Secrets Of Life Essays - The World, Secret, , Term Papers

Secrets Of Life There is one part of my life that no one knows about. This secret has caused me to act in ways I thought I wasn't capable of doing. For the past five years, I have been a keeper of this secret, with no intentions to let go of it. I have purposely lied to my loved ones, for the fear of the revelation of my secret would alienate me from the ones I love. In order to guard my secret, I have become very deceiving, alienating, and paranoid. I would avoid conversations that I thought would somehow lead to the discovery of my secret. I became very selective with the people I communicated with. I have in term become a prisoner to this secret, letting it control my every action and thought. I know I should tell my close friends and family about my secret. I cannot go through my life continuing to deceive the people closest to me. Why can't I have the courage to tell people my secret? I envy those who can speak their own mind proudly and not care of the consequences his words can cause him. I dream of that day when I can be liberated from the chains of my secret, and show the world the real me.

M. Butterfly, a Play by David Henry Hwang

M. Butterfly, a Play by David Henry Hwang M. Butterfly is a play written by David Henry Hwang. The drama won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1988. The Setting The play is set in a prison in present-day France. (Note: The play was written in the late 1980s.) The audience travels back to 1960s and 1970s Beijing, via the memories and dreams of the main character. The Basic Plot Shamed and imprisoned, 65-year-old Rene Gallimard contemplates the events that led to a shocking and embarrassing international scandal. While working for the French embassy in China, Rene fell in love with a beautiful Chinese performer. For over twenty years, they carried on a sexual relationship, and over the decades, the performer stole secrets on behalf of the Chinese communist party. But heres the shocking part: the performer was a female impersonator, and Gallimard claimed that he never knew he had been living with a man all those years. How could the Frenchman maintain a sexual relationship for over two decades without learning the truth? Based on a True Story? In the playwright notes at the beginning of the published edition of M. Butterfly, it explains that the story was initially inspired by real events: a French diplomat named Bernard Bouriscot fell in love with an opera singer whom he believed for twenty years to be a woman (quoted in Hwang). Both men were convicted of espionage. In Hwangs afterward, he explains that the news article sparked an idea for a story, and from that point the playwright stopped doing research on the actual events, wanting to create his own answers to the questions many had about the diplomat and his lover. In addition to its non-fictional roots, the play is also a clever deconstruction of the Puccini opera, Madama Butterfly. Fast Track to Broadway Most shows make it to Broadway after a long period of development. M. Butterfly had the good fortune of having a true believer and benefactor from the beginning. Producer Stuart Ostrow funded the project early on; he admired the finished process so much that he launched a production in Washington D.C., followed by a Broadway premiere weeks later in March of 1988 - less than two years after Hwang first discovered the international story. When this play was on Broadway, many audiences were fortunate enough to witness the incredible performance of BD Wong starring as Song Liling, the seductive opera singer. Today, the political commentary may fascinate  more than the sexual idiosyncrasies of the characters. Themes of M. Butterfly Hwangs play says much about humanitys propensity for desire, self-deception, betrayal, and regret. According to the playwright, the drama also penetrates the common myths of eastern and western civilization, as well as the myths about gender identity. Myths About the East The character of Song knows that France and the rest of the Western world perceive Asian cultures as submissive, wanting - even hoping - to be dominated by a powerful foreign nation. Gallimard and his superiors grossly underestimate China and Vietnams ability to adapt, defend, and counterattack in the face of adversity. When Song is brought forth to explain his actions to a French judge, the opera singer implies that Gallimard deceived himself about his lovers true sex because Asia is not considered a masculine culture in comparison to Western Civilization. These false beliefs prove detrimental to both the protagonist and the nations he represents. Myths About the West Song is a reluctant member of Chinas communist revolutionaries, who see the westerners as domineering imperialists bent on the moral corruption of the East. However, if Monsieur Gallimard is emblematic of Western Civilization, his despotic tendencies are tempered with a desire to be accepted, even at the cost of supplication. Another myth of the west is that nations in Europe and North America thrive by generating conflict in other countries. Yet, throughout the play, the French characters (and their government) constantly wish to avoid conflict, even if it means they must deny reality in order to attain a facade of peace. Myths About Men and Women Breaking the fourth wall, Gallimard frequently reminds the audience that he has been loved by the perfect woman. Yet, the so-called perfect female turns out to be very male. Song is a clever actor who knows the exact qualities most men desire in an ideal woman. Here are some of the characteristics Song exhibits to ensnare Gallimard: Physical beautyShrewdness which gives way to submissivenessSelf-sacrificeA combination of modesty and sexinessThe ability to produce offspring (specifically a son) By the end of the play, Gallimard comes to terms with the truth. He realizes that Song is just a man and a cold, mentally abusive one at that. Once he identifies the difference between fantasy and reality, the protagonist chooses fantasy, entering into his own private little world where he becomes the tragic Madame Butterfly.

