace) and befriended only by mice (we had large dogs), I did think that eventually someone would come and take me away from all this. I even learned to waltz. But I didnt meet any princes. The Conventions of Class Cinderella begins with Cinderellas primary absence: her mother. In fairytales, motherlessness indicates an absence of quality attention and the  necessity (given the staggering amount of handiwork done at home) for men to remarry. Their second wives are invariably brutish, and fathers die off like flies. Female children raised by these monstrous women are lucky to be married, while still children, to ugly old men —thus escaping beatings, beheadings, being poisoned, cooked, frozen, sold, or accidentally left somewhere awful. Male children with stepmothers tend to seek their fortunes at an early age, so as to find their own women to punish. The next absence in Cinderellas life is a father. Is it only that absent parents are common to the childhood fairytales which govern our memories and learning patterns, thus wending their way into our literary texts, or does this trope stand for more a founding absence, like the founding murder Oedipus is said to represent? The next absences we hear about in Cinderella are, in order: clothes, shelter, appropriate work, friends, and opportunities to socialize (with humans). It is at this point in the story that Cinderella encounters magic, something generally absent beyond fairytales. Or does she merely recognize the magic in her life? For it seems as if the Fairy Godmother were always there, available, like Glinda the Good Witch, to drop in when you needed direction. From that point on it is apparent what else Cinderella lacks: transportation, a formal dress and decent shoes. The final absence is Time. Even her Fairy Godmother gives her very little— as we find out later, just enough. After Cinderella loses the shoe in escaping (too late) from the party, she is plunged back into the animal world she dominates, shorn of finery, reduced to essentials. She returns to the level of minimal survival. Thank goodness the Prince is already searching, his spies canvassing for little feet. Cinderella will soon be lifted up, placed on a horse or in a carriage, and transported to a world of wealth and satisfaction with a big house and a good family. (I hope I didnt ruin the story for you.) On a basic moral level the instructions are clear as glass: good triumphs over bad, beauty over its repulsive opposite. Cinderella is intimately associated with nature, as we are told several times: through the animals which, like she, become domesticated; through her beauty which, in the tradition of the Aesthetic experience, demonstrates its superiority over homeliness. (Homeliness? What is homely, really, but housewifely, comfortable, and familiar —and therefore contemptible?) From our perspective of identification with Cinderella (wed hardly choose to identify with ugly,  nasty women) these females, older than she and more mature, are females prepared to party, women rather than girls, and not real (biologically real) sisters. Partly because of the brevity of the story and paucity of detail, this suggests that they, mere step-sisters, are somehow unnatural. Beyond the natural beauty that testifies to Cinderellas (yet unrealized) status, her elevation over this unconnected family is physically represented by spatial signifiers: imprisonment in an attic, conveyance in a horse-drawn coach, and finally marriage into a royal family. Above all, Cinderellas most natural gift is magic: the girls beauty and (its) charm shine brightly through mere rags. This is so apparent that it is noticed immediately by a prince—a man born into an entirely different milieu, to wealthy and indulgent parents. The story asks us, among other things, to anticipate that such a wedding of opposites will work. In fact, fairy tale happenstance and happily-ever-afters aside it just might, and because of Cinderellas nature. The Prince, culturally her Other, is the aesthetic brother of Cinderella. The kinkiness is just beginning. We customarily avoid class in reading and rewriting folklore, but Cinderella affords a remarkable discussion. Before the Prince lays eyes on her, Cinderella does not exist in the legal and economic awareness of her country. She pops into being at a party, relatively mature, decorated, and provocatively displayed. It is not a party for poor people; poverty is absent from the ball. But that in itself is an absurd notion: naturally the castle is full of servants, and most are penniless; one can only say that no poor people are present because poor people are beneath the notice of the wealthy population, invisible. This fact has not changed. Cinderella gets the invitation because it goes to the house in which she lives, a place where she is kept captive by her poverty. She seems not to have been born into the lower class (otherwise she would never have been able to get through the castle gates, let alone waltz), but fell into deprivation through the death of her parents. Who can really blame the stepmother for not wanting to take care of a girl with whom she had no real relation? Biology speaks: woman must protect her own offspring—particularly if the physical attractiveness of another female threatens their own reproductive success. The absence of Cinderellas own mother is unremarkable, superficial, unless one regards it as a fundamental absence, the one upon which the half-orphans  rags-to-riches story is initially built: through the fathers emotional absence, Cinderellas mother is replaced by a non blood-relation whose own issues of reproductive success create class strife and difference within the family; the girl is faced with rival kin; and finally a mystical figure intrudes from the other world, faintly identifiable as her mother (the magic helper styles herself a Fairy Godmother) but granting no more than material assistance. Transformation of animals into human servants,6 and their disappearance at midnight, symbolically expresses the absence of the lower classes, which serve the upper class as if animals. When we observe how Walt Disney attempted to fill in the absences in the text with additional animal habitation, this concept becomes clearer. Disney explains Cinderellas primary absence by the increased presence of animals that evidently take the place of a mother. With the appearance of the stepmother and two daughters the animals are replaced, and abandoned as Cinderella had been. An absence of family acknowledgement is discernible in Cinderella herself who, regaining the humble form of a scullery maid, becomes unrecognizable—virtually invisible—to her own family. The means by which Cinderella will eventually succeed is over-determined by class: she must physically impress her Prince and lord at court, and later fit his image of the perfect (small) woman at home. Still she requires a bit of magic. The story presents an array of questionable absences, none of them textually answered. Why is there a ball? Only because of the Princes failure to get a date on his own. His folks have to arrange something, to find women for him. Cinderella attends a party meant not for her but the beautiful people associated with money and fame. We privately know that Cinderella really belongs to this group; therefore we suspend our disbelief at the unlikelihood of her ever getting there. At the moment of Cinderellas entry, a representative of the poor actually becomes visible to rich people. But she is not really poor, is she? The tale does not end with Cinderella speaking in the public square, peasants invited up to the castle for lunch—in short with the French Revolution. (If it did, Cinderellas own head would roll.) She ascends, making aliyah; the rest of the lower-class remains in galut (the Diaspora). In fact, in the hands of Disney, Cinderella turns into a girl (few of Disneys female heroines are women)7 who sings as she is dressed—oh, those happy peasants!