Composing With an Implied Audience in Mind

Composing With an Implied Audience in Mind Definition The term implied audience applies to readers or listeners imagined by a writer or speaker before and during the composition of a text. Also known as a  textual audience, an implied reader, an implied auditor, and a fictional audience. According to Chaim Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca in Rhetorique et Philosophie (1952), the writer predicts this audiences probable response to and understanding of a text. Related to the concept of implied audience is the second persona. See Examples and Observations below. See also: AudienceAudience Analysis  and  Audience Analysis ChecklistAdaptationEssayImplied AuthorNew RhetoricPersonaReading Examples and Observations Just as the speaker need not be, and usually is not, identical with the author, so the implied audience is an element of the poem itself and does not necessarily coincide with a given chance reader.(Rebecca Price Parkin, Alexander Popes Use of the Implied Dramatic Speaker. College English, 1949)Just as we distinguish between a real rhetor and rhetorical persona, we also can distinguish between a real audience and an implied audience. The implied audience (like the rhetorical persona) is fictive because it is created by the text and exists only inside the symbolic world of the text.(Ann M. Gill and Karen Whedbee, Rhetoric. Discourse as Structure and Process, ed. by Teun A. van Dijk. Sage, 1997)[T]exts not only address concrete, historically situated audiences; they sometimes issue invitations or solicitations for auditors and/or readers to adopt a certain perspective for reading or listening. . . . Jasinksi (1992) described how The Federalist Papers constructed a vision of an impartia l and candid audience that contained specific prescriptions for how the real audience should evaluate the arguments being addressed during the constitutional ratification debate.(James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric. Sage, 2001) Every reading of an argument yields an implied audience, and by this, I mean the audience on whom the claim is understood to be made and in terms of which the argumentation is supposed to develop. In a charitable reading, this implied audience is also the audience for whom the argument is persuasive, the audience which allows itself to be influenced by reasoning.(James Crosswhite, The Rhetoric of Reason: Writing and the Attractions of Argument. University of Wisconsin Press, 1996)Readers and Mock ReadersI am arguing . . . that there are two readers distinguishable in every literary experience. First, there is the real individual upon whose crossed knee rests the open volume, and whose personality is as complex and ultimately inexpressible as any dead poets. Second, there is the fictitious readerI shall call him the mock reader whose mask and costume the individual takes on in order to experience the language. The mock reader is an artifact, controlled, simplified, abstracted out of t he chaos of day-to-day sensation.The mock reader can probably be identified most obviously in subliterary genres crudely committed to persuasions, such as advertising and propaganda. We resist the blandishments of the copywriter just in so far as we refuse to become the mock reader his language invites us to become. Recognition of a violent disparity between ourself as mock reader and ourself as real person acting in a real world is the process by which we keep our money in our pockets. Does your toupee collect moths? asks the toupee manufacturer, and we answer, Certainly not! My hairs my own. Youre not talking to me, old boy; Im wise to you. Of course, we are not always so wise.(Walker Gibson, Authors, Speakers, Readers, and Mock Readers. College English, February 1950) Real and Implied ReadersIn Wayne Booths terms, the implied author of a text is the creator of an implied reader. But one does not need to agree with Booths conclusion that the most successful reading is the one in which the created selves, author, and reader, can find complete agreement (Rhetoric of Fiction). On the contrary, the pleasure of the text may arise from the readers refusal to play the role sketched out by the implied author. Viewed in this way, the rhetorical drama of the essay resides in the conflict between the conceptions of self and world that the reader brings to a text and the conceptions that the persona attempts to arouse.(Richard Nordquist, Voices of the Modern Essay. University of Georgia, 1991)