—in accordance with the tradition of  musical theatre to sing instead of enjoying a useful discussion. Everything stops while we listen to the same few lines being repeated. The formula recurs in nearly every Disney movie: when animals, peasants and racial minorities show up its time for a song.8 Do children want a story interrupted with a song? As a child I hated that sort of thing. Surely we must question for whom these stories, and their cinematic adaptations, are truly meant, written, animated, shown and sold. Jacqueline Rose points to the impossibility of childrens literature as a genre ostensibly for children, but written by adults, while in the marketplace it is adults who (because of their economic position) are the true consumers. It is even the adult who reads the book (aloud) to the children. Thus it is an adults version of the childs world which is manufactured through the aegis of childrens literature. Childrens fiction, says Rose, sets up a world in which the adult comes first (author, maker, giver) and the child comes after (reader, product, receiver) (Rose 1-2). So what is it that adults want children to understand from the story of Cinderella? Female Relationships One of the horrors of Cinderellas tale is the moment when she flees the castle and its famous ball. She is running, running, running away from the bright lights, the fun, the food, the nice guy, running to keep a date imposed by the Good Witch. This is a moment of horror not because she has to leave the party: shes pretty young, high time she went home. (Anyway she wouldnt want the Prince to think she was easy.) No, it is horrible because of the Fear of Public Exposure. If there is one thing that would compel me to leave a good party it would be the fear that my clothing would disappear. She runs out the door, the gate, goes down those steps, shes just off the grounds, and poof! there it goes. Fortunately she is not standing there naked, but we couldnt be sure of that beforehand. For a child to imagine being naked in public is terrible; so what if only the animals can see? There is no good explanation why the Fairy Godmother add this potential punishment to the assistance she gives Cinderella, there is no point. In my mind, something is missing from the story, something vitally important. Why is she set up in this way? What we do see in Cinderella is a tale of perfidy and female treachery. The bad characters are all female. How can one speak of a female absence in Cinderella, when it would seem that almost all of the  characters are female? But these people consist of a good but romantically stupid girl who prefers to accept the ill treatment of her step-family rather than to pack up the mice and leave; two step-sisters, ugly mean and very ugly, who are indistinguishable from the other, except through Disneys putrid use of color; an evil step-mother, also ugly; a strange woman who shows up once in a lifetime, twice if you subscribe to the Disney account. (Where was she the previous sixteen years? Thanks a lot, Mother.) Female hatred. Female sabotage. Female jealousy. These are all shown us repeatedly in Cinderella as is. We discover that the way to win a prince is over the ugly bodies of our competitors, who are similarly trying to cut our throats. Beauty on its own is not enough: you have to be seen by the right people. You must triumph over those who would hide your beauty. You must outdo them. No wonder female friendships are so problematic, when this is how we are trained to see our relationships with other women. Hatred, sabotage and jealousy are also present in earlier tellings of the story which, though present in the current Disneyized version, is absent at its end, when Cinderella rides off into the horizon and the bad family vanishes from sight and mind. In Aschenputtel, the Grimm version of Cinderella, birds attack the evil stepsisters and bite out their eyes. But in many other accounts Cinderellas goodness is almost saintly: she forgives her stepsisters horrible behavior and sometimes even manages to match them up at court. This is certainly not what I would do—but I also have an opportunity to rewrite this story at the point of my retelling it. I have already reinterpreted the story for you using a metaphoric polemic on absence. In my story, what is most important about Cinderella is the shoe. Ways of Seeing This article concerns metaphors and ways of seeing, particularly ways of seeing what others are not looking at. The logical assumption is that a non-subject is therefore trivial, unworthy of serious study. Conversely, my response was and is to question why these are non-subjects, to investigate decisions made by others about what is likely to be important to me or to anyone else. So my work begins with a rejection—of the canon, of the politics of literature and its publication, of academic appropriateness, of the legislation of opinion. One of the ways that academics seem to operate is through the posing of binary or structural opposites. It is comforting to  know that if a thing is not this it must be that; what is not cold is hot. Never mind that we are capable of thinking about and experiencing an enormous range of temperatures, that heat is a relative term as is cold; structural opposition (Là ©vi-Straussian construction) enforces binary coding, usually with the additional motivation of fixing, or affixing, moral values. Because one is already conditioned to look at things as this or that, cold or hot, the value indicators are similarly binary: negative and positive. We need both, of course, and not only in our flashlights: polarity is a dependent relationship. But because of this tendency towards a tension of opposites, we end up limiting our transactions, our thinking, to bad and good. This is the outcome—if not the point—of childrens literature: it conditions us to distinguish bad and good, and to make a number of other associations with these terms; that which is considered good is that which beautiful, smart, nice, polite, fair or even white, obedient, tall, slim, quiet, and so forth. In fairy tales, the basis of what we now call childrens literature, a persons inner qualities are instantly discernible from external attributes. Good and bad are physiologically, physiognomically manifest: the dark little crooked old woman in black with the wart on her nose is not going to be the hero. Thus a good person is also pleasant to look at and (as we know from television) has clean clothes, fresh breath, and carefully styled hair. I have gone into an extended discussion of binarisms and ethics because I invite you to suspend binary judgements, to move beyond an evaluation of absence as the opposite of presence, and to consider absence in a different way: as something present—but not. That which is not not present is absent. When something present is not looked at, not recognized, not seen, it acquires a certain invisibility—in part, what I call absence. Absence is what is always there but overlooked, or there but unheard, or seen and heard but never mentioned. We do not immolate the story in reconsidering what it conceals. We literally unveil nothing of her, nothing that in the final account does not leave her intact, virginal (he loves only that), undecipherable, impassively tacit, in a word, sheltered from the cinder that there is and that she is (Derrida 41). 