MHE510, Occupational Health and Safety, Mod 5 SLP Essay

MHE510, Occupational Health and Safety, Mod 5 SLP - Essay Example In addition, nonsmokers that are exposed to second hand smoke increase their risk of heart disease by 25% and their risk of lung cancer by 20% (Zellers, et. a. , 2007). There have been studies indicating the difference in air quality and the side effects of second hand smoke. Air filtering does not work so to have them smoke in a separate room is not helpful as smoking in a part of the restaurant with smokers on the other side of a wall does not work. All of these claims are serious and can lead to long term workmans compensation damages. Allowing smoking and protecting non-smokers is a very expensive policy. The CDC tell us that secondhand smoke has 250 toxic chemicals including 50 that cause cancer. Conventional air cleaning systems do not filter the gases in second hand smoke and current heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems do not stop the exposure and negative pressure smoking rooms do not work either (cdc.gov) The only policy that will work for a work situation is to establish a smoke free workplace. This disallows any smoking on campus. Some states have begun to require that all public places be smoke free. This is a difficult and often unpopular policy and there may be some costs attached but the cost of a suit from a very ill employee because of lung cancer from secondhand smoke could be devastating financially. For those reasons the recommendation must be a smoke free policy. CDC provides full kits to allow companies to become smoke free. They are available at no charge and would help to set this new policy up in such a way as to be successful. There will also need to be a steering committee to put the process together and provide everything needed. A kick-off date will need to be chosen and advertising will need to be done ahead of time so that visitor are aware before they arrive on the doorstep. Then administration must support it. In conclusion, second hand smoke is a killer. It is often more detrimental to the non-smoker

Organizational Development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Organizational Development - Research Paper Example In the last section, the study has recommended OD intervention strategies for the organization in order to improve its performance. The research paper has also suggested evaluation technique which can monitor the efficacy of recommended OD interventions for the organization. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Literature Review 5 2.1 Organizational Context 5 2.2 Theories of OD 6 8 3.0 Organizational Needs 10 4.0 Impact of Environmental and Internal Issues on OD 10 4.1 Labor Pool Diversity 10 4.2 Technological Advancements 11 4.3 Global Expansion 13 4.4 Ethical Standards 14 5.0 Recommended Intervention 14 5.1 Human process based intervention strategies 16 5.2 Techno-structural intervention 17 5.3 Socio-technical intervention 17 5.4 Organizational transformation (OT) 18 6.0 Success Factor for Recommended Intervention 19 7.0 Evaluation of Recommended Intervention 20 8.0 Conclusion 21 Reference 22 1.0 Introduction Gone are the days when organizations can stay at top of both organic and inorganic growth by banking on first mover’s advantage in sustainable manner, in hypercompetitive modern business environment, a particular organization need to be flexible and ready to change in order to keep going. The concept of organizational development (OD) was postulated by research scholars almost 50 years ago. According to supporters of OD, the concept can be used solving pertinent issues of change management for a modern organization as like other neo-classical concepts like business process improvement, business process re-engineering, organizational life-cycles and total quality management (TQM). According to Holland and Salama (2010), OD can be described as sustainable and one way improvement of activities for an organization. The scholars’ duos have also pointed out that, implementing OD process is a challenging task for an organization due to reasons like, First- the organization needs to breakdown its structure in partial or comp lete manner in order create room for newly implemented system, Second- the organization needs to adopt resource hungry intervention strategies in order to ensure efficacy of the change management process and last- the organization needs to influence its internal and external stakeholders to align their interest with common mission and vision statement of the change process. Holland and Salama (2010) have found that interaction of organization with the external environment decides the dynamics of OD process. Interesting fact is that, academic scholars state that OD is an initiative of top management to develop mid level and lower level organizational members but there are examples where employees develop themselves without seeking intervention from top management (Mulili & Wong, 2011). The concept of job security has changed after the recession during 2007-2009 and sovereign debt crisis and organizational members are enrolling themselves to flexible and lifelong learning process in o rder to remain employable in changing and harsh economic environment. Therefore it has been observed that employees are embracing various facets of OD process such as, off-the- job education, on-the-job training and many others. Now the question is can an organization improve its performance by using the theoretical framework of OD. Well, answer of this crucial question is the key essence of this research paper. Contextual analysis of OD process