9 Those characteristics of Cinderella left un-addressed support this view of absence: somewhere behind the story sits another story, the one we are not meant to hear. Were we to hear it we would walk away with an entirely  different perception of the poor beaten Cinderella—or several different perceptions.10 We might be inspired to question the value of the hidden features, to wonder where issues of class, aesthetics, nature, superstition, parenting, hunger or politics fit in our founding myths, to wonder at the importance of such a myth as Cinderella in our female lives. We might be sufficiently moved to overturn the patriarchal texts, insert others in their place (Nature filling its vacuum). Not, that is, to rewrite Cinderella, but instead to find a more feasible model for contemporary female behavior. Perhaps even to acknowledge that there can be no models except those we embrace through personal experience. Absence is something more than its frail partner presence—a location for the political, for what is challenging for societies and social conditions, for what must not be looked at, not seen, not noted, not touched. Not presented. Absence is dangerous. To locate absence is to chart life, history, sociology, in a specific way. The Cinderella story presents an array of questionable absences, textually unanswered because unquestioned. This discussion does not pretend to provide closure, but rather to enjoin readers to ask questions of their own. Unlike other ways of seeing, this strategy does not limit or eliminate the text, but it does subvert it. By examining our essential stories, those we encountered at the knee, and those we teach to children, we begin to see in other ways, to discover culture as a tool for moral education, sexual regulation and female containment, and to locate female absence very close to home. 1I do not wish to repeat the excellent extensive historical scholarship on Cinderellas origins here. Cinderellas lengthy and interesting histories, irrelevant in this discussion, can be found in the following brief bibliography: Bruno Betelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (New York: Knopf, 1976); Alan Dundes, ed., Cinderelle: A Folklore Casebook (New York: Garland Pub., 1982); Walt Disney, Cinderella [Videorecording], (Burbank: Walt Disney, 1949); Nai-Tung Ting, The Cinderella Cycle in China and Indo-China (Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1974). [ Return to the article ] 2A cursory review reveals these addenda: Colette Dowling, The Cinderella Complex: Womens Hidden Fear of Independence (New York: Summit Books, 1981); Barbara Einhorn, Cinderella Goes to Market: Citizenship, Gender, and Womens Movements in East Central Europe (London: Verso, 1993); Eugene Paul Nassar, The Rape of Cinderella: Essays In Literary Continuity (Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1970); a curious history of something entirely other—D. C. M. (Desmond Christopher St. Martin) Platt, The Cinderella Service: British Consuls Since 1825 (Hamden, Conn: Archon Books, 1971); Cinderella considered as an anti-fairy tale in Robert Walser, Robert Walser Rediscovered: Stories, Fairy-Tale Plays, and Critical Responses, ed. Mark Harman (Hanover, NH: Published For Dartmouth College by University Press of New England, 1985); Margarita Xanthakou, Cendrillon Et Les Soeurs Cannibales: De La Stakhtobouta Maniote (Grece) A Lapproche Comparative De Lanthropophagie Intraparentale Imaginaire (Paris: Editions De Lecole Des Hautes Etudes En Sciences Sociales, 1988). For a subversive and extensive recovery of what cinder (cendre) is (or to what cinder is reduced/reducible), see Jacques Derrida, Cinders, ed. and trans. Ned Lukacher (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991). [ Return to the article ] 3Rodgers and Hammersteins music backed a movie produced as a musical in the same year: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Cinderella [Videorecording] (Hollywood: Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1964). [ Return to the article ] 4Mallarmà ©, Oeuvres Completes, Plà ©iade edition (Paris: Gallimard, 1945) 3-4. [ Return to the article ] 5It would be difficult to ascertain where the fable had its first expression, as scholars trace it to Germany, France and even China; a student tells me of the Hungarian version, in which the young woman is named Hamupipoke, and her shoes, curiously enough, are made of white diamonds. The symbolism could not be clearer. On form and structure, see also Vladimir Propp, The Morphology of the Folktale. Translated by Laurence Scott (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968). [ Return to the article ] 6This is given greater consideration in my article Travesty, Peterhood, The Flight of a Lost Girl, New England Review, forthcoming (August 1988). James M. Barrie also wrote a play named Cinderella not very surprising in view of the fairytale quality of Peter Pan and many of his other writings. [ Return to the article ] 7One of the few exceptions is Mary Poppins, who is also depicted as an aberrant, desexualized creature. For one thing, she is a woman without children of her own, who literally takes, and seduces, other peoples children. Here again is a magical woman, a witch, dressed in black, like a widow; appropriately,  her boyfriend is also a witch of sorts, having the luck of the chimneysweeps. Does it not seem curious to anyone that he is able to impart good fortune through physical contact—and is this not somehow frightening? (As parents wouldnt you tell your children, Just say no?) Marys relationship with Bert does not stray from what we expect, even demand, of her class—her boyfriend (neither is married, nor do they discuss it, at least onscreen) is also a working-class Victorian London stiff (which is to say that he is also poor), with the robust happiness we need to ascribe to poor people, as well as a tendency to copulate below stairs; still we never see or are even permitted to imagine the content of their romantic holidays, interrupted by a song or some bit of magic. Because of her magic, and an understanding of what children really need that surpasses the ordinary, Mary is cleverly depicted as being able to breach the class zone: here her magic characteristics are essential for an explanation of this otherwise scandalous, and (in terms of class distinctions) uncomfortable flexibility. She doesnt know her place—the moral that the childrens father ends in teaching, as he rescues his children from the unsavoriness of their relationship with this queerly unmarried woman and her odd friend. Marys ability to tread between classes, however, elevates her even from Berts league: we know that she will leave him too, and are secretly satisfied. He is, for one thing, truly from the lowest class, as his mangled Cockney accent tells us, while Marys impossibly perfect speech distinguishes her as something quite different (though this is never really acknowledged); Bert is also, if only figuratively, black, while Mary is, however trenchantly, white. [ Return to the article ] 8The modern movie Ace Ventura, Pet Detective contains a wonderful quotation of a scene from Disneys Snow White. Actor Jim Carrey stands in the center of a room and the animals fly, run, walk, creep and slither to him as he belts out a high note. [ Return to the article ] 9I have re-rendered the parenthetical phrase (only), which Ned Lukacher translates as thats the only thing he loves, because of its (increased) ambiguity in the context of a feminist reading. [ Return to the article ] 10In her book Cinderella on the Ball: Fairytales for Feminists (Dublin: Attic Press, 1991), editor Margaret Neylon offers re-readings of the classic folktales. In the Cinderella story, it is the two sisters who emerge supreme: ugliness is a cover for intelligence and political feminism. [ Return to the article ]

Von Economo Neurons and Self-Awareness

Von Economo Neurons and Self-Awareness Joshua McCosker Von Economo neurons (VENs) are large bipolar neurons found in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), frontoinsular cortex (FI) and dorsolateral prefrontal area (DLPA) in the brains of humans, and to a lesser extent, the great apes, several cetaceans and elephants. It is believed that they arose independently within these species due to evolutionary pressure that required the rapid transmission and cognitive processing of social information in animals with large highly convoluted brains and complex social behaviours (Hakeem et al., 2009). Research has suggestedsuggests that the evolution of these neurons underlie the emergence of intuition, higher emotional cognitive functions and self-referential processes. This suggests an intriguing connection with the subjective conscious experience and self-conscious awareness (Critchley Seth, 2012). To investigate this connection between VENs and self-awareness it is necessary to examine the known behavioural functions of the ACC and FI, along w ith the evolution of these structures and the integration with this novel class of neuron. Furthermore, the higher social functions attributed to VENs and how these are related to awareness of consciousness self will be discussed in light of research that shows a correlation between the degeneration of VENs in several neuro-psychiatric disorders that leads to devastating deficits in conscious awareness and social skills (Butti, Santos, Uppal, Hof, 2013). The ACC and FI are found in the paralimbic cortex (also known as mesocortex) of the mammalian brain and represents a relatively ancient region that has recently gone through a period of evolutionary adaptive changes in humans and is directly connected to limbic structures while providing a transition to higher neocortical regions (Brà ¼ne et al., 2010; William W. Seeley et al., 2006). These paralimbic structures show increased connectivity with the hippocampus, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and septum; the septum is involved in social memory and the development of trust in humans (Allman, Tetreault, Hakeem, Park, 2011). It is hypothesised that this enhanced connectivity is mediated by VENs that project from the FI and ACC to these structures providing functional integration with of somatosensory input and higher cognitive emotional processes leading to the emergence of intuition, social and self-awareness and the ability to empathise (Allman, Tetreault, Hakeem, Manaye, et al., 201 1; Allman, Tetreault, Hakeem, Park, 2011). AIC as the input sensory region and ACC as the output control region (Craig, 2009; W. W. Seeley et al., 2007). The evolutionary expansion of the cerebral cortex gave rise to the neocortex in mammals leading to a volumetric increase in humans of several-hundred times over that of lower primates (Nimchinsky et al., 1999). However, the types of neurons found within the brain have remained relatively constant (Nimchinsky et al., 1999; William W. Seeley et al., 2006). In 1926 Constantin Von Economo first described the cortical distribution and morphology of a novel class of neuron as being spindle like in form and of unusual length (Butti et al., 2013).. Von Economo neurons are large bipolar projection neurons that are relatively recent on the evolutionary path (Allman, Watson, Tetreault, Hakeem, 2005). They have large axons that bidirectionally connect the ACC to the FI and in turn to other structures of the brain between the limbic cortex and neocortex; suggesting a role in the rapid transmission of sensory information between these structures. Although VENs have been found in the FI and ACC of species other than great apes and homonids the cells are not found in the concentrated clusters that have been described in higher primates (Bauernfeind et al., 2013). It is interesting to note that volumetric studies have shown that the evolutionary expansion in size of the FI in primates is disproportionately greater to overall brain expansion by 36% and the total volume of the FI is about 4 times larger in humans compared to that of the chimpanzee (Bauernfeind et al., 2013). Furthermore, it is known that the vast majority of VENs develop during the first 8 months of life (Allman et al., 2010) . and this coincides with the emergence of stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and increased verbal skills (Hoffnung et al., 2013). These studies support the suggestion that the FI and ACC are intricately involved in enhancing social behaviours through the utilization of subjective emotional states in applying empathy toward others. ReseachResearch hasis showning a relationship between complex social and emotional processes and the advanced cognitive abilities that underlie the ability of self-recognition (Hunter, 2010). The mirror self-recognition test is used to assess self-awareness in animals and was developed by Gordon G. Gallup (1970) during his work with chimpanzees and self-recognition. In humans the ability to recognise the ‘self’ in a mirror image develops between the ages of 18 and 24 months and this coincides with the development of other indicators of social and self-awareness such as the ability to empathise (Hunter, 2010). As previously mentioned there is a rapid development of VENs during the first year of life and this development continues to age 4 when VEN numbers align to those of adult (Allman et al., 2010). The hypothesised role of VENs in higher cognitive functions and self-conscious awareness is supported by research that has shown the involvement of VENs in the pathogenesis of a number of neuropsychiatric and behavioural conditions that are characterised by deficits in emotional and social functioning, the ability to empathise, impairment of affective language and alterations in conscious awareness (Kaufman et al., 2008). Stereological research suggests that these conditions may be due to the failure of VENs to develop normally or the degeneration of these cells within the ACC and FI (Allman et al., 2005; Butti et al., 2013). This is evident in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) where patients present with a severe reduction in social judgement, empathy and the ability to self-monitor leading to sociopathic behaviour (William W. Seeley et al., 2006). In a study conducted by William W. Seeley et al. (2006) it was shown that FTD is characterised by early injury to the ACC and FI involving e arly, severe and selective VENs loss of 74% compared to controls. Similarly, patients with early onset schizophrenia are characterised by a reduced volume of the ACC showing a significant reduction in the density of VENs (Allman et al., 2010; Brà ¼ne et al., 2010). People with schizophrenia show a broad range of impaired social skills characterised by severe disturbance of cognitive processes and self-conscious awareness giving rise to symptoms that include delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thought and speech, disorganised and catatonic behaviour, poverty of speech and lack of, or inappropriate, responses to socio-emotional cues (Nolen-hoeksema, 2007). Recent research has suggested a connection between these VENs containing areas, self-referential processes and the subjective conscious experience of awareness (Allman et al., 2005; Craig, 2009; William W. Seeley et al., 2006). The evolutionary motivation underlying these adaptations may well have been due to the rise of species living in complex social groups that required the rapid intuitive assessment of social interactions and the ability to differentiate between the needs of oneself and those of others and this may have led to the ability to empathise with the emotional state and needs of individuals within the social structure (Allman et al., 2010; Allman, Tetreault, Hakeem, Park, 2011; Hakeem et al., 2009). We shall consider a model of consciousness where the FI serves to integrate bottom-up interoceptive sensory information with top-down predictions and modulations from higher level prefrontal cortical areas and the ACC generating a state of awareness (Gu, Hof, Friston, Fan , 2013). It is hypothesised that VENs mediate a rapid bidirectional feedback between