Death Penalty Essay: The Barbaric Practice of Capital Punishment

The Barbaric Practice of Capital Punishment      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Rarely has any issue across the world faced such fierce debate as the practice of sentencing convicted persons to death. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, was until the last few centuries, a widespread and common event, applicable for even a minor offense. As society and culture have evolved, however, the barbaric practice has come under close scrutiny. Today, many first-world countries have outlawed the death penalty in all but the rarest instances, such as treason during wartime.    The United States, however, which has stood at the forefront of the fight for global human rights, still uses the death penalty liberally, and can apply it for a great many crimes. This archaic and primitive practice rightly leads other nations to question the United States' self-appointed leadership for global human rights. As many have that have closely examined the practice have concluded, this practice in the United States is not only impractical, immoral, but also fraught with error to such a degree that it could be easily outlawed. The unfortunate part, as many inside and outside our great nation believe, is that it is not.    The development of societies and their governments lead naturally to systems of laws and punishments. Originally, there were far more illegal acts than exist today, and the punishments were harsher, since an advanced prison system had not been developed. The basic premise of any legal system worldwide has always been simple, however: to take those who pose a threat to society and to remove them from it. The next act of choosing to actually kill these people was never a necessary act for society. Instead, it was a form of retributive justice,... ... Campaign to End the Death Penalty: Illinois Moratorium, "Moratorium Victory In Illinois" 13 Dec 2000 http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/ilmoratorium.html Dieter, Richard C., The Death Penalty in Black & White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides June 1998, 13 Dec 2000 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/racerpt.html Genesis and John. Holy Bible (Chicago: Good Counsel Publishers, 1966) Hook, Donald D. and Lothar Kahn, Death in the Balance, (Lexington: Lexington Books, 1989) John, Mark and Alastair Macdonald, "Bush Hard Line on Executions Will Trouble Europe" 14 Dec 2000, 14 Dec 2000 http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001214/pl/bush_death_dc_1.html National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, "Deterrence...Fact Or Fiction?" 13 Dec 2000 http://www.ncadp.org/fact5.html Sellin, Thorsten, Capital Punishment, (NY: Harper & Row) 122-124 and 239-253

NFL Domestic Violence Essay

Domestic violence is a part of worldwide, everyday life to some people. Rather if it is being a witness, the person who is doing the action, or the one receiving the action. Domestic violence, specifically in the NFL, has become a major recent topic in America. Although domestic violence has a more focused appalling view, it has also caused benefits in making change in our society with the involvement of NFL’s players. In the NFL, the relative arrest rate for domestic violence is at 55.4 percent which is more than four times worse than the leagues arrest rate for all offenses (Marris). This proves that more than half of the arrest rates are because of domestic violence. Not only that, but it also shows that in the NFL, the men are solemnly violent with unnecessary actions. Having said that, between the years of 2000 to 2014, there were seven hundred and thirty two recorded arrests of NFL football players, two hundred and thirteen of them were related to domestic violence cases (Schrotenboer). With there being several cases of NFL players practicing domestic violence, the most recent ones are of Ray Rice, the running back of the Baltimore Ravens and Adrian Peterson, running back of the Minnesota Vikings. The current Commissioner of the National Football League, Roger Goodell stated that these NFL abuse scandals are an opportunity (Goodell). He had asked a FBI leader to conduct an independent investigation to appraisal the NFL’s reviewing process and will have full access to any needed information (Jarrett). This will consent to the NFL to take hasty actions in bettering their reviewing process and dependable conclusions (Goodell). The swift actions taken by Goodell when he said, â€Å"the NFL can help create change in society due to the cases of domestic violence†, he had already created many programs to help with it. Goodell had also partnered with hotlines for domestic violence and within a week, seen an 84 percent  increase in calls (Goodell). He also said that the punishment for behavior for domestic violence will be consistent, clean, and current consequences (Goodell). These proceedings can enhance the many cases of domestic violence in general. TMZ Sports Fig 1. Older cases of domestic violence from players in the NFL are also in effect to Goodell’s recent actions. Such as, the Arizona Cardinals running back, Jonathan Dwyer, was arrested and questioned on suspicion of aggravated assaults against his 27-year-old wife and his 18-month-old son (Howard). In addition to $25,000 cash bond which must be posted, Dwyer could not contact with the alleged victims, travel outside of Arizona, or have any involvement with weapons, drugs, or alcohol, NBC News had confirmed with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (Howard). Additionally, Minnesota Vikings put Adrian Peterson back on their team after reversing the decision of his actions of injuring a child but, his sponsorships with Wheaties, Nike, Castrol, and the Radisson hotel chain had each suspended the athlete (Howard). Actions of the past effects decisions in the future, such as Roger Goodell’s. As domestic violence still goes on, including in the NFL, improvements and opportunity are bettering the domestic violence system due to past cases, especially with NFL players who were once involved. Works Cited Howard, Adam. â€Å"NFL Running Back Jonathan Dwyer Arrested for Domestic Violence.†Msnbc.com. NBCNews Digital, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014. . Jarrett, Gregg. â€Å"Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson Cases: NFL Abuse Scandals Are an Opportunity.†Fox News.FOX News Network, 20 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.. Morris, Benjamin. â€Å"The Rate of Domestic Violence Arrests Among NFL Players.† DataLab. 31July 2014.Web. 28 Sept. 2014. . â€Å"New Video of NFL Ray Rice Knocking out His Woman in Elevator – Kick! Making PoliticsFun.† Kick Making Politics Fun. TMZ Sport, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2014. . Schrotenboer, Brent. â€Å"USA Today | Sports | NFL.† USA Today. Gannett. Web. 28 Sept. 2014..