the integration of sensory information in the AIC and the adaptive behavioral responses mediated by the ACC (Allman et al., 2005). Interoception is the integration of somatosensory information leading to a sense of the physiological state of the body, giving rise to a cortical image or representation of self (Craig, 2002, 2009). In humans the interoceptive network is mediated via afferent spinothalamic neurons projecting to the ventromedial nucleus which is significantly larger in humans than other primates; non-primates are unable to experience body feelings in the same manner as humans do due to the lack of the specific afferent spinothalamocortical pathway involved in â€Å"direct interoceptive representation† (Craig, 2002). This homeostatic information is relayed to the anterior insular cortex where there is a re-representation of this interoceptive cortical image and the ACC is involved in the active modulation of the feeling represented by this image in response to cognitive assessment from the orbitofrontal cortex (Allman et al., 2005; Craig, 2002, 2009; William W. Seeley et al., 2006)(Craig, 2002, 2009; Seeley, 2006; Allman, 2005). It is also worth noting that this top-down cognitive assessment could involve conscious internal dialog and suggests the co-evolution of language and consciousness and that we are conscious in a human sense because we have language. Language is not only used for external communication but internally as parts of our thought processes defining our current mental state and by extension is a defining the broader and more complex brain state (Arbib, 2001). The above research shows that VENs are intricately involved in the convergence of somatosensory information via a highly evolved thalamacortical pathway to the paralimbic structure of the AIC in which emerges an integrated cortical image. Bidirectional signaling between between the AIC, ACC and multiple areas of the brain is mediate via VENs and is a contiual feedback loop that assesses and updates this cortical self-image utilising contextual cues derived from the environment and past experiences accessed from long term memory via hippocampal projections. The AIC cortical self-representation is modulated with emotional context and predictive behavioural responses. References Allman, J. M., Tetreault, N. A., Hakeem, A. Y., Manaye, K. F., Semendeferi, K., Erwin, J. M., . . . Hof, P. R. (2010). The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans. Brain Structure and Function, 214(5-6), 495-517. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00429-010-0254-0 Allman, J. M., Tetreault, N. A., Hakeem, A. Y., Manaye, K. F., Semendeferi, K., Erwin, J. M., . . . Hof, P. R. (2011). The von Economo neurons in the frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1225(1), 59-71. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06011.x Allman, J. M., Tetreault, N. A., Hakeem, A. Y., Park, S. (2011). The von economo neurons in apes and humans. American Journal of Human Biology, 23(1), 5-21. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.21136 Allman, J. M., Watson, K. K., Tetreault, N. A., Hakeem, A. Y. (2005). Intuition and autism: a possible role for Von Economo neurons. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(8), 367-373. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.06.008 Arbib, M. A. (2001). Co-Evolution of Human Consciousness and Language. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 929(1), 195-220. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05717.x Bauernfeind, A. L., de Sousa, A. A., Avasthi, T., Dobson, S. D., Raghanti, M. A., Lewandowski, A. H., . . . Sherwood, C. C. (2013). A volumetric comparison of the insular cortex and its subregions in primates. Journal of Human Evolution, 64(4), 263-279. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.12.003 Brà ¼ne, M., Schà ¶bel, A., Karau, R., Benali, A., Faustmann, P. M., Juckel, G., Petrasch-parwez, E. (2010). Von Economo neuron density in the anterior cingulate cortex is reduced in early onset schizophrenia. Acta Neuropathologica, 119(6), 771-778. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00401-010-0673-2 Butti, C., Santos, M., Uppal, N., Hof, P. R. (2013). Von Economo neurons: Clinical and evolutionary perspectives. Cortex, 49(1), 312-326. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2011.10.004 Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nat Rev Neurosci, 3(8), 655-666. Craig, A. D. (2009). How do you feel now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 10(1), 59-70. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrn2555 Critchley, H., Seth, A. (2012). Will Studies of Macaque Insula Reveal the Neural Mechanisms of Self-Awareness? Neuron, 74(3), 423-426. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2012.04.012 Gordon G. Gallup, Jr. (1970). Chimpanzees: Self-Recognition. Science, 167(3914), 86-87. doi: 10.2307/1728199 Gu, X., Hof, P. R., Friston, K. J., Fan, J. (2013). Anterior insular cortex and emotional awareness. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 521(15), 3371-3388. doi: 10.1002/cne.23368 Hakeem, A. Y., Sherwood, C. C., Bonar, C. J., Butti, C., Hof, P. R., Allman, J. M. (2009). Von Economo Neurons in the Elephant Brain. The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 292(2), 242-248. doi: 10.1002/ar.20829 Hoffnung, M., Hoffnung, R. J., Seifert, K. L., Smith, R. B., Hine, A., Ward, L., PauseÃÅ' , C. (2013). Lifespan development : a chronological approach (Second Australasian Edition ed.): Milton, Qld. John Wiley and Sons Australia. Hunter, P. (2010). The basis of morality. EMBO Reports, 11(3), 166-169. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/embor.2010.19 Kaufman, J., Paul, L., Manaye, K., Granstedt, A., Hof, P., Hakeem, A., Allman, J. (2008). Selective reduction of Von Economo neuron number in agenesis of the corpus callosum. Acta Neuropathologica, 116(5), 479-489. doi: 10.1007/s00401-008-0434-7 Nimchinsky, E. A., Gilissen, E., Allman, J. M., Perl, D. P., Erwin, J. M., Hof, P. R. (1999). A neuronal morphologic type unique to humans and great apes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 96(9), 5268-5273. Nolen-hoeksema, S. (2007). Abnormal psychology (E. Barrosse Ed.  ¤4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Seeley, W. W., Carlin, D. A., Allman, J. M., Macedo, M. N., Bush, C., Miller, B. L., DeArmond, S. J. (2006). Early frontotemporal dementia targets neurons unique to apes and humans. Ann Neurol, 60(6), 660-667. doi: 10.1002/ana.21055 Seeley, W. W., Menon, V., Schatzberg, A. F., Keller, J., Glover, G. H., Kenna, H., . . . Greicius, M. D. (2007). Dissociable intrinsic connectivity networks for salience processing and executive control. J Neurosci, 27(9), 2349-2356. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5587-06.2007

The Holocaust :: European Europe History

Holocaust Throughout the movie, "The Holocaust", the phrase, "I just do my job," was usually the only excuse most people who committed crimes against the Jews could come up with. For example, when Helena and Rudy Weiss were staying in Kiev, the city was bombed. During the bombing, one of the Nazi soldiers, who happened to be Heinz Muller, a friend of Inga's family, was hit by falling debris. Hesitant, Rudy helped Muller escape from the collapsing building, gave him some water, and asked him why he was taking part in the mistreatment of the Jews. "I obey orders," Muller replied, unrepentant about what he did. Also, when Bertha Weiss was sent to the gas chambers in Auschwitz, Dr. Joseph Weiss asked the Kapo what happened to her. The lady bluntly retorted, "Don't blame me, I just take orders." Whether to keep a job, remain loyal to their cause, or just because they had no other excuse, everyone used that phrase to justify what they did wrong against the Jews. Anti-Semitism and unfair grudges are two factors that can cause Genocide. During the movie, Eric Dorf claimed he did not feel bad about Kristallnacht or what happened to the Jews, because he said the Jews provoked it. Even though Kristallnacht was the first major pogrom, a government sponsored attack on the Jews, and was terribly destructive, Eric said that they killed Christ and they deserved what they got (The Holocaust). In addition, Heydrich believed that Germans and the Aryan race was superior to the Jewish race and they had to "isolate the germ carriers" (The Holocaust), so he decided to go through with the plan for Jewish ghettos. The ghettos were intended to hold the Jews in a temporary Jewish community until they could be efficiently exterminated. This demonstrates how Anti-Semitism and grudges can produce Genocide. In the video, "Conversations With Oprah: Elie Wiesel", Wiesel explains that the most important lesson to be learned from what happened during the Holocaust is to not be indifferent, but to still be human in spite of everything that happened. He said he believed that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather indifference, because indifference can not be fought (Conversations). Not being indifferent is important in preventing another Holocaust in the future. "When you have a choice to make and you don't make it, that in itself is a choice," William James once said.

Connections between Boo and Tom in to Kill a Mockingbird :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

Connections between Boo and Tom in to Kill a Mockingbird ======================================================== Harper Lee seems to be telling toe different stories, that of Boo and Tom. Are there any connections between the storied? Although the novel seems to be telling two different stories, that of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley there are some connections between the stories. The first connection I'd like to highlight is that both Tom and Boo are Mockingbird figures. We know that Atticus and also Miss Maudie tell the children, and I quote, " Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." We see how Boo is portrayed as a mockingbird figure when he is locked away from any sort of normal life and society. That in turn, ruins any hope he has of a normal life. However, Boo stays out of sight for many years and his only communication with anyone other than his family for many years when he leave gifts for Jem and Scout in the tree outside his house. The presents that Boo leaves show how thoughtful, caring and gentle Boo is. For example he leaves two dolls carved out of soap in the likeness of Jem and Scout. Immense effort and thought would have gone into those dolls, just to pleasure the two children. This shows how Boo is being made a prisoner in his own home, for no reason, he isn't doing anything wrong. Also near the end of the novel we know that if it hadn't of been for Boo, the children would never have made it home that night. This shows that Boo is like a Mockingbird, he doesn't do any wrong at all, and just watches over the children to see they are save and makes them nice things. We know now that a sin was committed when his parents secluded Boo in the house; they have committed a sin, as they would be killing a Mockingbird. This is where we see the first connection between Boo's story and Toms because Tom Robinson is also a Mockingbird Figure. We know that Tom Robinson was found guilty to the charge of Rape to Mayella Ewell. This happened even though there was no evidence whatsoever to say that Tom did it, and plenty to say that he was in fact totally innocent. Also Tom in the trial shows how caring and honest he is when he says, " I felt right sorry for her." This was a huge mistake by Tom as a black man feeling sorry for a

Effects of Women Incarceration on Young Children Essay

Number of women putting in prison has increased drastically in recent decades. Approximately 600,000 women were incarcerated in 1990. This number has increased to more than one million in 2000. Though women are less likely to get imprisonment, the rate of their imprisonment is rising drastically (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001). Majority of women put in prison are mothers. Families of incarcerated women are badly affected and face challenges such mental illness, poverty, substance abuse and child abuse. Sometimes, permanent changes in children of incarcerated women take place even when their mother has returned home. Such children lose the hope of having their mother for the rest of life with them. They think that their mother will go to jail sooner or later (Greene & Hurtado 2000). Children of incarcerated mother are subjected to go through troubles in their adolescence. Such children may commit a crime, may involve in substance abuse, mental illness may be profound in them, may leave schools in their early life and may receive inappropriate adult care. Criminal behavior of mothers brings damaging effects in children. They are badly affected when they see their mother arrested and put in prison (Young & Carrie 2000). This paper provides information about the effects of women incarceration on young children. Different age groups of children are taken into consideration and the effect of their mother’s incarceration on them is discussed in detail. This paper describes how children try to cope up with the incarceration of their mothers. Changes in policies are required and this paper recommends such changes to provide support to such children and to keep them away from the harm. Effect of Women Incarceration on Young Children Majority of the incarcerated women are mothers. The effects of mother’s incarceration on young children are not much known. Such children are not considered when their mothers are put in prison. Researchers, policy makers, communities and service providers do not think about the affected children and thus, nothing is being done for the well-being of those children. Children at different development stages are affected to a different extent. Infants and toddlers are affected in a different manner, where as, pre-schoolers, school-aged children and adolescents are affected in entirely different manner to a different extent (McClellan 1994). Impact of Mother’s Incarceration on Infants and Toddlers Babies are not able to understand the imprisonment of their mothers but people around them come under stress due to the incarceration of the baby’s mother. Such stressed people’s behavior tells the babies that something wrong has happened. The stress period begins when the mother is arrested, put in prison and the stress continues even after the mother’s return. Care givers do not take care of the babies the way a mother can do. Such babies do not receive breast feeding that is essential for their growth. Their routines are badly disrupted. Infants and toddlers are more likely to receive neglecting and abusive care. They are most likely to receive very less capacity to regulate them. They have to face severe stress that is often imposed by their family. They may also have to face poverty. Children of this age group are not able to understand the arrest and imprisonment of their mothers. Some children of this age group forget their mothers and become attached to the caregiver. So, the bond between mother and the child will be broken for ever. When children of this age group are taken to penal settings, they are unable to understand why they cannot touch their moms though their moms are in front of them (Marcus-Mendoza 2001). Impact of Mother’s Incarceration on Pre-Schoolers Pre-schoolers’ age ranges from three to five years. Children under this age group need the development of skills that are essential for them to get success in their academics and society. Individuality seems to be prominent and such children need to live independent life. Discipline development is essential at this stage and certain routines need to be set at this age. Children under this age group are also not able to understand much about the incarceration of their mother but they can catch the feelings by the notions of people surrounding them (Greene & Hurtado 2000). Children’s limited understanding power does not let them connect crime with imprisonment and thus they simply tend to focus on the results of the incarceration. For example, they start disliking the police just because their mother was taken away. They do not like judges because they are responsible for putting their mothers in jails. Sometimes, such children start disliking their mothers because they think that their mother has done something wrong. They need time to settle their minds again to have the same picture of their mother as they had before; the mother who was used to take good care of them. Children under such circumstances usually consider the criminal justice system quite unjust and they consider them as the victims of the criminal justice system (Hagan 1996). Impact of Mother’s Incarceration on School-Aged Children When children come to an age between 6 to 12 years, they become more aware of them and people. Their thinking abilities are enhanced and concepts about rights and wrongs become clearer to them. Such children begin to establish relations with their caregivers and go away from their mothers. In fact, such children should be able to rationalize that their mother is a good person. This can be done when the image of their mother is portrayed to them in a positive manner. They tend to justify that the acts of their mother were quite fair and the criminal justice system has been unfair to them or they may even complain of a biased behavior. Such behavioral developments in children of this age group are quite alarming as criminal behavior may also be developed in such children (Fejes & Miller 2002). Children of this age group do not share this bitter reality of their life with others. They hide as their weak point. Thus, they are less likely to receive any kind of support from others such as teachers, and care takers. They tend to minimize socialization. Aggressive behavior may also develop in such children and they feel difficulty in putting their efforts in their education resulting in more absences (Feldman et al. 1999). Development of Criminal Behavior in Young Children of Incarcerated Women Children of incarcerated women may develop criminal behavior. Following are some factors that determine the likelihood of criminal behavior. Coping Strategies Children of all ages go through extremely hurtful situations. They begin to implement coping strategies to get out of the awkward situations resulting from their mother’s incarceration. They begin to suffer from anxiety, feelings of shame and anger and financial problems. They begin to deny the reality, show aggressive behavior, blame themselves, get involved in substance and alcohol abuse and find ways to escape from the situation by running away. These strategies may benefit kids on temporary basis but they leave long lasting bad effects. These issues may lead to criminal behavior (Casey-Acevedo 2002). Giving Good Reasons This is another strategy that children of incarcerated mothers use to portray their mothers as very good persons. They do so to hide the reality of their mothers. They deny the fact that their mother had committed a crime and that is why she was sent to prison. They justify their mother’s position by insisting that people saying bad words about their mother are indeed bad themselves. They even begin to justify the crime committed by their mother. They insist that crime may be permissible in certain circumstances such as they justify that stealing is a right act if done to provide clothing and food for family. They consider themselves and their mother as a victim of situations such as poverty that had forced their mother to commit a crime. Criminal justice system seems unfair in their eyes. As a result, anti-social behavior begins to develop in such children (Feldman et al. 1999). Poverty Usually incarcerated mother had been the finance provider for children. Incarceration of mother results in lack of funds. They do not get proper nutrition and basic things that are the rights to get by all children. As children face poverty, they consider stealing as permissible and thus commit crimes to fulfill their needs. They want to get the things that children living with their mothers usually get; proper nutrition, good clothing, education, healthy environment etc. The absence of such facilities fosters the likelihood to commit a crime (Greene & Hurtado 2000). Absence of Adult Guidance When mother is sent to prison, children do not receive any guidance and supervision from an adult any more. Adults know better how to guide young children so that they become a part of a safer environment. The absence of adult supervision make children suffer and struggle in society and school. They stop going to school, face difficulties in their jobs, and get involved in relationships that exploit or abuse them. They may get involved in drug culture and even in the sex trade (Gabel & Shindledecker 1993). Strategies for the Minimization of Harm There is a great need to implement strategies that can minimize the harm posed to the children of incarcerated women. Following are some useful strategies to combat this issue: Mothers Should Not Be Incarcerated There is a need to keep the whole family together and for this purpose the mothers should not be incarcerated. In case they commit a crime, there should be some alternatives in place of incarceration. Community based interventions should be implemented. The threat of imprisonment will lead towards betterment. Conditional sentencing will not require any imprisonment and justice system will accomplish the goals that were expected to be obtained from the incarceration of women. Training should be provided to important professional groups Educators, child protection workers, mental health professionals should be trained in a way to support the children of incarcerated mothers. They should be able to explain the children about the connection of crime to punishment. Children should be taught about rights and wrongs. School attendance should be encouraged. Caregivers should be trained in a way to provide the children of incarcerated mothers the best nurturing environment. The visits of children to their mothers should be supervised and motivated in positive manners. Conclusion Children of incarcerated women are at a greatest risk of being traumatized and get involved in criminal behavior. Their personalities are badly affected due to the absence of their mother in the time of their needs. Caregivers are not providing the required care. Criminality of women can be reduced by using effective strategies. Children of incarcerated women should be given under the supervision of an adult to help them grow in a safer environment. Strategies to cope up with the bitter reality of their mother’s incarceration should be implemented in a positive way. Schools and society should be encouraged to help such children instead of making fun of them or taunting them. Good neighbors can also play good roles. Children should be provided with the basic facilities that are essential for nurturing them. Mothers with offensive background should be provided with the support to get reasonable jobs to fulfill their basic needs. This way the crime rate among women can be minimized. Society should let such women improve their criminal behavior by motivating them to quit their crimes. Such women should be appreciated to do meaningful activities that can help them become mentally healthy. Children should never be taken away from the children due to incarceration.

Lord Byron Essay

Lord Byron is considered to be one of the most important poet in his time. He was as famous for his personality as he was for his poetry. The way his life affected what he wrote made his poems even better. His works, life, and writing style are what made Lord Byron one of the most important poets of the Romantic Movement. George Gordon Noel Byron (Lord Byron) was born on January 22, 1788 in London, England. His dad, Captain â€Å"Mad Jack† Byron married his mother, Catherine Gordon, for her money. Throughout their marriage he spent away most of her fortune before he died in 1791. When Lord Byron’s father died he was left with nothing. After his father died he seemed to have a long life ahead of him. He had a birth defect that made him walk on his toes for his entire life and his mother was unstable. Lord Byron took out his stress by writing poetry. When he was only eight years old he fell in love. When he turned sixteen years old he was told that the woman he loved was engaged. He became very depressed and felt very ill. In 1798 his granduncle died and Lord Byron inherited his uncles estate. Now that he had some money, he went to Trinity College after spending his time from 1801 to 1805 at Harrow. In 1808, he planned to spend the year with his cousin, George Bettesworth. He was the captain of his own ship and in May of 1808 he died in the Battle of Alvon. So, from 1809 to 1811 Lord Byron spent the years cruising the Mediterranean. The Napoleonic Wars were going on in Europe at this time so he had to avoid most of Europe. During this time Lord Byron’s first book of poetry, Hours of Idleness, was published in 1809. The two-year Mediterranean trip gave him most of the material he wrote about in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. These two cantos were the first great successes he had. In 1813 Lord Byron apparently had more than a brother-sister relationship with his half sister Augusta Leigh. She was already the mother of three children. She gave birth to Elizabeth Medora in 1814. Elizabeth was thought by many people to be Lord Byron’s child, but in 1815 he married Anne Isabella Milbanke. They had a child named Ada in the same year, but the marriage did not last and they separated the next year. In 1816 Byron left England when rumors started of his debts. He was never to return back to England in his life. †The only virtue they honor in England is hypocrisy,† (Liukkonen, Petri) he wrote in a letter to his friend when he left England. He settled in Geneva, where he meant Claire Clairmont. She became his mistress, but at the end of summer he moved again. He spent two years working and writing in Italy. â€Å"I was struck by his eyes†¦ I have never in my life seen anything more beautiful or more expressive,† (Liukkonen, Petri) is a quote from a French writer that saw Lord Byron at an opera in Italy. While in Italy he, wrote several poems including Lament of Tasso, Mazeppa, and The Prophecy of Dante. During his stays in Italy he became very interested in drama. He wrote several dramas including The Two Foscari, Sardanapalaus, and many others. In January of 1817, Claire Clairmont gave birth to his daughter Clara Allegra. Lord Byron abandoned his daughter and she died in 1822 with a bad case of typhus fever. In Italy, he risked his life helping a secret group called the Italian Carbonari in 1820 and 1821. In 1824 he decided to take action and move to Greece. He joined a group called the Greek freedom fighters. By this time he was in Missolonghi, Greece. He unfortunately died here on April 19, 1824 of a fever. Lord Byron is the most well known of the famous romantic poets. His poetry had a recurring theme of being romantic. Lord Byron wrote many long romantic poems and some shorter ones in a traditional satirical style of poetry. His poems all varied in their subject matter. A lot of his romantic poems were about the many women he was involved with. An example would be the poem She Walks in Beauty, it is a poem about how beautiful he thought the woman he was in love with was. His poems also were about things he believed in. The poem, The Destruction of Sennacherib, shows that Lord Byron shared his religious views in his poetry. Throughout his travels he went to many places that were inspiration for his poetry. The Lament of Tasso was written when he was in Rome. He visited Tasso’s cell, which inspired him to right the poem. His vary in types of poetry and subject matter helped his poetry stay popular. Lord Byron’s poetry has many connections with what was going on in his life. He first started writing poetry to release the stress of the birth defect that he was born with. His different kinds of poetry were all connected with his life. He was most known for his romantic poetry. In these poems, he wrote about the relationships he had with woman. The places he travelled also influenced his poetry. His travels in Italy got him into drama and that was result of many of his best poems. How religious he was and how much he cared about what was going on around him showed in his life and in his poetry. He wrote about and it was also the reason he chose to move to Greece to help them rise over their rulers by joining the Greek freedom fighters. The connection between his life and his poetry is what made him as popular as he was. Lord Byron was one of the most famous and talented writers of his time. His life, poetry, and the way they were connected are what made him one of the most famous poets of his time. His poetry was an influence on the writing of other poets in his time and continues to influence poets today.